An Emperor asks a shepherds boy: "How many seconds in eternity?" The shepherds boy says: "There's this mountain of pure diamond. It takes an hour to climb it and an hour to go around it. Every hundred years, a little bird comes and sharpens its beak on the diamond mountain. When the entire mountain is chiseled away the first second of eternity will have passed. You must think 'that's a hell of a long time.' Personally, I think that's one hell of a bird."