the kings nightmare

[desmond dillon]

 

    There was once a rich and powerful king who ruled a large and prosperous kingdom. When threats of invasion from a neighbouring warlike kingdom came to the king, then he was worried.. so worried that he did not sleep well and when he did he had terrible dreams.. One night he had the most dreadful of nightmares and when he woke he was shaking and sweating and most distressed. His deepest fears were made totally real to him in such a way that he no longer knew whether the waking state or the dreaming state was in fact real..

    The not knowing which of the two was the real life began to drive him mad..

    So he consulted his doctors and they suggested asking everyone in the kingdom if they could answer this to the kings satisfaction.

    It was decided to send out a 'Proclamation' throughout the land , towns and villages.. 

    It read::          Anyone who could give the king a satisfactory answer to his query would have a great reward.... but anyone who wasted the kings time would be put in prison.

       

    Nobody turned up and it seemed nobody could answer it.. until one day a fellow showed up who said 'i can answer the kings question!!'  Now everyone gathered in the throne room to see and hear what would happen.. secretly they all wanted to know. The king came in and met the fellow in a packed room. The king sat on his throne and the fellow was obliged to address the king and the court from a high up witness box so everyone could see.. and so they talked back and forth and on and on til most people were falling asleep. The the king couldn't leave it alone because it seemed to him that an answer was nearly there with the fellows explaining and talking.. and so it went on til dawn and at last the king declared how he wasn't completely satisfied and so the fellow went to prison and the king went to bed..

 

    So the fellow had a young boy at home who had been born disabled and needed to be looked after.. he was a bright and clever lad of maybe twelve years who when his mother told him what had become of his father, then the boy began to speak most urgently. He told  her to take him directly to the king and that he would answer his question.. so she did..

    Again the kings court was packed out when the king came and sat on his throne. Mum carried her disabled son  up in the high witness box and everyone laughed... he shouted down to them 'what are you..

are you all leather workers? Do you judge the skin or what is within.?'  and they all shut up.

   So now the king is curious so he says to the boy 'can you show me reality?' and the boy said yes..

 everyone gasps and when the boy asked the king what would be his reward they gasped some more..

   the king replied that he would give the boy anything he wanted if he could answer the big question satisfactorily .. and that if he didn't he would join his father in the clink.  After a bit of thought the lad said ok what he wanted was the kings kingdom.. the king replied that on that basis instead of prison he would lose his head if he failed..and the boy accepted..

   What happened next surprised everyone. The boy said that first both he and the king must be in private and the king said ok.. ' We want to come they all shouted we want to see.' the boy said to them 'when you are prepared then i will show you as well.'  they didn't know what he meant but the king and the boy retired, just the two of them. The king carrying the boy..

   After a long time  the king emerged laughing carrying the boy high in the air and singing ' he's the one .. he's the one.. he's the one who knows.'. and the king was overjoyed..

   The boy , his mum  and the fellow his dad,  went back to their village to continue with their peaceful lives.......

   

 

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[desmond dillon]

.. the boy was gifted the ability to enable the king to know that neither waking or sleeping is the nature of reality. Because he was also able to show the king how it is possible to perceive reality directly within the human frame..