Illustrations by Jim Rowe

A long time ago, the King of Clubs ruled over a beautiful kingdom, filled with majestic mountains, green valleys, and a golden seashore. The king treated the people well, as long as they were fair and truthful, and so the people liked him.

One day the king fell ill. The illness grew worse, and when he thought he might die, the king summoned his three sons to his bedside. "My sons," he began, "you are all fine young men, so I cannot choose one to take my place. Instead, I will divide the kingdom into three pieces." The king pointed to his oldest son and said, "You will be the king of the mountains. You will be called the King of Spades." To his second son he said, "You will be King of the Valley and will be called the King of Hearts." Then, the king smiled at his third son. "You, my youngest son, will be King of the Seashore. You shall be called the King of Diamonds." The King later went to sleep and never woke up again.

The three sons met at the palace dinner table to discuss their new kingdoms, The King of Spades was the first to speak. "Since I want the largest castle in the world, I will make my people work day and night to build it. They will be so afraid of me that they will work hard all the time. If any of them disobey me, they will spend their lives in a dungeon!" He pounded the table with his fist.

The King of Hearts shook his head. "If you want people to help you, you have to be nice. My people will just have fun and they will like me so much that they will build me an even larger palace!"

"I think you are both wrong," said the King of Diamonds. "People need to work hard or they become lazy. But they also need to believe in their work. The right work can be fun."

The King of Spades laughed. "What kind of a King will you be if your people are not afraid of you?" he bellowed.

The King of Hearts laughed, too. "Your people won't enjoy working so much," he said to his little brother. "And you," he turned to his older brother, "will he hated by everyone."

"I will rule my kingdom my way!" roared the King of Spades. He stormed out of the room. True to his word, he picked ten of the meanest mountain people and called them his ten masters. For five months, the masters whipped and kicked anyone who rested from working on the castle, The castle went up quickly, with look-out towers that overlooked the valley and a great moat filled with crocodiles. "I'll show them," muttered the king, as the masters cracked their whips.

Two stoneworkers, Jasper and Mosley, decided to teach the king a lesson. In the highest tower, they built a trap-door with a hidden rope that ran down a stone pillar to their work spot. When the King was giving a tour of his castle, Jasper yanked the rope. Down fell the King and his henchmen into the moat. Everyone cheered as the masters were eaten by crocodiles, but the King escaped and limped into the woods.

The King of Hearts, meanwhile, had been throwing parties for everyone in his kingdom. He announced at the first party that no one would ever have to work again. The people cheered "Long live the King of Hearts," played games, ate lots of food, and drank buckets of lemonade. The king noticed that nobody was cleaning up the garbage after the parties, so he did the cleaning himself. He didn't mind since everyone seemed happy.

Soon, however, the food supply ran low. The king called everyone to the main garden. "We need to grow more food," lie wheezed, exhausted from cleaning.

"You do it!" yelled one man.

"We don't remember how," a woman complained. The crowd began to yell at the king and picked up stones to throw at him. He turned and ran toward the beach.

At the seashore, the King of Diamonds had set up teams of people to work on different projects. One group worked on rebuilding the fleet of boats. Another group built a boardwalk. Still another built a large playground on the beach. Sometimes the king would tell people what to work on. Other times he would stand on the boardwalk and watch. Often, he would take off his robe and help with the work. Sometimes he would bring the workers lemonade. When the work was finished, everyone would gather on the beach around a campfire and sing songs. On every seventh day the people would rest from their work.

When the King of Hearts and the King of Spades staggered down to the beach, they were surprised by what they saw. There were beautiful new ships with rippling sails. The playground had rides they had never seen before. There was a new boardwalk. People were whistling and singing while they worked. The King of Diamonds invited his brothers into his house for sandwiches.

"My whole kingdom hates me," grumbled the King of Spades as he finished his sandwich.

"My people call me the garbage king," wailed the King of Hearts. "My kingdom is a mess. No one helps clean up."

"Come on, I'll show you the boats," the King of Diamonds said. As the three brothers walked toward the water, they decided that it didn't make sense to have three separate kingdoms. There would be one kingdom again, with the King of Diamonds in charge.

The King of Spades and the King of Hearts were now called Jacks and they moved into the King of Diamonds' house. The palace in the mountain was made into a great museum. Sports fields were built in the valley. All the people were happy and the King of Diamonds enjoyed ruling over his vast kingdom.

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