Once when the famous Konark Sun Temple was being built, the architect, Sibei, wanted to cover a portion of a river with stones for laying the foundation. But everytime he put in stones, it made no difference. He pondered long and hard about the problem, but no solution came to his mind.

He was thinking about this on his way home one day, when an old lady saw him and asked him to share her dinner. Being very tired, he obliged. The old lady gave him a bowl of very hot porridge. He tried to eat it by sticking his finger in and licking it, but only succeeded in burning his finger. On seeing this, the old lady exclaimed that he was as great a fool as the Sibei. Seeing that she had not reognised him as Sibei, he asked her why she said he was a fool.

She said, "Just like you are trying to eat the porridge from the middle, that fool Sibei is trying to fill up the river from the middle. This way, he'll never succeed. The way to do it is to start at the side and slowly fill up the river all the way to the middle. And that is the way you should eat the porridge too."

Sibei saw the wisdom of her words and went back and followed her advice. And thus was laid the foundation for the Sun Temple.