The following story is a summary of the Bible told in the form of a fairy tale. I hope you enjoy it. If you really want to have some fun, see if you can relate the characters and events in this fairy tale with those in the Bible. Soon I will post an annotated version so that you may understand how I connected them.
Once upon a time, there lived a very wise king. He ruled the many realms of his kingdom in very wise ways. Because he very much loved one particular couple, he made them prince and princess and allowed them to reign over one realm in his kingdom.
At first everything went well. While the prince and princess were not as wise as the king, they did live with a certain charming innocence. Everyone got along well with one another.
Then disaster struck. The couple decided that the very wise king wasn’t so very wise after all. They decided that they knew best how to reign and that his ways would no longer be their ways. They even started leaning on the advice of a certain slippery character. In the end, it was the slippery character who really ran things, all the while leaving the prince and princess with the impression that they were still in charge.
When the very wise king learned how rotten things had become, he went into action. He contacted a certain man who agreed to work with him. The very wise king provided this man and his family with all the support they needed to live according to the very wise king’s ways. They, in turn, followed his ways and, in doing so, were a help to other people in the realm.
Not surprisingly, the slippery character and his minions hated this man and his family. If the prince and princess were too slow to see what was going on, they certainly discerned the meddling presence of the very wise king! They stirred up the prince and princess, who had the whole lot thrown into jail. Not to be outdone, the very wise king orchestrated a daring jail break and brought his allies to a safer place.
Sadly, as time went by, even the very wise king’s allies got tired of the struggle for freedom. The pressure against them was just too relentless. When they weren’t being threatened to abandon the very wise king’s ways, they were being rewarded for accepting the wayward ways of the slippery character. Soon only a handful of the old family clung to the hope that the very wise king would help them anymore.
At long last, the very wise king’s own son came of age. In a short but brilliant campaign, he decisively defeated the slippery character and his minions.
Knowing that his days were numbered, the slippery character grew desperate. In a complete frenzy, he pressed hard upon all the people of the realm in a vain attempt to keep the very wise king’s son from destroying him for good. For awhile the slippery character appeared to be successful. He managed to block the news of the very wise king’s victory, got the prince and princess to work feverishly for him, and tightened his control over everyone and everything in the realm. The slippery character was going down, but was going to take as many people as possible down with him.
Fortunately, the very wise king’s son knew exactly what his wily opponent was up to. With perfect ease, he enabled his few but faithful followers to overcome the slippery character’s silliness. They laughed with joy as the very wise king’s son entered the citadel and destroyed the slippery character and his minions, chastened the poor prince and princess, and pardoned all the people.
And they lived happily ever after.
