Once upon a time there lived a very powerful king. He had everything a person could dream of: a beautiful palace, wealth, power and even health. He had a wife and children, and many servants. All his slightest desires were instantly fulfilled, but this did not bring him joy. Menacing and gloomy, he sat on the throne, trying to understand where such dissatisfaction came from, what was he missing? And then one day he realized that he had no happiness. Calling the court doctor, he said:
- I want to be happy. Make me happy and I will make you rich. And if you don’t fulfill my wish, I’ll order you to cut off your head!
The doctor was at a loss: “What should I do? Nobody knows how to make someone happy, because happiness is an internal state! But the king has gone mad, and you can’t joke with him.”
“I have to think, sir,” answered the doctor, “to look into ancient treatises.” I'll find a solution by morning.
He thought all night, looked through many books, but nothing was reported in the medical literature about happiness. The task was difficult, and he was completely desperate. Finally, in the morning, he found a solution. It's very simple!
“Your Majesty,” he said, “you need to get the shirt of a happy person and wear it, then you will have happiness, and you will know what it is.”
Hearing this, the king was very happy: such a simple remedy! He called the first minister and told him:
- Find a happy person, take his shirt and bring it to me. Hurry up!
The minister came out puzzled. First of all, he went to the richest man and asked him for a shirt, but he replied:
“You can take as many shirts as you like, I don’t mind anything for the king, but I can’t call myself happy.” And thank you for the tip. Now I will also send my servants to look for the happy man.
The minister visited many people, but none of them were happy. Everyone expressed full readiness: “To make our king happy, we will give everything, including shirts!” We will give our lives, but we ourselves are unhappy, so our shirts will not fit.”
The minister was very upset: “What should I do? Trouble has fallen on my head, and now it’s up to me to answer! The doctor cleverly got out of it!” And he felt very unhappy, and was already completely desperate, but someone advised him:
- Don’t be sad, I know one holy man, he must be happy. At night he plays the flute on the river bank. You probably heard him?
“Yes,” answered the minister, “sometimes, in the middle of the night, I was fascinated by wondrous sounds.” Who is this man? How to find it?
- We will find him on the river bank, he comes there every night.
And then at night they came to the river bank. The man played the flute and it was so good! The sounds were filled with such grace that the minister felt completely happy.
- ABOUT! - he exclaimed. - I found the one I need! - And, rushing to the saint, he asked: “Are you happy?”
“Yes,” he answered, “I’m happy, happiness overwhelms me!”
The minister danced with joy and exclaimed:
- Oh, I need your shirt quickly!
But the man did not answer.
- Why are you silent? - asked the minister. - Give me your shirt quickly, the king needs it!
- But this is impossible, I don’t have a shirt. It’s dark and you can’t see that I’m naked,” the musician answered.
- How can you be happy if you don’t even have a shirt? - asked the minister.
“That’s the point,” answered the saint, “I used to be a very rich and self-confident person, but a suffering one.” And life, striking me with blows, cutting off, like a great sculptor, everything unnecessary, created me. And then one day, having lost everything - wealth, self-confidence, and my misfortune - I became free from all this, and even from myself. And then happiness filled me.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru