305 tale 24
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Different views of history
Once upon a time in
banana land, there was a good monkey king. He was not good because he built
mills, bridges and houses for the poor but because he was wise enough to know
that he himself committed many mistakes. For example, he had a high tower
built for the people to look around in the realm. At the beginning, many
inhabitants went up the tower for curiosity but soon the building remained
deserted.
At least he was not as
bad as other kings were. However, as he was the strongest, nobody dared to
contradict him, not even his advisors. Therefore, he established a monkeys’
assembly.
At the first session of
the gathering everybody, males, females and children were present. But then,
at the second, third and other assembly meetings less and less members of the
monkey people showed up.
The monkey king thought
that they maybe needed a bit of education, so he established schools for
everybody to learn about history, literature and rhetoric.
After some time, the
system seemed to work and the king decided to leave his realm to visit his
counterpart in the neighbouring empire. They had been friends for a long time
and now, our monkey king wanted to convince him to try the same reforms.
“Sooner or later, the people will govern themselves! There is no king nor
god, who is able to oversee everything,” he told his friend. The other king
frowned, “did you observe the monkeys at the marketplace? They are like
children, not interested in anything and just fooling around.” “You have to
teach them! Remember! You got an education as well, otherwise you would be
just the same as them,” our king replied, “come with me and see the results
of my experiment!”
So, both travelled
incognito to our king’s realm to have a look. When they arrived and went
across the marketplace, they saw big paintings of a monkey. Our king asked
one of the tradesmen there, “what is this?” “He is our new leader and calls
himself dictator. When our king disappeared, he took power.” Astonished, our
king looked at his peer from the other empire, who was grinning sarcastically,
then turned to the tradesman again revealing who he really was, “and do you
like it?” The tradesman fell to his knees, “my king!” he mumbled, "why
are you blaming us? God's job is to create the world. The king has the task
of governing the world. The father rules the family and the children obey the
father. That's the order of the world."
Furious, the king went to
the palace, pushed the guards aside and rushed into the great hall where the
dictator had occupied his throne. When this monkey saw his former king coming,
he jumped out of one of the lower windows and escaped. The king was very sad
and called his former advisors to be informed what had happened during his
absence.
Then, he invited some of
the most capable monkeys and formed a kind of advisory council. Their task
was it to teach the monkeys and to control the affairs of the state. When he
saw that the system worked well, he called in an assembly for all the monkey
citizens again.
There was much trouble
for many years, but in the end, everybody in the community assumed
responsibility and the king resign from office to enjoy his quiet retirement.
This was the tale of the
king in the history books. Now, read the tale told by the monkey people!
Once upon a time in
banana land, there was a monkey king. All readers remember the vast number of
tales about good kings but everybody knows that those so-called good kings had
all just lived on the back of their people. Actually, this king as well was
not especially good or bad. Sometimes he got mills, bridges and houses for
the poor built. Nevertheless, many of his buildings were for his own fun, for
example, a high tower to look around in his realm.
At least, he was not as
bad as other kings could be. However, as he was the strongest, nobody dared
to contradict him, not even his advisors.
One day, some younger
monkeys had grown up and demanded the right to decide about their own lives
and the realm. The king was forced to establish a monkeys’ assembly.
At the first session of
the gathering, everybody, males, females and children were present. But then,
at the second, third and other assembly meetings less and less members of the
monkey people showed up because they saw that nothing really changed.
Therefore, they
established schools for everybody to learn about history, literature and
rhetoric because they thought that the monkeys needed a bit of education.
The king, of course,
wanted to keep his power and tried to hinder development. So, after a time,
the king was chased away. He found refuge in the neighbouring empire, he had
been friends with the king there for a long time and now, wanted to ask for
help to regain power. They came with a bigger group of guards and when they
crossed the marketplace, the king turned to a tradesman revealing who he
really was. The tradesman frightened fell to his knees, “my king!”
Furious, the king went to
the palace, pushed the guards at the entry aside, rushed into the great hall
and occupied his throne again. Then, he called his former advisors to be
informed what had happened during his absence.
After some time, the
monkeys succeeded to chase away the king again and formed a guard regiment to
defend their freedom and a kind of advisory council. The task of this plenum
was to teach the monkeys and to control the affairs of the state. When they
saw that the system worked, they called in an assembly of all the monkey
citizens.
There was much trouble
for many years, but in the end, everybody in the community assumed
responsibility.
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Wednesday, 11 December 2019
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