"The Fable of King George, Prince Dick, the Sheep & the Wolves"

Once upon a time, in the land of Norne, the King, George, was reviewing papers that only kings review, and came upon a report stating that the citizens of Norne were very upset, countless sheep were being killed every day. Now, the Nornians main source of food came from sheep, they were very concerned about the situation. Also, the price of sheep was increasing dramatically.

The king, a smart fellow, who had only been king for a year, called upon his Prime Minister, a Prince named Dick, and told him of the problem. Prince Dick said unto the king, "Worry not sire, I will handle it". Prince Dick returned to his castle to ponder. Now it is known that Prince Dick had at one time been in the sheep business himself, so he knew exactly what was going on. As he finished pondering, he realized that the sheep business needed to be de-regulated, but he did not know exactly what course of action to follow. He made his decision, and requested that all of the head wolves come to his castle to advise him on new rules to protect the sheep, or "sheep de-regulation". Of course, Prince Dick knew that the wolves would invariably act like wolves, but he took their advice and ordered that "sheep de-regulation", as defined by the wolves, would become law. Sadly, Prince Dick did not consult with the sheep or anyone else for that matter; he only sought advice from the wolves (After all, who knew better about the sheep than the wolves).

When the Nornians news and cable service reported Prince Dick's de-regulation, there was of course, dancing in the streets, as the people of Norne were joyous in the news that the sheep would be saved and the market stabilized, at long last.

The Nornians nation was shocked when several weeks later it was reported that wolves had killed all of the sheep in the kingdom. When asked about the situation King George left on a trip to Kansas and told the network to speak to Prince Dick who would explain things to them. When Prince Dick was indeed asked by the Nornian news network as to who had devised the plan about "sheep de-regulation", he smiled (He smiled a lot) and would not reply to that question. He spoke of princely privilege and stated that if he divulged who had assisted him with "sheep de-regulation", that it would be difficult in the future to have anyone else help and advise him when other de-regulation was being considered.

As you can imagine this is only a fable, and could not happen in real life. What king or prince, who are looking to protect sheep, would actually seek out advice and counsel from wolves?

It was some time much later that Prince Dick was heard to say, emulating the words about "that woman", "No, I never did meet with THOSE wolves".

A cable fable by

Norman

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