There was once a king who wanted to touch the moon. All he ever thought about was how he could achieve his dream, and every day and every night he was seen to be thinking how he could do it. So much time did he devote to his dream that he was never available to discuss the affairs of his kingdom. One day he summoned his head carpenter and said, It is my dream to touch the moon. Nothing is more important to me. I want you to build a tower that will reach up to the sky. Now the head carpenter was afraid to tell the king that such a task was impossible, for he would have to build the tower with wood, and he just didn't have enough to do the job. So the carpenter pretended to make plans, bustling about with his drawing board and his tools. Weeks went by and nothing happened. The king became impatient and angry. Finally he sent for his head carpenter. If you have not completed the tower in a week, roared the king, I will chop your head off. So once again the carpenter bustled about with plans and tools, but still he could not see how the tower could be built. A day passed, then two, and on the last day of the week, the carpenter had an idea. So off he went to see the king. Your Majesty, he said, work on the tower has been held up. I have studied the problem of building the tower for the last seven days and I am now confident it can be done. But I want you to order everyone in your kingdom to bring boxes and crates to the palace grounds. This will give me the necessary materials to complete the tower. So be it, said the king, and everyone was ordered to bring all the boxes and crates they could find to the castle, and under the direction of the carpenter, they were piled one on top of each other until there wasn't a single one left. It's not high enough, complained the king when he saw the tower. So the king ordered all the trees to be chopped down and sawn into planks to make more boxes. At last every tree had been used to make more boxes and every box had been piled on top of the tower. It was now a very high tower. I'll climb the tower first to make sure it's safe, the carpenter said. You'll do nothing of the sort, cried the king indignantly. I shall make the first ascent. Who ever heard of a carpenter rising to such heights? Then the king began to climb to the very top and he stretched out his hand to reach the moon. Only a few more inches and he would be able to reach it. Bring me up one more box, he called to the carpenter below. There wasn't another box to be found anywhere nor was there a scrap of wood to make one. There wasn't a single tree left in the whole land. They'd all been cut down. The king was furious. He was so near and yet so far from touching the moon. Yet he must succeed. Then he had a brilliant idea. Take the box from the bottom of the tower and bring it up here to me, he ordered. The box from the bottom of the pile, said the carpenter. The one on which all the others are standing. Yes, you fool, said the king. And be quick or you'll lose your head. Now the king's word was law and being a loyal subject the carpenter had to do as he was told. So without hesitation he pulled out the bottom box as the king had ordered. Because this box was an important part of the construction of the tower the whole thing began to collapse and within seconds down it came with a tremendous crash. Unfortunately for the king he was buried somewhere under the boxes and was never found. The sad thing was he had never even touched the moon.