The action of "The Young King" takes place in an unnamed kingdom at an unspecified point in the past. The story's title character and protagonist is a 16-year old boy. Although he has grown up in poverty, after he becomes king, he thinks only of rare and beautiful objects. His attitude towards those objects changes radically after he has three bad dreams. In the dreams, he sees how other people suffer and even die in order to obtain and create the objects for him. The story has strong moralistic and religious overtones.