Then cried the emperor: “Well done, thou fair and good maiden; open thy casket, for it is full of precious gifts. Well hast thou chosen.”
Then appointed he the day of the wedding; and the maiden and the prince were married with great solemnity, and with much honor among all the nation lived they until their lives’ end.
“Your title is, I think, perfected,” said Herbert.
“And yet there are those that can put in an earlier claim,” said Lathom.
“An earlier claim; how far back then would you carry it?”
“Nearly to the eighth century; one link between the East and the West. Damascenus, the Greek monk, who wrote the spiritual romance of Barlaam and Josaphat, makes the hermit Barlaam, late the king of a brother monarch, who commanded four chests to be made, two covered with gold, and two overlaid with pitch, and bound with common cords. In the former he placed dead men’s bones, in the latter jewels, gold, and precious ointments. He then gave his courtiers the choice; and when they chose the golden coffers, the king said: ‘I anticipated your decision, for ye look with the eyes of sense. To discern the good or evil that lies within, we must look with the eyes of the mind.’ Then he opened the chests, and showed his courtiers their error.”
“It is that kind of tale that would be most acceptable to all writers,” said Herbert.
“The general use they have made of it, in one form or other, is evidence of its popularity. Boccaccio has dressed it up under the story of The King and Signor Rogiero, and Gower has versified it, filling the unlucky chest with earth, stone, and rubbish, instead of men’s bones. To-morrow evening, I will give you some more instances of this kind of conversion of the old monks’ stories.”
