Once in a land of long ago,
abundant in all good things...
people went hungry, and people were cold,
because of a gluttonous king.
He took all the food, he took all the gold,
and locked it tightly away...
because, as he said imperiously,
“I just might need it one day.”
He dressed in velvet encrusted with jewels.
He actually slept in his crown...
while on cold nights common folk shivered and shook,
he lay wrapped in eiderdown.
It was said he loved none but himself...
a fact that was almost true...
except for a small wild flower,
of a vividly brilliant blue.
They bloomed in meadows, they bloomed in bogs,
they bloomed amid rocks and dust...
but in gardens, tended by human hands,
they shriveled, and died by dusk.
The King commanded...he whined, he wept...
insisting that they should obey...
but the flowers knew nothing of kings or laws,
so they simply went their own way.
Wherever they grew... be it pond, be it path...
no one...near them...would tread...
for to harm a blue petal, every one knew,
was certain to cost you your head.
But then it happened...a summer it was...
the King was left reeling, and stunned...
for it seemed that his flowers were vanishing...
one by one by one.
The leaves were there, the stems were there,
for they were counted each day...
but something was gradually chewing
all of their tops away.
The King, he thundered, he howled, he swore...
“The culprit must quickly be found!
I’ll throttle him, bottle him, roast him, and toast him...
I’ll grind him into the ground!”
Calm yourself sire,” his Advisor spoke up
(a man of great wisdom and years),
“If you value your kingdom, your power, your wealth...
there are facts that I think you should hear.”
The King...he sputtered, “What ‘facts’ can there be?”
“Just this,” his advisor replied...
“It seems that the flowers are being devoured
by a dragon on which you rely.”
“It has lived in the forest surrounding this land
for at least a century or two...
a quiet green creature of singular tastes,
that only eats blooms that are blue.”
“Only my flowers? That’s all it will eat?”
“That is right,” the Advisor did sigh.
“That monster, that horror, that abnormal beast...
wipe him out,” the King roared in reply.
He stomped, he swore, he groaned. he moaned,
he wept...he turned red in the face.
his Advisor implored, “but My Lord you must hear!
To act rashly could cause you disgrace!”
“Think for a moment, think long and think hard,
how safely you’ve lived all these years.
No armies have threatened to take what you have,
because it’s the dragon they fear.”
In truth you are fortunate for dragons are known
as fearsome, fire breathing beasts
but this is a creature of tranquil ways
who prefers to munch flowers in peace.
The King...he was silent a very long time.
It was clear that the dragon must stay.
“But its diet,” he pondered, “how strange
it should eat in such a singular way.”
His Advisor shrugged,
“No one knows truly why,
but it’s said that the beast
is excessively shy.”
“He keeps to himself,
he seldom is heard.
When not eating...he dozes
and listens to birds.”
“Birds,” mused the King,
“is that all he can find
to occupy
his limited mind?”
“A thing so constricted
naïve...unaware...
needs focused instruction
that choices are there.”
“Acceptable choices...that’s what he needs,
supervised lessons on how he should be...
socially...legally...spiritually...and who
can best teach him? By gosh it is me!”
So the King...he put on his most royal robes,
and set his crown high on his head,
then off he marched...into the woods,
without thought to what lay ahead.
Now the woods were a place of shadows and light,
and the path became rocky and thin,
but the King he strode on...so certain he was,
that nothing could happen to him.
Until, at a spot between mountain and moon,
where myth and reality meet,
there sat the Dragon...dreamily...
contemplating his feet.
“My toes are uneven,” he said to the King.
“They grow in peculiar ways.”
The King...he literally froze in his tracks
uncertain just what to say.
I am a royal being, he thought...
I am royal and right!
“Your feet,” he declared, imperiously,
“are a shockingly shameful sight.”
I rather liked them,” the Dragon replied,
“really, is that how they seem?”
As tears rolled slowly down his nose
and vanished in puffs of steam.
“Toes should be even,” the King declared,
“toes should be even and neat...
perhaps your problem has something to do
with whatever it is that you eat.”
The Dragon frowned, “I eat when I should
I know that I should and I do.”
“I have heard,” the King sneered, “that all you consume
are exclusively flowers of blue.”
“But they taste so good,” the Dragon sighed,
as he nervously stared at his feet,
“the truth is, I’ve never thought to try
anything else to eat.”
“What,” cried the King, “never thought to just try....
not a nibble...a sip...or a tweak?
No wonder your toes refuse to grow
You’ve turned yourself into a freak.”
“There’s eggs...avocados...anchovies...cheese..
broccoli...chocolate...and beets...
but best of them all...above all else...
is a nice bloody slice of red meat.”
As he listened, the Dragon could feel himself yearn
for so many wonderful things!
His mouth it burned...he so longed to comply...
that he...joyously...swallowed the King.
It happened so fast...the King made not a sound...
not a squeak...not a squawk...not a chirp.
When finished - the Dragon - he sighed a great sigh...
then gave forth with a very loud burp
And all that was left
was a dented crown,
lying askew
in the dust on the ground.
Now people they talk.
they whisper...they say...
for them...life
drastically changed that day.
To the Dragon...the King
was a sumptuous treat...
savory, moist...
delightful to eat
So firmly, he vowed
that he now understood...
he should consume them
whenever he could!
But, sadly, he realized,
that kings were few...
so for day to day fare
blue flowers would do.
Well the sun goes up...
and the sun goes down...
and the years disappear
in silence and sound.
And some go fast...
and some go slow...
and yesterday seems
like so long ago.
But the people remembered...
and in the end...
they rejoiced, because no one
dared rule them again.
***
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