Hasidic Tales 2

There was once a king and queen who had a son who was the apple of their eye. Nothing was spared this boy, the greatest shirts and tailors and teachers, so that one day he would be a fine king. But one day something happened to that boy just as he was becoming a man. He woke up one morning and he thought he was a rooster. He took off all his clothes, he got under the table, ate crumbs off the floor, flapped his arms like wings, and crowed. It was a disaster.

The King tried everything, healers and doctors and wise men, advisers. No-one could help until one day an old man with a long beard came to see the King, and he said, 'Let me have a week with your son, I think I can help.' And the King was grateful for any advice, and so the old man was brought into the banquet hall, where the Prince was under the table, and then the door was closed behind him.

The first thing the old man did was take off all his clothes, and get under the table with the Prince. He put his arms like wings, went around crowing, eating food off the floor, and the Prince looked up and he said, 'Who are you?' and he said, 'I'm a rooster, who are you?' And the Prince said, 'I'm a rooster too'. He was so thrilled to have a bit of company, and although they just crumbed and flapped and crowed. And the next day the old man got up and he put some clothes on, and he went back under the table, and the Prince looked and said, 'What are you doing? Roosters don't wear clothes.' The old man said, 'That's true, but I was cold, and just because I'm wearing clothes doesn't mean I'm not a rooster'. And the Prince was a little cold too. So he put on his clothes.

Next day the old man was walking around the room. 'What are you doing?' said the Prince, 'Roosters don't walk like that'. 'That's true', said the old man, 'but my back was sore, and just because I'm walking like this doesn't mean I'm not a rooster.'

The next day they ate fine food, the next day at the table with a knife and fork, and by the end of the week they were dressed in fine noblemen's clothes, sitting at the table, eating beautiful food and discussing ways of running a kingdom, justice and ethics and philosophy. And halfway through the conversation the young boy said, 'But what are we doing? Roosters don't talk like this'. And the old man said, 'It's true, but I'm enjoying the conversation and just because we talk like this doesn't make us not roosters.'

And so at the end of that day, the old man stood up and he said to the Prince, 'I'm going to leave you now. But let me leave you with a little advice: out there in the world there are a lot of enemies of roosters. Take my advice, don't tell anyone that you're a rooster.'

And the Prince became a wonderful King and no-one ever knew that he was really a rooster.

Picture of the Blue Neon King Crown from devianart.com

From ABC's Spirit of Things