“I cannot,” said the very old Wise Man; “but let the youth be brought hither who carried it. He will be able to explain it more fully than I.”
“Paradighty!” said the Queen in her own language. “Why did we not think of that before! Fetch him back again at once!”
So two of the warriors fetched the youth from prison, and he was soon standing before the Assembly, with his head held as high and his eyes as bright and shining as before.
“Read us the token!” commanded the King.
The youth bowed low. “The Princess read it aright yesterday. It is a token of love.”
“Explain yourself!” said the King. “How can a beast with horns be a token of love?”
The youth drew himself up to his full height.
“It is not a beast,” said he. “It is the branch of a holly-tree. On this day of the year, which in my country we call Christmas Day, our people decorate their houses with branches of this holly or holy tree as a token of love and peace and good-will. This is the message that I have brought to you—a message that we in our country know very well, but which you have never heard before.”
The King and the Warriors, the Wise Men, the Queen and Princesses all listened to his words in silence.