Messages From a Wives Tale

The other day I stumbled across an old wives tale, “A King & Four Wives.”

The story goes….

A king with four wives was close to death and scared to go to the afterlife alone.

He approached his fourth and favorite wife who he had always showered with jewelry and clothing about going with him to the next life. She apologized and said that she would not go with him. 

The king then approached his third wife who he loved to show off to other kingdoms. She would not go with him and said that she would remarry when he was gone.

Going to his second wife, she said that she would help with his funeral and arrangements, but could not accompany him. At this moment, his first wife, who the king had paid the least attention to, called out that she would go with him.

Each of these wives represents a different aspect of the king’s life.

His fourth wife is the clothing, jewelry, etc. that we cannot take with us when we go. The third wife represents the cars, homes, and other property and possessions that we show off to others, but will be given to someone else when we are gone. The king’s second wife is our family and friends, who are with us until the end, but ultimately cannot come with us. Finally, his first wife represents our soul, which we often neglect, but is the only thing that we take with us to the next life.

The moral of this story is of course to make our mental and spiritual wellbeing a priority, but the questions raised by the order in which the king approaches each of his wives was even more thought provoking:

1.     Where Do We Place Our Happiness?

In the case of this wives tale, things like clothing and cars came before even the wife representing family and friends. Instead of placing happiness in feeding his soul - i.e. giving back, meditation, etc., the king placed his happiness in his possessions.

There are of course always possessions that will make us happy, but there’s a difference between feeling like we need things because they alone will make us happier, better people and simply deriving joy from something.

Where we place our happiness directly impacts our journey.

2.     What more does the first wife represent?

It’s worth noting that the first wife representing our soul was just that, first – with us from the beginning until the end. While what happens in between those two points in time does have an impact, our soul never leaves us.

Just as where we place our happiness impacts the life that we lead, choosing to connect with and acknowledge our soul can also lead us down many different paths. In the end, nurturing his soul would have allowed the king to leave behind an impact greater than belongings.

Wishing you a most wonderful week, friends! I hope this leaves you with the same inspo and motivation that it did me.💋