Rosimond took these wise counsels to heart. He gave out that he had
undertaken a secret mission to a neighbouring state, and embarked on
board a vessel, the winds carrying him straight to the island where the
Fairy had told him he would find the real Prince. This unfortunate youth
had been taken captive by a savage people, who had kept him to guard
their sheep. Rosimond, becoming invisible, went to seek him amongst the
pastures, where he kept his flock, and, covering him with his mantle, he
delivered him out of the hands of his cruel masters, and bore him
back to the ship. Other winds sent by the Fairy swelled the sails, and
together the two young men entered the King’s presence.
Rosimond spoke first and said, ‘You have believed me to be your son. I
am not he, but I have brought him back to you.’ The King, filled with
astonishment, turned to his real son and asked, ‘Was it not you, my son,
who conquered my enemies and won such a glorious peace? Or is it true
that you have been shipwrecked and taken captive, and that Rosimond has
set you free?’
‘Yes, my father,’ replied the Prince. ‘It is he who sought me out in my
captivity and set me free, and to him I owe the happiness of seeing you
once more. It was he, not I, who gained the victory.’
The King could hardly believe his ears; but Rosimond, turning the ring,
appeared before him in the likeness of the Prince, and the King gazed
distractedly at the two youths who seemed both to be his son. Then he
offered Rosimond immense rewards for his services, which were refused,
and the only favour the young man would accept was that one of his posts
at Court should be conferred on his brother Bramintho. For he feared
for himself the changes of fortune, the envy of mankind and his own
weakness. His desire was to go back to his mother and his native
village, and to spend his time in cultivating the land.
One day, when he was wandering through the woods, he met the Fairy, who
showed him the cavern where his father was imprisoned, and told him what
words he must use in order to set him free. He repeated them joyfully,
for he had always longed to bring the old man back and to make his last
days happy. Rosimond thus became the benefactor of all his family, and
had the pleasure of doing good to those who had wished to do him evil.
As for the Court, to whom he had rendered such services, all he asked
was the freedom to live far from its corruption; and, to crown all,
fearing that if he kept the ring he might be tempted to use it in order
to regain his lost place in the world, he made up his mind to restore it
to the Fairy. For many days he sought her up and down the woods and at
last he found her. ‘I want to give you back,’ he said, holding out the
ring, ‘a gift as dangerous as it is powerful, and which I fear to use
wrongfully. I shall never feel safe till I have made it impossible for
me to leave my solitude and to satisfy my passions.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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