The Rose Bed

The Rose Bed

There was a servant whose master was a prince. The prince would take his servant with him to a place where he used to rest. This place was a beautiful garden that had a wonderful smell. In this garden there was a bed of roses. The prince used to come to this garden to sleep on this bed of roses and he used to feel so happy!! He would ask his servant to watch over him and wake him when an hour had passed. The servant used to do this everyday and upon waking the prince would go for a walk on his own.

One day after the servant had woken the prince, the prince went for his usual walk. The servant thought to himself "I wonder what kind of bliss the prince attains from resting on this beautiful bed of roses?" Upon contemplating on this thought he decided that he would also try and rest upon this bed of roses. And so he did...but in doing so he forgot that there was nobody to wake him up...

He fell asleep on the rose bed. Meanwhile, the prince returned from his walk and saw the servant asleep on the rose bed!! He ran over to the servant and kicked him as hard as he could. The servant awoke startled!! The prince was overcome with anger and started to beat the servant. The servant begged for mercy, but the prince would not stop. The servant was screaming with pain, but still the prince did not stop. The prince beat him so badly that his bones were visible through his ripped skin. The prince continued beating him, then, the servant began laughing out aloud...

The prince stopped and was amazed that the servant was laughing, he couldn't believe his eyes. He said to the servant "I have beaten you senseless yet still you laugh, tell me why!" The servant replied "Oh master, you have punished me so severely for sleeping on this bed of roses for this past hour, the reason I laugh is if my punishment is this, then what will yours be as you have been sleeping on this bed of roses all your life!!!"

The prince was overcome with guilt, he realised that he had been wasting his life while the servant was the one who was really the master, because of the service he had been providing all this time!!