THE UNHAPPY KING
By The Tales + Fables
- 181 reads
There once was a king who ruled over a vast and mighty empire. He had riches, a vast army and a fleet that brought him slaves and gold from afar. His cities were splendid and the number of his subjects too many to count. Yet for all his wealth and power he was still unhappy deep inside. He was unhappy about the crime and poverty on the streets. He was unhappy at the way his foreign wars and campaigns were going, for if he lost at war; he could lose it all. He was unhappy about his personal life, experiencing strife and trouble within his own family as of late. One might say that he was just unhappy overall. One day it was time to check the royal vaults and calculate his personal wealth, so he walked with his advisers among the untold stacks of gold and caskets of jewels and riches, but he did not seem overly impressed with it all. One of his advisers asked him then, 'Doesn't all this great wealth and riches please you your Majesty? Doesn't all this gold make you happy?' 'No, it doesn't.' He replied, 'The future seems uncertain, and life remains a bore and bother even to king. If I was truly happy for once, then I would have real gold. For the first time in my life would be truthfully rich and wealthy.' True wealth is found within the love of the heart, not within the glitter of gold.