Story Telling Week 10

The King, The Stable Boy, and Petrarch

A King and a stable boy loved the same woman. The stable boy had nothing he could offer to win her hand. The king though he showered her with flowers, jewels, and offers of land could not get her to relinquish her hand. Each night they would stand outside her window and beg for her love. For six months the stable boy offered her nothing but his undying loyalty and love. The King offered her more flowers and gold. Each night the woman would simply reply to them with a “No.” Finally at the end of the six months both men with tears of longing and frustration asked her what she wanted in exchange for her love. She told them, “I want you to touch me without laying your hands on me, make me rich without gold, look upon me without your eyes. I want you to sweep me off my feet and teach me how to dance with your words. You ask me what I want and this is simple I want your soul to embrace mine.”

“Woman you make no sense with your request. Tell me to conquer a city and I will, demand a throne and it is yours, request to have me sail the oceans to bring you the finest of silks and I shall harness the winds. This I can do, but what you request  is impossible.” the king said.

“Yes my lady. Far be it from a simple man as myself to disagree with you but our dear king does make a good point.”

“I do not sit outside your window requesting your love, nor do I request your conditions upon which I can win your love, neither do I when receiving those conditions request new conditions.” the lady replied.

“But my lady….” the king said.

“Do not stand out side my window in an improper manner and say “My lady” and expect me to simply buckle at the knees like some lustful prize whose hand can be won by some simple currency because that would make me no higher than a common unfortunate. Is that what you would have me be?”

“I would not!”

“Nor I, my lady.” Said the stable boy.

“Then you asked for my heart and those are my demands. Should I ask you to enslave the moon and the sun then you should do it and think it a worthy trade should you not?”

“I should my lady.”

“As should I.”

“Then it is settled. No be gone from my window and do not return until you are able to pay my dower.”

The two men left befuddled. Love is a complex equalizer of men. A king has no more a greater understanding than the poorest of men. Equally confused the two men decided to seek the help of an expert in the matters of winning a woman’s heart.

They traveled day and night for a month until they arrived at the home of the poet Petrarch. In his quarters they found him asleep and when he woke up he saw the popper. The king afraid the stable boy would gain the knowledge of how win the woman’s heart first spoke up.

“Now I am a king and I was here first and being a king it is your duty to offer me the courtesy of receiving me and my request first!”

To this the poet replied, “Ah yes you are a king but we are not in your kingdom and in my house are equal to kings. I am unaware of who was here first but I did see this man first so I will talk to him first. Please good sir what do you  require of me?”

The stable boy explain his desire to win the heart of this woman to the poet. When he was done the poet sat in silence for a moment and said, “I will help you both. To one of you I will give you this book of all my poetry to read to her so that you may win her heart. Inside of it is every poem I have ever spoken to win a woman. To the other I will not give you any of my poetry but instead I will teach you how to write poetry. I will leave the choice up to you poor stable boy since you were here first.”

Without hesitation the stable boy said that he would not take the book but instead learn how to write poetry. This made the king happy because what good would writing one poem be against hundreds of poems. He thought he was sure to win and took the book and headed home. On his way out the door the king said, “I shall wait one month for you and then we will go to her window and see who wins her heart.” Then the king left.

After one month had passed the two men met outside her window. The woman looked down on them and said “Tonight one of you shall leave with your heart, and the other shall leave with my  heart.”

The king looked up at her and began to read poems from the book. He read poem after poem to her until all the poems in the book had been read. She sat at her window unmoved by his words. Then the stable boy looked up to her and began to speak. With each word she became more captivated. She began to blush and smile and when he was done she tossed him down a rose.

Angered by this he asked the woman, “How could you choose him. I have read you countless poems written for countless women to win countless hearts and yet you choose this stable boys words over mine.”

“Yes king I do choose this stable boy to give my heat to because he wrote one poem meant to win one woman’s heart,” and with this the king stormed off. “You good sir what is your name?”

“Westley, my lady.”

“Come up to my chambers.”

“As you wish my buttercup.”





Author's Notes
At first read this may seem like it did not have anything to do with the Mahabharata but it does. This is my twist on the scene when Duryodhana and Arjuna went to see Krishna. The king in this story is Duryodhana, the stable boy is Arjuna, Petrarch is Krishna, and the woman is the kingdom they both want. I put this twist on it to make it a little more fun, and though it seems completely different it is still in keeping with the spirit of the scene in the book. Plus anytime you can get a Princess Bride story into the class the better I say lol. Enjoy.

Picture Attribution
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/