The Princess Who Chose the Poor Scholar

Betaal spoke once more, telling of a king who, unusually, granted his daughter complete freedom to choose her own husband from any suitor at her ceremony, regardless of his wealth or standing, trusting her judgment over the usual political considerations that governed most royal marriages. Wealthy princes and powerful lords from neighboring kingdoms arrived in splendor, each certain his riches or rank would win her hand.

The princess, after speaking privately and at length with each suitor rather than judging by their entourage or gifts, chose instead a poor but genuinely learned scholar who had come with nothing to offer but his conversation, his patience, and his evident, unforced kindness toward everyone he met at the gathering, servants included, when he assumed no one important was watching.

The court erupted in scandalized whispers, certain the princess had thrown away a life of security and comfort for sentiment, and several advisors urged the king to override her choice before it was too late. "Tell me, Vikram," Betaal demanded, "did the princess choose wisely, or was the court right to doubt her?" Vikramaditya answered: "She chose wisely, precisely because she judged him by how he treated people who could offer him nothing in return — wealth and rank can be given by circumstance to a cruel man just as easily as a kind one, but kindness shown when no one important is watching cannot be inherited or faked, and it is the only quality genuinely predictive of what a marriage will actually be like once the ceremony's splendor has faded." His answer given, the king's vow of silence broke once more, and Betaal vanished, laughing, back toward his tree.