THE CHAINED KING
"... As soon as this gold is counted to him, the woodcutter will leave, with his children, great and small, never to return, never. He will leave his wife alone in her house.
“King, you will be obeyed."
The next evening, everything was done as the king had said.
Three months passed without anything more being said. But one morning the king woke up shouting:
“Ho! Jacks! Stand up, lazy people! Quick, my whip. Quick, my horn. Quick, my best horse and my pack of dogs."
Five minutes later, the king was in the saddle, and set off at full gallop, sounding his hunting horn, amid his dogs, who cried like a band of devils. Seven hours later he came down to the door of the house, where the woodcutter's wife had remained alone.
"Hello, woman. I am the King."
“Hello, King. What's in it for your service?"
"Woman, make dinner, and lay down my place, while I lock up my horse and my dogs in the stable."
“King, you will be obeyed."
When dinner was ready and the table laid, the king sat down. The woodcutter's wife served him.
“Woman, I took your husband and children from you. You will never, ever see them again. To my misfortune and that of others, I am married to a mean woman as hell. She gives me daughters like a hen lays eggs. But she is a mule for the boys. What he lacks, you have. That's why I came. We will have a son together, who will help me when I am old, and who will rule when I am dead."
“King, you will be obeyed."
The king spent the night in the house with the woodcutter's wife. The next day, at daybreak, he entered the stable, saddled his horse, and released his pack of dogs. When he was in the saddle, the king said:
"Woman, farewell. In nine months, you will have a son as beautiful as day. He will have a gold fleur-de-lys on his tongue. This child, you will have him baptized, and you will say to the priest: “The king wants him to be called Louis, like his father."
“King, you will be obeyed."
“Woman, what we did together is a mortal sin. If the Good Lord took us now, we would go straight to hell. But we will confess, and we will say to the priest: "The king's land must not have been divided. The peace of the people must not be lost." The priest will forgive us; but we will never, ever see each other again."
The king set off at full gallop with his pack of dogs. But he no longer sounded the horn, as he did when coming. The woodcutter's wife never saw him again, never. At nightfall, he had returned to his Louvre.
"King," said the queen, "where do you come from? Where have you been spending your time since yesterday?
“I come from wherever I want. You won't know. Since yesterday, I have spent my time with a woman, who will bear me a boy, to help me when I am old, and to command when I am dead."
The queen said nothing, but she thought:
"Patience! You will pay me for this."
In fact, during supper, she gave a soothing drink to the king, who went to bed and fell asleep like a lead. Then the queen arose, left the castle, and went to find her lover.
"Galant, do you want to be king? I will be your queen."
“Darling, I want it."
“Well, follow me."
The two went into the king's bedroom, who was still sleeping like a lead.
Then the gallant bound his feet, and his hands, and loaded him onto a horse, like a sack of potatoes. That done, he took the beast by the bridle, and set off far, far away, towards the rising sun. An hour before dark he was in a tower on the top of a high mountain. Against the walls of this tower, iron, pickaxe and mine could do nothing. To open and close the iron door, a golden key was needed, a golden key unique in the world.
The gallant took the golden key, the unique golden key in the world, which hung night and day around his neck, opened the iron door, carried the king into the tower, and chained him with a thick iron chain. plumbed into the ground. Then he placed a black loaf of bread and a jug of water near the prisoner, closed the iron door three times, and set off again into the dark night. At sunrise, he was with the queen.