This too shall pass ...

[Foreword : This is one of my most favourite stories - no, not this one, but the Indian version of it. Gist given in the end.]

One day Solomon decided to humble Benaiah ben Yehoyada, his most trusted minister. He said to him, "Benaiah, there is a certain ring that I want you to bring to me. I wish to wear it for Sukkot which gives you six months to find it."


"If it exists anywhere on earth, your majesty," replied Benaiah, "I will find it and bring it to you, but what makes the ring so special?"

"It has magic powers," answered the king. "If a happy man looks at it, he becomes sad, and if a sad man looks at it, he becomes happy." Solomon knew that no such ring existed in the world, but he wished to give his minister a little taste of humility.

Spring passed and then summer, and still Benaiah had no idea where he could find the ring. On the night before Sukkot, he decided to take a walk in one of he poorest quarters of Jerusalem. He passed by a merchant who had begun to set out the day's wares on a shabby carpet.

"Have you by any chance heard of a magic ring that makes the happy wearer forget his joy and the broken-hearted wearer forget his sorrows?" asked Benaiah.

He watched the grandfather take a plain gold ring from his carpet and engrave something on it. When Benaiah read the words on the ring, his face broke out in a wide smile.


That night the entire city welcomed in the holiday of Sukkot with great festivity. "Well, my friend," said Solomon, "have you found what I sent you after?" All the ministers laughed and Solomon himself smiled.

To everyone's surprise, Benaiah held up a small gold ring and declared, "Here it is, your majesty!" As soon as Solomon read the inscription, the smile vanished from his face. The jeweler had written three Hebrew letters on the gold band: _gimel, zayin, yud_, which began the words "_Gam zeh ya'avor_" -- "This too shall pass."

At that moment Solomon realized that all his wisdom and fabulous wealth and tremendous power were but fleeting things, for one day he would be nothing but dust.

PS : The Indian version goes like this :

King wins a big battle, a huge celebration, asks his ministers to say a few words, when the chief minister gives a paper which says 'this too shall pass'. King angry, throws the CM to jail, goes back to celebrations.

Within few days, the enemy comes back with a bigger army, defeats the king, the king runs for life in a horse, chased by enemies, king reaches a cliff and seems to think that now he is finished, remembers the paper given by the CM, reads it which says 'this too shall pass'.

He slips from the cliff, there is a secret cave below, saved by villagers, recovers, mobilises people, defeats the enemy once again and honours the CM with lot of gold and wealth, when the CM once again says, 'this too shall pass'.

I like the Indian version more - typically like us. Sentimental, dramatic and miracles !

The tale of Echo

A Greek Myth

Hera, the Queen of Mt. Olympus, cast a spell over her servant Echo for talking too much. As a punishment, Echo could henceforth only repeat what someone else said.

Poor Echo! She was in love with handsome Narcissus, and yearned to tell him so! One day Echo saw Narcissus admiring himself in a clear pond.

Looking at his reflection, he vainly said to the face in the water, "I love you."

Echo repeated, "I love you," and meant it. But Narcissus thought it was his reflection that spoke and stood gazing at himself until he died and Hermes led him away to the Land of the Dead. Echo pined for him till she, too, faded away.

All that was left of her was her voice that can still be heard in certain hollow places, senselessly repeating the words of others.

The Honeybee's Sting

A Tale from Ancient Greece

Zeus, the King of Mount. Olympus, was giving out gifts to beasts and birds and insects one day. To his surprise, the little honeybee came before his throne and said, "Of all the gifts you could give to me, only one will do. I'd like the power to inflict great pain whenever I choose to."

"What an awful wish!" said great Zeus, "I will grant it. I hereby give you a sharp sting. But, I'm sure you'll use this weapon carefully in times of anger and strife. You'll only get to use it once, for using it will cost you your life."

And to this day, the little honeybee dies after it stings.

PS : Is it true that the honeybee dies after it stings ?

A Cry for Help

Once upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings lived: Happiness, Sadness, and all of the others, including Love.

One day it was announced to the feelings that the island would sink, so all repaired their boats and left.

Love was the only one who stayed. Love wanted to persevere until the last possible moment.

When the island was almost sinking, Love decided to ask for help.

Richness was passing by Love in a grand boat. Love said, "Richness, can you take me with you?" Richness answered, "No I can't..There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat. There is no place for you here."

Love decided to ask Vanity, who was also passing by in a beautiful vessel, "Vanity, please help me!" "I can't help you Love. You are all wet and might damage my boat," Vanity answered.

Sadness was close by so Love asked for help, "Sadness let me go with you." "Oh...Love, I am so sad that I need to be by myself!"

Happiness passed by Love too, but she was so happy that she did not even hear when Love called her!

Suddenly, there was a voice, "Come Love, I will take you." It was an elder. Love felt so blessed and overjoyed that he even forgot to ask the elder her name.

When they arrived at dry land, the elder went her own way. Love, realizing how much he owed the elder, asked Knowledge, another elder, "Who helped me?"

"It was Time", Knowledge answered.

"Time?" asked Love. "But why did Time help me?

Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom and answered, "Because only Time is capable of understanding how great Love is."

Author : Unknown