A night at the monastery
An individual’s vehicle malfunctions while he’s exploring the rural backwoods. With no sign of humanity in sight, he treks on until he stumbles upon an ancient abbey. The resident monks warmly offer him sanctuary, providing a modest room and promising a lift to town at daybreak. His quarters are bare, with just a bed, a desk, and a candle, yet adequate for a night’s rest. However, as slumber beckons, an indefinable sound reaches his ears.
The mystifying noise eludes identification, troubling his mind through the night and denying him sleep. Come morning, while being escorted to breakfast, he inquires about the sound to a brother. The monk replies with a kind grin, “Ah, I recognize that sound, but I’m afraid its nature is a secret kept from those outside the monastic life.”
The man has no choice but to carry on. He returns to the city life, but the enigmatic sound haunts him. None of his friends, online searches, or even sessions with professionals could dispel the mystery from his thoughts. A year of restless nights leads him to forsake his old life and seek the answer as a monk himself.
Upon his request to join the brotherhood, the abbot sets him three perplexing trials:
Firstly, to enumerate the grass blades within the abbey’s grounds. A task seemingly impossible, as the grass’s perpetual cycle of growth and decay defies count. In time, the man understands the futility and reports his epiphany to the abbot, who nods in approval.
Next, he’s to capture a squirrel using but two stones and without causing harm. Many failed attempts and patient observations later, the man brings forth a stone intricately etched with the likeness of a squirrel. It’s a depiction holding the creature’s spirit, untouched, which the abbot accepts as a clever fulfillment of the second challenge.
The final challenge, to present something unseen and unholdable, vexes him the longest. An epiphany strikes while he’s raking autumn leaves—a task undone by every gust of wind. He brings the concept of air before the abbot, demonstrating its presence yet intangibility, concluding his trials.
As a monk now, he beseeches the abbot about the notorious sound. The abbot agrees it’s best shown, not explained. Together, they navigate a series of increasingly precious locked doors within the abbey—wooden, iron, steel, bronze, silver, gold, platinum, sapphire, ruby, and diamond—each unlocked by a matching key. Behind the final bejeweled door lies a plain chamber of clay, straw-lined and dim. The abbot ignites a lantern to reveal…
But alas, just like the man before he was a monk, you too must be kept in suspense, for the secret of the sound remains within the abbey’s walls.
