The Bard and the Monk

Posted on July 23, 2022

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I approach a wind-swept mountaintop. On it stand a bard and a monk. I have come to speak with them about what anyone else would. Before I can get a word in, they begin:

Bard: In any game of cash and kings, some will win, and some will lose. I won the game, then I chose not to play.

Monk: I chose not to play, and then I won because.

Bard: Which will you then choose?

I nod.

Bard: Where I was raised, we play the game and don’t complain.

Monk: Where I was raised, the game was played ten thousand years before.

Bard: To me, you sound lazy.

Monk: To me, you sound delusional.

I stand still.

Bard: One who does not play the game relies on those who came before.

Precisely, says the monk.

Precisely, says the bard.

Monk: So which will you then choose?

“If I choose both, I never lose”

Bard: He’s beyond hope, it’s of no use.

Monk: The act of choice precludes the truths of games we neither win nor lose.

Bard: I blow my nose and out comes goo that holds more truths than what you ooze.

“I choose to leave the both of you”

Bard: Very well, and I would too.

Monk: Farewell.