I think it’s time we had a visit from Ye Olde Storyteller…
A CHRISTMAS FABLE
Once upon a time, there was a young man named Zhyook. He lived in a land ruled by an Old Lion with bushy eyebrows, and life was so hard Zhyook cried every night. He cried so loud that he was heard in another land, ruled by an old Uncle. The old Uncle took such pity on Zhyook that he brought him and his whole family to live in his land. He saw that they had food, a place to stay, education—nothing was too good for Zhyook. For the first time in his life, Zhyook was very, very happy.
But when Zhyook got his first job, he was angry to see that a small portion of his pay went to the old Uncle. He began to cry, and the old Uncle came and explained that all the good things that had been given to Zhyook and his family were not free, but had been paid for by the other people who lived in the land. Now it was Zhyook’s turn to contribute to the society that had done so much for him, but Zhyook threw a tantrum. This made the old Uncle very heartbroken, and as he went away he said sadly, “You don’t have to stay here. You are free to go at any time,” but Zhyook couldn’t hear him because he was screaming so loud and pounding his fists on the floor.
And he did not stop crying! The people in his little mountain village grew so tired of his complaints that when they found out Zhyook had been selling things without paying income taxes or state sales taxes, they turned Zhyook in to the taxman. In court the simple townspeople, waving pitchforks, hoes and rakes, shouted that Zhyook should be sent away from the country, back to where he came from, but the judge said that the law must be fair to everyone, and Zhyook could drag the case out for years and years and years if he wanted to, because that’s the way the justice system worked—the very system that everyone supported with taxes, everyone except Zhyook, of course.
But the people were so outraged they grabbed Zhyook anyway, tied him up and sent him back to the land of the Old Lion, and when he got there he found that the Old Lion had died, and a Sly Fox had been put in his place. The Sly Fox had changed everything. Now there was no welfare, no housing, no food; no subsidies for anything and no jobs, but you didn’t have to pay taxes, at least as long as you didn’t make jokes about the Sly Fox! Charity was something that Zhyook had cried the loudest against in the land of the old Uncle, but now there was no charity within thousands and thousands of miles. And although Zhyook believed that he was made to pay taxes at the point of a gun in the land of the old Uncle, in the land of the Sly Fox he found that he really was at the point of a gun. Every day, someone new would point a gun at him and take whatever money he had with him.
One dreary afternoon, Zhyook went into the woods to see if he could dig up some roots to eat because he was so hungry, and again a man appeared who pointed a gun at him. But Zhyook had no money. He had nothing to give the man, who became as angry as Zhyook used to get when he lived in the land of the old Uncle.
Zhyook did not return home that night, nor any other night. After a week, people broke into his apartment and stole all his belongings, and in a month or two everyone had forgotten he had even lived there.
And all the simple townsfolk in the little mountain village, back in the land of the old Uncle, lived happily ever after.
☺
Jim
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on Dec-16-07
at 21:35:35 PST
I'm a catalog king, expert and philatelist - whoopee!!
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on Dec-16-07
at 11:39:39 PST
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on Dec-16-07
at 02:20:42 PST
member
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on Dec-13-07
at 20:52:00 PST
on Dec-12-07
at 11:15:22 PST
