Book Report: The Three Questions

42. Jon J. Muth, writer and illustrator, The Three Questions (2002) (1/14/19)

This story is based on a similarly titled piece by Leo Tolstoy, originally written to raise funds for the victims of an anti-Jewish pogrom in Kishniev. The three questions in each are

• When is the right time?
• Who are the right people?
• What is the most important thing to do?

Tolstoy's story involves a tsar who thinks that if he can find answers to these questions, he will never fail at anything. He summons advisors from all over, but each group gives him different responses to the three questions, none of which satisfies him. He decides to consult a hermit who is famous for his wisdom. When the tsar arrives at the hermit's hut, the man is digging in his garden but appears exhausted. The tsar offers to help. In the midst of the work, a wild-faced man comes running from the forest, clutching his bleeding stomach. The tsar takes him in and helps him, nursing him to back to health. It turns out, the man was an enemy of the tsar, sworn to kill him as vengeance for the death of the man's brother. But now he changes his tune and swears allegiance to the tsar, for his benevolence. When all that is wrapped up, the tsar turns to leave, saying he's sorry he didn't get answers to his questions. But, the hermit protests, of course you did!

Had you not taken pity on my weakness yesterday and dug these beds for me, instead of turning back alone, that fellow would have assaulted you, and you would have regretted not staying with me. Therefore, the most important time was when you were digging the beds; I was the most important man; and the most important pursuit was to do good to me. And later, when that man came running to us, the most important time was when you were taking care of him, for if you had not bound up his wounds, he would have died without having made peace with you; therefore he was the most important man, and what you did for him was the most important deed. Remember then: there is only one important time – Now. And it is important because it is the only time we have dominion over our selves; and the most important man is he with whom you are, for no one can  know whether or not he will ever have dealings with any other man; and the most important pursuit is to do good to him, since it is for that purpose alone that man was sent into this life.

In Muth's version, the tsar becomes a young boy, Nikolai; the advisors are a great blue heron, Sonya; a monkey, Gogol; and a borzoi dog, Pushkin. The hermit is a "turtle," Lev (actually a giant tortoise that, inexplicably, lives high up a mountain—but who's counting?). And the injured enemy becomes a gentle panda, injured in a storm, and her baby (neither bearing ill will toward a soul). There is still digging in the turtle's garden, and nursing back to health. And the lesson remains the same:

Remember then that there is only one important time, and that time is now. The most important one is always the one you are with. And the most important thing is to do good for the one who is standing at your side. For these, my dear boy, are the answer to what is most important in this world. That is why we are here.

What is really lovely about this book, as with so many picture books, is the art—in this case, exquisite watercolors.

Here is an interview with Jon J. Muth, about this book in part. In it, he says: "In the pictures I was probably influenced by Zen's 'nothing extra': showing what is essential, without decoration. Depicting nature as large and man as small is a feature of Asian painting and I realized later I had done that. I did these things unconsciously. Zen is a Buddhist way of sitting still and being present in the moment; a way of waking up to the fact that you are alive and connected to everything right now. The answers to the questions are all about that."