CHAPTER II. THE KING OF BEAUTY,
ONE chronicle which I have discovered, and which is only known to me,assures us that Charlemagne was devotedly fond of children. It was hispleasure one day to call a couple of hundred of them together, in hisroyalty of Paderborn, and say to them--
"You are the masters here, and my servants are at your disposal. Makehay of all the flowers in my gardens, and my gardeners shall assist you.Plan a dinner tremendous enough to kill my friend Guy of Burgundy withindigestion, and my cooks are under your orders. Ransack my illuminatedbooks; and if by chance you tear them, Eginhard will restore them sothat it can't be detected. Break the silver strings of the queen's harp,and they shall be replaced before she suspects mischief. Command, bully,pillage, if you like, to your hearts' content. There is but one thingI forbid"--and Charles, knitting his great brows, spoke in a voiceof thunder--"one thing I forbid, do you hear? I forbid you to putyourselves out of the way in the slightest degree."
This speech was calculated to raise the wildest enthusiasm. In a momentthe palace was ravaged. Mad with liberty, the little folks rushed hitherand thither, pillaging everywhere at random, and to no purpose, likesilly butterflies. The happiness of being free to do what they pleasedwas enough.
It was indeed a deafening tumult, an unequalled outburst of jollity.They tore down the hangings; they broke open the aviaries; theysmashed the statues; they ransacked the sideboards; they tore up theflowers--until, at last, by degrees, their impetuosity wore itselfout. At the end of an hour the children, left to themselves, andhaving nothing more to destroy, could not invent any means of amusingthemselves.
When the Emperor returned he found his little visitors scatteredthroughout the palace, tired, idle, and melancholy. Charles called themall round him, and inquired if they, were all enjoying themselves.The children hung down their heads without answering. He repeated thequestion with the same result. At last Mitaine, more confident than therest, opened her mouth--
"God-papa--not to keep anything from you--we don't know what to do, andwere never so bored in all our lives."
"My children," answered Charlemagne, "let this be a timely lesson toyou. In pleasure, as in war, everything goes wrong without a clevercommander. To play well, just as to fight well, you need a captain.Choose some one who shall be general of your games; and, by my beard!you will see that all will go well."
"Beloved sire!" said the children, trooping round him, "choose ourgeneral for us."
"I will," said Charles; "but you must at least promise me to obey himwhom I select."
"We will! we will!"
Charles perceived a fair boy of twelve in the crowd; and, taking himgently by the ear, he led him out, and presented him to his smallsubjects.
"Here is the little king I offer you. Obey him as you would me; and asfor you, Joel the Fair, will you take my advice?"
"I permit you to offer it, cousin," said the youngster, drawing himselfup grandly.
"Then, sire, since you deign to listen to me, accept this hint. Wouldyou rule without discomfort, sleep without fearing some evil dream, andlive at ease?"
"That would suit me nicely!"
"Well, then, Joel the Fair, make yourself beloved!"
"We will take care to do so," said the boy, and immediately gave oneof his subjects a rare buffet for leaning too familiarly on his royalshoulder.
Charlemagne withdrew to rejoin Eginhard, Theodulph, Leidrade, andAlcuin, with whom he had shut himself up to work at his code of laws.
But he had hardly been in his closet half an hour when a great hubbubwas heard under the windows; shouts, laughter, and cries were mingledtogether, and soon rose to such a pitch that the Emperor rose, curiousto see what was the cause of the tumult, and went to the window.
I can assure you, young people, that he was not a little astonished tosee Mitaine fighting with a big boy, whom she had just thrown down andwas kneeling upon.
"So, Master Joel, you have a strange way of ruling," said Charles,opening the window. "Is this the way in which you ensure the peace ofyour dominions? What is the meaning of this?"
The tumult ceased. Mitaine released her victim, and Joel advanced andaddressed Charles.
"I must remind you, sire, that you promised us uninterrupted liberty,and I have therefore some right to feel astonished when you interferewith my kingdom. What would your Majesty say if the King of Saragossaor of Persia were to question you about your doings in your own realm?However, I have not forgotten that it is to you I owe my crown, and asI am a gallant prince, I will consent to answer your questions. We haddetermined to hold a tournament, and in order that it might be done ina manner becoming my state, I first chose myself a court. It iscomposed of those whom you see yonder, half-inclined to quarrel overthe scrag-end of a pie. I armed my knights--those are they on the lawnyonder, where they are now holding gallant encounters, which will proveto you I have chosen well. I improvised arms as I had invented knights.The ladies chose their gallants. Mitaine was unanimously elected Queenof Beauty, and she selected for her knight that big boy to whom she hasjust been giving such thumps. The trumpets sounded, and I took my placeon the throne with a majesty that could not have failed to please you.The jousts commenced, and all went well enough. Riolet received a blowon the eye from Chariot, which lends quite a martial air to his visage;Loys has had two teeth knocked out; and Ode has left two handfuls ofhair on the field."
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"We did not expect it to stop here when Berart, the chosen cavalier ofMitaine, entered the lists. He presented himself proudly, and arrogantlydefied Odille, who, without disturbing himself, gave him a kick on theshin, so dexterously applied that the unhappy youth lost heart and ranaway. At this sight Mitaine was transported with anger, and jumpingquickly down from her throne, she rolled the astonished and terrifiedBerart in the dust; and then, turning on his opponent, upbraided him forhis cowardice--in short, you can see what has befallen poor Odille. Formy part, I abstained from placing any obstacle in the way of Mitaine'striumph. She was hitherto our queen by virtue of her rank and beauty:now she has won the title by her courage also."
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Charlemagne laughed for seven minutes without stopping--so says thehistorian--as he had never laughed before. Then he called his god-childto him.
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"By my sceptre! this is the conduct of a heroine, and you shall be wellrewarded. It seems to me that a triumphant march would be aboutthe right thing at this period. What thinks our brother Joel of theproposal?"
"Excellently said, sire. Let there be a march of triumph."
"There's only one thing that puzzles me. If we crown Mitaine for hervalour, we shall have no Queen of Beauty."
"By my beard, sire," said little Joel, stroking his smooth, twelve-yearold chin, and aping Charles to the best of his ability--"by my beard,sire, you are puzzled about trifles." Then he went in search of hisfriend Riolet, whose eye was getting blacker every minute.
"What do you say to a King of Beauty like that? It is but right thatboth sexes should have their part in the triumph as usual."
"What a philosopher he is!" said Charles, laughing till the tears randown his face. "Let Oghris be brought--he is the only animal worthyto carry my courageous god-child. And you, rival and discomfitedknights--it is to you, Berart, and you too, Odille, that I amspeaking--go, conduct your conqueror in triumph. But now, what are we todo with the King of Beauty, brother?"
Joel, without answering, called on four knights to volunteer, and placedRiolet on their shoulders, the pain and confusion making him pull somevery strange grimaces. In this fashion the procession set out amid loudlaughter and cheering.
In the evening Charles took Miton aside with him, and said, "Learn, myfriend, that our Mitaine is not intended to wear a petticoat for long.A sword will suit her hand better than a needle. The secret attacks fromwhich, thank Heaven, she has till now escaped unhurt may be renewed, andI would fain have her under my own guardianship. I have an offer to maketo you, Count of Rennes. Give her to m
e for a page, and I will have herbrought up to the use of arms. I am greatly mistaken if I do not thusrear a staunch supporter of my son."
The offer was accepted, and from the next day Mitaine, to her delight,took rank with the pages, whose male attire she adopted.
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