The Castle, The King, and the General

There is a castle in a land once hospitable and now filled with bandits and thieves.  The ultimate prize of this land is in this castle.  Many years ago, this castle was overtaken by the enemy and many were either held hostage or sided with the enemy and remained in the castle.  The old king in this castle is kind but his mind and heart have been clouded by years of keeping company with the enemy.  Some believe he is a prisoner and others believe he remains in the castle among the enemy of his own will.

Several brave armies have gone to battle over the years to try and overtake the castle and its treasure.  They would attack and fall back.  Sometime the battle was fierce but the armies could always retreat to a safe distance for comfort.

One day, to everyone’s surprise, the king sends a message to the general of one of the attacking armies.  The message offers to let the attacking army in to the castle walls.  The old king needs these attacking soldiers to help him fight other wars. He warns the general that, although he is being invited into the city, everyone will be watching the soldiers and looking for signs of aggression.  However, the king is allowing the army to bring all of its weapons with them.

The attacking general is excited by this prospect.  What better way to defeat the enemy in the castle than to fight from within the castle itself?  But he wonders about the old king. Why would he invite him into the protective walls of the castle?  Is it a trap to defeat the attacking general?  Does the old king expect to win the general over to the enemy’s perspective?  Or does the old king believe in his heart that this general and his army will be the eventual salvation of his kingdom?

The general decides that the courageous thing to do would be to fight the enemies from within the walls of their own castle.  As dangerous as that might be, the general knows that his weapons are more powerful than the enemy and in the end, they cannot strike him or his army with a mortal wound.  Some of the general’s soldiers have misgivings about entering the castle. Perhaps they will be attacked by snipers. Perhaps people throughout the land will think that, since they enter through the front door, they are sympathizing with the enemy. “No”, says the general, “.. it would rather be cowardly to fear entering among the enemy to do battle on their turf. For only there, in hand to hand combat, can the enemy be not only defeated but won over to the side of righteousness.  The mission must be to convert the king and to salvage the treasure.  There will never be gain by firing upon the walls of the castle and then retreating to s safe distance.”