Fable

I am currently writing this story, and I wasn't going to post it until it was done, but I thought, what the heck, put it out there, and just add and edit it as it goes along. So here it is.


Once upon a time, a noble King named Meriwether lived in luxury and plenty in a beautiful Kingdom. The Kingdom stretched in great distance from north to south, and east to west.
There was a vast arid desert to the west. To the east of the desert lay a mountainous region. To the south a tropical jungle, and to the north sat green grasslands covering many a hill and dale. Finally, in the middle of it all, in a temperate valley, stood the city of Meriwether, where King Meriwether held his court.
King Meriwether was a man who never wanted for anything. He wore handsome garments stitched from the finest silks and linens. When he slept he rested his body on goose-feathered pillows, and the furs from foxes and bear. When he bathed, he used aromatic soaps, perfumes and oils from rare animals and plants. The King liked to bathe many times a day because he did not like the smell of the human body.
The King ate delicacies from the many regions of his land. The goats and cattle produced remarkable cheeses. The beef was considered to be the most delicious and tender. For breakfast, the King would eat fluffy eggs and buttery biscuits. For lunch, he would eat braised ham, poached liver of ducks, soft billowy loaves of bread, and chocolate pudding made from the fatty milk of his most prized cows. For dinner, he supped on the ribs of bison, mashed potatoes, perfectly cooked wild game from his forests, and cakes made from whipped eggs, sugar, and wheat ground to fine flour.
The King was a goodly man and greatly cared for the people of his Kingdom, so he wished for them to eat as well as he did. He sent out his cooks to all parts of his land. They showed people in the markets how to prepare foods just as it was prepared for the King. The people, who once only ate fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds from their farms for thousands and thousands of years, now gave their lands over for the grazing of animals. The people were very grateful, and did just as the King’s cooks instructed them to do.
But for all of the wonderful food the King was eating, and the lifestyle he was living, he never quite felt well. The King suffered from depression, anxiety, and nervousness. There were days when King Meriwether would not leave his bedchamber, nor pull open the fabrics covering the windows of the palace. All day he could lie in his bed without even lighting a candle. The King suffered from periodic blockage of the bowels, headaches, and rashes on his skin. He had gained weight every year since he had become King. All of his old robes no-longer fit, and were packed away in large chests.
The Kingdom of Meriwether went on as such for many, many years. And, for much of that time the people thought it was the best time to be alive. For people who used to eat meat very infrequently, now ate meat every day. For people who never drank cow or goat’s milk, but only fresh water from the lakes and rivers, now drank milk two to three times a day. The people said that they felt stronger because of their new diet, that is was the natural way people should eat.
As time moved on, the people of Meriwether had begun to notice differences in their land, and amongst their people. Where at one time there lived the great tropical forests of Meriwether, now it had been mostly burned down and replaced by more fields to raise animals. Where at one time the arid desert region was small and hugged the coast, now it had spread into the once great rolling grass lands, and each year the desert spread wider and wider. The people, who were once renowned for their peaceful ways, now were impatient and were quick to temper. Neighbor fought amongst neighbor, and fisticuffs became a common spectacle. Also, they stopped considering other creatures as living beings, but saw them only as food, and as such, treated them with cruelty. And, over time, some of the people’s health complaints became the same as the Kings’. Many of the people of Meriwether could no longer work, but rather were bedridden, with many types of ailments never heard of before.
It was at this time in the history of, Meriwether, that a woman named, Anastasia, walked out of an oasis in the desert, and began talking of another path for the people.