Patterico's Pontifications

4/19/2020

The Parable of the King’s Four Wives

Filed under: General — JVW @ 12:10 pm



[guest post by JVW]

I know that in our days of lockdown many of us have to one degree or another undertaken an effort to organize and clean out our domiciles. Though I have been lackluster at best in this regard, I have managed to go through my living room bookcase to sort out an unweildly jumble of books, magazines, newspaper clipping, and assorted bric-a-brac. I am pleased to report that as I am looking at it right now, the bookcase now has some semblance of order.

One of the items that I came across while cleaning up was a piece that I cut out from my parish newsletter over ten years ago. It’s a story that obviously resonated with me at the time, hence my feeble attempt at saving it, even though this was probably the first time I had referred back to it since. In any case, I read it once again and thought it was a great message to share in this time of pandemic, coming as it does in the confluence of Passover, Easter, and Ramadan.

——–

There once was a king who had four wives. His fourth wife was his favorite, and he lavished upon her beautiful clothes and fine jewelry. He fed her the best foods and the rarest wines, and ensured that she could bathe regularly in scented baths and wear fragrant perfume.

His third wife was also one he loved very much. She was beautiful and refined, and he enjoyed showing her off to his friends. He jealously guarded her, fearing deep down inside that she would one day end up with another man.

He also deeply loved his second wife. She was supportive and loving, never failed him in his time of need and always had wise counsel for him.

His first wife, however, he largely neglected. When his conscience was guilty he might briefly pay attention to her, but otherwise he paid her almost no mind and she was shunted into the background.

One day the king took suddenly ill and was confined to his sickbed. The doctors all ministered to him but his health continued to decline and he came to realize that he was dying. Not wanting to face eternity alone, he determined that he would ask his wives to travel with him to the beyond.

So he called in his fourth wife. “You, my dear, I have loved above all others and we have shared so many delights together,” he told her. “Please, take this next journey with me.”

“I’m sorry,” she replied, “but that would be impossible.” And with that, she spun around on her heels and walked out of the room.

He called in his third wife. “Darling, I have always taken such great pride in you and you in turn have provided me great joy. Please stay at my side and come with me to the beyond.”

“I can’t go,” she bluntly informed him. “Instead, I will find another rich and powerful man and become his.” With that she coldly turned her back on the king and walked away.

The king, despairing, called in his second wife. “You, my beloved, have always been so patient and kind with me. I have valued your love so highly. Please be my companion on this next step.”

The second wife smiled sadly. “When you die,” she said, “I will ensure that you are properly buried. I will visit your grave, pray for you, and hold your memory close to my heart. But I can’t accompany you where you are going.”

A sense of abandonment and melancholy now set over the king. Suddenly, a quiet and weak voice was heard in the silence: “I have always been at your side and I will go with you.” The king, surprised, turned to see his first wife. It was only at this moment that he saw how malnourished and weak she had become. And the king suddenly felt a deep sense of shame and remorse that he had let her — who after all was proving to be the most loyal wife of them all — fall into that condition.

——–

The fourth wife is our body. It provides us with great physical and sensuous pleasure. It is with us during our time on earth, but when we die it remains here. The third wife is our worldly goods. They can provide us with status and esteem during our life, but once we are gone they almost certainly end up the possessions of someone else. The second wife is our family and friends. As loving and supportive as they are in our life, they exist apart from us and will not follow us when we die.

The first wife is our immortal soul, which we so often neglect as we pursue physical pleasure, wealth, and relationships. But it is the only thing in our life that is truly with us from our first moment to our last and will continue to remain a part of us when our time here is up.

– JVW

10 Responses to “The Parable of the King’s Four Wives”

  1. Happy Easter to our Orthodox readers.

    JVW (54fd0b)

  2. Great post

    Dustin (c56600)

  3. Nice post.

    Made me think of Lear and The Good Earth, both stories concerning family relations and misplaced loyalties which are worth reading.
    _

    harkin (358ef6)

  4. Thanks for this, JVW! Food for thought.

    We’ve been getting quite a bit done… painting… a brake job on one of the cars… Spring planting… cleaning/sorting chests, cabinets, closets… a massive CD collection sorted in alphabetical order (we’ll see how long that lasts, lol)…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  5. Correct me if I am mistaken, but I think “bendover” is a troll of long-standing infamy here. So I have put him into moderation because I do believe he has been banned here in the past. If I am wrong about his identity, then I’ll be happy to restore his account.

    JVW (54fd0b)

  6. What a beautiful post, JVW. Thank you for it, and may God bless you for thinking of us.

    Dana (0feb77)

  7. Nice, although there are some things I think are off. The soul is actually the king himself, not a wife, and eventually the fourth wife, the body, will be reunited with him on “the great and terrible day”.

    Thank you for this, JVW.

    Kishnevi (1fe800)

  8. BTW, for comparison sake, a synopsis of the medieval morality play Everyman

    After a brief prologue asking the audience to listen, God speaks, lamenting that humans have become too absorbed in material wealth and riches to follow Him, so He commands Death to go to Everyman and summon him to heaven to make his reckoning. Death arrives at Everyman’s side to tell him it is time to die and face judgment. Upon hearing this, Everyman is distressed, so begs for more time. Death denies this, but will allow Everyman to find a companion for his journey.[6]

    Everyman’s friend Fellowship promises to go anywhere with him, but when he hears of the true nature of Everyman’s journey, he refuses to go. Everyman then calls on Kindred and Cousin and asks them to go with him, but they both refuse. In particular, Cousin explains a fundamental reason why no people will accompany Everyman: they have their own accounts to write as well. Afterwards, Everyman asks Goods, who will not come: God’s judgment will be severe because of the selfishness implied in Goods’s presence.[7]

    Everyman then turns to Good Deeds, who says she would go with him, but she is too weak as Everyman has not loved her in his life. Good Deeds summons her sister Knowledge to accompany them, and together they go to see Confession. In the presence of Confession, Everyman begs God for forgiveness and repents his sins, punishing himself with a scourge. After his scourging, Everyman is absolved of his sins, and as a result, Good Deeds becomes strong enough to accompany Everyman on his journey with Death.[8]

    Good Deeds then summons Beauty, Strength, Discretion and Five Wits to join them, and they agree to accompany Everyman as he goes to a priest to take sacrament. After the sacrament, Everyman tells them where his journey ends, and again they all abandon him – except for Good Deeds. Even Knowledge cannot accompany him after he leaves his physical body, but will stay with him until the time of death.[9]

    Content at last, Everyman climbs into his grave with Good Deeds at his side and dies, after which they ascend together into heaven, where they are welcomed by an Angel. The play closes as the Doctor enters and explains that in the end, a man will only have his Good Deeds to accompany him beyond the grave

    Kishnevi (1fe800)

  9. The soul is actually the king himself, not a wife, and eventually the fourth wife, the body, will be reunited with him on “the great and terrible day”.

    I see your point. Though, as you acknowledge, the body will be reunited with us in the hereafter; meaning that it won’t travel with us there. Plus, I’m kind of hoping that it’s JVW’s eighteen-year-old body that is reunited with me, not my fifty-year-old (or even older) body.

    Thanks for the Everyman synopsis, Kishnevi. I faintly recall hearing of this years ago, but it had escaped my mind.

    JVW (54fd0b)

  10. sweet post, JVW.

    mg (8cbc69)


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