| "All the King's Horses" | |
|---|---|
| Author | Kurt Vonnegut |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Psychological thriller, short story |
| Published in | Welcome to the Monkey House |
| Publication type | Anthology |
| Publisher | Delacorte Press |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Publication date | 1968 |
"All the King's Horses" is a short story written in or before 1951 by Kurt Vonnegut.[1] It can be found in his collection of short stories Welcome to the Monkey House. It derives its title from a line in the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme.
The story takes place in the early years of the Cold War and centers on a U.S. Army Colonel, Bryan Kelly, whose plane has been shot down in the Asiatic mainland. With him are his two sons, his wife, the pilot and co-pilot, and ten enlisted men. The sixteen prisoners are held captive by the Chinese officer Pi Ying, who forces Kelly to play a game of chess — using his family and men as the pieces. If he can defeat Pi Ying in the battle of wits, then the sixteen captives are free to go, except there is one catch: every American piece who is captured will be executed immediately. This leads to a moral dilemma for Kelly as he is forced to make decisions with the lives of everyone hanging in balance.