When King Bhoja reached once more for the throne, the sixth statuette laughed like a string of little bells. "O King, men count what they get. Vikramaditya counted only what he could give. Listen!"
And she told this tale. Once Vikramaditya performed a great sea-worship on the shore, and the god of the ocean, pleased, rose from the waves in a robe of foam. "King of Ujjain," he said, "your fame is salt in every wind that crosses my waters. Take these." And he laid in the king's palm four gems, each blazing with a different fire. "The first gives gold and wealth without end. The second raises armies at a wish — no enemy can stand before its keeper. The third pours forth food and drink of every kind, enough for a kingdom's feasts. The fourth grants garments, jewels and every beautiful thing. Keep them, and no want shall ever find you."
On the road home, an old brahmin stopped the royal procession and blessed the king. "Maharaj, my family starves. Grant me something from your journey." "Choose, then," said Vikramaditya kindly, showing the four gems and telling their powers. "Whichever you wish is yours." The brahmin hurried home to consult his family — and a storm broke out under the little roof. "The wealth-gem!" said his son. "Gold buys all the rest." "The food-gem!" cried the old wife. "Can you eat gold when famine comes?" "The army-gem," insisted the daughter-in-law, "for what use are gold and grain that a strong thief can carry away?" And the old man himself secretly longed for fine clothes for his ragged grandchildren. Night fell and no choice was made; in the morning the brahmin returned with a heavy heart, and confessed, "Maharaj, we cannot choose. Each of us hungers for a different gem, and I cannot fill one bowl by breaking three hearts."
Vikramaditya smiled — and poured all four gems into the astonished brahmin's shawl. "Then let no heart in your house be broken," he said, and rode on.
"Four treasures of the sea, given away as lightly as four flowers," said the statuette. "Could you do it, O Bhoja? Then rise and sit." And King Bhoja silently descended the steps.