The King Who Wasn’t Tall Enough by Mel Rosenberg – Illustrations by Danny Kerman

When Prince Median was a young child, he dreamed of being much taller than all the other children in the kingdom. But he wasn’t. He wasn’t small but he wasn’t tall.  And this made him very angry. 

“When I am king, I will be the tallest in all my kingdom. Nothing will be higher than the king”, he told himself. 

The king called for the royal jeweler.  

“The king must be taller than everything. Make me a larger crown”, King Median commanded him. 

But even when wearing his new crown, he was not the tallest of all. 

This made him very upset. “Bring me the royal cobbler”, he told his vassal. 

“The king must be taller than everything. Cobbler, make me taller shoes”, commanded the king.

But even when King Median wore his new crown and new shoes, he was still not the tallest of all. 

“The king must be taller than everything. Build me a taller throne”, he commanded the royal carpenter.  

The carpenter built him a very tall throne.  

But there were still people in the kingdom who were taller than the king.

“The king must be taller than everything”, he screamed. “Command all the tall people in my kingdom to bend over and never stand up straight again.” And so it was.  

By this time, the king was very tall indeed. But one day he saw a butterfly flying over his head. 

“Capture the butterfly”, he shouted to his assistants. “The king must be taller than everything”.

The king’s assistants chased after the butterfly with their nets, but it flew higher and higher and finally disappeared. 

The king was very angry. 

He called for the royal engineers.

“The king must be taller than everything”, he told them.

“Build me a tower.”

The engineers built a tower for the king. He was very tall now, higher than all the people in his kingdom. 

For a moment he was happy.  

And then a bird flew over his head.  

“Raise me even higher”, he told the engineers.

“Higher”, said the king. “Higher”. And the engineers made the tower higher.

And higher.

And even higher.  

By this time, the king’s tower was so high that his head was in the clouds.

He couldn’t see a thing. “How do I know whether I am the tallest of all?”, he asked himself. 

“Higher, higher”, he yelled to the engineers below. 

The king was now so far above the clouds that he could see the entire kingdom. He was taller than every mountain, higher than every bird and butterfly.  

King Median stood very proudly at the top of his tower. “The king is taller than everything”, he told himself. 

“You can help me come down now”, King Median said.  

“Help you what?”, they answered. “We can barely hear you.”

“Take me down, you babbling idiots”, yelled the king. 

“What?”, said the royal engineers. “Raise you higher?”

So they made the tower even higher, and higher, until they could not hear the king at all.   

And to this very day, they still cannot. 

Thank you for reading this book!

If you like it, you might also want to read:

Danny Kerman Turns Seventy-Five

Read more about me and see ALL my books on Ourboox (I have many)

Or even better, create a free page-flipping picture ebook of your own!!!

Here is a tutorial to help you get started in free self-publishing on Ourboox!  And finally, you can always write me at [email protected]