There was, once upon a time, a certain country that was ruled by a terrible tyrant. All who lived there suffered from his cruelty, his vicious soldiers, his arbitrary taxes and his whimsical laws. As a consequence, the believers in the land mentioned him nearly every day in their prayers – asking the Almighty to shorten his life.

But then a rumour began to spread that there was an elderly woman in the country who was placing her prayers on the other side of the scale. One day a friend came to see her.

“Is it true that you pray to God to preserve the life of the blood-thirsty tyrant who makes our life hell?” she asked.

“Yes,” said the woman. “That is my prayer.”

“And why? Why would you want him to live for a single day longer?”

“Because when I was young,” the woman said, “we had a ruler who was very bad. So bad that, like everyone I knew, I prayed that God who take him away. Then he died, and for a week we gave thanks, but the one who came in his place was worse. Again, we prayed that God would take him away, but when he finally died, this one came. Since every time a ruler dies the next one is worse, now I pray he will have a long life.”