THERE was once a king who lost his conscience, although some people said he never had one in the first place.

A good conscience needs to be nurtured, others said, and if it isn’t it can wither.

Whatever the truth of whether his conscience was lost, withered or just hadn’t ever existed, it was clear by the time he became the king he did not have one.

The king did not care that he had no conscience of course, because if you don’t have a conscience you don’t have to care about the absence of it.

The king believed this was a great asset. He was not encumbered by annoying emotions of empathy and understanding, or shame and remorse. These emotions, he believed, were very unkinglike.

East Lothian Courier: Tim PorteusTim Porteus

One day he was travelling through his kingdom in his expensive golden coach. He looked out of the window and saw a poor widow scratching in the soil of a field.

“What is that ugly old woman doing?” asked the king.

“She is desperately poor your majesty, and very hungry, and searching for a potato that may have been left in that field,” explained a courtier.

“That is outrageous,” exclaimed the king.

“How dare she do that. That field is owned by a friend of mine, and she is stealing from him!”

“But your majesty,” protested the courtier, “the woman is poor and desperate, she seeks merely something to eat, perhaps for her children as well; many people in the kingdom are hungry because your rich friends have all the land and ….”

The king exploded in fury.

“How dare you speak to me in this manner!” he bellowed.

The other courtiers remained silent.

When the coach arrived at the palace, the courtier who had spoken out of turn was taken by the guards and never seen again.

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This is what happened to any courtier who dared disagree with the king.

It meant new ways of doing things for those who worked in the royal administration.

The king didn’t tolerate anyone around him who showed a conscience, and soon conscience was removed from the court altogether, as the king surrounded himself with those who were likewise unencumbered by it.

The next day, while the king was enjoying a feast with his rich friends, a messenger came nervously into the great hall.

“Your majesty,” said the messenger with a shaking voice.

“I have grave news. Many people in the kingdom are angry with what they see as injustice, too many are going hungry, some...”

The messenger’s voice began to weaken with fear: “some say you are not a good king”.

The king laughed, and looked around at his rich friends.

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“Do you think I am a good king?” he asked them.

They all agreed he was a brilliant king, for he had made them richer than ever, and they had shared their wealth with him in gratitude.

Then the king looked at the courtiers and asked: “And you lot, do you think I’m a good king?”

All the courtiers agreed he was a wonderful king, although some spoke with more enthusiasm than others.

This suggested to the king that some of his courtiers may still have a conscience, but were hiding it.

He didn’t mind this so much; as long as they kept it hidden, he could tolerate it.

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Besides, being unprincipled and dishonest in order to keep privilege and power was a way to make their conscience wither and die.

The king turned to the messenger and spoke merrily: “You see, I have asked the people who matter and they think I am a brilliant and wonderful king!”

Everyone laughed, as more food and wine was served.

The servant bowed and began to leave. But the king thought for a moment.

“Wait,” he called out.

The messenger returned and bowed again.

“Perhaps there is a cause to be angry”.

There was a hushed silence; had the king suddenly found his conscience?

“It is me who is angry, to hear there is hunger in the land,” he said, as he picked up a roasted lamb’s leg and took a bite.

“Something must be done about it!”

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The king’s rich friends looked at each other nervously as he began to speak with a serious tone.

“I was travelling through the kingdom yesterday and I saw the cause of this hunger,” said the king.

“There is a wicked old woman stealing from the fields.

“We need to find her and put her in jail.

“I suspect there are others who are doing the same.

“We must find them for they are the reason poverty stalks this land, and I, as the king, am determined to root out this evil.”

He turned to his friends with a big grin.

They laughed and raised their glasses to him, calling for champagne.

“Go tell everyone to search for these despicable people for they are to blame for the problems,” ordered the king to the messenger.

“And make it clear that the injustice caused by that woman, and people like her, will end under my rule!”

The messenger bowed and left the hall.

“Well done your majesty,” said one of his rich friends as the king sat down at the table.

“And such a magnificent feast!” said another.

The king accepted their compliments with a big smile.

“And,” he proclaimed, “the food tastes so much better without any conscience added!”

They all laughed so loud it was heard by the old woman out in the fields, who was still searching for something to eat.