They set the widow’s son at liberty; and he asks for the body of the king’s son, and puts it into a sack. He takes the sack on his shoulders, and starts for Rome, where he arrives fatigued and worn out; but he has kept his word.
He goes to see the Holy Father, and told him all that had taken place, and what had happened to his friend.
Our Holy Father says to him, “To-morrow, at the moment of the Elevation, you will place the head on the body.”
He does so, and at the very same moment the body of the king’s son is seized with a trembling, and he calls out—
“Where am I?”
The widow’s son answers, “At Rome. Do you not remember how your throat was cut yesterday? And I myself have carried you, as I promised, to Rome.”
The king’s son went to pay his visit to our Holy Father, and (after that) they set out (home). And when they had gone a long way, they come to the oak where they had (first) made each other’s acquaintance, and it is there, too, that they must part.
They renew their promises (to each other). The king’s son takes off his ring, and gives it to the other as a keep-sake to remember him by. And the king’s son, on counting his money, remarks that he has just the same sum as he had when he was under the oak the last time. And they quit each other, each to go to his own home.
When the widow’s son reaches home, the mother is delighted to see her son again, and the son also (to see his mother). But the next day he was covered with a frightful disease, which was very like leprosy, and it had an infectious smell; but, fortunately, the mother did not smell it. The poor mother did all that she could to cure her son, but nothing relieved him. She heard that there was a monk in the neighbourhood, a great saint, who cured diseases. She sends for him, and the widow’s son relates to him his journey to Rome, and all that had taken place there, and he tells also the promises which they had made to each other.
Then the monk says to him, “If you wish to be cured, there is only one remedy—you must wash yourself in the blood of this king.”