Two Selfish Kings
(From the Buddhists)

What is worth fighting for? Two KINGS HAD FOR MANY MONTHS been quarreling over a small piece of land. There a high bank had been made to stop a river from flooding the fields around it. "This bank belongs to my country," said one of the kings.

"No," said the other king. "This bank belongs to my country."

The more they talked, the angrier the kings became. Finally, since they could not agree peaceably, they decided to fight the matter out. Each one called his army to prepare for battle. Each king planned to be ready the next day to lead his army forth to fight the other king and his army.

Buddha heard that the two kings were planning to fight each other. He sent a messenger to each one saying, "Before you go to war, will you please allow me to hear your com-plaints? Perhaps I may help you to find some other way of settling your quarrel."

Neither king was very happy about meeting Buddha. Still they both consented and came to the house of the teacher. There the three men sat down together to talk the whole matter over.

Buddha began, in his gentle way, to ask the kings certain questions. First he would put his question to one king and then he would ask the same question of the other king. "Why do you say that the bank belongs to your kingdom?" he asked. "Of what use is the bank to you if it does belong to you? What will you do with it?"

When Buddha thought he understood the reasons for their quarrel, he asked another question, first of one, then of the other. "If you go to battle over this bank of earth, will not many of your soldiers be killed?" May not you yourselves even lose your lives?

"That is true," the kings admitted. "Many will be killed. But what else can we do?

"Which is worth more: a bank of earth, or the lives of your men, or your own lives? asked Buddha.

"Of course the lives of our men are worth far more than a bank of earth." Both kings agreed on that.

Buddha had one more question still to ask. "Which would take more money: to build another bank or to put back the lives of men once dead?"

"The lives of men cannot be brought back with all the money in the world." said the kings. "The lives of men are priceless."

"Are you then going to risk what is so precious that no money can ever buy it back, in order to have a small piece of ground that is like the ground on a thousand other hills?"

As the two kings talked and listened, they began to lose their angry feelings and to work out a peaceable agreement, In the end they did not go to war, and for many years the people of the two countries lived side by side in peace.

(This story is taken from The Gospel of Buddha, by Paul Carus and published by Open Court Publishing Co., Chicago, 1915.) Reprint permission granted by Open Court Publishing Company.