The Jester's Sword

a bravefront to the crowd, glad of the painted mask that hid his features, andno one guessed the misery that lurked beneath his laugh, and no one knewwhat mighty tax it was upon his courage to follow in the Jester's leadand play buffoon upon the open street. It was a thing he loathed, andyet, 'twas as the Jester said, his training in the royal court had madehim sharp of wit and quick to read men's minds; and to the countrymenwho gathered there agape, around him in the square, his keen replieswere wonderful as wizard's magic.

  And when he piped--it was no shallow fluting that merely set the rusticfeet a-jig, it was a strange and stirring strain that made the simplestone among them stand with his soul a-tiptoe, as he listened, as if akingly train with banners went a-marching by. So royally he played hispart, that even on that first day he surpassed his teacher. The Jester,jubilant that this was so, thought that his time to leave was near athand, but when that night they reached his dwelling Aldebaran tore offthe painted mask and threw himself upon the hearth.

  "'Tis more than flesh can well endure!" he cried. "All day the thoughtof what I've lost was like a constant sword-thrust in my heart. Insteadof deference and respect that once was mine from high and low, 'twaslaugh and jibe and pointing finger. And, too" (his voice grew shrilland querulous), "I saw young lovers straying in the lanes together. Howcan I endure that sight day after day when my arms must remain for everempty? And little children prattled by their father's side no matterwhere I turned. I, who shall never know a little son's caress, felt likea starving man who looks on bread and may not eat. Far better that Icrawl away from haunts of men where I need never be tormented by suchcontrasts."

  The Jester looked down on Aldebaran's wan face. It was as white anddrawn as if he had been tortured by the rack and thumbscrew, so he madeno answer for the moment. But when the fire was kindled, and they hadsupped the broth set out in steaming bowls upon the table, he venturedon a word of cheer.

  "At any rate," he said, "for one whole day thou hast kept thy oath. Nomatter what the anguish that it cost thee, from sunrise to sunsettingthou hast held Despair at bay. It was the bravest stand that thou hastever made. And now, if thou hast lived through this one day, why notanother? 'Tis only one hour at a time that thou art called on to endure.Come! By the bloodstone that is thy birthright, pledge me anew thou'ltkeep thy oath until the going down of one more sun."

  So Aldebaran pledged him one more day, and after that another andanother, until a fortnight slowly dragged itself away. And then becausehe met his hurt so bravely and made no sign, the Jester thought thestruggle had grown easier with time, and spoke again of going to hiskindred.

  "Nay, do not leave me yet," Aldebaran plead. "Wouldst take my onlycrutch? It is thy cheerful presence that alone upholds me."

  "Yet it would show still greater courage if thou couldst face thy fatealone," the Jester answered. "Despair cannot be vanquished till thouhast taught thyself to really feel the gladness thou dost feign. I'veheard that if one will count his blessings as the faithful tell theirrosary beads he will forget his losses in pondering on his manybenefits. Perchance if thou wouldst try that plan it might avail."

  So Aldebaran went out determined to be glad in heart as well as speech,if so be it he could find enough of cheer. "I will be glad," he said,"because the morning sun shines warm across my face." He slipped agolden beam upon his memory string.

  "I will be glad because that there are diamond sparkles on the grass andlarks are singing in the sky." A dew-drop and a bird's trill for hisrosary.

  "I will be glad for bread, for water from the spring, for eyesight andthe power to smell the budding lilacs by the door; for friendlygreetings from the villages."

  A goodly rosary, symbol of all the things for which he should be glad,was in his hand at close of day. He swung it gaily by the hearth thatnight, recounting all his blessings till the Jester thought, "At lasthe's found the cure."

  But suddenly Aldebaran flung the rosary from him and hid his face withinhis hands. "'Twill drive me mad!" he cried. "To go on stringing baublesthat do but set my mind the firmer on the priceless jewel I have lost.May heaven forgive me! I am not really glad. 'Tis all a hollow mockeryand pretence!"

  Then was the Jester at his wit's end for a reply. It was a welcome soundwhen presently a knocking at the door broke on the painful silence. Thevisitor who entered was an aged friar beseeching alms at every door, aswas the custom of his brotherhood, with which to help the sick andpoor. And while the Jester searched within a chest for some old garmentshe was pleased to give, he bade the friar draw up to the hearth andtarry for their evening meal, which then was well-nigh ready. The friar,glad to accept the hospitality, spread out his lean hands to the blaze,and later, when the three sat down together, warmed into such acheerfulness of speech that Aldebaran was amazed.

  "Surely thy lot is hard, good brother," he said, looking curiously intothe wrinkled face. "Humbling thy pride to beg at every door, forswearingthine own good in every way that others may be fed, and yet thy facespeaks an inward joy. I pray thee tell me how thou hast foundhappiness."

  "_By never going in its quest_," the friar answered. "Long years ago Ilearned a lesson from the stars. Our holy Abbot took me out one nightinto the quiet cloister, and pointing to the glittering heavens showedme my duty in a way I never have forgot. I had grown restive in my lotand chafed against its narrow round of cell and cloister. But in a wordhe made me see that if I stepped aside from that appointed path, merelyfor mine own pleasure, 'twould mar the order of God's universe as surelyas if a planet swerved from its eternal course.

  "'No shining lot is thine,' he said. 'Yet neither have the starsthemselves a light. They but reflect the Central Sun. And so mayst thou,while swinging onward, faithful to thy orbit, reflect the light ofheaven upon thy fellow men.'

  "Since then I've had no need to go a-seeking happiness, for bearingcheer to others keeps my own heart a-shine.

  "I pass the lesson on to thee, good friend. Remember, men need laughtersometimes more than food, and if thou hast no cheer thyself to spare,why, thou mayst go a-gathering it from door to door as I do crusts, andcarry it to those who need."

  Long after the good friar had supped and gone, Aldebaran sat in silence.Then crossing to the tiny casement that gave upon the street, he stoodand gazed up at the stars. Long, long he mused, fitting the friar'slesson to his own soul's need, and when he turned away, the oldastrologer's prophecy had taken on new meaning.

  "As Aldebaran the star shines in the heavens" (_no light within itself,but borrowing from the Central Sun_), "so Aldebaran the man might shineamong his fellows." (_Beggared of joy himself, yet flashing itsreflection athwart the lives of others._)

  When next he went into the town he no longer shunned the sights thatformerly he'd passed with face averted, for well he knew that if hewould shed joy and hope on others he must go to places where they mostabound. What matter that the thought of Vesta stabbed him nigh tomadness when he looked on hearth-fires that could never blaze for him?With courage almost more than human he put that fond ambition out ofmind as if it were another sword he'd learned to sheathe. At first itwould not stay in hiding, but flew the scabbard of his will to thrusthim sore as often as he put it from him. But after awhile he found away to bind it fast, and when he'd found that way it gave him victoryover all.

  A little child came crying towards him in the marketplace, its world awaste of woe because the toy it cherished had been broken in its play.Aldebaran would have turned aside on yesterday to press the barbedthought still deeper in his heart that he had been denied the joy offatherhood. But now he stooped as gently as if he were the child's ownsire to wipe its tears and soothe its sobs. And when with skilfulfingers he restored the toy, the child bestowed on him a warm caress outof its boundless store.

  He passed on with his pulses strangely stirred. 'Twas but a crumb oflove the child had given, yet, as Aldebaran held it in his heart,behold a miracle! It grew full-loaf, and he would fain divide it withall hungering souls! So when a stone's throw farther on he met a manwel
l-nigh distraught from many losses, he did not say in bitterness asonce he would have done, that 'twas the common lot of mortals; to lookon him if one would know the worst that Fate can do. Nay, rather did hespeak so bravely of what might still be wrung from life though one weremaimed like he, that hope sprang up within his hearer and sent him onhis way with face a-shine.

  That grateful smile was like a revelation to Aldebaran, showing him hehad indeed the power belonging to the stars. Beggared of joy, no lightwithin himself, yet from the Central Sun could he reflect the hope andcheer that made him as the eye of Taurus 'mong his fellows.

  The weeks slipped into months, months into years.