Lost?

They all awoke at once. They were shocked and surprised to find themselves on a beautiful paradise island.
One man stood aloof, sizing up the situation, while the rest milled around wondering what, where, why and occasionally who.

A couple of days passed and the aloof man started telling everyone he met that there was to be an important meeting that very afternoon beneath the coconut trees on the part of the beach where the sun rose.
Everyone was there and chattering excitedly in the hope that light was about to be cast on their mysterious presence on the island.

“My friends” began the aloof man, “I have invited you here to explain how you got here and what you must do if you wish to stay.”
He went on to explain that his friend The Great Wizard has chosen them and teleported them to Paradise but that there were a few rules and regulations that must be adhered to for those who wished to stay.

“Thank goodness for that” said one “I thought it was another timeshare scam.”

Now almost everyone did want to live there, it WAS paradise with crystal clear stream of sparkling water, coconuts, pineapples, bananas, papaya, mangoes and countless other fruits, nuts and vegetables.
There were few animals but they were totally unafraid of people which made it seem likely that they had never encountered any before.
There was a beautiful blue sea lapping on a golden beach and it was full of fish and various other edible creatures and yet no sharks or indeed anything dangerous.

The rules didn’t seem too much to ask: essentially that as spokesman and dear friend of the Great Wizard the aloof man should be given special privileges and that the people should build a temple for the Wizard where they would make daily offerings of food and such; the aloof man would live there and communicate with the Great Wizard on the peoples’ behalf.

A few people were not too taken with this arrangement but the aloof man explained that there was no going back and that those who chose not to stay would simply disappear to the dark halls of death.
Nobody wanted to chance it!

Time passed, the aloof man had taken to being called Master and, on the whole things were going well. The people had managed to assemble a collection of various makeshift tools and with the help of those had built a temple and a makeshift communal shelter for the very rare times that the weather was actually inclement enough to need one.
One day the Master told the people that the Great Wizard was going off on a long journey and with the safety of his people in mind he had suggested forming a small army to protect them should outsiders come unexpectedly from distant islands. No outsiders had ever been seen, nor evidence that there might be any but it did seem to be a sensible precaution and of course if the Great Wizard thought it necessary...

More time passed and the Master announced that due to dwindling fruit stocks food would be rationed and toward that end a form of money (carved seashells – since he now had control of all the tools) was to be introduced which would be earned by work... the more work the more money and therefore food.
The Master pointed out that since it was for the good of the people anyone who disagreed must be either very lazy and unwilling to contribute to the welfare of the community or already eating more than their fair share and a cause of the shortages.
Several people were somewhat alarmed by this new proposal, since they had already noticed the Master’s army moving large stocks of bananas and pineapples to a recently constructed storeroom... but no-one wanted to be branded greedy or anti-social and so no-one complained. Of course there were no real shortages but the Master had noticed that the people were less respectful of him over time and he wanted to assert a new authority and money would mean power!

More time passed and the Master had taken to appointing a ‘Queen For The Day’ which he chose at lunchtime and who would rule until sun rise. It was a rather elaborate method of making sure he could sleep with almost anyone he wished and it also saved him from having to give them gifts of money. The upshot of this was that before too long he had several children.

Time passed and the children grew and the Master’s five eldest boys were deemed old enough to deserve, each, a palace of their own (no talk of temples now and little of Great Wizards).
The army was to be increased so that each of the five could have at least two dozen soldiers as a personal bodyguard and it was agreed that each of these would have a small hut.
The palaces were big, with each son trying to outdo the other.

The workers were working morning till night and yet there was now little for them to eat since most of the fruit trees had been chopped down for building. While most of the people had nothing the Master and his family had far, far, more than they could ever need.
Many were getting desperate and trying to sneak down to the beach to search for food but the army had orders only to let Master’s family and friends on the beach and so it was that eventually a guard became overzealous and someone died.

It was around this time that the Master realised that he had many more 'subjects' than he really needed. He was considering ways of making some of them disappear and wondering how he could achieve it without seeming responsible. Perhaps he could compile a list of unpopular people and claim that the were stealing food and then have them executed. He liked this idea as he could also get rid of any potential trouble makers by claiming they were organising the thefts.

It is difficult to know how things might have progressed beyond this point –the creation of prisons, revolution, terrorism, civil war?

What did happen was that God remembered that He had selected some of his favourite people to live in Paradise and He wondered how they were getting along... He was very disappointed!
Projecting a physical human likeness to Earth He appeared before the Master.
“Who are you that you have taken my Paradise and turned it into a tip?” He boomed.
The Master, unimpressed replied “I am your creation so don’t go blaming me! You can't stand in the way of progress. Anyway, if you didn’t like what I was doing then you should have stopped me.”
“I gave you free will so that could learn the burden of responsibility.” said God.
“You were sleeping on the job you mean.” Said the Master just before the lightning bolt struck.

For those who might be wondering :
the 'Master' was just another chancer with an eye for an opportunity - not so much a conman as an entrepreneur. He didn’t know how or why they were there either - but he did know human nature.

Let’s face it the 'Masters' are still ruining paradise aren’t they?
Okay, they're admitting that we must be careful or we'll lose Paradise and they're slowly being forced to admit that changes are needed...
but we know they will be essentially cosmetic changes because tigers can't change their stripes!