The King's Bread

Once upon a time there was a new King of a somewhat prosperous Kingdom.  But it was the Dark Ages, and he - like the Kings before him - was given to corruption and greed.  Such that he would dip into the Royal Treasury and give out bags of gold coins to those who were his friends, and those who told him that which he wanted to hear.

Other times, like if the moat needed digging, he would not let just anyone do it, but would let some friend of his do it, and never question how much it should cost.  And thus his friends came to grow exceedingly rich in the Kingdom, though the peasants and townsmen and shop owners did not see their living conditions improve much.

In fact, the peasant's conditions were so poor that 20% of them needed to avail themselves of the King's Bread.  This was not literally bread from the King's table, but rather 190 mites that any who were hungry could ask for each month.

Now one day that new King wanted to appeal to the townsmen, the shop owners, those who while not wealthy, were not poor, and made up his main base of popular support.  So he promised to reduce the expenditures, and make sure that not too much of the Kingdom's wealth was gave away.

Did this mean he stopped giving big bags of gold coins to his friends?

No, it did not.

Did this mean he stopped paying his friends big bags of gold coins to do substandard moat digging?

No, it did not.

Did it mean that he decided that the 20% of the peasantry that depended upon the King's Bread should make do with less mites than before?

Yes.  Yes, it did.

And the King who cared not about how many loaded down caravans and mule carts of gold bags were flowing out of his treasury did set up all manner of inspectors and advisors to see if he could save some mites.

Could each peasant be measured about his waist, to see if he was truly skinny enough to need the King's Bread?  Could the King's magician cast a spell, such that if any peasant had drank some ale in the past month that it could be known, and the King's Bread denied?  Could the King make a law that henceforth mites could only purchase cheap and plain food, such that no pleasure could be had from it?  Could the number of mites be reduced from 190 - almost 2 copper pennies! - to 150?

Could the peasants who accepted the King's Bread be made to toil in the digging of the moats for free?

All these ideas did the King receive from all those who received bags and bags of gold coins each month.  All these ideas did the King receive from those who pretended to dig moats for more such bags of gold coins.  All these ideas did the King receive from townsmen and store owners who - while knowing that they could not safely get their taxes reduced by complaining about the King's friends, figured that maybe they could safely complain about the least of these their brethren in the Kingdom.

And from the peasants, the poorest 20% of them?

They were not sought for their advice.

And thus all the ideas for how to save money by changing the distribution of the King's Bread were implemented.  And while the friends of the King received as many bags of gold as before, and while the friends who got to pretend to dig moats got as many bags of gold as before, and while the wealth flowing from the King's Treasury was as disastrously much as before, the poorest 20% of the peasantry did get to tighten their belts.

And as the King rode through the towns, the townsmen and shop owners did cheer, each pretending gratitude that the King was trying to be financially responsible, though none of them had had their taxes decreased in the least degree.

The End