Monday, December 7, 2009

The King and the Water of Madness

"A powerful wizard, who wanted to destroy an entire kingdom, placed a magic potion in the well from which all the inhabitants drank. Whoever drank that water would go mad.

The following morning, the whole population drank from the well, and they all went mad. Apart from the king and his family, who had a well set aside for them alone, and which the magician had not managed to poison.
The king was worried and tried to control the population by issuing a series of edicts governing security and public health. The police men and the inspectors, however, had also drunk from the poisoned water and they thought the king's decisions were absurd and resolved to take no notice of them.

When the inhabitants of the kingdom heard of these decrees, they became convinced that the king had gone mad and was now giving nonsensical orders. They marched on to the castle and called for his abdication.

In despair, the king prepared to step down from the throne, but the queen stopped him, saying:
'Let us go and drink from the communal well. then, we will be the same as them."
And that was what they did: the king and the queen drank from the water of madness and immediately began talking nonsense.

Their subjects repented at once; now that the kind was displaying such wisdom, why not allow him to continue ruling the country?
The country continued to live in peace, although the inhabitants behaved very differently from those of its neighbors. And the king was able to govern until the end of his days."

Do I have to drink from the water of madness to be accepted into society?! To be like everyone else?
I refuse, and I shall be looked at as a madwoman till the end of my days...

5 comments:

Stephanie said...

That is a very powerful story.

Mohammad said...

I knew you were an alien! The story is great of course, I remember years ago reading a short play by Tawfik Al Hakeem that was built on the same idea. Quite unforgettable!

Mariam said...

An alien.. yea that is what I am! Thanks!!

Mohammad said...

We can form a club :p

would u by any chance be interested in joining a book club? The next book will be 1984.

Mariam said...

Hmmmm... a booke club eh? Sounds interesting! I'll have to check if my schedule allows it :P