The First Descent of Beelzebub upon the Planet Earth

“ ‘And we had every wish to devise such a means because at our general conference yesterday evening King Appolis himself was very frank and friendly towards us, and we should all be extremely sorry if he himself should suffer.

“ ‘During our further prolonged deliberations we came to the conclusion that it would be possible to divert the blow from King Appolis only if during the said revolt the exhibition of the fury of the rebellious beings of this community was directed not against the King himself but against those around him, that is, those who are there called his “administration.”

“ ‘But then the question arose among us, would those near the King be willing to take upon themselves the consequences of all this?

“And we came to the categorical conclusion that they certainly would not agree, because they would assuredly consider that the King himself had been alone to blame for it all, and that therefore he himself should pay for it.

“ ‘Having come to all these aforesaid conclusions we finally also unanimously decided as follows:

“ ‘In order at least to save King Appolis from what is inevitably expected, we must with the consent of the King himself replace all the beings in this community who now hold responsible posts, by beings of our tribe, and each of these latter, during the climax of this “psychosis” of the masses, must take upon himself a share of the consequences anticipated.’

“When this elected being of ours had finished his report our opinion was quickly formed, and a unanimous resolution was carried to do just as the elder beings of our tribe had advised.

“And thereupon we first sent one of our elder beings to King Appolis to put our plan before him, to which the latter agreed, once more repeating his promise, namely, that he would do everything according to our directions.

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