Washington Journal., 1915-11-19
THE TALE OF THE
WICKED KING
Especial Correspondence for this paper
by a prominent Washingtonian).

~ ~ NAiAN KAIAA
by a prominent Washingtonian).
Could anybody read the newspaper
account of King Peter of Servia flying
over the snow-covered mountains to-
wards the Albanian frontier in a mis-
cradle peasants cart, to escape the
avenging armies of the Central Powers,
without being struck with the poetic
justice of it all? Does it not sound
like a fairy story? Here is the whole
tale, as grandmother may tell it. a hum
dred years hence:
Once upon a time. there was a man
whose father had been a king but had
been deposed because his subjects
thought him to be an unjust ruler. The
man lived in a PARKWAY city, but every
day he plotted and schemed how he
could o the throne from which
his father had been cast. Finally he
found some ambitious and wicked young
men who promised to help him. One
dark night, they managed to get into the
castle Of the new king, who was peace
fully sleeping with his queen. They
broke into the chamber of the royal
couple and murdered both in their bed.
Then they threw the bodies II of the
window. and forthwith sent for the man
in the far-off city. He had been wait
ing for the news, and straight-way
came to his native country, and for
many years was king in place of the
murdered one. The young men who
had assassinated their true king were
made generals and councillors, and one
became prime minister, and all were
very rich and powerful, and the people
of the country were afraid; so they toll
Grated the wicked king and his band of
assassins over them.
The king made a war upon one Of
the ~neiehboriHe Kingdoms. and took
much land away from it, which was 10
be divided between himself and some
other kings who had helped him; but
the wicked king was faithless ever to
his friends. He set upon one Of his
allies, and beat him sorely, and took
most of the conquered land that should
have gone TO his friend for himself.
Being prosperous, the wicked king be-
came more and more ambitious. His
kingdom was not very large, but he
heard that there were some dissensions
in the country of the emperor who lived
on the other side of the Great River.
So he told his son, who was as faithless
and wicked as the old king himself, to
persuade some of the emperor's people
to betray their country and join the
wicked kings people. The kings son
succeeded in finding some men who were
as wicked as himself, and when the
prince, who was to be emperor when
the old emperor should have died, visit
ed one of his cities near the boundary
of the wicked king, they threw a bomb
at him and killed both him and his
beautiful wife.
Then the aged emperor brought to-
gether a great army to punish the as
s~assins, and his brother, in arms with
all his people, came to help him. There
upon the assassin king was very much
afraid, and he called on the Emperor
OF the Frozen North to come to his
rescue, for it was we'll known that he
hated the aged emperor and his brother
in-arms. He also sent for help 10 the
people of the Western Isles, who had
more ships and more gold than anybody
else in the world. Both of these prom
ised to help, and the people of the West
ern Isles paid out quite a little money to
hire somebody to fight for the wicked
king for they did not believe much in
fighting themselves.
Then the aged emperor's army came
across the Great River, and took the
palace and city of the wicked king, and
drove him farther and farther. And
the friend who had been robbed also
came with his soldiers to take back what
belonged to him. Every day the wicked
king climbed upon some mountain and
looked to the east to see whether the
armies of the Emperor of the Frozen
North were not coming to help him.
But nobody came. For the aged em-
peror and his brother-in-arms had sent
armies against the Frozen North also.
and the hosts of the North and East
were being beaten and had to flee for
their lives. For Justice with her scales