The court expected the clockmaker to implore the ruler for a remission of his fine. (implore: beseech, beg, entreat; remission: abatement, reduction, cancellation) The clocks had all stopped, reportedly through his fault, and his debt had become an incubus. (incubus: burden, nightmare, oppression) He had the effrontery to bring a clock to the hearing and set it in front of the ruler. (effrontery: impudence, insolence, audacity)
He insisted on one distinction. (distinction: difference, differentiation, contrast) The law of the land might be capricious; the descent of a clock weight was inexorable. (capricious: fickle, mercurial, unpredictable; inexorable: relentless, unstoppable, unyielding) Once the weight reached the floor, the stop was ineluctable. (ineluctable: inescapable, unavoidable, inevitable) The new palace shelves were too low. He invited the ruler to lift his clock a foot.
It began to tick. A less indulgent ruler might have called him an ingrate. (indulgent: lenient, permissive, tolerant; ingrate: ungrateful person, thankless person) This one canceled the fine and gave the clockmaker the job of telling the carpenter. The carpenter created the next court sensation by bringing a shelf.