Note/L10N/KDQ/2.03/Books/povssthekingsmen2?
povssthekingsmen2 
原文
<font face=1><DIV align="center">The Kings Men<br>
<p>
Part two - The Plague
<p>
By Cartland the Barbarian
<p>
<DIV align="left"> <IMG src="Book/fancy_font/f_59x61.dds" width=51 height=61>ate arrived in the form of one of the province's periodical plagues. The Royal Household had the resources to escape the worst of it but was not immune. Madeleine, one of Martes' younger sisters and his favourite, was struck down. As with most illnesses, contracting the disease was not necessarily a death sentence but it was always a risk. As Madeleine lay pale and weak in her huge bed, Martes came to sit beside her and offer encouragement. She asked him to read to her.
<p>
Martes could never have been described as a literary man. Indeed it had been fortunate that his university was accustomed to accepting bribes (more commonly referred to as donations but everyone knew what they really were) when offering degrees to their wealthier clientele. Since being forced to learn to read in his childhood, Martes prided himself on never having opened a book. His sister's demand unsettled him. But one look into her feverish eyes removed any way to refuse.
<p>
Because his reading skills were rudimentary Martes had to choose from children's books. Madeleine was young enough to let him use her age rather than his failing as the reason. He picked 'The Prince, A Shepherd'.
<p>
The story told how a wealthy prince, tired of being adulated by women with eyes only on position, power and fortune, disguised himself as a poor shepherd to find a woman who would love him for himself alone. In the idealized fashion of such nonsense, the poor never noticed his soft, callous-free hands, his educated speech or his total ignorance of manual labour and he found what he sought.
<p>
Madeleine made him read it to her several times until she was finally well enough to read it herself. By then Martes had been profoundly influenced by its content.
<p>
In the poorest parts of the city the plague had been far more devastating. Yet in the ghetto where Elviria lived the tireless efforts of Minty, giving all his time and trouble freely despite continuing to work full time for his employer, had saved many. Tanisa had succumbed but been brought back from death's door by the boy's ministrations. Elviria, her mother and Minty himself had escaped. Beyond an increased awareness of mortality, their lives continued as before. They had no knowledge that Martes Venere was about to change his life and would have laughed if they had been told. Martes was hardly the right shape to go walking about the city in disguise.
<p>
Martes, whilst he might not have the full complement of brains allotted to most human beings, was not stupid. When he left, putting the King's Men under the control of his most trusted deputies, he abandoned the city completely. He took himself to distant parts of the province where people did not even care who was the ruler, let alone wanted to know anything about his family.
<p>
He did not try to pretend to be an echt-shepherd either but said he was a youth who had lost his fortune and was having to start again from nothing. It was not easy for him. Humility, subservience, temperance and restraint were alien to his nature. And yet the fire he had seen in his sister's eyes as he talked of true love made him persevere.
<p>
In the end he was to be disillusioned. He had no difficulty in finding girls who professed to love him. If he asked them to marry him they would prevaricate until the words 'but how shall we live' or their equivalent, were finally spoken. The 'means' expected by these country wenches was nowhere near what his city conquests had required but it was still the case that economics triumphed over love at every turn. He had tried visiting the slums in towns but it was the same story. Girls would only marry to better themselves. Indeed some even preferred the relative certainty of earning enough to live on through prostitution than the idea of facing life with an impecunious, doting lover.
<p>
He had taken to wearing a brown robe and accepted odd jobs such as looking after sheep. After a time when asked what he did for a living he could justifiably say he was a shepherd. He found a certain freedom in being able to stand alone in the open air without having to listen to the incessant prattling of inconsequential gold-diggers. Sometimes there would be a shepherdess to help while away the time. It gave his frustration a respite but brought him no nearer to his goal.
<p>
After a little over a year he decided that there was no such thing as true love. The book was indeed a fairy tale. The prince of the story had never existed. Martes would give it one last chance. The journey from his current remote dwelling back to the palace would take several weeks. He would not completely give up hope until he was home.
<p>
Life in the ghetto continued as ever. Elviria did not learn until quite some time after he had left, that Martes was taking an extended vacation. She nurtured fantasies of setting off after him; sure that fate would throw them together. She would probably have done it had she any idea where Martes had gone. Tanisa and Minty had both done their best to get the information for her. Of course they got nowhere. But because those they spoke to did not like to admit to ignorance, it was several months before they cottoned onto the fact that nobody knew.
<p>
On his homeward journey Martes, who had still not found a woman who considered love as the most important factor in life, fell ill with a fever. He now discovered that not only were the common folk obsessed with money, they were not even charitable by nature. They offered him no comfort or succour, refused to talk to him and barred their doors against him. His journey became slower and slower; the fever wasting him until he found it difficult to find the energy to move. He passed the time increasingly by lying in barns or open fields careless of the weather, saved from death only by the plentiful supply of fat with which his earlier years of good living had endowed him.
<p>
He realized that if he could struggle back to the palace he would get proper healing and for the first time since he had left he tried to tell those he met who he really was. They didn't believe him, hearing only the ravings of fever. By the time Martes was close to the outskirts of his city he was a mere shadow of his former self, dragging himself onwards. But each day he was finding it harder. He was losing all sense of direction too and starting to go round in circles. Local people could see he was a source of disease and were considering ways of disposing of him for good. One of them, mentioning it when visiting his physician brought it to Minty's attention.
<p>
That there was a lunatic at large possibly spreading plague was already a topic of gossip. Now Minty was able to add weight to what could so easily have been a rumour and learned where the man was. He set out as soon as he could; armed with a whole box of potions and lotions. By the time he got to the 'lunatic', Martes had grown too weak to be able to move at all. Minty found him lying in a small copse, too exhausted even to brush away the insects that crawled on his skin. Martes was still lucid, though, and called out to the Redguard boy:
<p>
"You had better leave me to die in peace or the world will avoid you, too."
<p>
Minty laughed. "I wouldn't be much of a healer if I turned my back on the sick. I have come here to treat you - if I can."
<p>
Martes groaned. "I have nothing to pay you with unless..."
<p>
He was not allowed to finish. "Don't worry about that. I charge only what the patient can afford and if that is nothing, I charge nothing. Now let me see what we can do."
<p>
Minty examined Martes asking him about symptoms, timings, current aches and pains. At the end of an hour he gave Martes two potions. He also constructed a makeshift bed and a canopy to keep off the worst of the insects. He promised to return the next day.
<p>
By his third visit the two men were developing a rapport. Minty brought clean clothes, proper food, fresh water and a bedroll. He advised the man, who had called himself Strephonius, not to even think about moving until Minty could convince the city that he was free of contagion.
<p>
Again Martes began to talk of payment and Minty cut him short.
<p>
"I have more than enough to live on. My needs are very modest. Why should I not use what I have to spare to help those worse off than myself?"
<p>
Martes assumed that Minty, or perhaps his family, must be one of the wealthier households in the city. When he learned the boy was an orphan living in a hovel in the poorest ghetto he could scarcely believe his ears.
<p>
He said: "Boy, you are unique!"
<p>
When the remark had been explained Minty denied the assertion pointing out that his friend Elviria was exactly as he was.
<p>
Martes (still calling himself Strephonius) sighed. "I wish I had met her before."
<p>
The next day Minty brought Elviria with him. Emaciated though the sick man was she recognized him at once. She also saw that he must have a reason for hiding his identity and so did not tell him that she knew.
<p>
Elviria was a very ordinary looking girl and yet to Martes she appeared as an angel. She helped Minty, cooling Martes' fevered brow with cloths dampened in vinegar. As her cool hand brushed his forehead he was enraptured. Although she was doing only what Minty asked her to do - keeping him comfortable - helping him move to reduce the risk of sores - it was if she was the source of all goodness. And, now that Elviria was there and he sensed a purpose, his strength began to return more quickly than ever. She had to be the girl he was looking for and started to show her his feelings.
<p>
Elviria smiled at him and patted his hand reassuringly. At first she assumed his interest was caused by hallucinations. As it became clear that his expressions of love were genuine she was thrown into total confusion. Oh yes, she had often dreamed of such a situation in the past but how could they really make a life together? His friends would treat her as dirt and make him a laughing stock. Perhaps they could be happy in an isolated cottage away from his former companions but not in the palace.
<p>
A day or two later when Martes was strong enough to stand for the first time - using a stick to prop him and her shoulder to lean on - she decided he had to know what she did. Minty was out of earshot.
<p>
"I know who you are, Martes. How can you mock me by suggesting matrimony? How would that fit in with your King's Men? How would it fare with your rich, titled ladies? Are you playing with me?"
<p>
He replied simply: "I have given all that up. I live as you see me. I have nothing and expect nothing. If you marry me we will live as you choose."
<p>
That night, back in her mother's house, she was very quiet. She had been so since Martes had spoken. Minty had even had to ask her if she was all right. Her snappy response had been both unfair and unkind but she did not want his solicitousness at that moment. She had snapped at her mother too. When she lay down on her straw mattress sleep would not come. Eventually, at two in the morning, she crept out of her bedroom window and made her way to where Tanisa lived.
<p>
The other girl might have been expecting her. Although Elviria had never done this before, she was allowed in without any questions being asked. Tanisa made them both glasses of hot, sweet tea and sat down patiently to find out what had happened.
<p>
Elviria at first said nothing. Suddenly she burst into tears.
<p>
"I ought to be so happy. What is the matter with me?"
<p>
"You have loved Martes for a very long time."
<p>
"Every night since Minty brought us together I have relived the day in my dreams. I see myself sitting beside him, holding his hand. I hear the beautiful words he speaks to me in a kind of fervour."
<p>
Tanisa nodded. She did not yet understand what the problem was but her friend was unhappy; it was her duty to listen.
<p>
"He talks of setting up a farm together; of living a simple life away from here, away from the court."
<p>
"He won't want to be recognized."
<p>
Tanisa stopped when she saw her friend was not listening. Instead she asked: "Are you afraid it is just a trap?"
<p>
Elviria grinned ruefully. "Oh, as to that, who can tell what the future holds? People change as they grow older, circumstances change too. That is one of life's gambles. He definitely believes what he is saying at the moment and that ought to be enough."
<p>
Tanisa heard the qualification.
<p>
"So what is wrong?"
<p>
Elviria sighed. "I told you, every night I recall what took place during the day. I can hear his voice and feel him sitting there beside me and yet when I turn to look into his face I do not see Martes but Minty. Martes' dream of setting up a life together fills me with excitement until I realize it would have to be away from you and Minty too."
<p>
"Are you saying you are in love with Minty?"
<p>
"Of course I am. I love both of you. We've known each other since we were babies in arms. You are my family."
<p>
Tanisa was still for a very long time. Then she said: "Minty is in love with you."
<p>
"As I said..."
<p>
"I don't think he knows it, though."
<p>
"What? You mean.... You're not suggesting... Oh, that's plain silly!"
<p>
And Tanisa told her friend how she knew.
<p>
For several days Elviria appeared not to have heard the words. She continued to visit Martes, watching him fill out again, grow stronger, listening eagerly to his protestations of love, letting him hold her hand. On the fifth, as she was walking back with Minty, she mentioned Tanisa's affection for him.
<p>
The Redguard shook his head. "I did wonder. It's a pity because with my work and everything..."
<p>
"Oh Minty, we've both known you for years. Of course she understands your work come first. She wouldn?t expect anything else."
<p>
"All the same..."
<p>
As she stared into his harassed face, sensing he could not say yes to Tanisa but did not want to hurt her, she suddenly understood what was missing from Martes' endearments. Martes loved her for what she stood for, not for herself. And she also saw that her youthful 'love' for Martes was born of empathy. She had felt his unhappiness and wanted to help him. At the time she had been too young and inexperienced to understand or distinguish between the emotions. She still wanted to help him, and felt a great glow of satisfaction in knowing she actually was doing so. But she knew she did not want to set up a farm with him.
<p>
She turned slowly to Minty.
<p>
"Suppose Tanisa had told you the same thing about me. Would your work interfere then, too?"
<p>
He replied at once. "No."
<p>
Before Elviria and Minty announced plans to marry, they first sought out a man who would be right for Tanisa. Whether the girl really loved the Redguard or was looking for the comfort and reassurance of habit Elviria could not be sure but without ever having had to look elsewhere, Tanisa could not be either. The speed with which they resolved the problem indicated it had been the latter. But it was not until after Tanisa was engaged that they announced their own intentions.
<p>
Martes was shattered by the rejection. Even his usually uncaring father could not fail to miss his son's depression. He tried to help by offering free choice from the royal stables. Several new breeds had been acquired since Martes had first gone away. His friends tried to revive him by pointing out that life had not changed in fourteen months. He was still 'hump'em, dump'em.'
<p>
But things had changed and not even all the king's horses or all the King's Men could pull hump'em dump'em together again.
<p>
Martes retired to an estate in the country and in his later years became something of an authority on women. His tale was often used to warn children of the dangers of pretension. How the ego that had sat on the wall had fallen to his doom. Some of the names and details changed over the course of the years but the basic story remained.
<p>
And there are two morals to the tale. Whatever you seek in life, don't look so far into the distance that you miss what is beneath your own nose. And always remember, the fatter the ego, the more thinly stretched the shell.
<p>
訳文
<font face=1><DIV align="center">The Kings Men<br>
<p>
Part two - The Plague
<p>
By Cartland the Barbarian
<p>
<DIV align="left"> <IMG src="Book/fancy_font/f_59x61.dds" width=51 height=61>ate arrived in the form of one of the province's periodical plagues. The Royal Household had the resources to escape the worst of it but was not immune. Madeleine, one of Martes' younger sisters and his favourite, was struck down. As with most illnesses, contracting the disease was not necessarily a death sentence but it was always a risk. As Madeleine lay pale and weak in her huge bed, Martes came to sit beside her and offer encouragement. She asked him to read to her.
<p>
Martes could never have been described as a literary man. Indeed it had been fortunate that his university was accustomed to accepting bribes (more commonly referred to as donations but everyone knew what they really were) when offering degrees to their wealthier clientele. Since being forced to learn to read in his childhood, Martes prided himself on never having opened a book. His sister's demand unsettled him. But one look into her feverish eyes removed any way to refuse.
<p>
Because his reading skills were rudimentary Martes had to choose from children's books. Madeleine was young enough to let him use her age rather than his failing as the reason. He picked 'The Prince, A Shepherd'.
<p>
The story told how a wealthy prince, tired of being adulated by women with eyes only on position, power and fortune, disguised himself as a poor shepherd to find a woman who would love him for himself alone. In the idealized fashion of such nonsense, the poor never noticed his soft, callous-free hands, his educated speech or his total ignorance of manual labour and he found what he sought.
<p>
Madeleine made him read it to her several times until she was finally well enough to read it herself. By then Martes had been profoundly influenced by its content.
<p>
In the poorest parts of the city the plague had been far more devastating. Yet in the ghetto where Elviria lived the tireless efforts of Minty, giving all his time and trouble freely despite continuing to work full time for his employer, had saved many. Tanisa had succumbed but been brought back from death's door by the boy's ministrations. Elviria, her mother and Minty himself had escaped. Beyond an increased awareness of mortality, their lives continued as before. They had no knowledge that Martes Venere was about to change his life and would have laughed if they had been told. Martes was hardly the right shape to go walking about the city in disguise.
<p>
Martes, whilst he might not have the full complement of brains allotted to most human beings, was not stupid. When he left, putting the King's Men under the control of his most trusted deputies, he abandoned the city completely. He took himself to distant parts of the province where people did not even care who was the ruler, let alone wanted to know anything about his family.
<p>
He did not try to pretend to be an echt-shepherd either but said he was a youth who had lost his fortune and was having to start again from nothing. It was not easy for him. Humility, subservience, temperance and restraint were alien to his nature. And yet the fire he had seen in his sister's eyes as he talked of true love made him persevere.
<p>
In the end he was to be disillusioned. He had no difficulty in finding girls who professed to love him. If he asked them to marry him they would prevaricate until the words 'but how shall we live' or their equivalent, were finally spoken. The 'means' expected by these country wenches was nowhere near what his city conquests had required but it was still the case that economics triumphed over love at every turn. He had tried visiting the slums in towns but it was the same story. Girls would only marry to better themselves. Indeed some even preferred the relative certainty of earning enough to live on through prostitution than the idea of facing life with an impecunious, doting lover.
<p>
He had taken to wearing a brown robe and accepted odd jobs such as looking after sheep. After a time when asked what he did for a living he could justifiably say he was a shepherd. He found a certain freedom in being able to stand alone in the open air without having to listen to the incessant prattling of inconsequential gold-diggers. Sometimes there would be a shepherdess to help while away the time. It gave his frustration a respite but brought him no nearer to his goal.
<p>
After a little over a year he decided that there was no such thing as true love. The book was indeed a fairy tale. The prince of the story had never existed. Martes would give it one last chance. The journey from his current remote dwelling back to the palace would take several weeks. He would not completely give up hope until he was home.
<p>
Life in the ghetto continued as ever. Elviria did not learn until quite some time after he had left, that Martes was taking an extended vacation. She nurtured fantasies of setting off after him; sure that fate would throw them together. She would probably have done it had she any idea where Martes had gone. Tanisa and Minty had both done their best to get the information for her. Of course they got nowhere. But because those they spoke to did not like to admit to ignorance, it was several months before they cottoned onto the fact that nobody knew.
<p>
On his homeward journey Martes, who had still not found a woman who considered love as the most important factor in life, fell ill with a fever. He now discovered that not only were the common folk obsessed with money, they were not even charitable by nature. They offered him no comfort or succour, refused to talk to him and barred their doors against him. His journey became slower and slower; the fever wasting him until he found it difficult to find the energy to move. He passed the time increasingly by lying in barns or open fields careless of the weather, saved from death only by the plentiful supply of fat with which his earlier years of good living had endowed him.
<p>
He realized that if he could struggle back to the palace he would get proper healing and for the first time since he had left he tried to tell those he met who he really was. They didn't believe him, hearing only the ravings of fever. By the time Martes was close to the outskirts of his city he was a mere shadow of his former self, dragging himself onwards. But each day he was finding it harder. He was losing all sense of direction too and starting to go round in circles. Local people could see he was a source of disease and were considering ways of disposing of him for good. One of them, mentioning it when visiting his physician brought it to Minty's attention.
<p>
That there was a lunatic at large possibly spreading plague was already a topic of gossip. Now Minty was able to add weight to what could so easily have been a rumour and learned where the man was. He set out as soon as he could; armed with a whole box of potions and lotions. By the time he got to the 'lunatic', Martes had grown too weak to be able to move at all. Minty found him lying in a small copse, too exhausted even to brush away the insects that crawled on his skin. Martes was still lucid, though, and called out to the Redguard boy:
<p>
"You had better leave me to die in peace or the world will avoid you, too."
<p>
Minty laughed. "I wouldn't be much of a healer if I turned my back on the sick. I have come here to treat you - if I can."
<p>
Martes groaned. "I have nothing to pay you with unless..."
<p>
He was not allowed to finish. "Don't worry about that. I charge only what the patient can afford and if that is nothing, I charge nothing. Now let me see what we can do."
<p>
Minty examined Martes asking him about symptoms, timings, current aches and pains. At the end of an hour he gave Martes two potions. He also constructed a makeshift bed and a canopy to keep off the worst of the insects. He promised to return the next day.
<p>
By his third visit the two men were developing a rapport. Minty brought clean clothes, proper food, fresh water and a bedroll. He advised the man, who had called himself Strephonius, not to even think about moving until Minty could convince the city that he was free of contagion.
<p>
Again Martes began to talk of payment and Minty cut him short.
<p>
"I have more than enough to live on. My needs are very modest. Why should I not use what I have to spare to help those worse off than myself?"
<p>
Martes assumed that Minty, or perhaps his family, must be one of the wealthier households in the city. When he learned the boy was an orphan living in a hovel in the poorest ghetto he could scarcely believe his ears.
<p>
He said: "Boy, you are unique!"
<p>
When the remark had been explained Minty denied the assertion pointing out that his friend Elviria was exactly as he was.
<p>
Martes (still calling himself Strephonius) sighed. "I wish I had met her before."
<p>
The next day Minty brought Elviria with him. Emaciated though the sick man was she recognized him at once. She also saw that he must have a reason for hiding his identity and so did not tell him that she knew.
<p>
Elviria was a very ordinary looking girl and yet to Martes she appeared as an angel. She helped Minty, cooling Martes' fevered brow with cloths dampened in vinegar. As her cool hand brushed his forehead he was enraptured. Although she was doing only what Minty asked her to do - keeping him comfortable - helping him move to reduce the risk of sores - it was if she was the source of all goodness. And, now that Elviria was there and he sensed a purpose, his strength began to return more quickly than ever. She had to be the girl he was looking for and started to show her his feelings.
<p>
Elviria smiled at him and patted his hand reassuringly. At first she assumed his interest was caused by hallucinations. As it became clear that his expressions of love were genuine she was thrown into total confusion. Oh yes, she had often dreamed of such a situation in the past but how could they really make a life together? His friends would treat her as dirt and make him a laughing stock. Perhaps they could be happy in an isolated cottage away from his former companions but not in the palace.
<p>
A day or two later when Martes was strong enough to stand for the first time - using a stick to prop him and her shoulder to lean on - she decided he had to know what she did. Minty was out of earshot.
<p>
"I know who you are, Martes. How can you mock me by suggesting matrimony? How would that fit in with your King's Men? How would it fare with your rich, titled ladies? Are you playing with me?"
<p>
He replied simply: "I have given all that up. I live as you see me. I have nothing and expect nothing. If you marry me we will live as you choose."
<p>
That night, back in her mother's house, she was very quiet. She had been so since Martes had spoken. Minty had even had to ask her if she was all right. Her snappy response had been both unfair and unkind but she did not want his solicitousness at that moment. She had snapped at her mother too. When she lay down on her straw mattress sleep would not come. Eventually, at two in the morning, she crept out of her bedroom window and made her way to where Tanisa lived.
<p>
The other girl might have been expecting her. Although Elviria had never done this before, she was allowed in without any questions being asked. Tanisa made them both glasses of hot, sweet tea and sat down patiently to find out what had happened.
<p>
Elviria at first said nothing. Suddenly she burst into tears.
<p>
"I ought to be so happy. What is the matter with me?"
<p>
"You have loved Martes for a very long time."
<p>
"Every night since Minty brought us together I have relived the day in my dreams. I see myself sitting beside him, holding his hand. I hear the beautiful words he speaks to me in a kind of fervour."
<p>
Tanisa nodded. She did not yet understand what the problem was but her friend was unhappy; it was her duty to listen.
<p>
"He talks of setting up a farm together; of living a simple life away from here, away from the court."
<p>
"He won't want to be recognized."
<p>
Tanisa stopped when she saw her friend was not listening. Instead she asked: "Are you afraid it is just a trap?"
<p>
Elviria grinned ruefully. "Oh, as to that, who can tell what the future holds? People change as they grow older, circumstances change too. That is one of life's gambles. He definitely believes what he is saying at the moment and that ought to be enough."
<p>
Tanisa heard the qualification.
<p>
"So what is wrong?"
<p>
Elviria sighed. "I told you, every night I recall what took place during the day. I can hear his voice and feel him sitting there beside me and yet when I turn to look into his face I do not see Martes but Minty. Martes' dream of setting up a life together fills me with excitement until I realize it would have to be away from you and Minty too."
<p>
"Are you saying you are in love with Minty?"
<p>
"Of course I am. I love both of you. We've known each other since we were babies in arms. You are my family."
<p>
Tanisa was still for a very long time. Then she said: "Minty is in love with you."
<p>
"As I said..."
<p>
"I don't think he knows it, though."
<p>
"What? You mean.... You're not suggesting... Oh, that's plain silly!"
<p>
And Tanisa told her friend how she knew.
<p>
For several days Elviria appeared not to have heard the words. She continued to visit Martes, watching him fill out again, grow stronger, listening eagerly to his protestations of love, letting him hold her hand. On the fifth, as she was walking back with Minty, she mentioned Tanisa's affection for him.
<p>
The Redguard shook his head. "I did wonder. It's a pity because with my work and everything..."
<p>
"Oh Minty, we've both known you for years. Of course she understands your work come first. She wouldn稚 expect anything else."
<p>
"All the same..."
<p>
As she stared into his harassed face, sensing he could not say yes to Tanisa but did not want to hurt her, she suddenly understood what was missing from Martes' endearments. Martes loved her for what she stood for, not for herself. And she also saw that her youthful 'love' for Martes was born of empathy. She had felt his unhappiness and wanted to help him. At the time she had been too young and inexperienced to understand or distinguish between the emotions. She still wanted to help him, and felt a great glow of satisfaction in knowing she actually was doing so. But she knew she did not want to set up a farm with him.
<p>
She turned slowly to Minty.
<p>
"Suppose Tanisa had told you the same thing about me. Would your work interfere then, too?"
<p>
He replied at once. "No."
<p>
Before Elviria and Minty announced plans to marry, they first sought out a man who would be right for Tanisa. Whether the girl really loved the Redguard or was looking for the comfort and reassurance of habit Elviria could not be sure but without ever having had to look elsewhere, Tanisa could not be either. The speed with which they resolved the problem indicated it had been the latter. But it was not until after Tanisa was engaged that they announced their own intentions.
<p>
Martes was shattered by the rejection. Even his usually uncaring father could not fail to miss his son's depression. He tried to help by offering free choice from the royal stables. Several new breeds had been acquired since Martes had first gone away. His friends tried to revive him by pointing out that life had not changed in fourteen months. He was still 'hump'em, dump'em.'
<p>
But things had changed and not even all the king's horses or all the King's Men could pull hump'em dump'em together again.
<p>
Martes retired to an estate in the country and in his later years became something of an authority on women. His tale was often used to warn children of the dangers of pretension. How the ego that had sat on the wall had fallen to his doom. Some of the names and details changed over the course of the years but the basic story remained.
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And there are two morals to the tale. Whatever you seek in life, don't look so far into the distance that you miss what is beneath your own nose. And always remember, the fatter the ego, the more thinly stretched the shell.
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