The False Prince and the True, {Portugal} [in English] - Ο ψεύτικος πρίγκιπας και η αλήθεια, {Πορτογαλία} [ στα αγγλικά] - Il falso principe e la verità, {Portogallo} [in inglese]
[η φωτογραφία προέρχεται από την ακόλουθη
ιστοσελίδα : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtS-Fbl9zdI
]
The False Prince and the True, {Portugal} [in English] - Ο ψεύτικος πρίγκιπας και η αλήθεια, {Πορτογαλία} [ στα αγγλικά] - Il falso principe e la verità, {Portogallo} [in inglese]
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.
‘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 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 band, 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 my 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.’
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