Even before they had been introduced, the Princess was decided.
“Father, this is the man I choose as my husband,” she announced to her father. But the King distrusted this strange man—almost everything about him felt wrong. “You should not be so hasty,” he told his daughter. “Let us talk to the man first, try to see who he really is, beneath all those nice clothes and pieces of wealth. Once we have done that, then we can make a rational decision.” Then, with a clatter, the door to the palace was thrust open and the elegant suitor stalked his way into the room. He introduced himself to the King as Lord Jato, and said he hailed from a kingdom far away to the south. “My dear King,” he said. “I have come for your daughter’s hand. That is, if she will have me.” And before the King could say a word, the Princess yelled out, “Yes! Yes, I will have you!” And so it was decided. The King offered his soon-to-be son a room in his own house and told him the Princess would be ready the following morning. That evening, the King went to his daughter’s room to give her his wedding gift. “Congratulations,” he said, “you have a mighty husband, now. May he prove worthy.” He hugged his daughter, then handed her a stock of coos. “This is my gift. Take this stock down to the stable, and offer it to whichever horse you choose. The first horse that accepts it is yours.” The Princess squealed with delight and hugged her father again. Then she took the coos and ran to the stable, where, it was well known, the finest horses in all the land were kept. After taking a moment to size them up, the vain Princess took the coos and marched straight up to the King’s own mare, but the horse whinnied angrily and would not accept the gift. So she went to the next horse, a stout, fine-haired Arabian, but it, too, refused the coos. Down the line she went, but each successive steed refused to have her, till eventually there was only one horse left—a spindly-legged runt. Reluctantly she held out the coos to the small stallion, which took it in its mouth and swallowed it eagerly. And so it, too, was decided. Early the next morning, Lord Jato met his new bride and her servant in the courtyard, and together they left the village. For two days they traveled through the father’s kingdom, and on the night of the third they came to the edge of the Wild Lands. That night, they made camp and the husband, who had barely spoken a word in days, left to hunt down dinner. Meanwhile, the Princess and her servant sat huddled under the moonless sky and listened to the eerie cries of the hungry animals. Then suddenly Lord Jato returned carrying fresh meat. He got off his horse and handed the meat to the servant, but, as he did so, the Princess caught a glimpse of something swishing behind him. But it was only there for a second and was gone, and the smell of the meat made the Princess, who was very hungry, forget all about it. |
The next day, they passed deeper into the Wild Lands and, in the evening, came to a large cave.
“We will stay here till tomorrow,” said the Lord Jato. The Princess didn’t like the look of the cave, but was too frightened of her husband to say anything. That night, the Lord went out hunting again, but this time he took the servant with him, leaving the Princess all alone in the darkness. “I wish I had listened to my father,” she said to herself bitterly. “I wish I could go home!” Then she began to weep, and the tears flowed freely down her beautiful brown cheeks till eventually fatigue overcame her and she slipped into an uneasy sleep. The Princess was awoken by the sound of horse hooves. Sitting up, she saw it was her Lord, and that he had meat. But he was all alone! “Where is my servant?” she asked. But the husband said nothing, and just stood there and smiled his toothy smile. Then something caught the Princess's eye--there appeared to be something fleshy lodged between his teeth. “Lord, what is that in your smile?” she asked. So he took his finger and pulled the object out, then held it for the Princess to see. “Wha... wha... what is that?” stammered the Princess in horror. “It looks to be a human ear,” said Lord Jato with an even bigger grin. “We searched around for hours but couldn't find any prey. And so I thought to myself, 'Here's a fine piece of meat standing right next to me...'" Then he jumped up on a boulder, tore off his beautiful creamy brown skin, and gave a tremendous roar—for Lord Jato was, in truth, a mighty Lion. The Princess screamed, then turned and ran, but her feet got tangled in her horse’s reins (which she had neglected to take off), and she went crashing to the ground. The Lord laughed loudly and slowly circled his terrified bride. “It was almost too easy,” he said. “And you know the best part? Your father knew! He knew it the moment he saw me. But you wouldn’t have listened, even if he had warned you. Your vanity was too great! And now look at where you are! Foolish girl...” |
Then the Lord pounced, and he would have killed her right then had not the young stallion thrust his body in the way and taken the vicious attack. The Lion faltered for a second, surprised by the horse’s actions, and the spindly-legged runt whinnied loudly, rose up and came down on the mighty beast’s head, stomping the life out of it.
Once the excitement was over, the Princess rose and hugged her loyal companion around the neck. Then she noticed the four deep wounds running across his haunch, and she started to tend to them. But the fiery steed whinnied her away and knelt down for her to get on his back, which she did. For two days, the injured stallion galloped without cease, till finally he came to his King’s door. The Princess slipped off his back and thanked him from the bottom of her heart. Then the wasted beast reared up on his bloodied hind legs, whinnied proudly, and collapsed to the ground, where he died a hero. The King, having come to the door, hurried to his daughter’s side. The Princess embraced him and cried out: “I’m sorry, Father! I’ll do what you say from now on. Please forgive me, I’m so sorry!” The King consoled his daughter and told her everything would be all right. Then he kneeled down beside the fallen horse and said: “We thank the departed! You brought my daughter back to me alive—you shall be buried among the kings.” Then the kindly old father led his humbled and frightened daughter into the palace. |