Directions: Read the given passage and answer the question that follows.

The King of Basna in Zulu was a proud and stern man, feared by all his subjects. One day while sitting in his mud palace surrounded by fawning courtiers and watched by a multitude of people, who had come to see him, he was suddenly overcome by a sense of grandeur and loudly declared that he was master of the world and that all men were his servants. But, a frail voice said that he was mistaken. It said, “All men are servants of one another.” A deathly silence followed the remark. The blood froze in the veins of the people assembled there. The king exploded with anger and demanded, "Who has dared to suggest that I am a servant!" The frail voice again said that he dared, and the people parted to reveal a white-­haired old man, leaning heavily on a stout stick. “Who are you?” asked the king. “I am Boubakar,” said the man. “We have no water in our village. I have come to ask for a well to be dug there.” The king roared whether he was a beggar, striding down to where the man stood. Boubakar was fearless and he said, "I will prove before nightfall that all people are here to serve each other.

People were scared because