The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-12-28
THE EMPEROR
AND FATE
BY THEODORE BoRLAND
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation, 1911.


queen and secretly made away with
the heir apparAlt so that no successor
might inherit the throne. Then they
killed all the mobiles on whom the king
ly power rested and established re
public.
This young man, who was a soldier
by profession, stood by the palace and
witnessed the fury Of the mob. He
had not suffered himself from the roy
al tyranny. but could understand the
vengeance these people coveted. New
ertheless the scene impressed him with
the undesirability OF anarchy. The
kings Of other countries turned out
their armies to force the reyolutiouists
TO put back the monarchy, and the
young soldier fought with the armies
of his country against these soyer-
eigns.
From the first it was apparent that
he had in him the elements Of great
general. He soon obtained the com
mand OF an independent army and
fought battle after battle. winning ey-
cry one till his enemies retreated with
in their own borders and left him mas
ter OF the situation.
The young man, naturally ambitious,
was fred by this success to greater
deeds Obtaining other armies he
went on foreign eonquests, always re-
turning successful This won for him
the plaudits Of the people and when
they placed the government in the
hands OF three associate governors
they made the general the first of the
three. But be did not remain long at
home. Fresh wars called him to other
fields. but he always conquered, and
whenever be did so he attached some
additional territory TO his own country.
And so absorbing one territory after
another from what had been king
dom he established an empire.
And now, since he was appointing
his brothers TO govern these countries
he had conquered, making them kings,
It was necessary that be should have
for himself title even higher than
that Of king So the legislative body
conferred on him the title of emperor.
putting II to the vote OF the people
whether or no this should be so, The
people confirmed the appointment. and
he was seated on an imperial throne
At this time. when he was at the
height OF his glory and power. one
night he had a dream. He dreamed
that be was sitting on his throne, the
imperial crown on his head. the scep-
ter in his hand. and a throng of cour-
tiers passing before him. bowling to him
as they passed. Among them the EN-
peror noticed figure clad IN unseen
~ apparel to wear at court. having
nothing about his or her fgure-for
there seemed TO be no sex-only flow
ing robe of poor material. This per
son passed the emperor without bow.
keeping his strange eyes on the soyer-
eign all the while.
"Who are your" asked the emperor
"Fate."
"Ah. you are Fate, are you? What
are you doing here?"
Il came TO impIant within your brain
that which win accomplish my inten-
lions for you"
what are those intentionsT
at is not meet that mortals should
know what | have In store for them"
"At least tell me what will be my
end"
The figure turned and looked up
ward. The emperor's gaze followed In
the same direction. and he saw pic
ture. toward which he seemed to be
moving. II was a rock surrounded By
water, the waves necessarily beating
upon 1t. Presently he stood on the
rock himself. 1t was desoate place,
and with him were only few Of those
whom he had ennobled. Soldiers Of
foreign nation lettering about indi-
Gated that he was a prisoner. He en-
tered an unpretentious house, from
which he would never emerge.
The scene changed, and he lay dying
in this house. The few friends who
had accompanied him stood about him.
but no wife, no child. Then the pic
ture rolled away. and the emperor sat
alone on his throne. He awoke with a
dreadful sensation and slept no more
till morning, when he fell into n trou-
bled slumber When he awoke all,
memory of his dream had left him.
Not long after this he started on an
other campaign. Thus far he had
never failed and did not think it possi-
BILE for him to fail. He marched an
army into a northern country in the
dead of winter. The people of that
country retreated before him. destroy
ed their granaries and burned their
cities. His army. cold and starving,
made a horrible retreat. very few
Of his soldiers again regaining their
own country.
From this point the emperor's star
steadily went down. down. He made
desperate efforts to retrieve his failing
fortunes, but achieved no permanent
success. All those kingdoms he had
subdued. seeing that his tide had turn
~ Joined together to crush him. He
staked all on one decisive battle and
lost.
He gave himself up to one of the
kings who defeated him and was sent
to rock In the midst Of a great ocean.
There he died surrounded by few ad-
herents but neither his wife nor his