Adventure stories; Love -- Fiction; Princesses -- Fiction; Short stories
Now Lord Harry Culverhouse, on leaving the King's presence, had mounted
his horse, which was a fine charger and splendidly equipped, and ridden
alone out of Strelsau; for he had dismissed all his servants and
despatched them with suitable gratuities to their own country. He rode
through the afternoon, and in the evening he reached a village fifteen
miles away; here he stopped at a cottage, and an old man came out and
escorted him in. A bundle lay on the table in the little parlour of the
cottage.
"Here are the clothes, my lord," said the old man, laying his hand on
the bundle.
"And here are mine," answered Lord Harry. "And the horse stands ready
for you." With this he began to pull off the fine clothes in which he
had had audience of the King, and he opened the bundle and put on the
old and plain suit which it contained. Then he held out his hand to the
old man, saying, "Give me the five crowns, Solomon, and our bargain is
complete."
Then Solomon the Jew gave him five crowns and bade him farewell, and he
placed the crowns in his purse and walked out of the cottage, possessing
nothing in the world saving his old clothes, five crowns, and the golden
pin that had fastened the ruddy hair of Princess Osra. For everything
else that he had possessed, his lands and houses in England, his horses
and carriages, his money, his clothes, and all that was his, he had
bartered with Solomon the Jew, in order that he might buy the ruby
necklace which he had given to Princess Osra. Such was the strange
madness wrought in him by her face.
It was now late evening, and he walked to and fro all night. In the
morning he went to the shop of a barber and, in return for one of his
crowns, the barber cropped his long curls short and shaved off his
moustaches, and gave him a dye with which he stained his complexion to a
darker tint; and he made his face dirty, and soiled his hands and
roughened the skin of them by chafing them on some flints which lay by
the roadside. Then, changing a second crown, he bought a loaf of bread,
and set off to trudge to Strelsau, for in Strelsau was Osra, and he
would not be anywhere else in the world. And when he had arrived there,
he went to a sergeant of the King's Guard, and prevailed on him by a
present of three crowns to enlist him as a trooper, and this the
sergeant, having found that Lord Harry could ride and knew how to use
his sword, agreed to do. Thus Lord Harry became a trooper in the Guard
of King Rudolf, having for all his possessions, save what the King's
stores afforded him, a few pence and the golden pin that had fastened
the hair of Princess Osra. But nobody knew him, except Solomon the Jew,
and he, having made a good profit, held his peace, both then and
afterwards.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account