Whatever happens is good!

I just remembered a story that someone told and thought I would share it with you:

Once upon a time a king and his advisor (a wise man, as advisors normally are:-)) went for a walk through a forest. They were both enjoying the walk up to the moment when the king somehow managed to cut one of his fingers. The finger started to bleed and the king was devastated. Hoping to make the king feel better, the wise man said: “Whatever happens is good!”

Already annoyed with having cut his finger, the last thing the king wanted to hear was that his finger was bleeding for a good reason! He turned around to the wise man and said: “What kind of advisor are you if you see good in my suffering? I don’t think I need such an advisor. Please leave, I don’t need your assistance any longer!”

The wise man shrugged and started to make his way back to the city, leaving the king behind by himself in the middle of the forest. Being convinced he had done just the right thing, the king continued his walk as soon as his finger stopped bleeding. Just around the corner, he came across a few men of the local tribe. Not looking at all like one of them, the king attracted their attention. “So well groomed, clean and fragrant.” – the natives thought – “Let’s catch him and take him to the chief”. A few minutes later, the king found himself to be caught within four arms and screaming at the top of his voice “I am THE KING, let me go!”. However, that wasn’t a language the natives could understand, so he was loosing his voice in vein.

Having been impressed by the latest catch, the chief decided to sacrifice the king to the gods and ordered that the king be tied up and kept until dawn. After a long sleepless night, the king’s hopes for freedom raised when two natives approached him to untie his hands. However, he wouldn’t even have dreamt that he was just being prepared to be sacrificed as an offering to the gods. While they were freeing his hands, one of the natives noticed the cut on the king’s finger and ran to inform the chief. “A cut on his finger?” – the chief yelled – “We can’t offer imperfect beings to our gods. He is no good, let him go!”

Having been freed and having remembered what the wise man said, the king finally understood the goodness behind having a cut on his finger. He ran back to the city without a breath to find the dismissed advisor. “Please forgive me for dismissing you, you are the wisest man I have ever met.” – the king screamed out of happiness when he finally found the wise man - “Please come back to work for me again!”. Having heard the whole story, the wise man answered: “I am so glad you dismissed me then. If I had been caught by the natives with you, I would have been their next choice for the offering after having noticed the cut on your finger, so thank you for saving my life!”