He interviewed villagers to find out more about the monster and how he might track it down. Some reported that the monster was actually quite beautiful, others seemed to find it horrid. All agreed that it was huge. As the King rode from village to village, and the sightings seemed to get more frequent and clustered closer together, he knew he was close.
Just outside one of the smaller villages, he entered a forest, and as he reached the first clearing, he saw it. It was a gigantic ogre... with two heads. While each head seemed to shift and change from moment to moment, he got an overwhelming sense of goodness from the left head, and nothing but fear and loathing from the right.
The King bravely stood firm and looked both heads in the eyes (one at a time of course!). The eyes of the left head shone through with all the joy, hope and pride that parents feel for their children. The eyes of the right head burned with despair, worry and fear of the future. The hope and joy were the ones he felt when the Lightning Kid was born, and the fear and despair were for all the doors that might be closed to him growing up.
Suddenly, the King wheeled his horse around, and rode back to the castle as fast as he could. Some thought he had run away as a coward, others mused he would fetch a magic sword or a spell. All were surprised to see him ride back out carrying the Lightning Kid in his lap and a scroll under his arm.
He didn't have to ride far out, as the monster had followed him towards the castle, and now stood in the central square of the nearest town. The King pulled the parchment scroll from under his arm, unrolled it and read aloud:
With this proclamation, the head on the right began to shrink. He King repeated the words until there was nothing more than a wart-like mound on the ogre's neck. What had been the left head now seemed very handsome and appealing indeed. In the days that followed the town-folk began to take kindly to the ogre and he found a place within their community, especially when heavy lifting needed to be done.
The King and the Lightning Kid returned to the castle. The King had to be vigilant for the rest of his days; when fear or despair began to rise, he knew the monster would rear its evil head; left unchecked, it could even eat the good head. And on days when he felt those feelings creeping up, he knew to pull out the scroll and read the Affirmation Proclamation and all would be well again. The Lightning Kid, for his part, made the words true with his actions... Every Day.
