Once upon a time, there was a little man called the Little Bowman. He was called that because even if he was little, his skill in archery was unmatched. The Little Bowman wanted to join the Royal Army, but the King refused. This was not a wise king, and even though he inherited a great kingdom, he still had a lot to learn.
The King was selfish and always sought personal gain. So the little man started looking for a big man to go like his page and get accepted into the army. Once in the army, the Little Bowman hoped to demonstrate his skills. At last, he found a big man willing to join the Royal Army with him.
They presented themselves to the King, and he accepted Big Man and little man as his page into the army. In the King's service, the Little Bowman did many good things but the foolish king, unwilling to see the value and skill of the little man, always praised Big Man for the Little Bowman's accomplishments.
One day, a war broke out, and the Royal Army went into battle. However, seeing the great enemy army, Big Man's valor wavered and he fled. The Little Bowman took up the charge, mounted a war elephant and led the troop into battle. They were able to win the battle, thanks to a little man's skill and bravery.
The King noticed the Little Bowman's bravery and dubbed him "the Brave Little Bowman." The King asked the Brave Little Bowman what kind of reward he wanted. The Brave Little Bowman told the king to give him a reward he saw fit for the deed of saving the kingdom. In truth, the King owed the Brave Little Bowman a great deal, but the king did not want to give a just reward.
At that moment the King had an idea. He appointed a mere peasant with no knowledge of value to be the new Valuer. The Valuer was tasked with assigning value to all sorts of things. His current valuer, the King knew, always valued things fairly and honestly. By appointing a new Valuer, the king thought he could profit, for the new Valuer was a poor peasant with no knowledge of value.
After consideration, the new Valuer, being hungry, said that Brave Little Bowman's reward was a measure of rice. The court laughed, but the Brave Little Bowman humbly accepted his reward. The King was delighted and very happy with his new appointment. The next in line to see the King was a horse dealer. The horse dealer was selling hundreds of horses to the king to replace the ones lost in battle. After some time, the Valuer said that all of the horses were worth a measure of rice.
The horse dealer considered this an insult, and he then asked the Valuer, "And what is a measure of rice worth? The Valuer replied, "A measure of rice is worth the entire kingdom." The court laughed and made fun of King, whose greed had made their precious kingdom worth only a measure of rice.
The King corrected the mistakes of the Valuer at once and re-appointed his old Valuer. He paid a fair price for the horses, but the Brave Little Bowman only accepted his measure of rice. He knew what measure of rice was worth, he knew that his deeds were worth the entire kingdom. Later in life, the King became wise, and he learned more of the value of things. The King now understood that even a little man could have immense value.
This story is actually two combined from the Jataka Tales. It starts out as "The Brave Little Bowman," and it transitions into "The Measure of Rice." These were two of my favorite stories when reading Jataka tales.
The story "The Brave Little Bowman" is very close to my story. The only things that I changed were the king and the reward. In the original story, there is no mention of the king being selfish or greedy. The little man also does not get rejected by the army, but he is simply afraid that he would not get accepted, so he goes to find a big man to join him. In the end, the king made him chief of the army and gave him rich gifts.
"The Measure of Rice" story is also very close to the original. Except for the fact that the entire first part of the story about the little man did not happen, I also did not change a lot of the premises from the original story. I did make the new Valuer a hungry commoner, which would explain why he would value things a measure of rice.
I liked the message of both of these stories. I really like the story that came out of both them combined together.
Story: The Brave Little Bowman
Story: The Measure of Rice
Story Source: More Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt
War-Elephant, Illustration Source