King of Silence

There was once a king who decided that for him - beauty was silence. He issued a decree that all sound was banished henceforth and that his land would forever more be as silent as snow. To enforce this impossible law he sent countless envoys to every corner of the land. Every creature was informed. No birds can sing. No dogs must bark. No man, woman or child could speak their needs and must now make them known by signs. Even the very thunder was ordered to be mute. The penalty of course was death. Few were able to obey. Flocks of birds were shot from the heavens. Dogs were slain before their master’s eyes. All the trees were stripped of leaves lest the wind should sigh through them. Brooks were frozen so water could not splash or gurgle down the stream beds. It was like a permanent winter with bare trees and frozen ground. Children at play were wiped out without mercy. Cows being herded were bombed for lowing. This unmerciful killing went on for many years. The merest sound so angered the King that he ordered atrocious punishments for offenders that he did not kill. The talents of artist were in great demand as they painted cards for all occasions for people to flash. in lieu of speaking. The effect on the population was to cause the formation of many covert societies where secret meetings, when betrayed, were raided and countless murders committed by the ‘silence’ enforcers. The King was greatly feared by everyone and dubbed “Snowman - the Silencer” Generations of good people were wiped out. Countless noisy species were hunted to extinction. Music was never heard or played. Silent clocks were invented. Sound-proof rooms were built. Some desperate parents, to protect their children, opted to have their babies larynx-es removed at birth. The King was surrounded by silent apathetic, joyless subjects. The King’s obsession had effectively destroyed all the people, the life and the environment around him. How much easier it would have been, if he, in wanting silence had only thought to destroy his own eardrums.