An envoy once visited a neighboring country to promote friendly relations. He brought with him two horses. On the surface, they were presented as gifts, but he had another motive in mind. His true intention was to belittle and bring the host country to submission.
Handing the horses over to the king of that nation, the envoy posed a challenge:
“Please determine which of these two horses is the mother and which is the foal.”
The two horses looked almost identical in size and appearance. The king and his officials were deeply troubled. If they failed to answer correctly, it would bring disgrace to their nation. One of the king’s closest aides returned home that day with a worried expression. When his mother asked what was troubling him, he explained the situation. She calmly reassured him and offered this advice:
“Starve the horses for a day, then offer them horse gruel. One will hurriedly eat it up, while the other will wait and only eat what’s left. The one that waits is surely the mother horse.”
Following his mother’s instructions, the aide successfully identified the mother and the foal. The envoy was so impressed by this wisdom that he returned home in awe, and never again looked down on that country.