The Fable Behind The Master and His Emissary

The Master and His Emissary takes its title from a story by Nietzsche (McGilchrist, humorously, drops a footnote and says he can't remember where he saw it . . . and apparently the editors at Yale couldn't, either). It goes like this:

A wise spiritual master ruled a small but prosperous country. He was known for his benevolence. His country flourished and began to spread. He needed trained emissaries to help him govern. His most-effective one began to see himself as the ruler and began to undermine his master, eventually usurping him altogether and taking over, ruling the country as a tyrant, which then crumbled.