The Betrothed, the Prince and the Emissary
Part 1
A few nights ago I wanted to catch up on my sleep but I couldn’t sleep. As I prayed for cleansing from the worldly strife of the day and for all the other myriad needs that came to mind, I asked the Lord why I couldn’t sleep and what it is He wants to tell me. The following thoughts came to mind:
There’s this young girl who was betrothed to a prince when she was a baby. As she grew older sometimes the prince would visit her and they would play and spend time together. However, it seems that the prince couldn’t really stay that long or frequently with her as he seems to have some important business to attend to in the house of his father, the king. But because they played and spent quite a lot of time together, when the girl became a damsel she realized she was falling in love with the prince. However, all the while the prince had loved her but was just waiting for her to grow up and be ready to be his bride. It gave him much joy that she was truly falling in love with him because though they were betrothed, he didn’t want their marriage to be just another arranged marriage, but a “love marriage.”
One day while they were wandering around the woods she started playing her flute and he sat down on the grass to listen to her. Then he said, “One day, you will play more music in my kingdom, our kingdom.”
Suddenly curious about his kingdom about which he wasn’t in the habit of talking about with her, she quickly put aside her flute and asked, “Tell me, my dear Prince, what is it like in your kingdom? I know I am just a child, … but… tell me, first of all, how did we get betrothed? My mom and dad … alas, God rest their souls, they didn’t live long enough to tell me.”
“My dad, he just knew, even before the beginning of time, you are the one just right for me. He chose you. Besides, you are only in the hands of caretakers; the ruler of your kingdom, the Sly One, has all rights to your freedom. You may not realize it but you are practically under house arrest; you can’t go further than the territories of this kingdom of the Sly One. One day, when the time is ripe, I have to pay the price for your freedom and you can join me in my kingdom. That is my father’s plan for us.”
“House arrest? Freedom? … and YOU are going to pay for my freedom??”
“Yes, and yes! And that of your people, too, your kindred, your brothers and sisters and your household. It will be wonderful!” the prince enthused. And with sadness in his voice, “But it will cost me everything.”
“I do not understand, my Prince. All I know is you have been so kind to me and my family all this while, but, … oh well, …ah, you’re right. My aunt and uncle, they work so hard for the masters, the men of the Sly One, yet they get paid so little. I pity them.”
‘It’s time for me to go… my father’s servants are calling me now… there is no time to tarry. Hush now my love, I love you with my very life. I will see you another day.”
For a long time the prince didn’t visit anymore and the damsel often thought of him. She blossomed into her late teens. One cold night in mid-autumn, she had a dream. Her prince came to her room, held her hand and said, “Peace to you, my dear sister, my betrothed, my fair one, my dove. I have paid the price of your release from the kingdom of the Sly One. Your freedom is no less costly than my very life and I have laid it down that you may live. For my father had deemed that this is how we should outwit the Sly One. He had deceived your father and your ancestors; thus had he enslaved all of you. Now you know how much I really love you, for I laid down my very life for you. This is the only way to set you free from the clutches of the Sly One, you and your clan. Now I cannot come to meet with you in the woods any longer. My emissary is coming and he shall keep you company. He will prepare and train you so you will be ready in the ripeness of time, to take your rightful place at my side as my bride. My emissary is very much like me and my dad, he will care for you in my absence and will teach you everything. I am coming for you, very soon.”
And just like a real dream, he was gone.
Teen image of Olivia Hussey and as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet from http://www.romeo-juliet.newmail.ru
No comments:
Post a Comment