The King’s Gift
A fairy tale

Once upon a time in a magic kingdom, there lived a good and wise king.  That his realm might be filled with joy and purpose, in his wisdom he gave to each of his subjects a Gift, and with it, the task of finding out who was to rightly receive it.  The gift was enclosed in many layers of wrapping so that one had to discover how to penetrate each layer, a challenge that took many years.

Because of this, most never saw their Gift and went to their graves without ever having named it. Many valiantly tried to fulfill the mission, but became distracted by war, illness, work or love. They put their Gift aside, thinking to uncover it when they had more time. They rarely remembered after awhile where they had put their Gift and lost their chance to know it.

One day, as the king rode the length of his lands, he came upon an isolated orphanage, where scores of children languished, unloved and unprized. Their caretakers strove dutifully to nourish them, but there never seemed to be enough love, time or attention to heal these abandoned ones. They would grow up and leave the orphanage believing that there was a hollow core within every hope. Most settled for a life of self-reliance and never dreamed of joy.

The good king knew the challenge that the Gift held. Nevertheless, when he saw these lonely children, he gave one to each of them, telling them kindly as he could the mission it contained, the task it presented.  Some children wept to think that the king of the realm should consider them worthy of such a Gift. Others sneered, their withering early cynicism a fragile mask to hide their feelings and their sad belief in certain betrayal.

The king gave his blessing to all and told them that when they had completed their mission, they should come to him and receive their just reward.  Somewhat pensive, he returned to his palace.

One of the orphans vowed that, having received a precious Gift from the hands of her king, she would not rest until she had named it and found the True Receiver of it.

As she grew, the puzzle of the wrappings challenged her. Intrigued, she sought and struggled and found answers to its questions, unwrapping  a  layer of the Gift with every new insight. The newly-revealed surfaces shone with yet more promise and she was drawn onward.

At last, after many years, she was ready to uncover the final layer. She asked her spirit for the wisdom to name it truly, then reverently opened the silken covering.

It was a lens of purest crystal!

When she held it up to her eyes, she beheld objects in their completion and perfection. She knew then the Name of her Gift—Divine Vision! It allowed her to see the inner beauty in everything, especially in people; they were shining, eternal!

In that instant, she knew Who should receive the Gift—EVERYONE! “Everyone needs to be seen as the radiance they are!”  Then she set forth to see the world made new through the magic lens- her Gift, her treasure.

Every day held adventure and fulfillment as she beheld old friends and new with Divine Vision. She knew delight and joy in this world populated by incandescent beings. Handsome and accomplished men found her Vision of them intriguing, and some courted her.

Then she noticed that, when she began to fall in love with one of her suitors, having seen his radiant essence, something disturbing began to happen.

As she longed for his affection and appreciation, hoping that he saw her radiance too, somehow the lens would darken and cloud over. Then she saw the other as flawed and withholding, and her world was filled with desolation and pain, which was doubly harsh after the grace and joy she had known.

Time and again this happened, leaving her in despair. She had the Gift, yet its bounty eluded her when she most needed it!

 Troubled, she remembered the king and journeyed to his palace to ask him how to rightly use the Gift he had bestowed so many years before. Would he remember her?

As so few of his subjects had come to know their Gifts, the king was delighted to see her and, with his customary kindness, listened to her predicament.

Then he spoke: “My child, you seek to get from others the very gift you are to give. You have not yet found Who Rightly Needs to Receive it. Seek to know the part of you that craves to be seen by others."

It was a riddle.

Yes, there was a part of her that was needy. She remembered her lonely years at the orphanage, so empty and leaden until the king’s wondrous visit had changed it all for her.  She knew it was time to seek out her old home again.

She was half surprised to find it still there, the gray buildings a monument to responsibility and a fortress against ecstasy.  With some nervousness, she looked into the eyes of the children, stunned by the wary watchfulness that ill cloaked their gaping heart wounds.

Their pain echoed in her own heart and she wept. “I am one of these, wounded and incomplete. How can I perceive love when I never expect it to exist for me? Every needy glance from my eyes clouds my lens, destroying the power of my Gift and warping my world! How shall I clear the darkness in my eyes?”

Finally, moved by the fragility of these children, she held the lens up to her eyes and saw them anew—whole and fine, healed and radiant with love and joy—their pain a shadow, their light victorious! The Gift! She knew instantly its True Receiver!

She quickly returned to her home, and with the reverence appropriate to the moment, she held a mirror up to her face. Slowly, she raised the lens to her eyes…

The mirror revealed her True Self, no longer flawed and needy, but shining, healed, loving and perfect! The darkness that had clouded the lens was gone.

She was the Gift! 

She knew and the king knew.

Nothing would darken her vision again.