517. Goodwill Ambassador

"Your Majesty! We have received a message from King Gangavarma" said the Minister.

"What has he written?"

"He says that our troops have been trespassing into his country now and then. He apprehends that we have been planning to invade his country. He has warned us not to take his country lightly thinking that it is a small country. He says that a powerful country is ready to come to the help of his country, in the event of our launching an attack on his country."

"Surprising! Have we not been friendly with him? But, is it true that at times, our troops trespassed into his country?"

"Occasionally, some of our soldiers patrolling our border might have inadvertently crossed the border and stepped into his territory. But there had been no deliberate trespassing by our troops."

"Of late, Gangavarma has been getting closer to the King of Salva. I think that the King of Salva has been planting wrong ideas about us in the minds of Gangavarma and attempting to portray as potential aggressors, who would end up annexing Gangavarma's country. His intention is to provoke a war between our two countries, so that he could intervene in the guise of helping Gangavarma and capture some of our territories in the process. What do you think we should do to dispel the apprehensions of Gangavarma?" asked the King.  

"We can send a Goodwill Ambassador to Gangavarma and convey our good intentions to him. If he is still not convinced of our good intentions, we should be prepared for a war" said the Minister.

"It is a good idea. Whom should we send as the ambassador?"

"We can send our Army General. He is a person who will be able to communicate our position clearly and firmly. Through him, we could communicate our goodwill as well as our warning to Gangavarma."

The King thought for a while and said, "What if we send our Court Poet?"

"Your Majesty! Our Court Poet may not be well versed in politics and in matters relating to the issues between our two countries. I am not sure whether he will be able to convey our position clearly to Gangavarma" said the Minister, reluctantly countering the King's suggestion.

"You may brief him about what message he should convey. Since Gangavarma has already been nurturing suspicions about our intentions, sending our Army General as our messenger may send wrong signals to him. On the other hand, sending our Court Poet will be seen as a sign of our goodwill.

"Gangavarma is inclined towards appreciation of arts and literature. Our poet will be able to converse with Gangavarma on topics of his interest and establish a good rapport with him. It will help our poet in communicating our message to Gangavarma in a friendly way. Our poet will also be able to interact with the poets and scholars in Gangavarma's court. This can create an atmosphere for friendship between our two countries.

"Our Court Poet has a nature of using sweet words while talking to people. And he has a sense of humour. I think these qualities will bring success to his mission. What do you think?"

The Minister nodded his head, conveying his agreement with the King's suggestion.

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 52
Assessing Before Acting

Verse 517 (in Tamil):

idhanai ivanAl mudikkum enRu Ayndhu
adhanai avan kaN vidal.

Meaning:

Assess and choose the person capable of doing a particular task and leave that task to him.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'nalleNNath thUdhar' by the same author.)

Verse 518
Verse 516