The Noble Prince, for ages 10-16.
This is an edited version, the first-page introduction has also been omitted:
It was in the year 1222, on a late winter's morning before sunrise that he was born. While the torches flickered throughout the halls of Windsor Castle, one could not tell if it was due to the draft, or if they were trembling in fear of the howls and groans of young Queen Eglan, which echoed off of the cold castle walls.
Eglan was a slender eighteen-year-old. She had long, blonde hair and green eyes. She was attended to by her nurse, her lady's maid and two other maids. The lady's maid's name was Hloefdige. She was short, chubby, dark-haired and nearly fourty-years-old. It was the lady's maid's duty to care for the Queen, and Hloefdige was the only person Eglan would confide in.
King Henry was sitting on an ornate chair in the great hall, awaiting the birth of his child. Henry was tall, fifteen-years-old and had curling locks of golden hair. He had a drooping left eyelid, and like most fair-haired members of his Norman race, he had blue eyes.
With the King was Father Halig, who came from Windsor Castle's chapel. Also present was Cedric de Farant, who was a knight and the commander of the garrison at Windsor.
After the child was born, the bedroom was relatively silent, and this brought a feeling of relief to everyone in the castle.
This did not last long, however. Drowning out the infant's crying was the terrifying shrieks of Queen Eglan, as Hloefdige held the child before her.
"Take it away! Take it away!" she hollered.
Hloefdige covered the infant with the blue, woolen blanket she held him in and fled from the room, scurrying through the great hall.
Henry and Cedric, who were standing since the Queen began shrieking, took off in pursuit of the maid while Father Halig fell to his knees and prayed. When Henry and Cedric caught up with Hloefdige, they found her pacing back and forth in the lower hall.
"Has the infant perished?" asked the King.
"No, but forgive me for saying so, your Grace, but this child——your son——would be better off if it were so!"
Read about:
A king, a queen, a baby, a peasant girl and a knight
England, Ireland and the Isle of Man
Four tales:
A tale of slander about the "Goat Boy" first told by the men who gathered at the alehouse and retold and embellished by a young man to his friend.
A tale about the banshee which takes place in the town of Gweesala, by the sea in western Ireland.
In a friendly storytelling competition two stories are told.
The first is a tale about Odin and Viking warriors and the second tale is full with the characters from Celtic mythology.
The tale of Odin, two Norse generals and their armies is told by a Norseman, a general himself. The story of ancient Ireland is told, as you would guess, by an Irishman. Who wins the competition?
More things to read about in The Noble Prince:
Wild men from the woods
An avaricious exchequer
Vile inebriates
Disgruntled peasants
Swordfights
The queen's deteriorating mental condition
A spooked horse and a corpse
Fugitives
An axe-wielding Norseman
A turn in the lists
Mischievous children and a loyal ferret
England's expansion into western Ireland
A girl and her scrawny, white bovine
Scottish mercenaries
A few words in 13th century Gaelic: "Faghaidh bás, a choin Shacsanaigh!"
(If you want to know what this means, you'll have to buy the book.)
A sage monk
A civil war
Thanks to the following for providing information for my novel:
Samuel R. Coe, Wexford Walking Tour Guide,
Wexford, Ireland
Eoin Minihan, Councillor,
Historical Society, Urban District Council
New Ross, Ireland
Virginia Langer, Senior Database Editor, AA Publishing,
Basingstoke Hampshire, England
Professor James E. Doan, Department of Liberal Arts,
(13th century Gaelic translations)
Nova Southeastern University,
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
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