My Kingdom No More

This story was originally written for a Photo Prompt Contest (see the picture of the tree with a small door at its base)

MY KINGDOM NO MORE

         Long ago, upon this trodden ground, around this tree, I played — too young to take the throne.

         As King, my castle towered near the clouds, my subjects were happy and my Kingdom thrived. Tolerance, honesty and patience were instilled from birth in all who lived here. But, as years went by, my Kingdom waned; many of my subjects became intolerant of those in need and too greedy, lazy, and unwilling to give aid to their neighbor. Where once charity was given without promise of gain, those who prospered withheld from those who had little.

         But I, their King, would not let the unfortunate ones perish. To them, I gave each a parcel of land upon which food could be grown and a dwelling could be built. For this, I asked only that the unfortunate ones share with one another; and to this, they agreed.

         The prosperous ones, greedy for more and wanting the same from their King, cried out. “Why do you give only to them? We are your subjects, yet you give us nothing.”

         “You have everything! If I give you land, will you plow it? If I give you bricks, will you build a dwelling? You will not because you already have these things. You will not because you loathe working the land. What then do you want? More? I, your King, will give you no more.”

         For one year, the prosperous ones watched the unfortunate ones plow their land and build their dwellings; seething, they planned and connived to take everything away from them. When the first crop yielded food and the dwellings were built, the prosperous ones banded together and raided their crops and burned their dwellings, leaving the unfortunate ones homeless and hungry, forcing them into the forest to live in caves.

         I, their King, saw the unrest in my Kingdom and prayed for guidance. An angel appeared saying:

“Unto you, their King, I say: Announce to all in your Kingdom to change and return to their Godly ways. In return, your Kingdom and your subjects will prosper in harmony and peace. You, their King, shall have five years, no more. If you have not accomplished this in the five years I have given you, your subjects and your Kingdom will be no more.”

         The task before me was insurmountable, but I, their King, heeded the angel’s warning and proclaimed to all the subjects of my Kingdom:

“Return to your virtuous ways, live in peace and harmony as before and you will all prosper. Do nothing and you will suffer the consequences which will befall this Kingdom at the end of the fifth year.”

         For four years, the unfortunate ones worked harmoniously with one another – again cultivating their land and rebuilding their dwellings. But each year, the prosperous ones, unwilling to work, continued to steal their food and destroy their homes. Tired of building and plowing their land only to have the prosperous ones destroy everything, the unfortunate ones returned to the caves in the forest. There, they devised a plan.

         “What can we take from the prosperous ones? They do not plow their own lands; they steal our food. We cannot burn their homes; they are well guarded. We cannot fight them; we have no weapons.”

         “We can steal what they value most — their children.”

         And so, the unfortunate ones schemed and planned and dispersed early the following morning. Children of all ages were taken from the meadows where they played, others from their beds while they slept that night. By the following morning, all the children of the prosperous ones had been taken away and hidden in a dark cave in the forest.

         The prosperous ones, knowing that the unfortunate ones had stolen their children, posted a demand on a tree in the forest:

Return our children and we will steal from you no more.

         But the unfortunate ones were suspicious and impatient, and posted their final ultimatum:

We will return your children, but for a price. You will return what you stole from us, rebuild our dwellings, and plow our land. If you do not agree, your children will die.

         The prosperous ones, being greedy and loathsome of labor and armed with weapons, posted another demand:

Return our children or suffer our wrath.

         Days passed and the children were not returned. Prepared to battle, the prosperous ones marched into the forest, armed with weapons, to confront the unfortunate ones, but the caves were well hidden and they could not find them. The unfortunate ones waited.

         “Surely they want their children back. Are they so greedy they would give up their own children for what little we ask? What are we to do?”

         “We will wait. We will not give them the children unless they meet our demands. We are tired and weary. If they want their children, they must return to us what they have taken and they must plow our land and rebuild our dwellings. It is so little to ask for the life of a child.”

         But the prosperous ones were covetous and refused to give back what they had stolen. They searched the forest for many months, grieving for their lost children but unwilling to give up anything for their safe return. Finally, the prosperous ones stopped searching.

         Though the demands of the unfortunate ones were not met, they could not kill innocent children; they were spared, never to see their parents again. But alas, if the prosperous ones would give up what was thought to be their most precious possession, what else could the unfortunate ones do? With no weapons to defend themselves, the unfortunate ones were forced to remain in their dark caves — unable to rebuild their dwellings or plow their land — leaving their sanctuary only to hunt for food and water.

         The fifth year came to pass and the angel appeared to me, their King, and proclaimed:

“You have failed and now you must suffer the consequences.”

         I, their King, pleaded, but the angel rebuked the actions of my people and sternly replied:

“Your subjects and your Kingdom will diminish in size, as they have diminished in virtue, each year until you are no more. But you, their King, will survive, though smaller in stature, forever more.”

         And so it came to pass that every year thereafter my Kingdom with all my subjects diminished by one-tenth in size; and in the tenth year, my Kingdom was no more. And I, their King, much smaller in stature, will forever dwell in this home within this tree, the tree where once I played as a child; where once I was King.



Word count: 1107 (including title)