Everyone in the kingdom had become used to draw his milk from this inexhaustible source, and after years of habit the people drank this special milk almost like ordinary water - particularly because taking the milk was free and the well was accessible to everyone at any time without having to ask anyone.

“While over long periods of time young and old fed on the source of the king, the nourishing aspect of this special liquid was forgotten and the refreshing quality of the bubbling water dominated the mind of those who drank from it. They used the tasty drink to refresh themselves and they said to themselves, ”We have to drink anyway, so why not the good water from the royal fountain?”

“Thus gradually the people drank only with their understanding from the well, and it was their understanding that urged them to draw the water.

“But in the feeling of the people the otherwise so thirsty, golden mouths closed because the conscience and the mind of those drinking was not able anymore to appreciate the value of the royal drink.

“To everyone the king was so near and so common; and just as standing in front of the individual tree one does not see the forest as a whole nor even surmises the combined play of all the forces of the forest, in the same manner the people that lived daily so close to the king - or daily drew from the always easily accessible fountain - did not realize anymore the wisdom of the king nor his real power which sprang naturally from his wisdom and expressed itself in the well.

“Thus, over the years of his rule the wise king had become the beloved father of his son and the faithful husband of his wife, and the skilled and prudent advisor of his ministers; they all loved him and appreciated his sensible advice; but still all the close trustees of his royal daily life never thought that the king could give them even more, immeasurable riches.
Also the citizens did not expect that the well in the palace garden could have worked wonders and they used it like a better water-well - of course with an exquisite taste.

“Therefore the king felt obliged - once the son had grown up to be a reasonable boy - to once again revive the truth in his whole empire as he had done before many times, and he first of all retired officially from his governmental affairs and left the realm, and all those left behind, to themselves.