Dear O, A, T and Z,
You may have noticed that Mummy and Daddy have not been very happy lately and have been muttering about something called 'politics'. Let me see if I can help explain it to you.
Grown-ups are funny beings, as you will discover one day, and do not always remember the stories that they were read at bedtime. Stories about people like Mrs Doasyouwouldbedoneby, tailors, pipers and big bad wolves. Sometimes they believe lies because they want to believe them, even if they know they are lies.
Now, once upon a time there was a far off country called, rather curiously, Us. Nearby was a country called equally strangely, Them. They did not seem to like each other much and had spent years and years fighting about the things that grown-ups fight about: land, money, goods and who was strongest. Wars were fought, crops were ruined, people starved, people were killed but still the countries kept on fighting, only pausing from time to time to make more weapons. Then they started again.
Now, after one particularly nasty war, a strange man arrived in Them and started whispering about how he could make the country bigger and stronger than anyone else. The poor people were feeling more than usually poor after the nasty war and listened to this man. Some said he was a sort of pied piper and followed him. It is funny how people follow pied pipers when things are hard. They seem to like simple messages.
Sadly, this pied piper led them into yet another war which Them lost. The strange man died in the fighting. Everyone was exhausted.
Then a clever man said 'This is very, very silly. We really cannot go on fighting like this. Why don't we make friends with each other and work together. We don't need more land any more than you do. We are tired. You are tired. If we promise not to fight you then will you promise not to fight us?'
It was rather like some of you when someone takes the toy you want to play with. You have learned that it is much better to share than to fight each other.
No one wanted another war and so the two countries agreed to work together. They took down the borders and started to share things.
Please don't put rubbish in that river' said people in Them. It flows into our country and we cannot swim where we want to.'
'Good idea', said the people in Us. 'Can we ask you not to light smokey fires because the wind blows the smoke into our eyes all the time.'
'OK', said the people of Them.
'I know', they both said, 'let's agree not to take too many fish from the lakes. That way there will be enough for both of us.'
It was not easy to start with but the two countries worked together on problems and began to enjoy it. Tomatoes grown in Them could be sold in Us while cabbages grown in Us could be sold in Them. People ate better and seemed happier. People from Them married people from Us and people from Us married people from Them. Both kingdoms still kept their kings and nobles who could spend more time worrying about things other than war and fighting. If problems arose, they could be solved once, not twice which saved time and money.
Now not far away was yet another country called Others. (They do have strange names, these countries, don't they?) Others was not nearly as fortunate as Us and Them. They were having a horrid time fighting dragons. The king was not liked by his subjects and all kinds of nasty bandits were attacking his kingdom. No one much wanted to live in Others and some of its people started travelling to Us and Them. Some even sailed across the sea in very small boats.
The people of Us and Them were very understanding and kind, taking in the people of Others. After all, they knew how horrid war could be.
Then, one day Chief Banker of Us looked into his piggy bank and found that there was not enough money to pay people properly. 'We have been having too many parties. We will have to stop building new houses and feeding the poor', he said.
'That is sad', people said 'we were just getting used to this life but we can survive for a bit on slightly less food if we must.'
'I am afraid you must.'
And they did. Everyone just got on with life. Us were still friends with Them, who were also having a difficult time. Everyone continued to share their problems, as before. It was hard but they were managing.
Many of the courtiers, who still had plenty of money, were less sensitive to the state of things. 'Ah', they said. 'if we carry on spending lots of money then the poor will benefit. We will buy things the poor make and that way they will earn some money and be able to buy food. Let's carry on spending.' And so they did.
Now, as you can imagine, this was not popular with the people of Us. Seeing the courtiers spending lots of money on grand parties felt very unfair. 'Why do we have to suffer when they are enjoying themselves?' They asked. No one answered them. They were not so sure they were enjoying the hard times.
And this is where our first fairy tale character arrived on the scene. Do you remember the Pied Piper of Hamelin? He played a tune on his flute which attracted lots of rats which were plaguing the town. Later he stole all the children of Hamelin as he felt he had not been paid properly.
Well, another Pied Piper turned up in Us and started playing his flute. 'You are suffering because of people from Others', he sang. 'It is the fault of people from Them', he said. 'We need to build a barrier to stop Them and Others getting into Us', he sang.
Now, you may have noticed that Mummy and Daddy like to have a drink of wine or beer sometimes. They sit down in the evening and start drinking. Doing this helps them to relax but it can dull their minds. Everything seems much simpler. It is rather like you feel when you sit in the hot tub: all warm and cosy.
Well this pied piper spent a lot of time in the pub, drinking with people. He would play his tune in front of them and the people, their brains dulled by beer, would listen and start singing his tune. 'He is a good man.' they would say, 'he says it like it is'. Encouraged by him, they sent a petition to the king asking for the borders with Them to be closed. 'The Pied Piper understands what we want', they said.
At first, the king ignored the petition but another strange man turned up: a tailor. Now there are several tailors in the stories we read you. This one was not the tailor who 'killed seven with one blow', although he was said to have a mighty sword and pen. This was the tailor who made the Emperor's new clothes.
He had a wonderful idea for some new clothes which would make the king look even more powerful. 'If I make the king look wonderful then he might make me Chief Minister and I can tell everyone what to do', he said.
He and the Pied Piper started working together. The Tailor started to prepare a new coat for the king, one that would make him look really powerful. Meanwhile lots of people were singing the Pied Piper's tune and demanding that Us stopped working with Them and asking for new barriers.
The Chief Minister was unimpressed and gathered all his wisest men together - including the Keeper of the Money, the Chief Astrologer, the Chief Judge, the Chief General - and asked them what they thought at the idea of putting up barriers and not working with Them.
'Nonsense', 'Crazy', 'Madness', they said. 'It will cost us more', 'Where will we get our tomatoes from?', 'What a waste of time', they said.
'Thank you', said the Chief Minister because he was well brought up. 'I shall also ask the Chief Minister of Them.'
He did, and he got the same response. 'We want to stay friends with you. We do not want barriers. Where will we get our cabbages from and where will you get your favourite tomatoes? We have solved other problems like rivers and smoke together, surely we can solve the problem of the people from Others in the same way.'
The Chief Minister went and talked to the people. 'If we build barriers then it may lead to war again. Is that what you want?' he asked.
'Don't be silly' said the Pied Piper and Tailor, 'Of course there will not be war.'
'What about all those delicious tomatoes we get from Them?' asked the Chief Minister.
'Oh, we will still be able to get them', said the pair.
'That will be a bit difficult if we have just put up barriers to Them. They may charge us much more for them. Oh, and what about my butler who is from Them; and my wife? What about people from Others. Do you not care about them at all? Do you know what it will cost to build barriers and provide an army to control them? What about people who want to travel and work in Them? And what about our rivers, and our smoke ...' Asked the Chief Minister who was losing his patience with the pair.
But no one was listening. 'The Pied Piper and Tailor have said that the king can have lovely new clothes and will be all-powerful. They say we will not have to worry about people from Them or Others. They say that there will be much more money. They say we will have all the food we need and there will be lots of parties, so we can be just like those nobles.'
You can guess the rest of the story. The king was paraded in his brand new 'clothes' and felt very good. Some of the people cheered hard. When a small boy pointed out that the king's clothes did not exist, people ignored him because they had not been brought up on fairy stories as you had. Why listen to him?' they said. 'He has cried "wolf" so often that we no longer believe him.'
Outside, in the deep dark wood, the wolf licked his lips. There would soon be rich pickings for him.
