Legend says the mighty Persian king Bahram Gur once went a-hunting. But he failed to catch even a single wild donkey.
Angry and tired, Bahram Gur, along with his vizier and priest, then happened upon a lovely village.
But nobody came out of the village to greet the great king or offer him food or drink. So in his bad mood, Bahram cursed the village and said,
“May this green prosperous village be a den
of beasts — a wild and uncultivated fen”
The priest at the king’s side lived to make his lord’s wishes come true. And he knew just what to do. So he rode into the village, assembled the people there, and decided to ruin their lives.
“King Bahram is pleased with your village,” he said. “So he has decided to reward you. From now on, all of you are free and equal. Children are equal to adults. Women are equal to men. Workers are equal to headmen.”
The people rejoiced.
A year later, Bahram Gur went a-hunting again in the same country. And he happened upon the once-beautiful village.
But this time, all he saw was a scrawny cat wandering the empty, trash-littered main street. A torn bra dangled from one window. A dirty baby sat on the corner, drinking wine and smoking a cigar.
“What awful thing happened here?” asked Bahram Gur, close to tears. “Priest, make sure these people get whatever they need to repair this once-beautiful village.”
“It shall be done, my lord” said the priest.
And he rode into town, assembled the drunken, dirty, diseased locals, and gave them the gift of order and hierarchy once again.
Within a year, the cat fattened up, the streets turned clean, and that dirty baby became an honor student who listened to his parents.
This thousand-year-old story is in part social propaganda. After all, it’s not clear that humans really need to be ruled for peace and harmony to abide. So it makes sense to tell them stories like this to make them believe that’s the case.
But in part, this story is also an allegory about human nature.
Because there’s no denying our brain loves to minimize thinking. And while we might not need order, authority, and hierarchy… we certainly crave those things on some level.
I’ve noticed this with my clients. The more I take charge of the client relationship, the more I tell my clients how it is… the more they respect the work I do, and the more they pay me, without any questions.
But this same idea goes just beyond copywriting client work. So let me leave you with a Bahram-like couplet to sum it up:
“Strip away his freedoms, and make things black and white —
Your prospect will love you, and feel you must be right!”
For more commandments, delivered to your brain each day, just as you’re getting antsy about the lack of order in your life, click here and follow the instructions.