Changeling

Changeling - part 2

Long, long, Queen Mizaka lived. And while she lived, the sisters remained at peace with each other. Hans’ little country was as small as ever. His father the king still reigned, but that mattered little. Sembele was wife of a third son and would never become queen. In the southern kingdom, after several extraordinarily sudden deaths in the line of succession, Biodun became king and Nunu, chief wife, became Queen. In Iyoke’s kingdom, the old king grew old but still reigned and Prince Jaejoong and his princess lived in the winter palace on the edge of the great salt sea. They had one sorrow only: In their twenty years together, Iyoke had borne only daughters. It was not like Tentuke where queens had ruled freely and equally with men. Several times, the lords of the imperial palace suggested Jaejoong take a concubine. He did not. Instead, the prince betrothed his eldest daughter to the son of his younger brother. Thus, he forfeited his kingdom for love of his wife.  

At last, news came to the eastern kingdom that Queen Mizaka lay dying. Trembling, grieving, Iyoke prepared her heart. Throughout her marriage, she had exiled herself from her homeland. When she thought of the south country, she remembered only the belittling voiceless scorn of her kinsmen and their mocking jibes about being a changeling. But she now cast aside her fear and she and Prince Jaejoong set sail. When she arrived at her native land, her people bowed low to greet her.

The queen lay in her golden chamber dying, the royal ebony staff in her hand. She spoke to her three daughters, all three having rushed to her side. “My husband awaits me in the sky realm. This staff weighs heavy in hands and now I pass it and all it represents to the one who will rule my kingdom.”

“Oh mother,” her daughters said, “Oh mother, do not die.”

“Death comes to all,” the queen answered. “Iyoke, my youngest, you are happy. When you were young, I feared the kingdom might become yours. You would have ruled with equity, but you do not love your people. Nor they you. Stay, then, in the far eastern lands, you and your daughters.  This is not the land for you.”

Iyoke bowed. She did not say: Mother, I have loved our people. Queen Mizake would not have believed her. She only wept and said, “Great Queen, Dear Mother, do not die.” 

“Die I must.” Queen Mizake turned her eyes to her second daughter. “Nunu, your kingdom is near at hand. A stone’s throw. And you have daughters and sons. In your husband’s kingdom, men rule. Rather, boys with little knowledge and even fewer morals rule. I had thought to give my nation to you, for one of your daughters. But I fear all your children have acquired your husband’s ways. Like their father’s fathers, they will war among themselves, leaving you no offspring. No offspring, I said. For your boys will kill each other. And your daughters will learn the power of poisons. It is the way of their father’s people.”

Nunu straightened her back, looked askance at her dying mother. “I will remember your words, Mother,” she said. “But let not a curse upon my children be the last words on your lips.”

The queen smiled half to herself then spoke to Sembele, her favored daughter. “Dear Daughter, Great Princess Sembele, you are married to the least of princes in the least of lands. It is not the life I had planned for you. To you should have come greater honor, greater tribute. But you rejected my warnings and clung to the boy. And you added stupidity to stupidity by envying Iyoke although the choice was yours. Yet, you are my beloved daughter, my dearest joy. A large kingdom you desire, therefore a large kingdom you will have. Live here among your own people --you, Prince Hans, and your children. Let the past rest. My kingdom – your native land-- is not as great as you could have had if you had chosen Jaejoong, but it is not small, either.”

Thus saying, she placed the staff in Sembele’s hand. 

The staff in her right hand, Sembele flung herself upon her dying mother. Iyoke, too, knelt at the bedside, but Nunu stood.