There was once upon a time a shepherd boy whose fame spreadfar and wide because of the wise answers which he gave to everyquestion. The king of the country heard of it likewise, butdid not believe it, and sent for the boy. Then he said tohim, if you can give me an answer to three questions which Iwill ask you, I will look on you as my own child, and you shalldwell with me in my royal palace. The boy said, what are thethree questions. The king said, the first is, how many dropsof water are there in the ocean. The shepherd boy answered, lordking, if you will have all the rivers on earth dammed up so thatnot a single drop runs from them into the sea until I havecounted it, I will tell you how many drops there are in the sea.The king said, the next question is, how many stars are therein the sky. The shepherd boy said, give me a great sheet ofwhite paper, and then he made so many fine points on it with apen that they couldscarcely be seen, and it was all but impossible to count them,any one who looked at them would have lost his sight. Then hesaid, there are as many stars in the sky as there are pointson the paper. Just count them. But no one was able to do it.The king said, the third question is, how many seconds of timeare there in eternity. Then said the shepherd boy, inlower pomerania is the diamond mountain, which is two mileshigh, two miles wide, and two miles deep. Every hundredyears a little bird comes and sharpens its beak on it, andwhen the whole mountain is worn away by this, then the firstsecond of eternity will be over.The king said, you have answered the three questions like awise man, and shall henceforth dwell with me in my royalpalace, and I will regard you as my own child.
YOU ARE READING
Big Book of Ancient Gabanian Fables
SpiritualOften regarded as the most sacred of text from the planet of Gaban, once forbidden to foreigners, translators and the ability to print on text. This is the first translated Copy of the Holy Scriptures from Athenaism, the dominant religion of the pla...
