The Tale Of Melon City - Vikram Seth

The poem tells the story of a just and placid King who orders an arch to be built over a main road. The arch is built too low, and when the King rides under it, he loses his crown. Angry, he wants someone punished, so he first orders the chief builder to be hanged. The chief blames the workmen, who blame the masons, who blame the architect. The architect then says that the King himself changed the plans, so the King becomes angry again and asks for the wisest man in the country. The old wise man says that the arch should be hanged because it knocked off the crown. A councillor objects, and the crowd also wants a hanging. To satisfy everyone, the King decides that someone tall enough to fit the noose must be hanged. That man turns out to be the King himself, so he is hanged by royal decree. After that, the ministers declare that the King is dead and send out heralds to choose the next ruler according to custom. An idiot passes by the city gate and replies, ‘a melon,’ to the question of who should be king. Since that is his usual answer, the ministers crown a melon and make it their ruler. The people accept this and say that as long as the melon-king leaves them in peace and liberty, they do not mind. The poem ends by showing that the principles of laissez-faire are well established there.

A state with a just and placid King would seem orderly, calm, and fair-minded. At the same time, the poem suggests that such a ruler may become too strict about justice and act in a very literal, mechanical way. Instead of using judgment wisely, he keeps shifting blame and insisting that someone must be punished, even when the situation is absurd. So the impression is of a kingdom where the ruler is fair but also foolishly rigid, which leads to confusion and comedy rather than real justice.

Peace and liberty can be maintained in a state when the ruler is fair, the people are law-abiding, and decisions are made with reason and tolerance. The government should not be arbitrary or cruel, and citizens should respect the rights of others. There should be order without oppression: laws should protect people, but they should also allow them freedom in their daily lives. In the poem, the citizens are content because they are left in peace and are not interfered with unnecessarily.