When Earl Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India, announced that his nephew, Prince Philip, was engaged to Princess Elizabeth, Mahatma Gandhi said to him,
“I am delighted that your nephew is going to marry the future queen. I should like to give them a wedding present, but what can I give them? I have nothing.”
“You have your spinning wheel,” said the Viceroy. “Get to work and spin them something.”
Gandhi made them a tablecloth which Mountbatten set to Princess Elizabeth with this note: ”This you lock up with the crown jewels.”
… for it was spun by a man who said: “The British must depart as friends.”
More in The Prayer of the Frog (Volume I) by Anthony de Mello.
Anthony de Mello (1931-1987) was an Indian Jesuit priest and psychotherapist. A spiritual teacher, writer and public speaker, De Mello wrote several books on spirituality and hosted numerous spiritual retreats and conferences. He continues to be known for his storytelling, which drew from the various mystical traditions of both East and West