Once there was a fair king who had three daughters he loved dearly. One day, wanting to know how much each of them loved him, he asked, 'How much do you love me?'

The eldest said, 'I love you as I love sugar, Father.' The middle daughter said, 'I love you as I love honey.' But the youngest answered honestly, 'I love you, Father, as I love salt.'

The king grew angry at his youngest daughter's answer, thinking she meant her love was plain and worthless, since to him salt seemed like an ordinary, simple thing. He ordered her sent away from the palace to live a simple life far from him.

Time passed, and the king held a grand feast, ordering his cooks to prepare the finest dishes. As it happened, his youngest daughter, in disguise, was working in the palace kitchen that day — and she cooked every dish without a single grain of salt.

The king and his guests sat down to eat, but despite how grand the food looked, it had no taste at all, and no one could swallow a single bite. Suddenly the king understood the true value of salt: plain and simple in appearance, yet without it, everything loses its goodness.

The king asked to see the cook, and his youngest daughter stepped forward. He embraced her with tears of joy and apologized, finally understanding that her simple, honest love had been more precious than any sweet words. From then on, the family lived together in love and harmony.

The Lesson: Simple, honest love is worth more than sweet flattery — true value is rarely about pleasing appearances.