It is better that I learn to love…

“The King’s Story

There once was a king who had three sons. The first was handsome and very popular. When he was twenty-one, his father built a palace in the city for him to live in. The second son was very intelligent and also popular. When he became twenty-one, his father built a second palace in the city for him. The third son was neither handsome nor intelligent, and was unfriendly and unpopular. When he was twenty-one, the king’s councillors said: ‘There is no more room in the city. Have a palace built outside the city for your son. You can have it built so it will be strong. You can send some guards to prevent it being attacked by the ruffians who live outside the walls.’ So the king built such a palace, and sent a few soldiers to protect it.

A year later, the son sent a message to his father. ‘I cannot live here. The ruffians are too strong’. So the councillors said ‘Build another palace, bigger and stronger, twenty miles away from the city and the ruffians. With more soldiers, it will easily withstand attacks from the tribes that pass that way’. So the king built such a palace, and sent 100 soldiers to protect it. 

A year later, a message came from the son. ‘I cannot live here. The tribes are too strong’. So the councillors said: ‘Build a castle, a large castle, one hundred miles away. It will be big enough to house 500 soldiers, and strong enough to withstand attacks from the peoples that live over the border. So the king built such a castle, and sent five hundred of his soldiers to protect it.

But a year later, the son sent another message to the king. ‘Father, the attacks of the neighbouring peoples are too strong. They have attacked twice, and if they come a third time I fear for my life and the life of your soldiers’. 

And the king said to his councillors. ‘Let him come home and he can live in the palace with me. For it is better that I learn to love my son than that I should spend all the gold of my kingdom keeping him at a distance’.”