There is a story of an ancient Emperor who, in middle life, married a beautiful young girl on whom he doted. She was, however, not a strong woman and died a few years later of an incurable disease.
The Emperor was devastated, his life wrecked with sorrow. In his despair, he visited a sage and asked him how he could possibly rid himself of this heart-sickness.
The sage said, rather unhelpfully, that time heals all things ... and on no account should His Mightiness think of blue monkeys. The Emperor was, quite naturally, rather puzzled at this, but the sage would say no more and so the Emperor had no choice but to take his advice.
He found himself curious about these blue monkeys and so consulted every scholar, priest, philosopher and mystic in the empire. Nobody could help him. So the Emperor cast further afield for his answers, even sending an expedition to the high mountains in the north, where the blue monkeys were rumoured to dwell. Alas, it returned empty-handed.
Months went by and the Emperor thought of little else but blue monkeys, until finally he realized they were dominating his life. He returned to the sage and begged to be rid of this plague.
"I can do that for you, Great One," said the sage. "But first you must see that the memory of your wife, as well as the lady herself, is now truly at peace....".
From the book "A Little Book of Joy" by Stephen Bowkett.
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