God Indra Meets a Logician

Once there lived a king who was as cerebral as he was kind and altruistic.  So much so that he had earned the name of “The Intelligent king” ( If you are thinking I did it to avoid the work involved in thinking of a name , you though right).

Once there was a famine in the kingdom of TGK . It continued for five years and caused much agony and pain to the king seeing his people die.

Like any Good Hindu King, he set on appeasing God Indra. After months of praying, one day God Indra appeared in front of him.

GI : You are granted a wish all right. Now will you stop nagging me with the chanting of 1,001 pandits ?

TIK : Bhagvan, my people are dying. Bring this femine to an end. Quench the thirst of our land with a good rain.

You know how Indra loves to test people. So he decided to test the King.

GI : Well, let’s have a deal here. You give me your most beloved thing in the world and I will make it rain.

I bet you have heard the story till this point. This is where my story turns into something different. Read on……… Or write your own ending after this.

TIK : If I were ready to sacrifice my most beloved thing to make it rain, won’t that make rain my most beloved thing ?

GI ( Baffled ) : What ?

TIK : Rain has to be my most beloved thing, if I gave my most beloved thing for it. Right ?

GI : That’s not how it works. You Sacrifice your child and I will make it rain.

TIK : I think you don’t see where I am coming from. Why Would I sacrifice my child ?

GI : To make it rain .

TIK : Doesn’t it mean that I love rain more than my child ?

GI : Yes, it does.

TIK : So that make rain my most beloved thing, not my child. I have to sacrifice rain. But if I do that you will be obliged to make rain, which will render the original logic invalid.

GI : I have a terrible headache. Could I get an Aspirin.

TIK : Now you are talking. What’s in it for me ?

GI : I will make it rain for an Aspirin.

So that’s how an Aspirin saved the kingdom of TIK from a famine. 

Tempted to write a different ending ? Go on, tell me how you would have ended the story with your comments.