Nothing seemed to change for him. His life had become a routine of getting up, dressing, walking through the streets to arrive at the castle to grind, polish and renew the swords of the kingdom. It was such a routine for him that he barely even noticed the familiar sights of what he actually saw in the streets on the way to the castle. Just outside his home, there was the same woman seated inside a cage. Further down on the right side of the street, there was the man who had a shackle on his foot and chained to a post and each day he would stretch his arm out and reach as far as he could to the water that dripped from a rock near him. He would get just a couple of drops of water in his cup at a time. Often he would only receive a couple of drops of water for the entire day, just enough to keep him alive. Further down the road, just before the castle, each morning he would see this older knight yelling, sometimes screaming at the paige, telling him what a terrible job he was doing keeping the walkways clean and in good condition for the knights to enter the castle. The paige hung his head in shame as he tried to make the knight happy with his work, knowing each and every day he was going to be yelled at for the same poor job he was doing.
These were the familiar sights and sounds that the knight saw each day as he traveled along the streets to the castle in order for him to grind, polish and renew the swords of the kingdom.
One day the knight decided to not just walk through the streets to arrive at the castle to grind, polish and renew the swords of the kingdom. Instead he decided he would go to the king and ask him if he could have a new job in the kingdom.
Instead of going to his polishing room, he walked to the door of the king and gently knocked on the door hoping he would be received. He knocked on the door so quietly it's a wonder that anyone could have possibly heard his knocking but much to his surprise there was a warm and gentle voice that said, "I look forward to speaking with you, come in."
The knight opened the large door and walked in. Not daring to look up, he asked the king if it were possible for him to receive a new job in the kingdom. The king responded, "you are my best polisher, grinder and renewer of the swords throughout all of my kingdom. What you do is so important for the increase of my kingdom, I could not see you stopping this important work. Why would you want to do a different job?"
"King each day I get up, I walk through the streets to I arrive at the castle to grind, polish and renew the swords of the kingdom. I see nothing new and I am tired." "Ah," said the king. "I would love to grant to you a new way to see my kingdom. Would you like to see my kingdom as I see it?" "Yes, I would like to see the kingdom as you see it."
"Then tomorrow, look at each person that you see on the way to the castle and study everything you can about their situation and then go to the castle and then grind, polish and renew each sword and say thank you King for the opportunity to serve you and your kingdom. And you will begin to see my kingdom differently. And then each evening listen for my voice to tell you each different route to take to walk through the streets past the castle and out into the hillsides and note all that you see in My kingdom on your way back to your home and we will talk about what you see."
"But sir, you want me to leave the walls and go throughout the countryside?"
"Yes I do."
"But I understand there are robbers and thieves and evil men in the hillsides throughout the countryside and you still want me to try a new route to my home?"
"Yes my Knight, I will always be with you but note carefully what you see."
So the next day after having walked through the streets that were so familiar to him seeing all the same sights, the woman in her cage, the man shackled and chained to the post and the page being yelled at by the Knight.
That night, he left the castle and roamed throughout the countryside and through streets he had never been down before and to his amazement, he saw men using swords to touch the locks on cages that held men and sometimes women inside and the locks fell off and they opened the cage doors to set the people free.
He was so excited by what he saw that he could not wait for morning to arrive so that he could go to the king and talk about all that he had seen in the kingdom. He got up early, dressed and rushed off to the castle seeing all the scenes that he sees every morning with new eyes and a different joy in his heart. Arriving at the castle, he immediately went to the king's chambers and knocked. A loud and strong voice said, "Enter."
"Okay, there's so much I want to say to you. There is so many things I saw that I had never seen before. There were men carrying swords and touching locks on cages and shackles and the locks fell off. The people were set free. They were so joyous that they were dancing in the streets with the ones who were set free. I have never seen so much excitement that I almost forgot that there were evil men throughout the countrysides."
"Yes there is great joy in my kingdom, when my people are set free. What else did you see?"
"Well I noticed that throughout your kingdom those men were using their polished, ground and renewed swords to strike the locks that fell off when they touched the locks with their swords."
"Yes"
"Well each person that I see on the way to the castle, sit in cages, or have shackles, and are sometimes badly treated and can not seem to stop the way they are treated. But each one of them do not have a lock holding them in."
"Yes my knight you are beginning to see my kingdom. You have a job to do and you need to do more then just grind, polish and renew the swords of the kingdom which others are using to break locks. You need to learn to hear my voice to say to those who are trapped with no lock, that they need to be reminded that I have already broken their locks but they need to do my will to be set free."
So the next morning the knight could hardly wait to get up and listen for the king to tell him what to say, to the people he saw each day, to be free. He dressed hurriedly and rushed out the door. He walked over to the lady in the cage and said, "forgive him." She looked at him with anger in her eyes and he looked back with the love of the king and she hung her head and begin to weep. He walked down the street and said to the man with the shackle on his foot, "you are already forgiven go and seek rivers of living water. The man immediately reached down and removed the shackle and ran to the river."
He walked up to the paige and said "tell the knight, please do not yell at me but give me a new broom for the bristles on my broom are gone and I cannot do a good job. And then stand there and offer the broom to the Knight. Do not begin to sweep until he gives you a new broom."
He went quickly to his polishing room and began to grind, polish and renew the swords of the kingdom with a smile on his face and a thankful heart. Thanking the king for each sword he got to renew.
The next morning he got up dressed and begin his journey to the castle. To his surprise, the woman was no longer in her cage and there was no one shackled to the post. When he neared the paige, the paige was smiling and holding a new broom in his hand. The knight went straight to the king and spoke of his excitement about all that he saw.
The king was pleased and told him that he needed to always listen carefully for his voice to know what to say to those with no locks and always be ready to draw his sword to break the locks for those he says to strike the locks and sometimes to hold his sword high for those who need to see his sword.
The knight left the room to go grind, polish and renew the swords of the kingdom, looking with glee each day for the new adventures the king was going to send him on each day.
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