One eastern ruler wanted to know the whole history of mankind. The sage brought him five hundred volumes. Busy with state affairs, the king sent him away, ordering him to present all this in a more concise form.
Twenty years later the sage returned: the history of mankind now occupied only fifty volumes, but the king was already too old to master so many thick books, and again sent the sage away.
Another twenty years passed, and the aged, gray-haired sage brought the ruler a single volume containing all the wisdom of the world that he longed to know. But the king was on his deathbed, and he did not have time left to read even this one book.
Then the sage told him the history of mankind in one line, and it read: “Man is born, suffers and dies.”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru