The Suitor Who Answered With Knowledge

Betaal, resuming his perch, told of a wealthy merchant who devised an unusual test for his daughter's many suitors: whoever could correctly name the one thing that never runs out, no matter how generously or how often it is given away to others, would win her hand — a riddle meant to filter mere wealth from actual wisdom.

Suitor after suitor offered confident but wrong answers. One suggested gold, but the merchant pointed out that even the deepest treasury empties eventually if spent without end. Another suggested land, but land too can be divided and given away until nothing remains for the giver. A third suggested a mother's love, a beautiful answer but not quite what the merchant sought, since even devotion can be worn thin by relentless demand.

The final suitor, a quiet scholar with little wealth to his name, answered simply: "Knowledge, given away freely through teaching, is the one thing that never diminishes in the giver no matter how much of it is shared — teaching someone else does not empty your own mind of what you know, but often deepens it further." The merchant, delighted, granted him his daughter at once. "Tell me, Vikram," Betaal demanded, "was the scholar's answer truly complete, or was something still missing?" Vikramaditya answered: "It was missing only one addition — kindness itself behaves the very same way, for a person who gives kindness away without limit finds themselves not poorer, but somehow more capable of kindness than before. Both knowledge and kindness grow through their own giving rather than shrink from it, which is precisely what makes them worth more than any treasury." His answer complete, the king's vow of silence broke once more, and Betaal flew, laughing, back toward his tree.