by:  Unknown Author

The Master set out on a journey with one of his disciples. At the outskirts of the village they ran into the governor, who, mistakenly thinking they had come to welcome him to the village, said, "You really didn't have to go to all this trouble to welcome me."

"You are mistaken, your highness," said the disciple. "We're on a journey, but had we known you were coming we would have gone to even greater pains to welcome you."

The Master did not say a word. Toward evening he said, "Did you have to tell him that we had not come to welcome him? Did you see how foolish he felt?"

"But had we not told him the truth, would we not have been guilty of deceiving him?"

"We would not have deceived him at all," said the Master. "He would have deceived himself."

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