They try all kinds of solutions: sensible, not so sensible, and the bizarre.

But no luck.The Queen's condition remains unchanged.

Every one is at their wit's end.Time is running out for the Queen, and nothing seems to work.

The scene at the palace is one of intense gloom.The general public too seems to be in eternal mourning regarding the fate of the Queen.

Just then, a stranger drives into the capital city.He is amazed to find the city in such depths of despair. The air is rent with sadness, and this does not escape our stranger.

He stops by a trader selling his wares, and enquires of him the reason for such immense gloom.

The trader is too happy to unburden himself on this willing listener.

The trader laughs out loud in kind mockery."Go back home, stranger, the best brains of the land are at work for the last couple of months.You think you could do better than them. Ha, ha, I like your spirit, but no, you can't help."

The stranger insists, and something in the firm insistence moves the trader to take him to the palace.

Once there, he is ushered into the presence of the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister: ( kindly) Yes Stranger, so you think you can help us in our deep trouble.

Stranger: Yes Sir, I'm sure I can.

The stranger goes on to narrate the prescribed solution.
As the PM listens, his expression changes from one of apathy and hopelessness to interest, and finally to gleeful joy.
To the enormous surprise of the courtiers, the PM jumps and claps for joy, like a twelve year old child who has grabbed a star in his hands.

The courtiers shake their heads in unison,convinced that their Prime Minister too has succumbed to the craziness that one saw around the world.

Prime Minister: "I want you to call the entire Cabinet, pronto, yes immediately, quick, quick."

The Cabinet comes together hastily, wondering what all the excitement is about.

PM: I have called you all to resolve the crisis our land is going through.This stranger here has come up with a very novel solution, that I feel convinced will work."

PM:I have called you all to suggest we ban all bad news from all media, print as well as TV.

Minister for Information:But Sir, this will never work.The media will cry foul about censorship.And Sir, who decides what news is good enough?This won't work, I'm afraid."

PM: Yes it will.The media better get socially responsible now.And the news will be screened by Deep Mauve, the software our scientists have designed.I daresay this news will be more objective than the news being churned out now.

"Yes,let us try this solution, if this is all we can do now".

Thus,the royal order passes to the furthest reaches of the land in nanoseconds.The Ministers wait to see how things will go in the next few days.

The next day's news arrives.

Every reader is taken aback.
For now, there are pictures of joy and tranquillity where once the daily fare consisted of gore and violence.It is simply unbelievable that there is still so much good news in the world:there is a bumper crop here, a great new cure there; courage and bravery, achievement, love, humaneness-- oh God, we didn't know all this still existed.

The Queen, for the first couple of weeks, is read the news in her bed.She is too weak to move about.But as the joy and happiness in the world seeps into her,she finds herself getting stronger and stronger.

She looks forward to each new morning, a time she earlier dreaded.

Soon she is well enough to resume her daily duties.With her kind, wise leadership, her nation flourishes as never before.

People were now looking forward, and not backward, and this was not good at all for the powers in these two regions.

There is stable peace now in virtually every province of the beloved Queen's land.

One final word: Hundreds of thousands of journalists and editors are in treatment for culture shock: these happy scenes and news is more than they can take!! They are undergoing intense pyschotherapy, and should be alright in a year or so.

Nobody else is complaining.

Needless to say, the sagacious stranger found a permanent place on the Queen's cabinet.

So all is well that ends well.

Some of you may be wondering what happened to the other characters in the story: the Shrubs, Baden-Baden, Fatafat, Sharion, the goons in Grrrindia, the naughty General in Messistan.

Well, as soon as Shrub saw that his daily dramas are not visible to the rest of the world, he turned saner and calmer (unbelievable, isn't it?).
After all what use is histrionics without an audience!!

Fatafat and Sharion are still fighting their petty battles, but minus their cronies.Their erstwhile followers have all fled to lead normal lives.