The King who was Afraid

There was once a King, who was afraid of his subjects.  Not because he was not loved and revered by them, but because he was afraid of people.  In fact this king was so afraid of people that he had all the staff in the castle wear costumes to disguise them as non-people things so he would not show his fear.  He also had all the mirrors in the castle removed so as to not fear his own image.  Well one day he was in his study doing the things kings do when a wizard appeared—disguised per royal decree—in front of the king.  This wizard—dressed as a candelabrum—asked the king if he could help him with his affliction.  The king was so enraged that a mere candelabrum would suggest that he had any affliction, that he flung the wizard out the door.  The wizard who was not to be dissuaded so easily, again appeared in front of the king, but this time as himself, undisguised.  The king, who saw the wizard appear again, cringed in the corner in holy terror.  After a few minutes the wizard again magically enchanted himself into a candelabrum and again asked the king if he would allow him to help him get past his affliction.  The king picked himself off the floor and went to the corner and began a story of how he became the person he was.  It seems that when the king was a child, he was never allowed to see or be exposed to any person because of his status as next in line to the throne.  As such, he never saw anything in his life but inanimate objects and animals.  These animals were all people, it turns out, that had been enchanted to appear as talking animals.  These people were the most trusted in the land and were born to serve the king until their death.  They were enchanted at birth and even they had no idea that they were people.  Then one day, the old king died and the new king was elevated.  The restriction of not being exposed to people was lifted by the death. The new king explained how he fell into a panic when he saw the people as he had never seen a human person before.  He locked himself in his chamber and called for his personal servant who dutifully appeared in the chamber.  At once the king fell to the floor cringing at the monstrosity—in his eyes—that was in front of him.  The servant at once left the chamber and went to find the royal enchanter who again returned all the staff to their original enchanted selves.  Such was the discomfort of the king with humanity that it was soon decreed that all subjects in his land were to appear as either an object or an animal in the presence of the king.  After finishing the story the king stood with his back to the candelabrum wizard for many minutes and again began to speak.  This time he turned to the wizard and told him that if he could vanquish this demon from his life that he would become a royal vizier and could have half the gold in the treasury.  The wizard told the king that he had no interest in a title or gold, but that the people of his land needed a king that showed no fear.  He said that it would be his honor and privilege to serve his majesty in that capacity.  Without a warning, the wizard poofed out of existence.  The king turned to notice that the wizard had gone and resigned himself to the possibility that having exposed himself to the wizard, his reign would be coming to an end shortly.  Many days passed and the memory of the conversation with the wizard passed into the distance.   On the morning of change, as it would come to be called, the wizard again appeared to the king in the guise of a candelabrum.   The wizard told majesty that he had come up with a solution that would make the life of the king normal in the aspect of seeing people.  The king nodded at the wizard and told him to do what he came to do and turned his back to the wizard fully expecting to be killed.  What came after was nothing short of miraculous.  The wizard started chanting in ancient tongues a spell that took many days to create that forced the king to turn and face him.  The king offered no resistance to this as he had come to terms with his demise.  Once facing the wizard the wizards began to change slowly from a candelabrum to an ape.  The ape was curiously wearing clothing that included a pocket watch.  The wizard now turned ape, pulled the watch out of the pocket and began moving the watch like the pendulum of a clock and continued with the chanting.  Soon the king had fallen into the distant chanting voice.   Once the king was completely under the spell of the wizard, the wizard began to speak in words that the king understood.  The wizard told the king that he would no longer fear that which had plagued him.  From that day forth, the king would no longer harbor that irrational fear.  After completing the spell and indoctrination, the wizard told the king to go to bed and sleep.  He told him that by the crowing of the cock in the morning sun, he would wake up and no longer be afraid.  The king repeated the instructions and complied with the order.  The king dreamed of his childhood and instead of seeing the animals and objects, he saw people—and was not afraid.  He lived his entire youth all over again in his dream.  In the morning as promised the rooster crowed the morning sun and the king awoke.  Not remembering why he had been so tired, he called for his servant.  When the servant appeared as the animal he had been accustomed to being, the king told him to remove that silly costume.  The servant left the chamber of the king afraid that the king had slipped his mind at last.  He had gone to the enchanter and told him of the king’s instruction telling him to become human again.  The enchanter complied and the servant went to the royal kitchen to fetch the king his breakfast.  As he entered the chamber of the king he quaked.  Afraid of what the king might say to him for not being in his illusion.   The servant announced his presence to the king and waited.  The king emerged from the royal bath and saw the servant standing there.  Upon seeing the servant standing there, he waved toward the table in the corner and told the servant to prepare two plates, thus informing him that he was to dine with the king.  It was never spoken of again in the land.  The knowledge that the king was ever afraid of people fell into myth.  The wizard was called to the chamber of the king.  The wizard did not go.  Despite the fact that he never asked for anything in return he was made vizier to the king and half of the wealth of the king and the southern castle were given him in payment.  The king never saw or heard from the wizard ever again.  The kingdom was prosperous and the king was loved for a hundred years.  Every now and again the king would wonder whatever happened to the wizard.  The king had visited the southern castle many times in his years as king, but never saw the wizard.  One day toward the end of his life, the king got a letter from a woman.  The letter was from the wife of the wizard.  The wizard, it was written, loved the king with all of his heart and soul.  The letter had told the king about the death of the wizard.  The widow told the king that her husband had so loved the king and kingdom that he made a sacrifice for him and it.  The wizard had lived all of these years as a hermit that feared people. 

Christopher Anderson