Once upon a time there was a little shepherd boy.
He was famous for the clever answer he could give to any question
The king of the country heard about him
and sent for him in order to test the boy’s powers.
“If you can answer my three questions,” said the king,
I will take you as my own child.
Then you can live with me here in the palace.”
“As you wish,” replied the boy.
“What are your questions?”
“Here is the first,” said the king.
“How many drops of water are there in the sea?”
“Your Majesty,” replied the boy,
“if you can block up all the rivers in the world
so that no more water, not even a single drop,
can flow into the sea,
then I will tell you how many drops there are in it.”
“Here is the second question,” said the king.
“How many stars are there in the sky?”
“Give me a big sheet of paper,” said the boy.
Then he took a pen and made so many dots on the paper
that it was impossible to tell one dot from the next.
It made the king quite dizzy just to look at it.
“There are as many stars in the sky
as there are dots on this sheet of paper,”
said the boy. “Count them!”
But no one was able to count them.