 |  |
|---|
“Our king is the most generous being in the world,” the people said, smiles brightening their faces.
His son, the prince, despite being the most beautiful young man in the whole world, was the opposite of his father. The prince hated the poor and thought only of himself. He spent hours in the royal treasury admiring the riches, which one day would be his.
“Which of these will look better on my crown?” He asked his servants, holding up a ruby and an emerald.
Because he was an only child, after the death of the queen, the king did everything his son requested, no matter how big, or impossible.
“Father, I want six of the finest stallions on Earth and a golden carriage encrusted with diamonds,” the prince demanded.
“You shall have it, son,” the kind king said with a wave of his hand.
Year after year, the king aged and the young man became more and more greedy, so greedy that when his father died, the prince made his trusted guard increase the tax of the people.
“But your majesty, the people will suffer,” protested the court’s steward.
The prince, now king, laughed, “see that it happens. I don’t care for those fools!”
The poor peasants starved. They longed for the kingdom that once was. The prince’s greediness grew more and more. People lost lands, homes and were forced to beg on the streets. Food was scares and work was nowhere to be found, for the prince held all the money in the royal treasury to spend at his leisure. After some time, not even the coin the prince collected from taxes was able to please his thirst. The prince made a deal with the neighboring kingdom of the Armenians.
“For every young maiden in my kingdom that I give to the kingdom of Armenia, I will receive an old mine in the mountains between the two kingdoms,” The prince proposed, and the Armenian king quickly agreed.
The prince made the people work in the mines. At first, they resisted.
“Anyone who resists the prince will hang!” a court messenger proclaimed throughout the kingdom.
Every child, woman, and man started working in the mines. Many families split apart, husbands separated from wives, children from parents. For every precious stone they found in the mines, they received a little grain, with which they baked bread for their families.
One day, an old woman decided to hide a ruby in her bosom. The guards at the mine, who followed every move of the miners saw her.
“What are you hiding, woman?” the guards asked, towering over the old lady. The guards didn’t wait for an answer and beat her with a whip. But no one knew that the old lady was a witch.
With her last breath, the witch cursed the prince and his people. “I curse you to transform into that, which you so love!”
As the light of life left the witch’s eyes, precious stones in the mine and the royal treasury began to glow. Fascinated by the strange glow, the prince went towards the gems. When the prince touched the precious stones, they stuck onto his skin.