A KING WITH A DARK SECRET

Good morning to the chairperson, honorable judges, teachers, and my fellow friends. Have you
heard a story about a king with a dark secret?

Once, there lived a king. He was very proud of his look. He spent hours and hours admiring
himself, looking at his reflection in the mirror. “Hmm… Huh… there cannot be another king
as handsome as me.” And he felt very pleased. He dressed himself in the finest clothes and put
on the finest jewelry in the land.

People grew tired of him as he hardly attended to their problems. The king on the other hand
made sure his hairstyle was new every day, but he covered his ears. Yes, you heard me right.
He covered his ears. Guess why? Because the king had ears which looked like donkey ears!
Shh… And the only person who knew about this was the king’s barber, Balju.

Balju constantly lived in fear as the king would threaten him death if he ever told anyone about
his donkey ears. He was not even allowed to cut anybody else’s hair or shave anyone in the
kingdom. Can you believe it? Poor Balju. He couldn’t sleep or eat. He was afraid to speak to
anyone. His wife, Gauri couldn’t stand this at all.

One day, picking up courage, Gauri asked him. “Why do you seem so unhappy?” Balju did not
reply. He just walked out of the house and sat by the pool. The pool was surrounded by many
tamarind trees. Gauri followed and sat beside him. She pleaded, “Please, tell me what’s
bothering you, I promise I won’t tell it to anyone.”

Finally, Balju opened-up and told her about the king’s donkey ears. “I’m so scared to speak to
anyone. I missed my friends and I know that I’m losing them all one by one. Haihh… but, but
what can I do?” As he was talking, the tamarind trees there heard every word he said and
absorbed everything. Balju felt slightly better, and Gauri promised that she wouldn’t tell it to
anyone.

But soon even Gauri became restless too. So, one day she went to the tamarind trees and
whispered the secret to them. “The king has donkey ears; the king has donkey ears,” and now
she felt much better. That night, there was a fierce storm. The tamarind trees were knocked

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down. The king was informed about this, and he commanded the trees to be given to the royal
musicians to make new drums for the festival season.

The festival season arrived. The people gathered to watch the grand performance. “Let the
music begin!” ordered the king. The drummers began beating their drums, but what did the
drums beat? “The king has donkey ears, donkey ears. The king has donkey ears.”

“Ahahahaha… donkey ears… ahahahaha...” The crowd burst out laughing. The king on the
other hand was shocked and he was furious. “How dare the barber disclosed my secret!” He
immediately ordered the barber to be executed.

Balju was dragged to the court, and he pleaded that he was innocent. Gauri and the drummers
were questioned as well. Finally, the king discovered that it was the tamarind trees divulging
his secret. The king felt embarrassed and decided to set the barber free.

Dear judges, what do we learn from this story? We should embrace flaws and imperfections in
life and be honest with it as truth will always find a way to reveal itself. Thank you.