Page:Tales of old Lusitania.djvu/18



upon a time a certain king had a son born to him, and, following the prevailing custom in those distant ages, the instant his son was born he invited all the astrologers of the land to read his destiny.

These wise men after ruling the planets discovered that the boy would be a misfortune to his father and cause his death, and that this would be effected by the stab of a dagger.

The prediction made the king very sad, and so haunted his mind that to avert if possible the impending doom he ordered a wooden chest to be made, lined inside with satin and covered outside with velvet. Unknown to any one, he secretly laid the child in it and then rode away with the chest till he reached a river that ran through a distant part of the country, and there he threw it in.

Many years elapsed, during which no one knew what had become of the child, while the queen, who