Children's stories, English; Fairy tales; Short stories, English
And the nobles made merry, and some of them cried out to him, ‘My lord,
the people wait for their king, and thou showest them a beggar,’ and
others were wroth and said, ‘He brings shame upon our state, and is
unworthy to be our master.’ But he answered them not a word, but passed
on, and went down the bright porphyry staircase, and out through the
gates of bronze, and mounted upon his horse, and rode towards the
cathedral, the little page running beside him.
And the people laughed and said, ‘It is the King’s fool who is riding
by,’ and they mocked him.
And he drew rein and said, ‘Nay, but I am the King.’ And he told them
his three dreams.
And a man came out of the crowd and spake bitterly to him, and said,
‘Sir, knowest thou not that out of the luxury of the rich cometh the life
of the poor? By your pomp we are nurtured, and your vices give us bread.
To toil for a hard master is bitter, but to have no master to toil for is
more bitter still. Thinkest thou that the ravens will feed us? And what
cure hast thou for these things? Wilt thou say to the buyer, “Thou shalt
buy for so much,” and to the seller, “Thou shalt sell at this price”? I
trow not. Therefore go back to thy Palace and put on thy purple and fine
linen. What hast thou to do with us, and what we suffer?’
‘Are not the rich and the poor brothers?’ asked the young King.
‘Ay,’ answered the man, ‘and the name of the rich brother is Cain.’
And the young King’s eyes filled with tears, and he rode on through the
murmurs of the people, and the little page grew afraid and left him.
And when he reached the great portal of the cathedral, the soldiers
thrust their halberts out and said, ‘What dost thou seek here? None
enters by this door but the King.’
And his face flushed with anger, and he said to them, ‘I am the King,’
and waved their halberts aside and passed in.
And when the old Bishop saw him coming in his goatherd’s dress, he rose
up in wonder from his throne, and went to meet him, and said to him, ‘My
son, is this a king’s apparel? And with what crown shall I crown thee,
and what sceptre shall I place in thy hand? Surely this should be to
thee a day of joy, and not a day of abasement.’
‘Shall Joy wear what Grief has fashioned?’ said the young King. And he
told him his three dreams.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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