The Traveler and the Prince

     Out on the plains of Eral, the wind whistled through the tall grass, creating the sound of a crashing wave on the shore. The drums from the battle-horses' feet clamored on, raising in volume, towards the traveler clad in white, who shuffled through the grass with his gray staff in hand. The knight on top of his horse, with their armor blazing through the noon-day sun, slowed as they approached the traveler until they paused at a small pace alongside the traveler.

They walked on for a moment, before the knight broke the melody of the land with "Good evening, sir. Would you like an autograph?". The traveler continued on, as if he had not heard anything that disturbed the peace. Annoyed, yet persistent, the knight made some coughing noises. The traveler kept on going about his way throughout the day, until he stopped at a clearing, and he began to build a fire. The knight, relentless, had followed him all the way and into the clearing, he promptly dismounted and with a voice of thunder, he cried:

"Who are you to ignore me, Prince Ricpec? Your leader and savior? Have I not saved this kingdom? Did I not save your life? And have I not offered you a generous gift today?"

The traveler had now created a small fire, in which he looked at the flames. The traveler sat down, cross-legged, on the soft grass with his staff in his knees. He continued to gaze into the flames that cracked and sputtered. The prince followed suit. The traveler spoke with a soft and ancient voice, almost melodically, to the prince:

"Why did you fight, young prince?"

The prince paused for a moment. He then bolted to his feet while taking his helmet off. With his helmet in his left arm, and his right hand aimed at his face he raved:

"Do you not recognize me? Do you not realize who I am? I demand that you-a peasant-respect my authority, not only as your prince and heir, but for the acts in which I have done. Now answer my question!"

The traveler held his peace, and he continued gaze into the fire. Again and again the prince demanded that the traveler answer him. But it was not until the prince unsheathed his sword and placed it under the chin of the traveler, that the traveler looked into the eyes of the prince. The prince staggered back, as he saw the black sockets of the traveler's skull, the wrinkles of time on his face, and the thin, white beard that displayed nothing shorter than wisdom.

"How is it that you can see the flames, and not my face if you have no eyes?" the prince spoke, no longer with thunder and rage, but with confusion, fear, and a touch of awe. With his voice unchanged, the traveler said "I never needed my eyes to see a man. Tell me, why did you fight, young prince?" Thoroughly spooked, the prince sat down again, and said "I have fought for my nation that their glory and honor may be upheld. I have fought for the integrity and honor of my ancestors, as well as my own. I have done this, not for riches, but for honor."

The traveler laughed, and the soft melodies of his laugh confused the prince. "You fight so that others may respect you? Is that not what honor is? You fight, you spend your entire life, and all of the potential you could have done, so that everyone could respect you? Is that it?" the traveler spoke with what had seemed impossible to the prince, for the traveler spoke with a sarcastic tone. And once again the prince was puzzled, and yet with every minute he spent with this rebellious man, he found himself admiring the traveler for reasons unknown.

But then the prince spoke, fire and thunder renewed:

"Is there nothing else that could endure the ends of time?"

To this the traveler laughed yet again, with the same small and soft laugh as he had before. The traveler then looked into the eyes of the prince, to which the prince recoiled. The traveler's face had now softened, but there was no smile, and his wrinkles showed that he never had. "All things become dust in the end, and the books that speak of you in the highest regard will soon end. Then nobody will remember you. Today you are hailed as the Savior of the World, but soon the world will move on, and find someone else that it adores. You fight for something that will not exist, young prince. You fight for all the wrong reasons." Said the traveler.

The prince was stunned by the traveler's words, with the plainness of it all, spoken from the traveler as if he were an equal to the prince, and with the same voice, unshaken, unperturbed, firm, and yet it was still so soft. This man spoke as no other man would speak to him, and frightening yet, the prince somehow he knew that he was right.

But the traveler had not finished speaking.

"You have done many great deeds, and many of them I cannot condone, and I must commend them. But the reasons that influenced you to do good are wrong. Doing good for the sake of respect is not right. Doing good because simply because it is good is the right reason you must fight for. When I said that I do not need eyes to see a man, I was not lying. I see you right now, I see greed and selfishness. I see a thief and a robber before me."

And then the traveler stopped, and he looked away from the prince, and he resumed his reverie by gazing into the fire, so that the prince could pause and ponder. He then began again, with a passionate whisper he eerily said:

"See the fire, soon it will die, and there will be ashes in the mourning. But soon the ash will return to the earth, where a seed will fall and sprout up into an oak, or a spruce, or an ash, for that matter. Life never ends, but how you serve it is up to you, as you have a life of your own. You could spend your time destroying the lives of others, or you could plant the seeds, and cultivate new life. I have seen life, and I have concluded that it is potential, potential at its best. All men can do so much, so much more than they can imagine. I have made it my purpose to teach all who come to me. Tell me, young prince, what have you learned?"

The prince looked up, and he realized that he had begun to look at the fire while the traveler spoke. To his amazement, the prince found that he was alone with his horse. The traveler in white had vanished, and was nowhere to be seen as the prince stood up and turned around and around. The prince went to where the traveler had sat, but all he found was a staff. The prince picked up the staff, and he found that it was made of ash.

And so the prince left on his horse the next day, and with the staff, he then became to history, as the King of Charity. He was never forgotten, and neither was the traveler clad in white, who popped up from time to time, never staying, always traveling on the road.