Part 2: Leaving
This is the second part of the biography of Shao Kang. Enjoy! I'll post part 3 in a few weeks. We are leaving to move back to Asia in less than 3 weeks. We'll be going to the beach, swimming in the rivers here (we swam yesterday and today), and spending time with friends and family before we head out. I'll try to post some pictures once more before we move and later after we move.
“Tomorrow let’s go on another hunting party,” the King said to his friends. They were having a big feast and were talking about plans for the following day. The King invited his closest friends to stay at the palace for a long visit, a visit that was a month long already. Every day they were off somewhere and coming back to have a big feast.
“Sure, but this is my last one. I’ve gotta go back home soon,” one of his friends said.
“Yes, me too. It’s been a good month already and I need to get back to my family,” another one of his friends said.
“Ok. Well, we’ll make it a really good hunting party tomorrow, and then we’ll have a big feast,” the king said.
The following day they all left for a big hunt. The King loved hunting and spent more time hunting and feasting than taking care of the country. Many of the people didn’t like how he was leading the country and some had even talked about getting rid of him as king. Actually, he was one of a long line of kings who didn’t do their job well in taking care of the country. The first few kings of the Xia (pronounced “Sheea”) Dynasty were amazing, but over time the kings got lazy and spent most of the country’s money on themselves. This king, King Xiang (pronounced “Shee-aang”), was the same.
The next day the group went on their hunting trip. They ate a really big, late breakfast, and then headed out for the forest. After a few hours they came back, boasting about how good they did that day.
“Let’s go again tomorrow. Imagine how big of a feast we can have with all that we hunted today!” the King said.
“No, I really need to get home,” one of the king’s friends said. One by one the other friends said something similar.
“Ok, ok, I get it. Just stay tonight because it’s late and leave in the early morning, after a big breakfast,” the king suggested.
Everyone agreed and the following day they all headed out. After a week the King asked for another group of his friends to come and stay. It was like this every year whenever the weather was nice. However, people in the country were getting more unhappy about how the country was being run. This made it easy for several of the smaller leaders to gather up their armies to rise against the king.
Of course King Xiang knew all this was going on but he didn’t think anything would come of it. Instead, he kept on inviting his friends to come for months at a time to feast and go hunting. However, three of the leaders and their armies were getting closer to the capital. The King finally decided it was time to leave.
“I have to go. They are getting too close to the capital and I don’t have much of an army to fight them with anymore,” the King told the Queen.
“What will you do? How long will you go? How about our little one? Will he be born here or will we have to run away somewhere?” the queen asked. She was a few months pregnant with their first child. Most people didn’t know she was pregnant yet; they wanted to wait a few weeks before making it known.
“I don’t think I have to go for a long time. It should just be a few weeks. I’m going to go with the army I have and see what is going on. We need to see who is coming against me and what kind of armies they have. I want you to stay here for now. I think it’ll be safer for you here,” the King said.
“If that’s what you think is best, then I’ll stay. Just come back soon,” the Queen said. The King left the following day.
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