A Fairytale for Modern Times

Once upon a time there was a King, and he had a castle and a large kingdom to lord over. He enjoyed his power but was always looking for ways to increase it. The people working for him did the best jobs they could, whether they were soldiers, blacksmiths, farmers, merchants, medics or clerics. They did their work and were proud of their small contributions to keeping the kingdom and the castle running. The King’s court also had a court jester, a shrewd man who enjoyed his accessibility to the King and the fact that the King liked to be entertained. The King had his advisors who tried to be honest and forthright with the King, but he enjoyed the advice and the sycophancy that the court jester gave him, and rewarded him heartily with riches and advantages that the other workers in the kingdom did not enjoy. But the workers did not complain because the King was not unkind to them. However, the King’s advisors saw that it was best to become like the court jester and soon enough the King was surrounded with many sycophants.

There were several other smaller, well-functioning kingdoms in the surrounding area, and the court jester, knowing the King’s appetite for power, decided to encourage him to try to take power over these smaller kingdoms as well. The advisors agreed. These kingdoms also had their respective kings, but none of these kings were as powerful as the King. They were second-level kings. The court jester and advisors suggested to the King that he take over the other kingdoms not by attacking them but by forming alliances with them where all of them would discuss who would have the power positions after the King had become the lead King over the new and bigger alliance of the different dominions. He would be the lead King because he had the most wealth and the biggest army. The tricky part would be how to convince the other dominions to ally themselves with the King. The court jester suggested that the King emphasize that bigger was better and that there was strength and protection in numbers and that the second-level kings could decide who among them would have the most power as long as the lead King retained his privileges and his wealth. The advisors all nodded their heads in agreement and congratulated the jester and themselves on hatching a brilliant plan. Amazingly enough, the King managed to persuade the other dominions of the advantages of allying themselves with him, and they set about redesigning the new and improved dominion. The workers in each of these dominions wondered a bit about what would happen to them but were told to go about their business and not to worry about the future. So they did just that.

The redesign of the new and improved dominion proceeded over several years. The workers would get periodic updates on how wonderful it all would be when it was finished. The advisors decided that it wasn’t necessary to have duplicate jobs in all the different dominions, so some of the blacksmiths were informed that their services were no longer needed. The same went for farmers and soldiers and merchants and medics and clerics. The displaced workers had nowhere to turn, so many of them became advisors to the advisors and in this way the number of advisors increased to dramatic levels in the space of a few years. But there were fewer soldiers to defend the realm, fewer blacksmiths to shoe the horses, fewer farmers to produce the crops, fewer merchants to sell the goods, and fewer medics and clerics to tend to the sick and dying. The remaining workers began to wonder what would happen to them. They were still told not to worry, but the reassuring messages became fewer and eventually ceased. Productivity and worker morale began to decrease and the King began to worry but the advisors reassured him that everything would be fine if they just continued on the same course. After a few years there were mostly only advisors in the new and improved kingdom and they began to fight for power among themselves over the few remaining blacksmiths, farmers, merchants, clerics and medics. In the meantime the King was warned by a shaman to prepare for an invasion but the King was too preoccupied with his worries to really pay attention. The day the invasion came, the new and improved realm was unprepared, the moat bridges in the respective castles stayed down because no one knew how to raise them anymore, there were no soldiers at their posts because there were no more soldiers or shoed horses to ride out into battle with, there were no medics to help the injured and the dying, and little food to sustain the survivors. The many advisors surrounded the King and begged for his help but the King could not help them, and the advisors could not defend themselves and were slaughtered in great numbers. And so the life of the new and improved realm crashed and burned and it was as though it had never existed.