The Man Who Would Be King

This short story by Rudyard Kipling describes parts of a semi serious attempt by a couple of faily useless English persons who aspire to royal power in the wilds of Afganistan or northern India, it is never quite clear where.
The genesis of the story is a fairly unlikely meeting on one of the British Raj's clanking rains ambling around the highlands. Entirely heedless of the fact, it seems, that the last person who conquered the Afganistani's was Alexander the Great in about 320BCE these 2 unlikly aspirant royals establish a modest kind of a kingdom that looks OK on paper, until the paper gets wet and it all falls apart.
When push come to shove in their 'kingdom' the 'soldiers' ignore orders and flee after, eventually, the kings.
Who ever said the lot of a king was better than that of a commoner! Not Charles the 1st. Not a bad read if you are a member of the dying fan clubof Kiplings.

This book and movie of the same name should be required reading and viewing by any nation before venturing into another nation as friend or foe. The movie features Michael Caine, Sean Connery, and Christopher Plummer in roles that they were born to play:[[ASIN:630469864X The Man Who Would Be King]]