Merchant Strong-Tooth

A merchant named Strong-Tooth managed a king's entire administration so capably that both the crown and the common people remained satisfied, a rare achievement given how often royal and public interests conflict.

When Strong-Tooth once humiliated a palace sweeper named Bull for taking a seat above his station in the king's presence, Bull nursed a private grudge. One morning, while sweeping near the half-asleep king, Bull muttered aloud, as if to himself, an invented accusation that Strong-Tooth had kissed the queen.

The jealous king, only half-hearing but fully believing, immediately withdrew his favor from Strong-Tooth and barred him from court, reasoning that whatever people say while drowsy or drunk often reflects something they have truly witnessed.

Strong-Tooth, baffled by his sudden fall from grace, eventually realized Bull was responsible when he overheard the sweeper boasting to the guards about his new power over the king's favor. Rather than retaliate, Strong-Tooth quietly gave Bull two fine garments as a peace offering, explaining that his earlier discipline had been about propriety, not malice.

Grateful and disarmed, Bull returned to his sweeping duties and, the next morning, muttered another half-asleep line -- this time nonsense about the king eating a cucumber during a private moment, something the king knew for certain never happened. Realizing his earlier belief about Strong-Tooth must have been equally baseless, the king restored him to full honor immediately, having learned the danger of trusting a drowsy servant's mutterings over a proven record of loyal service.