The Hideous King and the Clever Artist

In the faraway land of Japan, there was once a king that ruled over everything. He ruled over the sun and the moon, the land and the sky, over everything. However, his look was savage. He was blind in one eye, and the blind eye had no pupil but an eyeball with only white on it. To add upon that, he had one foot that was seven inches shorter than the other. He looked so terrible that the people and officials bowing down to him were secretly thankful that they couldn’t look at the king unless he ordered them to, because people retched and gagged at the sight of him.

One day, he ordered all the artists in the land to go to his palace. When all of the artists were gathered in the hall, he demanded that they to draw a portrait of him. All ninety-nine of them but one drew a magnificent picture of a tall towering man, with two eyes looking at the sky, deeply in thought, and two strong legs planted firmly on the ground. The king ordered them all to be beheaded, for they had committed the crime of lying to the king. However, the last one drew this picture: a king sitting on a horse, closing one eye to shoot a red and white target, thus covering his blind eye; he drew the scene sideways, so the bad leg was hidden by the horse’s stomach. For his wisdom, this very artist was given a large amount of gold and was appointed the king’s advisor.

-No flattery, be true to your heart.