The Coming of the Unicorn, page 3
“Well, Mother,” he said, “what can I do with them?”
“Well,” she said, “I hope they bring you better luck as they brought your father. The best thing you could do with them, Jack, is take them back to the king. Take them in, polish them, clean them up. They’ll no be hard to clean. And take them back. I suppose the king’ll be an older man now, but I think he’s still the same king, still alive. And it’s a long distance from here, mind ye, to where the king stays in the capital city. But anybody’ll tell ye the road and ye canna go wrong. I’m telling ye for your ain good: keep them hidden and dinna tell naebody ye have them but the king!”
“Well, Mother,” he said, “they’re no my property. And I’m no worried about the reward.”
“Oh, Jack,” she said, “ye’ll be highly rewarded if you can get to the king with them. But if you ever breathe a word about the keys, ye’ll never see the king alive – because you’ll be robbed and murdered and they’ll be taken from you. Forget about everything, Jack. Never mind, I’ll get the laddie from the neighbouring farm to finish that wee bit ploughing and sow a wee puckle corn to keep the wee cow going. But the best thing you can do is tomorrow morning pack up your wee bit o’ gear, take a wee bit with ye and set sail. Get them keys back to the king. I suppose you’ll get the reward. And I’m telling you, it’ll be no wee reward at that! But will you do me one favour?”
“Well, Mother,” he said, “you’re my mother… what would you want me to do?”
“That was the cause o’ your father’s ruin,” she says, “and I would like to ken what they’re for and what do they open?”
“Well, Mother, if I can find out what the keys are for and what they open, and if I’m able to get back… I’ll try my best and find out for ye!”
“Okay then,” she said, “that’s a promise!”
So, the next morning, true to his word Jack got up early, had his wee bit breakfast, made a wee parcel o’ meat to himself, whatever he had about the house, put the best bits o’ clothes he had on him and said goodbye to his mother. He set sail on the road. And he walked, he walked and walked. He asked folk this and he asked folk that, but he kept the keys hidden in the lining of his jacket. He wouldn’t show them to a soul.
But he must have been on the road for three or four weeks and his clothes began to get tattered and torn. He got kind o’ rough, he never shaved, barely took time to wash his face. His boots began to get worn down. But he finally made his way to the capital city where the king’s palace was. Now, he didn’t go straightaway forward up to the palace demanding an interview with the king. He wandered about the town two or three times asking this and asking that, finding all he could find out. But finally he found out that the king was home and his queen was home, and Jack made his way to the king’s palace. The first body he met at the palace was a guard.
And the guard stopped him, “Where do you think you’re going? Where do you think you’re going to?”
“Well,” Jack says, “I want to see the king.”
So the guard looked at him. “You,” he said, “want to see the king? What do you want to see the king for?”
“I’ve got a wee message for him,” Jack said. “I want to speak to him.”
He says, “You tell me and I’ll tell the king.”
“No,” says Jack, “I’m no telling you what I’ve got to tell the king.” And it rose a heated argument with them.
But just by good luck on Jack, who came walking up behind the guard’s back but the king himself, an aged man, about sixty years of age!
“What’s going on here,” he said, “guard?”
“Your Majesty, it’s this rough looking character of a man here who wants an interview with you, the king.”
“Well,” the king looked at Jack. “He seems a fine specimen o’ a man to me, suppose he’s a bit rough. He’s probably a traveller on the road. He’s one of my subjects I suppose.” The king said, “Where do you come from, young man?”
“To tell the truth,” Jack said, “Our Majesty,” and he bowed to the king, “I came a long way from here.” Jack told him he came from such-and-such a place, “And I came to see ye. In fact, I brought a present for ye.”
“Well,” said the king, and the king smiled. “You brought a present for me? This is very good o’ you. Come with me!”
The guard wasn’t very well pleased. As Jack walked past the guard he looked daggers at Jack, you know, Jack with his rough coat!
The king walked into his chamber with Jack and he told Jack to sit down. The king sat down.
“Well, my young man,” he said, “would you care for a drink?”
“To tell you the truth,” Jack said, “Our Majesty, drink is a thing I could never afford. I’ve never had very much time for it.”
“Anyway,” he said, “you’ll have a glass of wine with me before you tell me your story.” And the king was very pleasant. So, he called for two beautiful glasses of wine and he and Jack drank the wine together. “Now,” he said, “young man, what have you got for me? What have you come to see me about?”
Jack rammed his hand down into his coat in below his oxter. From a big long pocket he pulled out the three keys. He held them in front of the king.
And the king looked. The king’s eyes came out in his head. And the king started to shake; the excitement got the better of him. For a minute he couldn’t speak.
“Young man,” he said, “do ye know what you’ve got there?”
“To tell ye the truth, Our Majesty,” he said, “to me they’re three keys.”
He said, “Where did you get these keys?”
“Well,” he said, “you, when I was only an infant, were hunting a boar across my father’s land, a wee farm.
“I remember it well,” said the king.
He said, “You came for a visit to your country to see some o’ your landowners. I believe ye lost these keys.” And he told the king his name was Jack.
“Well, Jack, you don’t know what you’ve done for me.”
Jack said, “I never did anything for you, Our Majesty; they’re your property and my mother advised me—”
“By the way, how is your mother?” the king said. “I remember a long time ago stopping by her little farm to water the horses and she was a pleasant woman.”
Jack said, “My father died searching for your keys.”
“Oh, bad luck,” said the king, “very bad.”
“He searched,” Jack said, “his entire life for to get your keys. One night in a fog and mist he was lost, he ended up drowned in a ditch.”
“Oh, I’m very sad,” says the king, “very sad to hear about that. And you, my young man, how did you come by these keys?”
Jack says, “Me and my mother had a wee bit argument about the farm getting run down. But I didn’t know anything about the keys. She never tellt me. Probably if she had have told me about the keys I would have ended up the same as my father searching for them.”
“Ha!” the king smiled, “you’ll probably be after the reward too.”
“Well,” said Jack, “it would come in handy!”
“Oh, but,” he said, “don’t worry, my young man, you’ll be highly rewarded.”
“But, Our Majesty, will ye do one thing for me? Will you tell me what these keys are for?”
“Well, Jack, I’ll tell ye. I’ll tell ye part o’ the story, but I can only tell ye the first half; I canna tell ye the second. I had a great friend here belonging to me many, many years ago that lived in the court with me. He was a wise old man. He was a court magician. And he and I used to be the greatest o’ friends. But he had to go away back to his own land, he never mentioned where. And before he left he gave me three silver keys: and these three keys open three gates to a special garden. I used to go and visit that garden whenever I felt the mood taking me. And I lost the keys! Thereafter I could never enter through the gates of that garden.”
“Well, Our Majesty,” Jack said, “I’m very happy you can go back to your garden.”
“Jack, you’ve no idea what you’ve done for me. Ye’ve made me a new man!”
“Oh,” he said, “I did?”
“I want you to be highly rewarded! You can have the whole privilege o’ the palace. You can have everything you want. But you must make me a promise that you shall not leave for twenty days – till I come back. I’m going on a visit. But I want you to have everything that you require under the sun. Don’t spare anything!” And he called for the head cook and he called for the head footman. He called for the head o’ the guards and he warned them all, and called for the queen, and tellt them, “Jack must have the run o’ the palace – see that he wants for nothing! But,” he says to Jack, “have another drink!” So, he and Jack sat and they had another drink. They cracked away about good things. He was a very pleasant man, the king.
“Now, Jack,” he says, “a footman will show ye to your room. And I want you to stay there. Make me a promise that you’ll not leave the palace or the district for twenty days till I come home!” So, the king bade goodbye to Jack and he said, “I’ll no be seeing ye in the morning, but remember I’ll see ye as soon as I come back!”
So, Jack went down to the dining hall and he had a good time to himself. He had plenty to eat, plenty to drink. He had a nice clean-up, a right bath and a nice change o’ clothes. He really enjoyed himself. And the footman showed him to a lovely bed. He lay down on this beautiful silken bed and relaxed. But he hadn’t been in bed for more than an hour when he heard a knock on the door.
Jack got up, “Who’s there?” he said.
“Oh, it’s me the queen. I want to talk to you,” she said very sternly.
Jack opened the door, came out, bowed to Her Majesty. “Your Majesty, what can I do for you?”
“It’s no what you can do for me,” she said, “it’s what I’m going to do for you!”
“Your Majesty,” he said, “I have everything I need.”
“Oh,” she said, “you’ve everything you need, have you? Well, you’re going to get more than you need,” and she came in, shut the door behind her. She said, “You know what you’ve done?”
“Well,” Jack said, “I’ve done nothing. I’ve nothing to be ashamed of…” Jack thought maybe he had talked rough to some o’ the lassies when he had a wee drink with some o’ the maids in the palace or something. And he tried to think back in his mind what he had done as a mistake, but he couldn’t think on anything he had really done, what he had done to annoy the queen. But he racked his brains and racked his mind – “I must have done something,” he said to himself, “to annoy the queen.”
But the queen was standing; she’s terrible wicked and wild. There was no reasoning with her.
And he went down on his knees, “Your Majesty,” he said to the queen, “what have I done that makes you so upset?
“You!” she said. “I was happy and happy married to the king… You have come and destroyed my life!”
“Oh,” Jack said, “Your Majesty, I never destroyed your life. I never did any harm. All I did is come here and give the king back his keys.”
“That’s what you’ve done, destroyed my life by giving the king back his keys!”
“Well, I didn’t know about this.” But there was no reasoning with the queen. The more she talked the angrier she got. So, Jack begged upon her to tell him what was the reason behind the keys.
Within her anger she says, “One night, when the king was drunk he told me the story.”
Jack began to cock up his lugs; he wanted to find out.
She said, “His good friend the wizard, before he left, built a secret garden in the mountains, in the middle of the mountains and guarded it by three gates, so that nothing in the world could ever enter – unless they were to be opened by the three silver keys. And in that garden is a fountain. That fountain is the Fountain of Youth. Whoever spends a day there in that fountain loses a year o’ their life. And for every day that he spends he gets younger by a year. So now,” she said, “I was happy with the king, growing old with the king. What’s going to happen to me now when the king comes back a young man and me an old woman? What will he do? He’ll cast me aside like a bit o’ stick and take some young woman for his queen. You are the cause o’ that!” And she got angrier and angrier. She called for the guards: “Arrest that man! He insulted me!”
Immediately the guards came and Jack was arrested, thrown in the dungeons. He was taken before the court the next morning and the penalty for insulting the queen was death. Jack was to be hanged, hung by the neck until he was dead for insulting the queen! There was no escape for him. And he lay in a wee puckle straw, the rats running over the top o’ him days out and days in, fed on as little as possible and barely a drink o’ water. Till Jack says to himself, “I wish to God I had never seen the silver keys.”
But anyway, the days passed by and Jack lost count of time. He barely knew day from night from a wee bit light shining through a slit in the wall in the dungeon. His beard grew long and his coat got tattered and worse he got. Till one day the door was flung open and in marched three guards. They pulled Jack to his feet.
“Come on, get on your feet, you insulter of the Royalty! Today you’re going to be hung.”
So, Jack was marched out by the courtroom to the square. The scaffold was built in the square and the people were all around, hundreds of them to see him hung. They were shouting and flinging stones at him as he was pulled by the guards. The guards were trying at the same time to hold the people back… that anybody, a stranger, would come into their district and insult Her Majesty the Queen! It was a great disgrace. It could never be lived down. But Jack was stood up, marched up the thirteen steps to the scaffold and the rope put round his neck. He was to be hung!
The hangman says, “Your last request before you get hung!”
Jack said, “I’ve no request to make. But if this is the way that ye treat a poor innocent man,” he said, “who came into your country with a present and greetings for the king… and I never insulted the queen!” But he pleaded and probed with the man, but it was no use with the hangman.
He was just ready to pull the trap to let Jack hang – when down through the crowd o’ folk came this horseman! And a voice rang up, “The king, the king! Make way for the king!”
And this man rode up. He came right beside the scaffold, jumped off his horse, ran up the thirteen steps and took his sword, cut the rope around Jack’s neck and led him down the steps.
And Jack looked. He looked again. “Thank God,” he says, “somebody’s saved me!”
“Jack, Jack,” he said, “what happened to ye?”
And Jack looked… the voice was familiar but Jack didn’t know who the man was. And he was dressed like nobody Jack had ever seen dressed before in his life!
He says, “Jack, do you no ken me?”
“No,” says Jack, “I dinna ken you!”
And the people all went down on their knees. “Back, go back,” he said to them, “make way for the king!” He says, “Jack, come with me, I want to speak to ye!”
Jack was glad to be saved. He said to himself, “I’m no caring who he is, but definitely he saved my life. He’s a king to me!” Jack was mesmerised. He didn’t know who this was – but this young man lifted him, rode him up through the crowd o’ folk. The folk left an opening and let them pass by. The man took him right up, up to the palace, to the king’s palace. In they went into the great chambers.
And the man called for two glasses o’ wine. He handed one to Jack. Jack was that shaken with fright he could hardly drink it.
“Calm yourself, Jack,” he said, “you’re safe now. Nothing’s going to bother ye. Ye’re home and I’m home.”
Jack was still amazed. He didn’t know what was wrong. This young man, well, in his forties, never the same man that… Jack didn’t know who he was!
He says, “Jack, do you no ken me? I’m your king!”
“Ha!” said Jack, “well, you’re no the same king that left here afore I went into that dungeon.”
“Aye,” he said, “Jack, I’m the same king.”
“Oh, aye!” said Jack. “Well, will ye do me one thing: will ye tell me about it? I’m lost and I’m in a terrible state – I was near hung! I was charged–’
“I know what you’re charged with,” said the king. “That’s why I rescued you. But don’t fear, don’t fret. Don’t worry. Everything is going to be all right. But sit down and calm yourself. Take a good glass o’ wine and we’ll talk it over. You tell me your story first, Jack, the truth! And I’ll tell you mine.”
“Well,” Jack says, “after I bade good night to ye, I enjoyed myself and I went to the ballroom. I had a few drinks and I had a good feast. I had a good wash and good clean-up and I went to bed. And the queen came in. And she accused me of coming here with a present for you, the keys. She tellt me the story that you would ride to the Garden o’ Youth and stay there for twenty days, and come back twenty year younger. And then you would have no more time for her. I tried to reason with her but was no use. And she said I insulted her, called the guards and I was arrested and thrown in the dungeons. And I must have lay in the dungeons for twenty days.”
“Oh,” he said, “you look in a terrible state, but never mind, Jack! For the twenty days you spent in the dungeon she’ll spend the same.” He said, “Send for the queen immediately!”
And the queen was sent for. The queen came in. He told the queen, “Sit down there. You know what you’ve done? Now own up! What did Jack do to ye?”
