PS 3513 
 .R654 
 B5 
 1922 
 Copy 1 
 
 Blue Cross 
 
 "g 
 
 AN ALLEGORY 
 
1 
 
 I 
 
rH£ "Bj^e CK9SS 
 
 An allegory 
 
 of 
 
 The third century 
 
 after 
 
 The Landing of the Pilgrims 
 by 
 Robert Malory Qrey 
 
 / 
 

 Copyright 1922 
 by 
 6YRON J. KING COMPANY 
 Mt. Oliver Station 
 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 
 
 3CU696664 
 
 DEC 19 '22 
 
 ^ C 
 
 / 
 
■"the words of the accusation 
 have disappeared." 
 
m 
 
THE Bj^UE cross 
 
 NE afternoon, late in autumn, a 
 stranger was seen walking down a 
 dusty road that leads from a sea- 
 coast town into the heart of France. 
 1 As he passed through the villages 
 and hamlets, older men and women paused 
 in their work and studied the stranger. A 
 mass of snow-white hair fell from his well- 
 shaped head. His eyes, well you could almost 
 guess that they were blue ! And did not the 
 people notice that he was strikingly tall? At 
 times he halted at a town-pump for a drink 
 of fresh water. He spoke little French and 
 would tarry just long enough to say "Hello !" 
 to the boys and girls that crowded about to 
 touch his large hand and to look into his 
 kind blue eyes. So, when he left, they 
 watched him for a moment — every one of 
 them — then ran to their play and forgot him. 
 They did not know whom they had entertained 
 that day. 
 
 SEVEN 
 
 ^«^ 
 
The stranger travelled very far, and on the 
 third day, just as the sun stood directly over- 
 head, he came to the forks of the road. He 
 stopped, put on his glasses, and read the di- 
 rections on the guide post. One arrow was 
 painted blue and pointed : "To Jerusalem." 
 The other, painted red, pointed : '*To Ver- 
 sailles." The stranger put his glasses in a 
 silver case, and with a quick decisive step 
 walked in the direction of the red arrow. 
 
 This fork soon entered a forest. The trav- 
 eller had not gone far when suddenly a strange 
 woman stepped from behind a tree and halted 
 him. ''Whither?" she demanded in a tone 
 that took the breath out of him. For a mo- 
 ment he did not speak. Then he answered. 
 "Madam, I am on my way to a meeting of 
 the Four Kings." "Aha, aha !" she laughed 
 in a hollow tone. "Meeting of the Kings ! 
 Aha! Aha! So you are a King?" And she 
 made light of him and laughed still more. 
 "Sir," she said, putting a long bony hand on 
 his shoulder, "stay away from that castle. It's 
 a spider's web. The three Kings are the 
 spiders. If you enter, you will be the fly, 
 and a dainty meal for them you will be !" 
 Before the King could question her, she scur- 
 ried across the road with her crooked stick 
 and disappeared in the thickets of the forest. 
 
 EIGHT 
 
The gaunt form of the traveller moved with 
 a slackened step down the forest road. 
 
 While he was thus musing over the fear 
 that the skinny hag had aroused in him, he 
 was startled ! Another woman, uglier than the 
 first, stood before him. He shrank back, 
 clutched the bosom of his jacket with both 
 hands and stared at the shrivelled hag. 
 "Whither?" she shrieked, and the forest 
 echoed before the King could collect himself. 
 Then, with a feigned readiness of answer, he 
 replied quickly : "Madam, I am on my way 
 to a meeting of the Four Kings." In a voice 
 that the King never forgot, she warned : 
 "Turn back ! Turn back ! You will not fare 
 well if you enter the den of robbers and 
 thieves. Turn back !" On the last word she 
 bowed, as if she regarded the King highly, 
 leaned on her crooked stick and hobbled away 
 into the gloom of the forest. 
 
 Just at the edge of this forest, where the 
 road leads out into a broad, open country, the 
 King came to an abru]Dt bend in the road, and 
 beheM, in the very middle of the road, a bony 
 figure outlined against the sky. A cold sweat 
 came over the King. "Whither?" she cried 
 in a tone so weird that it seemed like a warn- 
 ing from an empty tomb. "Madam, I am on 
 my way to a meeting of the Four Kings." 
 
 NINE 
 
 / 
 
"Sir," she said, "seek not the welfare of thine 
 own peo]:)le in a foreign land. Seek it where 
 thy people dwell. Stay away from the castle ! 
 It is a trap set for a slow bear ! Stay away !" 
 Then, like the other two hags, she leaned on 
 her crooked stick, hobbled over the gravelly 
 road, into the recesses of the forest. 
 
 The bine eyes of the King followed the trail- 
 ing hem of her cloak until it disappeared be- 
 hind a clump of the poisonous hemlo«.k. Then 
 he left the road and sat down on a large 
 white rock to rest. He turned in the direction 
 from which he had come. Then he glanced 
 toward the deep gloom of the forest whither 
 the forms of the three witches had vanished. 
 He looked ahead of him — down the road. He- 
 rested a long while, for he Vvas struggling 
 within himself. He arose, swung into the 
 road, and soon the white rock lay far behind 
 him. 
 
 About an hour before sundown, of that 
 same day, he beheld a wall of red rock rising 
 before him in the distance. As he came nearer, 
 it grew so high that it made him dizzy to look 
 where the top touched the sky. The road, 
 buried deep in white sand, turned abruptly to 
 the right at this point and followed the side 
 of the steep cliff for more than a mile. Then 
 it led the royal traveler into an underground 
 
 TEN 
 
passage, through the heart of the great hills, 
 to the other side. What a picture, as he came 
 out from under the overhanging rock to a 
 bridge of white stone that spanned the valley 
 hundreds of feet over the silvery rivulet be- 
 low ! He stopped here, threw down his leath- 
 ern knapsack and leaned to rest for a while on 
 the parapet. From this commanding elevation 
 his large eyes swept the country. The beauty 
 of the, vast, unending undulations of hill and 
 plain overawed him ! The whole world seemed 
 to lie before him, young and green as on the 
 morning of creation! A rich, beautiful gar- 
 den ! The King was intoxicated. The next mo- 
 ment he saw the ivy-covered battlements jut- 
 ting the watery-green of the skyline. The glow 
 of the evening sun burnished the stained glass 
 of the ancient abode of the French kings. He 
 hastened over the bridge. As the castle gar- 
 dens came into view, a flock of white pigeons 
 winged their flight low over a wall of shapely 
 evergreens, and disappeared behind the turrets 
 of the castle tower. The sudden barking of 
 Danish dogs in the royal kennels roused the 
 drunken King from his dream. He was in 
 Versailles. 
 
 ELEVEN 
 
SURPENTINE driveway led up 
 to the entrance of the castle door. 
 Here the Master of Ceremonies, 
 surrounded by a retinue of serv- 
 ants, greeted the King with much 
 grace, saying, "In the name of His Royal 
 Majesty, the King of France, and of His Ma- 
 jesty's people, the people of France, I wel- 
 come you in our land !" The King, who had 
 removed his hunter's cap — for he traveled in 
 a hunter's costume — bowed a low bow very 
 gracefully. Then he said : ''In the name of my 
 people, the people of the Far Country" — such 
 was the name of the land from which he had 
 come — "who wish to live in bonds of friend- 
 ship with His Majesty's people, the people of 
 France, I greet you and thank you for your 
 kind welcome." The Master of Ceremonies, 
 and even those under him, were so impressed 
 by the sincerity of the King's speech that they 
 clapped their hands and looked much pleased 
 with their distinguished guest. Then the King, 
 who was covered with dust, was ushered into 
 a small but cozy chamber where he made 
 ready to be received by the company that was 
 awaiting his arrival in the throne room. 
 
 As the bell in the tower struck six o'clock, 
 the massive copper doors of the Royal Recep- 
 tion Room were swung open, and the Master 
 TWELVE 
 
of Ceremonies' voice resounded with a pleas- 
 ant echo : ''Your Royal Highness, the King 
 of England, the King of Italy, the King of 
 France, Ladies and Gentlemen : His Majesty, 
 the King from the Far Country !" Kings, 
 Queens, Ladies, Gentlemen, Courtiers — every- 
 body came to his feet, shouted and clapped 
 hands on seeing the long-heralded ruler. He 
 was escorted to a seat of honor, and a long 
 procession formed to meet him personally. In 
 the receiving line stood the King and 
 Queen of France, the King and Queen 
 of England, and the Queen and stocky King 
 of Italy, with the Master of Ceremonies and 
 his retinue in the background. The tall King 
 from the Far Country smiled and was very 
 hanpy. for it made him happy to meet this 
 splendid company of people. And he con- 
 tinued to smile, for after the last of the 
 process'on, the court fool — a boy attired 
 in a snug-fitting suit of many colors with little 
 bells attached to it — had passed, he laughed 
 heartily. Thereupon he turned to the French 
 King and Queen and assured them that such 
 courtesy had never been shown him in his 
 own country. The Queen was much pleased 
 with this remark and said that she and her royal 
 husband had looked forward with eagerness to 
 the day when they should meet the King from 
 
 THIRTEEN 
 
the Far Country. They had heard many times 
 about him and had read many of the speeches 
 that he had deHvered to his own people. They 
 had received so much pleasure from the let- 
 ters that he had written them during the awful 
 wnr that they had just passed through with 
 victory. The Queen added, that if it had not 
 been for the foresight of the King from the 
 Far Country, and finally, for the material aid 
 in furnishing a large army of strong young 
 men, when their own had nearly all been slaiii 
 in the war, and for the food which he had sent 
 them in large ships, their France — which was 
 so dear to them — would today be a desert ; 
 the magnificent palace hall in which they 
 were now rejoicing, would be a heap of broken 
 stones. For a while the King from the Far 
 Country became so serious that a pallor passed 
 over his face, like a cloud, but when two 
 beautiful blue draperies, like those seen in our 
 theatres today, were drawn aside, and a mag- 
 nificent banquet hall greeted his eyes, he was 
 cheerful again and smiled. Chandeliers 
 sparkled from ceilings of blue and gold. The 
 soft candle light of golden-armed candelabras 
 glow^ed warmly in tall mirrors that lined the 
 walls. Rich meats and viands, fruits and 
 cakes, and flowers were massed in long rows 
 on the banquet tables. From these sparkled 
 
 FOURTEEN 
 
the precious glass-ware and the royal plate of 
 gold on which appeared the imprint of the 
 coat of mail of the House of France. 
 
 The feasting lasted long into the night. 
 The Royal Guest was called on to deliver a 
 speech. He received such applause that it al- 
 most turned his head. He remembered this 
 incident to the end of his days. He also re- 
 membered that he had not drunk any wine 
 that night. He spoke in a serious vein, and 
 there was only one thing that the fool, the 
 boy in the motley colored suit, remembered as 
 he sat on a blue cushion on the floor near the 
 King from the Far Country. It was : **It Shall 
 Not Happen Again," but the young fool did 
 not understand WHAT it was that should not 
 happen again. After the c-ose of the speech, 
 the whole company arose at the long tables 
 and as the King of Italy proposed a toast to 
 the Guest who sat at the right of the King of 
 France, a ring of precious glass resounded 
 through the hall, and a good Burgundy wine 
 was drunk to the health of the tall King. As 
 music played the company moved leisurely in- 
 to the spacious "salon," as the ball room is 
 called in French, and the fool ever chuckled 
 to himself when he recalled how well and 
 how gracefully the King with the silver-white 
 hair had danced with the beautiful ladies of 
 
 FIFTEEN 
 
the court. That night the King slept well, for 
 he had traveled far that day, and the revelries 
 of the evening's entertainment had worn him 
 out. 
 
 The next morning a horseback ride over 
 the castle hills in the royal party sharpened 
 the King's appetite for a French breakfast. 
 Here as well as at breakfast, the King of 
 England was always closer to the King from 
 the Far Country than anyone e^se. In his 
 court etiquette, the King from the Far Coun- 
 try was never caught of? his guard, so that 
 some of the ladies in the company were known 
 to have made complimentary remarks about 
 his polite manners. 
 
 As a prelude to the second evening's gaie- 
 ties, it was arranged to drive to the city of the 
 Palace of the Kings — the Capitol of the 
 French country. Here thousands of the city's 
 common people had massed in the great ])ub- 
 lic square around the Fountain of Victory, 
 to catch a glimpse of the man of whom they 
 had heard so much. It was at first reported 
 that he would pass at four o'clock ; the people 
 waited patiently and long. They waited until 
 five o'clock, until six o'clock — the King did 
 not come. Then, a herald, mounted on a milk- 
 white steed, and wearing red and gold armor 
 
 SIXTEEN 
 
 ^ 
 
Vke that of a knight one sees m pictures to- 
 day, announced the coming of the tall King 
 with stirring peals from his silver trumpet. 
 A low murmur rose, like a sigh after long 
 waiting, and the multitude began to move 
 like a body of water in the sea. As the royal 
 carriage, bearing the insignia of France came 
 into view, a mighty shouting arose, so that a 
 mihion voices exclaimed in French : "Long live 
 the King from the Far Coimtry !" But there 
 was great disappointment. Was not -the tall 
 King to speak to the common people from 
 the pulpit in the square? The carriage was 
 driven through with reckless speed, because 
 seme thought he was a friend of the com- 
 mon people. The King was not troubled, 
 but he thouglit about the warning of the 
 witches. The people however, knowing his 
 regard for them, went home and put lighted 
 candles in their windovv^s in honor of the 
 KinsT who had set foot on their country's 
 soil. That night the King from the Far 
 Country slept in the Royal Chamber in the 
 Palace of the Kings. He remembered the 
 canopy overhead and the draperies on the 
 side of the bed and the four tall posters. Be- 
 fore he fell asleep he was looking at that 
 SEVENTEEN 
 
■Hi 
 
 cover overhead. He wondered what the Mas- 
 ter of Ceremonies had planned for the mor- 
 row. 
 
 He wondered, not because he was hungry 
 for more such entertainment. No, he was 
 surfeited with it. The purpose that lay near- 
 est his heart, the purpose for which he had 
 made the long and tiresome journey, that was 
 being put off from day to day. He had come 
 on a serious mission, as no doubt the other 
 Kings had too. But, _ they seemed to have 
 forgotten. He was ever alert to remember 
 that he was a guest in a foreign land. He 
 would wait until the host would suggest the 
 time for work. So, he kept silent, and in all 
 things acted with utmost regard and with due 
 courtesy. 
 
 Yet, after three successive days of enter- 
 tainment and feast'ng, he pondered over what 
 the three weird Sisters, as he called them, had 
 warned him about. Therefore, on the morn- 
 ing of the fourth day he invited the King of 
 England into his private drawing-room. He 
 explained the whole matter in such a frank 
 manner that he did not in any degree lessen 
 the English King's regard for him. In fact, 
 he was so impressed by the earnestness and 
 sincerity of the King from the Far Country 
 that lie in turn invited the King of Italy and 
 
 EIGHTEEN 
 
won his good-will over to the embarrassed 
 King. Finally, these three agreed to lay the 
 question before the gracious host, His Majesty 
 the King of France. The Frenchman, always 
 keenly alert, knew instantly the direction in 
 which the wind was blowing. He ordered the 
 whole program of the day upset immediately. 
 The Master of Ceremonies and his retinue of 
 servants were sccredy happy, but the fair 
 ladies and courtiers were thrown into conster- 
 nation. Had they not been invited for fully 
 three weeks of entertainment? Had not the 
 Ladies fitted out costly wardrobes for the 
 many days of festivities? These and other 
 arguments were heard in the upper rooms of 
 the castle, so that from this day the King from 
 the Far Country was hated and openly de- 
 nounced behind closed doors. 
 
 At high noon of the fourth day, the Four 
 Kings sat down in heavy red armchairs about 
 a four-cornered red table and started the work 
 of finding a plan for which they had come 
 together: namely, to stop war, so that the 
 boys from England, and the French boys, and 
 the little Italian boys with the brown eyes, 
 and the boys from the Far Country would 
 not have to go to war to be butchered like 
 sheep. As the King from the Far Country 
 had put it in his opening speech on the night 
 NINETEEN 
 
of the grand reception: "It Must Not Hap- 
 pen Again !" 
 
 At the very beginning of the meeting each 
 of these four Kings wanted to stop war, but 
 each King thought his plan was the best. So, 
 they had to find a method of agreeing. For, 
 suppose three Kings would have been willing 
 to write their names under a covenant, saving 
 they would never make war against a neigh- 
 bor, but that they would settle a misunder- 
 standing by friendly counsel. What would 
 be the good, if the fourth King should be 
 unwilling to write his name there too? WouM 
 not the journey from the Far Country have 
 been in vain? And would not another awful 
 war happen again? So, when they were hope- 
 lessly confused about finding a way by which 
 all would come to an agreement, the King of 
 England proposed that they decide all plans 
 by so many games of checkers. To this the 
 French King and the Italian King agreed 
 instantly, evidently believing that the King 
 from the Far Country knew nothing of the 
 game. He did hesitate before he agreed to 
 risk the success of his undertaking to mere 
 chance of a checkerboard. The Four Kings 
 hit upon a plan to play 14 games. Why it 
 was that they chose 14, nobody knows, but 
 since that time it has been said that 14 was a 
 
 TWENTY 
 
favorite number of the King from the Far 
 Country, just as some people Hke the four 
 leaves of a clover flower because for them 
 it is a lucky number. 
 
 The Frenchman and the Italian played oppo- 
 site each other. Their checkers were colored 
 orange and black. The Englishman played 
 with the King from the Far Country. Their 
 checkers were blue and goM. The white-haired 
 King chose the checkers of blue, so that the 
 English King played with the gold. When the 
 King from the Far Country had made known 
 his liking for the number 14, the three Kings, 
 whom he called the Big Three, thought nothing 
 about it. But when he showed his special lik- 
 ing for the blue checkers, and even asked 
 whether they \vould object to his making a 
 cross on one of his checkers, they actually 
 laughed and hinted that he was superstitious. 
 Yet, in all this he kept his composure, and 
 remembered the warning of the three witches. 
 The King of France won the first game 
 from the King of Italy. In the other match 
 the King from the Far Country lost the first 
 game to the King of England. The English- 
 man put a mark on the slate with a gold- 
 colored stick of chalk. His opponent, however, 
 was not ruffled, but in the next game he was 
 more alert. They played. The King from the 
 TWENTY-ONE 
 
Far Country lost the second game. The Eng- 
 lish King made anothci' gold mark. The ex- 
 pression on the white-haired King's face 
 changed ; anyone would become uneasy with 
 such luck running against him. But he had a 
 lot of faith, faith in the belief that the blue 
 cross would finally win for him. When the 
 third game was finished the English King 
 made his third mark with the gold-colored 
 chalk. 
 
 Did the King who played with the blue 
 checkers think of giving up? Never! For he 
 won the next game, and for that he put a 
 blue mark on the slate with a piece of blue 
 chalk. He won the next, and the one after that, 
 and the next mark was number 7. That was 
 the last he played with the English King. He 
 had beaten him four out of seven games. 
 
 In the meantime the King of France had 
 put down six black marks on a white slate. 
 The one orange-colored mark was the game 
 that the Italian King had made at the very 
 beginning of the contest. With genuine French 
 pride, the royal winner leaned back in his 
 heavy red leathern chair, and waited for the 
 white-haired King to put his blue checkers 
 on the board. The other two defeated Kings 
 watched the quick moves of the French wiz- 
 ard. He played swiftly and bewildered the 
 
 TWENTY-TWO 
 
King frcm the Far Country. What was not 
 at all expected happened; the old King won 
 the first four, lost the fifth, and with four 
 jumps across the board won the last game. 
 
 Thus, the plan of the King from the Far 
 Countr}^ to end war was adopted. It was done 
 in the following manner: The old King with 
 the white hair took a green feather in his 
 hand, dipped the quill into the metal ink-well 
 and wrote in his own language: "The King 
 from the Far Country." The King of Eng- 
 land wrote next in his language, which was 
 the same as the language of the King from 
 the Far Country: "The King of England." 
 Then the French King wrote with a flourish : 
 "The King of France." When the Italian 
 King stooped over to sign he hesitated, laid 
 down the green pen and turned about, say- 
 ing: "Gentlemen, I don't believe that I ought 
 to give away the independence of the great 
 Kingdom of Italy without material compensa- 
 tions." The other three Kings received this re- 
 mark with astonishment, and it was with great 
 difficulty that the King from the Far Country 
 persuaded the short King of Italy to sign. 
 Thus was the work, that had been started by 
 him, crowned with victory and he was glad 
 to return to the land of his people. 
 TWENTY-THREE 
 
HAT night the King from the Far 
 Country rested well, but the next 
 morning he was up early, ready 
 in his hunter's costume for the 
 long journey home. When he asked 
 the Master of Ceremonies for an interview 
 with his gracious host, he was informed that 
 His Majesty, the French King, regretted very 
 much that he could not be present in person 
 to bid him a farewell on his leave-taking ; that 
 he did wish him well, however; and that he 
 desired him to carry His Majesty's greetings 
 to the people of the Far Country. Finally, 
 he cherished the wish that the Sacred Cove- 
 nant which the Four Kings had underwritten, 
 would meet the approval of his nobles and his 
 people. He in turn spoke a word of appre- 
 ciation, doffed his hat to the company of serv- 
 ants that had provided for his comfort, then 
 left the castle door and followed the road, 
 without courteous escort, to the outskirts of 
 the castle gardens. It seemed to him that he 
 heard only the barking of the Danish dogs in 
 the royal kennels — the barking of the same 
 dogs that had welcomed him on the day of 
 his arrival. 
 
 When the traveler came to the farther end 
 of the white stone bridge that stood so grace- 
 fully over the wooded valley below, he turned 
 TWENTY- FOUR 
 
 % 
 
about and surveyed the whole scene as he had 
 done on the day of his arrival. With his 
 large blue eyes he drank in the panoramic 
 beauty of the landscape, then turned and 
 walked through the underground passage on 
 the road to the Far Country. He was genu- 
 inely happy, because in his leathern scrip that 
 was slung over his back, he carried the Sacred 
 Covenant. On this scroll the seals from the 
 rings of the Four Kings were done in wax. 
 At times the traveler undid the scroll and, as 
 every one believes, a look of dehght, like a 
 light, must have come over his face. 
 
 It was well that the traveler found such 
 satisfaction in the work of his hands, for he 
 did not know what was afoot in his home- 
 land. It was well that he did not. For, at 
 the very time when he was reading the articles 
 of the solemn agreement, thirty-nine of his 
 Nobles were meeting in secret in the House of 
 the Nobles. And for what? To defeat the 
 adoption of the King's plan to stop war, so 
 that he would not become popular with the 
 people. They sat in long, flowing, white robes 
 with red borders, behind locked doors and 
 with fierce jealousy sought to nip the King's 
 plan in the bud. They agreed in writing to 
 cast the black dice in the black urn ; that, they 
 TWENTY-FIVE 
 
knew, would defeat the Sacred Covenant. The 
 talking became so heated and so stormy, 
 that cries of "Treason !" were heard from 
 the lower tiers of marble benches. One 
 of the Nobility, who had been in the House 
 of the Nobles many years and who wore a 
 grey beard closely cut, delivered a denuncia- 
 tory speech against the King. In closing, he 
 shouted : "What shall be done with this usurp- 
 er who has acted against the wishes of the 
 people? What shall be done with this tyrant 
 who flouts the Great Law of the Land ? What 
 shall be done with this despot who has wilfully 
 ignored the authority of this dignified body 
 of Nobles?" And then in a voice still louder 
 he shouted : "Crucify him ! Crucify him !" 
 The Nobles, now keyed to a high pitch by 
 his speech, arose as one body and yelled and 
 shrieked and applauded, so that the very walls 
 of the stone building shook and the chande- 
 liers of brass on the ceiling trembled with 
 the noise. 
 
 While they were so in this state of frenzy, 
 the Noble who had shouted that they should 
 crucify him, passed a roll of paper around 
 on which all present agreed to cast their dice 
 against the adoption of the Covenant of the 
 Four Kings. They named it this in sport, be- 
 cause they said it had been made by the Four 
 
 TWENTY -SIX 
 
Kiiii^s and not by the common people. 
 
 During all of this tumult the old King was 
 walking out on the highway many miles from 
 home. He was as happy as the birds that 
 rose from the meadows over which he passed. 
 But when he came to the spot where he had 
 met the last witch, three haggard forms sud- 
 denly appeared from nowhere, like ghosts. 
 They were the three women in black that had 
 frightened iT'm before. Now they frightened 
 him still more, because they spoke not a word. 
 They only danced around in a circle, with him 
 in the middle, leaning on their crooked sticks. 
 They mimicked and sent out a weird cry 
 through the valley, so that the King did not 
 ki:ow what to make of it. He believed them 
 evil spirits and left them, feeling that they 
 had made a fruitless attempt to misguide a 
 good man. 
 
 Whenever the King returned to his castle 
 from a journey, it had always been the custom 
 for the Nobles to dine with him at meat. So, 
 on this evening, when the King caught sight 
 of his. palace, called the White Palace, because 
 it had been built out of white stone, he was 
 glad. He was happy to be home again. He 
 was glad to meet his Nobles whom he would 
 tell how difficult it had been to obtain the 
 signatures of the three Kings to the articles 
 
 TWENTY-SEVEN 
 
MM^ 
 
 of the Great Covenant : a solemn agreement 
 that the Nobles and the people who had chosen 
 the Nobles, had wanted for so many years. 
 
 iiHEN the King therefore entered 
 the great banquet hall, the hall 
 where a large wild boar's head 
 stares the King right in the face 
 as he sits at the head of the oaken 
 table, he shrank within himself. \Miether the 
 King was beside himself for the moment, 
 thinking that he was about to be attacked by 
 the beast that stared at him from the wall, 
 or whether the empty places of three Nobles 
 affected him so, no one knows. Some of the 
 servants said that they clearly saw him star- 
 ing at the empty chairs as if he actually saw 
 these men in their accustomed places. In 
 spite of this cold reception, the King con- 
 trolled his feelings, sat down at the table, 
 and drank ale with his Nobles in a merry 
 manner. He chatted in his customary way, 
 but anyone would understand that it must 
 have been an effort. With a sureness he sensed 
 that mischief was astir. When he brought up 
 the matter of the Great Covenant, one of 
 the Nobles even dared to ask him an insulting 
 question. The old man felt the sting of it. 
 Yet, he answered all questions with a court- 
 eous reply. Immediately after the banquet 
 TWENTY-EIGHT 
 
three of the Nobles left, a very discourteous 
 act, and one that had not happened in the 
 lifetime of the King. Nevertheless, the King 
 acted with a grace and with a kindness that 
 made some of the younger Nobles feel sorry 
 for him. 
 
 Now, while the King was engaged in at- 
 tending to matters of state that had accumu- 
 lated during his sojourn and while he was 
 preparing to consult each of the Nobles in 
 person, and to explain the Covenant, some- 
 thing happened that will always be recalled 
 in the Far Country as a very wicked and 
 sinful deed. The Noble who wore a closely- 
 cut grey beard, and who had cried out, "Cru- 
 cify him! Crucify him!" called a meeting of 
 six men whose names all began with the same 
 letter of the alphabet. Then as their leader in 
 consultation with them, he decided how the 
 pet plan of the King was to be broken down ; 
 for the King had determined to take a jour- 
 ney down the Cross of the Empire, as it was 
 called, to tell the people what the Covenant 
 meant. This Cross of the Empire was a large 
 cross made by two broad highways ; one, run- 
 ning for three thousand miles north and south 
 through the heart of the Far Country ; the 
 other ran for two thousand miles east and 
 west and crossed the other road in the center. 
 
 TWENTY-NINE 
 
It was a fine avenue, smooth and hard, made 
 of a bhie stone that had been hauled from 
 the mountains in ox-carts. From these two 
 main streets other roads branched off, so that 
 the King's runners, fleet-footed boys, stationed 
 at intervals of one mile along the arms of the 
 Cross of the Empire, could carry a paper roll 
 with a message written on it to his people in 
 a very short time. 
 
 The Noble with the grey beard and his 
 Lieutenants — for such he called them — learned 
 that the King was preparing a message to his 
 people. At once, the Noble with the grey 
 beard, whom they called their Captain, be- 
 cause they said they w^ere in battle with the 
 King, set about to tell the people that the 
 Covenant which the King had brought back 
 from the King's castle in France, was con- 
 trary to the Great Law of the Land. The 
 Captain placed one of his Lieutenants over 
 each of the four sections made by the Cross 
 of the Empire. Each of these four divided 
 his section into four parts, and this manner 
 of ])arceling out continued until there were 
 about as many sections as there are blaclc 
 and red squares on a checkerboard. The 
 other two Lieutenants of the six whose names 
 bes:an with the same letter, remained with the 
 Captain and helped him prepare messages that 
 
 THIRTY 
 
were very skilfully worded so that they would 
 have a double nieanino-. Each day one of 
 these was given to specially hired runners 
 who very ([uickly carried the doubtful mean- 
 ing to all parts of the land which the Captain 
 and his scpiad hoped would turn the peo])le 
 against the King. 
 
 When the King therefore w^as ready to go 
 out to meet the people — for he had sent out 
 announcements to all parts of the Empire, 
 saying that he w^ould travel up and down the 
 Cross of the Empire and that all men and 
 women who had their country's welfare at 
 heart should come from the outer parts to 
 meet him — the work of the Captain had been 
 done. For, when he had gotten the greater 
 length of the road that runs north and south, 
 he soon learned that the people had been 
 turned against him. The men seemed too busy 
 gathering the yellow corn in the fields, and the 
 women were engaged in getting the homes 
 ready for the winter. He would have com- 
 pleted his journey — he rode in the royal car- 
 riage drawn by four milk-white steeds — but 
 he fell suddenly ill and had to return to the 
 White Palace. Some of his friends expressed 
 the opinion that the six men whose names be- 
 gan with the same letter had secretly poisoned 
 him, and so they called them the Poison 
 
 THIRTY-ONE 
 
 \ 
 
■itt 
 
 Squad. However, this could not be proven, 
 and so the King was left alone to fight for 
 his life on a long sick-bed. 
 
 When the yearly time for voting on ques- 
 tions that concerned the welfare of the land 
 arrived, the people came together wherever 
 two roads crossed, to cast their votes. They 
 dropped white dice into a large white urn. 
 if they wanted any measure ; whoever wanted 
 it not, dropped a black dice in a large black 
 urn. These were then sealed under the King's 
 seal and taken to the throne room of the 
 Castle. Here, in the presence of the King 
 and all the Nobles, the dxe were counted. 
 So, when the urns were broken open this time, 
 it was found that twice as many b^ack dice 
 had been dropped into the urns as w^hite dice. 
 The King- was not present, but one of his 
 friends was there to see for him. 
 
 This decisive defeat at the hands of his own 
 people gave the Captain and his Poison Squad 
 so much encouragement that they decided to 
 do away with the white-haired King. While 
 the people were still incensed about what the 
 King;- had done, two Nobles dragged him out 
 of the sick-bed, weak as he was, and forced 
 him to stand a mock trial. The Judge said 
 that there was not enough proof to convict 
 him, yet when the Captain w4th the grey 
 
 THIRTY-TWO 
 
beard jiointed out that the number of the 
 black dice showed plainly that the old King 
 was a traitor, he let him have his way. The 
 eld man was asked whether he had anything 
 to say in defense of these charges. He said 
 nothing, but asked for a bowl of clean water. 
 A servant ran to get it, and when he came in, 
 the King thanked him and then stooped and 
 washed his hands. Thereupon he turned to 
 the Judge and asked him to look at the water 
 anrl to teM him whether the washing had 
 made it unclean. The water was as clear as 
 before and the Judge became almost white, 
 because he had pronounced the death sentence 
 on an innocent, white-haired man. 
 
 Then a soldier took him by the hand and led 
 him out into the stony street. Here a large 
 crowd of people had gathered to see the King 
 standing wnth bared feet and clad in purple, 
 taking up the wooden cross which had been 
 made ready for him. The weak King walked 
 alone, and the Nobles who followed ridiculed 
 him by saying that he was now more lone- 
 handed than ever he wished to be as King. 
 At one place the condemned King stumbled 
 and fell, and it was at this moment when the 
 sisters of the man began to weep bitterly. 
 But not one Noble came to his aid, so that 
 many women who knew him not began to 
 
 THIRTY THREE 
 
 \ 
 
weep. He struggled as he rose and cont nued 
 his journey to the top of the hill. Here they 
 made ready to crucify him. 
 
 And they crucified him about the third hour 
 in the afternoon. And the sun grew pale and 
 lost its light, and a dark cloud like the black- 
 ness of night came over the whole land ; for, 
 as one of the helpers at the cross said, even 
 the stars flickered and went out because they 
 coukl no longer look at the horrible crime. 
 The moon changed to a copper color, and then 
 turned to red. A heavy wind began to move, 
 the forests swayed and the ground quaked 
 as if in protest of the awful deed. It was 
 then that graves opened, and many who had 
 been sleeping for centuries arose from the 
 dead. Peals of distant thunder followed one 
 after another, and bolts of lightning cracked 
 like shells bursting on a battlefield, but not a 
 drop of rain fell. At intervals the large eyes 
 of the butchers gleamed like the whites of the 
 eyes of the cattle in the fields. 
 
 And over the head of the King they wrote 
 the words of the accusation in French, and in 
 English and in Italian, so that those who 
 should jxiss that way might know the crime 
 for which he had been crucified. On the left 
 of him they nailed another to a cross, a young 
 man in a soldier's uniform. His crime was 
 
 THIRTY-IOl R 
 
that the King had been his friend. On the 
 right of the King stood a small cross. Here 
 was a little girl. A stream of blood trickled 
 from her nose and ran over the white garment 
 in which she was clothed. She was a sister of 
 the slain soldier. She went to heaven half 
 an hour after they had driven the nails 
 through her little hands and feet. About 9 
 o'clock that night the crucified King asked for 
 a drink. One of the six Nobles ran and bore 
 him a cup of vinegar. The parched tongue 
 of the white-haired man touched it, but he 
 would not drink. His weary head fell, his 
 chest rose heavily, and then he cried bitterly. 
 An hour later the Captain with the grey beard 
 came up to him and ran a long knife into his 
 left side. The broken eyes of the old man 
 locked down at him with a stare. And then 
 the wounded man collected all his powers, 
 and in a voice that made his butchers tremble, 
 he cried out: "It is finished!" The King's 
 soul winged its silent flight heavenward. 
 
 ANY years have gone since the in- 
 cidents of this story happened. All 
 the witnesses of that scene that 
 night have died, and the bones of 
 the murderers have crumbled to 
 dust. But the good old men and women of 
 the Far Country say that the white-haired 
 THIRTY-FIVE 
 
King comes back once a year on the 12th of 
 December; for on that day, the King started 
 his journey in the direction of the Red Ar- 
 row. Tliey also say that when he comes to a 
 town pump where he stopped for a drink, he 
 chats with the boys and girls, just as he did 
 that first time, many years ago. He does not 
 w^alk with the same decisive step ; for, as he 
 leaves the children behind, he walks very 
 slowly and leans heavily on a crooked stick. 
 His left arm hangs loosely by his side. The 
 fathers and mothers say that when the grey- 
 bearded Noble pierced his side cruelly, the 
 soul of the old King was wounded too. vSo 
 that even now, when he returns, his left side 
 appears to be paralyzed. It takes him longer 
 to come to the forks of the road, but as before, 
 he stops to put on his glasses, reads the direc- 
 tions on the colored guideposts, and limps in 
 the direction of the Red Arrow. As soon as 
 he enters the left fork, he vanishes like a spirit. 
 Some say his soul goes back to hover over the 
 place where he died with the soldier and the 
 little sister. But they don't know. So each 
 year the children of the Far Country wear 
 little blue crosses about their necks in remem- 
 brance of the good King. And if you could 
 be there to look at them closely, you would 
 find that the words of the accusation have 
 disappeared. 
 
 THIRTY-SIX 
 
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Copyright 1922 
 by 
 BYRON J. KING COMPANY 
 Mt. Oliver Station 
 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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