A Fairy Tale

by Firebear

Okay, so this was my experiment with writing a fairytale satire that actually taught you something that made sense. If you're looking for a cute bedtime story, this is not it. It's a little short but it should still do.

A "Fairytale"

Once upon a time there lived a kind prince, who was wise and ruled fairly over his lands. However, a larger kingdom beyond a long range of snowy mountains was much larger and run by an ignorant, handsome and selfish king. Despite his bad traits, the foolish people of his many lands worshiped him and thought only of his conquest.

One day the foolish king looked out the window and saw the mountains. His crops were failing and a pestilence had spread through the kingdom.

"Why should I have to live over here when more fruitful land lay beyond the mountains?" He pondered to himself. He had won many over lands such as that one, all of which got the plague, so he knew he could capture at least this small kingdom. The king assembled a great army and marched toward the mountains.

When the good king heard about the invasion from a mountaineer, he spoke to his squire, "Gather together our army to defend our home."

"But sir," the squire replied, "we have no army, just the men of our town." The good king smiled.

"Ah, but they are armed with a love that no other soldier has, our spirit will make us victors!"

Several days went by and all the men of the village were notified of the invasion. They were eager to defend their families. Though the only weapons they carried were staffs and pitchforks, they still possessed the loyalty to their cause. The army began to arrive at the edge of the mountains, and the king was notified.

"Bring my sword and robes. My armor will be the love of my people." The squire loved his king and knew that he was wise beyond his years. He believed and trusted in everything the king said.

Finally, the army arrived at the village. The king came out standing amongst his subjects. As the army appeared over the hill his voice rang clear: "Remember that we can never lose if we have faith, for faith can turn aside any sword or block any arrow!" Unfortunately, it seemed that the one arrow faith couldn't block was the one stray arrow that sprouted a second later from the good king's heart.

Perhaps wisdom is not what we think.

I wrote this story a couple months ago. It was sort of my idea to make fairy tales that had more "realistic endings". Hope you liked it.