Beelzebubs-Tales-to-His-Grandson-by-G-I-Gurdjieff

changes, sometimes of course for the better, sometimes for the worse."As their numbers grew, these beings gradually spread more and morewidely over the country, though always preferring the shores of the Sea ofBeneficence and the valleys of the two great rivers that emptied into it"Only much later a common center of existence was formed on thesoutheastern shore of the sea, and this city, named the city of 'Gob,' becamethe chief place of residence for the head of this second group of beings, whomthey called a 'king ' This position of 'king' became hereditary, beginning withthe first chief they had chosen, the learned member of the Society ofAkhldanns."At the time to which my present tale refers, the king of the beings of thissecond group was the grandson of the great-grandson of that learned being,his name was Koniutsion."My later inquiry and investigation showed that this King Koniutsion hadintroduced a most wise and beneficial measure in order to uproot a 'terrifying'evil that had arisen among the beings who by the will of fate had become hissubjects."And he introduced this measure in the following circumstances:"One day King Koniutsion observed that the beings of his communitywere becoming less and less capable of work, while scandals, robberies, andacts of violence were on the increase among them, as well as many otherunpleasant incidents, which had never occurred before or only in quiteexceptional cases."These facts surprised and grieved the king, who became very thoughtfuland resolved to get to the root of this sorry state of affairs.