The Hill Palace

The following is a short story inspired by the sad fact that many a building here are not equipped with lifts/elevators or if they are, they are often unused due to very often petty easily soluble situations thus making it hard/impossible to access the floors above ground level...

                                                                       The Hill Palace
                                                                                          - Frederika Menezes

Once upon a time, in a Hill land, a handsome and very generous king lived in castle that had been built on a hill – it had the appearance of rugged stairs.
the palace was old and had its own charm but as the days, weeks, months and years drew on, those attending court began to feel rather fatigued – having to go up the rugged stairs and back down again as many times as they required the king to meet them and they him.
The king sought a solution – asking his best advisors who themselves were aging of the hill climbing but no solution was to be found.

This upset the king greatly and though very young still, he took to his bed, sick.

Days, weeks, months passed and though his physicians attended him giving him the best treatment, the very generous king slowly grew worse much to the worry of his people who loved him very very much and who would often stand at the base of that hill singing songs of well being to their king.

How he longed to go down the hill to meet them and say to them that yes he was okay but alas! the mere thought of climbing down the hill and back up again made his head spin violently  and his bowels loose so that he inevitably passed out in a royal mess…sad…

A long time passed and one by one the lord and ladies, all the dignitaries stopped going to court and even the king himself rarely left his bedchamber.

Now, like all great monarchs, our generous king had certain enemies who while he stayed indisposed, took to waging wars against the kingdom, in time invading it.

The kingdom having been invaded so many times, none of the land’s inhabitants remained but having been taken away as  booty people from the enemy lands started to live there.

All through this, the king remained isolated in his castle which despite the invasions, had not been occupied by the enemy rulers.

Hardly anyone remained within the castle walls -  only the king and his memories! not even a single soldier or anyone who might have looked after the king and guard him as in the old days.

The king was very old looking now and wandered about by himself in the vast chambers and grew eventually weary of being there alone. The illness had left him only to be replaced by laziness and he continued to live on rationed food. How he used to live and eat!

It brought on bitter weeping and the palace walls echoed of his wailing cries.

It so happened that at that moment, on that very night that the king cried, a witch maiden was hiking up the hillside. She heard the crying and knew at once that the long forgotten and often believed dead king lived! Not desiring to use magic for fear someone might see and get her in trouble, as the present folk weren't tolerant to witches and magic, she dashed down the hill and went about inspecting the base. 

Turning to look around to see if any nosey busybody was watching but finding none, she risked magic and blew the spell of visibility at the base of the hill on which stood the castle.

The spell was meant to find another way in and out of the palace hill climbing and lo and behold! she found it.

It was a wide iron gateway and beyond, a path that led right up to the palace’s majestic doors. Concealing the gateway by magic again, she went home and on that same night sent out messages through the lands to the inhabitants of the Hill land to return for there was no way their king was dead and that a very clever lady in the realm had discovered the unknown gateway.

In the following weeks a rebellion broke - inhabitants of the Hill land returned and started to drive out by fighting and threats the enemy folk. The witch maiden was with them using her powers fearlessly now.

The generous king, alerted by the noise and battle cries far below decided to attempt one final time to climb down the rugged stairs.
It took him many a day but he would not give up – he had let his kingdom down once before but that was all in the past – by the time he did reach the base of the hill, it all did feel like the past. The king fell in a mighty faint!

When next he opened his eyes, he was staring up at his own bed canopy rich and new. Then there were many voices all around, music and jesting, and laughter… Like old times! he thought and quickly got out of bed and dressing hurried to court.

The king felt, like all the lords and ladies in court who though young were sons and daughters, grandsons and so forth of the previous generation, alive! 

Let me now make this story which has gone on long enough, short.

The kingdom of Hill land was restored to its former splendor and joy – the king once more looked quite young and seeking out the witch maiden, rewarded her generously indeed. He made her chief advisor and head of his royal army and in charge of the safety of the entire realm.

The palace was now accessible to everyone and easily – often times even toddlers were found crawling to the royal doors!