There once was a king and queen, who ruled a small but growing kingdom. They were very generous and kind people who always did their best to keep their people, children and each other happy. They had two children, a daughter and son.
The daughter always excelled, she was great with people and everyone expected her to be a great ruler. there was never any doubt that she would be the next queen, despite the fact that she was the younger of the two siblings by a few years.
The son.. He was a very special and brilliant boy. He was loved by everyone he met, even though his social graces were as practiced. He was always the smartest of his age group. He loved to learn and be taught and to teach. He was always thought the favorite of the siblings by the people, but the daughter did not mind, for she loved her brother much the same. Though everyone loved him, very few thought him to live to rule. For Though his brilliance was extreme, his illness was as well. Ever since birth, it got progressively worse.
The people mourned, but the king an queen would not except it. They hired the best minds available at the time. While not ruling their kingdom, they spent all their time with their son. Even after finishing school, he was always looking for knew things to learn. So his parents found new things to teach him, for years this went on, even after his illness would not allow him to leave his bed. They stayed by his bedside and taught him.
The son was always obsessed with time. Something his parents never understood and he could never seem to explain, but he was always eager to learn about it in any kind of way. How many seconds in a minute? Minutes in a day? Days in a year? Years in a lifetime? All these questions and more were asked, and answered to the best of their abilities. He loved clocks and calendars, Always marking down the days. To what? His parents always wondered, but never got an answer.
This all went on till the sons condition got so bad, everyone felt the time was close.
The King and Queen rushed to the sons room, for he had called for them, which happened very rarely. When they enter and go to his bedside he says this "Mother, Father, the time has come" he points towards his calendar where the days date is circled. The queen starts to sob and her husband pulls her into his arms, looking at his son gravely he says "Are you sure son, we are on the verge of finding a breakthrough, maybe even a cure", they both look at their son hopefully.
"No" he says "No, I think I have learned everything there is to learn here, and I want to tell you how grateful I am to both of you for teaching me". His father nods gravely, still holding his mother, she looks down at her son "We are the grateful ones, we got to have you in our lives, to teach and love and that is the best gift we cold have ever asked for".
"I shall see you again someday" And with that he was gone.
The king and Queen ruled for many more years, teaching their daughter all she needed to know to be a great Queen. And she was indeed. When the daughter had taken the throne and their duties were done, they said their farewells. As they passed on their only thought was that of getting to see their beloved son again. So They Did.
Sometimes still on calm, clear, breezy nights if you look up at the sky, you can see them showing and teaching him up in the stars.
