The Bastard Prince

A fairy tale

Photo by Jessie McCall on Unsplash

Many years ago, in the time when men had first mastered iron and driven the old races from much of the land, there was a prince who loved to hunt. He was diligent in his duties to his father the king, but only so he could spend as much time as possible in the wild fields and forests on the edge of lands where most men feared to tread, especially at night when the old races still moved freely through the stone circles and mossy copses of ancient oaks to dance under the moon and stars. This prince became wise in the lore of the woods and beasts, and became a master of the bow and the spear as he hunted ever farther afield for game.

Thus it was that one day the prince roamed very far afield, and found himself still in the ancient forest as night fell. He had little fear, for he had a good iron sword and he knew the old races feared iron above all things, and so as darkness fell he wrapped himself in his thick cloak and sat under a hoary oak beside a clear pool formed from a bubbling spring.

He awoke after some time to bright moonlight and the haunting piping of a flute. He looked in the direction of the bubbling spring and saw the most beautiful maiden he had ever seen dancing to the music of the flutes in the moonlight. Her skin was pale, so white under the light of the moon that he was almost blinded as from the sun flaring off new-fallen snow, and her hair was the color of sage honey and was long and swayed around her as she danced. She was clothed in a gown of gossamer and tiny white flowers which floated around her as she danced, and her movements were graceful yet full of a joyful abandon as she gloried in her beauty and the beauty of the moonlit clearing and its bubbling spring and cold, crystal pond.

Sitting as he was in his dark cloak under the darkness of the old oak he was invisible to the lovely maiden, and thus he watched her dance until far into the night, enchanted, until at last he slept and when he woke to bright sunlight the maiden and the pipers were gone. There were no signs in the small glade that anyone had ever danced there, and he wondered if he had dreamed. Yet if it was a dream, the power of the dream held him in a spell so that even after he made his way back to his father’s hall all he thought of was the beautiful maiden. Thus, at the next full moon, he went far afield again and once again found the small glade with the bubbling spring and crystal pool and sat under the oak tree and waited. This time he stayed awake, and as the full moon rose he was rewarded with the sight of shadowy figures moving in the trees beyond the crystal pool. The figures had goat’s horns and goat’s legs and feet and began to play the haunting music on their reed flutes, and the maiden emerged from the crystal pool and danced upon the grass all covered in gossamer and flowers and the prince fell in love.

For the entire summer each full moon found the prince at dusk under the oak beside the crystal pool, and each night he watched the beautiful maiden dance, and each time he watched her his love grew until, on the night of the full moon after Lammas, he could contain his passion no longer and he arose and shed his cloak and stepped out into the moonlit glade while the maiden danced.

The pipers paused their piping, and the maiden stopped in mid-stride, her eyes wide and green and wondering, yet they did not flee. And the prince, not knowing how else to proceed, stepped forward and bowed low before the maiden and offered his hand and to his surprise she took his hand, her skin cool and soft to his touch, and the pipers again began to play and the prince and the maiden danced together in the moonlight beside the crystal pool. They danced until the dawn glow lit the horizon, and then the pipers disappeared back in to the wood yet the maiden stayed with the prince and they lay together in the glade beside the bubbling spring and the crystal pool and the prince professed his love. And the maiden, enchanted by the boldness of this mortal man, professed her love for him.

The prince stayed for many days with the maiden (who was called Melosine) but one day he heard the horns of hunting parties and knew that these huntsmen hunted not game but their missing prince. He bade farewell to Melosine and went to the huntsmen and returned to his father’s hall. Yet ever after he went back to the glade as often as possible to be with Melosine and after a time a son was born to them. The child was dark haired like his father and light eyed like his mother. And they named the child Guillaume and Melosine loved the child more than anything else in the world.

In that time the old king passed to the next world and the prince became king in his stead, and he had a royal hunting lodge built in a clearing not far from the glade and the spring and the crystal pool. And Guillaume spent half his time at the hunting lodge learning the arts of the bow and the spear and the sword, and his letters and the Good Book, and the other half of his time with his mother learning the ways of still water, and running water, and what the wind tells and what it doesn’t, and all the lore of bird and beast and the lore of the old races. His father came and spent time at the lodge, at first often, and they would hunt and he learned from his father the thrill of the chase and the kill and ways of the beasts of prey but over time his father’s duties kept him away more and more. And eventually his father, now king, was wedded to a princess from another kingdom and the king came no more to the spring or to his love, Melosine, and now Guillaume was raised half the year in the court in his father’s hall, though half the year he spent at the hunting lodge and with his mother.

Eventually the king’s bride gave birth to a child, a girl, who was raven haired and fire-eyed and was born laughing and she became a favorite of both the king and the young Guillaume. They called her Beatrice for the joy she brought all who knew her. And eventually the queen had another child, a boy this time, and his birthing was difficult and he was born with a caul. The queen lived after the birth just long enough to hold her son, and then died and the child, who was named Maxime after the queen’s father, was raised by wet nurses and servants and grew up dark and sulky but as the legitimate son of the king he became heir to the throne. And while Beatrice and Guillaume were close and laughed and played together when Guillaume was in his father’s hall, Maxime disdained play and would never join with them as it was not befitting the royal heir. He remained distant and resentful of the love between his older sister and half-brother.

The time came when the king was old and he knew his hour was close upon him so he called to Guillaume and bade him saddle two horses and, after speaking at length to his most trusted counselors, the king and Guillaume rode to the hunting lodge. After a brief meal they went on foot through the forest to the spring and the king called to Melosine and she was there. And the old king, gray of beard and rheumy eyed, marveled that she was still so young and beautiful. Melosine embraced him, and kissed him, and Guillaume stood apart and watched the water bubble in the crystal clear spring as Melosine sat under the great old oak with the king’s head in her lap and whispered to him of her love and of her love for their son and after a time the sun began to set and Guillaume approached his parents and saw the tears streaming down his mother’s face and he knew that the old king was gone.

Then Guillaume buried the old king his father under the old oak tree and the fawns came and played on their pipes and Melosine danced as she danced that late summer night long ago when first the young prince had come and taken her hand and she wept as she danced. In the morning Guillaume took leave of his mother and returned to the lodge and saddled his horse and, leading his father’s horse behind, he rode back to the court and told them the king was dead. And the old king’s advisors nodded and said it was as the old king had wished, and the court prepared for the coronation of Maxime as king in his father’s stead.

Now in the time between the death of the king and the coronation of Maxime rumors began to be whispered in court that Guillaume had hastened the old king’s death and had designs on the throne, and these whispers said that Guillaume was influenced by his non-human blood which was unclean and why else was the king’s body not brought back for a proper Christian burial? And it was whispered that perchance the king’s body might have shown that his death had not been natural. Maxime, as heir, used these rumors to discredit Guillaume and ordered his arrest but Beatrice suspected the source of these rumors and gave warning to Guillaume who fled the castle on horseback with two companions. Even with Beatrice’s warning they were ambushed along the road by Maxime’s men and in the fighting one of Guillaume’s companions was sore wounded and they were forced to turn from the road and ride overland, coming only the next morning to the old hunting lodge on worn horses. Long before they reached the lodge they could smell the smoke, and knew they were too late and that Maxime’s men had been there before them. They reached a ridge overlooking the lodge and saw the smoldering embers and still burning beams and turned and led their tired horses, one carrying their wounded companion, deeper in to the woods.

At long last they came to the spring and Guillaume called to his mother and she was there. And she tended his wounded companion with her own hands and bathed his wounds with water from her spring and he slept without pain for the first time since they were set upon. Then Guillaume told his mother all that had transpired since his return to court and his mother thought long and then said, “I have but little power, and what power I have is tied to this place of wood and water and soil, and yet what aid I can give I shall.” And she bade him unsheathe his sword and, taking it by the leather bound hilt so as not to touch the iron, she thrust the blade into the pool beneath the spring and sang a song in the tongue of the old race and when she pulled the blade from the water there was a brightness and a lightness that was not there before. And while Guillaume marveled at this his mother spoke and said, “Such power as I have I have imbued into your sword, and these are thus; that the blade shall ever hold its edge, and if you name this sword it will leap to your hand if you call it, no matter where it be.”

Then Guillaume thanked her and named his sword Brightedege and his mother said it was a good name. And then she told him that though her aid was small, there was another who had more power than she and, if he had strength and courage, he could seek him out; but, he must do exactly as she said so then no harm would befall him. And Guillaume agreed, and she told him to travel in the direction the spring flowed until he came to a tarn surrounded by old willow trees and he must grab the first living creature he sees in the tarn and hold on to that creature no matter what happened, and at last when the true form of the creature was revealed he must give him this vial when he asks why he has come. And she handed him a crystal vial of water from her spring which Guillaume placed in his pouch and he set out on his way.

Guillaume travelled in the direction the spring flowed, and after a time it became a swiftly flowing stream and then a small smoothly flowing river and when the river left the woods and entered a bright flowered meadow it emptied in to a deep, reed-lined tarn surrounded by hoary and ancient willow trees. As Guillaume approached the tarn he saw in the reed-filled water a bullfrog watching him with yellow eyes and, heeding his mother’s words, Guillaume snatched the bullfrog in his hands and instantly the frog became a giant serpent which writhed in his grasp but Guillaume only tightened his grip and clutched the serpent closer and lo! The serpent became a wildcat which snapped its fangs at his throat. Yet still he tightened his grip and held the cat by the scruff when the cat became an eagle which thrashed at Guillaume with its mighty wings and screamed its fury. Still Guillaume tightened his grip and pinned the eagle’s wings to its sides and the eagle became a being who had a human head (though it sported the horns of a goat) and the body of a man but its hind quarters were that of a goat. And Guillaume held the creature by the shoulders and the creature glared at Guillaume and spoke thusly, “Mortal, you have bested me according to the ancient law. Why have you disturbed me so?” And Guillaume released the creature and reached in to his pouch and handed him the crystal vial. The creature took the vial and examined it and looked at Guillaume appraisingly and said, “It is long since I have had a token from any of my daughters and Melosine was always a favorite. Tell me your tale, mortal, and I will give you such aid as I deem worthy.” So Guillaume told him his tale, and when he was through the creature thought for a moment then reached into the tarn and pulled forth a glass of polished obsidian and handed it to Guillaume and bade him look in to the glass and relate what he saw. So Guillaume looked in the glass but saw naught but his own reflection and said so and the creature laughed and said, “Then you are one with your true nature. But take this glass and offer it as a coronation gift to the new king. Make haste, for the coronation is near!”

Guillaume took his leave, then, and retraced his steps to his mother’s spring and there related to her all that had transpired. Leaving his companions in his mother’s care he mounted his now rested horse and rode in haste to the court. When he arrived he was disarmed at the gate and a message was sent to the crown prince and Guillaume was escorted under guard to the throne room where all the court was assembled and he was made to kneel before Maxime, who sat on his father’s throne though yet without his father’s crown. And behind the throne stood Beatrice in tears to see Guillaume treated so. Maxime had a look of triumph as Guillaume knelt before him, and he mocked him and called him bastard and then regicide and usurper, yet Guillaume knelt impassively until finally Maxime asked him why he was foolish enough to return and Guillaume said simply that he had brought a gift for Maxime’s coronation. Then Guillaume reached in to his belt and brought forth the obsidian glass given to him by the creature in the tarn and, with bowed head, offered it to Maxime.

Maxime, gloatingly, grabbed the glass from Guillaume’s hand and gazed at the glass and first he began to scowl and then he gasped and then he began to scream and he dropped the glass which shattered in to a thousand pieces upon the stone floor and Maxime changed before the eyes of the entire court, changed in to an hideous, misshapen, and ugly thing. The guards and members of the court drew back in horror at the thing the prince had become but Guillaume merely stood as Maxime screamed at Guillaume and cursed him for what he had done. Then Maxime drew his sword and leapt at Guillaume but Guillaume called for Brightedge and his sword leapt to his hand and the brothers fought but Guillaume was the better swordsman and soon Maxime lay dead upon the cold stone.

Then the assembled court knelt and proclaimed Guillaume the new king, but Guillaume went to his sister Beatrice where she knelt with the others and raised her up and declared her queen. And the court cheered at this, and swore their fealty to the new queen, and it was so that Beatrice became queen and she had the hunting lodge rebuilt and named Guillaume warden of the queen’s forests, and Guillaume lived there in peace except when called upon to defend the realm.

But that is a tale for another time.