Coming to himself

The story starts with an unusual request. You normally received your inheritance only after your father died. The younger son wants his share now. He squanders everything and ends up with a foreigner's pigs. For a Jewish boy it could hardly get lower.

Then it says: he came to himself. Before he gets back to his father, he gets back to himself. Whether his regret was pure, we don't know. Perhaps it was mostly his hunger talking. It's fine if the way back begins with an empty stomach.