Kings of Wax!!!

Before any confusion, that is not the real Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip.

Lounged comfortably in royalty, surrounded by the iconic red-and-gold interiors, the above pic was that wow moment when I visited the Madame Tussauds wax museum a few years ago.

I am inspired to tell a little story –

Once upon a time, there was a Great King who crossed many lands, conquering forests and sands. For ages unknown, he has undertaken things and adventures, for he is a Great King, and no one needs to know why or where.

But upon his return, back to his land where he belonged, he noticed that his kingdom was broken and divided into three. Three different kings had divided the kingdom into three lesser regions –

The Kingdom where the Sun rises.

The Kingdom where the Sun shines.

The Kingdom where the Sun sets.

Seeing the Great King’s return, many were happy, but some were displeased. The benign king of the Kingdom where the Sun rises was very pleased; the mid-king of the Kingdom where the Sun shines was only half pleased; and the cunning king of the Kingdom where the Sun sets was most displeased.

The Great King was firm. He said, “I will go to sleep for I am tired of my journey. Tomorrow when I wake up, make sure that half of the Kingdom is ready for me.” The Great King wanted his throne back but also wanted to teach a lesson to the three kings.

The three kings started to prepare. But the cunning king, who hungered for power and wanted to retain his throne as a whole, came up with a plot. He somehow convinced the benign king to give up his throne a hundred per cent, he said the mid-king should stick to the plan and give up half of his land, and as for himself, he made an entire list of things as to why he is very important and thus needed to retain everything he had.

The night was spent well. The benign king decorated his palace, in the likes of the Great King, readying it for him and preparing to give up his throne in the morning. The mid-king, only half-hearted spent the night putting all the nice things to one side and all the unwanted things to the other. He planned to keep the nice half for himself and give up the unwanted half in the morning. And the cunning king, he did not sleep at all. He spent the entire night building walls, locking doors and also practising his words to fool the Great King in the morning.

The morning came. The Great King well rested and well dressed walked into the ceremony. The Great King may have slept the night, but he knew exactly what was happening.

He first walked to the benign king. Accepting his fate as a commoner henceforth, the King of the Kingdom where the Sun rises dressed himself in common clothes but with a smile of glee.

“Go back to your throne,” encouraged the Great King, “for you will keep a hundred per cent of your kingdom.”

Then he walked to the mid-king. With a grin, the King of the Kingdom where the Sun shines offered the unwanted half.

“Keep my half,” said the Great King, “but I will take your half.”

Then he walked to the cunning king. Nervous and anxious, for he knew he was not genuine, the King of the Kingdom where the Sun sets pulled out his long list of things. To even dare the audacity to fool the Great King and to somehow convince him that he has more wisdom than the Great one, to tell him what choices to make, for he thinks that he is important.

“Yours is the throne I will take,” commanded the Great King, “hope you have spent the night decorating and preparing the palace to my likes.”

Once again the Great King united his land. For because the benign king was subservient, the Kingdom where the Sun rises was under his command too; for because the mid-king had foolishly and selfishly placed all the nice and useful things to one side, the Kingdom where the Sun shines was under him also.

The moral of the story – “Don’t try to fool the Great King.”