Section 1
Once upon a time, there was a bad prince who wanted to take over all the countries in the world and make people scared. He sent his soldiers to burn and destroy everything in their path, including crops and the houses of innocent people. The fire was so strong that it even burned the leaves off trees and made the fruit dry up. Lots of mothers who didn’t have much money ran away with their babies, without any clothes, and hid behind the walls of their burned-down homes. But the mean soldiers kept chasing after them, and when they caught them, they did terrible things that were even worse than what demons might do. The prince thought that what he was doing was okay and that it was just how things were supposed to be. He became more and more powerful, and everyone was scared of him. Good things seemed to happen to him all the time.
The prince took lots of money from the towns he took over, and he became very rich. He built amazing buildings like big fancy houses, churches, and big rooms. When people saw how great they were, they said, “Wow, this prince is really powerful!” But those people didn’t know about all the sadness and pain the prince caused in other countries. They didn’t hear the crying and the sad sounds that came from the ruined cities.
The prince loved to look at his gold and fancy buildings and think to himself, “I am such a great prince! But I want even more. No one else can be as powerful as me, and I want to be even more powerful than anyone else.”
The prince fought with all his neighboring countries and won. He put the other kings in chains made of gold and tied them to his chariot when he drove through his city’s streets. These kings had to kneel down in front of the prince and his important people when they ate, and they only got to eat the food left over after everyone else was done. Finally, the prince had a statue made of himself and put it in public places and on his fancy buildings. He even wanted to put it in the churches on the tables where they prayed, but the priests said no. They said, “You are very powerful, Prince, but God is much more powerful than you. We can’t do what you ask us to do.”
