“Here, then, is my third question,” said the king.
“How many seconds are there in eternity?”
“That’s easy,” replied the boy.
Once every hundred years a sparrow comes
It’s twenty thousand feet high and twenty miles round.
Once every hundred years a sparrow comes
and sharpens its beak on this mountain.
When the whole mountain has been worn away,
that will be the end of the first second of eternity.”
Critical Thinking:
Do you think the boy has answered the questions well?
If yes, why? If no, why not?
“Good,” said the king.
“You have answered my questions with the wisdom of a great scholar.
You shall stay in my palace,
, and I will look upon you as my own child.”