Wise King Taken by the Foolish One essay no. 3 The Scene on the Chess board: The two kings' respective wisdoms are of no consequence to the outcome; that being determined by the players, who observe the battle scene entirely from the outside. Dan Plonsey October, 2001 Keywords: chess, pretense, "deus ex machina" Go to: Wise King essays, home page, or one of the Wise King essays: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, or Plonsey's "Kingdoms Diptych" home page, or Dan Plonsey home page.

The Scene on the Chess board: The two kings' respective wisdoms are of no consequence to the outcome; that being determined by the players, who observe the battle scene entirely from the outside.

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The two kings chatted about this and that, just one square separating them at this late stage of the game. Their remaining armies played games of cat and mouse, seemingly in another world, only occasionally needing to nudge one king or the other. The Wise King was the older of the two. The Foolish One was unable to focus his doe eyes, due to his extreme youth, perhaps also bothered by the dust being kicked up by the knights' horses.

"See," said the Wise King, "We don't know: Maybe it turns out okay. Maybe I win - or maybe it works out for both of us. Whatever, it's out of our hands. You and I are equals here, insofar as we are equally unable to affect our fate in the slightest."

"That doesn't seem right," said the Foolish One.

"No, it doesn't," replied the Wise King. "And believe me, it won't feel any better when you're 43." He smiled, and peered out into the dust and fog to see if his knight was still there. Or his bishop... He could not tell. "It's not fun anymore. It's mostly people pretending."

"Why do they pretend?"

"To keep you youngsters from guessing, from understanding. To keep you from getting suicidal. We need your help, your muscle, just to get around, and there's a certain amount of dirty work we rely upon you to finish. Of course, our subterfuge of omission also has an element of altruism, and even love, I suppose... We're trying to do what's best."

"What's best?"

"What's not the worst, at least."

"Oh, great, Dad!"

"Look, I could be wrong. Sure, life's a downhill slide, but there could be some of that Deus Ex Machina action scripted into the end. Like I said: something unbelievable, which could mean something unexpectedly wonderful. Such things do happen in life."

"Not bloody often!"

"No, but maybe just often enough. Maybe even saving the best for last."

"Huh." The Foolish One looked around. There was a dense cloud of dust surrounding the two kings, only the vaguest shadows of the other pieces were to be seen. The Foolish One could discern neither their rank nor color. In the distance, there was a flickering light as though from a fire, or of quick changes in stage lighting.

The Wise King sat himself down on the ground and pulled forth a large bottle of chilled water from within his cloak. "Would you like some?" he offered, but the Foolish One said no, he thought he'd buy himself a Mountain Dew.

They sat together then, or nearby together, to await their changed fortunes.

-- Dan Plonsey, October 2001, El Cerrito, California Go to: Wise King essays: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, or Plonsey's "Kingdoms Diptych" home page, or Dan Plonsey home page.