A story of the Oak and Holly Kings
At the summer solstice and the longest day, the story begins with the Oak King, a man we love and respect. A good and honest ruler who seeks the greater good for his people, he sought balance in his judgments. This man is also a good father to his son, teaching all the lessons he can of how to find the best answer for everyone and find the truth held within lies. This basically was a king whose reign no one wished to see end, no one, not even his own son who would inherit the power and responsibilities upon his father’s death.
For years he was capable of taking his father’s throne, but for years refused to give the annual ritual challenge. Even as he had the right, the strength and wisdom to defeat his father, for years he refused to end the reign of his king. This year the challenge can no longer be refused to be given, yet it will also not be given by the heir. Time and season’s passing has issued the challenge instead of our Holly Lord and defeated the Oak.
Even now the Oak king lies dying, changing into the form of sacrifice. The old stag resting his head on a fallen tree with a rack to heavy for the old neck to support lies waiting for his time to come to an end. His son stands near keeping guard and watch in the shadows as the father lies dying in the last of the sunlight. A small crowd of attendants help the king prepare even as the heir waits scowling at the waning light. At sunset, when shadows lay claim to the world, the Holly king starts his reign by providing mercy. At that time when the light has faded to almost nothing, he takes his father’s life with a single swift blow. With that blow he also accepts his role as the lord of death. The old stag is laid to rest out in the woods, where even the insects leave him to rest undisturbed for all his subjects who had need to say their final goodbyes.
Months pass as the Holly now reigns. He uses his father’s wisdom to the best of his abilities, but his grief shows through. The judgments passed, which would have been softer, kinder under the Oak’s rule, become rougher under the grief that everyone feels. As time goes by, the loss and grief turn bitter and the Holly king grows less trustful in those he is responsible to rule.
Even as he focuses on death and the pain it causes, a birth is just on the horizon. As the days grow shorter, the king’s bride grows rounder in the growing darkness. This child is no different from so many before it. It too waits for the dark night to announce its coming. Not just any night either, but the longest and darkest of them all. Banished from the birthing chamber and the feminine mysteries occurring there, the father-to-be waits both patiently and impatiently by turn. Finally, just as the darkness seems to fade from the horizon, his presence is requested at his wife’s side.
Hope and questions cover the face that until lately has shown only anguish and loathing. The new mother beckons him forward and offers a small wrapped bundle. “Welcome your son into the world,” she murmurs. There with his new born heir in his arms, the Holly king was defeated but not killed. The pain of grief fled before the love of a father who wishes to change the world for the one who would take over in his own time. The bright Oak was reborn once more to replace the dark Holly with nothing more than a yawn from the heir new to the world.
