myth for peppermint

The king of summer was too hot. Nothing would cool him. He didn’t know cold. He was forgetful and didn’t remember he was also the winter king. And that he had a winter palace and lived in ice for half the year.

So on that hot summer day he wandered around his palace looking for a way to be cold.

“Give me cold” he commanded the scientist. But the scientist could only explain why.

“Give me cold” he commanded the builder. But the builder could not build cold.

“Give me cold” he commanded the writer. But the writer just had words.

“Give me cold” he commanded the fool who spit his salad out in shock.

“Your highness, you caught me eating lunch. I despise the cold! It terrifies me even. I have lost three toes because I always forget to put socks on in the dead of winter. He lifted his sorry feet to the eyes of the king who wrinkled his nose at the awful smell.

Just then the king felt something on his face. Some feeling he barely remembered. Something freezing, like an old friend. Winter. He reaches his hand to the place where he has felt this thing. He has never felt it before. “What is this?” He asked the fool.

The fool looked away. He had received this as a result of a bad bet he had made with the emperor of the wind, a man of wisdom, but a hardy bit of rage. The fool had cheated the emperor of the wind, who told him that every food he should eat from now on would be as cold as a winters day. The wind would haunt him wherever he has gone. So wherever you have seen the mint you will know the fool was there.

Now the king of summer plants peppermint in his garden to remind him of the winter. When it is winter he drinks peppermint tea to remind him of the beauty of the peppermint in his garden. He remembers who he is now.