The Three Questions

Here we have one of Tolstoy’s shorter works. It is, as was characteristic of many of his short works, a parable. It is about a king who asks three questions. And while the story is about the answers to these questions, it is also about the larger question of how any question can be truly answered. The primary message of this story is that truth is a paradox. Answers are often found in the most unexpected places—usually, as with the king in this story, right in front of us.