In a faraway land, not so long ago, the people lived under the oppressive rule of a tyrant king. Any man who dared insult the king was immediately imprisoned, and in this way all uprisings were suppressed.

The people nonetheless grew disgruntled with the king, and out of their ranks a young farmhand emerged. With inspiring and elegant rhetoric, he brought together thousands of the king’s subjects to march into the capital city to demand freedom for their children and lower taxes. So many marched that the king’s prisons could not hold them all. So the king demanded his loyal soldiers to capture the leader of the rebellion, which they did, and he surrendered immediately, for the people had no weapons. The rebellion was quelled.

As punishment for leading the uprising, the farmhand was placed in solitary confinement. Still, he was a charming young man, and he quickly made friends with his guards, who also had some sympathy with his cause, and they helped him to escape.

As soon as he was free, the farmhand led another uprising. The king, furious, ensured he was captured again. The farmhand was placed in the maximum security prison cell and put under the constant guard of ten loyal soldiers from the nation’s toughest regiment.

Still, the farmhand was charming and managed, over the course of a few months, to make friends with all the soldiers who were guarding him. Eventually, at risk of their own lives, they helped him escape, and he led another uprising.

The king again had him captured. This time he ordered the farm hand to be brought before his throne.

“Three times you have defied me,” the king said. “And I have come to admire your courage. You surely deserve to die, but I am a man of mercy, and I will offer you the chance to live. Not only that, but you will have the freedom to wander my palace, to explore all of its one thousand and one rooms rooms, even my private chambers, and to request any of your whims and wishes of my servants. Your every appetite will be met.”

He demanded that the young man immediately be taken to a celebratory feast, hosted by himself.

The farmhand, hungry as he was, accepted the invitation of the meal, thinking to himself that he would leave immediately afterwards to start another uprising.

However, the temptation of exploring the castle proved too great, and as he began to walk its many corridors, he became lost in its luxury and splendour. Soon he forgot to think of escaping.

The king’s plan was a plan of genius.

Never again did the farmhand lead an uprising of the people. In fact, he chose his own prison, spending his whole life inside the walls of the castle.

Seeing their leader enjoying the luxuries of palace life, the people of the land became bitter and disheartened. For as long as the king reigned, there was never another uprising for justice in the land.