“Deception is a necessary skill of state craft”, said the guru to the young princes, his students, “but for it to be successful it has to be practiced as an art form, it must be planned such that not even God knows what you are doing.” Surely all is fair in love and war. And after all what could go wrong! A wonderful old story from the Hitupdesh, a 2nd century text written to teach young princes how to rule a kingdom both in times of war and in times of peace. This story has been adapted from "The Blue Lotus", an anthology of Indian myths, published by Aleph India. Follow me on Instagram @seemaanandstorytelling Music by Merlin D’Souza @musicbymerlin Supported by ECDP @essexcdp Supported by Active Essex @active_essex Artwork by @rsdcreative