I have been reading a book recently about the history of the ancient world.
There was an interesting story from Mesopotamia, which in the modern world is part of Iraq. More than 4,000 years ago, the king of one city was worried about the poor state his city was in. So he consulted a fortune teller.
“What do the omens say,” he asked the fortune teller. “Do I have a bright future?”
The fortune teller shook his head.
“I am sorry, Your Majesty. The omens are not good. They say that the king will face great disaster.”
Instead of punishing the fortune teller, the king came up with what seemed like an ingenious plan. He had one of his lowliest servants brought to him. The king told this man – who tidied up his gardens – that he would be king for the day. He could enjoy eating the king’s food, enjoying the company of the king’s women, and enjoying every luxury, and he would revert to his role as gardener the next day.
Secretly, the king planned to have this gardener murdered during his day spent as the king. Thus, the bad fate predicted by the fortune teller would fall onto the head of the gardener, not the real king.
According to this ancient story, the king died while eating some soup on the very day that the gardener was living as the king. The gardener refused to give up the kingship, and ruled for another 24 years.
Was an ancient god angry that the king had
tried to cheat his fate? Or did the
gardener slip some poisoned herbs into the king’s soup?
No comments:
Post a Comment