THE WELL

This story was told to me when I was in my early twenties by a Buddhist monk I met in Kajang.

One upon a time there was Kingdom which was ruled by a King. This King took advice from a council of elders on matters. There was one well in the Kingdom which supplied drinking water to all his subjects, including the palace.

One day, he had a terrible nightmare. A witch appeared in his dream and cursed: " From the time of the full moon, all those who drink from the well will become insane".

The next morning, the King related to his advisers his dream. They advised the King to stock up as much water as possible from the well for the needs of the palace before the full moon which was only two days away. So the next two days, as much water as possible from the well was kept in the palace.

As the full moon passed, many subjects became increasingly mad as a result of drinking water from the well. As more and more subjects drank from the well, finally, all his subjects became mad. The only sane ones were the King and all those in his palace.

One day, the King's spy approached the King and informed him that some of his subjects are planning an uprising against the palace. The King was puzzled as he has always been a just King and inquired the reason for the upcoming rebellion. The spy informed him thus:

"O King, the people are saying that you and the palace officials are mad and behave in very odd ways."

The King looked at his advisers and sought their view. The Chief adviser approached the King and said:

"O King! since all the subjects have gone mad from drinking from the well, we seem different to them. The only way to retain their loyalty is for us to drink from the well too."

The King then ordered that everyone, including himself drink from the well. And his Kingdom was saved.

PEACE !