8/3/2019 The Red String Fable

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The Red String FableBy Taylor Webb

There was once a great king whose enemies wished to supplant him. They knewthe only way they could do it was to kidnap him, but they saw no way of arranging it .

The king was very cautious, checking everyone in the palace and with very loyal

henchmen he took every precaution to avoid being caught off-guard. At last they

sought help. They asked some of the wisest people in the land, searched high and low.

They sought out the best mercenaries and spies, and sent word that anyone with the

skill, knowledge and experience to carry out such a great feat of stealth and cunning

would get a huge reward. Finally someone answered.

Remaining anonymous the usurper penetrated the aristocracy of the enemy

king. He dined with them, and became familiar and well known. Saying that it was a

custom of his people to bestow a special sort of gift on an honoured host, he offered

the king a tiny red string to put around his neck every time he was hosted. The string

represented the tie between them, he said.

Eventually, after many months and many great parties the king was ambushed,

and the kidnapper swiftly grabbed the strings around the kings neck. Over the past

months the usurper had only ever offered a tiny string to the king, but in the course of

that time the tiny unnoticed strings slowly grew in number and became a thick

unbreakable rope. The King was dragged away gagging on the garrotte that he had

been wearing for weeks.

At last the kings enemies had overthrown him, they offered their prize up to the

man who did the task, but he did not want the money. They asked him why he would

deny such riches as he was offered. He replied that he was an alcoholic, and that

money was his usurper, pulling on the strings that he had found in the bottom of

every glass he drank from.

The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken Boonaa Mohammed