“The Great Dictator” / Memorable Fancies #1546

      “That’s a portrait of the great dictator,” he said, “the one who disappeared so long ago, just before the mobs would have strung him up.”

“Yes, it was a bad time,” she said, “we studied that in school: the crops had failed, and that disastrous war —”

“And then the legend – that he’d return when the people really needed him.”

“Yes, and that could be in our own time,” she said, “with the markets in disarray, the squabbling politicians, the poor marching in the streets — yes, he’d be loved again now, I think.”

“And obeyed,” the man added; “obeyed.”

The two left the room. The portrait grew form, dimension. The great dictator stepped forth.

“Now,” he said, “NOW!”