Then, seeing how troubled he was over his violated trust, she
softened at once, and was all goodness and gentleness toward him.
The boy made a hearty and satisfying meal, and was greatly
refreshed and gladdened by it. It was a meal which was
distinguished by this curious feature, that rank was waived on
both sides; yet neither recipient of the favour was aware that it
had been extended. The goodwife had intended to feed this young
tramp with broken victuals in a corner, like any other tramp or
like a dog; but she was so remorseful for the scolding she had
given him, that she did what she could to atone for it by allowing
him to sit at the family table and eat with his betters, on
ostensible terms of equality with them; and the King, on his side,
was so remorseful for having broken his trust, after the family
had been so kind to him, that he forced himself to atone for it by
humbling himself to the family level, instead of requiring the
woman and her children to stand and wait upon him, while he
occupied their table in the solitary state due to his birth and
dignity. It does us all good to unbend sometimes. This good
woman was made happy all the day long by the applauses which she
got out of herself for her magnanimous condescension to a tramp;
and the King was just as self-complacent over his gracious
humility toward a humble peasant woman.
When breakfast was over, the housewife told the King to wash up
the dishes. This command was a staggerer, for a moment, and the
King came near rebelling; but then he said to himself, “Alfred the
Great watched the cakes; doubtless he would have washed the dishes
too–therefore will I essay it.”
He made a sufficiently poor job of it; and to his surprise too,
for the cleaning of wooden spoons and trenchers had seemed an easy
thing to do. It was a tedious and troublesome piece of work, but
he finished it at last. He was becoming impatient to get away on
his journey now; however, he was not to lose this thrifty dame’s
society so easily. She furnished him some little odds and ends of
employment, which he got through with after a fair fashion and
with some credit. Then she set him and the little girls to paring
some winter apples; but he was so awkward at this service that she
retired him from it and gave him a butcher knife to grind.
Afterwards she kept him carding wool until he began to think he
had laid the good King Alfred about far enough in the shade for
the present in the matter of showy menial heroisms that would read
picturesquely in story-books and histories, and so he was half-
minded to resign. And when, just after the noonday dinner, the
goodwife gave him a basket of kittens to drown, he did resign. At
least he was just going to resign–for he felt that he must draw
the line somewhere, and it seemed to him that to draw it at
kitten-drowning was about the right thing–when there was an
interruption. The interruption was John Canty–with a peddler’s
pack on his back–and Hugo.
The King discovered these rascals approaching the front gate
before they had had a chance to see him; so he said nothing about
drawing the line, but took up his basket of kittens and stepped
quietly out the back way, without a word. He left the creatures
in an out-house, and hurried on, into a narrow lane at the rear.
Chapter XX. The Prince and the hermit.
The high hedge hid him from the house, now; and so, under the
impulse of a deadly fright, he let out all his forces and sped
toward a wood in the distance. He never looked back until he had
almost gained the shelter of the forest; then he turned and
descried two figures in the distance. That was sufficient; he did
not wait to scan them critically, but hurried on, and never abated
his pace till he was far within the twilight depths of the wood.
Then he stopped; being persuaded that he was now tolerably safe.