Once upon a time there lived an eccentric king. He heard someone saying that a country that has twelve white elephants would become very prosperous.
All his elephants were deep grey, so he decided to have twelve of them laundered white, the way people whitened clothes. He summoned the royal washerman and ordered him to take the elephants away and get them washed white.
The washerman knew that it was useless to argue with the king. So he said:
“The pond where I wash clothes is very small. To wash these huge elephants white, I need a flowing mighty river. If we can divert the river of the nearby forest into the country, it will be possible to wash them.”
So the king deployed several people to start work on diverting the river.
“Why did you make such foolish promises?” asked the washerman’s friend one day.
“I am an old man, so is the king, and so are the elephants,” said the washerman. “Even with so many people digging, it will take decades to change the course of a river. The king and me and the elephants would be dead by then, but if they can get the river to flow through this country, it will help the people greatly.”
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