The Wise Son Poem by chandra thiagarajan
The Wise Son
A king had sons three
Triplets they were born
He was in a dilemma -to decree
Whom the throne should adorn!
To select one of the three
He laid out a thoughtful plan
From it he'd decide to see
As to who'd win with elan.
There were three roads parallel—
At the mid of each road
The king ordered to place a boulder—"Well"
He said to his sons, "By ‘ morrow the load
Shouldn't there exist,
You'll not get any assistance
By your own dint of work and grist
It ought to have a disappearance."
The three sons set to work
The first procured a hammer to hit
And the whole night did work
And to smithereens struck it.
The second son with an idea lit
Dug a gargantuan pit beside it
And rolled the boulder into the pit
Clearly spreading the mud over it.
The third son with a thought, brilliant
With a chisel and hammer started sculpting
The boulder that stood as a giant
Soon into a beauteous danseuse got appearing.
The king came the following morn
The first son's place was with smithereens
The giant boulder had really gone
But the king wasn't happy with the scene.
To the next road the king came
There was no identity of the huge stone
The son explained how he got rid of the same
About the action, the king said none.
He came to the next to eye the rock full
The son didn't explain and spoke nothing
The king saw a carved form, very beautiful
His heart missed a beat and gave a ring.
Needless to say the third son
Got to ascend the precious throne
His wisdom and aesthetics won
The crown for him to be borne.
Experiences of and as a mother have made you pen down this tale that tells things afresh. It is poem that can show the right path to the unwise sons if any..
An example of psychological sublimation methinks. Good one Chandra.
Hi Chandra Thiagrajan, wonderful poem again and was a delight to read took me to my childhood days. Just for the sake of sharing, basis Veeraiahs and Valeries comments, i have a slightly different view. literally i am reminded of all the temples and mosques jutting onto our roads and clogging the traffic, trust me, i would put the dumb son on the throne, being a dumb king my self. lol, i am not the wise. thanks again for your superb write.
Just love the story, authentic and meaningful...so nice and great! _Soul
a very short and sweet story with a beautiful message...a v gud write
as Valerie has written here, is it the psychological mind set? The first son tried to disintegrate what was given to him, with out any benefit, the second son is someone really who has no wisdom and knowledge, if the kingdom was given to him, he might not try to flourish instead he would try to conserve as we Indians possess the household things for many generations, but the third son carved something useful, might be a welcome sign or something like that! Nice to read!
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/26/2024 7:56:02 AM # 1.0.0.1119
This story I have heard, but a different version! Every subject is pliable in your hands and you dole out valuable tips for life in such admirable deliberation!