Barn Door

Once upon a time there was a kingdom of horse lovers. The kingdom was called Horslaff. It had a king, of course, but real power was divided among a swelter of bickering barons, who couldn't seem to agree on anything, except their love of horses.

It came to pass that the barons agreed to build a magnificent barn to house all of the kingdom's marvelous horses. This was an unprecedented step for the barons of Horslaff. After much bitter argument, angry insults, and recriminations, a compromise was reached, and barn was actually built. No expense was spared, and no detail was missed. The barn was massive, luxurious, and built to withstand earthquake, fire, and flood. It was a palace for horses. The piece de resistance was a grand oaken door, wrought with gold.

... but there was just one problem. They couldn't agree who should hold the key to the barn door. Each baron was too suspicious of the others. Each was afraid that the others would conspire to lock him out, even if each baron had a key. In the end, there was only one solution they could agree on: The barn door would have no lock at all. That way, everyone had equal access.

But what of the horses? Wouldn't they be able to escape? Or couldn't they be stolen? We-e-ell, the door was very heavy, so it would be hard for a horse to open it. And the barn was such a great place for a horse to live, that none of them would want to leave, right? And the barn would be guarded. And really, how likely was a theft, anyway?

So the door remained lockless.

And the first time rustlers cleaned the barn out, the barons went ballistic. How dare ... and Whoever came up with the idea of barn door without a lock? and We by God need to get a lock on that thing!

But then ... Well, about half of the barons had been in on the theft, so they didn't want to put a lock on the barn door, and by then, not having a lock was traditional. And also, about 15 minutes passed, so everyone forgot about it.

Until the next time rustlers cleaned out the barn, and then the barons were really pissed. And they said, How dare ... and Whoever came up with the idea of barn door without a lock? and We by God need to get a lock on that thing!

But then ... Well, the other half of the barons had been involved in the theft. And the lockless barn door was traditional. And then another 15 minutes went by, and everyone forgot about it again.

Until the next time, when everyone said, How dare ... and Whoever came up with the idea of barn door without a lock? and We by God need to get a lock on that thing!

But then ... Well, it looks like the barn gets cleaned out about once every 16 years, and that, apparently, is perfectly acceptable. Although it doesn't stop people from puffing and fuming, as if they really thought they were going to do something about it.