The King and the Lifestyles

Here’s a little story I read somewhere once:

Two friends grew up in the same village. When they were adults, one went to the King’s court and lived an extravagant but stressful life there. The other went deeper into the countryside and lived a simple life, subsisting on the minimum. Years later, the royal courtier happened to visit his old friend in the countryside. Dismayed to see how poor he was in comparison to those at the King’s court, he said to his old friend “If you could just learn to obey the King, then you wouldn’t have to live like this.” The friend who lived the simple life replied, “If you could just learn to live like this, then you wouldn’t have to obey the King”.

I can’t find the source of the story now. In some versions “living like this” is described as “eating beans and rice”.

There are many insights in the story. It relates to finances in that it demonstrates how the link between wealth and happiness can be inverted. It also highlights an important aspect of frugality, which is that learning to live with fewer material things makes you wealthier in the most important sense. Those who can live on less have more freedom than those who feel the need for more. What is the point of wealth if it does not buy you freedom?