A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts

This weekend I came across a story called "A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" (written by Dennis Reader) and promptly bought it. It's a children's book - 13 pages with very little writing and LOTS of pictures! But I found the story so interesting I thought I'll share a shortened version of it here:

"Once, on a little island, shaded by a single coconut palm, there lived a happy man. Across the water lived a greedy king who was always looking at the little island thru his binoculars. The king wanted the man's little island for himself.

'Why do you want his little island?' asked the queen.

'Because I want that lovely bunch of coconuts,' said the king.

'That's all he's got,' said the queen.

'That's all I want,' said the king.

... One day the king took action. He summoned his champion Olympic swimmer, his head gardener, his pet vulture, his cousin the pole vaulter and the palace cook. 'I want that island,' said the king. 'One of you must get it for me.' He pointed to the swimmer. 'You first.' ...

The champion Olympic swimmer didn't really want to go, but the king's word was law and so he dived into the water... But when he reached the little island, the man hit him with a coconut. The Olympic champion swam back with a bump on his head...

[the gardener tunnel-ed his way to the island, the vulture flew to the island, the cousin pole-vaulted to the island, the cook sailed there with her most terrible trifle, but they all suffered the same fate - they were all hit by coconuts and sent packing.]

The greedy king looked all about him. he had lost his champion Olympic swimmer, his head gardener, his pet vulture, his cousin the pole vaulter and even the palace cook.

'I'd like to come over and talk peace,' shouted the king. The man smiled and beckoned him across.

'You put up a good fight,' said the king. 'Yes,' said the man. "Have some coconut.' And they ate the last one from the tree.

'He seems a nice fellow,' said the king to the queen. 'I won't take his island after all.'

'Because he's a nice fellow?' asked the queen.

'No,' said the king. 'Because he hasn't got any more coconuts.'"

The story ends with the king watching the man sitting on his island under an de-coconut-ified palm tree.

BUT there is a twist.

What the king does not see is a stash of coconuts almost as tall as the man's house hidden behind his house, well away from the king's line of vision.

None of the violence worked, but the peace seemed to. Yet, while the 'peace talk' was going on, all along there was that HUGE stash of coconuts hidden from view.

Made me wonder how many other people could be out there who stashed piles of lovely coconuts away from view while they talked peace in full view of the rest of the world?