Hear the unspoken

Many years ago, a wise king set out to teach his son, the crown prince, the wisdom necessary for him to become a great ruler. The king decided to send the prince to the forest for one year. The wise father instructed the prince to return in exactly one year and describe the sounds of the forest.
The dutiful son did accordingly. He went to the forest and listened to all the sounds he could hear. He returned in one year and happily told his father what he had heard: leaves rustling in the wind, leaves falling to the earth, birds singing, bees buzzing, insects whirring and chirping, small and large animals coming and going, water gurgling up from crevices in rocks.
But the king was not pleased. He frowned and admonished his beloved son to go back to the forest and listen to the true sounds of the forest.
The boy sat alone beside the huge trees and lay on the forest grass, pondering over his apparent lack of understanding. After many days and nights, the prince began to sense a strange awareness about him. At least he could return to his father much wiser.
So, the young boy ran home, bursting with the excitement of his new learning. He came to his father and reported that finally he had heard the leaves of the trees awakening in the morning dew, the sounds of the woodland flowers opening and closing, the clamour of all the earth as it bared itself to the warming rays of the noonday sun, the heartbeats of a thousand animals and birds. His father was pleased.
"My son," said the king, "To hear 'the unhearable' is one's best discipline for being a great ruler. The best rulers must hear the unspoken joys and pains of their rulers. It is to hear the obvious and the superficial, the great kingdoms are built only by the hearing the secret sounds of those around you. You have learned well the wisdom of the forest and your lifelong task."