Summary of "In the Kingdom of Fools"
In the Kingdom of Fools, the king and his minister decide to invert the natural order by making people work at night and sleep during the day. A guru and his disciple arrive in this kingdom and are puzzled by the bizarre routine. They discover that all items cost the same, which delights the disciple but worries the guru, who decides to leave.
The disciple stays behind, enjoying the cheap food, and becomes very fat. One day, a thief dies when a wall collapses on him during a burglary. The thief’s brother demands justice from the king, who orders a series of trials to find the culprit responsible for the thief's death. The blame shifts from the merchant to the bricklayer, the dancing girl, and the goldsmith, eventually circling back to the original merchant.
The king decides to execute the merchant but finds him too thin to be impaled. He then orders the execution of the fat disciple instead. The guru returns and uses cleverness to save his disciple by convincing the king that whoever dies on the stake will be reborn as the king and minister. The foolish king and minister decide to die in their place to secure their rebirth as rulers. They are executed, and the guru and disciple are asked to rule the kingdom. They agree on the condition that the laws be changed to normalcy.
Answers to "Think About It"
Two strange things in the Kingdom of Fools:
- People worked at night and slept during the day.
- All items in the market cost the same, just one duddu.
Disciple's decision to stay:
- The disciple stays because everything is cheap and he enjoys the food. This is not a good idea as the kingdom's foolishness poses unpredictable dangers.
People tried in the king's court:
- Merchant: For having a weak wall that killed the thief.
- Bricklayer: For building the weak wall.
- Dancing girl: For distracting the bricklayer.
- Goldsmith: For delaying the dancing girl's jewelry, causing her to distract the bricklayer.
- Merchant's father: Originally blamed, but he's dead.
Real culprit according to the king:
- The merchant’s deceased father, as he ordered the jewelry that caused the chain of events. The merchant escapes punishment as the king decides to punish someone else in his place.
Guru’s words of wisdom:
- The guru advises that fools are dangerous and unpredictable, warning his disciple. The disciple remembers this when he is about to be executed.
Guru saves his disciple:
- The guru convinces the king that the stake has a special power to make the first person who dies on it the next king and the second the minister. The king and minister, fearing loss of their kingdom in the next life, decide to die in their place.
