Long long ago, there lived a king in Southern India. He had a wise minister who would not talk much. Every time when something happened, the minister would offer only one comment “Well, All is for Good”. The king could not understand how the minister could say the same thing for everything, whether a war was lost, whether a war was won, whether there were excessive rains, or a horrible summer or whatever be the reason.

One day, the king accidentally lost his little toe on his left leg in a riding accident. When the minister met the king and came to know of the accident, he said his usual sentence “All is for good.”

The king asked the minister what he meant by saying “All is for Good” when he had lost his toe, but the minister replied with a wide smile and that was it.

One fine day, the king with his men went for hunting in the nearby forests. In those days hunting was a sport for the royal families and kings used to go for hunting camps for days together. The king found a cheetah and started to chase it on his horse. The cheetah went deeper and deeper into the forest and at one time the king lost track of it. He turned around but could not recognise the way he had come. It was getting dark and the sun had set. The king was now separated from his men.

Suddenly he heard the sound of a group, “Hun hunah hun hunah, hun hunahe hun hunah.” The sound was coming closer and from a clearing nearby emerged a group of tribal people wearing animal skins and jewels made of bones and crowns made of feathers. They were carrying a palanquin and suddenly a gruff voice from the palanquin ordered something. The tribals stopped and kept the palanquin down and from the palanquin stepped out a fearful looking man. He pointed at the king and said something in an unknown language. Suddenly the other tribals pounced on the king taking him unawares and tied him up with a rope to a nearby tree.

The king however brave he was, was frightened at heart. He understood from the actions of the tribals that he was going to be sacrificed to their god. The tribals were sharpening their heavy swords and they had lit up the place with fire torches. The place was decorated with wild flowers. They started chanting the same “Hun hunah hun hunah, hun hunahe hun hunah!!”, going around a sacrificial fire that had been created. After a few minutes, the tribal chief ordered his men to untie the king’s ropes. The king was then led near the fire. Just as the two men near the king raised their swords to strike, an old tribal got up and said something for which the tribals responded immediately by putting their swords down and started checking the king’s face, hands and legs. When they found his little toe missing, the tribal gave out a cry and said something. The king understood that they were looking for a perfect human to be sacrificed. Since the king did not have his little toe, he was considered a misfit for sacrifice.

The tribals fell at the feet of the king and escorted him out of the jungle. 

The king thought over the miraculous way he had escaped the sacrifice, thanks to his missing little toe and now he understood why his minister said “ALL IS FOR GOOD”

“All is for Good” smiled the king to himself.