It is the story of a kingdom where the king and his minister both were idiots. They had ordered that the night be treated as day and all the people should work only after dark. They should go to bed as soon as the sun came up. The king’s orders were followed by the people for fear of death. This delighted the king and his minister.
Once a guru and his disciple came to that city. Soon they realised that they were in the kingdom of fools. The guru was wise. He advised his disciple that they should leave that place at once as it was not safe to stay there. But the disciple was a food freak. He found the city very cheap. He decided to stay there. He ate to his fill and soon grew fat.
Meanwhile, there was a unique trial in the court of the king. A thief had broken into a rich merchant’s house. As he was coming out of the hole, the old wall fell on him and he died on the spot. His brother blamed the rich merchant for the death of his brother. He appealed to the king. The accused was summoned. The merchant pleaded that he was innocent. He blamed the bricklayer who had built a weak wall.
The bricklayer was summoned. He held the dancing girl responsible for distracting him. She was also summoned. She blamed the goldsmith who did not make her ornaments in time. The goldsmith admitted that he could not make her jewellery in time. But he pleaded that a rich merchant had pressed him to make ornaments early for a family wedding. The rich merchant was the father of the present owner of the house who was accused by the thief’s brother.
Now the king ruled that the rich merchant was the real culprit. The merchant pleaded that it was his father who had ordered for the jewellery. The king consulted his minister and ruled that he had inherited all the wealth as well as sins of his dead father. So he was the real culprit.
Now the rich merchant was ordered to be executed. A new stake was built. But the merchant was too thin to fit the stake. The king ordered to find a person who was fat enough to fit the stake. The disciple who had grown fat, was found fit for the stake. He was brought to the place of execution. He remembered his guru who appeared at once. He whispered something to him.
Now they started fighting. Each wanted to be executed first. The king asked why they were fighting. The guru explained to him that whoever died on the stake first, would be reborn as the king of that country. Whoever died next would be reborn as the minister. He told the king that the stake was not an ordinary stake. It was the stake of God.
The king consulted his minister and they decided to take their place. They wanted to be reborn as the king and the minister. They went secretly to the prison and released the guru and his disciple. The king and his minister were executed the next morning. Now the people requested the guru and his disciple to be their new king and minister. They agreed and changed all the old laws.