but does not know a word of it. He is relieved of his perplexity by the doves, who, sitting on his shoulders, say it all in his ear.
The earlier part of this variant approximates more nearly to the type than those of Christic and Pope Innocent; but the touching termination has been forgotten. It reappears, however, in the Basque version[1] I am about to cite, although the prophecy with which the tale opens is not even there literally fulfilled. Perhaps the story is more dramatic as it stands. A boy, one of the children of a lady and gentleman, says that he hears a voice very often telling him that a father and a mother would be servants to their son, but without saying who. The mother, becoming angry, sends the boy with her two men-servants to be killed, directing them to bring his heart back to the house. The servants fall out, like the ruffians in the Babes in the Wood. The servant who wished to spare him gets the better of the other; and instead of the boy they kill a big dog, and take his heart to their mistress. The youth, wandering about, determines to go to Rome. He meets two men and goes with them. The voice again speaks to him when at a house in a thick forest; and by listening to it and watching he saves himself and his companions in the night from an attempt to rob and murder them. At another place he heals a girl who has been shrieking with pain for seven years; but the narrator had forgotten how this was done. There is, however, little doubt as to the method. Her father takes a ring off her finger, and cutting it in two gives one-half to the youth. This is probably a sign of betrothal. As the travellers approach Rome the bells begin to ring of themselves; and the people taking it as a sign make him pope. His mother, slowly dying of remorse, tells her husband of the crime; and they make a journey to Rome, accompanied by the two servants, to make confession, as she believes she will get pardon there. She confesses aloud in the middle of the church. Her son is there. When he hears that he goes opening his arms to the arms of his mother, saying to her: "I forgive you, I am your son!" The father and mother die of joy on the spot. The pope gives the half-ring to the servant who wanted to spare him, and marries him to the girl whom he has healed. The other servant he makes a charcoal-burner.
- ↑ Webster, op. cit. p. 137.
