The Young King : Part 3
The Young King : Part 3
A servant arrived with the coronation clothes. They were extremely
beautiful but the young King remembered his dreams. "Take these clothes
away. I don't want to wear them," he said.
"Is this a joke, Your Majesty?" asked the servant, but the young King told
him about his dreams.
"In my robe there is sadness and pain, in the rubies there is blood and in
the pearl there is death," he said.
The servant replied, "Please forget your dreams. Put on the robe and the
crown. The people will not recognise a king without a crown and a
scepter."
But the young King put on his old tunic from the forest and took his
shepherd's staff. "I arrived in the palace with these clothes and I will leave
the palace with these clothes," he said. "Now I am ready for my coronation."
A servant asked him, "Where is your crown?" And he took a briar of
thorns from his balcony. "This will be my crown," he replied.
The young King rode his horse to the cathedral. The people laughed
when they saw him. "This is not the King but the King's servant," they said.
He explained his dreams but one man was angry and said, "Do you not know
that rich people give poor people work. It is difficult to work for a hard
master but it is more difficult to work for no master. Please return to the
palace and put on your coronation robes."
"The rich and the poor are brothers," he replied, but the people laughed
again.
He arrived at the great door of the cathedral but the soldiers stopped him.
"What do you want? Only the King can enter by this door."
"I am the King," he replied. The Bishop saw him and asked, "Where is
your crown? Where is your scepter?"
The young King told the Bishop of his dreams but the Bishop answered,
"Listen to me, I am an old man. There are many bad things in the world but
you cannot change them all. There are thieves and pirates and beggars but
you can't make these things disappear. They are too much for one person.
Go back to the Palace and put on your coronation clothes."
But the young King passed the Bishop and entered the cathedral. He went
to the altar and looked at the image of Christ. He saw the light of the
candles and the smoke of the incense. Suddenly a crowd of people ran into
the cathedral. They had swords and were very angry. "Where is this King
dressed in beggar's clothes?" they cried. "We must kill him because a beggar
cannot rule us. He will be bad for our country." But the young King prayed
silently in front of the altar. Then he turned and looked at the people sadly.
At that moment a ray of sun shone into the cathedral. It illuminated the
young King at the altar. The sun made a beautiful robe around him, red roses
grew on his dry crown of thorns and white lilies grew on his staff. The roses
were redder than rubies and the lilies were whiter than pearls. Music started
to play and voices started to sing. The glory of God filled the cathedral. The
people knelt down.
"He is crowned by someone greater than me," the Bishop said and he
knelt in front of the young King. The boy came from the altar and passed the
people. But they didn't have the courage to look at his face because it was
the face of an angel.