The Visitor

Every hundred years a god would fly over a poor desert kingdom. The people didn’t have many resources or food but they spent whatever time they could building glorious monuments to the god to show their love, and hoping to gain his favor. Every family lost loved ones to the effort, through construction accidents and starvation—but they persisted!

Every hundred years, when the god flew overhead, the people saw him reading from a bright stone tablet, never even glancing down to see what the people had built through blood, sweat, and tears.

Many centuries passed and the kingdom struggled but continued to build these magnificent monuments—and every time the god was seen reading his bright stone tablet, without looking up. People still celebrated the occasion—the holiest day—if they were lucky enough to live to see it.

Thousands of years passed with new magnificent monuments that went unnoticed, when a great wise king took power. He was to approve plans for the next monument but instead he threw them all into the fire.

“No more!” He said, and made new plans with his top military men. They would instead build a great cannon. The people were bewildered as decades went on and the meanest of all the monuments was being erected—but they were faithful and loyal, trusting the wise king.

The wise king eventually passed on but a new king faithfully kept on with the secret plans. Finally the day arrived when the god would emerge. All the people were gathering when they saw his glorious figure on the horizon. As in all the ages before, he was reading from that same bright stone tablet.

As he got close, a great burst came from the cannon hurling a massive stone in the gods direction. The god hardly seemed to notice until it made contact with the tablet, shattering it into a thousand pieces.

He bellowed angrily down at the people he never before noticed, and raced down to the ground where they were. He landed on the ground, towering over them, face red with anger, when he noticed the monuments. There were nearly a hundred of them, each more beautiful than the next. His anger softened and he suddenly noticed all of the humble faces looking up at him. Overwhelmed, the god began to cry, tears of heavenly joy. His tears flowed through the land forming deep rivers and lakes and bringing life to everything it touched. The God smiled and flew off, the kingdom now full of plants and animals, rain clouds and rainbows. The people celebrated and feasted.

One hundred years later the God returned, no longer reading anything but smiling and gazing upon the land. The people used their new wealth of resources to build the greatest monument yet and again brought the God to tears, replenishing their great kingdom.

The God was always grateful, for he hadn’t before realized he was a God at all.