} pigsty {
} poetry {
} songs {
} misc {
©2002 egf
} Bardjin {
King Bardjin was a good man. He had many loyal subjects and his people loved him. He loved them too. Though he did not know all of the people of under his reign, he cared that they stay happy and did what he could to ensure that all was well within his kingdom.
Though King Bardjin was a good man, he was not always a happy man. The affairs of the kingdom often troubled his mind. But he always tried to appear in good cheer for the morale of his people. At one point in time, however, the troubles in King Bardjin's mind were greater than ever before and he felt the need to share his problems with a few of his most trusted dignitaries.
So tell them he did. And King Bardjin felt great appeasement after sharing his troubles. His relief was so great that he began confiding in his dignitaries more often. His dignitaries were unsure of how to respond to this. They had never seen the King unhappy before. Even the Queen, who he confided in, did not know how to react. The Queen, unhappy with the knowledge that King Bardjin was not happy, abandoned him.
The dignitaries, the King soon found, only acted interested to stay on King Bardjin's good side. They did it for his money, prestige, and for King Bardjin's favor. But soon the King caught on to the happenings around him. He had a horrible choice to make. He would decide now to forever wear a mask of happiness and never share his troubles again.
So the kingdom prospered under the mirage of the King's happiness, while King Bardjin himself lived a miserable life, telling no one of his unhappiness ever again.