Once upon a time there was a king who could only rule the air in his tummy. Now he ruled very badly, you see, but he was surrounded by ministers and councillors who passed the time telling him how everything was going well and the people were very happy with his rule. One day, to find out once and for all whether his ministers and councillors were telling him the truth, the king put on the rags of a beggar and went out into the kingdom to ask the people, “Are you happy with our king?”
And people all answered, “Happy? And who can be happy, when our king’s a lazybones and a thief?”
“What about his ministers?”
“Windbags!”
“His councillors?”
“Boot-lickers!”
The beggar-king didn’t want to believe what he heard. But wherever he went the answers were the same. So he returned very disappointed.
As he was approaching his palace, he met an old peasant, bent with age and weariness, tilling the earth. This man, who recognized the king despite his beggar disguise, said right away, “God keep Your Majesty for many years!”
The king, amazed by such praise, asked him, “My good man, I’ve just been walking through the kingdom where everyone says the king is a shiftless thief, and now you compliment me in this way? Does that mean that you at least are happy with my rule?”
The old man answered, “I know Your Majesty too well to complain! For I knew your grandfather, who was evil as the vipers! And I knew your father, who was wicked as the Devil. And as I now know Your Majesty, bad as both of them combined, I’m sure that whoever comes next will be even worse. Therefore, may God keep you alive for many years!”
The king returned to his palace to consider the old man’s wise words and quickly realized that after all, they were the voice of truth and good sense. He couldn’t see any hypocrisy or dishonesty in them. So a few days later he called him in and named him his new adviser, and dismissed all the others.
And today, according to the one who tells this story, he’s still there ruling the air in his tummy. But now he’s no longer surrounded by the people who deceived him...
No comments:
Post a Comment