One day a great pundit came to his palace to visit him. Nasir Uddin happened
to be copying the Koran, and the pundit watched him for some time. At one point
the king stopped writing and started talking to his guest. The pundit said to
him, "Your Majesty, unfortunately you have made a mistake in a word you were
copying."
Nasir Uddin circled the word that the pundit wanted to correct. Then he
erased it and wrote in the word that the pundit suggested. The pundit was
pleased that the king had listened to him. When he left the palace, however, the
king erased the word and replaced it with the word that he had written
originally.
His guards asked him, "Why are you doing that? If it was the right word in
the first place, why did you change it?"
The king answered, "Although I may be king, he is a pundit, and he knows much
more than I do in this field. Unfortunately, he happened to be mistaken in this
case. But had I told him he was wrong, his pride would have been hurt. I wrote
down the incorrect word so that he would not be embarrassed. But I don't want to
leave the wrong word here. If I did, whoever buys this book would have the wrong
version.
"There is no point in hurting people even if you are right. It is nothing for
me to make myself humble, especially when it is a matter of book learning. Had
he advised me about ruling my kingdom, do you think I would have listened to
him? Managing my kingdom is a different story. But it is always good to show
respect for someone's knowledge in their own field."