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Show 0 17. Our Man Hoppe They Loved The King 0 r By ARTHUR HOPPE Vj San Francisco Chronicle 1 Once upon a time there was an old king who wanted to be loved. He wanted to be loved more than anything else in the world. 1 1 When he became king he did everything he could to make the people love him. He helped the poor and educated the ignorant and cured the :p sick and spread all the largesee he could throughout the land. He even is sent forth his wife, the queen, to beautify the countryside. And, oh, how the people loved him. And, oh, how happy he was. si; Complications Galore it! Unfortunately, however, the country became involved in a little war (pit in a little land far, far away. spoi The king, basking in the love of his people, said confidently not to worry, he would lead them to a glorious and easy victory. And the seen people, loving and believing in him, cheered lustily. ionie The king, basking in the love of his people, said confidently not to Kit! worry, he would lead them to a glorious and easy victory. And the that people, loving and believing in him, cheered lustily. rams But the little land far, far away, unbeknownst to the king, lay under just an all entangling magic spell. No matter how many soldiers or how itfff much gold the king poured into the war, he couldn't win it. And, being .fully proud, he couldn't lose it. Moreover, and worse yet, he couldn't afford it. f tin The people grew uneasy. The king grew desperate. "Victory is just around the corner," he said. Which wasn't true, uict "I can fight this war with one hand and still distribute largesse .jjjei throughout the land with the other," he said. Which wasn't true. "Anybody who doesn't love this war doesn't love our country," he ,s jj said. Which wasn't true. )r jj Pretty soon, most of the country's young men and most of the tt)ie country's gold were gone. The people didn't believe anything he said 0Jly any more. And, worst of all, nobody loved him. Desperate Straits He couldn't leave his castle, except in the dead of night under heavy guard, for fear the people would stone him. And young knights and B courtiers and robber barons hatched plots to seize his crown, j, ot Well, one day, the old king was sitting an alone on his throne, his tests head in his hands. "Oh," he cried from his heart, "I would give up )2t. anything I possess for the secret of how to be loved again." ;hes, A good fairy passing by heard his cry, took pity on him and whisp-d whisp-d ered the secret into his ear. The very next day, to everyone's surprise, f ,!(. the old king renounced the throne. t jj. It hurt him deeply to hear how the people cheered and to see how they rt0 threw their caps in the air. "We're rid of him at last!" they shouted happily as he squnched his shoulders. rl No More Attacks But as time passed and the young knights and courtiers and robber 0f barons squabbled among themselves for his crown, and as the war drag-t drag-t a ged on even without him, the mood of the people slowly changed. an Nobody attacked the old king any more, for he was without power. ,.a Nobody questioned his decisions any more, because he didn't make any. ' rt. And nobody envied him his crown, because he didn't have one. The people remembered the good things he'd done and forgot his mistakes. They laughed at his sallies and applauded his crustiness and began to venerate him as "an elder statesman." ven In fact, they came to love him once again. ; I And, as that was what the old king wanted more than anything else jaSt in the world, he lived happily ever after. J Moral: To be loved, quit while you're behind. |