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Mind you, there might have been some honest value to these warnings to the shepherd boy, because some of his ideas were often beyond simple peasant thinking and so his thoughts were made into the village joke. One time he told the goat herders to feed their goats with sugar cane to make the milk sweeter. The goat herders asked him "What was SUGAR CANE," AND Ideo had to admit that he really didn't know. How about the time he told the seller of meats to first feed the sheep onions and garlic before butchering and the lamb would already be marinated for his customers! Or the time he showed the net fisherman near the river how to catch the big fish with a special bent iron hook and a shiny piece of tin and they thought him to be an ill favored magician. O well, Ideo thought, maybe it is just better for me to be a plain old shepherd boy and stop trying to change the world with my big ideas. Then one day word came to the village that their King was searching for someone to beautify the palace gardens by making his many palace pools to spout up streams of water. The Kings palace was a most beautiful building surrounded with pleasant gardens and was famous for its beauty, but the King was disappointed that his gardens were without fountains. Everyone knew that the King was no man to keep displeased, and he became very upset that there was no one in his Kingdom that knew of such things and all the people grew fearful that the Kings wrath might be roused against their stupidity! The Kings request of a "Fountain Fixer" went unfulfilled and his irritation grew at the thought of having to send to another land for someone who might be able to make his pools spout water. But one day the Kings request finally reached Ideo's ears and he was excited with having to think of how to make water spout from a fountain? After a long dry week in the hills Ideo returned to his village and exclaimed to his village friends that he knew how to make the King happy and fix all his palace fountains to spout water. Of course Ideo's claim was laughed to scorn and one narrow minded villager suggested that it might be the perfect opportunity to rid their village of this thinking nuisance once and for all. Everyone soon agreed, besides what harm could it be, he just might think of something and so they sent Ideo to the palace to proclaim that he could fulfill the Kings request. Ideo the young shepherd soon appeared before the king and proclaimed with much enthusiasm that he knew how to make all the fountains work and that he needed at least one year to complete the task. The King and his council inquired of Ideo's thoughts on how to accomplish this but Ideo would not say. The King grew suspicious of this request but since there was no one else who had actually said they knew how to make the fountains work, the king agreed to the time limit. But told the sheep keeper that if his idea did not work, the king would have his head for mocking him and wasting his time! Within a few days, the young lad along with a host of palace workers began laying a smooth round channel of stone from the Kings gardens up to the surrounding mountains. The channel was designed very small from its beginning at the pools and grew larger and wider as it drew close to the mountains. After all measurements and calculations with the underground cistern was completed Ideo waited until winter to complete his plan. Once the mountain lakes froze solid he had the Kings workers cut large blocks of ice and had them stored into a great cave high above the King's palace. Once the cave was packed with tons of ice, Ideo connected the long underground cistern into the caves depths and then sealed the cave off. The seasons changed, spring finally came and the gardens slowly began to bloom and everyone waited with great anticipation. Every morning the King walked his gardens and looked out his palace windows watching for the fountains which stood ready but were still without spouting waters. In time, the King grew impatient and ordered Ideo to be brought to his palace to be sentenced to death. "Enough is enough," the King declared! Day after day, the fountains remained silent and Ideo's time for execution drew nigh. Ideo could not imagine what might have gone wrong, everything had been done right, all was ready, and why wouldn't the fountains begin their spouting? The day finally arrived for Ideo's head to be removed, the winds had cleared the sky and it was a fine day for an execution. The sun rose hot and high and everyone was gathered to see the foolish thinkers head role. Soon Ideo was bound and chained and brought to the palace gardens where the King would give the order for his execution from his window. The day was clear, the sun glared down and warmed the earth and just as the executioner lifted his great sword, the crowds began to shout out in surprise, "Water, look, water, the fountains are working!" From everywhere, out of each lovely pool spouts of water suddenly began to bubble and soon fanning streams shot out of the center pieces and splashed in great dazzling sprays and in all wonderful patterns. The King was taken back with the sudden appearance of such dazzle and refreshing pleasure, and barely thought to stop the great sword from coming down but the executioners hand was stayed and Ideo's head was spared! Ideo finally determined, that It was the late winter clouds still over hanging the mountain that had prevented the ice from melting and filling the cistern. But when the clouds had been blown away, the ice began to thaw out, the water slowly filled the cistern and flowed down the hill from above, and by the natural pressure of the waters force through the gradual narrow openings the fountains all began spraying out the most wonderful spouts of water. And certainly, just in time for the Kings fountains to begin their famous splashing and for Ideo's life to barely be spared!! With a few adjustments here and there, the lad soon had each fountain spraying forth wonderful patterns of refreshing and splashing waters. In further amazement Ideo built small walking bridges over the flowing waters and set up burning torches at night time throughout the gardens, which amplified the sparkling waters of the pools. The king was so pleased with the shepherd boy's success and extraordinary ability that he gave one of his favorite daughters in marriage to this lad and appointed him as the palace Garden and Fountain Keeper. From that day forward, no one, especially those from Ideo's village, ever laughed at his ideas again. From that time hence, the name of Ideo was made famous and we now have the word "IDEA" used to describe Thoughts, Concepts or Objectives! ******* Never let yourself be intimidated away from good ideas and be deprived of satisfying success. Give your mind to works that might benefit others and be not turned away from blessings by voices and opinions who think good ideas and success only belongs to those with fortune and fame to their credit! "Go For It!" Contact Author at: |
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Authored By Michael M. Michaelson © December 10, 2001 |
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Fountains From Ice |
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Far back and long ago, in past times there was a young shepherd boy named Ideo. While wondering the hills with his herds his mind would so often wonder and his thoughts were always filled with strange ponderings! At the end of the days shepherding Ideo would bring his flock into the valley near to home. There he would gather with family and fellow villagers and excitedly share his latest and greatest thoughts. As stories go, because Ideo was only a poor shepherd boy everyone thought him to be a lazy dreamer and did nothing but laugh at his imaginings. So often he was told to stop wasting his time thinking and forever making up new things, "Just watch over your sheep and keep your mind inside your head," was the common expression told him. |
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