A Flight of Fantasy

Once upon a time, there was a kingdom ruled by a nefarious king who had taken the throne of his father, who had died a mysterious death.  The kingdom was known far and wide as the maker of the best chariots for small kingdoms.  They were so well known they were called the Hercules of chariots.  About the time the new king took over there was a realization by most of the surrounding monarchs they had enough of these rather smallish, slow but sturdy chariots, and perhaps should look to stop buying them and use the riches of the their kingdoms for something better. 

To counter this, the King of Lockmart sent out his emissaries across the many kingdoms making grand promises to willing kings.  If they were to buy their newest chariot all the world would marvel at their wisdom and strength.  What they failed to tell all the kings was this newest chariot would ultimately make the various kingdoms so dependent on Lockmart they would never have the money to pursue another option should the chariot not be all the King of Lockmart said it would be.

Not far away there was a young kingdom ruled by a kind and benevolent king loved by all his subjects.  He was in most things a wise king, but he rose to the rank of king by spending his subjects’ money better, that is faster, than other apprentice kings.  This taught him a lesson, it is better to be first with a plan than to have the best plan.

One day an emissary from the kingdom of Lockmart visited, and proposed an alliance to make the two kingdoms great.  If the wise king would throw away all his old chariots and buy Lockmart’s newest chariots there would be joy throughout the land.

And it came to pass that a treaty was struck, but in the process the evil wizards of the distant land of Ohio saw this as a threat to their powers.  So they quickly aligned themselves with the nefarious king of Lockmart, and together worked to make sure the new chariots arrived quickly, but lacked the strength and ability of the chariots they were to replace.

By the time the chariots arrived, the wise king had been replaced by a jester who surrounded himself with fools and spent the days throwing away the most precious wealth of the kingdom, its warriors who would defend the kingdom.  At the end, when the chariots came into the young kingdom only the squires were left to ride them.  Of course the squires, having only had the oldest and most humble of the old chariots thought this new ride was fabulous.

As time passed the jester was replaced by newer kings who each sought their own agenda, but each was to find at the end of their reign a deep disappointment as the chariots never seemed to live up to the original promise of greatness as they drained the treasury of the kingdom.

And the King of Lockmart smiled as he sat on his throne surveying the lands he now ruled.