Message from the King

Two servants were sent on a journey to a distant city to deliver an important message from the king. The message had been written on a great, heavy scroll, was sealed with the king's signet, and was sewn inside a simple cloth sack. It was a heavy scroll, and the one carrying the great burden could scarcely walk a mile before it grew too heavy, and he had to give it to the other to carry for a time. So on they journeyed, carrying the heavy scroll.

Their journey took them along a road that wound through a deep, dark wood. As it came to be evening, some of the darkness from the wood stole into their hearts, and they became afraid. As long as they stayed on the road, they felt some measure of comfort, for they could still look up and see the light in the sky.

But as night fell, and the sky grew dark, they desired to build a fire, for the light that it might produce. They found an open place near the road, and, pulling out their flint-stone, set out to look for wood to burn.

But there was no wood to be found lying along the road. They realized that one of them must venture into the darkness to bring back something that might be burned. They looked at each other, both with fear growing inside them, knowing that one must enter the wood.

"Well," one began, "we might enter the wood together, and thus keep each other safe while we search."

"But I think it would be best,” said the other, "if only one of us entered the wood, so that if there should be any danger, the other might escape away safe and deliver the message." The other servant agreed, for they were both loyal to the king.

But alas, which would enter the wood, and which would remain on the road with the scroll? This they discussed until it was very nearly completely dark all around them, and they could not see any light in the sky except what they could imagine in their own minds. And it was a dark night indeed, for there were no stars in the sky, and the moon was in its darkest phase, and was hidden. So dark was the darkness, that they could not even see each other as they talked.
After a time, they stopped talking altogether, and both sat in silence.

The servant with the scroll thought it was very sorry that they had waited so long to gather wood, but he began to imagine passing the night without fire. He thought, "I will sit tightly on this scroll all the night long in the darkness. If we both sit very still, perhaps the danger in the woods will not come near us. And the king will be pleased with our courage."

The other servant, without the scroll, peered into the darkness, his eyes wide. He began to wonder whether his eyes were open or closed. But it was so dark, that the only way he could tell was to reach his hand to his face and feel whether his eye-lids were up or down. "It is just as dark," he reasoned. "whether my eyes are open or closed. Thus, what does it matter whether I am sitting here, or wandering looking for wood? It will be dark either way. Ah, but then, I might get lost if I go wandering." So he set his mind to determining how he might, without the use of his eyes, go and get some firewood, and get safely back again.

"Ah, simple!" he thought out loud, startling the other servant. "I can follow the sound of your voice, and you can lead me back to this spot again!"

"I do not understand you," whispered the servant with the scroll.

"As I see things," he said, smiling to himself at the irony of his words, "it is dark as death whether I sit here, or whether I go out to find something to burn. I would do well to crawl away from here into the woods, and bring back whatever I can find for our fire."
"But how will you know the way?" replied the other.

"I do not need know the way, for I do not know what is out there. But I will know the way back, if only you will answer when I call back to you."

"I will," said the other.

So the servant set out in a certain direction into the woods, crawling slowly, patting the ground with his hands, searching for pieces of wood. As he went along, he was careful to stop every now and again, and call back to his companion, who would respond with a "Hello!" But as he went, all his hands felt was dirt, and occasionally some small growing plants, but no wood on the ground. Finally, he crawled back to where his friend was sitting.

"Let me take the flint-stone with me, for at least that way I can have a moment of light, though small, when the spark flies. And in that way, I might see if there is anything to be had that is very near to me."

The servant sitting on the scroll felt no little discomfort in giving the other servant the flint-stone. For it was the only thing that could produce fire, and if anything should befall the other servant while he was out searching, there would be nothing left but to sit in the darkness all night long. "Ah, but I have resolved myself to that fate anyway," he thought, so he handed the flint-stone to the one going into the woods.

So the wood-seeker crawled away in another direction, striking the flint-stone many times as he went. He found that every third spark was exceedingly bright, and produced the greatest area of light. This puzzled him, but even so, he began to strike it in a quick three-strike pattern, so as to produce that bright spark as often as possible. He found that the harder he struck the stone the third time, the brighter the third spark was.

And so he continued along, but with no success at finding wood. Alas, so great was his focus was on the flint-stone and the third spark, that he forgot to call out to his companion, and ventured far into the woods, beyond the hearing of his companion. So far, that the servant on the road could not even hear the sound of the flint-stone any longer, and fell fast asleep. So far, that even if he had shouted, he would not have woken his companion. But still he did not find anything for a fire.

At last his head struck the side of something. He reached out his hands and felt the side of a tree. He sat back, and began to examine the tree, first with his hands, then by the light of the flint-stone. It was smooth, with no jagged bark. “Perhaps this tree will have some small branches that I can break off and take back.” So he crawled toward what he thought used to be the top of the tree, but he soon found that the tree did not have any small branches. Each of the main branches seemed to be broken close to the trunk, so that nothing at all could be broken off.

He crawled toward the other end of the tree, where the roots had once been. Indeed, the trunk of the tree was exceedingly large at the base, so large that his little flint-spark did not even light up to the top edge of it. So large, he thought, that it must be wider than the height of a man.

Reaching the other end, he discovered that the giant tree had been sawn down. He crawled around to the end, and struck the flint-stone in his three-strike pattern, and in such a way found that the tree was hollow, and very dark inside. So dark that the spark did not illuminate the hollowed out part. The hollow seemed to swallow up whatever light it produced.

He sparked some more, and suddenly a little flame came up from inside the tree. It was only a little flame, but it startled the servant and illuminated the entire hollow of the tree. He looked into the flame to see what it was that was burning, but he could not see anything producing the flame. But surely, it was a flame indeed, and it continued to burn.

The servant sat looking at the tiny flame for a time...