The Artisan and the Village - A Fable

A great cry of sorrow rose up from the masses, "The Chosen One who brought joy to our lives hath now wrought plague on our livestock and disease on our crops. Our places of dwelling shall surely quake and give way if he were to steal away in the night. Once before he left us, surely he would not a second time?"

But it came to pass that the Chosen One assembled his possessions and bore he and his family away from the humble village, to a land rich in well-tended pastures... and grits. It was in this land of the many consecutive letters that the Chosen One found work as an artisan. He was charged with the task of designing the finest silks, woven with complex patterns of X's and O's. The bazaar that in he would sell the wares of his trade would be the grandest and most feared in all the known land. In the native tongue it was called the SEC.

While the Chosen One flourished and his renown grew, the village from whence he came was plunged into darkness, chaos and confusion. No more was the joy they had once known, only fear and despair remained. They laid blame at the feet of the Chosen One and cursed his house for bringing misfortune upon them. The villagers destroyed their own property with abandon, in hopes it would bring respite from the suffering. A father cries out to his child, "Son, bring me thine sledge that I would smite this mini-carriage bearing the Chosen One's name. He shall know the nature of our anger when it lay in splinters!"

The Chosen One's name was now known across the land and word of the hardships that had befallen his old village reached his ears as he was journeying to do battle with a group of ferocious Tigers, in a place known in legend as Death Valley. The hardships of the village brought sadness to the Chosen One's heart and he left his caravan, in hopes of setting right what had become of the village.

As he crested the surrounding hills, a gasp of sorrow escaped from the Chosen One as he saw that the village now lay in ruin. "Why have you laid waste to what we toiled so long to build," he cried.

The villagers answered, "You have twice abandoned us and it was our anger and sorrow that gave rise to this destruction. We are lost and without direction. And our football team sucks."

And the Chosen One replied, "Do you not see that what we built could have brought you joy and peace for many years? Instead you chose greed and with it came pain and suffering. Do not try to possess what cannot be possessed. I am not livestock that one man or one village can keep for themselves. What we built, we built together. Focus not on that I am no longer here to lead you. Instead turn your thoughts to the happiness that lived in your homes and your hearts. I am not a Chosen One, a keeper of the things you seek - I merely showed you the path. With it laid out before you, you can now follow it on your own. As I leave, wish me good fortune in my pursuits as I will you in yours."

As the Chosen One, revealed to be simply a man, bade farewell to the villagers, they agreed that what was said was indeed the truth, and wished him well. And they set about re-building what had once been a mighty village.

Except for some of the old people - they still held a grudge. And those known as the "village idiots", they were still pretty pissed too - but nobody really cared what they thought.