Page:Frank Owen - The Scarlett Hill, 1941.djvu/89

RV 84 (PORTRAIT OF AN EMPEROR) were permitted to romp and race about in that section of the desert. One tripped, breaking his leg, over the screaming head. The horse had to be destroyed. The head shrieked no more.

When Ming Huang, the Mighty Emperor, was given a report, he was much impressed.

"Violence is always deplorable," said he, "but the state is greater than any individual man. When a man is not good for the state, he must be destroyed. Unfortunately, Duke Bonimet, though he was General of All Men, was only an unnoticed obstacle to the black horse that killed him. Wherever a madman rises, with fantastic visions, the people themselves should rise to blot him out." RV 84 (84)