Rabbi Nachman introduced this story by saying, "I will tell you about the journey that I took.... But do not think that I will tell you everything, or that you will be able to understand."
There was once a king. He was attacked and had to fight many wars, but in the end he was victorious. He took many prisoners. The king would hold an annual ball on the anniversary of his victory. In the royal manner, all his royal counselors and all his ministers would attend the ball.
All sorts of comedy acts would be performed. They would parody and tell jokes about all the nations, including the Turks. They would mock and parody the customs and ways of every single nation. Most probably they also mocked Israel.
The king then gave an order that he be brought the book containing the customs and ways of every nation. Wherever he opened the book, he saw that the customs and ways of each nation were exactly as had been parodied by the comedians. It could be assumed that the ones making the jokes and parodies had all consulted this book. While the king was looking at the book, he saw a spider crawling along the edge of the pages. On top of the open page, there stood a fly. Where does a spider go? To a fly!
While the spider was crawling toward the fly, a wind came and blew the page of the book, lifting it so that the spider could not get to the fly. The spider turned around and made believe that it was going the other way, and no longer wanted to go toward the fly.
The page then fell back to its place, and the spider started crawling toward the fly again. The page lifted up again, and prevented it, so the spider turned back again. This happened a number of times. Finally, the spider crawled toward the fly, but this time it got one of its legs slightly on the page. The page lifted itself up again with the spider partially on it. Then the page went down all the way, so that the spider was caught between this page and the next. It crawled around but it remained there, going lower and lower, until nothing at all was left of it. (Rabbi Nachman interjected, "I will not tell you what happened to the fly.") When the king saw this, he was astonished, and he realized that this was not something trivial. He understood that he was being shown something important. (All the ministers watched the king staring, astonished.) The king began to ponder the matter. What was it, and what was its meaning? He fell asleep over the book, and began to dream:
In his dream, he had a diamond in his hand. As he stared at it, a huge number of people began to come out of it. He threw the diamond from his hand. Kings usually hang a portrait over their throne, and on top of this portrait, they hang the crown. The men coming out of the diamond cut off the head of the king's portrait. Then they took the crown and threw it into the mud. (All this occurred in his dream.)
The men then ran toward the king to kill him. However, a page from the book upon which he was lying lifted itself up to protect him, so they were not able to do anything to him. They went away from him. Then the page returned to its place, and they attacked him again. The page lifted itself up again. This happened a number of times.
The king very much wanted to see which page was protecting him, and which nation's customs it contained, but he was afraid to look. He began to scream, "Help! Help!"
All the ministers sitting nearby heard him scream and they wanted to wake him up. However, since it is not proper to awaken the king, they began banging all around him to arouse him. The king, however, did not hear anything. Meanwhile in the dream a tall mountain appeared to him and asked, "Why are you screaming so much? I have been sleeping for a long time now, and nothing ever woke me at all. But now you woke me up."
"How can I not scream?" replied the king. "People are attacking me to kill me. The only thing protecting me is this page."
"If this page is protecting you," replied the mountain, "then you have nothing to fear. I also have many enemies attacking me, and this page alone protects me. Come, I will show you."
The mountain showed the king that thousands and myriads of enemies stood around it. They were making feasts and celebrations, playing musical instruments and dancing. The reason for this celebration was that one group had devised a clever plan how to climb the mountain, and they were celebrating it with feast and song....
"This is true whenever any of these groups devise such a plan," explained the mountain. "The only thing that protects me is this same page of customs that protects you."
At the top of this mountain there was a tablet. On it were written the same customs that were on the page that protected him, as well as the nation to which it pertained. However, since the mountain was so tall, it was impossible to read the script.
At the bottom of the mountain, there was another tablet. Written on it were the words, "Only one who has all his teeth can climb the mountain." However, God had arranged things so that a certain type of grass grew on the approach where one must climb the mountain, and anyone passing over it would lose all his teeth. This would happen whether one went by foot, rode, or went in a wagon drawn by animals; all his teeth would fall out. Piles of teeth lay there, like mountains.
Then the people who had come out of the diamond took the portrait, put it together, and restored the portrait as it was originally. Then they took the crown and washed it off. They hung both the portrait and the crown in their proper places. With that, the king woke up.
He immediately looked at the page that had protected him to see which nation's customs it contained. He saw that it had the customs of Israel written on it. He began to look at the page in a sincere manner and he understood the real truth. He made up his mind that he would have to become an Israelite. However, he also wanted to know what could be done to return everyone to goodness and bring them to truth.
The king made up his mind that he would travel about to find a wise man who would be able to interpret his dream accurately. He took along two men, and began traveling around the world. He did not go as a king, but as a simple person. He went from city to city, from country to country, asking, "Where is there a wise man who can accurately interpret a dream?" Finally he was told where he could find such a wise man. The king journeyed there and came to the sage. He revealed that he was actually a king who had won many battles and then related the entire story. He asked the sage to interpret the dream.
"I myself cannot interpret it," replied the sage. "But there is a certain time, on a certain day of a certain month, when I gather together all the incense fragrances, and I blend them into a mixture. I allow a person to inhale the smoke of these incenses. The person thinks of what he wants to see and know, and then he knows everything."
The king decided that since he had spent so much time already on his quest, he would wait a while longer until that day and month. When the time came, the sage did as he had described, and he had the king inhale the smoke of the fragrant incense.
The king began to see even what had happened to him before he was born, when he was a soul in the upper universe. He saw that his soul was being led through all the spiritual worlds, and an announcement was being made, asking that anyone who had anything to say against this soul should come forth. No one had anything to say against him.
Suddenly, someone came running and screaming, "Lord of the Universe! Listen to my petition! If this soul comes to the world, I will not have anything more to do. For what did You create me?" The one who was screaming was the Evil One himself. He was answered, "This soul must certainly go down to the world. You must devise your own plan." The Evil One left. The soul was then led further through the spiritual worlds, until it was brought to the Tribunal on high so that it could be bound by an oath in order to be born into the world.
Meanwhile, the Evil One had not returned. A messenger was sent to fetch him, and he finally came. The Evil One brought with him an old man, who was bent over like the very aged. He was acquainted with this old man from previous experiences. The Evil One laughed and said, "I have already devised a plan. The soul can go down into the world."
The soul was then released, and it went down to the world. The king then saw everything that happened to him, from the beginning to the end. He saw how he had become king and fought many wars.
(He took prisoners, and among them was a beautiful woman, who had every possible type of grace. However, the grace was not hers intrinsically, but came because of a diamond that she wore as a pendant. This diamond had every type of grace, and because of it, it seemed as if she had all types of grace.)
(Only those who were wise and wealthy could climb the mountain....) Rabbi Nachman did not tell any more than this, but there is very much more. (The section from, "He took prisoners," to the end was not written exactly as he told it.)
"A Psalm of David when he fled.... God, how many are my enemies, many rise up against me. But You God are a Shield to me, my glory and the One who lifts my head" (Psalm 3:1-4). Examine the entire psalm, and understand it well, and you will see that it alludes to this entire story.
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