Shiftless Fred.
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 5913
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It occurred to Fred that if someone killed him, as he had killed the
dragon, that person might become king, just as he had. This made Fred
nervous. What made him even more nervous was that the treasury was
building up enormous reserves of gold and diamonds. They exported most of
the diamonds in exchange for gold, and paid a fair wage to the workers.
But there was still an awful lot of money left over. Fred decided to establish departments to oversea the various parts of his small empire. Instead of running the economy from the state, he instituted straight taxes and let the free market do the rest. Fred made sure the heads of his departments competed against one another, not against him personally. There was not much the government did besides pay a few hundred soldiers, most of whom Fred used as a personal body guard. Fred got many of the people to live outside the caves in the surrounding lands where they could grow crops, while others mined. Fred, though, still lived in the caves with the protection of his soldiers. They went out during part of the daylight hours to oversea the kingdom and make sure no one was infringing upon their land. Fred remained bored.
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7/31/2001 2:48:47 AM
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