(Translated from Oholei Chana)

There was once a princess who was very pampered by her father, the king. He loved her very much, and he made sure that she lacked nothing. The best dressmakers and seamstresses were hired to design her fashionable clothing, which was made of the finest and most expensive materials. Famous artists and musicians came to entertain her with their exquisite paintings and sweet music. In the kitchens, the best chefs and bakers were employed to provide her with delicious meals and snacks according to her taste. Her menu was never the same twice. And her friends? The sons and daughters of princes and noblemen, and people of culture and caliber. Clearly, the king's daughter could not be friendly with common folk.

It was a utopian situation. A dream. But, nevertheless, the pampered princess felt that she was in a cage. True, the cage was made of gold and diamonds, but it was, after all, a cage. And she wanted to be free... "Just once," she said to herself, "Just once, I would like to wear whatever I choose, not what the dressmakers choose for me. And I want friends from among the ordinary folk, too. I am tired of princes. I want to be like everyone else."

Every day, the princess would stroll through the palace gardens, through acres of trees and multi-colored flowers, cared for by teams of gardeners, over thick emerald-green grass, and past hundreds of varieties of exotic bushes. All this was maintained in order to delight the king and his family.

One morning, on her daily stroll through the gardens, the princess noticed a new gardener, working among the trees. The young man's appearance attracted the princess's attention. He was tall and handsome, healthy and tanned. She wanted to speak to him, to this ordinary villager who was unfamiliar with the elegance and decorum of the palace and royalty. He seemed "natural."

When the gardener eventually passed by the princess, she smiled at him, and asked after his health. The young man blushed, and was touched by the princess's attention.

From that day on, the princess made sure to stroll through the gardens when the young gardener was at work. To make a long story short, they fell in love with each other, and eventually decided to marry. But how? The king would never allow them to fulfill their plans. They decided to elope to the village where the gardener lived, to marry there, and live happily ever after.

And so they did. The princess began a new era in her life -- as a simple housewife. Her joy knew no bounds. How great and wonderful, how delightful it was to be free. She could rise when she wanted, cook whatever she liked, and speak with whomever she chose. Every evening her chosen love returned home from work (he now worked elsewhere), to meet his smiling and happy wife. Afterwards, they would eat their fill in the gloomy hut that was their home. This is exactly what she had always dreamed of.

But, one day...

The situation had changed. The honeymoon was over. The gardener returned home to find his wife looking forlorn. She didn't even reply to his greeting. He tried to find out from her if something had happened, but to no avail. Distraught, the gardener sat pondering the situation, attempting to guess or discover what might have happened to suddenly change the princess' mood. Suddenly he had an idea. He left the house quietly. After some time he returned with a happy smile on his face.

"My dear," he announced happily. "I have guessed the cause of your despondency. I know what the problem is. Two weeks have passed since we've had tomatoes in the house! You are surely accustomed to eating tomatoes every day, and since the season for tomatoes finished, you must be missing them. So I went out to see if I could find any tomatoes anywhere. Eventually I found some in the next village, and even though they were very expensive, so what? What importance does money have unless it can be used to make you happy?"

The dedicated husband looked at his wife hoping to see her smiling and happy once again. But to his surprise, he only saw two large tears rolling down her cheeks. That night neither of them could sleep. Both the gardener and the princess were occupied with their own thoughts.

The following evening, the gardener came home with a new gift. "My dearest," he began joyfully. "Yesterday, I erred when I thought that you were missing tomatoes. All last night I couldn't sleep thinking about you, and what is upsetting you. And finally, I realized what the problem is. In the palace, you were not accustomed to housekeeping, and here you have been suddenly forced to do all kinds of jobs, and this must certainly be hard for you. In addition, I noticed that the handle of the broom is rough and unpolished. This must surely hurt your tender hands. So today I left work early so that I could search for a broom with a smooth handle. Here. I bought you a new broom with a smooth, shining handle. It will be much easier on your hands. Now you do not have a reason to be sad any more!"

The gardener looked at his wife, expecting to see her happy gratitude at his thoughtfulness -- and, Oy vay! She burst into bitter tears, and buried her head in her hands. With a trembling voice she whispered, "What a terrible mistake I made. How could I have been so blind and foolish? I can never be a gardener's wife. I am a princess."

The Moral

Every Jew has a neshama which is "truly a part of G-d above." Before the neshama descended to the body, before the person was born, the holy soul resided at the foot of the Throne of Glory, delighting in the radiance of the Divine Presence. It was a true "daughter of the King," and it enjoyed the closest possible relationship with the Holy One, blessed is He, and it savored all the delights of the King's palace. But one day, it descended to this world for a particular mission, and was introduced to the "gardener" -- the human body. How delightful is this new world, with all kinds of fascinating things which were never seen in the King's palace. Tasty food, beautiful clothes, graceful furniture etc. etc. Everything attracts the eye and teases the palate. The princess decides to marry the gardener. She is so happy in the village, as the gardener's wife.

But, one day, the neshama feels a strange sensation. Everything is good and beautiful, and the gardener is indeed pleasant. But, something is missing. It was better in the King's palace. "Then I complained about being restricted, about the unique lifestyle of a princess. But now I understand that those were nothing other than special rights and privileges."

The gardener -- the body -- sensing that his wife is unhappy, tries to find a solution. But his simple peasant's intellect can conceive of nothing more than tomatoes and broom sticks as being the solutions to her problems. He offers his wife these physical objects in the hope that they will brighten her depression, and satisfy her. "We'll buy a new living-room set, and a color T.V. We'll move to a new apartment in a posh neighborhood, with wall-to-wall carpets, and a holiday in Europe."

But the neshama can no longer restrain itself. "Everything is really wonderful and pleasant, but this is not the problem. I yearn for the life of royalty, and how can you comprehend me?"

"You understand furniture and carpets, but do you know what holiness is? What closeness to G-d is? About Torah and mitzvos? These are things which will always be foreign to you, and therefore you cannot understand why I am sad, and what I am really lacking!"

"The days will come," says Hashem El-kim, "when I will send forth a famine on the earth, but not hunger for bread, or thirst for water, but to hear the words of G-d." (Amos 8:11).

In our generation, boruch Hashem, thousands have already opened their eyes and seen that the chase after foolish worldly things does not truly satisfy, but only life on another wavelength -- the bona fide life of Torah and mitzvos, where spiritual matters are of primary importance, and material things are insignificant. Only this can bring true peace and tranquillity to a Jewish neshama.

May it be Hashem's will that very, very soon "the earth will be filled with the knowledge of G-d, like water covering the sea-bed," and then all the sons and daughters of the King will come home, with the arrival of our righteous Mashiach. Amen.