Young Ezra, a ser­vant in King Solomon’s opu­lent palace, seeks to help the wise king and ease his bur­den. The king wants to inspire hope in those who need it and humil­i­ty in those who are lack­ing in that impor­tant attribute; he feels that sad peo­ple need to be more hope­ful while proud peo­ple need to be more mod­est. Ezra agrees but doesn’t know how to help. 

One man Ezra con­sults has an idea. He gives Ezra a ring that has let­ters inscribed on it: gim­mel, zayin, and yud. He brings the ring to the king who under­stood its mean­ing: gam zu ya’avor—this too shall pass. The king real­izes that those who suf­fer mis­for­tune must under­stand that there can be bet­ter times ahead, and that those who seem to have it all must under­stand that their rich­es might not be permanent. 

With the king’s reward, Ezra’s life takes a turn for the bet­ter, but he always remem­bers that he should remain hum­ble as his good for­tune might not last for­ev­er. He gen­er­ous­ly shares the fruits of his suc­cess with the man who gave him the excel­lent advice. And, from that day on, King Solomon proud­ly wears the ring that helped to increase his wis­dom and understanding. 

An author’s note dis­cuss­es the long his­to­ry of this well-known folk tale. An artist’s note tells about the his­tor­i­cal inspi­ra­tion for the soft­ly col­ored, beau­ti­ful illustrations.