The Conqueror

Jack and the Like tree (a fairy story)

Part four:

The Conqueror

There was a place called Facebook land

Where life affirming like fruit grew

And in that land a demon ruled

And from his throne, he blew and blew

And sent a billion like fruit seeds

Towards a door left open wide

They blasted through, then downward bound

Were scattered by the winds outside

And after one year in the ground

Each tiny seed, too small to see

Would germinate and then become

A new, gigantic like fruit tree

And everyone who ate the fruit

Would soon become a helpless slave

Deluded by the lure of fame

And self-importance that it gave

The passing of a second year

Would see them stricken with disease

In search of fruit (like one before)

In millions, climbing up the trees

There on his throne, the demon sat

Anticipating what he’d planned:

He pondered on the countless fools

Trapped forever in Facebook land

But all of this was jeopardised

When Jack – the planter – closed the door

The demon could not find his breath

The wind he’d conjured blew no more

He sought and found the hapless boy

And had him now in his embrace

“Your part is played, now you must DIE!”

He screamed into his frightened face

Jack, helpless and resigned to fate

And thinking that he’d soon be dead

Imagined then another voice

Whispering quietly in his head

“He is the beast that lives inside

And I will freeze him now for you

Have faith and hear the words I say

For there is something you must do

The only way to kill the beast

Lies deep within his beating chest

And once removed the beast will die

But know this first, for here’s a test

The thing that you have come to love

The like tree fruit that you adore

Will vanish once the demon’s dead

And all the trees shall be no more”

Jack shook his head in disbelief

For surely this could not be so

But then a cold wind chilled the air

And like a creature made of snow

The demon frozen, could not move

His mouth, in shock was open wide

The voice in Jack’s head then returned:

“You must be quick, Jack reach inside”

Jack put his arm inside the mouth

And pushed as deeply as he could

And as he clasped the beating heart

He suddenly then understood

The meaning of the whispered words

And what the demon’s death would mean:

A life without the like tree fruit

Was something he had not foreseen

No more feelings and selfish thoughts?

There surely could be nothing worse

Than knowing that his life was not

The centre of the universe

His story was a mundane tale

No one would read it, not a word

A mass of insignificance

That no one saw and no one heard

The like fruit gave him all the things

Reality could never give

Without the fruit he was but dust

Without the fruit he could not live

“Jack, stop thinking about the fruit”

The voice inside his head returned

“Just grab his heart and pull it out

Then bring it to me to be burned

Focus your mind Jack, concentrate

For I will help you with this task

Pull out the heart and kill the beast

That wears your features like a mask”

With newly acquired inner strength

Jack brushed aside the things he feared

He pulled and ripped the heart away

The demon screamed then disappeared

“Come to me Jack, I am waiting

 Here by the door you left behind

I'll cure your like addiction

And end the torment in your mind”

Jack turned around and then he saw

The ground that he was standing on

Was now a big wide empty space

And all the like fruit trees had gone

Jack, remembering what he held

Looked at the object in his hand

Its shape was of the letter “F”

The mark, he knew, of Facebook land

“Come to me” the whisperer said

Bring the symbol of false desire

The spell cannot be broken till

The demon’s heart is in the fire”

And so began a lonely quest:

Mile after mile, day after day

Along the path of nothingness

Through shades of black and white and grey

Jack walked in solitude and pain

And emptiness beyond compare

Till finally he found the door:

The whisperer was waiting there

With gladness and with proffered hand

He gave the demon’s heart away

The hooded figure held it high

And in his mind Jack heard him say

“Behold the demon’s frozen heart

A symbol from the depths of hell

From whence it came, it must return

Come fourth and break the demon’s spell!”

And in the distance Jack then saw

A terrifying wall of fire

The hooded figure left him then

And walked towards the burning pyre

And as he walked he grew in size

As tall as any like fruit tree

His head and shoulders now so high

Jack craned his neck but could not see

And in a FLASH! The fire was gone

The figure, now of normal size

Turned to Jack and lowered his hood

And saw his disbelieving eyes

“Jack, fare you well now go in peace

The trees have gone, our work is done

We’ve broken too the demon’s spell

That was two years ago begun

Go through the door and back in time

And two years younger you shall be

All this forgotten, but one thing:

Have faith my friend, remember me”

And with those words he disappeared

And Jack walked through the opened door

And in his garden there he stood

And it was as two years before…….

………

A boy out walking down a lane

Once came across a like tree seed

Inside a bag on which was writ

“For satisfaction guaranteed …….”

He picked it up and in his mind

There came a distant memory

A quiet and comforting refrain:

“Have faith my friend, remember me”

The end.