Yangqi Zheng

Ms. Chase
LNG 321
18 August 2016
A Story on the Detriments of Desire
So often in the present day is emphasis placed on the significance of progress, and with
this emphasis a widespread desire for positive change has proliferated among society. Humans
desire continually to be ever happier, and take action so that this desire might be gratified.
Oftentimes, this desire for change is associated with a utilitarian style of reasoning, to the extent
that more basal individual desires may often be neglected in reasoning and decision-making.
Indeed, the significance of intimate love to any individual can hardly be fathomed by any but
that individual which loves. A fantastical story on an attempt to improve the present situation of a
kingdom by altering the past may serve to elucidate the detriments of striving for changes in
ones circumstance rather than ones objects of desire, as well as of neglecting the weight of
intimate personal desires over pure utilitarian reason.
The story shall feature two heroes: one a thief, representing the desire for change, and the
other a cleric, representing the desire for understanding. Our heroes shall live under the
tyrannical rule of a cruel mechanical princess, who ascends to power after the murder of her
benevolent father. The gods of the kingdom hear the afflicted cries of the people, and inspire
our heroes to journey into the past in an attempt to right the present situation.
Our heroes are transported into the kingdom under the rule of the former king. They have
known that the cruel ruler of their age, who shall be called the Clockwork Princess, was
commissioned by the king to be created due to his own infertility, but desire to have a child to

love, as well as that she was commissioned to be created with imperfections, so that she might be
more akin to a human daughter. The thief suggests to the cleric that they attempt to persuade the
king not to either not create the Clockwork Princess, and instead elect some other qualified
official as his successor, or to commission her to be created perfectly, so that she might not rule
so cruelly upon ascending to the throne. Hesitant to accept the thiefs suggestion, the cleric
warns her of the weight of parental love, and how its associated desires may not be so easily
quelled. Despite this, the thief persists, and our heroes arrange for a meeting with the king,
informing him of their purpose, and of the dire state of future times. However, the king refuses
their suggestions, responding that he so desires a child of his own to love that not even concern
for the future wellbeing of his people might surpass his longing, affirming the clerics prior
warnings on how parental love may often be paramount to any product of pure reason.
Unsuccessful in their first endeavor, our heroes then attempt to at least prolong the
benevolent rule of the former king by deterring the sorcerer who was accused of slaying him in
their age. However, the sorcerer causes the thief to see the king as the sorcerer himself, and the
thief kills him despite the clerics pleas. The sorcerer then escapes, but not before explaining to
the thief that he possessed the Clockwork Princess and induced her to be so tyrannical, as well as
explaining his motive for doing so. He explains that he had previously lived a life of misery and
poverty, and used witchcraft to fuse his own consciousness with that of the Clockwork Princess
in order that he might live more happily. He rationalizes his inducing the princess to rule so
tyrannically by that a tyrannical rule would maximize the happiness of the princess, thus also
enhancing his own happiness.
The thief is distressed after realizing what she had done, but tells the cleric what the
sorcerer revealed to her. The two then seek the Clockwork Princess, at first desiring to slay her,

reasoning that it was better that their kingdom have no ruler at all than that it be under the
oppressive rule of the Clockwork Princess. They realize upon meeting her, however, that the
princess is not truly happy, but rather that her mood is characterized by chronic depression with
frequent spurts of euphoria. Our heroes then attempt to convince the princess that a stable,
peaceful joy would be more pleasant than her current state, and could be gained if she ruled the
kingdom with a gentler hand. Eventually the princess is persuaded, and the people of the
kingdom are freed from their afflictions, showing that striving to alter the nature of ones desire
itself is often more effective for attaining true happiness than attempting to alter ones situation
to conform with ones present desires.