Well he said
We no longer have a port on the Baltic
So we’ll just have to build a railway
And all applauded their youthful and enterprising king
But this meant austerity

All the luxuries
All the things that indicate kingship began to vanish
The court composer no longer
Hung around the little concert hall
The master of revels
Gone
The little bevy of courtesans
Now absent
That hurt the most
Pieces of furniture and gigantic paintings
Began disappearing
The little concert hall was converted into a print shop
Nobody knew why that particular transformation
Had been carried out

Eventually after much saving
And after much frankly injudicious borrowing
A few miles of track were laid
And before long the railway stretched
Across the little kingdom from frontier to frontier
A splendid locomotive was purchased
And richly appointed carriages for passengers
And baggage cars the size of houses

But nobody wanted to ride on the train
Magnificent though it was
For neither passengers nor goods
Found the need
To traverse the little kingdom from frontier to frontier

Soon the king fell into a profound melancholy
And seemed to age overnight
We never knew our port was so important
He complained to the workers in the print shop
How dare they take it from us
Whoever it was