Two Wives of the King: A Parable...

By Abu Jamaal

Once upon a time there was a King married in a manner quite unlike most kings tend
to be married. This king’s marriage was not arranged by any other. The king had no
relatives to be spoken of who would designate a spouse for him, nor was there
another related line of royalty. This King was unique and alone in his authority.
It was as the Torah says Ishmael would be the father of twelve princes; twelve
princes from a king who had no predecessor in the land which he ruled. He ruled
the Arabs because of his authority, from ancient times, and because of his innate
claim of kingship over the Arab peoples to which he was ancestrally related and
for which reason he was brought to that land.

In the same way, this King had no immediate predecessor. Where he came from no one
knew, and the authority which he derived was from a source indescribable to those
whom he ruled. A great mystery surrounded him, but being as people are, few were
interested in inquiring much about this. He was their King, and for most this was
enough to know. They could only tell that he was their king due to his fitness for
the task. It was as though a giant lived amongst a community which cultivated an
orchard. No one amongst them would dispute who was fit for the task of picking the
fruit from the highest of trees. The fitness for the task would naturally fall to
the man of highest stature. In such a way this King was the obvious ruler of his
Kingdom. Any who knew of this King did not dispute his fitness for the task; it
was implicit in his nature. For this reason, no one asked where he had come from
originally.

As it happened, this King would come to marry a woman who had been a friend long
before their marriage. In fact she was related to him in a manner of speaking...
But that is neither here nor there. The two had been friends, the woman showing
interest in the King; attracted only to who he was, and not to any notion of
status or benefit to be derived from a friendship with him. The two became
increasingly close and in time they married. With their marriage came an increased
intimacy. It is the sort of thing that a person who has not been in such a
relationship could not understand. They were closer than any husband and wife, and
this because their marriage was, in part, based on the initial friendship and
attraction to the virtuous personality of the King.

Though this coupling seems like the ideal in the modern world, in an age when
arranged marriages are largely a thing of the past (with couples longing for such
enduring friendship and intimacy), not everything fit the modern prescription. The
woman loved her husband, the King, very much, but as happens with time she grew
quite accustomed to him. The virtuous traits, the wisdom he exhibited and even his
understanding nature, which set him apart from men, became somewhat taken for
granted. This woman had been a virgin before marrying the King and wasn’t able to
experientially juxtapose the King with the ways of men.

When she would see other men, she was captivated by the face they put forward,
their exterior persona. She did not know, first hand, that the appearance one
wears in public often masks deficiencies within; something which one will only
come to know with much time and proximity. Because she had only known the reality
of her King, she did not understand that much of what such men projected was in
fact a lie. Some of these men would attempt to seduce and some she would seek
after in intrigue. From time to time she would meet a man in town and talk over a
meal or the like; still never divorcing the King and never consummating an affair
with the other men. Instead, each of them would indirectly remind her of how
special her relationship with the King was. For this reason she neither desired to
leave the King nor consummated an affair with other men who caught her glance.
The King, in his wisdom, could not remain ignorant of these things. Never once did
the woman have an opportunity to confess, as circumstance had it that the King
would always find out the truth. Sometimes the men would come before the King, in
his employment, or before members of his court, mentioning a woman that they had
recently met (not knowing that it was the King’s wife). The King, knowing it was
his wife, would inquire as to the extent of the relationship. Time after time, the
King found that though the woman had hurt him, she had neither consummated
sexually with these men, nor had she any desire to leave the King. It was a
strange situation for the King to find himself in!

But the King was wise and understood that the very uniqueness of their
relationship was what led to her infatuation with others. To all the men she lied,
saying either that she was divorced or that she had no husband at all. To some who
had seen her about with the King, she would claim that the King was her brother.
Though the King ruled over this land, he remained hidden from sight, ruling
instead from his castle, and through intermediaries. In this way, he was free to
observe the state of the kingdom with his true identity veiled from his subjects.

Each time the King would confront his wife. She would admit her actions, but
clarify that she had not done so much as kissed another man. The King, knowing
this to be true from his own prior knowledge of the events, would forgive her and
in time their relationship would grow stronger and stronger. In spite of all of
these betrayals, the King never forsook her, and in spite of her curiosity and
accustomedness to the King, she never left the King.

This woman, long before these events, had borne offspring to the King. She was a
devoted mother to their children and she could not imagine anyone else raising her
children, in spite of her wandering eye. But one day the woman spoke candidly with
the King about a woman in his court who she had noticed was admiring him for some
time. She had never made an inappropriate move towards the King, nor even heard
his voice. She admired him from a distance, and kept within her heart a seemingly
unattainable desire for him.

“My Life, I see how she looks at you, and I know that your appetite is not like
men. You are never quenched, you are never exhausted. You do not give to me a
measure that cannot equally be given to another. You do not have a portion to be
delegated to one and not another. I love you, my life, but I have treated you
poorly over the years, and I see how her heart aches for you. I want you to know
that I do not have any opposition to you marrying her as well; even siring
children with her.”

This would be something very incomprehensible in our time. Men and women alike
would be perplexed by this. Some men might pity the King, imagining his wife did
not care enough to be filled with jealousy. Others might envy him, yet they
themselves would acknowledge not having the capacity for equity which the King
had. Women might see the woman as tragic on many levels. Others might view her as
subjugated or even demented. But this was not a situation like common place
situations.

Indeed, the King took the woman as a second wife. All of the enamor that the first
wife had towards the King’s wisdom and understanding – all that she had become
accustomed to – was very new for the second wife. She was head-over-heels in love
with the King. When she was not thinking of how to please the King, she was trying
to figure out how to be accepted by the first wife. She knew there was no dispute,
that the first wife had even brought the suggestion to the would-be second wife,
that she should marry the King as well. There was no confusion or dispute over
this. However, things were not so simple…
You see, the second wife had a large family. Amongst her family were jealous
sisters and brutal brothers. They wanted no part of this for this sister. “Sister,
you are not some second rate woman that you should marry a man who already has a
wife who he has known for so many years and loves with a passion! Do you have no
dignity? Couldn’t you instead have married someone from our family, one of our
cousins or someone from your hometown?”

The sister, the King’s second wife, would not hear any of it. She was in love and
even when threatened with disownment by her family, she accepted it, and married
the King anyway. But again things were just not this simple either...

The first wife too had many jealous brothers and sisters. They too were upset with
this new arrangement: “Sister, you have been with the King for many years. When he
made his vows to you it was an eternal covenant, it was between you and him. He
did not say anything in those vows about another woman! Yes you did many wrong
things over the years, but this is not right. Whatever he desires is not even the
question here, you should not be alright with this. Your perspective has become
warped because of your past misdeeds. You should never accept such an arrangement.
You must oppose the marriage to this other woman; it is just not valid and she is
crazy if she thinks it is!”

Over time the second wife also bore the king many sons. The question of succession
was not so much the issue, as representation was. This king was like the righteous
king Shem and his descendant Eber, ruling in secret from the mountains of Canaan.
While Abraham was seen, they were hidden. In time, Isaac would be taken to them
for training, eventually representing this hidden rule. Still, all the while, the
masses knew nothing of the knowledge in their presence once these two masters had
withdrawn from society.

The King too was like this; at one time present in this castle and eventually
moving to a hidden place from where he came. This occurred well after both of his
wives had died of old age and his children had all reached maturity. No one ever
doubted that the King remained alive, immortal and in authority over the kingdom,
but this did raise the question of who would represent him in absentia.

Remarkably, the sons of both the first and second wife didn’t dispute about the
matter at all. Just as the wives of the King had not been as normal women, and
just as the King himself was not as men, these children were not normal children
at all, and their ways were not the ways of men. As the children of the first wife
had grown up in the castle, they would remain there and the children of the second
wife would reign in her hometown, which they had a second home in. You see, though
initially disowned by her family, the second wife’s family would eventually yield
to her once they saw the power which had been invested in her. They did not care
to get to know the King, but they were nevertheless enamored with the stature she
had attained, the authority, the servants, the land and property. Because of this
they were suddenly proud to have association with the King. What they knew about
the King was only what his second wife would tell them in letters. If she said “he
is powerful,” they would recite about him “he is powerful,” yet they would not
know this first hand. If she spoke of him allegorically, saying “his hand extends
over the whole Kingdom” some of them, those of the most unfit minds, would even
spin tales about the King having gigantic hands!

Yet for all the harmony there was between the first and second wives’ children,
there was proportionate discord between the cousins of the first wife and the
cousins of the second wife. The entire matter quickly escalated into a bitter
family feud with tremendous bloodshed on either side…

The sons and daughters of the King – sons and daughters, grandchildren and
eventually great grandchildren – stood up and demanded an end to the violence and
called for familial reconciliation. They all had been told of how to visit the
King, how to inquire anything of him, how to seek advice or opinion. This was a
secret known only to the offspring of the King. While the masses did not know
where the King was, the family would – from time to time – read letters from the
King, relaying his desire for the Kingdom and its subjects. Because he was a
righteous king, his will was deemed logical, reasonable and was not contested by
the population. As he was not apparently there to physically derive benefit from
the masses, it was further clear that his orders were for the benefit of the
subjects, not for himself in any way.

So the offspring of the King, the offspring of both wives, went to the King: “Your
majesty, Father! The relatives of your wives, our extended families, have caused
so much bloodshed in the land. They have turned on one another, arguing against
each other, even indirectly arguing against you, yet each murders the other in
your name.”

The offspring of the first wife said: “The family of your second wife says that
our grandmother was a whore after other men and that you married their great aunt
because you had abrogated this first wife; because you no longer loved her, and
only kept her around because you had children with her!”

The others reported the counter-claims: “And the family of your first wife says
that our grandmother was out of her mind, some sort of court stalker, someone who
was infatuated with you, had illegitimate children and invented this notion of
marriage to you in her wild imagination! They call her crazy and they call her
children, our parents and grandparents, bastards!”

The King, as he had done so many times, with so many issues before – related to
the administration of the Kingdom – issued a message which was sent in a peculiar
manner. He knew that these were different families with different traditions, and
he knew of these traditions first hand. To the first family, he wrote to them as
he always had; as they had been accustomed to his communiqués. He wrote to them in
this manner which they should have had no problem recognizing.

To the second family, he wrote in a manner they could relate to but the message
was the same as the first. With this letter, however, he placed his royal seal, so
that there would be no confusion, so there would be no disbelief claiming the
message was a forgery.

When the first family read the letter they followed along throughout the
introduction, at first having no contentions or disputes. As they continued, they
read that they must accept this other royal line, that they must accept both the
royal line of their cousins, as well as that of the second wife. When they read
these words they accused the one who brought the letter of having fabricated it.
“There is no proof that this letter is from the King. How are we to accept this
when he never told us anything about this when he was amongst us? There is nothing
to prove that this is authentic at all.”

There were only a small number amongst them who accepted this as authentic.

The second family opened the seal, read the message in their native tongue and
with clear acquaintance to their ways. They read it and saw validation of their
cousin’s royal line, the line from the second wife. They took preferred excerpts,
quick to present them to the other family: “Look the King is on our side!” they
exclaimed. The letter, however, contained scathing admonitions against their own
actions towards the cousins of the first wife’s line. These words were glossed
over or interpreted as contextual by this family. “What the King meant was that if
we had not been attacked by the disbelievers from this other family, then we
should be peaceful and live in harmony with them. He of course, didn’t say that we
don’t have the right to fight back against their brutal aggression!”

Only eight members of this family accepted the message as it was intended.

In this way both families rejected the message of peace from the King. This,
however, did not stop the royal lines from speaking out against the hatred and
violence contrary to the King’s letter. In time, the bitterness of the feud had
grown so strong that each respective side formulated a conspiracy to kill the
royal heirs on each side. The cousins from the first wife’s side put into action a
plan where the royal line would be usurped and those with popular support amongst
these cousins would lead the line in their stead.

The cousins from the second wife were not as different as they imagined! In fact,
both sides did the exact same thing! These too killed the royal line, through
several generations, and installed dynasties of their choosing from amongst the
most remote cousins of this line; those who had not even spoken with an heir to
line. They selected nine direct descendants who looked the most like the King’s
second wife. They imprisoned some, but in the end killed them all in a variety of
manners.

In this way they paraded their understanding of the King’s letter as absolute and
unaltered. They made beautiful works of art with passages from the letter that
glorified them. Other passages they ignored, and others still they issued an edict
saying that that those passages which spoke out against them be written with
different spellings of key words. For example, when the letter said “You must stop
this flight of ever-increasing bloodshed and violence!” they would render it as
saying: “You must stop this plight of ever-increasing bloodshed and violence!” In
the tongue of this family the letter p and the letter f were exactly the same!
While the King’s letter spoke of the “unrestrained exercise or display of ever-
increasing bloodshed and violence,” they rendered it the “oppression, the burden
of ever-increasing bloodshed and violence;” seeing it as the King encouraging them
in their struggle against the other family. It was in this manner that they saw
such substitutions as within their interpretive right. The nine murdered
descendants of the second wife had spoken out against this misinterpretation, and
this was in part a reason why they were killed.

Others of this direct line of descendants, from both wives, brought forth further
letters from the King. Each message was the same decree of reconciliation and
peace, over and over. These latter ones, were killed by the second wife’s family.
“There is one letter that we are to pay attention to,” they yelled, “It was the
letter brought to us, in our language, confirming that we are in the right. It was
the one with the seal to authenticate it to us (as it was the first and only
letter we received from the King) and if you bring another one you claiming to
have contact with the King! Did you not know that our leaders have said no one can
speak to the King any longer? If you claim to have contact with the King then you
will surely be put to death this day!” In this way they killed off their
opposition and kept the power in the hands of remote cousins of the direct line.

In the end, the second wife’s family was ruled by a brutal regime of those acting
in the name of both the first wife, and the King; now claiming themselves to be
the heirs to the Kingdom. They remained locked in a heated battle with the family
of the first wife, whose power would wax and wane against the second family over
many years. Yet ironically, both families looked forward to an individual from
each family who would one day come, relay a message from the King, act on his
behalf, resolve the matter, fight against those who opposed the King’s verdict and
wash away all of the bloodshed. This was something which both versions of the
royal letter had promised. Yet as much as either side grew weary of the violence,
it seemed that elements on both sides had no difficulty keeping the feud locked in
a seemingly unending dance of death.

While looking forward to reconciliation of the situation from a hero to come,

neither side seemed to understand the impossibility of recognizing such an
individual amidst the clouded atmosphere of hate and destruction which each had
caused to fill the land. For this reason the King would send this hero, from
remnants of each line, who had survived murder and usurpation, generation after
generation. Each time the hero would appear wearing a different garment, with the
hopes that the masses would not recognize him as the messenger from the previous
visit whom they had chased out of town and would instead listen to his message,
then realizing his identity and origins from the King.

To this day, after many visits, after many different appearances and garments, the
hero has not been successful in swaying the hearts of these people. It is said,
however, that when the conditions are right in the hearts of the people, then
reconciliation will occur and he will rise as their future prince; the royal heir
to the throne, the representative of the King. Still, to this day, the people ask
each other “when will our hero arrive?” not knowing that he has been in their
presence again and again but they were not ready.