If you’re at an impasse, look for the gnome in the valley.

There’s a German folktale that tells of an ailing King who can only be cured by the Water of Life. His three sons, distraught by their dad’s deterioration, vow to find the wellspring.

The oldest sets out first, coming to a deep valley beset by rocks and woods. There, a gnome calls out, “Prince! To where do you rush?” Hardly slowing, the oldest son snaps back, “what’s it to you, ugly imp,” and forges on.

But as the Prince progressed, the pass narrowed. Enchanted by the gnome, the rocks closed in and encased him in stone.

Sensing something wrong, the middle son took his turn. Arriving to the same gnome on the path, the middle Prince—like his brother before him—quickly dismissed the gnome’s call, hissing “mind your own affairs, fool” as he sped by, only to meet the same sealed fate as his brother.

Thus it fell to the youngest—previously overlooked because he was the least developed. Unlike his brothers, the youngest approached with humility and answered the gnome’s inquiry with a plea: “I am in search of the Water of Life, for my father is on the edge of death. Can you offer any aid?”

The gnome obliges, pointing the Prince to the well. After some twists and turns (that we don’t have time for here), the youngest finds the Water and it’s used to heal the King.

Jung loved this story for how its legend was laced with lessons for Self development. He saw the story representing how it is often the underdeveloped pieces of us that hold the key to our wholeness, just as the least-developed Prince finds the healing Water. Redemption waits in the neglected and suppressed.

I love this story for its reminder on how pride often impedes progress. How often I, like the two older brothers, insist I can do it alone and resist surrendering to anything outside myself. Only to find that, in doing so, ego erects prison walls of my own making.

But I’m learning (slowly) to humble myself at the impasse and be a beginner. To release the need to always appear polished and let myself be underdeveloped at something new. To be like the youngest and listen to the gnome.

Because it’s how to heal both King and Kingdom.