The Wisest Man In the World
by Hyel

There was a priestess of the gods who was old as the mountain, and who, it was said, spoke with the wisdom of the gods. One day a man arrived at the temple and asked to see her. "Lady," he said, "I have travelled far, and ask you to answer me this question: who is the wisest man in the world?"

"For this information," the priestess said, "the gods ask for the sacrifice of one of your fingers."

The man gladly paid this price for the answer. The finger was cut and burned as a sacrifice, and the priestess gave the man his answer. "The wisest man in the world is he who understands the uncertainty of existence." Then the priestess made the man promise not to tell the secret to anyone, for gods did not wish their secrets made common. The man left, happy that he now possessed the knowledge he'd sought.

The story of the encounter spread, though, and one day another man came to the temple, and asked for the same thing. "Tell me who is the wisest man in the world." This time, she told him, the gods asked for the sacrifice of one of his hands. This man, too, was glad to pay the price. She then told him, "The wisest man is he who understands the inexistence of existence." Like the first man, he promised not to tell the secret, and went away happy.

Eventually, a third man came to the remote temple. He had the same question burning him. This time, the priestess said, the gods asked for the price of his arm. This, the man paid. "The wisest man in the world," she told him, "is he who realizes that existence is imaginary, but that imagination exists." The man thanked her profusely, promised not to spread the secret, and went his way, content.

At this time, a temple sister who never left the priestess' side, turned to her in puzzlement and asked, "Lady, from each man you ask a different price and to each man you give a different answer. Which is the real truth? Who really is the wisest person in the world?"

"One thing, sister, I can tell you," said the priestess. "It certainly isn't a man."

-end-