Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1892-07-03

hcuh Problem of State.
About 200 years ago there lived q
Prince Of Mahratfas. In Hindostan,
whose name was Shahsee. Princes are
numerous in India, but this particular |
prince was long remembered ON account |
of his beneficence and great wisdom. |
He seems to have been the most learned |
prince OF the time, and his advice and |
help were always sought in critical mat |
ters. Many stories are told OF his In
genious settlement of difficulties, and
I some OF them are certainly curious
! Once a very high official in the court
of Prince Shahjee made vow that IL he
succeeded in certain enterprise. he
would distribute to the poor OF his dis
trict 1.-THE weight of his own elephant in
silver" Elephants were highly priced
by these princes, and each kept the larg-
est and finest for his own use. The Of
ficial's vow. if hasty. was generous, and
perhaps the success of his undertaking
was worth the price.
The undertaking succeeded; but the
official. willing TO keep his oath, was
met by an unexpected difficulty. There
! was no possible way of finding the ele-
r plants correct weight. No scales in
+ the country were constructed of sutfi-
I Gent power to weigh such enormous
o beasts Elephants were not sold by the
pound, and no need had before arisen
a for scales TO weigh them. All the learned
a and clever men of the court tried in vain
J, to construct machine OF sufficient
y power TO weigh the enormous beast. 1,
did seem probable that the poor Of Hin
: dostan would have TO get along without
d that silver II is possible that the Off
q cial had thought of this objection wher
II he made the VOW Indians are crafty
70 and this one might have been cunning
" enough to leave himself a loophoie Of
,u escape to prevent parting with hi
money.
re But If any such notion had occurred t.
nj him. he was doomed to disappointment
). In the matter. The question was re
ferred 10 Shahiee. rs all such vexatiou
=. questions were. And II did not TAX
n him long to find a very simple solution
~ That is always the way with true genius
- you know. The solution it finds is s
he simple that every one cries out Il
wonder:
w why. Of course, Why didn't some
body speak Of that before?"
ist Shahjee commanded the elephant :
nd be conducted along n platform into
ter fat bottomed boat which lay by tn
-iu water side. When the animal wa
~. safely aboard. he desired the attendant
o,s to mark upon the boats side the exac
height 10 which the water reached whe
=, the elephant weighed 1t down. The
:" the elephant was taken ont and stone
aS substituted, until enough were loade
into the boat to bring it to the sam
'ed water line rs when the elephant was tn
ess passenger.
nat Then the stones were weighed. If Il
[ a scales could not hold all at once, pa
-ib. could he taken at n time, you see. an
so the elephants weight was correct
uscertained. Ii is safe to conclude tn
the poor of Hindostan finally got Il
bh- silver. a prince so wise must have all
Ugh been Just. Whether the official wi
are paid the money was quite satisfied. hi
Sn, tory does not tell us; but we will hop
ms for his charity's sake, he was. and as
,wd full grown elephant weighs several ton
.ter the amount distributed among the po
Nor of the district must have been We
con large. -Harper's Young People