The Tale of King Demarth
[a story by Bear Heart the Story Teller - aka, Sha'Tara]
The old woman looked intently at the young girl at her knee as she sat by the smoldering fire of the hearth. Outside the wind blew and scraped branches against the stone of the cottage.
"Did I ever tell you the story of King Demarth of Ulmn?"
"No, you have not."
"It is a very good story. Now I have to think for a minute or two, just to remember some of the details. You see, it's an old story, handed down many generations in our family. So many generations..." she goes silent and sighs.
"Yes, now I can begin:
"Once upon a time, in a land far away there was a king called Demarth who lived in a mighty castle. He had many men-at-arms and over the years his father and he conquered the surrounding kingdoms and added them to their domain called Ulmn.
The king, therefore, was powerful and very rich. He was also a man who loved adventure. Often he'd go out into the countryside with only a couple of retainers, and sometimes he'd even go alone.
On one of his lonely rides one day he strayed farther than usual and found himself in a strange part of the land. He was no longer certain if this part belonged to his kingdom or not. As he pondered which way to go, his horse, a tall black war-horse, snorted and angled his ears forward toward what looked like an orchard. The king urged the horse forward and was suddenly hit in the head with a well-aimed green apple.
"Ho," he cried. "Who is it dares to throw apples at the king?"
A young woman climbed down from a loaded apple tree and stared at the king and his horse. Then she slipped to her knees and bent her head.
"My lord - I thought thieves were in our land again. I have grievously offended you, take my life."
The king bade her rise and he looked her over. She was indeed very beautiful, though dressed almost in rags and her red hair was unkempt and wild about her head.
"What is your name, girl?"
"Alnya" my lord, she replied.
"Do you have parents?" he asked her.
"My father was killed in the king's wars before I was born. My mother lives in our cottage. I have two brothers much older than I. They work in the fields."
"Take me to your mother, then - how far is it?"
"About a mile, my lord."
He brought the great war horse near her, grabbed her and swept her in front of him on the horse. She gasped as they galloped to the cottage. Once there, the king asked for water, drank, then gave the peasant woman a purse filled with gold coins in exchange for her hospitality and her daughter to take back to the castle.
For you see the king had fallen madly in love with the beautiful and daring peasant girl and had decided to make her his bride. This he confided to her as they rode back to the castle beyond the great stone wall. She wept at the news but he did not understand nor did he enquire of the reason. Tears are affairs of women he'd been taught - best left alone.
I won't bore you with the details of making this peasant girl into a courtesan, but she learned fast. She had her brothers brought to the castle to train for knighthood, and her mother came to live there as well. The farm was rented and kept in the family by the king's law.
The gist of the story, my girl, is that Alnya had a lover before she met the king. She tried to forget him but one day he came even to the castle looking for her. They saw each other and she contrived to meet him. They swore love to each other and she promised to find a way to be reunited with him. Then she made him leave so that, should things turn sour, he would not be discovered. Despite their love, great was the fear in each of them.
Alnya decided to risk all. She went to the king and declared that she had a lover and wanted to return to him to be married to him, despite the certainty of poverty, or worse.
The king became very angry. You see, he too loved Alnya. And he had the power of his law to force her to marry him. He could even have the peasant lover thrown into his dungeons for life, or killed. He ordered Alnya away to her chambers and took his great horse out for a ride.
As he rode, he made a point of noticing everything that moved. The birds, animals and the people at their work or children at play. He stopped on a high, bare hill, dismounted and thought about his situation. His anger was abated now. He watched an eagle soaring high in the sky, then come down, lower and lower, suddenly swooping into tall grass and coming back up with a rodent in its talons.
How like that eagle I am, thought the mighty king. How easy it is for me, so high, to pounce down and just take what I want. Perhaps too easy. Perhaps I must suffer shame and defeat again, as I did when my wife the queen died in childbirth and I was left alone. Perhaps the happiness of others is of more importance to the mighty than their own. What is our purpose but to ensure the weaker are protected from injustice as well as from physical harm? How much the more from any injustice I myself would inflict upon them?
The great king mounted his horse and rode through the forest in silence, coming upon Alnya's village. He enquired after a young apprentice smith he was interested in for the castle forge, so he said. He found the boy at the forge, working the bellows.
"Ah, my lord the king," said the smith. "Please come in. Is there something wrong with your horse, a loose or missing shoe perhaps?"
"No my good man," said the king. "I wish a word with your apprentice, Garthain."
So the king walked a ways with Garthain, Alnya's lover. Suddenly the king turned upon Garthain and pulling his long double handed knight's sword from its diamond-studded sheath, said, "Kneel, knave, for you crave the king's own betrothed and I must challenge you."
Trembling, the young man kneeled. But he looked the king in the eyes and said, "I love Alnya. I always have. We were lovers when you took her away. You took my heart and desire to live when you took her then. So take that sword in your hand and strike me dead. May my head be the trophy you bring to her wedding bed."
The king help up the sword and brought it down... gently upon Garthain's shoulder.
"I knight thee in the name of God and the Kingdom. If it suits you now, find a horse and ride back with me to the castle. Indeed there will be a wedding this week, and indeed it will be that of the fair Alnya. But let it be said by all that she marries, not of duress or fear, but of love. When you are married, you may choose to live here in the village - with my blessings and gold for help, or you may join my knights at the castle, though I warn you it is a harsh life there."
And so it came to pass that the king rose to be mighty and had peace in his land for as long as he lived. And though he did not have a love of his own, he had the love of an entire kingdom, to his dying day, and he was mourned greatly for he had been the best king anyone had ever known.
And thus, it was said long ago, should all the mighty behave towards those over whom they reign or rule.
And now this story is yours and in turn you must tell it to your children. Do not forget it, ever.
This is my first time hearing
About this story And I agree we must feel
Pain and suffering in order
To know about love!
I love reading stories but this one
Held my interest and then I wanted to read again
And I enjoyed the second time as much
As the first one!
I Guss I will be telling this story
To the great grand kids!!
Excellent !!
Love And Peace To You my friend...Morning Star
Aberjhani
katie :)
Peace. Joyce
Thanks for sharing!!
Love TinkaSweets
Georg
Be safe,
Karen
~hugs~
Karen
Sort of a "flip side" of Braveheart ! TK.
Felix
George
Best regards,
Leland
Maryvonne
Elizabeth