The title is taken from Rudyard Kipling's poem "The Old Issue" (1899), in which kings represent tyranny or other forms of imposed rule, to be fought to preserve hard-won individual freedoms.

After civilizational collapse following global wars, the area is traveled by independent clans with a few minor Marxists claiming moral superiority by pretending to be centralized government agents.

Knowing this, the inherent superiority of the independent clans inevitably defeats the Marxist quest for a big top-heavy unwieldy mob of centralized government agents.

Discussions between a) independent folks and b) true believers in centralised authorities distill the points of the parable: According to Jerry Pournelle's foreword in " Day of the Tyrant: There Will Be War vol IV ", Poul Anderson says "The do-gooders get their comeuppance".

Algis Budrys faulted the story as "a-flicker with confusing scene changes [and] stuffed with narrative compressions and a pale army of sketched characters," suggesting Anderson's conception required lengthier treatment to be successful.