Once upon a time there was a man named Ramarao. He worked as a painter and painted beautiful painting which he delivered to shops in many villages.

One day, the king of this country organised a contest. “The person who will paint the most beautiful portray of the king will be awarded a thousand golden coins. All entry should be made by 25th Nove….” This notice was posted in all towns and villages around the country.

As soon as Ramarao saw this, he was very excited of such an opportunity. He went home and told his wife about it. His wife was very happy with his decision and he started his work. Three days were left for him to submit his work, “I’m going to accomplish it tonight itself” He thought as he mixed the different colours together.

Hundreds of paintings have already been submitted on the same day at the palace and Ramarao was going to submit his as he showed his work to his wife.. “Shouldn’t the king be smiling, Ramarao?” asked his wife. “No, the king never smiles… no one has ever seen the king smiling!” replied Ramarao quickly. He looked at his painting again and decided to do another one in which the king is smiling.

Ramarao tried and tried many times… but the king with a smiling face isn’t working, “It doesn’t seem right!” said Ramarao to his wife. “Trust me, it’s quite good… just try to make it a bit more real as you always do” his wife told him encouraging him.

Two days had gone and tomorrow is the competition. The king is going to choose the best painting. And Ramarao hadn’t submitted his yet.

The big day has come where someone will be awarded a thousand golden coins. “Of course it’s going to be the one who is most talented and has put much effort in his work” his wife told him as he left home.

On that day Ramarao went to the palace with his work. Every artist around the country was there waiting for the king to start. The first painting was from a young man. But the king didn’t like the way he was in the portray, so disregarded it. And like this, many came and returned disappointed.

At the end of the contest, the king wasn’t so satisfied with all the paintings. As the last date of submission was yesterday, so it was Ramaraos’ only chance to show his work to the crowd and the king himself.

Everyone was silent when Ramarao showed them the painting. For no one has ever seen the king so happy as in the portray, the whole crowd started to laugh.

Anyways… From that point, Ramarao lost hope… Five minutes later he heard a big loud voice saying “The man who made the king smile gets the thousand golden coins”.