The Rightful King
Once upon a time there was a young Prince named Joseph, who had everything. He had a Kingdom to inherit in four months, was soon to be married to the most beautiful girl in the land and after 18 years of preparation he felt he was ready to take his rightful position as King. That was until everything fell apart, just prior to being crowned by his father the wise King his father approached him and informed him that Prince Joseph would not be the successor, instead the King’s advisor, Roman, would take his place as ruler. Suddenly the prince didn’t know what to do for the rest of his life, his life plan had always centered around ruling the kingdom. In a rage he left the Kingdom. Never having left the Kingdom Prince Joseph didn’t know what to expect and headed down a dangerous path. As he was approaching a poorer town he got jumped by a group of robbers off the side of a road.
Just as Prince Joseph was about to pass out he looks up and he sees a blur of faces as the robbers search him. Suddenly something catches his eyes, a face he recognizes. At first he thinks he’s just seeing things, but when he looks more carefully he recognizes the man without a doubt. Next thing he knows he wakes up in a strange room, with a nurse standing over him. It all started coming back to him, the robbers on the street, and there was the man, it was still hard to believe what he had seen. How could Roman do something like this? In the midst of his confusion he knew he had to do something. He couldn’t just let the Kingdom be handed over to a thief, so he took it into his own hands. After leaving his father in a rage he knew the King was unhappy with him, so he went and begged for forgiveness. The king be very gracious for gave his son knowing how hard losing the kingdom must have been, though he still thought Roman would make a great ruler.
With a month before the King would give up his throne, Prince Joseph convinced his father to take a journey with him. He had hatched a plan to show his father what the heir to the throne was doing in the night. So Prince Joseph took his father to the same place he had been attacked. This time Prince Joseph was careful to make sure to stay in the shadows. The King did not like this he almost never left the kingdom, let alone out at night on the streets, but the Prince convinced him to stay just a little longer. Just as he was losing patience with Prince Joseph someone came walking down the path. It was just a peasant, but when the peasant got farther down the path he was attacked, just as Prince Joseph had been. Yet there was no sign of Roman, until form down the path emerged a man. All of a sudden Roman comes running down the streets, yelling at the attackers and sending them running into the forest. Roman pulls the peasant, who had been beaten to where he could not walk, onto his shoulders and carries him towards the town.
The King and Prince Joseph start their trip back to the return in silence, Prince Joseph realizes that Roman had saved his life not attacked him. He couldn’t believe he had ever suspected Roman of such things. Realizing that Roman really was the only one deserving to be king Prince Joseph starts to apologize for wasting the King’s time. But before he could he gets cut off by the king who thanks him for exposing Roman for the peasants mingling filth he was. Completely taken by the King’s words Prince Joseph was left speechless, the King continued by telling the Prince he would not let a peasant be King and so, Prince Joseph would be the one to inherit the Kingdom.
Prince Joseph couldn’t believe what he was hearing, he was overjoyed, it seemed as if everything was starting to fall back into place. But as the rush of excitement passed he realized that Roman would be a better king then him.so doing what he thought to be necessary he pleaded with his father to reconsider and make Roman King as originally planned. The King refused, and after several failed attempts and with no hope of changing the Kings mind Prince Joseph tried to convince himself that he deserved to be king. As the day came for Prince Joseph to be crowned he still had doubts. So as Prince Joseph prepared to give his speech after being crowned ruler he decides to follow through with what he believed in. As his first and only act as ruler Prince Joseph names his successor to be Roman, and then proceeded to step down from being king.