The English and Scottish popular ballads, volume 5 (of 5)
General
The English and Scottish popular ballads, volume 5 (of 5)
Ballads, English -- England -- Texts; Ballads, Scots -- Scotland -- Texts
A king who has caught a wild man shuts him up, and denounces death to
any one that shall let him out. The king’s son’s bedroom is just over
the place in which the wild man is confined. The prince cannot bear to
hear the continual wailings which come up, and he sets the prisoner
free. The prince confesses what he has done; the king is persuaded
by his advisers to banish his son rather than to enforce the penalty
which he had decreed; the prince is sent off to a distant kingdom,
attended by a servant. One day the prince was seized with thirst
while travelling, and wished to get a drink from a well; but there
was nothing to draw water with, and he ordered his servant to let him
down to the surface of the water, holding him the while by the legs.
This was done; but when the prince had drunk to his satisfaction, the
servant refused to draw him up until he had consented to change places
and clothes, and had sworn besides to keep the matter secret. When
they arrived at the court of the king designated by the father, the
sham prince was received with royal honors, and the true prince had to
consort with servants.... After a time, the king, wishing to marry off
his daughter, proclaimed a three days’ race, open to all comers, the
prize to be a golden apple, and any competitor who should win the apple
each of the three days to have the princess. Our prince had fallen in
love with the young lady, and was most desirous to contend. The wild
man had already helped him in emergencies here passed over, and did
not fail him now. He provided his deliverer with fine clothes and a
fine horse. The prince carried off the apple at each of the races, but
disappeared as soon as he had the prize in hand. All the efforts of
the king to find out the victor were to no purpose, but one day the
princess met the prince in his serving-man’s dress, and saw the apples
shining from his breast. She told her father. The prince did not feel
himself bound to further secrecy; he told everything; the king gave him
the princess, and the servant was properly disposed of.[46]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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