But more than them, the captain of the guards was even more shocked. Others may see this little firecracker as a young child throwing a tantrum, but with his position and the standing of his Patr-dal clan in court, the captain was entirely knowledgeable about this little prince, the youngest child of the late first queen. The eldest prince and heir apparent Vajradhaara was known throughout the nation for his valiance and heroism, but the little prince Vajradandaka is more popular among the ministers, vassal lords and other important personages in the nation. He was known for his wisdom even at his young age. In fact, he had been a near permanent fixture in his father's study since he was six years old!

It was said that the little prince never forgets a single lesson that was ever taught to him. He could recite even in his sleep, the tough verses of the mother language syllable for syllable. Nor would he forget any of the contents of the hundreds of palm leaf books he reads constantly under the guidance of his teachers. His intelligence could make Brahmin pandits raise their hands in defeat when he was just four. By the age of six, he could recite with complete accuracy, the four great Vedas, the source of all wisdom. By seven, he had learning accomplishments in at least six major shastras (sciences) and by eight, he was able to compose his own sutras (formulas, theories or statements) which he introduced to the intellectual community.

Of course, these mental acrobatics and intellectual feats are not what threw the captain's mind into disarray right now. When the prince spoke of true loyalty in a fit of anger, Jeh-shaan couldn't help but tremble because the child's wisdom was recognised even in the royal court! He is only eight this year, but there were already a couple of instances in which the court sought his opinion and in fact implemented the solution that he provided. His own brother Vajradhaara, the heir apparent of the nation had never set foot in court till he was fifteen, despite how well loved he was by the citizens even then.

The first instance in which Prince Vajradandaka advised the court was during the yearly famine that these parts of the land face. That year, the relief that the palace was to provide was not enough for all the provinces. It was a fairly common scenario, yet one that caused the king a headache. Various provincial lords furiously argued over each other's merits for half a day to show themselves more worthy of the grain. When it was clear that a solution will not be found through arguing, the king thought to introduce his clever and cute youngest son in order to alleviate the tension in court, if not anything else. He called for the little prince and asked him to suggest a criterion for which to divide the grain among the provinces. He clearly explained to the child that dividing it equally meant that nobody will get enough, which in turn meant that there will be riots when people fight for what little is there, throwing the entire country into chaos. The prince was only six that year, so even though they understood the king's intentions, the provincial lords and ministers were unhappy with the king for asking a child for his opinion in such a crucial situation. Everybody understood that the argument here was not about the grain or the starving citizens. It was about which lord or minister was dearer to the king. Clearly, in a situation where there is not enough relief to be allocated to all territories, the king must prioritize some over the others, thereby giving the courtiers some insight into the king's thoughts and establishing a new order of dominance! This is what everybody is looking forward to. Not some snot nosed kid showing off what he learnt in the classroom! The men were all tired and hoarse from the heated arguments all day. Nobody was of the mind to praise a little kid for reciting from some conceptual text and acting clever. However, what the prince said next changed everything. The solution he gave was so simple and so cruel, cutting straight to the point like a knife through butter. It caused the provincial lords and vassals, seasoned politicians each to feel flummoxed. Indeed their brains received quite the shock, trying to clutch at straws to launch a comeback.

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Back then, the little prince was said to have put his hands on his hips and laughed as he solved this issue of favoritism for his father in a straightforward manner. 'Isn't this simple? The provinces which provided the most soldiers to the country's army in the last ten years should get most grain. This should be the criterion.'

Although the courtiers were stunned, the king long knew of his son's wits and was doubly satisfied with the solution. With an amused tone, he asked, 'And why should that be?'

If the child answered, 'Because that proves the loyal spirit of the province towards the nation' or 'in recognition of the territory's sacrifice' or something along those lines, the principle can still be argued upon using existing rhetoric. The court is well versed in this. Indeed the ministers were already spinning their next statements in anticipation, thinking that the prince could only rely upon this logic.

This is when the prince showed the brilliance of his wisdom to the world for the first time. His bright eyes like grapes, a laughing mouth that seemed to swallow the world, he answered innocently, "Because soldiers eat more food."

Who can argue with that?

The logic of an innocent child is always ironclad. No adult had ever been able to argue with a child who formulated his own logic.

The entire court was silenced. Only many weeks later would the courtiers slowly remember that wicked glint that passed through the little prince's eyes after the king heartily concurred with his judgment. To his ministers who wanted to cleverly corner him into showing favoritism, he simply easily smiled with the answer, 'It's true. How can we let the families of those iron-blooded men starve, as they protect our arid borders?'