The King and the Regent
An original story by Ed Vasicek

In the Kingdom of Tatra, the king of the land and his relatives had to watch what they ate, for every member of the royal family had special hair. It changed color based upon the meat they ate. If they ate beef, their hair would turn dark brown; when they became old, they would eat lamb and their hair would match the wool white color of the sheep. The preferred meal was chicken because they looked best when their hair was light brown.

King Reggie had been reigning since he was 17 years old. Because he was so young, a wise man in the kingdom, called the Regent, shared his authority.

Now that Reggie was 21, he no longer needed the Regents help. King Reggie appointed new royal guards, new royal housekeepers, new royal gardeners, and new royal cooks. Since Reggie was an only child, he decided to appoint his many cousins to these duties.

Reggie ate chicken every day, except for Christmas when he ate Green Ham so that his hair would turn green for the holiday.

Then, a few weeks after his 21st birthday, Reggie noticed that his hair had changed to blue. The next day, it was black, and then blue again on the third day. On the fourth day, it had turned green.

At first, the citizens of the kingdom did not know what to make of a king with blue hair. When it turned green, they laughed. When it changed every day or two, they began to think to themselves: "Our King is crazy. He probably should be removed from office. We will need a new king."

The king heard these rumors and the murmuring of the people. He did not know what to do. Then he decided to ask the Regent for advice, for he was the wisest man in his entire kingdom.

"Your Highness," he responded. "I will have to investigate. But this might take some time."

"I may not have much time. Please hurry."

So the Regent called a meeting of all the nobles in the land. "The King is not crazy," he said. "Something mysterious is happening, and I plan to solve the mystery."

Because everyone in the kingdom loved and respected the Regent, they said, "We will give you two weeks. After that, if you cannot account for the change in our king's hair color, we will have to find a new king. Surely then we have to conclude that he is crazy."

So the Regent went to work. First, he listed the pattern of the hair color changes. As he studied out this information, he could find no pattern.

Then he began to ask himself, "What has changed in the Kingdom since the King turned 21. For this never used to happen before. The king is still eating chicken, but his hair color keeps changing."

"It must have something to do with the new officers and servants. But what?" he asked himself.

"Well, until I figure out what has happened, I would like to try an experiment. Let me talk to the king."

King Reggie came as quickly as he could to the Regent's office. "You wanted to see me, Regent?"

"Yes, your highness. I have a favor to ask. For the rest of this week, instead of eating chicken, how about eating lamb?"

"But I love chicken! I only eat lamb for special occasions!" replied the king.

"I am aware of that," answered the Regent, ";but this could be important. You want to continue being king, don't you?"

"Yes," responded Reggie, "I just love chicken so much and I don't really care for lamb. But I'll do it."

"That's wonderful, your majesty. I'll notify the royal cook."

The next day, the king's hair was white.

"It's not brown, the color I prefer. But at least it's not green," explained the king.

But the next day, his hair was black.

"It's still changing," laughed the people. "Our King is not right; we need to get him off the throne!"

Reggie called the Regent into his throne room. "This has made things worse. The people really think I am off my rocker now!"

"Patience, your Majesty. I have solved the mystery! I will be here in a few minutes, and I will bring someone else with me," the Regent explained with glee.

A few minutes latter, the Regent entered the throne room, accompanied by the cook, Reggie's cousin Ferd.

"Have you come to reveal the solution to the mystery?" inquired the king. "And why did you bring my oldest cousin, Ferd, with you?"

"Because," stated the Regent, "Ferd is to blame for the crazy colors of your hair!"

"Did Ferd dye my hair at night with hair coloring?"

"No," answered the Regent. I'll first tell you why he did this, then I'll tell you how.

"Your cousin, Ferd, is your oldest cousin. You have no brothers or sisters. If you were removed from the throne because everyone thought you were insane, Ferd would become king."

"Oh," realized the king, "so that&';s why he did it. He wanted to be king instead of me. But how did he do it?"

"Easy," replied the Regent. "You thought you were really eating chicken, but you were actually eating Peacock!"

"No," the king gasped, "I thought his chicken tasted better than the chicken our old chef made! But it wasn't chicken after all, but Peacock! But I still don't understand."

"What don't you understand?" asked the Regent.

"Well, why did my hair change color when I ate the lamb?"

"Because, your majesty, sheep can be either black or white! That's what made me realize my original theory about Ferd was correct. If your hair had turned green after eating lamb, it would have disproved my theory. But it turned first white, then black."

"You have always been a wonderful Regent. Although I do not need you to make decisions for me, I would like to keep you here at the palace as a specially honored advisor."

"I would love to serve you in that way, your Majesty!"

"Thank you," said the king. "And now, Ferd, you will no longer be my cook. You will now be the official toilet bowl scrubber!"

The End

C. 2008 by Ed Vasicek
May be used if credit is given to the author.