by Mark Twain
CHAPTER XIX. The Prince with the peasants.
When the King awoke in the early morning, he found that a wet butthoughtful rat had crept into the place during the night and made a cosybed for itself in his bosom. ?Being disturbed now, it scampered away.The boy smiled, and said, "Poor fool, why so fearful? ?I am as forlornas thou. ?'Twould be a sham in me to hurt the helpless, who am myself sohelpless. ?Moreover, I owe you thanks for a good omen; for when a kinghas fallen so low that the very rats do make a bed of him, it surelymeaneth that his fortunes be upon the turn, since it is plain he can nolower go."
He got up and stepped out of the stall, and just then he heard the soundof children's voices. ?The barn door opened and a couple of little girlscame in. ?As soon as they saw him their talking and laughing ceased, andthey stopped and stood still, gazing at him with strong curiosity; theypresently began to whisper together, then they approached nearer, andstopped again to gaze and whisper. ?By-and-by they gathered courage andbegan to discuss him aloud. ?One said--
"He hath a comely face."
The other added--
"And pretty hair."
"But is ill clothed enow."
"And how starved he looketh."
They came still nearer, sidling shyly around and about him, examininghim minutely from all points, as if he were some strange new kind ofanimal, but warily and watchfully the while, as if they half feared hemight be a sort of animal that would bite, upon occasion. ?Finally theyhalted before him, holding each other's hands for protection, and took agood satisfying stare with their innocent eyes; then one of them pluckedup all her courage and inquired with honest directness--
"Who art thou, boy?"
"I am the King," was the grave answer.
The children gave a little start, and their eyes spread themselves wideopen and remained so during a speechless half minute. ?Then curiositybroke the silence--
"The _King_? ?What King?"
"The King of England."
The children looked at each other--then at him--then at each otheragain--wonderingly, perplexedly; then one said--
"Didst hear him, Margery?--he said he is the King. ?Can that be true?"
"How can it be else but true, Prissy? ?Would he say a lie? ?For lookyou, Prissy, an' it were not true, it _would_ be a lie. ?It surely wouldbe. Now think on't. ?For all things that be not true, be lies--thoucanst make nought else out of it."
It was a good tight argument, without a leak in it anywhere; and it leftPrissy's half-doubts not a leg to stand on. ?She considered a moment,then put the King upon his honour with the simple remark--
"If thou art truly the King, then I believe thee."
"I am truly the King."
This settled the matter. ?His Majesty's royalty was accepted withoutfurther question or discussion, and the two little girls began at onceto inquire into how he came to be where he was, and how he came to be sounroyally clad, and whither he was bound, and all about his affairs. ?Itwas a mighty relief to him to pour out his troubles where they would notbe scoffed at or doubted; so he told his tale with feeling, forgettingeven his hunger for the time; and it was received with the deepest andtenderest sympathy by the gentle little maids. ?But when he got downto his latest experiences and they learned how long he had been withoutfood, they cut him short and hurried him away to the farmhouse to find abreakfast for him.
The King was cheerful and happy now, and said to himself, "When Iam come to mine own again, I will always honour little children,remembering how that these trusted me and believed in me in my timeof trouble; whilst they that were older, and thought themselves wiser,mocked at me and held me for a liar."
The children's mother received the King kindly, and was full of pity;for his forlorn condition and apparently crazed intellect touched herwomanly heart. ?She was a widow, and rather poor; consequently she hadseen trouble enough to enable her to feel for the unfortunate. ?Sheimagined that the demented boy had wandered away from his friends orkeepers; so she tried to find out whence he had come, in order thatshe might take measures to return him; but all her references toneighbouring towns and villages, and all her inquiries in the same linewent for nothing--the boy's face, and his answers, too, showed that thethings she was talking of were not familiar to him. ?He spoke earnestlyand simply about court matters, and broke down, more than once, whenspeaking of the late King 'his father'; but whenever the conversationchanged to baser topics, he lost interest and became silent.
The woman was mightily puzzled; but she did not give up. ?As sheproceeded with her cooking, she set herself to contriving devices tosurprise the boy into betraying his real secret. ?She talked aboutcattle--he showed no concern; then about sheep--the same result: ?soher guess that he had been a shepherd boy was an error; she talked aboutmills; and about weavers, tinkers, smiths, trades and tradesmen of allsorts; and about Bedlam, and jails, and charitable retreats: ?but nomatter, she was baffled at all points. ?Not altogether, either; for sheargued that she had narrowed the thing down to domestic service. ?Yes,she was sure she was on the right track, now; he must have been a houseservant. ?So she led up to that. ?But the result was discouraging. Thesubject of sweeping appeared to weary him; fire-building failed to stirhim; scrubbing and scouring awoke no enthusiasm. The goodwife touched,with a perishing hope, and rather as a matter of form, upon the subjectof cooking. ?To her surprise, and her vast delight, the King's facelighted at once! ?Ah, she had hunted him down at last, she thought; andshe was right proud, too, of the devious shrewdness and tact which hadaccomplished it.
Her tired tongue got a chance to rest, now; for the King's, inspiredby gnawing hunger and the fragrant smells that came from the sputteringpots and pans, turned itself loose and delivered itself up to such aneloquent dissertation upon certain toothsome dishes, that within threeminutes the woman said to herself, "Of a truth I was right--he hathholpen in a kitchen!" ?Then he broadened his bill of fare, and discussedit with such appreciation and animation, that the goodwife said toherself, "Good lack! how can he know so many dishes, and so fine oneswithal? ?For these belong only upon the tables of the rich and great.?Ah, now I see! ragged outcast as he is, he must have served in thepalace before his reason went astray; yes, he must have helped in thevery kitchen of the King himself! ?I will test him."
Full of eagerness to prove her sagacity, she told the King to mind thecooking a moment--hinting that he might manufacture and add a dish ortwo, if he chose; then she went out of the room and gave her children asign to follow after. ?The King muttered--
"Another English king had a commission like to this, in a bygonetime--it is nothing against my dignity to undertake an office which thegreat Alfred stooped to assume. ?But I will try to better serve my trustthan he; for he let the cakes burn."
The intent was good, but the performance was not answerable to it, forthis King, like the other one, soon fell into deep thinkings concerninghis vast affairs, and the same calamity resulted--the cookery gotburned. The woman returned in time to save the breakfast from entiredestruction; and she promptly brought the King out of his dreams with abrisk and cordial tongue-lashing. Then, seeing how troubled he wasover his violated trust, she softened at once, and was all goodness andgentleness toward him.
The boy made a hearty and satisfying meal, and was greatly refreshed andgladdened by it. ?It was a meal which was distinguished by this curiousfeature, that rank was waived on both sides; yet neither recipientof the favour was aware that it had been extended. ?The goodwife hadintended to feed this young tramp with broken victuals in a corner,like any other tramp or like a dog; but she was so remorseful for thescolding she had given him, that she did what she could to atone for itby allowing him to sit at the family table and eat with his betters, onostensible terms of equality with them; and the King, on his side, wasso remorseful for having broken his trust, after the family had been sokind to him, that he forced himself to atone for it by humbling himselfto the family level, instead of requiring the woman and her children tostand and wait upon him, while he occupied
their table in the solitarystate due to his birth and dignity. ?It does us all good to unbendsometimes. ?This good woman was made happy all the day long by theapplauses which she got out of herself for her magnanimous condescensionto a tramp; and the King was just as self-complacent over his gracioushumility toward a humble peasant woman.
When breakfast was over, the housewife told the King to wash up thedishes. ?This command was a staggerer, for a moment, and the King camenear rebelling; but then he said to himself, "Alfred the Great watchedthe cakes; doubtless he would have washed the dishes too--therefore willI essay it."
He made a sufficiently poor job of it; and to his surprise too, for thecleaning of wooden spoons and trenchers had seemed an easy thing to do.It was a tedious and troublesome piece of work, but he finished itat last. ?He was becoming impatient to get away on his journey now;however, he was not to lose this thrifty dame's society so easily. ?Shefurnished him some little odds and ends of employment, which he gotthrough with after a fair fashion and with some credit. ?Then she sethim and the little girls to paring some winter apples; but he was soawkward at this service that she retired him from it and gave him abutcher knife to grind.
Afterwards she kept him carding wool until he began to think he had laidthe good King Alfred about far enough in the shade for the present inthe matter of showy menial heroisms that would read picturesquely instory-books and histories, and so he was half-minded to resign. ?Andwhen, just after the noonday dinner, the goodwife gave him a basketof kittens to drown, he did resign. ?At least he was just going toresign--for he felt that he must draw the line somewhere, and itseemed to him that to draw it at kitten-drowning was about the rightthing--when there was an interruption. ?The interruption was JohnCanty--with a peddler's pack on his back--and Hugo.
The King discovered these rascals approaching the front gate before theyhad had a chance to see him; so he said nothing about drawing the line,but took up his basket of kittens and stepped quietly out the back way,without a word. ?He left the creatures in an out-house, and hurried on,into a narrow lane at the rear.
