Kentucky Folktales: Revealing Stories, Truths, and Outright Lies

The King and His Advisor

tHe King and His advisor There once lived a king. The king had an advisor. Everywhere the king went, his advisor went. Whenever anything happened, the advisor would say, “Your Majesty, everything happens for the good.” The king thought this meant his advisor was incredibly wise. One day, the king and his advisor were walking in the palace gardens . The king spied an especially beautiful rose. He reached out to pick it, and a thorn cut his finger. His finger began to bleed and bleed. The king cried, “Look at this. Who could imagine such a cut from a thorn on a rosebush?” The advisor looked, “Your majesty,” he said, “everything happens for the good.” “What? I cut my finger. I am in pain and all you can say is everything happens for the good. Now that I think about it, I see that is all you ever say. I thought you were wise, but perhaps this is the only thing you know how to say. I order you thrown into the palace dungeon. What do you say about that?” “Your majesty,” said the advisor, “everything happens for the good.” The advisor was thrown into the palace dungeon. A day or so later, the king went hunting. When he was far away from his own lands, he was attacked and seized by people whose ways were quite different from his own. One of the customs of his captors was that of killing prisoners in sacrifice to their gods. When the people saw the king, they said, “Look at him! His clothing is magnificent! Surely he will be a perfect sacrifice for our gods.” They began planning the sacrifice. When all was ready, a final inspection was made of the king’s body, for it was essential that anyone sacrificed to the gods be perfect—no marks, no scars, no blemishes of any kind. When the inspectors found the cut on the king’s finger, they said, “He isn’t perfect! We could never sacrifice him to our gods. Our gods 152 BEYOND KENTUCKY FOLKTALES would be displeased.” They took the king back to where they had captured him and set him free. The king hurried to his own lands. He went straight to his palace, then straight to the palace dungeon. He told his advisor the whole story, “. . . and so, my dear advisor, I now understand why, when I cut my finger, you said, ‘everything happens for the good,’ but I still don’t understand why when I said I was going to throw you into this horrible place, you still said, ‘everything happens for the good.’” The advisor smiled. “Your majesty,” he said, “that’s easy to explain. You see, I go everywhere with you. Had I been with you, I too would have been captured. Your majesty, my body has no marks, no scars, no blemishes of any kind. Me, they would have killed! So, you see your majesty, everything happens for the good!” CoMMentary Sometimes a wonderful story is dropped in a teller’s lap, or in this case, arrives in the mailbox. In 1986, I told stories at Thompson Middle School in Southfield, Michigan. Shortly thereafter, I received a letter from Umang Badhwar, a thirteen-year-old student. In her letter, Umang thanked me for my storytelling, saying, “I really liked the way you drew a picture in my mind by just using words.” Then she added, “Well, see I know this one story called, ‘The King and his Advisor,’ and here’s how it goes: The King and his Advisor Once upon a time there was a king. He was known to be the strongest king in the world. Now, this king had a priest as his advisor. Well one day the king was in his garden admiring his beautiful flowers, when he pricked himself on a rosebush. “Look!” shouted the king, “I just pricked myself on the bush!” “Everything that happens, happens for the good,” answered the advisor . Everytime something bad would happen, this would be his answer. “Shut-up!” shouted the king and demanded that the priest or the advisor be locked up in the chamber. “Do you have anything to say before I lock you up?” questioned the king. “Everything happens for the good,” answered the advisor. the King and His advisor 153 The next day the king went hunting alone deep into the jungle. The king saw a tiger...