February 2006

A HAPPY ENDING SEEMS EMINENT!

The walls of the "Tower Of Terror" have clearly crumbled and "The Ogre King" no longer seems a threat to Walt's Kingdom! Tyrannical heads roll in the hallways as the people again regain control of their kingdom. New, more benevolent leaders have been ushered into power to assure a strong and healthy future and it looks as though the sun shines, once again, upon the happy little kingdom. So, join the triumphant townspeople and caretakers in a victory celebration throughout the community as we take back the reigns of control over our beloved kingdom from the shameful clutches of those who long oppressed it! It seems that, at last, it is time to rebuild a better kingdom for all!

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And, don't stop demanding the best for your beloved kingdom, a best that best does NOT include a single Ogre or ANY of their supporters. Continue the fight against corporate greed and corruption within Walt's kingdom and throughout the world. The truth is a powerful weapon against those elements and it has been a major factor that has brought us to where we are today. This recent turn of events at the Walt Disney Company has been a long time in coming and, though I penned the fable below, even I found myself falling into despair and resignation in recent months. But now the light of day shines again and the sense of excitement and joy is palpable. For me, the event that has transpired is a clear lesson to never give up hope, to keep up the good fight and to know that nothing, (even tyranny) lasts forever. I hope I will always remember this and will apply it to all aspects of my life.

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Please see my fable below or click HERE for a selection of my other writings on this and other topics.

"The Emperor's New Greed"

A Not So Silly Symphony

By Dave Pruiksma

Once upon a time there was a wonderful King of a Magical Kingdom. Beloved by all, King Walt the First ruled his kingdom with wisdom, creativity, respect and gratitude and funded it with a marvelous goose that laid golden eggs. This goose was King Walt's pride and joy and the noble King nurtured and protected it for many happy years. One sad day, the great King became mortally ill and knew that he was not long for the world. Before he died, however, he handed his prize goose over to a handpicked group of trusted and respected subjects that King Walt dubbed "The Nine Old Caretakers." The good King soon passed away as a result of his illness, but the rare goose lived on. Still, without King Walt's love and guidance the goose grew sad and, though the golden eggs still came, they did so with less and less frequency. So the once thriving little kingdom had to depend upon the lasting intrinsic value of the past golden eggs that were kept in the royal vault to be guarded and used with great respect and extreme prudence.

The nine old caretakers did their best to keep the goose comfortable and healthy, but in time, even they grew old and tired and knew that they, too, would not be around indefinitely. To that end, these trusted caregivers began to look for qualified apprentices whom they could train to care for the goose in the manner in which they, along with King Walt, had developed over the course of their lifetimes. The call went out throughout the land for such young apprentices and soon many potential candidates came to the happy, but now struggling kingdom built by the late King Walt. The nine old caretakers worked with the candidates and it was not long before those with the most potential were designated and tutored in the long secret ways of the care and nurturing of this great prize of the goose that laid the golden eggs.

As the weeks, months and years passed, the young apprentices grew in their understanding and facility in the handling of the precious goose. And, as a result of this fine and concentrated effort, the rare and unique fowl grew stronger and its condition began to stabilize. There were still few golden eggs to be had, but the hope was ever there for the gooses' complete recovery and a renaissance of golden egg production to help sustain the Kingdom of Walt forever.

About the time all this was happening, a greedy, miserly ogre sat at a safe distance on a dark mountain peak surrounded by stars watching the struggles of the humble little kingdom that King Walt had built. "Just look at those fools down there," the evil ogre muttered to himself smacking his hideous lips over his great, weasel-like teeth, "Can't they see the gold mine they are sitting on? I can practically smell the hidden riches that King Walt has left behind as their heritage!" And with false sincerity he added out loud, "What a pity that their great, shrewd leader is gone. Why, with no benevolent and creative ruler on the throne, this tiny kingdom might very well fall into ruin and decay. So it is clearly going to be up to me to see that this does not happen, at least not until I am able to unearth and tap those wondrous resources and claim the profits for my very own." So the greedy ogre gathered his band of cronies and like-minded miserly ogres around him and together they devised a scheme to gain control over the poor, unsuspecting kingdom below.

The next day the Kingdom of Walt found itself under siege by a band of marauding ogres, apparently bent on the break up and destruction of the hapless little Kingdom. The townspeople were clearly lost without wise leadership and to make matters worse, they had no experience in battling the evil forces that dwelled outside the walls of their beloved and peaceful Eden. Still, they fought valiantly, but futilely, against the onslaught until, from the distant Paramount peak, a trumpet heralded a call to attack and a huge dark figure clad in armor rode to the rescue on the back of a powerful black steed. With surprisingly little effort the band of marauding ogres was quickly dispersed and the cheering townspeople surrounded their victorious hero who had instantly become the savior of their grateful little kingdom. So happy were the townspeople that a movement was made, on the spot, to proclaim this valiant and mysterious stranger the new leader of the Kingdom of Walt. An enthusiastic roar of approval seconded the motion as the brave knight on horseback bowed in acceptance to the crowds of adoring townspeople. Then, in a grandly awkward gesture, the mysterious stranger removed his great helmet to reveal the hideous face of the greedy ogre from the starry mountain peak above. "Thank you good people of the Kingdom of Walt", bellowed the huge knight, now beaming in mock humility at the naïve people at his feet. "I and my cabinet of ministers shall do our very best to serve this kingdom to the utmost of our abilities for as long as there is something to serve". The startled townspeople looked at each other in surprise and confusion. "Cabinet of Ministers," thought the townspeople, and with a wave of his great black cape, the ogre revealed his "cabinet" which consisted of a very familiar looking group of once marauding ogres now dressed in slick business suits and ties. The greedy ogre and his ministry of ogres smiled benignly and offered promises of renewed prosperity and happiness to their newfound subjects. "We thank you for this marvelous opportunity to benefit the magical kingdom of Walt and ultimately ourselves," cooed the ogres as they began leading the people of the kingdom towards the great door of King Walt's palace. "Don't worry about a thing," they oozed, "We guarantee that in no time at all you will hardly recognize the place." They smiled a final, collective, leering smile and closed the palace door on the people of the kingdom who now found they were standing alone in the streets outside the palace. A moment later the door opened again, but just enough to allow a grimy ogre hand to place a sign on the doorknob which read, "Ogres at Work. Do Not Disturb!"

The ogres' evil plot to gain control of the little Kingdom of Walt had worked just as they had planned. And now, safely behind the closed doors of Walt's castle, the greedy band of ogres immediately and aggressively began chipping away at the magical Kingdom and it's riches. It was their sole intent to strip mine the kingdom's resources and claim for themselves all the wealth that good King Walt had built in a lifetime of good works. While scouring the palace for any source of wealth that might be tapped for his own personal gain, the original greedy ogre, who was the biggest and most foolish of all the ogres in his ministry, stumbled into King Walt's secret throne room. There he found it exactly as it had been left upon King Walt's passing, all in perfect order as if hopefully waiting for King Walt to return from a deep sleep and rule once more. In the corner of the room was a beautiful throne and on the seat of that throne lie King Walt's exquisitely bejeweled crown. Slowly and carefully, the evil ogre crept up to the throne, throwing a shifty gaze from side to side to see if the other ogres were watching him. But it was obvious that none of the other ogres were at all interested in the late King, his heritage or anything his good philosophy may have to offer all of the inhabitants of the Kingdom. They were simply interested in their own short-term gain. It was every ogre for himself.

With a hungry look in his eyes, the foolish ogre snatched King Walt's crown from its resting-place and held it to the light. As the ogre slowly examined the beautiful headpiece, all the impressive jewels that King Walt had added to the crown over a lifetime of creative leadership dazzled him. Suddenly, there was a welling up of greed and envy inside the ogre's heart, (if indeed ogres have hearts) and the evil ogre lifted the crown to the heavens and placed it upon his own wretched brow. All at once, the misguided ogre began to imagine his own wicked persona transformed. The confused creature, blinded by greed, power and envy, now fancied not only that he controlled the kingdom built by good King Walt, but that he had indeed become King Walt in the flesh. Of course, the sad truth is that this transformation occurred not in the real world but only in this poor greedy fool's corrupt and unconscionable mind. With a huge evil laugh and a burst of euphoria, the ogre now fancied himself King of what was once King Walt's happy kingdom. He actually believed himself to be the equal, no, the better of King Walt, and now his goal was to set about proving it to all that would listen and support his tragic fantasy.

Immediately, the newly appointed hierarchy of greedy ogres, led by the biggest ogre who was now masquerading as King Walt, set up residence in the throne room of the palace. Many of the subjects of the kingdom, once loyal to King Walt, were singled out as dissidents against the new leadership and driven from the kingdom so that there would be little opposition to the new order. Those left were besieged, persecuted and heavily taxed. They were forced to do the NEW King's will, no questions asked, though much of what was decreed was clearly opposite of King Walt's leadership and long term vision. The people of the kingdom were frightened and sad as they had never known this level of selfishness and avarice.

Before long, the miserly ogres and their tyrannical "Ogre King" had replaced King Walt's glorious palace with a huge fortress to protect them from unnecessarily coming into contact with the lowly people of the kingdom and their bothersome ideas and concerns. It was a huge "Tower of Terror" with large columns and an imposing façade consisting of a hodge-podge of incongruous design elements stolen from past civilizations but hailed as "New" and slapped together to create a hideous visage, visible for miles. As sentinels at the structure's gate the ogres placed not one but seven huge dwarfs, (a contradiction of terms but then, what do you expect from a bunch of evil ogres?) And as a further precaution against citizens uprising against them, the ogres placed an impenetrable "Wall of Bureaucracy" around the perimeter, insidiously designed to confuse and ultimately paralyze the people of the kingdom.

The band of ogre's looting and pillaging continued for some time, unimpeded by caution or logic, and not an inch of the kingdom was safe from the search and capture of valuable assets. Then, one day, the ogres came across a beautiful stable where the magical goose that laid the golden eggs was being housed and cared for. They broke down the doors and ran the caretakers out, forcing them to seek refuge in rundown stables on the outskirts of the Kingdom. The puzzled ogres stared at the goose for some time but none of them could imagine why a simple goose could command this level of tenderness and care. Suddenly the newly reining King roared, "What is this doing here? What good is an old, worn out goose? We can't sell it to anyone for who would pay anything for a simple goose? It would be costly and pointless to care for it for we can get our eggs cheaper overseas. In fact, I see this creature as worthless so I decree that we devour it and be done with it once and for all." So the slavering ogres led by the foolish Ogre King himself, began to descend upon the poor goose.

Just then, a small voice rose from a dark corner of the stable causing the ogres to pause from their onslaught on the innocent bird. It was the long forgotten nephew of King Walt the First, a loyal follower of the late King's philosophy and a great supporter of the marvelous goose. As he stepped from the shadows, he calmly and passionately explained to the miserly ogres the rarity, uniqueness and value of this unusual fowl. He told them that the goose should be spared because it was this magnificent creature that had produced the very golden eggs that helped sustain the kingdom with the wealth that the greedy ogres were now squandering on themselves. After a long and heartfelt talk, the nephew finally persuaded the misers to let the goose live. At least for the time being. The new reigning Ogre King bellowed skeptically, "Well, I still cannot see any value in this silly goose, but there are many untapped resources in this kingdom that I have yet to exploit so I will simply put this potential asset aside for now. I shall banish this wretched bird to the outskirts of my kingdom to live with its band of lowly caretakers in utter squalor and I will summon "The Dark Fairy" from the nearby struggling kingdom of Thespiana as my emissary to watch over this loathsome group. If there is any value to be had in this useless goose The Dark Fairy will uncover it, exploit it and ultimately destroy it!"

So the evil ogres threw the goose to the poor caretakers in their new home in the decrepit stable with orders to continue to feed and care for it. Of course, this was not easy in that the Ogre King and his miserly ministers gave little in the way of nourishment to the caretakers and the goose. In fact, The Dark Fairy and his mysteriously growing hordes of evil henchmen and royal bean counters quickly devoured a good deal of the best of what was given. Still, the caretakers gave the goose everything that they could scrounge together and that kept them all going, but just barely.

One day, in the rundown stable on the outskirts of the kingdom, a miraculous thing happened. The goose began laying golden eggs again, big, beautiful and solid gold! The townspeople cheered and the caretakers puffed their chests with pride. This looked like the beginning of their long awaited renaissance of golden egg production. But, as if on cue, the door burst open and in sashayed The Dark Fairy from stage left followed by the Ogre King and his cabinet of ministers. The sinister group was flanked on either side by armies of automatons, bureaucrats, bean counters and VPs, so numerous and vast that one could not see their end. In a flash, the golden egg was gone with the miserly ogres and their minions and all that was left was the goose, the townspeople, the caretakers and a paltry amount of chicken feed with the order to produce more golden eggs. Oh yes, and dozens of bean counters and bureaucrats to see that what had miraculously been done unaided before continued, on schedule.

The good people of the kingdom did not like this new system of egg production. They found it rushed and impersonal and thought that it negated the process and the people involved which might ultimately degrade the quality of the eggs. But they feared for the life of the special goose if orders were not complied with to the letter. So, out of love for their prodigy and benefactor, the caretakers continued nurturing and feeding the great bird with what little they were given. After some time, another golden egg arrived, this one even bigger and brighter than the one before. The caretakers and the people of the kingdom once again heralded its arrival with joyful cries and great pride. But, alas, the celebrations were cut short as the Dark Fairy and his hordes again swept down from their shadowy perch. They seized this new prize, carrying it up to the greedy ogre's cavernous coffers housed in their monolithic Tower of Terror that now cast its grotesque shadow on the once happy kingdom below.

When the Dark Fairy returned from the tower after delivering the latest golden egg to the ogres, his hordes, (now dubbed the "Knights of Confusion,") had more than doubled in number. And, though every one in the kingdom knew that these dark, menacing creatures contributed nothing to the production of the golden eggs, there were now more of them to do just that. The dramatic rise of bureaucrats, beckoned to Walt's Kingdom from poor and downtrodden Thespiana to serve The Dark Fairy was now reaching critical mass. They continued to come flooding into Walt's Magical Kingdom by dark of night from the huge back proscenium archway of their hungry and desperate kingdom. These new hordes of middle and yes men, fueled by the power and authority bestowed upon them by the wicked Dark Fairy, began forcing many longtime loyal subjects and townspeople to reluctantly flee the Dark Fairy's depraved and controlling ways, leaving behind their beloved homes and their heritage. The remaining caretakers were now hopelessly outnumbered by the Dark Fairy's legions and orders for more and more eggs continued to be issued directly from the throne room of the monstrous, dwarf-guarded Tower of Terror. The great goose, under the expert care of it's loving caretakers, continued to produce bigger, brighter, (faster, better, cheaper) golden eggs of a caliber that was most uncommonly high. And each time an egg was produced, the caretakers and the people of the kingdom noticed more and more buildings, monuments and statues with feet of clay appearing all about them; great, gaudy, dreadful structures with tacky, garish facades and little substance beyond that.

Golden Egg production had never been higher or more frenzied and the Golden Eggs continued to come on a regular basis; only now the Ogre King and his ministers found that the production of gold was no longer sufficient to quell their insatiable desires. For, with the accumulation of more and more gold came the acquisition of more and more kingdoms and monuments and the trappings of the world. And with all of that acquisition there came a greater sense of omnipotent power to the greedy ogres and a hunger for more. Much more! It was no longer enough just to be the leaders of King Walt's once Magical Kingdom. These dreadful beasts now wanted to be the rulers of all they surveyed, (and that was going to take a lot of golden eggs to accomplish). So the Ogre King and his ogre ministers decreed that it was time to bring what they now saw as the valuable goose and it's caretakers back near the immense Tower of Terror. Here they could be even more closely watched and measured and calculated and controlled by the nefarious hierarchy of the land.

The Dark Fairy and his hordes enforced the Ogre King's command only they felt, through their short association with the caretakers, that they now knew better how to care for the goose and its eggs than the caretakers themselves. So, the Dark Fairy summoned the exhausted goose to be brought to him in the new, dark roosting place he had built as a monument to himself with his cut of the riches from the recent golden eggs. It was a brackish, loathsome roost, redolent of sulfur and other noxious fumes of decay, but The Dark Fairy liked it that way. He then surrounded this roost with another protective wall of bureaucratic automatons created out of the poor misguided creatures he had lured from Thespiana. "Now," he thought, "I can make the goose lay its golden eggs at my feet and I can present them to the great Lords in the Tower of Terror myself. This, in turn, will bring greater power and glorification to me by leading the Ogre King and his ministers to believe that I, The Dark Fairy, am an indispensable part of the golden egg production process! I could even make people believe I had actually laid the golden eggs myself! And, you know, I am starting to think that perhaps I could. But then, that might be considered menial labor and I don't do that."

Unfortunately, the goose did lay an egg or two more under the direct control of the Dark Fairy and his hordes, though this was mainly through inertia and not through nurturing, which the Dark Fairy was also loathe to offer. And, because there was no love or understanding of the goose by the Dark Fairy and little to no contact with the goose's beloved caretakers, the eggs the goose did create became smaller and more frail with each one produced. The Dark Fairy grew more and more frustrated and demanded the goose lay more eggs of greater quality. The poor creature tried, but without nourishment and love and care the eggs grew smaller and weaker still.

Enraged, the Dark Fairy whisked the goose up to the dreaded Tower of Terror. There, together with the combined efforts of the Ogre King and his ministers and all the multitudes of VPs and bureaucrats and bean counters and the "Knights of Confusion", they pushed and poked and squeezed the poor creature in a tremendous effort to obtain more of the priceless golden eggs. Sadly, the last of the eggs to be extracted were simply too small and these final eggs were no longer golden but just run-of-the-mill ordinary goose eggs. Not even that. Many of these last eggs were just plain rotten!

The hierarchy of the Kingdom became worried. Suddenly their chief supplier of all the riches they held so dear was no longer able to provide them with what they needed most to retain the stature and prominence they had amassed through exploitation. Soon the world would discover that their power was starting to diminish through the lack of quality golden eggs. What could they do to save face and extort a bit more wealth from the nearly exhausted Kingdom? They schemed and schemed throughout the night and by dawn they had developed a strategy in which they would take the poor quality and rotten eggs that had been produced of late and simply paint them gold so that they would appear to be the same as the genuine article! "I think this plan will work," shrieked (or is it Shreked?), The Dark Fairy, "The common people are fools, buffoons and cretins and they will surely not be able to tell the difference between the true golden eggs and these substandard ones which we have force produced."

And so that is what they did and it did fool the people of the kingdom and even the neighboring kingdoms, for a while. Of course, this is because the people had nothing to compare these gilded eggs to. In fact these eggs were all they had so they made do with them however malodorous they may seem. But, in the ensuing time, many of the caretakers, who had been badly bruised, beaten and driven out of Walt's Kingdom by the Dark Fairy and his cruel, controlling rule, had found new homes and new geese to care for. These new geese were noted by each caretaker's expertise and longtime experience to have the potential to produce golden eggs of their own with the proper amount of love and nurturing and patience. And so, one by one, new eggs began to appear in the small hamlets all around Walt's poor neglected little Kingdom, big, bright beautiful golden eggs, (even a giant one made of iron) and all of the caliber that many people had long since forgotten. Naturally, people started to compare these true golden eggs with the fake ones recently offered by the Dark Fairy and the greedy hierarchy of ogres and they quickly began to figure out the terrible sham that had befallen them and their kingdoms.

Panicked and out of control by their sudden exposure and loss of face, the Ogre King, his ministers, The Dark Fairy and all the hordes of bureaucrats and automatons and bean counters and even the "Knights of Confusion" clutched the defenseless goose and gave one great final push. Alas, it was too late. The hapless bird just gasped and sputtered but produced nothing more, collapsing in a heap upon the table before them, silent and lifeless. The Ogre King who once imagined himself omnipotent and all powerful, not only in his stolen Kingdom of Walt, but throughout the known world, stepped back from the motionless heap of feathers that was once the marvelous goose that laid the golden eggs. The walls of his monstrous Tower of Terror began to tremble and collapse around him. His gaze shifted nervously from side to side as he thought to himself, "Forsaking my ministers and the Dark Fairy and all my hordes and legions of darkness, I wonder if I could break up all the various remaining pieces of this Kingdom and sell it piecemeal for scrap?" With that, he donned his golden parachute and headed for his secret emergency exit behind his throne followed closely by his cabinet of ogre ministers, never to be seen again. The Dark Fairy looked upon the crumbling walls of the once massive tower, stroked his weak chin and mused; "I wonder what's happening over in Thespiana today and if they are in the need of a Dark Fairy type of cruel, evil Lord?" And then he slithered away, stage right, down the dark alley and through the proscenium arch which served as the back entrance and trash receptacle of the poor, unsuspecting kingdom of Thespiana. The remaining hordes of VPs and the bean counters and the bureaucrats and the automatons and even the "Knights of Confusion" thought nothing, (as these types are not prone to independent thought). They simply scuttled away to look for a new carcass to feed upon as the doomed dark tower continued to crumble and dissolve, finally fading into oblivion.

Then, quietly, out of the abandoned pile of debris and decay of the once impenetrable Tower of Terror built by the evil ogres, a pair of battered and bruised, albeit gentle, hands immerged. These were the hands of King Walt's loyal nephew. Tenderly they began to stroke the lifeless goose, which had been left for dead by the now departed ogres and all their dark forces. But, as in all great fairy tales, the graceful creature was not dead. It was merely in a state of suspended animation, as it could no longer function under the cruel and thankless oppression of the Ogre King, his ministry of ogres and The Dark Fairy. But now that they were gone, the great goose coughed and stirred and weakly raised its head as the loving pair of hands continued to stroke and comfort it. Then another pair of hands joined the first, then another and another. These were the hands of the loyal caretakers and the people of Walt's Kingdom, the ones who had always believed in the great goose and the legacy of King Walt and his glorious magical kingdom that had once shown brightly. One and all, these noble hands carefully lifted the great bird and carried it into the shadows, out of the fetid remains of the collapsed Tower of Terror and down into the kingdom below, back to the people who understood and appreciated the goose's unique greatness. There was great rejoicing in the Kingdom of Walt by all that loved and honored the good King's vision and philosophy, for, now that the Ogre King's dark tower was no more, the sun could once again shine upon the humble little kingdom. At last a period of healing and renewal could begin. A time to rebuild and recreate the once happy and magical little hamlet. And in time, with proper love and care and nurturing, perhaps, just perhaps, this greatest of geese, the one by which all other geese are measured, may someday produce beautiful golden eggs for a new generation once more.

The End

© 2002 Chucklebutt Productions

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Updated 2/2006