Dreams of Steel

One day a certain king of a certain land summoned all his priests to his court to his interpret his dream, as it seemed to him portentous. In the dream, he stood atop the castle, on the very highest point while winds blew about his stately robes, and raised his right arm. Then appeared to him a pillar of darkness taller than the castle, and he heard a voice telling him the sentinel of steel had arrived. He asked what this might mean.
The priests conferred with one another and whatever gods listened to them and reported that the interpretation of the dream was simple. The king needed to build a giant robot.
"What is that?" the king asked, and none knew. They insisted, however, the gods had told them that with no room for mistakes or mishearing.
Bewildered but pious, the king ordered all his smiths and craftsmen to build a giant robot. They had no more idea than he what that might mean, but they went to their tables and forges regardless and took up their tools. Miraculous to say, the gods guided their hands for days upon days of measuring, cutting, shaping, and smoothing. For months they worked, and at the end they had fabricated a steel giant with arms like round towers and a kingly crown on its head.
The king inspected it and sat on the throne placed in the middle of the construct, and his hands moved as well by divine inspiration. The giant rose, walked, and then ran around the castle.
White light filled the sky and columns stretched to the earth. All the gods appeared, something never seen before in that kingdom but only in the holy lands far away. They watched the king maneuver the giant robot and clapped.
The king made his giant kneel and spoke, bowing his own head. "O great gods, why did you command me to build this? What more may I do for you?"
The chief of the gods responded. "We just wanted to see a giant robot. Look how cool it is. Man. You don't have to do anything else. Be of good cheer, because nobody's gonna mess with you in that thing."
The gods ascended and left the king and his people there in awed wonderment. Over the years after that, they learned it was true that nobody wanted to mess with the kingdom that owned a big robot, and the kingdom knew such peace and prosperity as it never had before.
Finis