A gift of water (Persia 400 BCE)

From: Aelian’s Various Histories, a Greek collection of ancient anecdotes.

The sun was already high when Sinetes stepped down to the river. The royal procession had been approaching for days, and every villager was expected to offer something to the king. Farmers had brought goats. Merchants carried woven cloth and dried fruit. But Sinetes had nothing.

He knelt by the River Cyrus, dipped his hands into the cold water, and filled a small clay cup. It was clear and clean, and it was all he had.

When King Artaxerxes arrived, seated high on his horse and surrounded by his court, the crowd stepped forward with their gifts. Sinetes waited his turn. When he approached the king, he bowed low and held out the cup.

This is water from the Cyrus, he said. I have nothing else, but I give you what I can.

The king looked at the cup, then at the man’s face. He accepted it with both hands and drank. It is the best gift I have received today, he said.

That evening, the king’s men returned to the village. They brought Sinetes a cloak embroidered with gold, a goblet fit for a noble, and a pouch filled with coins.

Not because he gave much, the messengers said, but because he gave honestly, and from his heart.

The river flowed on, unchanged. But from that day, people told the story of how a poor man gave a king a drink of water and was remembered not for what he lacked, but for what he offered.