We Three Kings of the Orient Are

From the days of kings and queens in the East come these tales of old:

Once upon a time there was a king who felt that, as he was getting on in years, he should have a successor --someone who would be king after he was gone. He had a daughter who was still unmarried. But in that kingdom there was a law that women could not inherit the throne. Now the king enjoyed his position and was in fact quite attached to the business of ruling, and the people knew this; so they were surprised when a royal edict was sent around that if any nobleman would come and teach the king how to cook rice, he would have the princess in marriage and half the kingdom to rule. If, however, the candidate should fail, he was to leave the palace in disgrace.

The princess was attractive enough, and many a nobleman came to the palace to claim the reward, convinced that it would be easy to teach the king to cook rice. But after each lesson, His Majesty would make the attempt to cook rice --and fail. All of the suitors went away in severe disgrace.

Such is the grip of power, as we see in this king's attachment to his rule. Can you ever teach something to one who refuses to learn?

The next king was one who loved food. He had a superb chef, imported from a foreign country. This was a modest man who did his very best to cook to the king's taste; he would see that the first fruits of the orchard and first produce from the garden were carried to the king for his tasting. He would question the butlers and maids to find out how his dishes had been liked at the royal table. So pleased was His Majesty with the royal fare, that one day, in a capricious and extravagant mood he called his chef to the throne room, and to show his royal favor, he asked him to come up and sit beside him on the throne.

"How could I ever do such a thing?" said the cook, astonished.

"Come, sit beside me," said the king, "there is no harm in that; you and I are the same; each is great in his own field."

The man was rather old and it was not long before he died and a new chef had to be found. This one also tried to please the king and take the place of the old one. But he was a totally different kind of man. He told the king that he must have full sway over the royal kitchen: whatever menu he proposed, whatever ingredients he demanded, whatever seasonings he added --these were not to be questioned. Nearly everyone in the palace was frightened of him, but what could anyone do? His cooking was good.

But power corrupts and goes to our head. Having heard that his predecessor had sat beside the king, the new chef finally decided it was his turn and, bursting into the throne room one day, just went up and sat on the throne with the king.

You know the rest: the king and his courtiers, crying, "Madman!" threw him out of the palace, bag and baggage.

When Sri Ramakrishna would tell about this, he would add, for his listeners. "you see, if God makes you one with Him, that is one thing; but if you only make yourself great, too bad: the waves belong to the ocean, not the ocean to the waves."

Once there was a king who was going to put to death many people, but before doing so he offered a peculiar challenge. If any one of them could come up with something which would make him happy when he was sad, and sad when he was happy, he would spare their lives.

All night the wise men meditated on the matter. In the morning they brought the king a ring. The king said that he did not see how the ring would serve to make him happy when he was sad and sad when he was happy.

The wise men pointed to what was inscribed on the ring. When the king read it, he was so delighted that he spared them all. What was written there? "This too shall pass away."