"The king-hermit" 



They told me that in a forest among the mountains lives a young man in
solitude who once was a king of a vast 
country beyond the Two Rivers. And they also said that he, of his own will,
had left his throne and the land of his 
glory and come to dwell in the wilderness. 

And I said, "I would seek that man, and learn the secret of his heart; for he
who renounces a kingdom must needs 
be greater than a kingdom." 

On that very day I went to the forest where he dwells. And I found him
sitting under a white cypress, and in his hand 
a reed as if it were a sceptre. And I greeted him even as I would greet a
king. And he turned to me and said gently, 
"What would you in this forest of serenity? Seek you a lost self in the
green shadows, or is it a home-coming in your twilight?" 

And I answered, "I sought but you -- for I fain would know that which
made you leave a kingdom for a forest." 
And he said, "Brief is my story, for sudden was the bursting of the bubble.
It happened thus: one day as I sat at a 
window in my palace, my chamberlain and an envoy from a foreign land
were walking in my garden. And as they 
approached my window, the lord chamberlain was speaking of himself
and saying, 'I am like the king; I have a thirst 
for strong wine and a hunger for all games of chance. And like my lord
the king I have storms of temper.' And the 
lord chamberlain and the envoy disappeared among the trees. But in a
few minutes they returned, and this time the 
lord chamberlain was speaking of me, and he was saying, 'My lord the
king is like myself -- a good marksman; and 
like me he loves music and bathes thrice a day." 

After a moment he added, "On the eve of that day I left my palace with
but my garment, for I would no longer be 
ruler over those who assume my vices and attribute to me their virtues." 

And I said, "This is indeed a wonder, and passing strange." 

And he said, "Nay, my friend, you knocked at the gate of my silences and
received but a trifle. For who would not 
leave a kingdom for a forest where the seasons sing and dance
ceaselessly? Many are those who have given their 
kingdom for less than solitude and the sweet fellowship of aloneness.
Countless are the eagles who descend from 
the upper air to live with moles that they may know the secrets of the
earth. There are those who renounce the 
kingdom of dreams that they may not seem distant from the dreamless.
And those who renounce the kingdom of 
nakedness and cover their souls that others may not be ashamed in
beholding truth uncovered and beauty unveiled. 
And greater yet than all of these is he who renounces the kingdom of
sorrow that he may not seem proud and vainglorious." 

Then rising he leaned upon his reed and said, "Go now to the great city
and sit at its gate and watch all those who 
enter into it and those who go out. And see that you find him who, though
born a king, is without kingdom; and him 
who though ruled in flesh rules in spirit -- though neither he nor his
subjects know this; abd him also who but seems 
to rule yet is in truth slave of his own slaves." 

After he had said these things he smiled on me, and there were a
thousand dawns upon his lips. Then he turned and 
walked away into the heart of the forest. 

And I returned to the city, and I sat at its gate to watch the passers-by even
as he had told me. And from that day to 
this numberless are the kings whose shadows have passed over me and
few are the subjects over whom my shadow passed.