This week kids we’re on vacation so I decided to go with a fairy tale of long ago and far away . . .
In the years that preceded Charlemagne, only those of noble birth wore their hair long. Slaves, servants, serfs and freemen had very short hair. When one kingdom conquered another, the ruler of the winning side would publicly humiliate his foe by shaving the looser’s head and sending him to a monastery. This is one such tale of lost locks.
Many years ago there was a young king named Merlot. He was in his mid-twenties, tall and muscular and very handsome with long, thick curly blond hair that cascaded half-way down his back, and sparkling, bright blue eyes. Merlot was quite vain and had mirrors all over his palace. He would stop and gaze at himself running his hands through his beautiful mane.
One day Merlot’s uncle Theobold died and left the young king a country estate with a large mansion and beautiful gardens. These gardens were known all around as the finest in the land. Waterfalls, fountains and mazes dotted the landscape. Young Merlot was delighted with the prospect of owning this treasure and set out for the estate at once.
Upon arriving at the estate, Merlot insisted on going through the gardens. That evening he asked to see the head gardener, a young man named Hugh de Chalon. When the gardener arrived the king was surprised to see that Hugh had long thick red hair that hung down in thick curls well below his shoulders. The king forgot about the gardens outside and demanded to know what right a mere gardener had wearing his hair that long.
The Chief Steward, Louis, told the king that Hugh was the last surviving son of Prince Roland de Chalon who along with Hugh’s older brothers had been killed fighting a battle for the king’s late father. The noble House of Chalon had come upon hard times and young Hugh had been forced to seek work. Old Duke Theobold felt sorry for the young nobleman and hired him. Since Hugh was part of one of the old noble families, the old duke did not see why Hugh should have to cut his hair.
Merlot stared at Hugh while Louis told the sad tale. Hugh just stood there looking down at his well worn shoes. Hugh was very handsome and had he been wearing court dress, he would have cut a dashing image. A wicked smile crossed Merlot’s face. Merlot decided that he would not follow his uncle’s kind ways. The king said that he was sorry for Hugh’s misfortune and wished things could be different. Since Hugh had taken a job as a servant though, he must follow the standard required by all servants. No special privileges just because he had noble blood.
The king demanded a pair of shears. Merlot told Hugh to take off his jacket and shirt and kneel. Hugh stood there stunned by this coldhearted man who was only two or three years younger than himself. He begged the king to reconsider. Hugh’s green eyes filling with tears. Merlot just laughed and ordered the guards to make Hugh take off his jacket and shirt. Hugh struggled at first but the guards wrestled him down and ripped off his jacket and shirt. The guards then dragged him by his hair up to the king who was laughing all the while. Once the guards had dragged Hugh up part way to the king they spun him around on the floor by his hair and then they let go. Hugh landed right up next to the dais the king was seated upon.
Merlot roared with laughter as did all the guards and courtiers present. Hugh raised himself up to his knees and started to get up but the guards were one step ahead of him. They clamped on shackles on his ankles connected to shackles on his wrists bound behind him. He was forced to remain on his knees. Hugh’s heart was pounding. He couldn’t see because a shock of his thick red hair had fallen in his face.
The king swaggered forward mocking Hugh as he picked up the wicked looking shears. Merlot said that he wanted Hugh to see what was being done to him. So, the king ordered that all the mirrors he carried with him were to be brought in and set up around Hugh. They even picked Hugh up and placed a large one under him. The king stepped in between the mirrors and up to Hugh.
Merlot grabbed the thick lock that had fallen across Hugh’s face and held it up. Then he viciously hacked it off and tossed it in the air. Hugh bowed his head and closed his eyes. The king demanded that Hugh watch and told him that if he did not watch, the king would have Hugh's eyes poked out so he could not see anything again. Hugh opened his eyes and watched in horror.
The king walked around Hugh in a circle grabbing Hugh’s thick, long, curly red hair and holding it up a full length and then chopping it off next to Hugh’s head. Then Merlot would wave the lopped locks in front of Hugh and toss the hair up in the air. All the way around Hugh the king went yanking and chopping until nothing remained but uneven stubble all over. Hugh did not recognized the young man that was reflected in the many mirrors around him. He wanted to cry, but knew he could not.
Hugh breathed a sigh of relief thinking it was over. Merlot was not finished. The king summoned his own personal barber. The only thing the barber ever did was to shave the king’s face each morning and then wash the king’s hair. The barber looked at all the red hair strewn around and then at Hugh and shook his head. Merlot told the barber in a very loud voice to shave Hugh’s head.
The barber got out a small pair of shears and cut off as much of Hugh’s remaining hair as possible and then got out his straight razor. The king said “enough” and grabbed the straight razor and ran it back across the top of Hugh’s head. Merlot seemed to relish this as much as he enjoyed chopping of all that thick red hair and tossing it up in the air. The king finished and handed the razor back to the barber. The barber cleaned Hugh up the best he could and Hugh thanked him.
Then Merlot told the guards to get Hugh out of his site at once. As they dragged him out some of the guards picked up some of the shorn locks and piled them on Hugh’s bald head. All of them except the barber and Louis the steward laughed. The king ordered that a new gardener be hired. Hugh was to be tossed out to fend for himself in the street.
That night Hugh wandered aimlessly about the town. Cold and broken he finally found an old abandoned barn and went inside to get out of the cold. All night he had nightmares of the king and his goons shaving his head. The next morning, Hugh awoke cold and hungry. He decided he would have to beg for food. He started going door to door begging offering to work at any chore for some food. Finally, Hugh came upon a small cottage where an old woman was in her garden hoeing.
Hugh came up and asked the old woman if she would let him hoe her garden for some food in return. She looked surprised. The old woman turned towards the cottage and called out for her son to come out. Hugh turned to run thinking the worst. The old woman told Hugh not to run and that she would help him. Much to Hugh’s surprise, the old woman’s son turned out to be the barber. A man named Armond. Hugh was led inside the cottage where the old woman fixed him a simple but hearty meal. Before she would let him eat though she insisted that he get cleaned up.
Armond poured a bath for Hugh and got some of his own cloths and a hat for Hugh to ware. Hugh relished the bath and was grateful for the cloths which were much warmer and cleaner than his tattered old ones. After Hugh washed and dressed, Armond asked to check Hugh’s head. He wanted to make sure Hugh had not been cut by the King last night. Hugh sat there while Armond looked him over. No cuts or scrapes bad enough to cause permanent damage. The old woman smiled and told him not to worry about anything, just eat. Hugh smiled and thanked both of them for their kindness. He ate the meal the old woman fixed for him and then insisted that she let him hoe her garden. She nodded and said she would like that very much. Armond excused himself because he had to go take care of the king.
After Hugh finished hoeing the garden the old woman came to the door and told Hugh to come inside she had something for him. Inside the old woman pointed to the table where he had eaten that morning. On it, there was a sword. The old woman told him it had belonged to her husband who had fought along side Hugh’s father and brother. She wanted Hugh to have it. He thanked her and was about to refuse it when Armond returned.
Armond had brought Louis the steward with him. Louis had brought an extra horse with them and told Hugh to take the horse and the sword and flee into the neighboring kingdom where Louis’s sister lived. She would give him a place to live and a job. Hugh thanked them all, tears streaming down his face. He put the hat on that Armond had given him, took the sword that the old woman gave him and got on the horse Louis brought for him. Hugh waved and galloped off. He found Louis’s sister and she did indeed give him a job in her bakery and a room above the bakery to live in.
Over the next seven years, Hugh worked and gained a reputation as an excellent baker and an honorable gentleman. Since the town he had fled to was small and the nobility stayed away Hugh let his hair grow out. He was worried that it never would, but eventually after seven years, he had long, thick, curly red hair.
Meanwhile, Merlot had continued to rule ruthlessly in his land. From that first night that he sheared Hugh's locks, Merlot had continued at every chance he could to chop off some guys hair. He made false accusations towards some of the lesser nobles of his land and shaved their heads in front of the whole court and took their lands. After seven years of this tyrant, everyone was disgusted and ready for a change.
A group of nobles approached Louis the steward and asked him to find Hugh and tell him that if he returned they would back him in an uprising against the tyrant Merlot. Louis agreed and sent word to Hugh. Hugh was leery at first but after a visit from the brother of a ranking member of the court, Hugh returned. He was met at the border by a group of knights, aristocrats and nobles - - many of them shaved bald. Hugh was concerned that they did not have enough people to over through Merlot and that no one would know who Hugh de Chalon was.
Louis, who had left the king’s service along with Armond, assured Hugh that he need not worry. Armond told him that everyone knew the name Hugh de Chalon. The people who had gathered all agreed. As the mixed band of nobles and peasants traveled toward’s the royal castle, people joined them. Sometimes just one or two people joined and sometimes a nobleman would join with an entire retinue of people.
Merlot heard about the band of revolutionaries headed for the castle and he ignored his advisors warnings and did nothing. By the time Hugh and his followers had arrived at the royal castle, his rag-tag troupe had become a formidable army. The royal guards hurriedly attempted to close the gates, but were over-powered and the army poured in. The king’s chief advisor and all the ministers met them on the steps of the grand stair that led to the throne room. They asked that Hugh not make this a bloody coup. Hugh told them not to worry. This would be a peaceful revolution. Well, peaceful for the kingdom at least.
Hugh burst into the throne room. Merlot was sitting on his throne looking at himself in the mirror and running his fingers through his long, thick curly blond hair. He stood up and dropped the mirror which broke. Hugh told him that breaking a mirror meant seven years bad luck. Merlot scoffed at Hugh and called for the guards. When none came Merlot tried to run for the side door but was stopped by Louis and Armond who were waiting there for him with shears and razor in hand.
Merlot spun around and came face to face with Hugh. Hugh yanked off Merlot’s royal robes till all he had on were his pants. Merlot’s face grew pale. Hugh grabbed Merlot by his hair and dragged him to in front of the royal dais and flung him by the hair. Like Hugh before him, Merlot slid into the dais. He got to his knees and felt his arms being held behind him and shackles clamped on his wrists and ankles. Merlot was dragged to the center of the room where mirrors were being set up in a circle. He was set down on top of a mirror in the very middle.
Hugh stepped into the circle of mirrors. Merlot begged for Hugh to reconsider. Hugh just grimaced. He grabbed a forelock of Merlot’s thick, long, curly hair that by now reached his waist and held is up in the air, took the shears and chopped it off next to Merlot’s head. Hugh rubbed the chopped lock across Merlot’s face and tossed it up in the air. The crowd that had gathered cheered. Hugh walked around Merlot grabbing a handful of Merlot’s thick blond waist-long hair and would hold it up and chop it off next to Merlot’s head and then wave it in front of Merlot and toss it up in the air. Finally, all that was left of Merlot’s magnificent mane was blond stubble.
Prince Hugh put down the shears and took out the straight razor. He ran the straight blade back across the top of Merlot’s head. A dusting of blond fuzz drifted to the floor. Hugh went all over Merlot’s head with the straight razor. He was careful not to cut the now ex-king and rubbed a tonic-oil on when he had finished.
The mirrors were cleared away and Merlot was placed in front of the dais. As people came forward to pledge their loyalty to now-king Hugh, they rubbed their hands across Merlot’s head. Then king Hugh sent Merlot to a citadel-like monastery and gave instructions that Merlot’s mirrors be set all about him and that his head should be shaved every day.
King Hugh made Louis the steward a Duke and chief advisor. Then he called for Armond and the old woman. He made Armond a Duke as well and gave the old woman the garden estate in the country for her own.
And they all lived happily ever after . . . well all but Merlot.
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