A Fable for our Times.

Once Upon a Time...

...there was a King and Queen. The King was known to have had a mighty temper, but later would mellow with age. The Queen was known to value beautiful surroundings, beautiful words, and perfection above all things. She was ofter overheard saying things like, "If all is beautiful, then what could be wrong?"

They presided over a kingdom that for its first 45 years was guided by the rules of the time called "The Wholly Crutch". Some of the rules of the "Crutch" were very cruel like repeating poetry to alter the natural pathways of the thinking parts. Another cruel practice was to scrub all the residents of the kingdom with a soap called "lie". These practices, among many others, caused terrible and permanent harm.

The Wholly Crutch exerted influence over many Kingdoms in many different lands. It had great wealth and great power and used that power to gain even more power. Even to those who understood The Crutch for what it was were puzzled as to how to stop it.

This made it much harder for the King and Queen to rule as they would have wished had they been raised without these practices. They had lived with the poems and the "lie" for so long, that though it made no logical sense, it felt normal and natural. They had been discouraged from questioning and exploring their natural instincts to investigate (another devious practice), and so the early years of their reign was almost entirely influenced by the power of The Crutch.

At the beginning of their reign, they were only barely out of childhood. However, they found themselves very luckily in love and were hopeful about their future. Shortly after the wedding, and in the many ways of men, the King found himself called to battle, and the Queen was left behind, and with child.

Following the rules of The Wholly Crutch, the Queen prepared to produce an heir. She waited patiently for the King's return and did her best to beautify the castle. The Wholly Crutch demanded Princes. And so she waited.

Barely a year after the royal wedding, the 1st Prince of the kingdom was born.

The 1st Prince, Dases, was beautiful. But was born with a broken heart. The King and Queen took the baby to the Healing Temple for the Shaman to repair him, which he did, but the original wound would haunt him for his entire life.

The King and Queen were rightly devastated by the ordeal of possibly losing their firstborn. They spent much time thinking about The Wholly Crutch and how it could help their baby. But The Wholly Crutch does not have such powers. Eventually, the Prince recovered. The Crutch received quiet thanks for help it had not actually given.

Devious are the ways of The Crutch.

The King went off to battle shortly thereafter. And due to the rules of The Crutch, the Queen found herself again with child.

As the fable is told, the Queen wept and wept. She had just survived the ordeal of nearly losing her first child, and now another was on the way. And she was so young and so alone. Instead of the news being greeted with joy, it was greeted with pain and sorrow.

The 2nd Prince, Dasich, was healthy. But his birth came with the price of severe hardship. And though he was loved, the pallor that surrounded his conception would become a quiet theme for his lifetime.

The King and Queen reigned as best they could. The King was barely of age and had experienced a lack of quietly confident masculinity to model himself after. He had many struggles with himself and with his tempers.

The Queen found herself often overwhelmed. At a time when she would have otherwise been developing into a worldly woman, she had two infants.

And another one on the way.

The 3rd Prince of the Kingdom, Dasuberich, was spirited and independent. These were excellent traits to have with what was to follow.

Though the Kingdom was beautiful and full of promise, three young and active princes were a lot of work. Soon, they were seen as a group or a pack. Though there were mighty squabbles, the closeness of their birth made them intensely bonded. They gained an understanding of each other that was even beyond the grasp of their parents.

For five years, the King and Queen and their Kingdom watched the Princes grow. They were all handsome, all intelligent, all great warriors, and had great gifts. What was similar about them strengthened their bond, and what was different strengthened it even more.

As was tradition, they were taught the ways of The Wholly Crutch. They repeated the poems, the ritual of "lie", they were bathed in the waters and dressed in the costumes. They were instructed not to question. They looked to the King and Queen and the King and Queen looked on.

End of Chapter 1.