This is good

This is good

There is a tale of an African king who had a childhood friend. That friend was a constant optimist, and no matter what happened in life, he always said the same thing: "This is good!" It occured that the king and his best friend went hunting, and on that hunting trip the friend would prepare the weapons and load the guns for his friend and king. But he misjudged, and while shooting, the gun exploded and took off one of the king's thumbs with it. The friend, seeing this, exclaimed: "This is good!" "How can this be good?" Fumed the king. "This is NOT good!". And upon their return, he ordered the friend thrown into the deepest jail cell. Some time later, the king went on another hunting trip, but not far from his destination, he was caught by a group of  cannibals, who took him back to their village to prepare a feast from his flesh. But, when they saw his thumb was missing, they sent him on his way, because it is bad luck to eat an unwhole person in their culture. Upon the king's return, he immediately had his friend freed, and as the friend stepped out of his jail cell, blinking at the light, the king said: "I am sorry my dear friend, you were right all along, it WAS good that I lost my thumb. It was wrong of me to put you in jail." "No, no!" Laughed the friend. "It was good!" "How can you say it was good?" The king was surprised. "Becuase if you hadn't, I would have been with you on this trip."