IV. Mud Bricks, Kings, and the First Guy Who Ruined Everything with Taxes
Cities were born because people got sick of wandering and decided it would be much funnier to stay in one place and invent bureaucracy.
Mud became bricks, bricks became walls, and walls became arguments about whose wall was leaning slightly into whose yard.
The first king was just the loudest guy with the nicest hat and a cousin who could count grain.
The first tax collector was invented three minutes later, proving that every paradise contains a hidden goblin.
Farmers learned to grow food on purpose, which was a massive upgrade over "hope a berry happens."
Priests learned to stare at the sky and say, "yes, this definitely means give us more wheat."
Merchants appeared with shiny rocks, weird spices, and the confidence of men who had once haggled with a donkey.
One scribe invented writing so he could track temple inventory and accidentally created literature, law, and receipts.
This was the moment humanity realized that symbols on clay could outlive screaming.
Naturally, the first written joke was almost certainly about somebody's butt.