The saga of Old House

The Queen in one of her forms...

Then Queen said, “The outcry against my commentators is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down to the Old House comments and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”

The other senior commentators turned away and left, but Righteous Lem remained standing before the Queen. Then Lem approached her and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the Old House comments? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

The Queen said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the Old House comments, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

Then Lem spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the queen, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the comments for lack of five people?”

“If I find forty-five there,” She said, “I will not destroy it.”

Once again Lem spoke to her, “What if only forty are found there?”

She said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”

Then he said, “May my Queen not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?”

She answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

Lem said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to my Queen, what if only twenty can be found there?”

She said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”

Then Lem said, “May the Queen not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?”

She answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”

When the Queen had finished speaking with Lem, She left, and Lem returned home.

The Queen then finished a big draught of tasty box wine, looked at the falling Amazon report numbers and said, "They are not deserving, screw cruel neutrality, and I have never been good at math and counting anyway except when someone owes me money, let's destroy it."  

The wrath of the Queen against her commentators 

And when Lem saw what she had done he blamed himself.