The Blue Notebook Part 6

The prince brought his dark eyes upon the radiant queen and found he could hardly speak. This is how people who are in love behave. The prince spoke timidly. "I have a gift for her most beautiful and wise Majesty" He opened the box and took from it a beautiful clear rock the size of a fist. The prince put the box on the floor and held out the rock in the palm of his hand for the queen to see. Was it a diamond? If so, it would be the largest in the world. The queen stepped closer to see. As she did, a drop of water fell from the prince's hand to the floor. Then another drop fell and then another. "Ice," shouted the queen. "You woke me up to see a piece of ice! My scientists have cooled my chamber with pieces of ice a thousand times larger than that." Cloaked in her anger, she turned to the Lord Chancellor and shouted, "This is it! No more suitors," and with that, she ran from the chamber. would be the largest in the world. The queen stepped closer to see. As she did, a drop of water fell from the prince's hand to the floor. Then another drop fell and then another. "Ice," shouted the queen. "You woke me up to see a piece of ice! My scientists have cooled my chamber with pieces of ice a thousand times larger than that." Cloaked in her anger, she turned to the Lord Chancellor and shouted, "This is it! No more suitors," and with that, she ran from the chamber.

The prince remained standing exactly where he had been, the piece of ice gradually melting from his hand and forming a little pool of water beneath it. Gahil watched for a while but then left the chamber in sadness. He bade the guard show the prince out when he was ready to leave.

The queen returned to her chamber furious and explained to her lady-in-waiting what had transpired. The old servant listened and understood-her wisdom was even greater than Gahil's and far more carefully hidden. The lady-in-waiting waited for the queen's anger to lessen and then spoke quietly as the queen paced in her chamber. "Does my queen require a drink of water to calm her nerves?" "Thank you," answered the queen, "I would love some water." The lady-in-waiting then took a gla.s.s and went to the queen's private chamber and filled the gla.s.s with diamonds from one of the queen's treasure chests. She then handed this to the queen. "What is this?" the queen asked, puzzled. "My queen, it is your water," answered the elderly servant. The queen wrongly a.s.sumed that her lady-in-waiting was confused because of the late hour. The queen said, "I cannot drink diamonds."

At that moment the blinding veil of anger lifted from the queen and in a moment she realized her mistake. The Prince of Princes' gift to her was not the block of ice but himself. It was the warmth of his heart and the steadiness of his hand that he offered the queen, not another diamond. She stared at the cup of worthless diamonds in her hand under the caring gaze of her lady-in-waiting. A single drop of love is a gift of more value than all the jewels on earth. The queen was immediately aware that she loved the Prince of Princes with all of her heart. She fled from her chamber to find her prince, and as she did so a tear of happiness fell from the eye of her lady-in-waiting to the floor. the caring gaze of her lady-in-waiting. A single drop of love is a gift of more value than all the jewels on earth. The queen was immediately aware that she loved the Prince of Princes with all of her heart. She fled from her chamber to find her prince, and as she did so a tear of happiness fell from the eye of her lady-in-waiting to the floor.

The queen raced to the audience chamber and threw open the door. The prince was not there. There was simply a pool of water in the middle of the floor. The queen ran from the chamber to the palace gates, which she had never left in all her life. When she reached the gate, hardly able to breathe, the guard bowed, for he had never seen his queen up close and certainly never barefoot, dressed in a simple cotton robe. The queen could not catch her breath. "Where is the prince?" she gasped. The guard answered, "He rode from here a few minutes ago ... you can still hear the horse hooves". In the deep silence of the night he was right, but the sound was disappearing.

The queen ran back to the audience room and threw herself over the little pool of water. She desperately tried to drink the water, licking it from the floor like a thirsty nomad when he finds water in the desert. Tears filled her eyes as the prince's love touched her lips and was swallowed inside of her. A veil of anger will lift, but love is forever blinding.

The queen ran to the palace stables. The stable boy lay asleep as usual in the loft. He could not believe it when he saw the queen before him. One of the royal horses was already saddled and she leaped upon the horse and galloped at full speed through the open palace gates as the guard watched, astounded. Everyone knew the queen had never left the palace in her whole life.

The queen rode in the direction from which she had heard the hoof sounds. She rode all through the night but never saw the Prince of Princes or heard the echo of his horse. She was in despair.

As the sun rose, her horse was tiring and slowed. She brought it to a gentle walk. She had never seen her kingdom before; she had never seen the fields that every year filled the grain stores or the houses that her people lived in, and she had never seen children playing in the early morning sun. All of a sudden a glistening caught her eye. In the distance she saw another pool of her prince's love melted onto the gra.s.s. She drove her horse at full gallop to the lake. When she reached it she saw a lake of her prince's love stretched before her as far as her eye could see. Remember, the queen had never seen a natural lake before, since she had never left her palace. She leaped from the horse and ran into the pool of love.

The queen had not only never seen a lake before but had never been taught to swim. And so, the Queen of Queens drowned. She did not cry out because she understood that this was how it felt to be consumed by love.

The only creature on earth that saw what happened next was the royal horse, who was unable to tell a soul. As the Queen of Queens disappeared beneath the water, out from the water walked a white leopard. It was a beautiful, lean, muscular creature with a coat that glistened so that you could see the stars and the moon reflected in the sheen of her fur. The leopard had eyes of silver, for it carried the soul of the Queen of all Queens.

The leopard then ran with a gentle stride across the borders of k.u.mara into the eastern lands. She ran through rains and snows, across the plains of Abyssinia, and into the mountains of the Himalaya. The leopard climbed along long-forgotten pa.s.ses and across rock faces that no one even knew existed.

After many moons she chanced upon a cave. There, within it, seated in lotus pose, was the Prince of Princes. He was naked and alone. The leopard looked upon the Prince of Princes through her eyes of silver. Through him she saw heaven and earth melt into one beautiful river of love. In his eyes, the circles of love spun over earth, connecting a crying child to a beggar laughing, connecting a thrust of hope to a cry of despair, resolving evil with the good. Everything else is illusion. The silver-eyed leopard then sat at the feet of the Prince of Princes for eternity. Through him she saw heaven and earth melt into one beautiful river of love. In his eyes, the circles of love spun over earth, connecting a crying child to a beggar laughing, connecting a thrust of hope to a cry of despair, resolving evil with the good. Everything else is illusion. The silver-eyed leopard then sat at the feet of the Prince of Princes for eternity.

Writing my story has exhausted me. I concentrate in my flickering consciousness to look over the hat vendor's shoulder and see his face. I cannot, but I am near.

The following is the text from a piece of paper folded in half and inserted into the blue notebook Handwritten in pencil.

A Hat's TaleEverything is foretold, Yet in all we have choice.

Our good deeds sit upon a scale: Tilt it this way and the sun rises, Tilt it that and all that remains of the flame is a spiral of smoke.Everything is given, Yet upon us all floats a veil.

The vendor happily extends you credit.

But, as you borrow, he shall write it down.Every night the collector makes his rounds And takes from you asleep precisely what is his.

For your debt is inscribed And your judgment, truth.