I saw this on another forum. It didn't sound familiar. I'd guess 60s or
earlier.

"Years ago I read a story of am aggressive earthling who came to a
planet of very wise, peaceful non violent people. Eventually they
realized they could not resist him, but they were very wise, so they
gave him the planet, made him the supreme ruler. Then they pointed out
to him that he would have to defend the planet against of aggressive
earthlings who would come and try to take if from him.

What is that story and who wrote it?"

Brian

On Friday, 17 March 2023 at 22:41:43 UTC, Default User wrote:
> I saw this on another forum. It didn't sound familiar. I'd guess 60s or
> earlier.
>
> "Years ago I read a story of am aggressive earthling who came to a
> planet of very wise, peaceful non violent people. Eventually they
> realized they could not resist him, but they were very wise, so they
> gave him the planet, made him the supreme ruler. Then they pointed out
> to him that he would have to defend the planet against of aggressive
> earthlings who would come and try to take if from him.
>
> What is that story and who wrote it?"

There's a slightly similar incident described briefly
in Star Trek novel _The Galactic Whirlpool_
by David Gerrold. "The MacMurray Encounter".
From my memory, "Emperor MacMurray" of the
small colony planet Noah picks a fight with any
Starfleet vessel that comes by. The Enterprise is
sent, and Captain Kirk's decision is to surrender,
making MacMurray acknowledged ruler of the
Federation and also the entire galaxy.
Kirk then spends fifteen minutes listing all of
the problems in the known universe that are
now Emperor MacMurray's responsibility to
address. Emperor MacMurray decides to abdicate.
Kirk's report explains that MacMurray really just
wanted to be treated with a bit more respect than
he was getting.