di Antonio Napoli

An African king questioned the sorcerer of a nearby village, asking him, “Do you know a sure way to defeat one’s enemies?”
And the sorcerer replied, “Of course! It’s the same way I use to defeat myself.”

Then, the sorcerer told a dream.

He held a sword in his hand and was fighting a lion with multiple heads. Every time he managed to cut one off, another immediately grew back in its place. With each strike, the beast weakened for an instant, only to return whole and vigorous as before. The battle dragged on endlessly, and over time, the warrior grew disheartened by the futility of his efforts, his spirit weakened.

The situation had become unbearable when the sorcerer suddenly understood:
“Each head is a mistake. Our mistakes do not depend on the strength of our opponent but on our way of seeing things. If we want to prevent the same mistake from reappearing, we must have a well-made head—one that does not simply accumulate experiences but reorganizes them.”

Intrigued, the king wished to question the sorcerer further to see if he truly possessed a well-made head.

“Answer me these impossible riddles,” he said.

He was asked, “Can you make peace between water and fire so that they speak to each other?”
The sorcerer took a pot, filled it with water, and placed it over the fire.

He was asked, “Can you fish the moon out of a well with a hook?”
He waited for the full moon, cast his hook into the well, and pulled it out when the new moon had erased its reflection.

He was asked, “Can you enter a stream without getting wet?”
He waited until summer dried up the watercourse, then walked on the parched riverbed.

He was asked, “Can you walk with a bell around your neck without being heard?”
The sorcerer hung a bell around his neck and stepped into the stream, walking silently along its bottom.

After these answers, the king remained silent. He had questioned the sorcerer to test him, but now he realized that he was the one who had been tested. Lowering his gaze, and in a humbler voice, he asked, “How can I obtain a well-made head?”

The sorcerer smiled and replied:
“By learning to look at things with new eyes. There is no riddle that cannot be solved—if only one stops searching for the answer in the wrong way.”