“Marco! Polo!
Marco! Polo!”
The Blair Witch Project* #quote
Today I reached for the stars. When I grabbed one it turned out to
be really hot! Anyway onto the flash fiction!
The Gravest Insult
The king of the magical lands of Garal oppressed his people for
years because of his self-centered thinking. He cared for the luxury
of himself and mostly ignored the plight of the people. He didn't
actively torment them day to day. He just drained them to make sure
he lived with a smile on his face and satisfied his greed.
He normally didn't deal with criminals but one child stole from his
garden. A skinny, dirty child. Even more dirty than the usual
peasant. Even more of a hungry mess.
“Do you know what a grave error it is to steal from your ruler?”
the king asked as he wondered what he should do to punish the child.
Should he make him an example?
The child yelled with tears in his eyes, “I haven't eaten for two days! Your garden is
full of food and you keep taking everything! I stopped caring about
you or your guards. You're nothing but a Chicken!”
The king was at a loss for words. He couldn't believe the child
called him a Chicken. A mild insult in the non-magical world, but the
most grave in the lands of Garal. Chicken was the name of a horrible
tyrant, he belonged to a family of farmers famous for raising the
best chickens before he gained power. He took pride in that heritage
and took that name.
The tyrant Chicken stained the history books with blood and people
couldn't make up lies as terrible as the truth about him. He caused
destruction and pain all across Garal. Every horrible thing that
could be done he did over and over. The tyrant has since passed but
the echoes of him remain.
After a long silence and the guards staring at both the king and the
boy the ruler spoke, “You compared me to a man more vile than even
the demons summoned by the corrupt wizards of East Swamps. A man who
wreaked havoc on the world like a natural disaster. Do you really
think I deserve to be called a Chicken? To be put on that level?
Choose your words wisely.” The king pulled out his own sword and
held it to the child's neck. A child might spout stupid things from
time to time. But they would break when real danger is shown to them.
The child looked at the king. “You are a Chicken.”
The king almost dropped the sword. Even facing death the child would
call the king such a thing. The ruler didn't know what to think at
first. He dismissed the boy and the thought of the meeting bothered
him day after day, week after week.
Eventually the influence of the terrible Chicken made the king look
again at how he ruled and the lives of his people improved as he gave
back to them and focused on serving them. He would never be even
close to a Chicken again.
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