The False Prince and the True

THE FALSE PRINCE AND THE TRUE

THE king had just awakened from his midday sleep, for it was summer, and

everyone rose early and rested from twelve to three, as they do in hot

countries. He had dressed himself in cool white clothes, and was passing

through the hall on his way to the council chamber, when a number of

young nobles suddenly appeared before him, and one amongst them stepped

forward and spoke.

'Sire, this morning we were all playing tennis in the court, the prince

and this gentleman with the rest, when there broke out some dispute

about the game. The prince lost his temper, and said many insulting

things to the other, who was playing against him, till at length the

gentleman whom you see there struck him violently in the face, so that

the blood ran from his mouth and nose. We were all so horrified at the

sight, that we should most likely have killed the man then and there,

for daring to lay hands on the prince, had not his grandfather the duke

stepped between and commanded us to lay the affair before you.'

The king had listened attentively to the story, and when it was ended he

said:

'I suppose the prince had no arms with him, or else he would have used

them?'

'Yes, sire, he had arms; he always carries a dagger in his belt. But

when he saw the blood pouring from his face, he went to a corner of the

court and began to cry, which was the strangest thing of all.'

On hearing this the king walked to the window and stood for a few

minutes with his back to the room, where the company of young men

remained silent. Then he came back, his face white and stern.

[Illustration: The Quarrel in the Tennis Court]

'I tell you,' he said, 'and it is the solemn truth, that I would rather

you had told me that the prince was dead, though he is my only son, than

know that he would suffer such an injury without attempting to avenge

it. As for the gentleman who struck him, he will be brought before my

judges, and will plead his own cause, but I hardly think he can escape

death, after having assaulted the heir to the crown.'

The young man raised his head as if to reply, but the king would not

listen, and commanded his guards to put him under arrest, adding,

however, that if the prisoner wished to visit any part of the city, he

was at liberty to do so properly guarded, and in fifteen days he would

be brought to trial before the highest judges in the land.

   *       *       *       *       *

The young man left the king's presence, surrounded by soldiers, and

accompanied by many of his friends, for he was a great favourite. By

their advice he spent the fourteen days that remained to him going about

to seek counsel from wise men of all sorts, as to how he might escape

death, but no one could help him, for none could find any excuse for the

blow he had given to the prince.

The fourteenth night had come, and in despair the prisoner went out to

take his last walk through the city. He wandered on hardly knowing where

he went, and his face was so white and desperate that none of his

companions dared speak to him. The sad little procession had passed some

hours in this manner, when, near the gate of a monastery, an old woman

appeared round a corner, and suddenly stood before the young man. She

was bent almost double, and was so wizened and wrinkled that she looked

at least ninety; only her eyes were bright and quick as those of a girl.

'Sir,' she said, 'I know all that has happened to you, and how you are

seeking if in any wise you can save your life. But there is none that

can answer that question save only I myself, if you will promise to do

all I ask.'

At her words the prisoner felt as if a load had all at once been rolled

off him.

'Oh, save me, and I will do anything!' he cried. 'It is so hard to leave

the world and go out into the darkness.'

'You will not need to do that,' answered the old woman, 'you have only

got to marry me, and you will soon be free.'

'Marry you?' exclaimed he, 'but--but--I am not yet twenty, and you--why,

you must be a hundred at least! Oh, no, it is quite impossible.'

He spoke without thinking, but the flash of anger which darted from her

eyes made him feel uncomfortable. However, all she said was:

'As you like; since you reject me, let the crows have you,' and hurried

away down the street.

   *       *       *       *       *

Left to himself, the full horror of his coming death rushed upon the

young man, and he understood that he had thrown away his sole chance of

life. Well, if he must, he must, he said to himself, and began to run as

fast as he could after the old crone, who by this time could scarcely be

seen, even in the moonlight. Who would have believed a woman past ninety

could walk with such speed? It seemed more like flying! But at length,

breathless and exhausted, he reached her side, and gasped out:

'Madam, pardon me for my hasty words just now; I was wrong, and will

thankfully accept the offer you made me.'

'Ah, I thought you would come to your senses,' answered she, in rather

an odd voice. 'We have no time to lose--follow me at once,' and they

went on silently and swiftly till they stopped at the door of a small

house in which the priest lived. Before him the old woman bade the

prisoner swear that she should be his wife, and this he did in the

presence of witnesses. Then, begging the priest and the guards to leave

them alone for a little, she told the young man what he was to do, when

the next morning he was brought before the king and the judges.

   *       *       *       *       *

The hall was full to overflowing when the prisoner entered it, and all

marvelled at the brightness of his face. The king inquired if he had any

excuse to plead for the high treason he had committed by striking the

heir to the throne, and, if so, to be quick in setting it forth. With a

low bow the youth made answer in a clear voice:

'O my lord and gracious king, and you, nobles and wise men of the land,

I leave my cause without fear in your hands, knowing that you will

listen and judge rightly, and that you will suffer me to speak to the

end, before you give judgment.

'For four years, you, O king, had been married to the queen and yet had

no children, which grieved you greatly. The queen saw this, and likewise

that your love was going from her, and thought night and day of some

plan that might put an end to this evil. At length, when you were away

fighting in distant countries, she decided what she would do, and

adopted in secret the baby of a poor quarryman, sending a messenger to

tell you that you had a son. No one suspected the truth except a priest

to whom the queen confessed the truth, and in a few weeks she fell ill

and died, leaving the baby to be brought up as became a prince. And now,

if your highness will permit me, I will speak of myself.'

'What you have already told me,' answered the king, 'is so strange that

I cannot imagine what more there is to tell, but go on with your story.'

'One day, shortly after the death of the queen,' continued the young

man, 'your highness was hunting, and outstripped all your attendants

while chasing the deer. You were in a part of the country which you did

not know, so seeing an orchard all pink and white with apple-blossoms,

and a girl tossing a ball in one corner, you went up to her to ask your

way. But when she turned to answer you, you were so struck with her

beauty that all else fled from your mind. Again and again you rode back

to see her, and at length persuaded her to marry you. She only thought

you a poor knight, and agreed that, as you wished it, the marriage

should be kept secret.

'After the ceremony you gave her three rings and a charm with a cross on

it, and then put her in a cottage in the forest, thinking to hide the

matter securely.

'For some months you visited the cottage every week; but a rebellion

broke out in a distant part of the kingdom, and called for your

presence. When next you rode up to the cottage, it was empty, and none

could inform you whither your bride had gone. That, sire, I can now tell

you,' and the young man paused and looked at the king, who coloured

deeply. 'She went back to her father the old duke, once your

chamberlain, and the cross on her breast revealed at once who you were.

Fierce was his anger when he heard his daughter's tale, and he vowed

that he would hide her safely from you, till the day came when you would

claim her publicly as your queen.

'By and bye I was born, and was brought up by my grandfather in one of

his great houses. Here are the rings you gave to my mother, and here is

the cross, and these will prove if I am your son or not.'

As he spoke the young man laid the jewels at the feet of the king, and

the nobles and the judges pressed round to examine them. The king alone

did not move from his seat, for he had forgotten the hall of justice and

all about him, and saw only the apple-orchard as it was twenty years

ago, and the beautiful girl playing at ball. A sudden silence round him

made him look up, and he found the eyes of the assembly fixed on him.

'It is true; it is he who is my son, and not the other,' he said with

an effort, 'and let every man present swear to acknowledge him as king,

after my death.'

Therefore one by one they all knelt before him and took the oath, and a

message was sent to the false prince, forbidding him ever again to

appear at court, though a handsome pension was granted him.

   *       *       *       *       *

At last the ceremony was over, and the king, signing to his newly found

son to follow him, rose and went into another room.

'Tell me how you knew all that,' he said, throwing himself into a carved

chair filled with crimson cushions, and the prince told of his meeting

with the old woman who had brought him the jewels from his mother, and

how he had sworn before a priest to marry her, though he did not want to

do it, on account of the difference in their ages, and besides, he would

rather receive a bride chosen by the king himself. But the king frowned,

and answered sharply:

'You swore to marry her if she saved your life, and, come what may, you

must fulfil your promise.' Then, striking a silver shield that hung

close by, he said to the equerry who appeared immediately:

'Go and seek the priest who lives near the door of the prison, and ask

him where you can find the old woman who visited him last night; and

when you have found her, bring her to the palace.'

   *       *       *       *       *

It took some time to discover the whereabouts of the old woman, but at

length it was accomplished, and when she arrived at the palace with the

equerry, she was received with royal honours, as became the bride of the

prince. The guards looked at each other with astonished eyes, as the

wizened creature, bowed with age, passed between their lines; but they

were more amazed still at the lightness of her step as she skipped up

the steps to the great door before which the king was standing, with

the prince at his side. If they both felt a shock at the appearance of

the aged lady they did not show it, and the king, with a grave bow, took

her hand, and led her to the chapel, where a bishop was waiting to

perform the marriage ceremony.

For the next few weeks little was seen of the prince, who spent all his

days in hunting, and trying to forget the old wife at home. As for the

princess, no one troubled himself about her, and she passed the days

alone in her apartments, for she had absolutely declined the services of

the ladies-in-waiting whom the king had appointed for her.

One night the prince returned after a longer chase than usual, and he

was so tired that he went up straight to bed. Suddenly he was awakened

by a strange noise in the room, and suspecting that a robber might have

stolen in, he jumped out of bed, and seized his sword, which lay ready

to his hand. Then he perceived that the noise proceeded from the next

room, which belonged to the princess, and was lighted by a burning

torch. Creeping softly to the door, he peeped through it, and beheld her

lying quietly, with a crown of gold and pearls upon her head, her

wrinkles all gone, and her face, which was whiter than the snow, as

fresh as that of a girl of fourteen. Could that really be his wife--that

beautiful, beautiful creature?

   *       *       *       *       *

The prince was still gazing in surprise when the lady opened her eyes

and smiled at him.

'Yes, I really am your wife,' she said, as if she had guessed his

thoughts, 'and the enchantment is ended. Now I must tell you who I am,

and what befell to cause me to take the shape of an old woman.

'The king of Granada is my father, and I was born in the palace which

overlooks the plain of the Vega. I was only a few months old when a

wicked fairy, who had a spite against my parents, cast a spell over me,

bending my back and wrinkling my skin till I looked as if I was a

hundred years old, and making me such an object of disgust to everyone,

that at length the king ordered my nurse to take me away from the

palace. She was the only person who cared about me, and we lived

together in this city on a small pension allowed me by the king.

'When I was about three an old man arrived at our house, and begged my

nurse to let him come in and rest, as he could walk no longer. She saw

that he was very ill, so put him to bed and took such care of him that

by and bye he was as strong as ever. In gratitude for her goodness to

him, he told her that he was a wizard and could give her anything she

chose to ask for, except life or death, so she answered that what she

longed for most in the world was that my wrinkled skin should disappear,

and that I should regain the beauty with which I was born. To this he

replied that as my misfortune resulted from a spell, this was rather

difficult, but he would do his best, and at any rate he could promise

that before my fifteenth birthday I should be freed from the enchantment

if I could get a man who would swear to marry me as I was.

'As you may suppose, this was not easy, as my ugliness was such that no

one would look at me a second time. My nurse and I were almost in

despair, as my fifteenth birthday was drawing near, and I had never so

much as spoken to a man. At last we received a visit from the wizard,

who told us what had happened at court, and your story, bidding me to

put myself in your way when you had lost all hope, and offer to save you

if you would consent to marry me.

'That is my history, and now you must beg the king to send messengers at

once to Granada, to inform my father of our marriage, and I think,'

she added with a smile, 'that he will not refuse us his blessing.'

Adapted from the Portuguese.