One Grain of Rice

Long, long ago in faraway India, there lived a powerful raja. He thought of himself as wise and fair.

In his country, most people made their living by growing rice. If it was a good year, there was enough rice to feed everyone. But when the weather was too dry, the rice harvest was too small and people went hungry.

The raja thought for a long time about what he could do to help his people. Finally he had an idea. He issued a declaration throughout the country:

"From this day onwards, each family may keep only as much rice as they eat. Any extra rice that is harvested must be handed over to be stored safely in my palace storehouses. If by any chance there is a poor harvest one year, we will distribute the stored rice to everyone. No one will suffer from hunger any more."

And so it was. Every year, at harvest time, the raja’s rice-pickers spread out across the land. They collected the surplus rice and took it back to the palace stores. People gave their extra rice to raja willingly, and the storehouses gradually filled up. For many years this system worked well.

But then came a very barren year. The rice did not grow well at all, and when harvest time came, the people saw that they would not have enough rice.

Since none of them had any rice stored up at home, they faced a great famine.

The raja's councillors saw this, and went back to the palace to talk to the raja. "Your Highness," they said, "order the storehouses to be opened. We will distribute rice to the people as you promised."

But the raja hesitated. Days passed and still he had not made…