The king and his prime minister were eating outside on the palace balcony one day. "Be so kind as to pass the honey," said the king to his prime minister.
"Of course, Your Majesty," replied the prime minister.
As the king reached out to take the honey, something happened: did the king's hand tremble? or the prime minister's? However it happened, it happened: a single drop of honey fell down to the ground below.
A fly buzzed by and landed on the honey, gobbling it up.
Then a spider scurried up and gobbled the fly.
Next, a lizard darted forward and gobbled the spider.
A cat saw the lizard and ran to grab it, but a dog, also seeing the lizard, intercepted her.
The cat and the dog began fighting.
Hearing the cat yowling and the dog barking, the owner of the cat and the owner of the dog ran out into the street, and they began fighting.
Then the relatives of the owner of the cat and the relatives of the owner of the dog joined the fray.
Then their friends and neighbors.
As the riot spread from street to street, the prime minister advised the king, "You must send out the palace guards to quell this violence, Your Majesty."
But it turned out that some of the palace guards were allied to the cat faction while others were allied to the dog faction, and so the fighting grew even worse.
The conflict spread to the suburbs of the capital.
Then civil war raged throughout the kingdom.
Rival kings to the north, south, east, and west seized the opportunity; they invaded from all directions and divided the kingdom amongst themselves.
And that is how a kingdom was lost, all because of a drop of honey.
Inspired by: "A Kingdom Lost for a Drop of Honey" in A kingdom lost for a drop of honey and other Burmese folktales by Maung Htin Aung and Helen G. Trager, 1968.
Notes: You can read the original story online. I also did my own 100-word version of the story too!
The illustrations by Paw Oo Thet are marvelous!
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