• Two Sad Brothers
• The Young Lady and the Monster Puck

Two Sad Brothers

Long ago there was a king who left only two sons when he died. One in the prime of manhood and the other yet a youth. The elder succeeded to the empire. His name was King Henri, and he made his younger brother, Boniface, duke of Hungary. Each ruled his own for twenty years or so. But at the end of the twentieth year the elder king yearned to see his younger brother. He sent his minister to his brother a sealed letter, inviting him to visit him.

Whe the duke of Hungary got the invitation and the gifts that his brother had sent along with it, he rode out some days later.

When evening came the first day, he camped within sight of his city. But when the night was half spent he was reminded that he had forgotten in his castle something which he should have brought with him, so he returned privily and entered his apartments. There he found his wife asleep on his own carpet bed, embracing with both arms a Minorcan cook. When the duke saw this the world waxed black before his sight and he said,

"What will this woman do when I'm away for long?"

So he drew his sword and . . . afterwards resumed his travel; but he could not help thinking over his wife's treason. He kept saying to himself,

"How could she do that to me?"

Excessive grief seized him, and made him wane a lot.

When Duke Boniface came to the capital of his brother his elder brother noticed how he had changed and asked him about it.

The younger brother answered,

"I became like this on the long journey, dear brother!"

In this way he kept his secret.

One day some time later the elder brother again said,

"Brother, I see you are grown weaker of body and yellower."

"Brother," answered Duke Boniface "I have a wound inside me."

Henri summoned doctors and surgeons and bade them treat his brother. They did for a whole month; but to no avail. One day his elder brother said to him,

"I am going out to hunt. Come along!"

Duke Boniface refused, saying,

"Brother, let me instead stay quietly in this place."

So next morning, when his brother had left his castle on a hunting trip, the duke sat down at one of the lattice windows above the pleasure grounds. As he sat brooding, a private door swung open and out of it came twenty servant. They surrounded his brother's wife. At once Duke Boniface drew back from the window, but kept spying on them without being seen. The women in the garden went up to a jetting fountain in the middle of a great basin of water. They stripped off their clothes - ten of them were women, the other ten were handy servants. Then they all paired off, each with each. But the queen, who was left alone, cried out in a loud voice,

"Come here to me, my Renaud!"

Then sprang from one of the trees a big slobbering Corsican lover and entertained her well.

When Duke Boniface saw this conduct of his sister in law he said in himself,

"My calamity is lighter than that of my brother!"

He then put away his melancholy and despondency, regret and repine, and when supper time came he ate with a great appetite, and when night came, he was able to sleep well again.

When his brother came back from the chase ten days after, he wondered much, and then turned to his brother and said,

"Now your natural colour has returned to your face. Please tell me about it. Speak out and hide nothing!"

When Duke Boniface heard this he bowed his head for a while, then raised it and said,

"I will tell you, brother. When you sent your minister and invited me, I remember after riding out that I had left behind in the castle a string of jewels intended as a gift to you. I returned for it alone and found my wife on my carpet bed and in the arms of a Minorcan cook. But excuse me if I still refuse to tell you what was the reason of my complexion returning."

Henri shook his head, marvelling, and said,

"You have escaped many an evil by getting rid of your wife. I do not know what I would have done in such a case. But do not keep back how you got better when I was out hunting."

Duke Boniface thought he had better tell all he had seen, ending with these words,

"When I saw what I saw, I thought my own sorrow was little compared to it. So I was able to eat and drink and sleep. Thus I quickly regained health and strength. That is the truth and the whole truth."

When King Henri heard this he said,

"Brother, I need to see it with my own eyes."

Duke Boniface said, "That may be quite easily done. Make ready again for hunting, and then hide yourself with me, and we may witness it, both together."

The king then had it proclaimed that he wanted to travel again. He and his men camped within sight of his castle. When night came on he summoned his minister and said to him,

"Sit in my stead and let none know I am away till three days have passed."

Then the brothers disguised themselves and returned secretly by night to the castle. There they passed the dark hours. At dawn they seated themselves somewhere above the pleasure grounds. The queen and her servants came out as before. Passing under the windows they made for the fountain. Here they stripped. Ten of them were men, and ten were women. The king's wife cried out,

"Where are you, Renaud?"

The plentiful-looking Corsican lover jumped down from the tree straightway; and, rushing into her arms without stay or delay, cried out, "Right here!"

The lady laughed heartily and remained occupied with him for a couple of hours. King Henri saw all that happened, and muttered,

"Now I am no long in doubt. From my love enemies I'll deliver myself."

He did not procrastinate to let deeds follow words.

(Retold)

~ೞ⬯ೞ~

The Young Lady and the Monster Puck

The two royal brothers Henri and Bonaface decided to leave their kingdoms and wander through the world. One day they reached a tree in the middle of a meadow close to a spring of sweet water on the sea shore. Both drank of the sweet water and sat down to take a rest.

When an hour had passed, they suddenly heard sea waves break, and from the waves some being rose skywards and began making for that meadow.

Seeing it, the brothers climbed as fast as they safely could toward the top of the tree. From high up among the branches they saw a huge puck. He was carrying on his head a crystal chest. He strode to land, wading through the deep, and came to the tree and seated himself beneath it. He then set down the chest and unlocked it with seven keys he took from beside his thigh. Out of the chest came a young lady.

The monster puck seated her under the tree by his side and said,

"I snatched you away on your wedding night that no one else should enjoy you. Now I would sleep a little while."

He then laid his head on the lady's thighs, went to sleep and snored. The lady raised her head towards the sky, and in so doing she saw the two kings perched near the tree top and told them by way of signs,

"Come down!"

"Could you excuse us if we won't?"

She said, "Come down at once. If not, I will wake up this monster puck." They came down to her.

She said,

"Do not talk."

And then she let them know that if they did not do as she wanted of them she would wake up the monster puck. Both dealt with her as she asked them to; and she said,

"Well done!"

She then took from her pocket a purse with a great many seal rings tied to a thread in it, and asked,

"Do you know what these hundreds of rings mean?"

They did not.

"You will understand when you add your seal rings to the others."

When they had drawn their two rings from their hands and given them to her, they marvelled,

"This monster puck is worse off than we ever were. So let us return to our countries and capitals and thrones. As for women, a proverb says, 'Who looks down on woman could have forgotten his own mother.' Let us therefore carry on, nevertheless."

They reflected a while, and Bonaface added,

"A poet says:

'When the black thread breaks, the weaver shall look into the whole cloth, and he shall examine the loom also.'"

(Very much retold)