The Country That Had No Onions
There once lived a man named Saul the Dreamer, who loved travel and adventure. He had seen many foreign countries in his time, voyaging far and wide and gathering a great number of tales that never failed to delight. Child and adult alike would sit, enthralled, as he told of the strange and whimsical lands he had visited over the years. Sometimes he wondered – having travelled so far and seen so much – if anything could possibly surprise him.
One day, however, a wandering preacher passed by and stopped to talk. During the conversation it came up that he had recently visited a country that had onions.
‘No onions!?’ exclaimed Saul. In all his travels, he had never heard of such a thing. ‘How can anyone know the true pleasure of their food without onions?’
Without further thought, he bought enough onions to fill his entire cart and set off on horseback, the wagon in tow, with nothing on his mind other than introducing the succulent onion to this country that had never tasted it before.
After many days and nights he arrived in the onion-less country. He made his way to the imperial palace, where the guards were intrigued enough by his strange cargo to summon the Emperor.
‘I bring you a great gift from abroad,’ Saul announced proudly, ‘a plant native to my country but new to yours, replete with the unique ability to enhance the flavour of any food! Eaten on its own, as well, it is a delicacy for the connoisseur. Nothing would please me more than to have you try it, and to have you in turn introduce it to your people.’
The Emperor was cautious. ‘I would very much like to,’ he said, ‘but I am warning you, if this strange plant turns out to be harmful in any way, you will not be returning to your homeland.’
‘I assure you my lord, you will not be disappointed.’
The dinner that evening was turned into an official event: all the Empire’s ministers, the nobility and senior officials were invited. Saul the Dreamer was required to do the initial tasting, after which the feast commenced. The ministers, the other guests and finally the Emperor himself began to eat.
It wasn’t long before the hall had lapsed into a great, noisy fit of excitement. The smell, the taste and the succulence of the onion were praised unanimously. The emperor immediately demanded Saul’s entire batch and paid him its weight in gold. They declared Saul the Dreamer the Hero of the Year and gave him many exultations, thanking him profusely for introducing the lovely onion to their culture.
The journey home was long and tiresome, but Saul was greeted at the edge of his town by a committee of prominent citizens who received him festively and congratulated him on his success. For hours that night, Saul recounted the splendour and magnificence he had seen in that far-away land, where gold was worth less than onions.
In the crowd was a man named Kolbojnik. Normally disinterested, he listened quite closely to Saul’s tale this time, intrigued by the large bag of gold the traveller had brought back with him. During the conversation a revelation came to pass that the onion-less country was also without garlic! Saul spoke of going back with some, but not until he had thoroughly recovered from the present journey.
Kolbojnik, a banker by trade and a very enterprising fellow in general, knew immediately that he would gather the garlic himself and make the journey. Garlic was not only more precious, but infinitely more tasty and aromatic! If they were giving gold for onions there, he could expect diamonds for garlic. And he wouldn’t be so foolish as to give all his riches away after his return, either, as the far-too-generous Saul was sure to do with his gold.
And so Kolbojnik set off that very night, five bags of the finest garlic his country had to offer strapped to his horse, the riches he was sure to receive jingling merrily in his mind.
Like Saul, he managed to be received at the imperial palace. And, as he had expected, the garlic received even more praise than the onions. The Emperor deliberated with his ministers for a long time about the reward for their noble guest. In their opinion, gold was not enough for such a delicious food, on which even God and his angels must feast. So they decided instead to reward him with the most precious thing they had to offer.
And that is how Kolbojnik returned home with five bags of onions.
There once lived a man named Saul the Dreamer, who loved travel and adventure. He had seen many foreign countries in his time, voyaging far and wide and gathering a great number of tales that never failed to delight. Child and adult alike would sit, enthralled, as he told of the strange and whimsical lands he had visited over the years. Sometimes he wondered – having travelled so far and seen so much – if anything could possibly surprise him.
One day, however, a wandering preacher passed by and stopped to talk. During the conversation it came up that he had recently visited a country that had onions.
‘No onions!?’ exclaimed Saul. In all his travels, he had never heard of such a thing. ‘How can anyone know the true pleasure of their food without onions?’
Without further thought, he bought enough onions to fill his entire cart and set off on horseback, the wagon in tow, with nothing on his mind other than introducing the succulent onion to this country that had never tasted it before.
After many days and nights he arrived in the onion-less country. He made his way to the imperial palace, where the guards were intrigued enough by his strange cargo to summon the Emperor.
‘I bring you a great gift from abroad,’ Saul announced proudly, ‘a plant native to my country but new to yours, replete with the unique ability to enhance the flavour of any food! Eaten on its own, as well, it is a delicacy for the connoisseur. Nothing would please me more than to have you try it, and to have you in turn introduce it to your people.’
The Emperor was cautious. ‘I would very much like to,’ he said, ‘but I am warning you, if this strange plant turns out to be harmful in any way, you will not be returning to your homeland.’
‘I assure you my lord, you will not be disappointed.’
The dinner that evening was turned into an official event: all the Empire’s ministers, the nobility and senior officials were invited. Saul the Dreamer was required to do the initial tasting, after which the feast commenced. The ministers, the other guests and finally the Emperor himself began to eat.
It wasn’t long before the hall had lapsed into a great, noisy fit of excitement. The smell, the taste and the succulence of the onion were praised unanimously. The emperor immediately demanded Saul’s entire batch and paid him its weight in gold. They declared Saul the Dreamer the Hero of the Year and gave him many exultations, thanking him profusely for introducing the lovely onion to their culture.
The journey home was long and tiresome, but Saul was greeted at the edge of his town by a committee of prominent citizens who received him festively and congratulated him on his success. For hours that night, Saul recounted the splendour and magnificence he had seen in that far-away land, where gold was worth less than onions.
In the crowd was a man named Kolbojnik. Normally disinterested, he listened quite closely to Saul’s tale this time, intrigued by the large bag of gold the traveller had brought back with him. During the conversation a revelation came to pass that the onion-less country was also without garlic! Saul spoke of going back with some, but not until he had thoroughly recovered from the present journey.
Kolbojnik, a banker by trade and a very enterprising fellow in general, knew immediately that he would gather the garlic himself and make the journey. Garlic was not only more precious, but infinitely more tasty and aromatic! If they were giving gold for onions there, he could expect diamonds for garlic. And he wouldn’t be so foolish as to give all his riches away after his return, either, as the far-too-generous Saul was sure to do with his gold.
And so Kolbojnik set off that very night, five bags of the finest garlic his country had to offer strapped to his horse, the riches he was sure to receive jingling merrily in his mind.
Like Saul, he managed to be received at the imperial palace. And, as he had expected, the garlic received even more praise than the onions. The Emperor deliberated with his ministers for a long time about the reward for their noble guest. In their opinion, gold was not enough for such a delicious food, on which even God and his angels must feast. So they decided instead to reward him with the most precious thing they had to offer.
And that is how Kolbojnik returned home with five bags of onions.