After a loooong absence, I felt I'd ease myself back to this blogosphere with a short tale I heard the other day. It is based on some old North African oral tale that really caught my attention.
There was once a King who had a fiercely loyal Prime Minister. He however was a "Yes" man, and all his responses to the Kings queries would be..."it is ok". For some time, the king was ok, with him , but he started getting worried that he was not getting objective advice from his Prime Minister. The King I presume would have wanted someone to challenge him when he was wrong and to tell him "No" when need be.
As it goes, the king one day got involved in a hunting accident and got injured really bad, leaving him with a huge scar on his leg that gave him some sort of limp. As usual the king asked Mr.Prime Minister..."How do I look?".....
"You look ok", came the almost mechanical reply.
The King was furious! He felt the Prime Minister was being insensitive and rude. Without giving him a chance to explain himself, he tossed him into the deepest darkest dungeon.
After about 3 months, the King decided to go on a voyage. he gathered his troops and with a convoy of ships, went out to sea. He had many an adventure and on one occasion he got to some island where he took the boat and with three bodyguards rowed to the shore ready to explore. No sooner had he landed than he was attacked by the natives who for some unexplained reason had been timing him to get to the shore to attack. They killed his bodyguards, and before his other men could react, quickly spirited him into the hinterland, a thick jungle where they literally vanished. His soldiers searched for him but could not find him.
Meanwhile, the King was taken into a cage and surrounded by the natives. As is custom to them, they were going to sacrifice him to their gods for favours. he could not understand their language, but any idiot would have made out what they meant from their gestures and the fire that was being stoked. Skeletons of other humans that lay around the sacrificial furnace bore testimony to what was about to befall him. These are the times when you cannot even gather enough strength to cry if you wanted, so he resigned to his fate.
The head cook...or let's call him the High priest dragged the King from his cage still with his hands and feet bound. He prepared his tools of trade (trust me you don't want me to describe them!) and prepared to have the king examined. He took a look at him, spat and cut off the ropes that he had been bound with releasing him to go. The King was perplexed, but he was not going to wait for the Priest to change his mind. He found out that the sacrifice had to be unblemished, and his scar from his hunting trip years back was not acceptable on a sacrifice by his captors. He took off like a bullet daring not to look back as he scattered into the jungle not even sure of where he was going.
From some series of fortunate events, he bumped into his soldiers while running away from what would have been his obvious demise. He went back home and ordered the Prime Minister to be released.
"You were right my friend", he told his Prime Minister, "the scar was actually ok...it saved my life!".
Then he sought to find out how he fared in the dungeons, guilty of what he had subjected him to.
"It was ok", the PM answered him.
The King was confused, but not to make the same mistake again, he sought to find out why his PM reasoned so.
"Well sire", he went on, "had I not been in the dungeons, I would have most certainly been with you when you were captured...and considering I have no scars......"
The King smiled...Now he knew he had one wise aide by his side
Moral of the story.....I think you can fill the void for yourself.
