I give you my empire, my people, myself, from sunrise to sunset. Sacher-Masoch based this strange usurping of sovereign power on historical fact. During times of feast or festival, many cultures allowed for a slave to become a temporary ruler. There were several reasons for such odd social reversals during festivals, which coincided with other transgressive behaviors like drunkenness, debauchery, and the cessation of all labor. French ethnologist Roger Caillois believed that forbidden or excessive acts were not enough to delineate the time of festival from time of order, so there were additional upside-down acts.
Every effort is made to behave in a manner that is exactly the opposite of normal behavior.
The inversion of all relationships seems clear proof of a return to chaos, of an epoch of fluidity and confusion. Slaves eat at the masters table, order them around and mock them, while the masters serve the slaves, obey them and put up with affronts and reprimands . . . The high functions, the roles of priests and consuls, are given to the slaves who then exercise an ephemeral parody of power. In the story, it is in this spirit of festival that Czar Vladimir allows Narda to hold the throne for the following day. Vladimir, my slave, on your knees.