佚名/Anonymous
Once upon a time, there was a queen. This queen ruled a large and wealthy kingdom. She was a good and wise person and an excellent ruler.
The queen was interested in her subjects. She wanted them to be good and honest people. Every once in a while, she would hear rumblings of dissatisfaction or disapproval from the people of the kingdom.
The queen didn't like complainers. She was a believer in taking matters into her own hands and making the best of a situation.
One day, she decided to conduct an experiment. She had some of the castle's employees close off the main road to the castle. They also created a narrow path that led to the castle.
This narrow little path was now the only way for her subjects to reach the castle. She hid in some trees beside the path to see how people would react to the obstacle.
One man approached. He saw the rock in the road and turned around and left. A woman approached. She tried to climb over the rock but it was too big. She turned back. Another man approached. He tried to walk around it but when he got scratched by a tree branch, he also turned back.
Many people approached the rock, loudly complained about how unfair it was to have a rock in the road, and gave up. Others blamed the queen and criticized her as a ruler.
At last, an old woman approached. She tried to walk around the rock but couldn't. She tried to climb over the rock but couldn't. She tried digging under the rock to no avail.
She waited for another person to come so she could ask for help pushing the rock out of the way. She waited a long time but no one came.
Finally, the old woman started pushing the rock out of the way all by herself. It took her a very long time. The queen watched, fascinated.
The old woman had to take lots of breaks. Eventually, she pushed the rock out of the way enough that she could now squeeze past it.
As the old woman started to walk past the rock to get to the castle, the queen stepped forward.“I've been watching you,”she said to the woman,“I'm very impressed. You didn't give up. You tried everything you could think of to get around the rock in the road. You were successful.”