Wikijunior:Introduction to History/Banding together/Kings

For a few people, life was not so hard. People who were stronger, or were natural leaders, or were smarter, or maybe just lucky, set themselves up as kings, and took for themselves and their families the lion's share of everything. Sometimes, the kings enjoyed art, music, and philosophy, and would provide for people who could write or draw or sing or make interesting conversation. Most kings were interested in hunting and fighting. However, most people were farmers. They were born, and worked all their lives, and died within a few miles of the place they were born. They knew nothing about the wider world. Still, everyone sang and danced at harvest time, prayed to their gods for rain, held festivals and fairs at which traders could offer their wares. Traders were a special class; they were almost the only people who travelled and who knew something of the wider world.