The Shepherd Boy

Once upon a time there was a shepherd boy who was famous far and wide because of the wise answers he gave to every question. The King of the country heard about him too, but he didn't believe it, so he sent for the boy.

Then he said to him, "If you can answer three questions I will ask you, I will treat you as my own child, and you shall live with me in my royal palace." The boy said, "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, if you will have all the rivers on earth dammed up so that not a single drop runs into the sea until I have counted it, I will tell you how many drops there are in the sea." The King said, "The next question is: how many stars are there in the sky?" The shepherd boy said, "Give me a large sheet of white paper." Then he made so many tiny dots on it with a pen that they could scarcely be seen, and it was almost impossible to count them; anyone who looked at them would lose their sight.

Then he said, "There are as many stars in the sky as there are dots on the paper; just count them." But no one was able to do it. The King said, "The third question is: how many seconds are there in eternity?" Then the shepherd boy said, "In Lower Pomerania there is the Diamond Mountain, which is two and a half miles high, two and a half miles wide, and two and a half miles deep.

Every hundred years a little bird comes and sharpens its beak on it, and when the whole mountain is worn away by this, then the first second of eternity will be over." The King said, "You have answered the three questions like a wise man, and from now on you shall live with me in my royal palace, and I will regard you as my own child."