Part II will be posted on Thursday, 27 February
A huge crowd had gathered in the town square. People were everywhere, cheering, screaming, and clapping. Akiva approached the crowd and wondered what could possibly be at the center of such a huge spectacle. So many people had gathered. Bit by bit, Akiva started to push his way through the growing crowd.
“Whatever’s going on in there must sure be interesting,” thought Akiva. “There are so many people here. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
As Akiva made his way through the crowd, the cheering became louder and louder. The louder the cheering became, the more determined Akiva was to get to the center. Finally, after much squeezing and crawling, he made his way to the front row.
At first glance he did not understand what it was he was seeing. At the center of the crowd was a huge, huge man – the strongest man Akiva had ever seen in his life.
Right behind the man was a strange looking bottle with a strange kind of lid on it. The bottle was surrounded by a circle of mats and carpets. Whatever it was, it certainly looked very valuable.
As Akiva stood there fascinated, a young man stepped out from the crowd and started to walk towards the bottle. The very strong man stood with his arms folded squarely across his chest. He stared unblinkingly at the young man who was approaching.
The air was thick with the tension between them. Neither one dared to break the vicious stare. Akiva was certain that a fight was about to break out. He was not dismayed. Neither were the hundreds of onlookers. They were about to find out that yet another contest would take place.
The young man came forward and began to run right towards the bottle. In a matter of seconds, the huge, strong man lifted him up, almost as if he were a light bale of hay, and threw him twenty feet away from the bottle. The man picked himself up again towards the bottle, trying to grab it. Laughingly, the huge strong man picked him up once more and threw him even further this time around. All the people watching, cheered loudly. He was truly a strong man.
Akiva was puzzled. “What’s going on here? Who is that strong man? Why are all the people watching?” he asked of the elderly man next to him.
“Haven’t you heard? The king has proclaimed that whoever can get into the bottle can keep the beautiful gem inside,” replied the man.
“Any tactic or trick is considered fair,” he continued. “But the catch is to get past the king’s private bodyguard, and no one can get past him! If you could, by some miracle, it was the king’s body guard who tightly closed the lid. There is probably no one in the kingdom but he who can open it!”
“Another ridiculous contest from the king,” said Akiva. “Doesn’t he have anything better to do than think up these things? What’s the gem worth anyway?”
“They say it is worth ten thousand gold coins. It’s a gem so large that it would not even fit on a ring finger. They say it fills up your whole hand when you hold it. No one has ever seen it, but it is inside of that container,” responded a young boy in the crowd.
“Well, no one is ever going to get it. That huge bodyguard could break every bone in a man’s body. And besides, who will ever be able to open it? The material is strong as steel. The lid was tightened by that monster of a man who stands there. No one is ever going to be able to get that gem. No one!” said the old man.
Another man then approached, appearing to have a trick up his sleeve. He had some type of whip; and as he approached the huge guard, he swung and cracked it, making a huge crashing noise that caused everyone to shudder, except the bodyguard.
As the whip came closer and closer, the people cheered. Fearlessly, the bodyguard caught the leather strap with his own hand and tugged at it so hard that the man went flying through the air. And the crowd cheered again.
Next came another man who ran at the bodyguard with a sword. “This is amazing,” thought Akiva. “These people are crazy. They’ll do anything just to get that gem.” As the man came charging towards the bodyguard with the sword, the people waited with bated breath. Nobody knew what would happen next. As the man lunged towards the bodyguard with one very swift movement, the bodyguard ducked, leaned under the attacker and threw him way, way into the air, as the sword went crashing to the ground.
The bodyguard quickly picked up the sword himself and began to wield it in the direction of his attacker. The man scurried away, thankful to still be alive. Again, the crowd roared.
The show went on for hours. The bodyguard seemed to have an endless amount of energy. His attackers came at him with anything one could possibly imagine: little daggers, swords, whips, poisonous snakes, axes, nets, hammers, slippery oil. But nobody was getting past the strong man.
“And that is only the first part of the difficult task,” thought Akiva. “Anyone who got by him would certainly never be able to open that container.”
In the late afternoon, one of the dignitaries of the king stepped out into the town square and blew on a large horn. He then proclaimed in a loud voice, “The contest has now ended for the day. Anyone who would like to participate in this challenge from His Majesty the King is invited to this very same spot tomorrow at sun up. The contest will go on throughout the week. At the end of the week, the contest will be closed forever. The jewel will remain in the possession of the king until the end of time. Until tomorrow then, ladies and gentlemen, the contest is now closed for the evening.”
The crowd cheered as they all began to disperse happily, talking about the great sport they had seen through the day. Akiva overheard many people talking about new ideas to be tried on the next day. Most people were talking, only the very brave, and only a very few, actually had the courage to step forward and challenge the king’s bodyguard. Everyone else just laughed and chuckled and dreamt about ways to open that container.
That night at the dinner table, Akiva sat alone with his mother thinking, “Just think, if I could only get past that bodyguard and open that container, that gem would be enough for us to be secure. We could afford the things we need. We wouldn’t have to worry about holes in the roof or where tomorrow’s meal will come from. We could get a nice place to live. Mom, do you think there is any way that I could get by the bodyguard?”
His mother laughed and said, “Akiva, you are a brave young man, and I really appreciate all of your courage, but it is no use. There is no quick fix to our problems. The strongest people in the land can’t find a way to get to the bottle and you think you can?”
In spite of his mother’s words, Akiva could not stop thinking about the bottle and the gem. After his father died when he was only a little baby, his mother and he always struggled to survive. She worked day and night, and he did odd jobs for local townspeople and farmers. If only he could figure out a way to get to the bottle and open it, their lives would be changed forever.
Throughout the night, Akiva dreamed after dream. He saw in his dreams how hundreds of people saw him overcoming the great powerful bodyguard. He would take the little jug, pop the cork off with one hand and take out the beautiful gem. Everyone would cheer, and the bodyguard would lift him onto his shoulders and carry him victorious throughout the town. He awoke in the morning and realized sadly that it was all a dream.
“I know there is a way I can do it,” he thought. “I just have to figure out what it is that everyone else is missing.”
By the middle of the next day, Akiva had found his way back to the center of the town square to watch the spectacle again. In a panic Akiva realized he had less than a week. Then the contest would be over forever, and his chance to capture the gem, lost.
He decided that he would watch ever so carefully everyday to see all the tricks and watch for the weaknesses of the bodyguard. Perhaps there was a weak spot, a way to get around him. “I know I can do it. Every puzzle has a solution,” thought Akiva determinedly.
So he sat there all day and watched one brave young man after another, one cunning trick after another. No one even came near to the jug. Akiva returned day after day until there was only one day left.
May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)
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Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. (Joel 1:3)
