The Royal Cartographer

... the king gazed upon his kingdom for a long while, but the map was small and not very detailed, and he grew unsatisfied. So soon enough he called for the Royal Cartographer and requested that a larger, more elaborate map be made, a magnificent map that would capture the expanse and complexity of the landscape. A map of the kingdom that would chart every tree, every leaf, and every seed. The Royal Cartographer gathered together her assistants with their compasses, rules, squares, and sextants, and with the sun shining above and the hills stretched out before them they marched out into the countryside. She surveyed the expanse of the kingdom, plotting every placement, positioning every bridge and every building. The mapmakers made their notes with exacting detail, and so the map grew larger and larger until it began to cover the hills and valleys, the mountains and meadows, from the snowy peaks to the dewy petals. And when the Royal Cartographer had mapped the land in its entirety, every seed accounted for, right out to the coastline, the mapmakers boarded ships and began to navigate and chart and lay their maps over the seas. And when that was done, they could not stop. As the surface of the world lay beneath the paper, they turned their gaze upward and began to map the clouds and then the moon. They counted up every star, and papered the dome of the sky until at last there was only one more thing to map, so the royal cartographer packed up her inks and quills, and climbed into the heavens to lay paper over the sun. But as might be expected, the solar map caught fire, which once in flames, began to spread. It spread to the maps of the moon, the clouds and stars. It spread across the maps of the seas and rivers, up the mountains and down the valleys, until the entire map of the kingdom was in flames -- every tree, every leaf, and every seed. But in the midst of the fire, the royal cartographer was able to rescue a single scroll from the royal maphouse, and when all the rest of the paper had burned clean away, and the rain came down and cooled off the earth, and the sun came out, revealing the natural land that had been obscured by the map, the presented that last, solitary map before the king. The king was moved by the grandeur of the land as it appeared on that map, and he gazed upon his kingdom for a long while, but the map was small and not very detailed, and he grew unsatisfied...