A True Story About Fred
There’s no way to describe the process of how The Noble King came into power. The Noble Kings walked his land and had power over all those under him; however he had done nothing to claim his throne. The Noble King did not come to power by vote; there was no election or distinct form of bureaucracy that made the decision of him becoming their King. The Noble King did not come to power by strength or numbers; he never fought a battle, never witnessed a war and never once showed dominance over anyone. The Noble King does not have an army, to quote him, “Holding an army begs for unnecessary violence.” The Noble King was his title, it was not the title he may have wished for, but it was the title he earned.
The Noble King never once demanded money, goods, or land. Money was never a problem, as he once said, “It is unfair for a King to hold power if he cannot provide for himself.” Ne never asked for goods. He earned, bought, or traded for any goods he needed. It was a just and fair system. Never once did The Noble King take another man’s land, “Taking one’s land is taking one’s life.” The Noble King only asked for one thing from his people, a tall order from those who he held power, “Defend me until death.”
Death did not occur often in his Kingdom. Never once was violence an issue in his Kingdom. Anyone that committed any sort of crime or act of violence knew they would have to deal directly with The Noble King. What he would do or how he would react was unknown. His people knew it would be wise to avoid any confrontation, for fear of what would happen to them if he had to confront them. It was this same reason The Noble King had no opponents, for the fear of the unknown is enough to keep a man from crossing him.
However noble of a King he was, he could not stop the natural process of death from occurring. His people would grow old and pass on, leaving their children behind to continue the cycle. Whenever one of his people passed on, he would give them the respect of a King. Their casket would be carried down the main street of town on a horse drawn carriage. Every single person from town would line the funeral route. They would not hold their hands over their hearts, nor mourn their death; rather, the people would stand tall and proud, cheering and applauding, as the carriage was carried down Main Street. The people were not applauding the death itself; rather, applauding a life well lived, giving those who passed on one last hurrah before they slept forever.
One day a man came to town. This was nothing new or far from the ordinary for this town. Whenever a new person came to town, The Noble King made it his person errand to greet whoever it was to town and welcome them to his Kingdom. Never once had an ounce of confrontation ever occurred in one of these instances. The visitor would come to town, The Noble King would greet them and within a day or two, the visitor would leave town on their own accord. However, the people knew this would not happen this time, for there was something strange about this man. It was too difficult to describe, there was something not right about this man, something was off. He swayed as he moved a slow, mopey pace to his walk, it looked depressing. As we walked though, he held his head high, and you could see it in his face, he was a man with pride and he was here for no good.
As standard procedure, The Noble King heard from word of mouth that there was someone new in town, he also heard that this person is different, there’s something not right. The Noble King made it his personal errand to his people to investigate. From his Castle, that stood on a small hill located on a jut of land out of the eastern shore and into the bay, the Noble King walked westward directly to the center of town. Down the beaten dirt path that served as Main Street the Noble King passed several houses and farmlands, as well as the graveyard. It was this route the King was walking that is the same as, but the reverse of, the funeral route. Up and down the rolling hills, he walked about two and a half miles before coming to the stretch of Main Street that served as the Center of Town. In the center of town stood a church, tall and proud it was, lurching high upon the hill in the center of town, its steeple stood a full sixty feet above the ground and was easily the tallest object for as far as the eye could see. Main Street led all the way from the Noble King’s castle directly to the front door of the church. From there two spate roads split off from the church, one heading to the North and another South. It was on this Southern Path that the strange man walked, slowly, towards the church.
The Noble King walked forward toward the man, never once breaking stride, never once showing fear and never once showing dominance, rather The Noble King walked forward with confidence and power. The man, in his mopey depressive walk, approached The Noble King. The entire town was in the center to witness this, surrounding the buildings around the area, in the streets and crowding in front of the church they stood. Through thick and through thin these people would stand by their Noble King, the strange man gave them the feeling this confrontation would be the former of the two. At the point of their meeting two things happened. First, the King reached his hand out in order to shake hands with the strange man. The strange man did not respond to this, rather the second happened; the strange man looked directly into the eyes of The Noble King and said simply, “I came for you.” The Noble King calmly and coolly responded, “Well here I am.”
The town remained silent. All one thousand members of town surrounded the crossroads at the church where the strange man and The Noble King stood. The strange man took a step forward, standing so close that the strange man was rubbing against The Noble King, and whispering into the King’s ear he said, “By the end of this day, you will be dead.” Even with the town so silent that you could hear a pin drop from one hundred feet away, no one, except The Noble King, heard what was said. The Noble King, now looking forward over the strange man’s right shoulder, without even a thought at glimpsing toward him, pivoted on his right foot and swung his left leg 180 degrees around behind him, so that The Noble King was now facing directly away from this strange man. Never a look of fear, never showing dominance and never showing weakness, The Noble King started to walk away from the strange man in the direction of his castle.
The strange man started to laugh, evilly and maniacally, he screams, “Run in fear coward! Show these people your true colors! Hide like the rat you are!” The Noble King stops in his tracks, only about 20 paces away from the strange man, with his back to the strange man. The Noble King knows the entire town is watching this event unfold and all eyes are on him. The Noble King doesn’t move an inch, doesn’t show a hint of weakness and does not show a hint of dominance. The Noble King shouts, “’Til Death!!!” and continues to walk away. The strange man stands in the center of town perplexed, the crowd starts to chant, “’Til Death!!! ‘Til Death!!! ‘Til Death!!!” The strange man looks around as the crowd slowly collapses around him, a circle has formed and there’s no escape. The people still chant, “’Til Death!!! ‘Til Death!!! ‘Till Death!!!” A deafening, thundering tone among them, each chant becoming louder and louder than the first, “’Til Death!!! ‘Til Death!!! ‘Til Death!!!”
As The Noble King makes his way back to the castle, the chant becomes weaker and weaker as he walks further and further away. He does not need to know what will happen to the strange man, nor does he care, it’s for his people to decide.