The Honest Man Wins His Case

Two calloused hands cradled a lump of metal, a dull yellow and heavy in the palm, and the man holding it beamed as if he had been handed the whole sky. It was a poor orphan's pay for fifteen years as a hired servant. His rich master had pressed the lump into his hand, called it pure gold, and turned away to hide a smile. It was only fake gold. But the young man believed it was real, believed it to the bottom of his heart.

Vietnamese people have told this tale for generations, and everyone who tells it feels for this guileless young man. The village called him by a teasing nickname, mocking him as slow to understand. But never mind that. Let us call him Thật, a Vietnamese word that means true, or honest, because few people on earth were ever so honest. He believed whatever anyone told him. Whatever anyone asked of him, he did exactly, not a hair more and not a hair less.

Thật wrapped his lump of gold in a bundle and set off for the capital. He planned to trade the gold for a little money and start a small business. After half a morning on the road, he met a friendly merchant. The man turned the gold over and clicked his tongue, as if in pity. The thing was badly tarnished, he said. Better to trade it for a few of his bars of white silver, which shone much brighter. Thật thought this made sense, thanked him warmly, and made the trade. He had no idea the white bars were only lead, worth next to nothing.

A little further on, he met a second man. This one eyed the lead bars and shook his head. Things that heavy would make his shoulders ache, he said. Better to trade them for his bolt of precious silk, light as a feather. Again Thật agreed, thanked him, and traded. Unfolded, that bolt of silk was only a few sheets of coarse paper. But he suspected nothing. He hugged it tight against his chest and walked on.

At a roadside stall, a third man looked at the paper and whispered, as if he were handing over a treasure. Paper blows away in the wind, he said. Better to take this spinning top, a top that could foretell good fortune. The young man's eyes went wide. He traded at once and thanked the man endlessly. It was an ordinary wooden top that sat neatly in his hand, yet he held it as though it were a priceless treasure.

That afternoon, an old man passed by and leaned in to whisper in his ear. Any child has a spinning top, the old man said. But the cloth bag he was holding was something rare. Inside was a precious thing that only the king could own. Thật was so happy his hands shook. He traded the top for the bag and clutched the bag to his chest. He did not dare to peek inside, for fear the treasure might slip away. In truth, the bag held only a little bug, scrabbling about inside.

A while further on, an old woman selling drinks by the road felt sorry for him because he was so trusting. So she gave him a piece of advice to protect himself. "If something of yours is lost in someone's hands," she said, "hold on tight to that person and demand it back. It is only right that they repay you." Thật nodded and memorized every word, as he did with all advice anyone gave him.

Thinking it over and over, he decided that a treasure only the king could own should never be sold. It deserved to be offered to the king himself. So Thật held the bag close and asked his way, step by step, right up to the palace gate.

But he was so ragged that the guards would not let him in. So he stood outside and honestly told anyone who would listen about his fifteen years as a servant and every trade along the way. A high official passing by overheard, and his eyes lit up with greed. In a honeyed voice, he offered to look at the treasure first, as a favor. Offering the king something worthless, he warned, could bring disaster. Trusting as ever, Thật handed over the bag.

The moment the official opened it, the bug inside, as if waiting for just that, shot up into the sky and vanished into the sunlight. The whole courtyard fell silent. Thật panicked, then at once remembered the old woman and her advice. He seized the hem of the official's robe, his eyes brimming with tears, and insisted that the official repay him for his treasure. Guards came to drag him away, but he would not let go. He kept crying out until the palace gate rang with it. The uproar reached deep inside the palace, all the way to the king.

The king had him brought in. Thật knelt and told the story from the beginning, without adding or leaving out a single word. He told of his fifteen years of service, the gold, the silver bars, the bolt of silk, the spinning top, and then the bag. He said he had never wanted to sell anything. With all his heart, he only wanted to offer the king the most precious thing in the world. The whole court listened, half amused and half moved. Here was a man so honest that he had been cheated again and again, and yet his heart stayed perfectly clear.

The king thought for a while, then gave his ruling. The treasure was lost in the official's hands, so the fault did not lie with the man who brought it. The official had opened the bag on his own and let the thing escape, so the official must pay. So the greedy official had to bring out gold, silver and goods to repay Thật in full. He paid for the days Thật had spent walking to the capital, and for all fifteen years of his labor. Fond of this gentle young man, the king also gave him a small post in the region.

The whole court burst out laughing, but it was not mocking laughter. It was laughter of delight, at an honest man without a single trick up his sleeve. He had turned the tables on a greedy cheat simply by doing exactly what he had been told.

Thật went home with real wealth in his hands, not fake gold anymore. On the day he returned, the whole village came out to see him, and those who had once shaken their heads at him now smiled. Little by little, the old teasing nickname slipped away without anyone noticing. The villagers called him only by the one word that had been his from the very start, Thật. And whenever they tell his story to their grandchildren, the village elders laugh, a laugh as gentle as sunshine. Then they quietly tell one another that in this life, honesty never loses for long.