Then the king said, "Show me this valiant prince who sleeps so soundly."
And when he saw the handsome young stripling, he recognised him as the lad whom he had driven from the palace. Then he turned to his prime minister, and said, "What reward should this youth have?"
And the prime minister answered at once, "Your daughter in marriage, and half your kingdom, is not too high a reward for the service he has rendered!"
So Ruby Prince was married in great state to the king's fair daughter, and half the kingdom was given him to rule.
But the young bride, much as she loved her gallant husband, was vexed because she knew not who he was, and because the other women in the palace twitted her with having married a stranger, a man come from No-man's-land, whom none called brother.
So, day after day, she would ask her husband to tell her who he was and whence he came, and every day Ruby Prince would reply, "Dear heart, ask me anything but that; for that you must not know!"
Yet still the princess begged, and prayed, and wept, and coaxed, until one day, when they were standing by the river side, she whispered, "If you love me, tell me of what race you are!"
Now Ruby Prince's foot touched the water as he replied, "Dear heart, anything but that; for that you must not know!" |
