Twelfth Tale Of a Master of Prayer #6
As soon as the Master heard this, he realized that this was surely the King’s Warrior. So the Master asked if it were possible to arrange a meeting with the Warrior. The soldier replied, He must be informed.
So the soldier went and informed the Warrior, who ordered that the Master be admitted. When the Master entered, they recognized one another and there was great joy at the boon of their chance meeting. There was great happiness, but also tears, as they remembered the King and his retinue.
The Master and the Warrior began to chat about how they had both arrived there.
The Warrior recalled to the Master how they were all scattered after the great tempest had struck.
When he made his way back from the place he had gone to regain his strength, he found neither King nor retinue.
So he set off and, as he wandered, discovered various traces where he recognized that the King and his retinue had been.
Standing at one such spot, he realized that the King had certainly been there but he could find neither hide nor hair of him.
Similarly, he passed another place where he recognized the Queen surely had been, but he 169 could find no trace of her either.
In this way he discovered places that the King’s retinue had been.
Of you, however, he said to the Master, I never found a trace.
The Master replied, I discovered all the places the retinue had been, including you.
Once I passed a place where I saw the King’s crown, and I realized that the King had most certainly been there.
But I, too, could find neither hide nor hair of him, so I continued on my way.
Then I came to a sea of blood, which I gathered must surely have come from the tears the Queen shed and I recognized that our Queen had surely been there.
But I could find neither hair nor hide of her.
I then came to a sea of milk, which I understood must surely have come from the milk of the Princess whose Child was lost. She expressed her milk, which became this sea of milk.
The Princess had surely been there, but I could find neither hair nor hide of her.
I continued on and spied the golden hair of the Child lying on the ground.
I did not dare take any of it. I knew that surely the Child had been there, but of him I found no trace.
Continuing on my way I came upon a sea of wine.
I knew that this sea had surely flowed from the speech of the Orator who must have let loose a stream of words of consolation for the King and the Queen.
Then he turned and streamed forth words of consolation for the Princess.
And these streams joined to become the sea of wine.
But I could not find him, so I went on my way.
I saw a stone on which was engraved the same diagrams that were on the Yad.
I understood from this that the King’s Sage had surely been here and had engraved the image of the Yad upon the stone. But it was impossible to find him. 170
So onward I went and saw exhibited upon a mountain the golden tablecloths and credenzas and all the King’s treasures. From this I gleaned that the King’s Chamberlain had surely been here, too, but it was impossible to find him.
The Master finished speaking and the Warrior responded, I too passed by all those places.
Indeed, I did take some of our Child’s golden hair.
I took seven hairs of various hues. They are very precious to me.
I sat and took delight in what I could, such as the grass and the beauties of nature until there was nothing left to delight in.
Then I set off again, and when I left that place I forgot my bow there.
The Master interjected, I saw your bow. I knew that it was surely yours, but I could not find you.
The Warrior continued, When I left that place I walked on until I encountered a troop of warriors.
I wandered among them, for I was very hungry and wanted to eat.
As soon as I had intruded on them they instantly made me their king.
Now I am going about conquering the world.
But my true intention is to find our King and his retinue.
The Master inquired of the Warrior what ought to be done about the people of the Nation of Wealth who were so deceived into the lust for money that they ended up with such absurd ideas.
The Warrior answered that he had heard from the King that one can be extricated from all desires, but the one who has fallen into the lust for money can never be so extricated.
So you will never prevail upon them, he said, because it is impossible to extricate them. That said, I also once heard from the King that, indeed, one might be able to free them from the 171 lust for money by following the path towards the sword whence I derive my valour.
The Warrior and the Master sat together for a while.
Remembering the elders who had asked the Master to speak to the Warrior on their behalf, the Master prevailed upon the Warrior to extend his ultimatum before which they would not be harmed, and the Warrior agreed.
The two of them established signals by which one might get news from the other.
Then, the Master left to continue on his way.
As the Master walked back, he noticed a group of people entreating Blessed God and praying while carrying prayer books. He was as startled by them as they were by him. He stood and prayed, and they stood and prayed as well. He then asked them, Who are you?
They replied, When the tempest struck, the world was divided into many different groups.
Some people chose one group, while others chose another.
We decided that the essential goal in life is only to devote oneself eternally to prayer to Blessed God.
We searched and found a master of prayer, and we made him our king.
When the Master heard this he was very pleased because that was his sole desire, too.
So he started to converse with them, showing them his orders of prayers, his prayer books and his other accoutrements of prayer.
When they heard what he had to say their eyes goggled and they saw the greatness of the Master.
They instantly made him their king. Their erstwhile king relinquished his kingship to him for they saw he was a great man.
The Master studied with them and opened their eyes and showed them how to pray to Blessed God.
He turned them into great and utter 172 tzaddikim.
They had been tzaddikim before, for they had been solely devoted to prayer.
But the Master opened their eyes to allow them to become great tzaddikim.
The Master sent a letter to the Warrior, informing him that he had the honour of finding such people as he had wanted and had become their new king.
Meanwhile, the Nation of Wealth continued engaging in their affairs and in their mad forms of worship, sacrificing to their gods (who were wealthy people) and the like.
The ultimatum that the Warrior had set was rapidly approaching and they were very frightened.
They performed their religious rites and offered sacrifices and burned incense and busied themselves with their prayers to their gods.
They seized a minor beast—namely a person who had less money—and offered him as a sacrifice.
They remained of the opinion that they had to follow the original piece of advice that was offered to them, to appeal to the country where everyone was a god.
That country would surely help them because they were all gods.
Thus they did and sent emissaries to that country.
As the emissaries were on their way, they got lost. They spied a man walking along whose walking stick was of greater value than all their gods combined, inlaid as it was with very expensive jewels, making it exceed the wealth of all their gods put together.
If you took the wealth of all their gods and even the gods of the country to which they were headed, that stick was still worth more than all their wealth.
The man was wearing a bejewelled cap, also worth an immense amount of money.
When the emissaries saw the man they instantly fell to the ground, making prostrations and obeisance, because in their misguided belief they held this 173 man to be a god above all other gods.
This man whom they had encountered was the King’s Chamberlain.
The man said to them, You think this is remarkable? Come with me and I will show you some true riches.
He led them up the mountain where the King’s treasure was laid out and showed it all to them.
When they saw it they instantly fell to the ground, making prostrations and obeisance, for he was a god above all their other gods.
But they offered no sacrifice. While according to their misguided opinion he was a god supreme, and they would surely have offered sacrifices to him, the emissaries had been instructed not to offer any sacrifices on the road because they were afraid that should they do so none of them would remain in the end.
The reason being that if one of them should find a treasure on the road, or if another should go into a privy and find a treasure there, they each might sacrifice each of themselves unto the newfound gods, one by one, until none of them would remain.