The King and the Lamp

by Duncan Williamson

  And the fisherman said, ‘well, I have little tae spare, but, stranger, ye’re welcome tae anything I hev.’ So the fisherman gathered up his net, carried it on his back and walked up the shore till they came to the little cottage.

  The king took his horse, led it round by the house and tied it once more to a tree, and he walked into the little cottage. Poor humble little cottage, just a fire, a table and a couple chairs, but sitting beside the fire was the most beautiful young woman this king had ever seen, even as pretty as his own queen but she was in rags. On her lap was a bonnie wee baby boy and she was sitting singing to him. She stood up, put the baby into an old-fashioned wooden cradle and it just lay there kicking its feet as happy as could be.

  And the king looked down, he saw the most beautiful boy he’d ever seen in his life and he thought in his own mind, ‘This must be it.’

  ‘We have little to spare, stranger,’ says the fisherman’s wife, ‘but we’ll give ye half o’ what we’ve got.’ So she brought him some ale and some bread and cheese, she shared it with him.

  And the king sat, he talked for a long long while and he said, ‘Ye hev a lovely baby boy there.’

  ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘we hev a lovely baby boy.’

  ‘How old is he?’ said the king.

  She says, ‘Five month.’

  ‘When was he born?’ said the king.

  ‘Five months ago.’ she said.

  ‘Was it night or day-time?’ said the king.

  She said, ‘He wis born at night, twelve o’clock at night – midnight.

  ‘Oh,’ said the king, ‘I see. Well, you know, I’m a very rich man, and my wife and I has no children, I would love to have that baby boy. I would give ye anything ye want,’ because the king had plenty money with him. His saddle-bags were full o’ money, he carried them on his way. ‘I wad give ye anything you want – I wad give ye as much gold that’ll keep ye fir a lifetime, you can buy yirsel new nets, you can buy yirsel a boat – if ye’d only give me that baby boy. An I’ll rear him up tae be my own son, when he’s a grown man he’ll come back an see ye.’

  So the fisherman and his wife were very sad about this; they loved their little baby son but they were so poor … They thought about all the wonderful things they could do with all the money, and them being young themselves they knew they could maybe get another baby, but they would never get a chance like this to get as much money; so they finally consented to give the king the baby. The king walked out to his horse to his saddle-bags, he took two bags of gold and he put them on the table in front o’ the fisherman and his wife – they had never seen as much money in their life. The fisherman’s wife was kind o’ crying and sad, but she rolled it in a shawl, she put it in the cradle and she gave the king the baby in the cradle.

  He took the old wooden cradle and the baby, placed it on his saddle and bade the fisherman and his wife ‘good-bye’, went on his way. ‘Now,’ he said to himself, ‘I have the baby an I’ll make sure that this baby … who is born the same night wis foretold by one of my great women inmy country, who is a great seer and the auldest even though the ugliest one, has always told truth ….’ He rode on for many miles and he’s wondering how, the best way to dispose of the baby, would he leave it in the forest to be destroyed by wild animals, or what would he – he could not have the heart to take a knife or a dagger and kill it … and as he’s making up his mind the best way to dispose of the baby his horse was dandering on, and sure enough he came to a little lake surrounded by trees.

  The king looked all around, there was not a soul to be seen – it was just a little lake in the hills and from the lake was a river floating down through the forest, and the king looked all around – he never saw a single huntsman or a soul. He says to himself, ‘This is the very place tae get rid o’ the baby.’ So he took the cradle and the baby – as hard as he could swing – he flung it right out into the middle o’ the little lake. He felt it kind o’ sad, but he turned his back to the lake and he on his horse, he made on his way. ‘At last,’ he said, ‘he is gone, he’ll drown in the lake.’

  But as the king made his way home to his own palace, little did he know that these old people who made these cradles of solid oak made them real, had made them good and they were watertight. And the cradle just floated like a little boat, round and round the lake it went and round and round the lake with the current, and the baby’s still lying as dry as could be. The cradle floated on its way down the river, over rocks, down through bankings, down little streams, down it went, it travelled for over a mile and lo and behold – in it floated to a miller’s dam!

  This miller had a mill and he used the water coming from the river to turn his mill wheel, and behind the wheel was a dam which collected the water to give more force. And this particular day the miller was out with a long rake, a long pole, he’s pulling leaves and bits o’ sticks that come down the river from his wheel, big wooden wheel that drove the mill. When the first thing he sees coming floating down the dam was a cradle. The miller stood and he scratched his head, he knew it was a cradle and he saw there was something inside; and he rushed round, the cradle circled two or three times round the dam and he took his long pole, he pulled the cradle out. He lifted it up and he looked in – there lo and behold was the most beautiful little baby he’d ever seen in his life, a wee boy lying as quiet and content as if it was just in its mother’s house.

  The miller didn’t know what to do, he’s thunderstruck, ‘Where in the world …’ The miller knew that this led to a lake in the hills, he knew the river because he had followed it many times, ‘but where in the world,’ thought the miller, ‘would this come from? Someone must have abandoned it, mebbe a coach overturned an it fell in the river.’ He rushed back to his wife; they never had any children of their own. They weren’t very old people, just middle-aged. And he said, ‘Luik, wife, what I’ve got in the dam!’

  ‘Oh dear,’ said his wife, ‘a baby! Where in the world did it come from?’

  He said, ‘It cam down the river from the lake an I caught it in the dam.’

  The wife lifted it out and it started to giggle, she ran into the house with it and placed the cradle by the fire. ‘Husband,’ she says, ‘ye better make yir way back up the river, because mebbe the’re a coach overturned an the people are prob’ly hurt.’

  The miller said, ‘Yes, you take care o’ the baby an I’ll do the rest.’ So the miller walked up the river as far as he could, for over nearly two miles till he came to the lake, and he searched round the lake, he searched all round – he looked for wheel tracks – but lo and behold he never saw a soul. All he saw was the mark of a horse’s feet on the ground round the lake: he saw where the horse came in, he saw where the horse went out on the soft earth on the lake; he knew that someone then had thrown the baby in. He walked back to his wife and he told her.

  ‘Well,’ she says, ‘if someone abandoned it, they must hae put it in the lake … it must be fir me and you, so we’ll keep it.’ And keep it they did. They kept the baby for eighteen long years, for eighteen long years they kept the baby. It grew up like their own son, a beautiful young man, handsome young man, tall and fair; and he worked from the day he was five years old with his daddy in the mill, he never knew who he was, he just called them his ‘Daddy’ and his ‘Mammy’.

  But lo and behold after eighteen years had passed, one day the same king who was getting up in his years now, was very old, had gone out with his huntsmen on a boar hunt. He’d hunted for many many days and for many many miles, and the king not being as able to keep up with the rest o’ the huntsmen felt kind o’ tired, he stopped for a rest. And the huntsmen left him and he got lost, he got lost and never knew what way the huntsmen went.

  So he travelled on, he wandered on here and there trying to make his mind, find his huntsmen, when lo and behold the first thing he came to was a mill. He saw the mill-wheel go round and he saw the miller’s dam. ‘At last,’ he said, ‘I’ve found some habitation, someone must know here, there must be
someone lives here.’ So he rode his horse up to the front o’ the mill, and the miller as usual was busy working in front o’ the mill wheel, cleaning the leaves and sticks away from the dam to let the wheel turn round. The king slowly got off his horse, and the miller looked round. But now the king was dressed in his finery – the miller knew who it was!

  The miller went down on his knees and he said, ‘Ir Majesty, what can I do for ye?’

  The king said, ‘I’m lost. Have ye seen any of my couriers or my people or ma huntsmen?’

  ‘No, Ir Majesty,’ says the miller, ‘My majesty the King, I have not seen anybody here fir days. Won’t you come in an rest fir a while?’ So he rushed the king into the kitchen into his little house, bade him ‘sit doon bi the fire’, called fir the woman to fetch the king something to drink. The king was really tired and hungry and weary. Then lo and behold in walks this young man.

  And he turns round, the miller says to him, ‘Go and take care of the king’s horse!’ The young man bowed to the king and walked backwards out through the door.

  And the king looked – he’d never seen a more handsome or beautiful young man in his life. Then the young man walked back into the house once more, he said, ‘That is Ir Majesty’s horse tooken care of, Father,’ an he sat down by the fireside.

  The king talked to the miller and the wife brought him something to eat, something to drink, and the king was quite pleased. ‘I’ll get your horse ready whenever you feel like it,’ said the young man.

  And the king said, ‘That is a lovely young son you’ve got. I’ve never seen one look so clever an so intelligent.’

  ‘Well, tae tell you the truth, Ir Majesty, I cannot lie to you,’ he said, ‘he’s not wir son.’

  The king said, ‘Not yir son?’

  ‘No,’ said the miller, ‘he’s not wir son. Ir Majesty, many people we hev deceived along the way for eighteen years, but, Ir Majesty, we couldn’t deceive you an tell you a lie because you are our king – he’s not wir son.’

  ‘Well, if he’s not your son,’ said the king, ‘is he yir brother or yir relation o’ some kind, or yir nephew?’

  ‘No,’ said the old miller, ‘tae tell you the truth, Ir Majesty, it’s a funny story – eighteen years ago I found him floatin in the dam in a cradle.’ Then the king remembered! ‘And that,’ said the old man, ‘is the same cradle by the fireside – we’ve never partit with it – that’s his cradle.’

  And the king looked and the king saw: this was the same cradle he got from the fisherman. The king was upset in a terrible way, he didn’t know what to do! He knew now that the young man was alive and strong and good-looking, as beautiful a young man as he’d ever seen in his life. The king thought, he raked his head for a plan, how he was going to get rid of this young man he had no idea. He knew now that it was the fisherman’s son he had thrown in the dam eighteen years before. Then he said to the miller, ‘Has yir son ever rode on a horse?’

  ‘No,’ said the miller, ‘my son has never had the pleasure of ridin a horse.’

  ‘Well,’ said the king, ‘I’m very tired an I wondered if he’d take a message fir me to the palace – tae get somebody tae bring a coach because I’m not able to ride my horse back that long long distance? I wonder if you would ask him, would he take my horse – it’s quite gentle – all he needs tae do is sit on its back, jist guide it, as it’ll take him back tae the palace, there they’ll find a coach to bring me home.’

  Of course, Ir Majesty,’ said the miller, ‘my son will do that fir you!’

  He called to his son and told him, ‘You must take a message to the palace. And the king shall stay here at the mill with me till you return with a coach to bring him back, because he doesn’t feel too good to ride his horse. Do you think ye could manage tae ride the king’s horse to the palace?’

  And the king said, ‘Remember now, it’s a long way from here, it’s prob’ly two days’ journey.’

  And the young man said, ‘I’m sure I’ll manage, Ir Majesty, I’ve never been on a horse, but I’ve a good idea how to get there. I’ll surely find my way.’

  So the king calls for a paper and a quill and some ink; he writes her a letter, seals it and gives it to the young man, says, ‘You take this to the queen! When you arrive there to the queen with it, you’ll be well rewarded.’

  The young man bids his father and mother, the old miller, ‘Good-bye, good day’, and he does the same to the king. He takes the king’s horse, he rides on, and he rides and rides and rides for many hours, he came to the forest. He’d never been this way before and lo and behold – he got lost! He got lost in the forest and he didn’t know in the world what direction to take to the palace or to the big town where the palace was, but he’d worked hard that morning and he was tired. He came to this little path, led the horse down, and sure enough in the middle o’ the forest he came to a little cabin. He got off and tied up the horse. He walked to the cabin but there was not a soul to be seen – it was empty. There was a fireplace, a table and some chairs in the cabin, some sheepskins and some goatskins on the floor, plenty firewood by the fireside.

  So the young man went out, he took the saddle off the horse, took the bridle off, got the reins and tied it round the horse’s neck, and tied it to a tree, gave the horse enough room so’s it couldn’t escape to eat some grass, keep it alive. So after he saw that the horse was cared for and couldn’t escape, could reach as much grass that would keep it for a few hours, the young man went in by the fireside, kindled up the fire; and he’d carried a few pieces o’ meat and scones and things that his mother had given him to see him on his journey, he sat by the fireside and had a meal. Then wearied and tired he gathered some o’ the skins, he lay down by the fireside and fell asleep.

  Now, unknown to the young man this cabin in the forest was owned by many robbers, about five or six who robbed and stole and thieved all over the country, and they always disappeared into the forest, they stayed in this cabin. And lo and behold they were all away out thieving and stealing, then they came back one by one; when they came in one by one they came quietly, because they saw the horse tied up to the tree outside and they wondered who it was in their cabin. They came in very carefully, they all sat down round the table and they started to drink the wine they had stolen or bought, wherever they got it. And sure enough there by the fireside lay this beautiful young man.

  The chief o’ the robbers said, ‘We’ve got an intruder in wir cabin and I don’t know how we’re gaunna get rid of him. If he wakes up an finds … this place, then this place’ll be no good for us anymore.’ So they’re sitting talking and wondering what they’re going to do, when the oldest one who was a family man himself, who’d remembered way back many years ago that he too had sons that he’d probably forgotten about and he’d wondered if they had ever forgot about him, looked once more – pulled back the sheepskins that the young man had himself happed up with – and he saw a letter stuck in his belt! ‘I wonder,’ says the old man (he could read even suppose he was a robber) – he pulled the letter from the young man’s belt and he opened it, as carefully as he could. He read it aloud to the rest o’ the robbers, some who couldn’t read.

  One was saying, ‘What dis it say, what dis it say? Who is he, what dis it say? Is he a king’s messenger, is he a king’s son, is he a prince?’

  ‘Not atall, not atall, not atall!’ said the robber chief. ‘Jist be quiet an I’ll read it to ye … He’s “a miller’s son”, an you know the miller as well as me – many times we passed by his place – he he’s been guid to us, he’s never interfered an never gien away wir secrets in any way … and he’s on his way tae his death!’

  ‘Tae his death?’ said the rest o’ the robbers.

  ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘at the present moment the king is at the mill, an this letter says that “when this young man arrives at the palace he’s got to be put to death immediately, because this is the one”.’

  ‘What in the name of creation,’ said the robbers, ‘what would a youn
g man like that do to anybody to warran’ his death?’

  The old one went to his bag, and he was a scholar, he’d carried many books and papers even suppose he was a robber; he had in his bag some quills and some ink, because he used to leave messages for people along the wayside. He took the letter that the king had wrote and he threw it in the fire. Then he wrote in a hand as good as the king: ‘When this young man arrives at the palace, he is the one that we want. And I want you to a-marry him immediately to my daughter the princess. (Signed) The King.’ He folded it, put it back, stuck it in the young man’s belt – and the young man’s still sleeping on. The robbers sat, they had their drink and they quietly went their way into the forest. The young man had slept through all this, he’d never known a thing.

  He woke up, rubbed his eyes, wondered for a wee while where he was and then he remembered. Got up, tidied up the rugs that he’d used, put them back where he found them, made sure the fire wouldn’t do any harm (it was burned out by this time), walked out of the door, there was his horse standing quite contented full o’ grass … the robbers were gone. He put the saddle on the horse, and the bridle, climbed up on the horse’s back and made his way down through the forest. He hit the highway, the track going through the forest and he made his way on, he rode for miles. And sure enough at last he rode into the town where the palace was, the king’s palace.

  He landed up to the king’s palace, the king’s castle; and these castles in the old days were just made o’ stone, a few hamlets and houses round about – they weren’t like the big towns ye see nowadays – there was a few guards walking about. He walked to see the queen. They asked him why he had come, and he said he had a message from the king, that the king had sent a message that he must deliver to the queen immediately. And when he showed the message to the guards signed by the king’s hand, they led him before the queen. He bowed to the queen, his horse was taken care of and he gave the letter to the queen.