King Joy and Secretary Splendour

Splendour, secretary to King Joy and a man who had mastered every branch of scholarship, found himself utterly unable to out-argue one thing: his wife's temper during a quarrel. When she demanded he shave his head and bow at her feet as the price of forgiveness, his devotion to her overruled every ounce of his learning, and he did exactly that.

The very next morning, Splendour appeared before the king in open court, freshly shaved, and King Joy -- unaware his own household held an identical secret -- openly teased him for his strange appearance at such an odd time.

What the king did not yet know was that his own wife had grown just as displeased with him, and would not be appeased by any apology, however sincere. Devoted as Splendour was to his own household peace, so too was the king to his: he agreed to take a bit in his mouth, let his wife ride him like a horse, and neigh on command, simply to win back her favor.

When it was Splendour's turn to see the king in his own moment of comic devotion, the same secretary who had been mocked the day before could only reflect, wryly, that no learning or rank shields anyone from doing foolish things for love.

The story is remembered less as a story with a plot than as a pointed observation, wrapped in humor: brilliance and power both bow, in their own way, to the demands of the heart.