King's Portrait, story about Jewish wisdom

by: David Zephaniah

The competition

A king in the ancient kingdom of Anatolia desired his portrait to be drawn by the best painters in the land. For that reason he initiated a painters competition and invited all the famous painters in the kingdom. 21 most famous painters showed up to honour the king. At that same evening, the king gathered them in the designated hall and commanded them to paint his portrait, posing in festive robes and holding a fruit basket in his hand. They were supposed to be served with the best food from king's pantry and best wine from king’s wine cellar.

The king told them that the painter with the most realistic portrait will get a prize of 100 gold coins. They had 3 days to draw the portrait.
All the painters rejoiced for the great opportunity to serve the king and to prove their talents. They went to work for 3 days and made their best efforts. When the three days were over, the king came to the competition hall to inspect the portraits. All 21 portraits were extremely beautiful and realistic. The king was very satisfied with the results. He was in a great mood. He stopped for long minutes next to every one of them to inspect them carefully. He was very proud that his kingdom had such a great and talented painters. However, he had to select the best one.
Out of 21 portraits, one was clearly standing out. The painting was painted by artist named Rover from northern mountainous region. It was extremely realistic. Looking at the portrait, the king felt that he is looking at his reflection in a mirror. He proceeded to choose it as a winner of the competition. He dismissed all the other painters, paying them 20 gold coins each for their effort.
At that time he invited the winning artist to stay at the palace for an additional week, as an additional reward, and appointed him a crew of servants and maidservants in order to make his stay pleasurable.

The proposition

The next day, at breakfast, he called the painter to join him as a honorary guest. Once the painter was brought in, he said, “Rover, I thank you, again, for the great portrait. However, I have another challenge for you before I pay you”. The painter bowed down and said, “Your royalty. My destiny is in your hands. Your request is my command. Anyway, I’m up to the challenges.”
The king went on saying, “I think that your portrait is superb. However, I want to make sure that other people think so as well. I cannot count my servant’s opinion at the palace because they are biased. I want to take the portrait and place it in the town centre with the sign. The sign will say, ‘anyone that sees a flaw with the painting, come forward. If you prove so, the king will pay you 30 gold coins.’”
The king waited for a moment, taking a seep of his morning tea, and continued, “The painting will stay at the town centre for a week. If nobody finds a legitimate flaw with it, I will double your pay to 200 gold coins. However if someone finds a flaw or imperfection, your reward will go down to 50 golden coins.”
The painter thought for a moment. He thought to himself that he would be happy even with getting 50 gold coins, because it was a small fortune that would last him a long time. In addition, the prospect of earning 200 gold coins really excited him. He immediately agreed and thanked the king for an additional opportunity.

Wise Jewish Rabbi

The portrait was placed in the towns centre, with the sign, as king has commanded. The whole town and neighbouring villages have heard about the kings quest and competition. They came into town’s centre in scores. Young and old, man and women, wise a simpletons, they all came. They stood in line for long minutes in order to take turn for the portrait inspection. Each of them was given 5 minutes to inspect the portrait closely. King’s representatives were standing by to see who would succeed to find a flaw in the portrait.
Every single person was marvelling at the portrait. You could hear “wow” of amazement every few minutes. People were amazed that since the portrait was extremely realistic, it fooled even the birds who tried to pick at the painted fruit in the basket.
After 5 days and thousands of inspections, nobody was able to find a flaw. The king got the news on the 5th day, and said to himself, “I was right after all. It is a perfect portrait! Only two more days left.”
The artist was waiting anxiously for the results and couldn’t sleep at night. He constantly fantasized about 200 gold coins. They could make him a wealthy person!
On the sixth day, a poor young Rabbi by the name Avram happen to be in town. He didn’t know about the portrait inspecting competition and the huge reward, because he live in a remote small village. The place was so remote that the news usually didn’t reach there.
While passing in the centre of the town, the Rabbi noticed a commotion, and went to check what it was about. Seeing a long line of people, he asked one them, “Good morning. What is going on here?” The old man explained him about the kings competition.
The Rabbi glanced at the portrait from a far and said, “It is obvious that there is a flaw in the portrait!”

The flaw in the portrait

Once the Rabbi said that there is a flaw in the portrait, all the people around sighed. The word spread and reached kings representatives within seconds. They immediately asked that the Rabbi be brought to them.
Everyone was very exited and disappointed. Nobody could understand how the hell the Rabbi could tell that there is a flaw in the portrait from  afar.
Once the Rabbi approached, everyone was silent. King’s head guard asked him directly, “Please speak up. Tell us about the flaw.”
The Rabbi said without hesitation, “Obviously there is a flaw with the painting of the king. If it was perfectly realistic, like the fruits, the birds would never dare to approach it”!
Everyone was amazed. The guards brought the Rabbi to the king, and he rewarded him as he promised. The king was very impressed with the Rabbi. He realized that he was the wisest person in his kingdom. He promptly appointed him as his advisor and gave the Rabbi and his family a residence near the palace.
The moral of the story is that every small detail is important.
*The story is from Talmud, Jewish book of wisdom.

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