Once there was a king who had three sons. They were all really great. They had been trained by the finest teachers, and they had all grown into magnificent young men.
The oldest was the bravest. He’d hunted for bears in the high mountains. He brought back hides for rugs. He could challenge any man in the King’s army and win.
The middle son was the tallest and the strongest. He stood a head above the king and could wrestle any challenger to the ground.
The youngest son was great all around. He was a good marksman. He was strong. He tended to be just a little bit of a dreamer. He was actually very ordinary and didn’t stand out in any way.
The king loved them all and appreciated their talents. But he needed to choose one to rule the Kingdom. So, he came upon an idea.
He ordered his sons to go get their bows and accompany him down by the road. He walked out through an open field until he spied a vulture sitting up in a tree.
The King looks up at the vulture and then towards his three sons and says, “I want you to shoot that vulture.”
He started with the eldest son. The eldest son was so strong and fierce. He grabbed his bow. He pulled it. Gets ready to shoot.
But the King shouts, “Stop. What do you see?”
The oldest son stops and says, “Well, I see grass, I see clouds, the sky, the river.”
King says, “Stop, stop, stop. Never mind, never mind.”
He then brings the second son up. He says, “I want you to shoot the vulture in the tree.”
The second son jumps up enthusiastically, grabs his bow. He gets ready to shoot when the king stops him and says, “Wait. What do you see?”
“Ah,” said the second son. “I see horses on the ground, a field of wheat and a dead tree with a vulture in it.”
“Never mind,” said the King. “Don’t shoot it.”
He looks at the third son and says, “I want you to shoot the vulture in the tree.”
The third son calmly gets his bow, pulls the string back and gets ready to shoot when the king stops him. He says, “Wait, stop. What do you see?”
The young man remained pointing at the tree and said, “I see the point where the wings join the body.” and let the arrow fly. It hit square on and felled the vulture from the tree.
The third son became king.
* Don’t worry about the Vulture. It’s just a story.