An African king had a close friend with whom he grew up. This friend, when considering any situation that ever happened in his life, be it positive or negative, had a habit of saying: “This is good!”
One day the king was hunting. A friend used to prepare and load guns for the king. Apparently he did something wrong while preparing one of the guns. When the king took the gun from his friend and fired it, his thumb was torn off. Investigating the situation, the friend, as usual, said: “This is good!” To this the king replied: “No, this is not good!” and ordered his friend to be sent to prison.
About a year passed, the king hunted in an area in which he could, in his opinion, be completely fearless. But the cannibals captured him and brought him to their village along with everyone else. They tied his hands, hauled a pile of wood, set up a post and tied the king to the post. As they came closer to light the fire, they noticed that the king was missing a thumb. Because of their superstition, they never ate anyone who had a defect in their body. Having untied the king, they released him.
Returning home, he remembered the incident when he lost his finger, and felt remorse for his treatment of his friend. He immediately went to the prison to talk to him.
“You were right,” he said, “it was good that I was left without a finger.”
And he told everything that had just happened to him.
“I really regret putting you in prison, it was bad of me.”
“No,” said his friend, “that’s good!”
- What are you saying? Is it good that I sent my friend to prison for a whole year?
“If I weren’t in prison, I would be there with you.”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru