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“He was a man of exuberant fancy, and, withal, of an authority so irresistible that, at his will, he turned his varied fancies into facts. He was greatly given to self-communing, and, when he and himself agreed upon anything, the thing was done.”

The narrator makes this introduction to the king in a humorous fashion. The king is the absolute ruler of his kingdom and is given to flights of fancy. He does what he wishes. He consults no one but himself in matters of state, and when he agrees with himself, the thing is done. Also, his fancies are turned into facts in the kingdom. So when he sets up his system of justice, no one questions it; it is a fact of the land. This introduction shows that the king cannot be outvoted or overruled in his domain, as he is the undisputed master of his own territory.

“When every member of his domestic and political systems moved smoothly in its appointed course, his nature was bland and genial; but, whenever there was a little hitch, and some of his orbs got out of their orbits, he was blander and more genial still, for nothing pleased him so much as to make the crooked straight and crush down uneven places.”

Here we get a sense of the king in his day-to-day manner. He is described as pleasant when things are going well, and even more pleasant when things are not. He apparently likes to make things right or fix what is broken. Perhaps this is why he enjoys putting on a public spectacle every time there is a trial. It shows that he is an active king, and one who puts right what is wrong. This is ironic, since it is by no deeds of his own that this is true. He leaves each trial entirely up to chance, but, judging from the public’s reaction to his system of justice, no one has any problem with how the king rules his domain.

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