The Forest - Canto III
1.
"My love, I do not fear your father
although he be king and might cut off my head,
but I am sure he can't do that for love,
and my sincerest love of you
is of a greater power than of any king."
She did not understand him but the meaning
and took firmly hold of her protector's hand
and led him without hesitating
promptly to her father's home and royal hall.
2.
"I know it all already," said the king,
not in the least nonplussed by the young couple's boldness –
he had seen too many suitors to his daughter in his life
and seen them all end up as failures.
"Leave us, daughter. Your new suitor
and myself will have a chat together,
since he needs to be informed of what awaits him."
She had been through this procedure several times before,
so she did not object, just pressed her lover's hand a little
as a small but definite encouragement, and left.
3.
"My honoured guest, you know of course
the consequences of your importunity?"
"I love her. That is all," the sailor said,
"and I am willing to accept the whole responsibility."
"You don't have to. You may still be free
and leave our islands never to come back a living man."
"I would prefer to stay here as a living man and as your son-in-law."
"So you insist. My friend, I pity you,
for no one has proved worthy of my daughter,
nor will no one ever do so, since it is impossible."
"How so?" "So you are willing to go through the trial,
even well aware that it may cost your life?"
"Of course. Or else I would not love her.
Love alone will prove me worthy of her."
"I pity you the more. But since you are the friend
of my best friend the doctor, and he brought you here himself,
I shall make an exception for you. If you fail,
which you will naturally do like all the others,
I will let you leave our islands with my doctor
without execution, on condition that you never will return."
"I will not fail." "Not even with the utterly impossible?"
"Just try me, noble king, and I will risk whatever."
4.
Not even to himself the king could quite deny,
that he was just a little bit impressed
by this romantic stranger's stalwart courage,
and he wondered at his lack of hesitation
and did almost think: "How sad that he will not become my son-in-law."
Instead he said: "All right. You take it on yourself.
Just face the consequences, then. The trial is as follows.
You shall prove your love by accomplishing a ring
that proves love's sovereignty over any power.
You shall make that ring of gold but out of nothing,
and with that ring on my finger I shall manage
to have any wish that I might come to think of realized."
"A ring of gold to manifest whatever you may wish?"
"Precisely. Don't say it is possible. You are still free to pull out."
"And is that all?" "What do you mean?"
"The ring." "Of course that's all. What could there more be to it?
Of all wishes, that's the most impossible to ever have accomplished."
"Let me try at least." "Of course you may.
That's why I have presented you with the ordeal, for you to have a try."
5.
The sailor left the king's house deep in thought,
while the presumptuous king again just could not help
considering: "It would have been a splendid son-in-law in spite of all."
The sailor walked out of the village down to the lagoon
with lingering and thoughtful steps as the pacific afternoon
soon started glowing before sunset
turning everything to gold and rosy red.
He found the beach and beyond it a lonely rock
which matched his own predicament and loneliness completely,
wherefore he made his position there
and simply went into the deepest meditation
as the evening turned the universe all red
to quietly fade out like dying embers
for the metamorphosis into night.
When all the stars were kindled, lo,
there also rose the moon to join them all,
and by coincidence it happened to be full.
So there the man sat lonely and immovable
in meditation like a statue
while the moon transcended gloriously all brightness of the shining stars
and triumphed through the night
like really trying to inspire the unanswering man
who did not seem to pay the least attention
to the magic efforts of the moon, who started to decline
as morning gradually was to be introduced.
But then, just as the moon was lowering herself
to sink into the ocean with the brightness of the night,
the man just raised his hand with thumb and index
like to catch the last ray of the moon
and thereby shape something into the air;
and there it was, a golden ring, that hung like in a spider's thread
so delicately in the last ray of the moon;
and as that last ray finally was spent,
the morning rising and the moon resigning finally,
the man picked down the ring from that last ray
and held it in his hand, as if it could not be more obvious
that a golden ring had been accomplished in that fashion.
And then, as the sun presented her first morning beams,
the man at last rose from his meditation
with the ring committed in his hand
and started confidently to return back
to the village, to reality, to humankind and to his love.
6.
The king could also find no sleep this night
since all that he could think of was that blasted would-be son-in-law
whose failure would turn his daughter once again most miserable,
as if there had not been enough before of failed suitors.
In his sweat he rose quite early in the morning in despair
and thought: "Maybe for once I just should cancel my presumptions
and let love, my daughter and her suitor, have their way without objections?"
In that very moment, the young sailor entered through his door
and met the king without a word. The king looked questioningly at him.
Still without a word, the sailor left the ring
delivered safely in the king's own hand,
and all the king could do was just to look perplexed
and watch the sailor leave for other business,
namely to at last now after a long night's hard work
go to his love and tenderly take care of her.
7.
The king looked at the ring and wondered at its marvel.
"Maybe he just had it in his luggage,
like a present from the doctor's own considerable store."
It therefore simply had to be a fake. To prove that fact,
the king decided to express a wish
but found it hard to wish for anything, since he had everything.
But then he had a bright idea:
The one thing he had lacked in life
was a good singing voice.
So that's what he decided on to wish.
He laughed at the idea, of course it was impossible
that he now after croaking all his life
should have a voice of quality,
but then his laughter struck him as melodious.
It was musical! He could sing!
The ring had worked! It actually had been accomplished!
8.
There was naturally then a splendid wedding
while the doctor still was present at Jagánde,
while the happy couple were content
to ever remain there at their pacific paradise
by the white beaches on the coral shores
with only beauty all around them
in the people and in nature and from all the sea
with blue and purple golden sunsets every day
with music singing them to sleep each night
by magic whisperings from ever rolling waves.
As doctor Magnus left without his steward,
music also followed his departure
as the people in three voices sang their praise
and thanks to him that had delivered to them
such a perfect lover for the perfect beauty of their princess.
(to be continued.)
Poetry by Christian Lanciai
Read 397 times
Written on 2008-09-16 at 10:14
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