"The Three Questions"

 

LEO TOLSTOY

Once a certain king had an idea. If he always knew the right time to begin everything, if he knew who were the right people to listen to and who to avoid the most important thing to do, he would never fail in anything that he would undertake and above all, if he always knew what was the most undertake. Since he was convinced that he was right in thinking this way, he had a proclamation made in his kingdom. He would give a great reward to anyone who would teach him what the right time was for every action, who the most necessary people were, and how he might know the most important thing to do.

Many learned people came to the court but they all gave different answers. In reply to the first question, some said that to know the right time for every action, one must draw up in advance a table of days, months and years, and must live strictly according to it. Others declared that it was impossible to decide beforehand the right time for every action; but that, not letting oneself be absorbed in idle pastimes, one should always attend to all that was going on, and then do that was most essential. Yet others said that it was impossible for one man to decide correctly the right time for every action and that the king should, instead, have a council of wise people, who would help him to fix the proper time for everything.

Equally varied were the answers to the second question. Some said the people the king most needed were his councillors; others the priests; others the doctors while some said the warriors were the most necessary.

To the third question about what was the most important occupation, some replied that the most important thing in the world was science. Others said it was skill in warfare; and others, again, that it was religious worship. The king was convinced by none of these answers and gave the reward to none.

 He decided, instead to go to a hermit who was widely renowned for his wisdom. The hermit lived in a small hut in a forest which he never left. He spoke only to common folk. So the king put on simple clothes and approaching the hermit’s cell, dismounted his horse and left his bodyguard behind.

When the king arrived, the hermit was digging the ground in front of his hut. He greeted the king but went on digging. The hermit was frail and weak, and each time he struck the ground with the spade and turned over a little earth, he breathed heavily. The king went up to him and said, “I have come to you, wise hermit, to ask you to answer three questions-How can I learn to do the right thing at the right time ? Who are the people I most need, and to whom should I, therefore, pay most attention? And what affairs are the most important and need my first attention?”

The hermit listened to the king but said nothing. He just spat on his hand and resumed digging. The king watched in silence for a while. Then, feeling sorry for the hermit, he said, “You are tired, let me take the spade and work a while for you.” The hermit silently handed over the spade and sat down on the ground. When he had dug two beds, the king stopped and repeated his questions. The hermit again gave no answer, but rose, stretched out his hand for the spade, and said, “Now rest a while and let me work a bit”. But the king did not give him the spade and continued to dig.

One hour passed and another. The sun began to sink behind the trees and the king at last stuck the spade into the ground and said, “I came to you, wise one, for an answer to my questions. If you can give me none, please say so, and I will go home”. “Here comes someone running,” said the hermit, “let us see who it is.”

The king turned round and saw a bearded man come running out of the forest. The man held his hands pressed against his stomach, and blood was flowing from under them. When he reached the king, he fainted and fell to the ground, moaning feebly. The king and the hermit unfastened the man’s clothing. There was a large wound in his stomach. The king washed it as well as he could, and bandaged it with his handkerchief and a towel the hermit had. But the blood would not stop flowing, and the king again and again removed the bandage soaked with warm blood and washed and rebandaged the wound. When at last the blood stopped flowing, the man revived and asked for something to drink. The king brought some fresh water and gave it to him.

Meanwhile the sun had set and it had become cool. So the king, with the hermit’s help, carried the wounded man into the hut. The man lay there quietly with his eyes closed. By now, the king was so tired after his walk and the work he had done, that he lay down himself and also fell asleep. When he awoke in the morning, it took his some time to remember where he was and who was the strange bearded man lying by his side and gazing intently at him. “Forgive me !” said the bearded man in a weak voice, when he saw that the king was awake and was looking at him. ‘‘I do not know you, and I’ve nothing to forgive you for,” said the king.

“You do not know me, but I know you. I am that enemy of yours who swore to revenge himself on you because you executed his brother and seized his property. I knew you had gone alone to see the hermit, and I resolved to kill you on your way back. But the day passed and you did not return. So I came out of my ambush to find you. Your bodyguards recognised me and wounded me. I escaped from them but would have bled to death had you not dressed my wound. I wished to kill you but you have saved my life. Now if I live, and if you wish it, I’ll serve you all my life.”

The king was very glad to have made peace with an enemy so easily and to have gained him for a friend. He not only forgave him but said he would send his men and his own physician to attend to him. The king then took leave of him and went out of the hut to look for the hermit. Before going away he wished once more to beg for an answer to the questions he had  asked. The hermit was outside, on his knees, sowing seeds in the beds that had been dug the day before.

 The king approached him and said, “For the last time, I pray you to answer my questions, wise man.” 

“You have already been answered!” said the hermit still crouching on his thin legs and looking up at the king who stood before him.

“What do you mean?” asked the king. “Do you not see ?” replied the hermit. “If you’d not pitied my weakness yesterday and stayed to dig these beds for me, you would have gone back and been killed by that man. So the most important time was when you were digging the beds, and I was the most important man and to do me good was your most important business. Afterwards, the most important time was when you were attending to that man, for if you’d not bound his wounds, he would have died without having made peace with you. So he was the most important man and what you did for him was your most important business. Remember then, there is only one time that is important-now! It is the most important time because it’s the only time when we have any power. The most necessary person is the one with whom you are, for you do not know whether you will ever have dealings with anyone else; and the most important thing is to do this person good, because for that purpose alone were you sent into this life !”