CHAPTER II.
It could not be said that the Prince missed his mother; children of hisage cannot do that; but somehow, after she died everything seemed to gowrong with him. From a beautiful baby he became pale and sickly, seemingto have almost ceased growing, especially in his legs, which had been sofat and strong. But after the day of his christening they withered, andwhen he was nearly a year old, and his nurse tried to make him stand, heonly tumbled down.
This happened so many times that at last people began to talk about it.A prince, and not able to stand on his legs! What a misfortune to thecountry!
After a time he became stronger and his body grew, but his limbsremained shrunken. No one talked of this to the King, for he was verysad.
The King desired that the Prince should keep the name given him by thelittle old woman in grey and so he was known as Dolor.
Once a week, according to established state custom, the Prince, dressedin his very best, was brought to the King, his father, for half an hour,but his Majesty was too melancholy to pay much attention to the child.
Only once, when the King and his brother were sitting together, withPrince Dolor playing in a corner of the room, dragging himself aboutwith his arms, rather than his legs, it seemed to strike the father thatall was not right with his son.
"How old is his Royal Highness?" said he, suddenly, to the nurse.
"Two years, three months, and five days, please your Majesty."
"It does not please me," said the King with a sigh. "He ought to be farmore forward than he is. Is there not something wrong about him?"
"Oh, no," said the King's brother, exchanging meaning looks with thenurse. "Nothing to make your Majesty at all uneasy. No doubt his RoyalHighness will outgrow it in time."
"Out-grow what?"
"A slight delicacy--ahem!--in the spine--something inherited, perhaps,from his dear mother."
"Ah, she was always delicate; but she was the sweetest woman that everlived. Come here, my little son."
The Prince turned to his father a small, sweet, grave face--like hismother's, and the King smiled and held out his arms. But when the boycame to him, not running like a boy, but wriggling awkwardly along thefloor, the royal countenance clouded.
"I ought to have been told of this. Send for all the doctors in mykingdom immediately."
They came, and agreed in what had been pretty well known before; thatthe prince must have been hurt when he was an infant. Did anybodyremember?
No, nobody. Indignantly, all the nurses denied that any such accidenthad happened.
But of all this the King knew nothing, for, indeed, after the firstshock of finding out that his son could not walk, and seemed neverlikely to walk, he interfered very little concerning him. He could notwalk; his limbs were mere useless additions to his body, but the bodyitself was strong and sound, and his face was the same as ever--justlike his mother's face, one of the sweetest in the world!
Even the King, indifferent as he was, sometimes looked at the littlefellow with sad tenderness, noticing how cleverly he learned to crawl,and swing himself about by his arms, so that in his own awkward way hewas as active as most children of his age.
"Poor little man! he does his best, and he is not unhappy," said theKing to his brother. "I have appointed you as Regent. In case of mydeath, you will take care of my poor little boy?"
Soon after he said this, the King died, as suddenly and quietly as theQueen had done, and Prince Dolor was left without either father ormother--as sad a thing as could happen, even to a Prince.
He was more than that now, though. He was a king. In Nomansland as inother countries, the people were struck with grief one day and revivedthe next. "The king is dead--long live the king!" was the cry that rangthrough the nation, and almost before his late Majesty had been laidbeside the queen, crowds came thronging from all parts to the royalpalace, eager to see the new monarch.
They did see him--sitting on the floor of the council-chamber, suckinghis thumb! And when one of the gentlemen-in-waiting lifted him up andcarried him to the chair of state, and put the crown on his head, heshook it off again, it was so heavy and uncomfortable. Sliding down tothe foot of the throne, he began playing with the gold lions thatsupported it;--laughing as if he had at last found something to amusehim.
"It is very unfortunate," said one of the lords. "It is always bad for anation when its king is a child; but such a child--a permanent cripple,if not worse."
"Let us hope not worse," said another lord in a very hopeless tone, andlooking towards the Regent, who stood erect and pretended to hearnothing. "I have heard that these kind of children with very large headsand great broad foreheads and staring eyes, are--well, well, let us hopefor the best and be prepared for the worst. In the meantime--"
"Come forth and kiss the hilt of his sword," said the Regent--"I swearto perform my duties as Regent, to take care of his Majesty, and I shalldo my humble best to govern the country."
Whenever the Regent and his sons appeared, they were received withshouts--"Long live the Regent!" "Long live the Royal family!"
As for the other child, his Royal Highness Prince Dolor--somehow peoplesoon ceased to call him his Majesty, which seemed such a ridiculoustitle for a poor little fellow, a helpless cripple, with only head andtrunk, and no legs to speak of--he was seen very seldom by anybody.
Sometimes people daring to peer over the high wall of the palace gardennoticed there a pretty little crippled boy with large dreamy, thoughtfuleyes, beneath the grave glance of which wrongdoers felt uneasy, and,although they did not know it then, the sight of him bearing hisaffliction made them better.
If anybody had said that Prince Dolor's uncle was cruel, he would havesaid that what he did was for the good of the country.
Therefore he went one day to the council-chamber, informed the ministersand the country that the young King was in failing health, and that itwould be best to send him for a time to the Beautiful Mountains wherehis mother was born.
Soon after he obtained an order to send the King away--which was done ingreat state. The nation learned, without much surprise, that the poorlittle Prince--had fallen ill on the road and died within a few hours;so declared the physician in attendance, and the nurse who had been sentto take care of him. They brought the coffin back in great state, andburied him with his parents.
The country went into deep mourning for him, and then forgot him, andhis uncle reigned in his stead.
The Little Lame Prince Page 2