Second of three parts.
Re: “Good vs. Evil, A Political Fairy Tale”
One day in the kingdom of the Kind King, a group of schoolchildren, twenty in all, entered the forest to seek wild mushrooms. They became separated and eventually they were lost.
Because the Kind King knew there still lurked danger in the forest, he felt that he should seek the children, since his goodness alone would keep any Evil at bay. Strapping the magic sword of his late father, the Great King, around his waist, he left the palace in search of the children.
At first, the edges of the forest were green. The sun shone through the branches, and the shadows of the leaves danced on the ground.
The Kind King traveled many days. He went to the farthest reaches of the forest, but he could not find the children. So he turned back toward the palace, now days away, searching as he went.
Soon he came upon a gaggle of Giant Spiders, who had spun the most beautiful webs, forming an intricate tapestry of warp and weave amongst the trees.
The Kind King was overwhelmed by the majesty of the hanging curtain, but he was filled with horror upon seeing two of the schoolchildren entrapped firmly in its grip.
But the King was overwhelmed by kindness. He knew that killing was never a solution, but an act of Evil. He tried to speak to the Great Spiders, to reason with them, to explain that they were doing useless Evil, but they replied that their sacred forest had been defiled.
And so with his hand upon his sword, he turned his face as the Giant Spiders drained the children of their blood.
He knew that he had done right, and had not increased Evil. Meanwhile, a beautiful branch sprouted from his shoulder, filled with bright green leaves, and so wonderful that birds with wings of gold and red fluttered at its highest reaches, singing their delightful, rejoicing songs.
The Kind King walked on toward his palace. After another day, he came upon a cluster of Wargs, wolves of blotchy fur with eyes that shone with sparkling brightness, and whose females held their suckling young lovingly at their breasts.
The Kind King was enthralled at the warmth displayed by the family of Wargs toward one another.
Once again, though, he found the horror rising within him upon seeing four of the children tied by a roaring fire.
Overwhelmed by the fear of doing wrong, and adding to the Evil, and hoping to teach the Wargs a lesson of kindness, he began to explain the uselessness of killing.
When the Wargs replied it was their way, the Kind King, with his hand resting on his waist, turned his face as the Wargs devoured the children.
He knew that he had done right, and had not increased Evil, as from his neck to his waist his body thickened, forming the great trunk of a powerful tree, with bright brown bark glistening in the sun, so enchanted that beautiful birds, though fewer than before, flew about it, singing their uplifting melodies.
(To be continued)
Mr. Smith, an attorney, may be contacted at gsmith@irell.com
