His
father the king introduced the young boy to Tyroc. “This is
Maldred,” said the king. “Like you, he is the prince of a small
country. I’m sure you two kids will have fun playing together.”
The
two children played together in a room filled with expensive toys.
Maldred looked at the toys, and was immediately attracted to the toy
soldiers and war planes. “Let’s play war!” said Maldred. “I’ll
be the attacker, and you can be the defender.”
“I
don’t really like playing war,” said Tyroc. “My father got me
those war toys, but I don’t use them very often. What I really like
to play with is blocks. I like to arrange the blocks into big fancy
buildings.”
For
about 30 minutes Maldred played with the toy soldiers and war toys,
while Tyroc built from the wooden blocks a tall fancy building, which
reached 3 feet high. Finally Maldred held a big toy plane in his
hand, and yelled, “Incoming bomber!” He swooped in the plane,
smashing it into the building Tyroc had created, toppling all the
wooden blocks to the ground.
Tyroc
thought this was very rude, but he tried not to get too upset about
it.
Seventeen
Years Later
When
Tyroc was 25, his father died. Tyroc became the king of his small
country. He had enormous riches he could use, but he didn’t have to
concern himself with running his small country, which was a
constitutional monarchy. Most of the government decisions were made
by the ruling congress of his small country. A year later Maldred’s
father died, and Maldred became the king of his country. Unlike Tyroc, Maldred had absolute power in his country. He was the dictator of
his land.
The
two kings began following very different paths.
Tyroc
was very interested in architecture. He wanted to create
buildings, and design new cities. He conceived grand ideas about
fantastic cities that he could build, and began drawing up plans for
these projects.
His
first great project was the creation of a city on a mountain top. In
Tyroc’s land there was a very tall mountain with a large flat top
a mile wide. Tyroc thought it would be wonderful to create a small
city on top of this mountain. It would look like nothing else that
existed in the world. He designed all the buildings, and had his
royal builders build them. When it was done, he named this fantastic
creation Mountaintop City.
When
this was done, his exhausted royal builders said, “Well, I hope we
won’t have to do anything that hard for a long time.” “Are you kidding?" replied King Tyroc. "I have lots of other ideas for fantastic
cities I want to create!”
Far
away, in the land he ruled over, King Maldred concentrated on waging
war. He built up his armies into a fearsome force, and invaded the
country to the south. He began to fight battles with great intensity,
shedding much blood.
Four
Years Later
King
Tyroc’s next project was the creation of a city that he called
Castle City. It was a most unusual and beautiful city, because every
building in it was a castle. Even the shopping malls and office
buildings and supermarkets were all castles.
The
royal builders complained that King Tyroc’s projects were going to
bankrupt the royal treasury. But as soon as the Castle City was
finished, people from all over the world flocked to visit it. This
made vast amounts of additional money for the royal treasury. King
Tyroc soon began to plan other amazing cities to create.
One
day King Maldred came to visit King Tyroc. “Old friend, I’m
having such fun with my wars and conquests. You must join me in my
battles, and add your forces to my invading armies.” But King Tyroc
wasn’t interested. “No, I’d rather not,” he said. “I have
more building projects that I am very busy with.” Disappointed,
King Maldred left.
Six
Years Later
King
Tyroc next asked himself, “What other city can I create – one
like no other city that exists?” Finally he came up with an
astonishing idea: the idea of creating a floating city. In his land
there was a large lake with the deepest blue water, which had been
formed by a volcano that exploded long ago. King Tyroc’s idea was
to place a floating city in the middle of this lake. His royal
builders told him he was crazy, that it would never work. But
finally, after some trial and error, he figured out exactly how to
make the floating buildings.
The
city he created, floating in the middle of the deep blue lake, was like nothing his planet had ever seen. Tourists flocked to see it, which refilled the
royal treasury, giving more funds for King Tyroc’s next project.
Meanwhile
the fierce King Maldred continued to raise more armies, and invade
more countries.
Five
Years Later
King
Tyroc had thought long and hard about what building project he should
work on next. Finally he came up with his most ambitious idea: a city
that would be called the Domed City. It would be a city surrounded by
a gigantic gleaming glass dome, a mile high. Inside the city there
would be no need for umbrellas, and the temperature would always be
70 degrees.
His
royal builders thought he was crazy. But finally, working with many
engineers and scientists, he found a way to create this amazing city.
When it was finished, some people said it was the most amazing and
beautiful city in the world. The tourists came from all corners of
the globe to see it, and this refilled the royal treasury, again
giving King Tyroc more money for new building projects.
King
Tyroc began to think of ideas for other fantastic cites he could
create, such as a Crystal City and an Underwater City.
Thirty
Years Later
King
Tyroc and King Maldred met one last time, when they were both old
men.
King
Maldred talked all about his many conquests, wars, and battles. He
told of the many times he had pounded his enemies into submission,
and had crushed his foes without mercy.
King
Tyroc preferred to talk about the amazing cities he had built. He
showed King Maldred pictures of all the unique and remarkable
buildings he had designed and built. “All together, I have built
seven cities,” said King Tyroc proudly.
“Why
that’s a coincidence,” chuckled King Maldred. “You’ve BUILT
seven cities, and in all my wars and battles and conquests, I’ve
DESTROYED seven cities. Ha ha ha ha ha!”
King
Maldred thought this little coincidence was very funny, and he
laughed about it heartily for ten seconds. King Tyroc looked sadly at
King Maldred, and walked away without saying anything. King Maldred
was left alone in the room. For some reason he began to feel ill at
ease, and started to frown.
Within
a few years, both kings died.
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