Cairo -- "Let yourself go!" cried the people to Pharaoh, "So that we may be free!" "Who are the people," replied Pharaoh, "that they know better than me? I will let everyone in my Cabinet go, but I will not let myself go."
Using tools of communication, the people planned a great gathering to cry with a very loud voice. Together, the people shouted, "Let yourself go! So that we may be free!"
"What are these tools of communication?" asked Pharaoh "that they work better than me?" That day, Pharaoh gave the order to break all the tools.
The people returned, "Why have you treated us this way?" and they cried again, "Let yourself go!" "I have felt all the pain you felt," Pharaoh replied. And he sent the army into the streets.
The world's most powerful king called Pharaoh and said, "It's time to say good-bye to your people." "Why?" Pharaoh replied, "Where are they going?"
Under violence and chaos, the people grew in numbers and in strength. Louder than ever they shouted, "Let yourself go!" "I will deliver Egypt and its people to safety," replied Pharaoh, "in seven months."
Behind the scenes, the army, the world's most powerful king, the kings of neighboring nations, and even Pharaoh's own team shook their heads, scratched their hair, and huddled in confusion about what to do.
After seventeen days, a meeting of Pharaoh's team was called, and all came, except for Pharaoh. "We'll tell the world he will announce his departure," they plotted. "With the people and the world expecting him to announce his departure, he will have to do it," the whispered. A call was made to a leader working for the world's most powerful king.
That day, announcements were made by a general in the army, a leader in Pharaoh's team, and a leader working for the world's most powerful king. They all spoke in a single voice: "Pharaoh might let himself go." The people were elated.
When Pharaoh came before the people, he announced, "I will give my work to my assistant, but I will not go. Outsiders will not tell me what to do. Nor even will insiders!" The people threw shoes at him.
The people, the reporters, and the kings in all lands marveled at the contradiction. Why would all the leaders say Pharaoh would announce his departure when he did not announce it? "Why," they wondered, "did Pharaoh change his mind?" They knew the people speaking for Pharaoh had to truly be speaking for Pharaoh -- no one could question an assumption so clear. Therefore, Pharaoh changed his mind!
Meanwhile, in hearing the cacophony of calls for a good-bye, Pharaoh muddled in the deepest confusion of all: "Where's everybody going?"
