A Fable Of Murakee And The Plague

I hope you enjoy this little piece of satire!  If you do enjoy it and want someone else to see it, please do not share the text of the piece.  Just copy the link to this blog post and e-mail it to anyone you want to read this!  Please help me protect my copyright!  

A Fable Of Murakee And The Plague

Once upon a time in the recent past in a not too distant land known as Murakee, a great national crisis arose.  Murakee had, for more than two hundred years, been recognized by nearly all the other countries on the little planet they occupied as the greatest nation on that little planet which circled a small star along with eight other planets,  although one of those planets was sometimes derided and belittled  by the occupants of the others, if there were occupants on any besides the one which Murakee occupied.  Murakee had always been led by a leader who was chosen by the people in what they called a referendum every time the little planet had revolved around the little star four times.  Sometimes, the referendum in Murakee would allow a particularly good leader to choose their ways for four more revolutions around the little star.

It was a very good and efficient system until a time came when the referendum chose a wonderful leader and allowed him to direct their choices for eight complete revolutions around the star.  In a manner particularly peculiar to Murakee, this leader was not liked by a portion of the citizens because he was a decidedly dark skinned man.  To these citizens of Murakee, there could be nothing they thought less of than a dark skinned man even though this dark skinned man was a great leader, wise, benevolent, rational in his thoughts and deeds, and always working for the good of both Murakee and the little planet which revolved around the little star.

The end of this dark skinned man’s eight revolutions around the planet came at a time when the worst enemy of Murakee was working diligently to gain control of the entire planet.  This enemy of the people and the nation of Murakee was known as “Renowned Prince” or “Most Fearful Oligarch” in his own land and by many less pleasant names in Murakee and several other nations on the little planet.  The “Most Fearful Oligarch” had risen to his position in his nation by working in a company of men and women who kept the citizens of their nation in fear and obedience and it was his desire to do the same with all the nations of the world. His means of gaining footholds in other nations such as Murakee was to find a citizen of such a country and to exploit that citizens weaknesses such as dishonesty, calumny, deception, vanity, and ignorance by giving them little favors which would play upon their vanity and ignorance especially well.  Long before the crisis which we speak of arose in Murakee, the “Most Fearful Oligarch” and his country had provided little favors to a particular man in Murakee who skin was white to please that portion of the people who disliked a dark skinned man and his heart was black enough to please the “Most Fearful Oligarch”.  The “Most Fearful Oligarch” plied this weak, ignorant, and black hearted man with gifts of money to save him from his own failures in life, and gifts of illicit women to feed upon his licentious desires, and gifts of flattery to feed both his vanity and his ignorance. 

A time came, in the recent past, when the “Most Fearful Oligarch” knew that he owned and controlled the white skinned man with the coal black heart.  It became the plan of the “Most Fearful Oligarch” to also own and control Murakee and its people.  He convinced the man with the coal black heart, the small brain, and the overly large ego that he was qualified to be chosen in the next referendum to decide the course of Murakee and its people.  The “Most Fearful Oligarch” created a team of his minions who would spread wonderful lies about the dark hearted man which told the citizens of Murakee that he was “the only one who could make Murakee great again,”  and that he was a brilliant leader, and should be chosen in the referendum.  When the referendum was completed, the “Most Fearful Oligarch” had managed to convince a small portion of the citizens of Murakee in three small principalities of the nation that the man with the black heart was a suitable leader.  These people in the three deceived principalities of Murakee joined with those across the country who hated the dark skinned man and his female vizier that the referendum should choose the black hearted man as their leader instead of the particularly wise female vizier who would have been the first female to ever lead Murakee. 

Soon after the referendum, troubles began to arise and all of those troubles were rooted in the weakness of the black hearted man and the evil desires of the “Most Fearful Oligarch” who directed the actions of the black hearted man from afar since his many gifts over the years had given him a total power over the black hearted man who had benefitted from the stolen referendum.  The black hearted man and the people who hated the dark skinned man joined together in what came to be called a cult and attempted to lead Murakee into positions and places as black as their illegitimate leader’s heart.  Soon the black hearted man allowed the “Most Fearful Oligarch” to steal a secret listening post in the heartland of an area sometimes referred to as the Eastern Abdomen where many allied countries of Murakee were situated.  The black hearted man had come to believe that he was the real leader of Murakee and that he could do anything he wished. 

Then, without warning, the gods of the little planet sent a plague upon Murakee and other countries on the planet.  The black hearted man told the people that the plague was just a hoax and the work of his enemies who wanted to stop him from “making Murakee great again”.  The plague spread over the little planet and the black hearted man did nothing, a task at which he was very accomplished.  The plague spread and old men, old women, young men, young women, children, and citizens of all ages began to sicken and die all across Murakee.  The black hearted man denied the truths of the men and women in charge of the various principalities in Murakee when they told him and the people that this plague, like the plagues of Egypt, would sweep across the land unless the people went into their houses and protected themselves in secret.  Great shamans all across Murakee told the people the truth about the plague and the black hearted man continued to deny the plague was real and claimed it was still intended to deprive the people of Murakee of the great joy of seeing him “make Murakee great again”.  The people died from the plague and their shamans who treated them died with them.  The plague spread from one principality to another until it swept the entire little planet.  It found its way into the large cities and the country towns.  It found its way into the safe houses where the elderly and the aged heroes of Murakee were cared for by their attendants.  They and their attendants died from the plague.  They sat in their dwellings of all kinds and watched the black hearted man do the bidding of the “Most Fearful Oligarch” until the plague had won.  This fable of the plague upon Murakee has no moral.  It has only an ending which will  not be written because the writers will  have been victims of the plague also.  There will be no bards to sing the chantey of the plague since they will have also died.  The historians will not write wise words on parchment scrolls about the plague since they, their ink makers, their quill sellers, and their butchers who sold parchment for scrolls will also be victims of the plague.  Murakee will be no more and the “Most Fearful Oligarch” will have won and the black hearted man will learn that he is also a victim of the plague but he will say it is all just a hoax. 

Copyright 2020 by Roger D. Hicks