Subject to Change

A King in his castle must have been sitting around one day and thinking, how can I increase my power over the Court? Life is no fun at all without risk and competition.

So the King called in his advisors and commanded them to come up with a way to achieve that. The advisors hatched a plan and the King liked it. He had all the money and power he needed already, but this would be fun.

They found a Peasant and brought him to the castle. They fed and fattened him up, bathed and cut his hair, shaved his beard and put him in fine clothes. They taught him courtly manners and introduced him to the Privileged. Who would recognize a Commoner presented by the King himself?

No one. The Peasant in all his finery and plumage was an instant hit! Not only that, he showed wisdom beyond his years, and in time it slipped the King's mind that he ever was a Lowly. He looked and behaved like a Privileged, and the King favored him as a trusted advisor.

Years passed. The Peasant became rich beyond his wildest imaginations. In time he forgot who he was.  And when a beautiful maiden in the Court fell in love with him, a jubilant wedding and a houseful of children followed.  In time, their fine sons grew to manhood and each took a wife and had children. 

Life was going pretty well for the Commoner. One day his fine sons were to be Knighted, and as part of the ceremony the royal lineage was traced. And there it was discovered that he was not Royalty at all. He was just a Peasant! The Privileged had invested in him, trusted and given him their children to marry, all that they had, dowrys and money, and he was unworthy!

They were outraged! The King was in a tight spot. And so he proclaimed the law of the land was death for such an act and ordered the family slaughtered for mixing Commoner blood with Royal blood. Among those murdered were the children and grandchildren begot of the union, which included the beloved family members of the Privileged, plus the King's advisors.

The Court was in ruins. News spread from kingdom to kingdom, and soon Courts everywhere began to rise up with one voice for accountability and change. The King ended up with no one to lead. The End.


(Ironically, this is my 99th post for 2011.)