The King and the Boy
Well, this isn't part of the screenplay (obviously), but it's a story that I just wrote for my kids at school, commemorating the journey through the Advent season. What do you all think?
Once upon a time, there was a King who ruled over a large Kingdom. He was a king who ruled with mercy, justice, and compassion. All of his subjects loved him because they knew that he loved all of them. The King took care to make sure that all of the people in his kingdom were taken care of – the poor, the needy, the hurting. If someone needed help, this king would help and would want to help that person or family.
One day, though, a story drifted into the kingdom about a boy, a boy who was trapped on a far off mountain, trapped in a dark cave, unable to be set free from being captured. The King was saddened when he heard this, for this was the kind of person the king most wanted to help, those who were unable to help themselves. The winter was quickly approaching, the darkness was falling, and the young boy would surely starve trapped in that cave. Moreover, his wife, the Queen, was unable to bear children, so that this wonderful couple, which loved all people, had no family of their own to care for and love.
Thus, the king set out from his kingdom to save this boy from the cave that was his prison. He carried with him provisions for a journey and provisions to feed the boy and last for the two of them on their return journey. The King knew that it would be a tough, arduous trip, filled with perils and trials of many kinds.
Soon after leaving the boundaries of his kingdom, the King entered a land filled with boulders, rocks, stones, and crystalline mountains with sheer, slippery sides and steep cliffs. The horse he was riding was quickly injured, as the rocks & shells covering the ground cut up his feet. The horse’s feet were injured so badly that the king had to leave the horse behind and travel the rest of the way on foot, greatly slowing his journey. The king slipped, stumbled, scraped his knees, twisted his ankles, and barely made it out of the Land of Stone. Upon exiting, he cried into the sky, “I am coming! I have not forgotten my mission!”
The king looked up into the sky, realizing how dark and cold the sky was becoming. He hoped that he would be able to complete his journey much more swiftly. But from a land of cold stone and hard shell, the king walked into a deep, leafy green jungle, where the bushes and the undergrowth covered up the paths. But more than that, it seemed like the branches of the trees would move back and forth, getting into his way, not allowing him to move forward and make any progress on his journey. He had entered an Enchanted Forest, capable of trapping the king within its confines forever.
However, the King was struck by an idea – he climbed a tree and saw the mountaintop where the cave and the boy were. Thus, whenever the King felt he was getting lost, he would climb a tree, find the mountain he was trying to reach, and make his way through the Enchanted Forest. He had broken its spell upon him and, upon dragging his way out of the branches that sought to trap him, he cried out, “I am coming! I have not forgotten my mission.”
The air was getting colder and the skies were getting darker as the King began to climb the mountainside. He knew that he would have to fight through the cold, the wind, and the elements in order to get to the cave and the boy. What he did not anticipate was that he was beset with wild animals, the kinds that he had never faced in his kingdom. The king had to battle the cold as well as the wild goats, wild boars, wild mountain lions, and wild bears that attacked him and sought to chase him away from the mountain and the boy he wanted to save.
However, even though he became hurt, the King fought off the wild animals and braced himself against the cold, knowing that if he didn’t save the boy, no one would. At great personal risk, the King made his way up the mountainside, forcing himself onto a plateau, where he saw a cave in the distance. He cried out, “I am coming! I have not forgotten my mission!”
Upon entering the cave, a young boy met the King, and the King knew that this was the boy that he had come to rescue.
The king declared, “Here I am. I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to reach you.”
“I heard you each time you cried out,” responded the boy. “It was your self-sacrifice that broke the enchantment that has trapped me here in this cave since my birth. Everyone else who has tried to free me has failed because they only wanted the personal glory. You saved me because you wanted to save me and bring a child to your wife, not because you wanted anything for yourself.”
“How do you know all of this?” inquired the King.
“Whomever trapped me in here placed a mirror in front of me, so that I could see everyone who was coming to try to save me. Whomever it was hoped that, by seeing everyone fail, I would lose all hope and stay trapped in here forever, as punishment to my now-deceased evil father. But each time that you called out to me, reminding me (and yourself) that you were coming to save me, the mirror cracked just a bit, until your last cry, here on the plateau of this mountain. You saved me and we can now go to your wife. You will be my father and your wife my mother. Thank you for saving me.”
The King and the boy were then magically transported back to the doors of the King’s castle where the Queen had been anticipating their return. Thus, as the cold winter set in about them, the boy was safe, the Queen had her child, and the King had his loving family around him. The Love the King had for others had won and freed the boy from his cave.
Once upon a time, there was a King who ruled over a large Kingdom. He was a king who ruled with mercy, justice, and compassion. All of his subjects loved him because they knew that he loved all of them. The King took care to make sure that all of the people in his kingdom were taken care of – the poor, the needy, the hurting. If someone needed help, this king would help and would want to help that person or family.
One day, though, a story drifted into the kingdom about a boy, a boy who was trapped on a far off mountain, trapped in a dark cave, unable to be set free from being captured. The King was saddened when he heard this, for this was the kind of person the king most wanted to help, those who were unable to help themselves. The winter was quickly approaching, the darkness was falling, and the young boy would surely starve trapped in that cave. Moreover, his wife, the Queen, was unable to bear children, so that this wonderful couple, which loved all people, had no family of their own to care for and love.
Thus, the king set out from his kingdom to save this boy from the cave that was his prison. He carried with him provisions for a journey and provisions to feed the boy and last for the two of them on their return journey. The King knew that it would be a tough, arduous trip, filled with perils and trials of many kinds.
Soon after leaving the boundaries of his kingdom, the King entered a land filled with boulders, rocks, stones, and crystalline mountains with sheer, slippery sides and steep cliffs. The horse he was riding was quickly injured, as the rocks & shells covering the ground cut up his feet. The horse’s feet were injured so badly that the king had to leave the horse behind and travel the rest of the way on foot, greatly slowing his journey. The king slipped, stumbled, scraped his knees, twisted his ankles, and barely made it out of the Land of Stone. Upon exiting, he cried into the sky, “I am coming! I have not forgotten my mission!”
The king looked up into the sky, realizing how dark and cold the sky was becoming. He hoped that he would be able to complete his journey much more swiftly. But from a land of cold stone and hard shell, the king walked into a deep, leafy green jungle, where the bushes and the undergrowth covered up the paths. But more than that, it seemed like the branches of the trees would move back and forth, getting into his way, not allowing him to move forward and make any progress on his journey. He had entered an Enchanted Forest, capable of trapping the king within its confines forever.
However, the King was struck by an idea – he climbed a tree and saw the mountaintop where the cave and the boy were. Thus, whenever the King felt he was getting lost, he would climb a tree, find the mountain he was trying to reach, and make his way through the Enchanted Forest. He had broken its spell upon him and, upon dragging his way out of the branches that sought to trap him, he cried out, “I am coming! I have not forgotten my mission.”
The air was getting colder and the skies were getting darker as the King began to climb the mountainside. He knew that he would have to fight through the cold, the wind, and the elements in order to get to the cave and the boy. What he did not anticipate was that he was beset with wild animals, the kinds that he had never faced in his kingdom. The king had to battle the cold as well as the wild goats, wild boars, wild mountain lions, and wild bears that attacked him and sought to chase him away from the mountain and the boy he wanted to save.
However, even though he became hurt, the King fought off the wild animals and braced himself against the cold, knowing that if he didn’t save the boy, no one would. At great personal risk, the King made his way up the mountainside, forcing himself onto a plateau, where he saw a cave in the distance. He cried out, “I am coming! I have not forgotten my mission!”
Upon entering the cave, a young boy met the King, and the King knew that this was the boy that he had come to rescue.
The king declared, “Here I am. I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to reach you.”
“I heard you each time you cried out,” responded the boy. “It was your self-sacrifice that broke the enchantment that has trapped me here in this cave since my birth. Everyone else who has tried to free me has failed because they only wanted the personal glory. You saved me because you wanted to save me and bring a child to your wife, not because you wanted anything for yourself.”
“How do you know all of this?” inquired the King.
“Whomever trapped me in here placed a mirror in front of me, so that I could see everyone who was coming to try to save me. Whomever it was hoped that, by seeing everyone fail, I would lose all hope and stay trapped in here forever, as punishment to my now-deceased evil father. But each time that you called out to me, reminding me (and yourself) that you were coming to save me, the mirror cracked just a bit, until your last cry, here on the plateau of this mountain. You saved me and we can now go to your wife. You will be my father and your wife my mother. Thank you for saving me.”
The King and the boy were then magically transported back to the doors of the King’s castle where the Queen had been anticipating their return. Thus, as the cold winter set in about them, the boy was safe, the Queen had her child, and the King had his loving family around him. The Love the King had for others had won and freed the boy from his cave.
posted by APN at 11/28/2005 11:34:00 PM
2 Comments:
I'm not quite sure about this, for some reason. I can't quite put my finger on it. It seems a bit forced and a bit too cliche'd, with one or two plot holes that need to be filled. It's not that I don't like it, but that it could have been better.
I think it's a freakin' cool story, and just the kind a parent would want to have on hand to tell at bedtime!
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