A king dreamed in the night that a big, very ferocious shadow was standing in front of him. He asked, ”Who are you and what is the purpose of your coming into my dream?”
The shadow said, ”I am your death, and I am coming tomorrow evening at sunset. Remember, at the time of sunset meet me at the right place.” And before he could ask, ”Where is the right place?” – not that he was going to be at the right place, he wanted to know so that he could avoid the right place – the shadow disappeared, and out of fear the dream was broken.
It was the middle of the night. Immediately he asked all the wise men, astrologers, palmists, prophets, to gather because they had to decipher the meaning of the dream. They discussed, and as are the ways of the so-called knowledgeable, they couldn’t agree. They were all talking, discussing, everybody had his own explanation – and the king was more and more confused.
The king’s old servant was watching all this, and the sun was rising; half the night had passed. He whispered to the king, ”Sir, these people are never going to come to any conclusion. All they know is fighting, quarreling, arguing. You don’t have time for that, the sun has already risen, and how long will it take for it to set? There is not much time. My suggestion is, let them discuss. You take your fastest horse and escape far away from this capital and this palace.”
The advice appeared to be very relevant. The king picked the best horse he had, and by the evening he had moved hundreds of miles away from the palace. To rest for the night, he entered into a mango grove. He stroked the horse and said to the horse, ”You really proved your mettle. I had no idea that you could run so fast. You risked everything, as if you understood my problem that death is close and you have to risk all your energy. I am thankful to you.”
At that very time the sun was setting, and suddenly he became aware of a hand on his shoulder. He looked back. The old shadow that he had seen in the dream was standing there and said, ”I have also to thank your horse, because without him I was worried how you were going to manage to reach the right place at the right time. But you managed. The whole credit goes to your horse.”
