100 Moral Stories 38
An emperor in the Far East was growing old and knew it was time to choose his successor.
Instead of choosing one of his assistants or his children, he decided something different.
He called young people in the kingdom together one day. He said, “It is time for me to step down
and choose the next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you.”
The kids were shocked! But the emperor continued. “I am going to
give each one of you a seed today. One very special seed. I want you
to plant the seed, water it and come back here after one year from
today with what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge
the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next
emperor!”
One boy named Ling was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and
excitedly told his mother the story. She helped him get a pot and planting soil, and he planted the
seed and watered it carefully. Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After
about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that
were beginning to grow.
Ling kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. 3 weeks, 4 weeks, 5 weeks went by. Still
nothing. By now, others were talking about their plants but Ling didn't have a plant, and he felt
like a failure. Six months went by, still nothing in Ling’s pot. He just knew he had killed his seed.
Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Ling didn’t say anything to his friends,
however. He just kept waiting for his seed to grow.
A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their plants to the emperor for
inspection. Ling told his mother that he wasn’t going to take an empty pot. But honest about what
happened, Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he knew his mother was right. He took his empty pot
to the palace. When Ling arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other youths.
They were beautiful in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on the floor and many of the
other kinds laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him and just said, “Hey nice try.”
When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Ling just tried to
hide in the back. “What great plants, trees and flowers you have grown,” said the emperor. “Today,
one of you will be appointed the next emperor!” All of a sudden, the emperor spotted Ling at the
back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to the front. Ling was
terrified. “The emperor knows I’m a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!”
When Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his name. “My name is Ling,” he replied. All the
kids were laughing and making fun of him. The emperor asked everyone to quiet down. He looked
at Ling, and then announced to the crowd, “Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!” Ling
couldn’t believe it. Ling couldn’t even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor? Then the
emperor said, “One year ago today, I gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it,
water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds, which would not grow.
All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the
seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Ling was the only one
with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will
be the new emperor!”
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU PLANT
