The Fables of Power – Old grudges, new costumes, timeless quarrels

📖 The Emperor’s New Walls 🧱

✍️ Introduction

There once was an Emperor who feared the world beyond his borders. To prove his strength, he ordered walls so tall that even the sun would struggle to climb them. The people cheered as the bricks rose higher, but they did not yet see what the walls would keep out — and what they would trap within.

🎭 A great empire is not maintained by timbers and stones,

but by justice.”

—Seneca

🪄 The Tale

The Emperor paraded before his people, boasting of the walls that would make their kingdom great again.

“These walls will keep out every danger,” he proclaimed. “No stranger shall enter, no enemy shall pass, no shadow shall darken our gates.”

The masons worked day and night, piling stone upon stone. The walls grew so tall they blocked the view of the horizon. The Emperor smiled, convinced that he had secured eternal safety.

But in the shadow of the walls, the people began to notice changes. The sun set earlier, and the mornings came later. The market square grew dim, and crops wilted without enough light. Strangers no longer entered with spices, stories, or trade.

And when his people complained, the Emperor thundered: “Fake news!” He prosecuted those who did not look like him or pray as he prayed, calling them criminals. Children were torn from their parents and sent to cages, far away from the only home they knew.

Soon the walls did not only keep enemies out — they kept the people in. And as their world shrank, the cheers grew quieter, until only the Emperor’s voice echoed proudly within his golden cage of stone.

⚖️ Moral of the Tale

Walls that shut others out will one day shut you in.

🎭 Closing Line

The stage of the world is never empty. The next fable is already being written…

🏰 Next Fable Preview

The Sleeping Beauty of Bruxelles
An enchanted castle of clerks slumbers until the sound of crisis wakes it — briefly — before it nods back to sleep.

đź“Ś Blog Excerpt

A proud Emperor builds walls so tall even the sun cannot climb them. He cries “fake news” at every complaint, calls strangers criminals, and cages their children — until the walls keep his people inside as surely as they keep others out.

WJJH, September, 2025

Leave a comment