One day a washerman’s donkey got into the courtyard of a potter’s house. The potter had put out his pottery to dry in the sun. The donkey trampled on the pots and all of them broke. Just then the potter came out of the house. Seeing the washerman’s donkey in the courtyard and his broken pots, he grew very angry.
Picking up a stout stick, he started beating the donkey. As the donkey brayed loudly in pain, the washerman, who lived just next door, came to the rescue of his donkey.
“Hey! Why are you beating up my donkey ?” he shouted.
“He broke all my pots. I will not let him off without a punishment,” the potter said.
“I will pay for all the pots broken. Let’s settle this. Why fight for such a matter ?” the washerman said.
He paid the potter’s money and left with the donkey. But the potter was still angry. He wanted to teach a lesson to the washerman
The next day he went to the royal court to meet King Akbar.
There he said, “Your Majesty, my friend returned from Iran last evening. He told me that the Shah of Iran is very impressed by the country and people where we live. But he said that Indian elephants are black and dirty. His army has white and clean elephants.”
“So what should we do about it?” the King enquired.
“Your Majesty, the Shah of Iran has a large group of washermen who wash the elephants twice a day.”
Hearing this, King Akbar realized the potter was up to some mischief but he did not show it. He asked, “Ask all the washermen in the city to get together and wash our elephants daily.”
“Your Majesty, there is no need to call all of them. The washerman who lives next door to me washes very cleanly. He is enough to scrub our elephants clean
Now King Akbar was sure about the potter’s plan so he said to his guards, “Go and fetch him.”
