royal drama

one time, i had a dream that i went to the theatre. the play was about a king who was threatened by elements within his own court. there were lots of plots and tricks between the different factions against him. ultimately, he was betrayed by the royal baboon.

at the beginning of the play the king was benevolent. he was shown defending the people from poisonous serpents and many worms in the air. he distributed tax revenue to the various ministers so they could run the country well. he was always filling the cups of his vassals. he gave out many rings to his lords. that was a good king.

yet as each of his ministers and warlords became more honored they became more devious and treacherous. in order to counter the arrogance and impunity of the nobles, the king became unyielding and tyrannical.

in his effort to hold on to power he did terrible things. the king put three dissenting nature poets on a ship at sea, during a storm, and sank it. they were young men, and known to be very talented. each of the poets sang about a different element in nature: earth, fire, and water. none of them sang about air because all songs are composed of wind and are carried by the breeze.

the fire poet was famous for a poem about bees making honey, and bears coming out of their caves to eat it. the longing of the bears, even in the silent depths of hibernation, for the honey that the bees were making was like the burning of a fire, he said.
the earth poet was famous for a poem about the roots of pine trees spread out in the frozen mud, and curving around stones, after the last dusting of snow in late winter.
the water poet liked to write about the cycles of evaporation and rain, but he  hadn't written a masterpiece yet.

the king engineered the murder of these poets because he dreamt that they opposed the marriage of his daughter to a powerful warlord who would strengthen his grip on the throne. the royal astrologer told the king to execute them, and picked a day in the future, that would have a storm, to send them on a journey.

the play showed showed the poets walking through the town, down the street, to the pier. in the storm, with the rain and wind, they said good bye to everyone. they set sail, and they knew this would be the end of their lives. they were very frightened during the storm, but the water poet sang about the beauty of the waves that engulfed them, and they met their deaths with honor. the king's daughter committed suicide, out of shame, since they were innocent. that was the water poet's masterpiece. it was a great and powerful song, but it didn't calm the seas.

this scene was the revelation that the king had turned from using force to maintain necessary order, and became a despot who used violence to hold on to personal power.

by the end of the play he was alone, isolated, and hunted. his arrogance, inability to distinguish threats from blamelessness, and his ironfisted tactics, all lead, avoidably, to his demise.

i though this was a good play. however, bubbles said that the ending was unrealistic because baboons can't talk. we both agreed that the music was really spectacular.