The King and the Lamp

by Duncan Williamson

  And the princesses were upset. They said, ‘Daddy, we don’t want tae be queen, we would just want you to be here forever!’

  And he said, ‘No way can I be here forever, children. Some day I will have to be gone from this world. I’ll join your mother in a faraway place and youse’ll be left alone by yourselves. I don’t want any arguin, disputin an fallin out among the three of youse – if there was only one it’d be different! So,’ he said, ‘to love me is to love my people. I’m gaunna put youse a task this evening: I want youse to tell me how much youse really love me.’ So he spoke to the oldest daughter first.

  And she says, ‘Father, I love you more than diamonds an pearls an all the jewels in this world.’

  ‘Very well,’ he says, ‘that’s nice.’ So he spoke to the second daughter, ‘How much do you really love me?’

  She says, ‘I love you more than all the gold in the earth, I love you more than all the money in this land.’

  He says, ‘That is very nice, that is very good.’ So to the youngest daughter of all, who was lovely and beautiful and only fifteen at that time, ‘Now,’ he says, ‘little one, how much do you love me?’

  ‘Well, Daddy,’ she says, ‘I love you more than salt.’

  ‘You love me more than salt?’ he says.

  ‘Yes, Daddy,’ she says, ‘I love you more than salt.’

  And the king was upset, very upset! He said, ‘Your sister loves me more than diamonds an jewels, an your other sister loves me more than gold, all the gold in this world. And you – you love me more than salt! Well, if that’s the way you feel, I don’t love you! And tomorrow morning you shall go on your way, you are banned from me, I never want tae see you again! You have disgraced me – the lowest thing on earth is salt!’

  The king ordered her the next morning to be on her way, find her own way in the world and never show her face again back at his palace. He was so upset. So the poor little princess felt sad and broken-hearted. She gathered a few possessions together … and her sisters laughed and giggled. She was sent on her way for disgracing her father.

  The princess wandered, she travelled on, she had nowhere to go. She travelled on and on. But she came to a great forest and she found a wee path. She followed the path and said, ‘Pro’bly it’ll lead to a little village or a little hamlet where I can find some place to shelter.’

  But the path led right into the middle of the forest many many miles from the palace. There lo and behold she came to a little cottage. And the princess thought to herself, ‘Pro’bly I’ll find shelter here.’ She came up to the cottage and knocked on the door.

  And the door opened, out came an old woman with long grey hair and a ragged dress on her. She said, ‘What are you doing here, dearie?’

  And the princess said, ‘Well, it’s a long story. I’m seekin shelter fir the night.’

  ‘But where in the world are ye bound for?’ said the old woman.

  And the princess said, ‘I’m bound fir nowhere, I’m on my way … I’ve been ordered away from my father.’

  ‘Your father?’ said the old woman.

  ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘my father the king!’

  ‘Your father the king,’ she says, ‘has ordered you on your way? You’d better come in an tell me the story.’

  So the old woman brought the young princess into the little cottage in the forest and gave her something to eat. She sat her down by the fire. There sitting by the fire was a large black cat. And the big black cat came over, it put its head on the top of the lassie’s knee. She petted it. It purred as if it was a kitten. And the old woman when she saw this was amazed, said, ‘You know, there’s never been anyone, though my visitors are few an far between, has ever come here and been friendly with my cat. Because it knows good from bad … you are good! Tell me yir story.’

  So the princess told her story about her mother dying, she was reared up with her father and she spent all her life in the palace, then her daddy had called her before them. She told the whole story I’ve told you before.

  And the old woman said, ‘Such a sad event. Your daddy is needing tae be taught a lesson.’

  ‘But,’ she said, ‘I cannae go back, I am banned from the palace, my daddy never wants to see my face again.’

  And the old woman said, ‘Well, mebbe some day he will be glad tae see ye!’

  Now back in the palace the king lived with his two daughters, the third little daughter was gone. And naturally the king used to get all his meals brought into him. They brought him beef and roast and mutton, and the king loved his meat with salt. But lo and behold when one meal was placed before the king one day, he tasted it, ‘Bring me some salt!’ he told the chef and the cook. ‘Bring me salt!’

  And they came in shaking in fright, ‘Master, we have no salt,’ they said.

  Said the king, ‘I need salt for my food!’

  ‘Master,’ the cook said, ‘we’ve searched the town, we’ve searched all around and there’s not one single grain of salt to be found anywhere!’

  The king said, ‘Take it away, I can’t eat it without salt! Bring me something else!’

  So they brought him sweetmeats to eat. And they brought him sweetmeats the next day, and the next and the next. But by this time the king was getting sick of all this. He said, ‘Bring me some beef, bring me some roast, some pork, something I can eat! Bring me food, some sensible food!’

  The cooks and chefs brought him sensible food, but there was no salt. The king sent couriers, he sent soldiers, he sent everybody around the country … It was all right for the princesses, they could eat sweetmeats which they loved. But their father the king couldn’t get one grain of salt in the whole kingdom.

  In the little cottage in the forest the princess stayed with the old woman and they became the greatest of friends. She cooked and she cleaned for the old woman, and the cat was her dearest friend. The old woman loved the young princess like she never loved anything in this life. But one day the old woman came back from the forest with a basket of herbs – which she spent most of her time in the forest gathering.

  She said to the princess, ‘Ye know, I’m gaunna be sad tomorrow.’

  And the princess said, ‘Why, grandmother, are you sad tomorrow?’

  ‘Because you must leave me.’

  ‘But,’ she said, ‘grandmother, I don’t want tae leave ye, I’ve nowhere to go.’

  She says, ‘You must go back to yir father!’

  Princess says, ‘I can’t make my way back tae the palace, because my father has banned me.’

  ‘Not this time,’ she said. ‘Luik, give me yir dress!’ And the young princess took her dress off. The old woman went into the back room, she was gone for minutes. But when she came back the dress was full of patches and tatters, in rags. ‘Now,’ she said to the princess, ‘take off your shoes.’ The princess took off her shoes. And then the old woman took a pair of scissors and she cut the princess’s hair. Next she went to the fire and gathered a handful of soot. She rubbed it on the princess’s face, ‘Now,’ she said, ‘you make yir way back to your father!’

  ‘I’m banned, I’m not – I can’t go back to the palace!’

  ‘You must,’ said the old woman, ‘because you are going to be the next queen!’

  ‘Me,’ said the princess, ‘the next queen? One of my sisters is gaunna be the next queen: they love my daddy like gold, they love my daddy like diamonds.’

  ‘But,’ she says, ‘you love your daddy more than salt!’ And she goes into the kitchen, takes a wee canvas bag and fills it full of salt. ‘Now,’ she says, ‘you take this and make yir way back to the palace – I’m sure you’ll be welcome.’

  So, the princess knew the old woman was telling the truth, she knew the old woman had been good to her. She says, ‘Remember, I’ll be back!’

  ‘Come back,’ says the old woman, ‘when you’re queen! Make yir way back tae your father’s palace the way you came!’

  So she bade the old woman ‘good-bye’.

  Now un
known to the princess this old woman was a witch. And she had destroyed every particle of salt in the country because the princess had told her the story … And even if somebody had brought some within a certain distance of the palace, the salt just disappeared, because the old witch had a spell on the palace – no salt would ever be near it.

  And by this time the king is going out of his mind, he can’t eat, he can’t taste anything – he’d give his kingdom for one particle of salt. Then lo and behold two days later when he’s calling up for salt and says he’s going to die for the want of it … there comes a bare-footed beggar maid to the palace. And the guard stops her, asks her what she wants.

  She says, ‘I want to see the king.’

  ‘And why do you want tae see the king?’ he said.

  ‘Well,’ she said, ‘I’ve brought the king a present.’

  ‘What could a bare-footed beggar maid bring the king?’

  She says, ‘I have brought him a bag o’ salt.’

  And when he heard this she was rushed – they couldn’t take time to get a hold of her – they just rushed her before the king. And the guard said, ‘Yir Majesty, we have brought someone tae see ye.’ She was there before the king, hair cut short, face blackened with soot, bare feet, ragged dress. And in her hand she carried a little bag.

  The king said, ‘Who is this you’ve brought before me, this ragged beggar maid?’

  And the guards, the cooks and everyone were so excited, they said, ‘You don’t know what this beggar maid has brought … she has brought something special!’

  ‘What could she bring tae me?’ said the king. ‘Nothing in the world I desire: I have gold, I have diamonds, I have everything.’ He said, ‘If only I had a little salt.’

  He said, ‘Yir Majesty, the beggar maid has brought you a bag of salt.’

  ‘Oh, oh,’ said the king, ‘she’s brought me – she … bring it to me!’

  And she walked up and said, ‘Here you are …’

  The king looked in. He put his finger in and he tasted it. ‘At last,’ he said, ‘sal-l-t, the most wonderful thing in this world! It is better to me than diamonds or pearls or gold or anything in my kingdom! At last I can have food, I can have something to eat. And he turned round to the beggar maid, he said, ‘What would you desire? You have brought me the one thing in this world that I need … What do you want? What kind o’ reward do you want?’

  She turned round and she said, ‘Daddy, I want nothing!’

  And the king said, ‘What?’

  She says to him, ‘Daddy, I want nothing. Because I love you more than salt!’

  And then the king knew, this maid was his youngest daughter. He put his arms round her and he kissed her, he made her more than welcome. He had found the truth – salt was more important to him than anything in the world. And she was made welcome by everyone in the palace. When the old king died she became queen and reigned over the country for many years, and she never forgot her friend the old woman in the forest. And that’s the last of my story.

  The Hunchback and the Swan

  This is an old old story, told to me many many years ago by an old uncle of mine, Duncan Townsley, who really was a great story-teller. He wandered all over Scotland by himself for years and years. He was a piper and played his bagpipes for a living. In the winter-time he would have settled in some traveller community, played his bagpipes to them, spent his time with them and picked up all their stories. He travelled in the summer-time but as he had been born and reared in Argyllshire, he often returned there and spent the winter with his sister who was my mother. On the winter nights in my time there was no television or wireless, and my uncle, to keep us quiet, would tell us a story.

  MANY years ago there lived an old hunchback, and he was mute, he could hear but he couldn’t utter a word. He lived in the forest by himself and he had nobody, no friends or relations. And he used to make his living by gathering sticks in the forest, cutting them up into firewood, taking them into the village and selling them to the local inhabitants. Everybody liked to buy the sticks from the hunchback, but they really hated him because he was so ugly – he had a hump on his back, his face was long and his chin was long, and he had so ugly an appearance – just to look at him kind of frightened you! And when he went to the village to sell his sticks the children used to shout and call him names. It made him so sad. And he couldn’t get his sticks sold fast enough, so he could get back home to his little hut he had built in the forest.

  But unknown to the local inhabitants, he had more friends than anybody could every ask for: he had friends in the forest, the birds, the mice, rats, squirrels, rabbits, all the little people of the forest. The squirrels would come, they would sit on his knee and take things out of his hand. Dormice, rats and rabbits, they loved him dearly and he loved them.

  Many’s the day he used to walk into the middle of the forest where a wee lake was, and on this lake there lived one swan, a mute swan. And unlike the whooper swan, it was there all summer and winter as well. But good as the hunchback was to all these little animals, one he could never get to come near him was the swan. And he loved and adored it. Once he had sold all his sticks, had come back and fed all his little animals, after they had all come round about him, he would take up a wee bit sandwich or a piece and make his way to the lake in the forest. He would sit by the lakeside, sit and admire the swan. Time passed by.

  It came summer again. The hunchback made his way back to the lake and he took some of his pieces and some food with him and cast all these bits of bread into the water. But the swan wouldn’t come near him. Day out and day in the robin would come and sit on his shoulder, the squirrel would come and sit on his knee, the dormouse, the rabbits and the rats, even the deer, would gather round him. And he would pet them, give them his time. But in his heart he only lived for one thing – he admired this most beautiful swan, its long graceful neck and its wings and its feet as it sailed round the lake – but it would never come near him. Day out and day in he pined … threw pieces in the water, cast them as far as he could, see if he could entice it near him … and he had the power upon all animals! But he had no power upon the swan. It seemed to ignore him completely.

  But this didn’t stop him: day out and day in he cut his sticks, went to the village, sold his sticks to the people, and they gave him just enough money so he could buy whatever he needed in the shop, just enough to keep him alive. Then back he would come, home again, set sail1 and try, sit by the lakeside and cast his bread upon the water, see if he could feed the swan – but no. In vain. Could he entice the swan? No way could he entice it to come near him. Till day passed and day passed and the summer was beginning to end.

  Now the summer passed away and October came in. The cold bite of the winter wind began to blow through the forest and all the little animals began to think the winter was coming in. The dormouse started to build up his little bit of stores and the robins began to choose their bits of territory where they were going to spend the winter, the hedgehog looked for a place to curl up and the deer began to grow their coats of long hair. All the animals began to see that winter was coming.

  But the hunchback still went to the lake. And the swan still sailed round. Not a sound came from the swan because it was mute. And as the summer faded, the days grew shorter, the more the hunchback became in love with the swan. Till one morning.

  The people in the village were waiting on their sticks – the hunchback never turned up. Now these people depended on the hunchback every day. But for a second day the hunchback never turned up, and for a third. The people in the village, who really hated him, and even the children who used to shout names at him, call ‘Hunchback!’, began to miss him. But he wasn’t missed as much in the village (the people only missed him because they had nothing for their fire) as he was in the forest.

  The robin and the sparrow and the shelfie and the blackbird, and the deer and the rabbits, and the vole and the hedgehog – all began to wonder what had happened to their we
e friend. He never put in an appearance and he had always used to, every day. Even the swan, who evaded him so much, began to turn round in the lake in circles and wonder – she had spied him many times and she wanted to come, but something kept her back, something kept her apart because she was a mute swan. Till the third day passed and all the animals in the forest began to wonder why their little friend didn’t come and feed them and play with them, come and see them!

  And the squirrel went to the robin and the robin went to the blackbird and the blackbird went to the mavis and the mavis went to the shelfie and they all gathered together. They were a-chirping and a-singing and a-singing and a-chirping in the forest, wondering what had happened to their friend the hunchback. They were going to have a meeting to see what was wrong. So, the robin – he was the master of the lot because he is the master of winter – gathered them round. There were the deer, the rabbits, there were the hares, there was the hedgehog, the squirrel, and even the pine marten was there! The rats and every little creature in the forest gathered into a circle. Everyone was worried.

  And the robin spoke up, ‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ he said, ‘I know we’re gathered here today in the forest and it’s a sad thing we have to talk about. Our little friend who comes and visits us and who’s been so good to us every day, there’s something wrong because he’s never put in an appearance for three days. We must find out what’s wrong!’

  So the little squirrel, he was very clever, he says, ‘Well, Robin, you’ve chosen youself to be spokesman for the crowd, what do you think we should do?’

  And the robin said, ‘Well, there’s only one thing we can do, we must find out what is wrong with the hunchback!’

  ‘But how,’ Squirrel said, ‘are we going to find out what’s wrong with him? His house is shut, the windows are closed, the door is locked there’s no smoke coming from his chimney, and we can’t go into his place. What can we do? We know there’s something wrong.’