Summary

In “Once There was a King,” like all children, when the narrator heard stories about kings when he was young, he had “no need to know who the king in the fairy story was” (42). In the current age, however, readers demand to know more information about their stories. In turn, storytellers “have become more precise” (42). Readers and listeners are more interested in knowledge than truth.

The narrator remembers an “evening in Calcutta” when his grandmother told him a fairy story (43). Earlier in the evening, he was desperate for his tutor to cancel their lesson because of the rains. Although it kept raining in accordance with his prayers, the tutor still came. He found Mother and Granny playing cards. He asked to skip his lesson because he had “such a bad headache” (44). Although he lied, he received “no punishment” and his...