"O brother!" cried the little maid, clasping her hands with a sob.
"How could you!"
"Let us forget that," said John brightly. "Let us be friends. You will get well and learn to love the animals for their own sake."
"Oh, yes!" said the little girl. "I never saw any before, but how can one help loving these dear little pets,--and the lovely bird?" She stroked the white feathers tenderly.
But the Prince covered his face with his hands and seemed to be weeping. "I cannot forget!" he said brokenly.
John felt very uncomfortable. "If only I could make him laugh, now!"
he thought. Then an idea came to him,--a funny idea which made his eyelids quiver and the brown spot wink.
With a twist of his body he suddenly stood upon his head at the foot of the Prince"s couch, and, waving his feet in the air, began to walk about the chamber on his hands. The Prince uncovered his eyes and gazed in astonishment at such antics.
Presently John regained his feet, and kissing his hand began to turn somersaults vigorously all about the apartment. The little Princess clapped her hands and began to laugh. The Prince watched him, fascinated. Presently, as John"s high spirits broke out into fuller pranks and gyrations, the Prince"s lips quivered. He began to grin.
"Oh, you are a tumbler," he said. "I am glad you have come here! Do it again."
So John did it again; and this time the Prince, watching him, echoed the gay laugh of the little Princess. "It is as good as a play," he said, feebly wiping the tears of merriment from his cheeks. "I wish I could do it myself!"
[Ill.u.s.tration: I wish I could do it myself!]
"You must get well first," said John, laughing.
"I will try," said the Prince, with a new spirit in his tone. And from that moment he began to grow stronger.
Now came days when the palace was much happier than it had been for years. The presence of the animals was in itself a joy to the King"s people, long starved for the lack of pets. And John"s sunny face and quaint smile were reflected on all about him. There is nothing so catching as good humor, and John started an epidemic which spread through the palace, and indeed through the whole city. No one knew how it happened. But before long the flaxen-haired boy was the pet of the whole town. Not only was he welcome always in the Prince"s chamber, but every door at which he knocked opened gladly to him, and he was at home wherever he went.
Only the King held aloof. He had grown strangely grim and sullen since his son"s cure was a.s.sured. The King was jealous.
What with the animals to play with and John"s tumbling, the Prince was continually in gales of laughter, and every day he grew plumper and more rosy. Sometimes it was Brutus who amused him; often the cat and kittens, his first friends. The raven became a great favorite after his introduction to the Prince, which happened in this wise.
John had delayed to bring the bird into the royal chamber, he was so mischievous. But one day when the Prince seemed very merry, John slipped out and fetched the black fellow on his shoulder. On being invited to do so, the raven hopped gravely to the foot of the bed, where he perched, eyeing the Prince with little round eyes and head c.o.c.ked knowingly.
Presently the bird gave a queer screech, and began to imitate John"s own laughter so exactly that the Prince shook with mirth. At this the raven stood upon one leg gravely, and began to sidle along the footboard of the bed. Presently he spied some fruit carved on the wooden uprights, and making a dart began to peck at the pears and peaches. Then, discovering his mistake, once more he began to chuckle, this time so heartily that he seemed ready to have a fit. And as he listened the Prince"s mouth widened and he burst into roars of laughter.
"Hush, you foolish bird!" said John reprovingly. "Be not so noisy in a Prince"s chamber. It is not good manners!" and he threw his handkerchief over the raven"s head.
But the Prince protested. "Let him do his pleasure," he said, laughing. "I have not seen anything so funny for many a day. I shall teach him many tricks."
So the raven stayed with the Prince, and learned many tricks. And the carrier pigeon stayed. And the others stayed,--all but the wolf, who would never leave John,--making themselves quite at home on the Prince"s velvet couch. And the little Princess played with them, enjoying the happiest hours of her life.
One only of the animals the Prince had not seen. The Hermit and John agreed that until he was stronger he must not see the bear whom he had once tried to kill. For they knew that now it would make the Prince sad and ashamed to remember that day in the forest. Such a change had come upon the young man! He was no longer hard and cruel, but tender and affectionate.
The King felt the change, and it made him angry.
XXIV
THE KING
Daily, as the Prince grew stronger, he became more and more devoted to the animals, to John and the good Hermit. He could scarcely bear them out of his sight. When they were with him his face lighted with smiles, and he seemed to blossom as a flower does in sunshine. Only in the presence of the King he grew silent and sad once more. The light pa.s.sed from his eyes as he looked at the grim old man. A visit from the King was almost enough to undo the good effects of a whole day of happiness.
The King knew this, and it made him furious. He did not see that it was his own fault; that it was the badness in him which made the Prince shrink. He thought it was the doing of some one else. He grew to hate the Hermit and John and the animals, of whom his son and daughter were so fond. In his heart he cared little for any one. He had never loved the Princess Clare, and the Prince was dear only because one day he would be king. Yet Robert hated to see them love any one else.
The King was resolved to put an end to this state of things as soon as might be. But he dared not do anything yet for fear of causing his son to fall ill again. He sat and brooded and planned in his wicked heart what he would do when the Prince should be well once more. And for him the time went slowly which others found so happy.
Of all this the Prince and John guessed nothing. For the King seemed to them no more gruff and grum than usual. All the wishes of the strangers were regarded, and they were treated like distinguished guests in the palace. But the Hermit kept his eyes open. And one other was not blind to the King"s hatred. Clare, the little Princess who had never been loved by her father, knew the meaning of the black looks which he sometimes cast upon the two forest-comers, and her heart was uneasy, for she loved them both.
The Prince grew so much better that he could walk about. One day he was lying upon his couch in a balcony overlooking the royal park. The Hermit sat close by, reading aloud from the book which he was teaching the Prince to love, as he had taught John. The little Princess bent over her embroidery frame at the foot of the couch, and John himself, on the floor at her feet, was playing with Brutus. The other animals and birds were straying about the balcony, or lay cuddled in the Prince"s lap. John thought how like this scene was to the Animal Kingdom in the woods; yet how unlike. And he glanced from the Prince to the Princess with a smile of content. It seemed hardly possible that this was the land where no pets were allowed; where hunting was the favorite sport of the King and his son!
Suddenly, in a pause of the reading, the Prince put out his hand.
"Friends," he said, "you have taught me many things in these weeks that you have dwelt under this roof. You have cured me; you have made me laugh. I have been thinking much of late how it is that where you come folk are happy. Your faces make the world smile. How different from my father and me! We have always made every one weep. There has been something wrong, I know not what. No one loves us,--not even Clare here."
"O brother!" protested the little maid, "I have always loved you. But never so dearly as now, when you have grown so kind."
John spoke gently. "You will change all this when you are king," he said.
The Prince shook his head. "No, they will never love me as they do you. I would fain be different, but I can never be like you, John.
You should be king, not I."
John laughed. "And what would become of the Animal Kingdom then?" he said. "My father and I have been talking together. We must soon go back to our woods and our little friends there."
"Oh, you must not go!" gasped the Prince, turning pale. "You must never leave me! I can never again be alone with the King!"
He looked so terror-stricken that the Hermit and John were silent for pity.
"I have been thinking," went on the Prince gravely, "that when I am king, if that time ever comes,--and they say that it must, since there is no other son of our house,--I shall need much help, for I am weak and not wise. You, good father, I would have you for my counselor.
And you,"--he laid his arm affectionately on John"s shoulder,--"you shall be my brother and share the throne with me."
"Nay, thrones cannot be shared thus," said the Hermit, looking at both boys with some agitation. "You are a king"s son. But we are of the woods, my Prince. I at least have other work to do. As John says, there is the Animal Kingdom--what is to become of that?"
"Why, there will be no need for you to go to find it," answered the Prince eagerly. "When I am king all shall be changed. This shall be the Animal Kingdom. There shall be no more hunting or killing here.
There shall be pets,--more than in any other land. For I have seen how unhappy are folk who live without them."
"Now G.o.d be praised!" cried the good Hermit, with tears in his eyes.
And John embraced the Prince heartily, while the little Princess clapped her hands and cried with shining eyes, "Oh! we shall all live together forever and ever, as happily as if this were the lovely forest which is John"s home."
"Nay," said the Hermit gravely, "I cannot live here. I must go back to my woods. I have vowed never again to live away from my Forest Kingdom. But you, John, have taken no vow. Will you stay here with the Prince, or will you go back with me? Make now your choice."
John looked wistfully at the Prince and Princess, for he loved them well. He looked at the animals who crowded around him and seemed to be listening to his words. He knew how eager they were to be back in the forest. He looked at the Hermit.
"Oh, stay!" cried the Prince. "Stay and be my brother, and I will make you rich and powerful."
"Oh, stay!" begged the little Princess. "Stay and be my brother, too!"