Fortune's Fables: The Deadline

Bear with us. In the spirit of Aesop and La Fontaine (without the furry little creatures), an allegorical fable witnessed from The Cube . . .

Once a king he did decree
“Of course my son will follow me.
And now it is important, son,
To defend ourselves against the Hun.”

The Hun, you see, was a raging force
Sweeping the world and, of course,
It’s threat pressed closer day by day.
So the prince set out without delay

To the farthest castle, the border’s end
Where stood a pass they could defend.
“Build up the walls,” was his first command.
“This is where we make our stand.”

Then every knight, serf, freeman and slave
To this task their efforts gave
And the walls did rise, day by day,
Ahead of the Hun – the land would be saved.

But –

The prince was smart and he did see
Improvements needed for the wall-to-be:
“This tower’s too short, this gate too thin.
To make this wall great, begin again.”

Well, he was right, he surely was, sir,
And even though the Huns drew closer,
The people tore their new walls down,
Then built them again to defend their town.

But –

The prince was smart and he did see
A weakness in the walls-to-be:
“The mortar’s slack, the bricks ill-formed.
The walls might tumble if we are stormed.

“Rip them down and start again:
To save our lives we must do it right, men.”

Well, he was right, no doubt of that.
(Though the Huns were storming down the pass.)
Still the prince was firm, he shouted out:
“We want strong walls, without a doubt!”

So the walls were tumbled from within
And they started building yet again.
But the Huns attacked before they were done:
Without defense they were overrun.

The kingdom was lost with the prince defeated,
The people enslaved, the king unseated.
And the castle wall? Never completed.

Moral:
Sometimes decisions – right or wrong, first or last,
Mean nothing when the deadline’s passed.