The Servant and the Ministers

The Servant and the Ministers

Baal HaSulam

 Once there was a king

Who was so fond of his servant,

He wished to make the servant

Superior to all his ministers.

He recognized the great,

Unfailing love within his servant’s heart.

But it was not kinglike

To promote a person

All at once

For no apparent reason.

Rather, the proper manner for a king

Is to disclose his reasons to all,

Revealing his profound wisdom.

What did the King do?

He appointed his servant

To guard his very own castle.

He also told one of the ministers,

A gifted comic,

To pretend he was a rebel

Against the kingdom,

And to attack  the castle

When the king’s guards were unprepared.

The minister did as he was told.

With great resourcefulness and shrewdness

He pretended to assail the king’s castle.

The servant, now guarding the castle,

Risked his life and saved the king.

He fought the minister

With unrelenting bravery

Until all could plainly see

His love and loyalty

To his king.

Then, the minister removed his costume

And all laughed with glee

(As the servant had fought with all his might

Only to discover it was all

Imaginary and completely unreal).

They laughed even more

When the minister told

Of his imaginary character,

Deeply cruel at heart,

And of the great fear

He was sure he had seen.

And every detail

In this dreadful struggle

Brought a round of laughter and great joy.

But even so,

The servant was still a servant,

And unschooled, as well.

How could he be made superior

To all the king’s ministers and servants?

The king pondered this question,

And as before, commanded the same minister

To pretend he was a robber and a murderer

And wage a bitter war against him.

The king was certain

That in the second war,

He would reveal to his servant a wondrous wisdom,

Enough to make him worthy

Of leading all the ministers.

And so the king appointed the servant

To guard the kingdom’s treasure.

And that same minister dressed up

As a vicious murderer

Set out to steal the king’s secret riches.

The poor guard

Fought once more with all his might

And with complete devotion

Until his quota was filled.

Then the minister took off his costume

And there was great joy

In the king’s palace,

Even more so than before

As the details of the minister’s tricks

Brought about great laughter.

Since now he had to exhibit

Even further wisdom and craftiness.

Because it was now evident

That there was no cruelty whatsoever

In the kingdom,

And those they thought were cruel

Were only jokers.

In fact, that minister needed great ingenuity

To convincingly appear as a villain.