Twelfth Tale Of a Master of Prayer #4
He answered, I myself do not know where he is. Here is the story as to why:
Once there was a King and a Queen who had an only daughter.
When the time came for a marriage to be arranged for her, all the royal counsellors were assembled to advise to whom she should be wed.
I was among them, since I was much loved by the King.
I suggested that she be given to the King’s mighty Warrior.
As he had done numerous favours for us by conquering many countries, it would be fitting to give him the Princess as a bride.
My suggestion delighted the King and all agreed.
There was a great celebration as a husband had been found for the Princess.
The Princess and the Warrior were married and the Princess had a Child.
The Child was an extraordinarily magnificent being, possessing preternatural beauty.
His hair was golden and glittered with an array of colours.
His face beamed like the sun and his eyes like brilliant celestial lights.
He was born with an 158 innate wisdom, and right from his birth it was evident that he was already a great sage.
When anyone said something witty, he knew to laugh.
In other cases, too, he proved to be a great savant, even if he was not yet able to comport himself like an adult, lacking as he did the ability to speak and the like.
But it was immediately evident to all that he was brilliant.
The King had an Orator, who was a master of rhetoric and eloquence.
He declaimed fine speeches and very lovely poetry and paeans for the King.
Although this Orator was already very eloquent, the King showed him a path: the way to obtain exceptional power in the science of oratory.
Following this way, he became the most wonderful Orator.
Moreover, the King had a Sage. The King showed him a path, too: the way to obtain even greater wisdom. Following this way, he became the most exceedingly marvellous Sage.
The mighty Warrior was, likewise, an accomplished soldier in his own right. But the King showed him a path to obtain great might. Following this way, he became the most extraordinary and magnificent Warrior.
Now, there was a sword, suspended in the air.
This sword had three powers: when it was held high, all the battle chiefs would flee and all enemies at war would thereby be easily laid waste.
With the chiefs having fled, their enemies would be left with no one to lead them in battle and would be routed.
Yet, there might remain some who continued to wage war.
However, the sword was double-bladed and each blade had its own unique power.
The swing of one blade brought instant death, while the other delivered a wasting disease to its foes, making them wither and 159 their flesh shrivel, as is the nature of a plague, heaven protect us.
With but a swing of the sword, all enemies are struck down by either sudden death or protracted disease, according to each blade’s power.
The King showed the Warrior his path and, along with it, this sword.
By this way he obtained his great might.
The King showed me the path to obtain my own craft, too. From this path I received all that I needed to further my way of prayer.
The King also had a Favourite, who was much beloved by him and who loved him greatly in return.
So much so, in fact, that they could not spend even an hour outside the other’s company.
Yet, since there are times when they had to be apart, they had portraits painted of the two of them together.
They would take delight in the portraits whenever they could not see one another in the flesh.
These depicted the King and his Favourite loving each other, as they kissed and embraced with great amorousness.
The portraits had a special quality that whoever beheld them was overwhelmed by a feeling of deep affection.
The King’s Favourite obtained his profound love following a path that the King had shown him.
The time came when all of us—including the Orator, the mighty Warrior and the other members of the King’s retinue—went to the places where we received the powers that furthered each of our crafts. Each followed his own path in order to restore his strength.
And it came to pass…
A great gale arose in the world and confounded all in its wake.
The sea was overturned onto dry land and the dry land became as the sea.
Wastelands became fertile plains and fertile plains 160 became wastelands.
The entire world was turned upside down.
The gale blew into the King’s chambers. There it did no damage, but it seized hold of the Princess’s Child.
Amidst the hurly-burly that immediately followed the snatching of her dear Child, the Princess raced after to get him back and she, too, disappeared—whither, no one knew.
So, too, went the Queen, and after her, the King.
Each went chasing after the Child until, at last, they were scattered over the face of the earth.
No one knew where they were, for none of us was there.
We had been at the places where our powers were to be restored, and when we returned, everyone was gone. The Yad, too, had gone missing.
From that moment on, all of us were scattered over the earth, no longer able to find the places to restore our powers as everything had been overturned.
We had to seek new paths now, since we could not make our way to the particular places whence each had once drawn his strength.
Yet the vestiges of that strength remain strong from long ago.
If this Warrior, whom you fear so, is the King’s Warrior, then he is a very mighty warrior indeed.
Thus the Master said to the gathered elders and they were astonished as they listened. The elders compelled the Master to stay and would not allow him to leave, lest the Warrior came to attack, for the Master knew the Warrior well from their time in the King’s retinue.
The mighty Warrior continued his advance towards the Nation of Wealth and to dispatch his messengers as he approached.
He encamped below the city and sent his messengers in to learn whether or not the country would surrender.
The people were 161 terribly afraid and they asked the Master for his advice.
The Master told them that it was necessary for him to observe the manner of this warrior to see if he could recognize whether it was the King’s Warrior.
So the Master went out to meet the Warrior.
He approached his armed guards and began speaking with one of the Warrior’s accompanying warriors in order to ascertain whether this was the mighty Warrior he once knew.
The Master asked, What is it that you do and how is it that you came to be with this mighty Warrior?
The Warrior’s warrior answered, This is the tale that took place:
As it is written in the chronicles, there was a great tempest and this tempest turned the entire world upside down.
The sea was overturned onto dry land and the dry land became as the sea.
Wastelands became fertile plains and the fertile plains became wastelands.
Everything was all mixed up. When all the upheaval was done, the whole world was topsy-turvy.
So the people decided that they needed to appoint a new king to rule.
They deliberated about who would be fit to be their king and they recognized that the principal matter to consider is the true meaning of life.
Whosoever is most devoted to this and applies himself to the ultimate goal of life should be their king.
But they got to thinking, What, then, is the ultimate purpose of living? And among them were several opinions.
Some said that the central purpose could only be honour, for it is clear that honour is essential in this world.
If a man is disrespected, that is, when dishonourable things are said against him, this leads to bloodshed.
So you see, honour is essential for the whole world in that even after death one’s honour is still 162 preserved, conferring respect to the dead and burying him with reverence and the like, all while declaring that such ceremony is performed on your behalf and for your honour.
For although the dead no longer have need of money or surely anything else for that matter, yet one continues to revere the dead and do all one can to preserve their honour.
So, certainly, the main and central principle in the whole world is honour.
Further suppositions and arguments were brought forth, all asserting the premise that honour is the main purpose and principle of all.
At last, some concluded this was so and, to that end, they resolved to find a revered and esteemed man, one who also demanded ever more respect and honour.
For a highly venerated man seeking even more honour only furthers the propensity for honour in the world and demonstrates that his sole purpose is this fundamental principle and its attainment.
Therefore, such a man deserves to be king.
Such was the foolish view held by a group of them, based on such absurd reasoning, and it led them far astray. For this group, honour and respect were the central purpose, while other factions, based on their own foolish ideas, made all sorts of other conclusions.