THE GREAT WORKS OF JEWISH FANTASY AND OCCULT
Compiled, translated and introduced by Joachim Neugroschel
 

A TALE OF A KING AND A WISE MAN
RABBI NAKHMAN OF BRATSLEV

Once there was a king. And the king had a wise man.
Now one day the king said to the wise man:
"Listen, there is a king who claims to be powerful, truthful, and unassuming, that is to say, strong, honest, and meek. He seems to be very powerful, because his country is surrounded by the ocean, and he has a whole fleet of ships with cannon, and his men won't let anyone approach. And between the ocean and the shore, there's a huge swamp all around the country, with only one tiny path leading through it, and wide enough for just one person. And cannon are standing there also. And if anyone tries to wage war against the country, they shoot these cannon at him. So there's no way of getting inland. But what I don't understand is why he claims to be truthful and unassuming. Which is why I want you to bring me a portrait of the king."
Now the king had portraits of all other kings, but he had no portrait of the king he had just been talking about. For this king, who made such claims, was hidden from the world. He always sat behind a curtain and was far removed from his subjects.

And the wise man came to that country.

He realized he had to know the character of that country, the way the people behaved.
And how could he know the character of the country? By finding out the sense of humor of the country. For if you want to understand a thing, you have to understand its sense of humor.
For there are all kinds of senses of humor.
One person, for instance, uses words to get at another person, and when the other person gets annoyed, the first one says: "I'm only joking." Just as the Talmud says: Like someone who shoots arrows into a man's heart and then says, "I'm only joking."
There are people who think they are only joking, but whose words actually injure someone else.
Thus, there are all kinds of senses of humor.

And among all the countries in the world, there is one country that embodies all countries.
And among all the cities in that country, there is one city that embodies all the others.
And among all the houses in that city, there is one house that embodies all the houses of that city that embodies all the cities of that country that embodies all the countries in the world.
And in that house, there is a man that embodies that house.
And he imitates the wit and humor of the whole country.

The wise man took along a great deal of money and went to that house. There he saw that the people were joking and mocking in every way. And seeing these things, he understood that the whole country was full of lies from one end to the other. He saw the way they played tricks on one another, the way they cheated one another in business. The victims of fraud would go to court, but the court was full of lies and bribery. They would appeal to a higher court, but this one too was full of lies.
The people made fun of everything, they joked about everything, they mocked everything.
And the wise man realized, from all this joking, that the whole country was full of lies and deceit, and that there was no truth in it anywhere.
He went out and did business in the country, and let someone deceive him in a deal.
Thereupon, he went to court.
He saw that the judges were full of lies and took bribery. He would bribe them on one day, and the next day they wouldn't recognize him.
So he went to a higher court - and there too he found nothing but lies and graft. Until he came to the senate. But the senate too was full of lies and graft.
So he went to the king himself.
And appearing before the king, he said:
"What sort of people do you rule? Your country is full of lies. From one end to the other; There is no truth in it anywhere."
And he began to tell about the fraudulence of the country.
When the king heard him speak, he bent his ears to the curtain in order to listen closely. For the king was amazed that someone actually knew about the fraudulence of his country.
And the dignitaries of the realm, upon hearing his words, became very angry.
The wise man stood there, counting up all the lies in the country. Then he said:
"People could say that the king is the same way, that he likes falsehood, just as his country does. But in fact, that's how I can tell that you're a truthful man, you're far away from your subjects because you can't bear the lies of your country."
And the wise man grew very fond of the king.
The king, being a very unpretentious man, belittled himself as much as he could because of the great praise that the wise man had bestowed upon him. For such are the ways of a modest man: The more you praise him, the smaller and more modest he becomes.
Unable to control himself, he pulled aside the curtain in order to see the wise man and find out who this person was who knew and understood all these things.
And thus the king's face was revealed.
The wise man saw his face and painted his portrait, and then he brought the portrait back to the king.

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