The Shepherd Boy



A shepherd boy explains eternity, the number of drops in the sea and the stars in the sky to the king - and thus becomes his son.

Once upon a time there was a shepherd boy who was famous far and wide for his wise answers to all questions. The king of the country heard about it too, didn't believe it and let the boy come. So he spoke to him: "If you can answer three questions that I want to put to you, I will look at you as my own child, and you shall live with me in my royal palace." Said the little boy: "What are the three questions?" The king said: "The first is how many drops of water are there in the ocean?" The shepherd boy answered: "Lord King, have all the rivers on earth blocked so that not a single drop runs into the sea that I have not first counted I will tell you how many drops there are in the sea." The king said: "The other question is: how many stars are there in the sky?" The shepherd boy said: "Give me a large sheet of white paper," and then made it so many fine points on it with the pen that they were hard to see and almost impossible to count, and it was blinding to look at. Then it said: "There are so many stars in the sky that she only counts dots here on paper." But no one was able to do so. The king said: "The third question is: How many seconds does eternity have?" Da said the little shepherd boy: “In Pomerania lies the Demantberg, which is one hour high, one hour wide and one hour deep; every hundred years a little bird comes and sharpens its little beak, and when the whole mountain is worn away, then the first second of eternity is over.