The King's Tale (Jim Bennett III, 24 Sep 03)

Dear Friends,

Later in this message you will find a link to the story of my summer’s European adventures, as recounted with startling accuracy by a homeless man I met one midsummer’s night in Topeka, Kansas. The author of the following tale, a rather smelly gentleman who would only identify himself as “The King,” has some obvious problems with prolixity and verbosity--seemingly under the impression that "if it ain’t long, it ain’t good." On the other hand, he has undertaken the narration of a 6-week journey that took me through 8 countries (France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Leichtenstein, Switzerland, and Spain) and over 40 different Alpine and Pyrenean passes. A faithful accounting thereof is bound to be a bit on the wordy side, I’m afraid. Feel free to ignore the whole endeavor, or to skip about as you see fit.

After a bit of haggling, The King did tell me I was free to distribute his work to any and all of my friends but that he intended to retain the copyright in hopes of someday earning enough money from this magnum opus to buy a six-pack and a ticket back to some place he called "Graceland."

In any case, that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

So . . . without further ado, please enjoy The King’s Tale as much as I enjoyed living the events to which said tale gives voice.

Sincerely,

Jim