light of Revelation had never shone. She knew not how to speak comfort
to the breaking heart of her son, in those cheering words of Holy Writ,
which would have been so applicable to his case in that hour of
desertion: _When thy father and thy mother forsake thee, I will take
thee up_. She could only weep with her son, and try to soothe his
sorrow by whispering a hope, which she was far from feeling, that the
day might come, when he could return to his father's court, cured of
the malady which was the cause of his banishment.
"But years may pass away before that happy day, if it ever should
come," replied the weeping boy; "and I shall be altered in stature and
in features; the tones of my voice will have become strange to your
ears, my mother! Toil and sorrow will have set their hard marks upon
my brow. These garments, now so brightly stained with figures that
denote my royal birth and princely station, will be worn bare, or
exchanged for the sheep-skin vest of indigence. How, then, will you
know that I am indeed your son, should I ever present myself before you
cleansed of this dreadful leprosy?"
"My son," replied the queen, taking a royal ring of carved agate from
her finger, and placing it on a stand before him, for so great was the
terror of contagion from those afflicted with leprosy, that even the
affectionate mother of Bladud avoided the touch of her child,--"this
ring was wrought by the master-hand of a Druid, a skillful worker in
precious stones, within the sacred circle of Stonehenge. It was placed
upon my finger before the mystic altar, when I became the wife of the
king, your father, and was saluted by the Arch-Druid as Queen of
Britain. In the whole world, there is not another like unto it; and,
should you bring it back to me, by that token shall I know you to be my
son, even though the lapse of thrice ten years shall have passed away,
and the golden locks of my princely boy shall be darkened with toil and
time, and no longer wave over a smooth, unfurrowed brow."
II.
The unfortunate Bladud, having carefully suspended his mother's ring
about his neck, bade her a tearful farewell, and slowly and sorrowfully
pursued his lonely way across the hills and downs of that part of
England which is now called Somersetshire.
Evening was closing in before Bladud met with a single creature to show
him the slightest compassion. At length, he was so fortunate as to
encounter a shepherd-boy, who appeared
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