Monkish Sound

A man was driving down the road and his car broke down near a beautiful old monastery.

He walked up the drive and knocked on the front door. A monk answered, listened to the man's story and graciously invited him to spend the night. The monks fed the man and led him to a tiny chamber in which to sleep.

The man thanked the monks and slept serenely until in the middle of the night when he was awakened by a loud strange, beautiful and most terrifying sound.

His heart beating for a few minutes, he heard it again and this time he then decided to get out of bed and went to the direction of the sound. He came to a large door where the head monk was standing.



The door was at least 15 feet tall, and made of solid-looking wood and metal. It had chains and bars and locks and a deadbolt on it, and was the most formidable door the man had ever seen.



“What’s that sound?” the man asked.

"I’m sorry," the head monk said, "I can't tell you about the sound. You're not a monk."



The man, disappointed as he was, went back to bed still thinking about that sound.

In the morning, as he was getting ready to leave, he asked the other monks about that sound. “I’m sorry, we can’t tell you. You not a monk” answered the other monks.

The man was disappointed, but eager to be gone, so he thanked the monks for their kindness and went on his way. During quiet moments afterward, the man pondered the source of the alluring sound.

Several months later the man happened to be driving in the same area. He stopped at the monastery on a whim and asked admittance. He explained to the monks that he had so enjoyed his previous stay, he wondered if he might be permitted to spend another night under their peaceful roof. The monks agreed, and so the man stayed with them again. Late that night, he again heard the strange, beautiful and most terrifying sound. The following morning he begged the monks to explain the sound.

The monks gave him the same answer as before. "We're sorry but we can't tell you about the sound. You're not a monk."

By now the man's curiosity had turned to obsession. He decided to give up everything and become a monk, for that was the only way he could learn about the sound. He informed the head monk of his decision and began the long and arduous task of becoming a monk.



Eleven years later, the man had completed all the tasks (e.g. counting all the stars visible in the sky, climbing to the peak of the highest mountain, etc) assigned to him and was finally established as a true member of the monks.

He then humbly went to the head monk and asked to be told the source of the sound. Silently, the head monk led the new monk to that 15 feet tall, solid-looking wood and metal door. He opened the door with a golden key. That door swung open to reveal a second door of silver, then a third of gold and so on until they had passed through eleven doors, each more magnificent than the last. The new monk's face was awash with tears of joy as he finally saw the wondrous source of the mysterious strange, beautiful and most terrifying sound he had heard so many years before..........
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But, I’m sorry; I can't tell you what it was. You're not a Monk.

Posted Deejay Monk