Prince Five-Weapons and the Sticky-Hair Demon
Jataka Tales · 1 min read
A young prince, trained since childhood in the use of five different weapons, set out through a dangerous forest known to be home to a monstrous, hair-covered demon that trapped and devoured travelers.
The demon rose before him, and the prince, unafraid, fired his bow — but the arrow stuck fast in the demon's sticky fur, harmless. One by one he tried his sword, his spear, his club, and his final weapon, and each stuck just as uselessly to the creature's matted hair as the last, leaving the prince entirely disarmed.
Rather than despair, the prince stepped forward and struck at the demon with his own fist — which stuck too. He kicked with his foot, then his other foot, then even head-butted the creature in desperation, until every part of his body was hopelessly glued to the demon's fur, and still he did not surrender.
"You are the first creature," the astonished demon finally admitted, "who kept fighting with nothing left to fight with. Any being with that much unbreakable resolve is not safe for me to eat." Impressed rather than hungry, the demon released the prince and let him pass — proving that the truest weapon the prince carried was never in his hands at all, but in his refusal to give up.
Moral of the story
When every weapon fails, unbreakable resolve is the one that can never be taken from you.