Humphrey was the oldest man in the great country of Washgookawilly. Everyone loved and respected him, and fondly called him grandpa. The grandpa of Washgookawilly. No one knew his exact age. He was the oldest of them all, this they knew for sure.
Humphrey had lived his life to the fullest. He had traveled
extensively around the world, had tasted all the delicious dishes, had friends
in every city of the country; he was a dancer, a musician, a mathematician, an
astrologer, and a philosopher. But as he grew old, he slowed down a bit. He couldn’t
dance and play music anymore, but he still had a shrewd mind.
The legend says that he had been around to see five
generations of the royal family. Was it really true, nobody cared. He knows all
the secrets of the world, people talked among themselves. Sometimes, to know if
he really was what people said he was, some questioned him about the things
they knew and they didn’t know. The answers he gave them shocked them to the core.
Some scared them and some surprised them.To everyone, Humphrey was a magician. He knew all the answers, he knew how to solve people’s immature fights, he knew how to entertain children, he knew everything. To them, he was next to the king. The old man of Washgookawilly knew his importance, yet he remained humble and modest. He never raised his voice against anybody, he never hated anyone, he treated everyone equally.
Some people came to him to know about their future.
Humphrey, however, didn’t entertain everybody. ‘You should only think about the
present and work hard to build your own future,’ he used to say. Most of them
were forced to go back disappointed. But there were some rare cases he didn’t
mind predicting. One day, a mother came to him, crying: ‘My child is ill for
the past two months. I am really worried about her. Please tell me what will
happen. Please tell me she is going to be all right. If not, please tell me
what to do.’ Humphrey took pity on her and went to her house. He sat down by
the cot and looked at the girl child intently for a few minutes, took a deep
breath and said, ‘She will be all right in a week. Nothing to worry.’ A week
later, as he had predicted, the girl was up and shining.
Although Washgookawilly was enjoying its peace and
prosperity, there was a time when there was no rain for two years. People were
worried. The king supplied them enough food and did his best to take care of
them. But in his heart, he, too, was worried sick. ‘What has come over
Washgookawilly?’ he silently cried at night.
When everyone was sad and angry and confused,
Humphrey looked calm and happy. ‘Why are you like this? Aren’t you sad?’ one of
the people asked him. ‘There is nothing to worry. Just wait for forty three
days, and the rain gods will shower upon us. It is just a test we have to go
through.’ Then, the man had shook his head and left. But it rained torrentially
on the forty forth day.
And during the reign of King Solomon, Humphrey
looked worried most of the time. Some of them asked him what it was. He kept
his silence. Several months later King Solomon died in the battle. It was only
then the people of Washgookawilly realized that Humphrey knew the king’s fate
all along.
When King Berthold took his father’s place, Humphrey
exclaimed, ‘We need not worry anymore, for the King is here.’ The good people
of Washgookawilly knew the king’s potential, of course. But when the old man
said it too, their happiness knew no bounds. Peace prevailed in Washgookawilly
once again.
What no one knew then was that the old man was going
to play an important role in the king’s life. Funny as it may sound, even the
old man himself didn’t know that. But the day was not too far …
What is the old man’s role in The Story of King Berthold? What is the relation between him and
the king? What will he do that’s going to change the king’s life forever? Read The Story of King Berthold and find out
the answers that will change the way you think and act.
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