18 | Psychopomp Magazine
Then, as befitting the normal progression of things, we presented the surviving prince, the twelfth prince, to our king. We knew he would become our only king one day. We returned to our lives. Eventually our king died mysteriously and the prince ascended. We tell this story to our grandchildren and they live inside a great fear, its own sort of cage.
the king's actual story
On Monday the king believed he was turning into an asteroid.
“I’ll be cold,” he said. “And I’ll fly above you all inspiring awe. It’s much like now.”
The members of his court listened politely then went back to their work: sewing, singing, eating, and fighting. He had once again failed to capture their imaginations.
Then the king’s hair caught fire and would not go out.
“Why is this happening?” he asked the court.
“You are becoming a flaming death comet,” said his son. “You bring evil tidings and doom us for seven years unless we take action.”
“I must be extinguished!” cried the king.
Enter the queen.
“The only way is to cut off your head,” she exclaimed.
“But my head may continue flaming,” said the king. “That’s no solution at all.”
The members of the court conferred. They would invite all in the kingdom to solve the problem of the king’s head.
A lady-in-waiting blew on his head, which only increased the flame.
Then a jester urinated on the king’s head, which did nothing to the flame but did amuse the court.
The knight put a helmet on the king to snuff the flame, but the helmet began to glow and turn orange and burned the king’s scalp.
The blacksmith was called, and the herbalist, and the midwife. No one could extinguish the flame. Finally, out of desperation, the river man was called. and the
“What can we do?” the king asked. “I will give you one half of my kingdom if you can extinguish the flames shooting from my head.”