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Question
Imagine you are the king. Narrate the incident of your meeting the hermit. Begin like this: The wise men answered my questions, but I was not satisfied with their answers. One day I decided to go and meet the hermit.
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Solution
The wise men answered my questions, but I was not satisfied with their answers. One day I decided to go and meet the hermit, famous of his wisdom, in the forest. I put on plain clothes to the hermitage and left the horse with the bodyguard at some distance from the hut. Walking towards the hermitage, I found the wise man digging flower beds. He was old, weak and looked tired, taking deep breaths as he laboured. I went up to meet him and asked him the three questions — what is the right time to do something, who’re the people I needed most and what is the most important thing that I should do. The hermit listened in silence and went on digging. Pitying the old man, I decided to do the digging myself and let him rest. After digging two beds, I repeated my questions but the hermit did not answer and I was ready to take a disappointed leave. Just then a bearded man, bleeding profusely, came running towards us. We washed the wound and I did the dressing until he stopped bleeding, taking him inside to rest. Being tired for the day’s work I too fell asleep. Next day, I discovered that the wounded man that in fact planned on killing me. Humbled with the care I had take of him, he sincerely asked for my forgiveness and was glad to forgive him. Ready to take my leave, I asked the hermit one last time to answer my questions and was told that I know the answer already — ‘Now’ is the most important time, the person one is with at the moment is the most important person and to do that man good is one’s most important duty. After deeply considering his answer, I was satisfied and took his leave.
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