In The East. Maria Pia Oelker

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ Father " he screamed leaning out of the window.

      The king heard him and raised his head towards him, waving to him with his hand.

      " Where are you going?”

      " To the city.”

      " Will you be back soon?”

      " You can count on it. Unless you want to accept my invitation to come to court.”

      The prince shook his head: he would have liked it, but not without his mother and the king had never mentioned the possibility that she, too, could leave the castle. He always said: if you come with me to the city" or" I'll take you to the sea" " you could come with me ...

      " No, father. I will wait for you here and I will continue to look at the road that leads to the city from behind the bars of the gate.”

      " All right. I hope to be back here very soon. Don't forget to read our books and teach your mother to play chess and keep up your practice.”

      The king would have gladly continued to talk to the child, but he knew that if he did, he would never leave. Then he hastily waved good-bye and got into the carriage.

      After a few minutes, the cloud of dust the coach had raised when it passed had already disappeared from the road.

      The prince walked back to the bed and saw the note his father had left him. He opened it a little surprised and read it with impatience.

      " My father " he confided to the queen later, showing her the note " says he is so sorry to leave us, but he will be back soon and then he will keep his promise to take me to see the sea. I must continue to study the stars and books that he left me, and above all to teach you the game of chess so that I can train and prepare properly to face him when he returns. And he also says that I can move into his apartment.”

      " I don’t believe it.”

      " Yes, mother, look. This is his message.”

      The queen read it with a brief incredulous smile.

      " Very well. I will order your clothes and games to be transferred to the king's apartment and Antonia will sleep in the yellow room for the moment. But you and I will be a little farther ... “

      " Not much, mother, only a few dozen more meters.”

      " If this is what the king and my prince want ...”

      " Thank you, mother. Do you know what I'm going to do? Sometimes I will invite you to my rooms in the evening and we will read and play together.”

      " Really? Careful: you are only a guest there. I myself have gone in the room very few times.”

      "But the king gave me permission, didn't he? And he didn't say that on his return I will have to go back to my room, so it's not like I'm a temporary guest.”

      " Can’t argue with your reasoning " the queen laughed.

      " But now " the teacher who was entering the hall intervened at that moment upon hearing the last words spoken by the queen " I think it's really time to resume your studies. The king wanted to joke and play with the prince, but now that he's back in the city, I think it's right to start living again according to the usual way.”

      The prince looked at him grimly without replying; it was not up to him to reply and he waited anxiously for his mother’s answer.

      " I don't think the king just wanted to joke while he was here, he never takes things lightly, much less, I imagine, if it's his son he is dealing with. But I also believe that what you say is right, preceptor, and I agree with you that it is better, despite everything, for the prince to resume his studies and his usual life.”

      " Mother! The king recommended to continue ... " protested the boy.

      " I know, but you can do it during your free time from studying. After all, the winter season is not far away, and you will be home more. You will have time to keep the promises made to the king.”

      " My father assured me that he will be back soon," the prince again tried.

      " Maybe he will; but state affairs are never so brief, and probably several months will pass before he is here again.”

      " I don't believe it," the child murmured, his voice almost trembling with disappointment and spite.

      The queen stroked his hair and kissed him on the forehead: " I would like for him to come back soon, but I learned to be realistic and to wait patiently. Now, if you love me, you will listen to your good teacher and learn the useful things he wants to teach you. I will wait to be instructed by you in the game of chess as soon as you have some time to dedicate to me and in the evening, I will come to see you. Do you agree?”

      " As you want.”

      " Shall we go then, your highness? " urged the master with a certain impatience,barely disguised by his flattering voice tone.

      " I'm ready. Good-bye, mother.”

      " See you later. And remember that later, immediately after lunch, you will have to help Antonia to tidy up your things in the new room.”

      " Can I ask which room? " asked the teacher.

      "The little room in the king's apartment," answered the queen.

      The teacher raised his eyebrows, disapproving, but did not dare to criticize openly.

      For the moment at least.

      He intended to take up the subject again later and hoped to be able to make her understand his belief: he did not think it was a good thing for the child to believe the king had shown him interest and affection; it wouldn't last, everyone knew that the sovereign was fickle and inclined to anger. Before that he had never even bothered to look at his son and all that sweetness and submissiveness shown in the past few days would most likely not continue. He was sure of it and would convince the queen. And then the prince was now grown up and had to be kept in check; he had to lead a severe, orderly life, without giving too much weight to his whims and to his natural, bizarre inclinations. All that freedom to come and go from and to the castle and the park, those stories about wild animals to look after and dreams and stars and ... all the rest. The king had enjoyed his son as if it were an unusual pastime, but it had not been an educational experience, and something had to be done to remedy the situation. He believed he was the right person to do just that and, after all, the king himself had explicitly recognized this fact.

      He would have induced the prince to limit games and forays and to commit himself with more order and stability to study matters more useful to his rank.

      And indeed, the prince, from then onward, had not much time to look out the bars of the gate at the road that led to the city and to observe the night sky from the windows. His day was filled to the minute by the hours that the master had set up for him and the queen had only partially succeeded in mitigating to give her and her son the possibility of enjoying each other's company for a few hours.

      Early in the morning the child was still able to find his way into the park, but he had to return almost immediately for the first lessons, and he could no longer jump over the hedges and discover the secrets of the garden.

      The tutor СКАЧАТЬ