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.