The story begins when the King is a boy. He has to spend the night In the forest to prove his courage so that he may become king. And while he is spending the night alone, he is visited by a sacred vision. Out of the fire appears the Holy Grail; a symbol of God’s divine grace.
And a voice said to the boy…” You shall be keeper of the Grail, so that it Shall heal the hearts of Men”, but the boy was blinded by greater visions of a life filled with power and glory and beauty, and in this state of radical amazement, he felt for a brief moment, not like a boy, but invincible, like God!
So he reached into the fire to take the Grail, but the Grail vanished, leaving his hand in the fire terribly wounded. Now as the boy grew older, his wound grew deeper, until one day, life for him lost it’s reason. He had no faith in any man, not even himself. He couldn’t love or feel loved. He was sick with experience. He began to die.
One day the Fool wandered into the castle, and found the King alone, and being the Fool he was simple-minded. He did not see the King, he only saw a man alone, and in pain. He asked the King…” What ails you friend?” The King replied …”I am thirsty, I need some water to cool my throat”, so the Fool took a cup from beside his bed and filled it with water and handed it to the King.
As the King began to drink, he realized his wound was healed.
He looked at his hands and there was the Holy Grail, that which he sought all his life! He turned to the Fool and said with amazement …” How could you find that which my brightest and bravest could not?” The Fool replied …” I don’t know, I only know that you were thirsty”
Rumi -“God turns you from one feeling to another and teaches you by means of opposites, so that you will have two wings to fly – not one.”