A Tale of a Poor Man and the City

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A long time ago, many years BC, there was a small city. In the city, there were but a few men and women. As small as that city was, it had everything. It had ample resources and was an enviable commercial hub in that region. The rich were very rich and the poor were, well, also very poor. Typical society it was. In fact, this city, though small, was so prosperous that it caught the attention of another city’s king.

That city as much bigger but less affluent than this small city we’re talking about. Therefore, the king of the bigger city became envious, and as you could predict, began to take measures to besiege our small city. He decided to visit the small city’s king to talk him into surrendering but they never could reach an agreement and so the big city’s king declared war. He told them he would come back in a fortnight and that they must be battle ready. The problem however, was that this small city wasn’t built for war but for commerce and erudition. They weren’t fighters, they were businessmen and thinkers. This declaration of war caused a panic among the people and they sought a solution; a solution that excluded surrendering their beloved city to an alien king.

As the fortnight passed, the big city’s king kept to his word and started to march in on the small city. The citizens of the small city, through naivety and part-foolishness amidst much academic knowledge, fortified their walls and gates thinking this would be enough. The attacking king, seeing what they had done decided to build bulwarks just outside the city in order to trap them in so no one could leave or come in. However, in that small city, there was a poor man who was very wise. He was popular among the people for his wisdom but despised for his poverty. Though he always had good counsel, not many really valued his opinion. He went to see his king with a solution that could save his city. The king gave him audience but immediately dismissed what the poor man had to offer. This he did simply because he thought to himself that “if this poor man were so wise, he wouldn’t be poor”. Thus, the poor man’s advice was turned down and the king eventually lost his city and everything he ever owned and ruled over for he was decapitated along with most of his advisers. The others were imprisoned and made to rue their arrogance till they died one by one in incarceration.

Years later, the poor man who had offered his advice that could save the city was announced to be the special counsellor to the king. While accepting his new office, he narrated this story to the people. He ended on this note: “even though wisdom is better than strength, the wisdom of the poor is often despised. The poor man is not valued by the society and so they look down on him forgetting that even the merest of men has something to offer.” He also taught his people a vital lesson: “he who wants his opinion to be valued and appreciated must first make himself valued and appreciated. It was because I made myself useful to the new king that you citizens of this city at the time of the siege were safe for I approached him with an offer he could not turn down after I had been rejected by our old king. I pleaded for the life of our king to be spared but the new king said ‘no’, stating that such a man must pay the price for ignoring wisdom. For the price for ignoring wisdom is death.”