Once upon a time, not so long ago, there was a pilgrim on his way to Jerusalem.

He walked with his backpack for many, many weeks and finally reached a plain that he had to cross. Almost in the middle of the desert-like region, which was almost a hundred kilometers long, the pilgrim tiredly laid down his backpack and wanted to rest in the shade of a palm tree a little off the beaten track.

But when he had almost reached the palm tree, the pilgrim suddenly fell into a sandy pit, almost five meters deep, and found himself on the bottom of it.

He looked up and tried to get out of the hole. But the walls were sandy and there was no handhold to reach the top. The pilgrim kept falling back to the bottom.

After a few hours, a pilgrim came down the path and saw the backpack. He went to the palm tree and saw the pilgrim in the hole. "I am a Muslim and I will pray for you," he said into the hole. He pulled out his prayer rug, turned it toward Mecca, said his prayers, and then rolled the rug back in. Then he said to the pilgrim: "Inshallah, Allah wanted you to fall into the pit. I will continue to pray for you." Then he went on his way.

Soon after, another pilgrim came down the path, saw the rucksack and went to the pit. "I am a Hindu," he said, "and that you fell in there is your karma, your destiny. You must learn to accept it. I will pray for you in one of our temples in the next town and light incense for you." He went on.

A little later the next pilgrim arrived. "I am a Buddhist," he said down the hole, "and how wonderful that your Buddha has led you to this place. Here you have a great opportunity to really get to know yourself in complete silence without anyone disturbing you. Maybe you can reach Nirvana. I wanted to be that far already." He meditated quietly for some time in front of the sandy hole and then left without saying a word.

A little later another pilgrim came along the path and discovered the hole. "I'm a Free Church Christian," he said, "and this is terrible what has happened to you. I will pray with and for you right away so that we can get you out of this hole." He smiled as he pulled out his guitar and immediately began playing trance-like prayer music. He sang aggressively into the hole again and again that the pilgrim in the pit should now and finally open his heart to Jesus. After two hours, when he got tired of the music and the loud prayers, he took a short sip from his RedBull and played some quieter music. When a beautiful pilgrim came along who was also a freethinker, he picked up his things and followed her.

Some time later another pilgrim came along the path. "I am an Evangelical Lutheran Protestant, and you deserve to have fallen in here," she said angrily into the hole. "You are a patriarchal husband who left his wife and children alone at home while you enjoyed your pilgrimage. I will go to the nearest village, notify your wife, advise her to file for divorce and seek sole custody of the children." Before she left, she spat into the hole and kicked the pilgrim's backpack a few times.

A little later another pilgrim came. "I am a Russian Orthodox Christian," he said, "and unfortunately I cannot help you because this land does not belong to Russia and you were not baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church. But I will give you a small bottle of vodka and pray for you. Oh, and yes, since you no longer need your sleeping bag, I am sure you will not mind if I exchange yours for my old one," he said, throwing down a small bottle of vodka. He exchanged the sleeping bags and moved on.

A short time later a Greek Orthodox Christian came along the path. "This is terrible, what happened to you," he said, "of course I will help you, I will go to the next village and come back with help. But as you know it is very hot and because of the heat I can only go in the early morning and evening. It may take some time to come back. He held a three-hour prayer service in the old orthodox rhythm, slept next to the sandy hole, and slowly left early the next morning.

Soon another pilgrim came along the path. He also saw the backpack and went to the hole. "I am a progressive liberal Catholic," he said indignantly, "and I find it terrible on the part of the Catholic Church that there are no pits for homosexuals and the remarried divorced." He took a spade and dug several holes in front of which he placed the appropriate signs. "In addition, in the next village I will send a letter to Pope Francis," he said, "in which I will ask him to place an official Vatican sign at the beginning of the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, pointing out that this walk is explicitly open to these people". Then he defiantly went his way.

Not long after that, another pilgrim came to the hole. "I am a member of the Catholic Curia in Rome," he said. "You can confess to me, my son." He took his stole, put it around his neck, and listened quietly and patiently as the pilgrim confessed. He gave him absolution and his blessing. Then he took a bite of his salmon sandwich and a sip of his expensive Pellegrino sparkling water, shined his fine leather shoes, wished the pilgrim all the best and God's abundant blessings, and went on his way.

A little later another pilgrim came, saw the backpack and went to the hole. "Oh my God, this is cruel," he said at the sight of the pilgrim in the pit. "I am a Jew," he said, crying bitterly, howling, and repeatedly banging his head against the palm tree. After a few minutes, he said to the pilgrim in the pit: "I will go to the nearest village and get help. If you have died of hunger or thirst in the meantime, we will close the pit with your remains when we return. Anyone passing by can drop a small stone on your grave. We will have your grave fenced in and declared part of the State of Israel. You will then be recognized as an Israeli citizen. After that, we will track down and sue all those who set this trap for you. May the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob be with you, my brother." He went on.

Finally, a tall pilgrim came along the road. His clothes looked used; he had obviously been on the road for a long time. He walked barefoot and carried only a small backpack. His face was marked by the sun and the wind. He went to the pit and quietly listened to the pilgrim's experiences. Then he said: "Make some space down there, I will come down to you."

He jumped down into the pit, gave the pilgrim some water and bread and said: "Stand with your feet on my shoulders. I will push you up, and with a little help from your end, you should be able to get out of this sandy hole easily." The pilgrim did as suggested and was finally able to escape the pit.

Overjoyed, the pilgrim thanked his rescuer down in the hole, assured him to seek help as soon as possible, and asked his name. But his rescuer only told him to get help quickly.

The pilgrim ran as fast as he could to the nearest village, stopping to drink water from a cactus or two along the way and telling the people there about his rescue. A jeep was organized and a rescue team immediately went back with the pilgrim.


But when they arrived and looked down into the hole, they found that it was empty.

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