“Did she give any reason for her cruel refusal of your love?"
“That in very truth she did. She says that I am from Cornwall and that all Cornishmen have tales of braggadocio and other tails, the very mention of which fills her with fear.”
“You mean that she believed you to be a tailed man?”
“Yes. That is her belief.
“Of course, she must have had some reason for such an idea.”
“Certainly.”
“Naturally, we can not blame her for not marrying you, thinking as she did. It seems to me that under the circumstances the lady showed rare judgment and a very fine discrimination. But why did you not show her that she was wrong?”
“I tried to in every way I could. I told her that I was as tailless as the Irish, but she simply cried and said that she could not trust me, and how would she feel after she was married to me and could not undo it, to find out that I had lied to her? I told her that I was a true man and spoke the truth, but she retorted that thus had all men spoken to women since the days of Knight Æneas and Lady Dido, and that none of them were to be trusted, especially one with a tail.”
I sadly shook my head as I remarked, “Oh! These women! These women!”
“Have you ever been in love!” he asked dolefully.
“Not yet.”
“Then you don’t know half about them. But will you help me?”
“I certainly will do all I can. In fact, I think I will be sending for this mighty Queen and will be after explaining a few things to her. I can tell her positively that you have no tail?”
“That is something that you will have to decide for yourself,” was all the satisfaction that Lord Fitz-Hugh would give me.
I shrugged my shoulders, as I cautioned him.
“I think you ought to be candid with me. I am Overlord now of what I hope will some day be a great realm. One of the foundations of that country will be honesty and fair dealings with our neighbors. Thus we may hope to escape devastating wars. Suppose, on my word of honor as a true King, I tell this lady that you have no tail, and on the strength of my say-so she marries you, and then suppose that she finds that I told her wrong. Think how she would feel! How would I feel if she cut off your head and tail and came to Cornwall to revenge herself on me? I have to know certainly about this. It is realty very important.”
“You will simply have to make up your mind — form your own opinion.”
He was so stubborn that I saw there was nothing to be done about it; so I bade him go back to his castle, and said that when the time came I would send for him. In fact, I did more. Finding that he lived but a day’s journey from my castle, I adventured thither with him the next day and spent a very pleasant time with him. He was living in the castle where he was born and where his family had lived for many generations. I met his mother, a very pleasant lady, who was quite witty, yet, at the same time, remarkably learned and greatly distressed over the unhappiness of her son. Then I left them, promising them that I would do what I could, as soon as I could, and then I was sure everything would turn out in a most happy manner to the great satisfaction of Lord Fitz-Hugh.
It was a fortunate happening that I returned when I did. While the Lords and Knights of Cornwall were perfectly willing for me to be their Overlord, the men of Wales had some different ideas. In fact, they had a candidate of their own. They told me, through their ambassadors, that unless I left the country at once, they would secure the help of the Irish, especially of Queen Broda, who hated Cornwall more than she hated Hell, and they would come over my land and replace all the dead Cornwall men with first-class Welshmen:
I consulted with several of the grayhaired nobles in the vicinity. It seemed that if the Welshmen came by themselves, it would be an even fight, but if the Irish merged forces with either side, it would be hard to overcome them. They said that they would stand by me to the end, but that there was no doubt but that they were afraid of this Irish Queen. I remembered that the Demon had promised that I was to he Overlord of Cornwall, but there was nothing said in our agreement as to how long I was to hold that position and retain the honor. I had a hard time enjoying the library that evening. Even the manuscript of Elephantis failed to thrill me, and I told myself that this matter of politics was a most unsatisfactory one and that just as soon as I could I was going to retire to a nice quiet place, like Avalon-by-the-sea.
The next day was stormy. So was the next day. And on the third day came frightened runners, who told that the Irish were marching through the land, and before I could decide how to act, a great army encamped around my castle, and there I was, with Queen Broda on one side of the castle wall and me on the other side, a most peculiar position for a real Overlord to be placed in.
There was nothing to do except to see what she wanted, so I readily gave whiling assent to her request for an interview. She told me, over the drawbridge, through the mouth of a most interesting old herald, that if I doubted her word, I could be accompanied by several hundred of my men-at-arms, but that she preferred privacy and therefore asked that I meet her at sundown that night on the grassy green in front of the castle. I told the herald that I would be there, and that I would come alone, as the Queen requested.
I spent the afternoon in moody silence in the library, trying to decide what the lady wanted and what would satisfy her, but I finally gave it up as something that was hopeless, as there seemed to be no telling what she wanted, and, as far as I knew, no man had ever yet satisfied a woman; at least, he had never lived to boast of it. So I spent the rest of the time reading of the temptations of Saint Anthony, and a most weary time he had of it, what with the desert, dust and the lovely women he did not yield to — at least, he boasted that he did not yield. Later in the afternoon I dressed in my best and at the appointed going-downward of the sun, I walked slowly out through the gate to the grassy place in front of the castle.
Queen Broda sat silent in her golden chariot. She was rather easy to look at. I certainly could not blame young Fitz-Hugh for his infatuation. In fact, I even considered the possibility of explaining to her that I was from France and that things might come to a worse pass than uniting our forces and giving the Welsh a sound thrashing, followed at an appropriate moment by a marriage that would unite the two kingdoms of Ireland and Cornwall. But there was a determined glint in her eye and a pert way of holding her head that made me feel that it would be best for me if I could induce her to take Fitz-Hugh on faith — perhaps I could do more with some other woman than I could with her — may hap Fitz-Hugh could handle her better and easier.
She did not wait for me to even introduce myself, but began, “Are you going to give me what I want?”
“Well, that depends. So far, I have not the least idea of what you are after. Now, if you want me to help you fight the Welsh, I think that we can come to an understanding-”
“Don’t be silly! I just want one thing and that is the head of your Lord Fitz-Hugh.”
I raised my eyebrows slightly.
“Why, Queen Broda! I am astonished. I thought that you and the young man were friendly. It would be too bad to deprive him of his head, and he young and wonderfully debonair. What can the poor fellow have done to have you treat him thus?”
“He courted me and then when I promised to marry him told me that he was of Cornwall.”
“Well, what of it? He had to be from somewhere, did he not?”
“Now, listen to me, Cecil, son of James, son of John, you who hold your place as Overlord by some chicanery that has caused endless talk in this part of the world. In my country we have elephants, cametennus, metacollinarum, white and red lions, men with eyes before and behind. We have satyrs and pigmies and forty-ell giants, but we have no tailed men, and we are certainly not going to have any, certainly not as the husband of Queen Broda; so I came over for the head of this man who insulted me.”