Arrogance’s man knocked again, and again, but there was only silence. “Sire?” he asked raising his voice, “My lord, open the door!”

As he continued to pound on the door another member of the council came to see what the ruckus was all about. “The king is not responding and I fear that he may be in need of our help.” The two of them began to pry the door open and within a few minutes they entered the king’s chamber. Empty! The king was missing! Arrogance’s man kept his cool. “Listen, we must keep this quiet, but search every room of this castle. While we are searching let’s call an emergency meeting of the council.” After searching all night the council gathered together just before dawn. Every member felt the dismay and trepidation. A sense of hopelessness haunted every question of what do they do next. “Let’s make another thorough search,” said one. “Nonsense! He’s missing from the castle. We can only think that he has been kidnapped or…” said another. “Don’t say it,” interrupted another, “He is not murdered, or kidnapped or…” “Then where is he?” They all began talking over one another. Finally, Arrogance’s man spoke up.

“Brothers, please! Silence. We need to bring order to this meeting or we will never accomplish anything. Now, I suggest that we keep the matter of the king’s disappearance within our own ranks. We shall not even speak of this to our families. Look what it has done to us. Could you imagine what would happen to the castle if they knew he was gone? We must continue with the plan that we had arrived at earlier this evening. We must go on as though we had the king’s approval of our stimulation program.” The council began nodding in approval as he continued.

“We must repair the damage to the door of the king’s chamber and post a guard. We will act as though he is inside his chambers and I will go in from time to time to appear as though I am speaking with him. Are we agreed?” Again they nodded while looking at one another, as though each member wanted to assure himself that another member agreed.
“Finally, as we implement our program and go out into the countryside, we shall search diligently for our beloved king. But this must be done with the greatest discretion, with open eyes but silent tongues. No one is to even breathe a word of the secret we are keeping here tonight. If this news ever got out into the kingdom –it would collapse beyond recovery! I believe that we are capable of turning this kingdom around and if the people are happy and safe, if they are well fed and entertained, then…” he didn’t believe these words were going to leave his mouth, “should we never find the king, they will not mind so much that he is gone.”

“You mean that we are going to keep the king’s disappearance a secret until…” questioned the eldest council member.

“That is exactly what I mean! Listen, the townsfolk really love the king, but it is in their own way. They know that he is good and merciful. When they get themselves into trouble, he is generally there to help them out. His gifts to the poor have not gone unnoticed. I even remember the time that he kept our enemy from going to war with us. These people know this too. But I have also noticed that when things are going well, the people soon forget the king. They don’t visit the castle with their gifts as often and have you ever noticed that when things are going well, the people never show up for his festivals? They all seem too busy with their own things. One thing we have going for us, Brothers, is that these folks forget the important things of the heart when the belly is full. Now, I suggest that we get busy. We only have five days left before the festival.”
To be continued…