<h3><SPAN name="chap152"></SPAN>152 The Shepherd Boy</h3>
<p>There was once on a time a shepherd boy whose fame spread far and wide because
of the wise answers which he gave to every question. The King of the country
heard of it likewise, but did not believe it, and sent for the boy. Then he
said to him, “If thou canst give me an answer to three questions which I
will ask thee, I will look on thee as my own child, and thou shalt dwell with
me in my royal palace.” The boy said, “What are the three
questions?” The King said, “The first is, how many drops of water
are there in the ocean?” The shepherd boy answered, “Lord King, if
you will have all the rivers on earth dammed up so that not a single drop runs
from them into the sea until I have counted it, I will tell you how many drops
there are in the sea.” The King said, “The next question is, how
many stars are there in the sky?” The shepherd boy said, “Give me a
great sheet of white paper,” and then he made so many fine points on it
with a pen that they could scarcely be seen, and it was all but impossible to
count them; any one who looked at them would have lost his sight. Then he said,
“There are as many stars in the sky as there are points on the paper;
just count them.” But no one was able to do it. The King said, “The
third question is, how many seconds of time are there in eternity.” Then
said the shepherd boy, “In Lower Pomerania is the Diamond Mountain, which
is two miles and a half high, two miles and a half wide, and two miles and a
half in depth; every hundred years a little bird comes and sharpens its beak on
it, and when the whole mountain is worn away by this, then the first second of
eternity will be over.”</p>
<p>The King said, “Thou hast answered the three questions like a wise man,
and shalt henceforth dwell with me in my royal palace, and I will regard thee
as my own child.”</p>
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