Wisdom from Terry Pratchett

"There was a tradition once, far back in the past, called the King of the Bean. A special dish was served to all the men of the clan on a certain day of the year. It contained one small hard-baked bean, and whoever got the bean was, possibly after some dental attention, hailed as king. It was quite an inexpensive system, and it worked well, probably because the clever little bald men who actually ran things and paid some attention to possible candidates were experts at palming a bean into the right bowl.

"And while the crops ripened and the tribe thrived and the land was fertile, the king thrived, too. But when, in the fullness of time, crops failed and the ice came back and animals were inexplicably barren, the clever little bald men sharpened their long knives, which were mostly used for cutting mistletoe.

"And on the due night, one of them went into his cave and carefully baked one small bean.

"Of course, that was before people were civilized. These days, no one had to eat beans."

-Terry Pratchett, Night Watch