As the young king sat on his throne, listening to a peasant’s complaints, he could not help but recall his own childhood. The king Watcha was the most powerful man in the Atnalta. However, he had not spent his childhood in luxury like so many of his predecessors.
Eighteen years ago, his country was involved in a war that ended in the defeat of its army. The people, discontent with the harsh peace treaty, rebelled against Watcha’s father. His father managed to smuggle Watcha out of the palace and instructed a messenger to drop Watcha at a peasant household, knowing that the peasants would accept his son. Shortly after giving his instructions, the king died fighting the rebels.
As Watcha grew up, neither he nor his parents knew of the noble blood flowing within his veins. Since his parents were peasants, Watcha constantly endured the hardships that accompanied such poverty. During his childhood, he experienced seven years of famine during which he had to eat tree bark and worms. For ten years, he envied the nobles and their children because they did not have to worry about such basic needs as food and water.
When Watcha turned eleven, everything changed. A loyal knight who had served in his father’s court came to Watcha’s house and informed him of his birthright as the king of Atnalta. The knight, riding on a white horse, wore a shining silver armor and had a huge sword at his side. Underneath his tunic, knots of muscles flexed as the knight dismounted. Catching Watcha off- guard, the knight suddenly kneeled in front of him and hailed him as king. Watcha’s parents and neighbors were stunned, for they thought the royal bloodline was extinct.
Watcha, with the help of the loyal knight, managed to end the chaos that reigned in the kingless kingdom. He defeated warlords and tyrants and consolidated a base for his power. People flocked to his side because of his kindness and justness. In a matter of a few months, Watcha assumed the title of King of Atnalta. Regarded as a benevolent king, Watcha realized that a king should listen to the peasants, who constituted ninety percent of the population. In addition, the peasants provided much needed grains and manpower that a kingdom depended on for its survival. From the day he took on the title of king, Watcha allowed peasants to come to his court in order to voice their complaints or explain the current problems of the country. Progressively the kingdom became more prosperous, as the king sought to fix the problems. So, only six years after he assumed power, the kingdom was the richest on the entire continent.