| Prince Charming
Once there was a prince who was very charming and handsome. Whenever an outsider came to his palace he would ask him, "Have you ever seen anyone as handsome as me?” and everyone used to reply “No”. One day an obsequious traveler came to meet him. When the prince asked him the same question then he replied, "I don't think there could be anyone in the whole world as good-looking as you. I don't think even a god could be as handsome."
This made the prince very happy and he went around telling everyone that he was more handsome than the god. One day two visitors came in his palace and they who introduced themselves as gods. "We have come to see if you are as handsome as you claim," said one of them.
So the prince asked them, “Don’t you think I am the most handsome person in this whole world”. So one of them again replied that "We visited you earlier in the day when you were asleep". "You were more handsome then you are now."
"How could my looks decline within a few hours?" said the prince angrily. He quickly called his servants and asked them "Did I look better in the morning". So the servants replied "You looked the same".
"We are gods," said one of the visitors. "We can see what your servants cannot. Their vision is imperfect and we'll prove it to you. Just get me a bowl of water."
The servants brought them a bowl of water. The god asked the servants to study it closely and then asked to leave the room. When they were gone, he removed half a spoonful of water from the bowl and asked the prince to call his servants back. The gods asked the servants, "Is there any change in the bowl of water”? The servants replied no as they couldn’t find any change.
One of the Gods then explained the prince that just as your servants did not know about the water which was removed from the bowl. In the same way they do not that your beauty has deteriorated. The prince was shaken. He thought, "My beauty is diminishing day by day. Why am I besotted by something so fleeting? I should concern myself with that which is eternal." So he never again looked into a mirror and in course of time renounced his throne and became a monk.
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