A Limb and Eye For Beauty; a Fable

Once upon a time, in a small kingdom by a large river, a baby was born without either a left arm or a left eye. He grew into a strapping young lad, and joined the crew on his father’s boat as they plied the river for fish to sell.

When the young man with no left arm or left eye was age twenty-one, the elderly king who ruled the small kingdom by the river died. The king’s only son, the prince, became the ruler of the kingdom.

The young king, tall and sleekly muscled, and his equally attractive wife were heralded as the beginning of a beautiful new time for the kingdom. The young king liked the idea of ruling a beautiful kingdom. He issued an edit.

All citizens of the kingdom who did not meet the young king’s concept of beauty were to be exiled into the wilderness across the large river. This included the young man with no left arm or left eye.

When the exiles organized themselves according to talent, the young man with no left arm or left eye became a fisherman. Having no boat, he walked the banks of the large river each day, trying to impale fish with a sharpened stick.

One day, while walking along the riverbank, the young man with no left arm or left eye, looked across the river and saw the young king’s two daughters, playing in the shallow water along the far bank of the river.

He was watching when one of them stepped into a deep hole. She could not swim. Despite desperately flailing her arms, she was being swept downstream by the current while her sister stood helpless, screaming for help.

The young man with no left arm or left eye dived into the river. He used his powerful legs to propel himself across the river’s current. Nearing the end of his endurance, he grasped the princess’ hair and held her up until help arrived.

The young princess was grateful to the young man with no left arm or left eye. She told her father, the king, that she was in love with the young man who had rescued her and wanted to marry him. This troubled the king.

He considered himself a wise man for his age, but he pondered for days, seeking a way to agree with his daughter’s wish while adhering to his idea of a beautiful kingdom. Finally, he arrived at a solution to both problems.

The palace spokesman made two announcements. The king’s daughter would marry the man of her wishes in two weeks. By that time every man in the kingdom would have had his left arm cut off and his left eye removed.