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The first reporter on scene asked the King what happened, how did one of the most successful Kingdoms in the upper world collapse so quickly? The King though gravely wounded wanted to tell the story for others to learn from it and be prepared.

The King coughed and some blood sprayed, a servant wiped his mouth, and he started talking. When I was a young man, I came a cross a Dragon’s cave. I new of the dangers of either dealing with, or fighting with Dragons, but I was a young and and rash in my youthfulness. I came back to that cave entrance often, sometimes armed for battle,  sometimes dressed in finery for negotiating, but I never had the courage to enter the cave and search out the Dragon.

I was still a prince at that time, but the people of the Kingdom and the lands surrounding the Kingdom recognized that I seemed to have an uncommon wisdom. I convinced my Father the King to make small changes that really mattered little, but made the Peasants happy and they felt their life was better.

When I became King after my Father the King grew to old to rule with the vigor he once had, the people of my Kingdom wanted more. They were happy for the changes I made as a prince, but now that I was king, they thought I should be doing more. I was not sure what to do, but I felt it my obligation to do something.

I had a horse saddled and once more went riding across the country side. I determined that perhaps if the people in the Kingdom felt rich they would be content? I made small changes in the ruling of the Kingdom concerning money matters so everyone in the Kingdom would pay less in taxes. I secretly set up a rebate program so they would receive back varying amounts of money over time, so after a period of ten years they would be equally wealthy.

After some years went by, everyone was happy and the Kingdom was fruitful. People wore finery, and had nice homes to live in. Each thought they were just a little better than the people around them, but overall they tried to get along. Over these years though, a small thought held by one of the people started spreading through all the people.

The king coughed weakly, and a little blood flowed dribbled from the side of his mouth. A servant cleaned it away. One person a few years ago decided that the possessions and wealth were because he was a little more special than everyone else, and something he could not see was making sure he received just a little more than everyone else. It was not true, but he believed it

Of course this was not true, because it was my financial planning for the Kingdom that determined what each had received over the years. But that did not stop him from telling his neighbors that he was just a little better, and therefore had a little more than they did.

So the neighbors thinking it may be true, asked him where the extra came from? The peasant not really having a pat answer but needing a reason, decided to say the King had given him extra wealth and other valuable things. Most did not believe it, but a few did. Over the next decade I saw the Kingdom was split in half with people believing they had extra wealth that the King had given them.

This thinking among the people, with almost half of them thinking they were better than their neighbors was causing a problem. They wanted to prove they were wealthier than others, but when their wealth was counted they found this was not really true. This made them angry. Because they felt they were better than their neighbors. They started complaining that they all have the same amount of wealth and there was no way to show how rich they were. They must be poor and the King had used trickery and fooled them into thinking they were rich.

Things became worse in the Kingdom until the people were split in two angry mobs. One group was sure they were better because they were given extra, and the other group were sure that everyone was about equal, and no one was better off than the other.

A great war erupted, and there was terrible slaughter on both sides. After some days, the fighting slowed because there were no more people who had either not been in battle and were either wounded or killed.  The King finally met the Dragon he feared so greatly. As the King lay dying, the Dragon walked around the Kingdom collecting the treasure it had given out over the years to the People of the Kingdom. The Dragon had if one looked closely, tears in its eyes.

Comments (0) Feb 14 2008