登陆注册
26326000000007

第7章 III THE LEGEND OF THE LOST PRINCE(2)

In every nook and cranny, high and low, they sought for him, believing that the king himself had made him prisoner in some secret place, or had privately had him killed. The fury of the people grew to frenzy. There were new risings, and every few days the palace was attacked and searched again. But no trace of the prince was found. He had vanished as a star vanishes when it drops from its place in the sky. During a riot in the palace, when a last fruitless search was made, the king himself was killed. A powerful noble who headed one of the uprisings made himself king in his place. From that time, the once splendid little kingdom was like a bone fought for by dogs. Its pastoral peace was forgotten. It was torn and worried and shaken by stronger countries. It tore and worried itself with internal fights. It assassinated kings and created new ones. No man was sure in his youth what ruler his maturity would live under, or whether his children would die in useless fights, or through stress of poverty and cruel, useless laws. There were no more shepherds and herdsmen who were poets, but on the mountain sides and in the valleys sometimes some of the old songs were sung.

Those most beloved were songs about a Lost Prince whose name had been Ivor. If he had been king, he would have saved Samavia, the verses said, and all brave hearts believed that he would still return. In the modern cities, one of the jocular cynical sayings was, “Yes, that will happen when Prince Ivor comes again.''

In his more childish days, Marco had been bitterly troubled by the unsolved mystery. Where had he gone--the Lost Prince? Had he been killed, or had he been hidden away in a dungeon? But he was so big and brave, he would have broken out of any dungeon.

The boy had invented for himself a dozen endings to the story.

“Did no one ever find his sword or his cap--or hear anything or guess anything about him ever--ever--ever?'' he would say restlessly again and again.

One winter's night, as they sat together before a small fire in a cold room in a cold city in Austria, he had been so eager and asked so many searching questions, that his father gave him an answer he had never given him before, and which was a sort of ending to the story, though not a satisfying one:

“Everybody guessed as you are guessing. A few very old shepherds in the mountains who like to believe ancient histories relate a story which most people consider a kind of legend. It is that almost a hundred years after the prince was lost, an old shepherd told a story his long-dead father had confided to him in secret just before he died. The father had said that, going out in the early morning on the mountain side, he had found in the forest what he at first thought to be the dead body of a beautiful, boyish, young huntsman. Some enemy had plainly attacked him from behind and believed he had killed him. He was, however, not quite dead, and the shepherd dragged him into a cave where he himself often took refuge from storms with his flocks.

Since there was such riot and disorder in the city, he was afraid to speak of what he had found; and, by the time he discovered that he was harboring the prince, the king had already been killed, and an even worse man had taken possession of his throne, and ruled Samavia with a blood-stained, iron hand. To the terrified and ****** peasant the safest thing seemed to get the wounded youth out of the country before there was any chance of his being discovered and murdered outright, as he would surely be. The cave in which he was hidden was not far from the frontier, and while he was still so weak that he was hardly conscious of what befell him, he was smuggled across it in a cart loaded with sheepskins, and left with some kind monks who did not know his rank or name. The shepherd went back to his flocks and his mountains, and lived and died among them, always in terror of the changing rulers and their savage battles with each other.

The mountaineers said among themselves, as the generations succeeded each other, that the Lost Prince must have died young, because otherwise he would have come back to his country and tried to restore its good, bygone days.''

“Yes, he would have come,'' Marco said.

“He would have come if he had seen that he could help his people,'' Loristan answered, as if he were not reflecting on a story which was probably only a kind of legend. “But he was very young, and Samavia was in the hands of the new dynasty, and filled with his enemies. He could not have crossed the frontier without an army. Still, I think he died young.''

It was of this story that Marco was thinking as he walked, and perhaps the thoughts that filled his mind expressed themselves in his face in some way which attracted attention. As he was nearing Buckingham Palace, a distinguished-looking well-dressed man with clever eyes caught sight of him, and, after looking at him keenly, slackened his pace as he approached him from the opposite direction. An observer might have thought he saw something which puzzled and surprised him. Marco didn't see him at all, and still moved forward, thinking of the shepherds and the prince. The well- dressed man began to walk still more slowly. When he was quite close to Marco, he stopped and spoke to him--in the Samavian language.

“What is your name?'' he asked.

Marco's training from his earliest childhood had been an extra-ordinary thing. His love for his father had made it ****** and natural to him, and he had never questioned the reason for it.

同类推荐
  • 庄子注

    庄子注

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • JENNY

    JENNY

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • Evangeline

    Evangeline

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 天台传佛心印记

    天台传佛心印记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 醒园录

    醒园录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 天才至尊妃之御兽三小姐

    天才至尊妃之御兽三小姐

    什么,我流雪莹堂堂21世纪的杀手之王—king,竟然悲剧地穿越了,还穿越到一个废物身上,oh,mygad,哼!废物!草包!花痴!贱人!哼,可能吗?她,是21世纪杀手之王—king,流雪莹。她,是玄天大陆上铁血王的草包孙女--冷霜月。当两个不同世界的灵魂融合在一起时,当她取代她时,会发生什么。再度睁眼,从前的胆小懦弱已不复存在,取而代之的是峰茂万丈,从此与他傲视天下。
  • 莺歌声声:江湖自有恋人心

    莺歌声声:江湖自有恋人心

    四角的青砖瓦楼,端庄的表面,终是困不住杜莺莺一颗梦想着闯荡江湖的侠女心。她偷学武功,翻墙逃家。却撞见了他!“七王爷,您怎么……来体验老百姓生活啊?!”她惊讶发问。“怎么,本王有兴趣闯江湖不行啊。哎,你要不要和我一起呢?”七王爷挑眉笑道。跟着王爷有肉吃,所以,杜莺莺……就很怂的……跟着了。
  • 甜恋——从游戏开始

    甜恋——从游戏开始

    因游戏结缘,携手走过一生,平平淡淡有何不好。
  • 武道宗师

    武道宗师

    在这里,武道不再是虚无缥缈的传说,而是切切实实的传承,经过与科技的对抗后,彻底融入了社会,有了各种各样的武道比赛,文无第一,武无第二!楼成得到武道一大流派断绝的传承后,向着最初的梦想,向着心里的荣耀,一步一步前进,都市之中仍有豪侠,当今时代依存英雄!
  • 龙筋凤髓判

    龙筋凤髓判

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 大学面面观

    大学面面观

    大学四年,斗过殴打过架,牛过B脑过残,搞笑过感动过,回头看看却感觉日子快的像略过一般,无奈回忆一番,送给那些被略过的日子~失败的人生也有值得纪念的东西,或是祭奠!
  • 重生之然枫学院

    重生之然枫学院

    重生一次,竟然从一个特工重生到一个叫做华夏的地方的老九门平三门的木家之中,成为木家大小姐。在得到这个木乔初的记忆后,她知道这就是一个考古世家,而这个别人下墓她看守没下过墓的木乔初,死在跟未婚夫取消婚礼后的第二天,伤心死在房间的,便宜了她。从此,她就是木乔初,下墓,她这个从死人堆里面出来的特工还会怕了不成。
  • 我和23岁美女总裁

    我和23岁美女总裁

    兵王回归都市…、、、、、、、、、、、、、、、、、
  • 重生洪荒之我是通天教主

    重生洪荒之我是通天教主

    你说许多关于通天的小说,为何很多都在半路上死去?我不是一个半途之人,我希望能把他完成。
  • 这是一个猪的故事

    这是一个猪的故事

    它不是猪八戒!更不是猪猪侠!就是一个等着被宰然后被人炒着吃?炖着吃?或者成为一个烤全猪?吃了睡,睡了吃,继续吃,继续睡,然后被宰,它就要这么过完它的一生吗?