The Goblin King
The fat King wobbled to his throne,
beard sacking behind,
belly flapping in motion to his hips.
“BRING ME MEAD!”
He spoke through a device amplifying thought.
The servants scattered with sweat pouring down the brow.
All rushed to the king with filled glasses in hand.
He opened his mouth and all poured down his throat
but one dropped his glass in his gullet so wide
and the king choked ’til death adorned his face.
“Ah – the king – the king!”
The servants ran around the room for two days and nights
A child had been watching and came forward at last:
“Why do you run like confused hens?
Someone – take the throne – lead on and let our kingdom grow!”
But all shook their heads in silence.
None dared to take a step forward.
“Then I will!”
The child said and climbed the throne,
but no quicker had someone grabbed him by his elbow,
and tossed him to the floor.
“Fool! You are no king!
You are but a child! What do you know of nobility?
Of kingship, of leadership, and a kingdom’s needs and rules?”
“How can you dismiss me based on age and inexperience when I have been given no chance to prove my skill?”
The servants lifted the child and tossed him away!
Then they kept running in circles,
screaming in vain for the Lord to awake,
until all fell forward in a last untied breath.
*
In the dark of night when the corpses had grown cold
the child ascended the throne and called for a wife.
With nothing but curiosity, a sense of justice, and a will for common-hood and good,
he followed intuition and ruled alone,
creating a kingdom of legends
told in tales for thousands of years to come.
– F H Hakansson
F. H. Hakansson 