Offered anything he wished, the wise man said “Take a chessboard. Place one grain of rice on the first square. Then two, four, and so on. I ask merely this.”
The Emperor stared. “Seriously?”
“You may not find it so easy, Sire.”
“No, I get that, I know how big numbers work. But… I’ve got gold. Jade. Virgins. You could have anything, but you want something impossible. In rice. Well, your call.”
At a wave, his servants fetched 50 large sacks.
“Ah, even here there will not be enough grains…”
“Prove it,” the Emperor said. “Count ‘em. I can wait.”
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