داستان ملاک

Chapter five

The Franklin’s Tale

Everybody in the group was tired. It was the end of a long day. They were ready to listen to the Franklin’s story.

“My story is also about a husband and wife. But, this story is different from the Merchant’s story. In my story, love is not blind. The husband and wife in my story are in love. The wife’s name was Dorigen. She loved her husband very much. The husband’s name was Arviragus. He was a knight. They lived in France. But, when I start my story, Arviragus was in England. Dorigen was very sad. She thought about her husband every day. And she stayed at home.”

Arviragus wrote a letter to Dorigen,

‘Don’t worry I’ll come home soon,’ he wrote.

Dorigen read the letter. ‘I don’t want him to come back soon, I want him to come back now,’ she thought. ‘But I must go out. I must try to be happy.’

And so, Dorigen started going out. Her house was near the sea. She often went for a walk there with her friends. And she always wanted to look at the sea. ‘Where is the boat,’ thought Dorigen, ‘that will bring me my husband.’ And she sometimes looked at the big black rocks in the sea. ‘I don’t like the sea,’ said Dorigen to her friends. ‘Look at those black rocks. They’re dangerous.’

Dorigen’s friends were very worried. ‘You must stop thinking about those dangerous black rocks,’ they said. And so Dorigen’s friends took her to a dance. But, she didn’t want to dance. At the dance, there was a man called Aurelius. He loved Dorigen. And he wanted to speak to her. ‘Dorigen, you don’t know me very well. My name is Aurelius. You’re so beautiful. Is there a place in your heart for me?’

Dorigen looked at Aurelius and said, ‘No there isn’t. I’ll always love my husband.’

‘But what will I do, I need you’ said Aurelius. ‘I’m sorry’ said Dorigen.

‘But,’ said Aurelius, ‘is there anything I can do?’

‘Hmm, well, I want the black rocks in the sea to disappear. Do this, and then there will be a place in my heart for you.’

‘But that’s not possible,’ said Aurelius. ‘Nobody can do this!’

‘I know,’ said Dorigen.

Aurelius went home. At home he said a prayer. ‘Help me’ he said. And then he went to bed. And he stayed at home. He never went out: he didn’t want to see anybody.

Soon Dorigen’s husband came home. Dorigen and Arviragus were together again. Aurelius was at home; he was always at home.

One day, Aurelius read an interesting book. It was a book about magic. ‘I can use magic, With magic, the black rocks will disappear,’ thought Aurelius. ‘I know a man in Orleans. His name is Simon. He’s famous for his magic. I can ask him to help me.’ The next day, Aurelius went to Simon’s house.

‘Hello,’ said Simon. ‘Have dinner with me, and you can tell me everything.’ At dinner there was every kind of food. There was meat, fish, fruit and vegetables. They ate, and Aurelius told Simon his story

Simon listened to the story And then he said, ‘It’s true that I sometimes do magic. And now I’ll do some magic for you!’ And then, the food on the table disappeared.

Aurelius was very happy. ‘Can you help me’ asked Aurelius ‘With the black rocks?’

‘Yes I can,’ said Simon. ‘But, it’ll be expensive. You have to pay me a thousand pounds.’

‘That’s a lot of money,’ said Aurelius. ‘But, alright. You must be quick. I want to go home tomorrow.’

In the morning, they went back to Aurelius’s house. Simon started work and, after two days, he was ready. ‘Aurelius,’ he said. ‘We can go and see the black rocks.’ They went to the sea. But when they arrived the black rocks weren’t there anymore.

‘Oh thank you, Thank you so much’ said Aurelius. ‘I must show this to Dorigen.’

The next day, Aurelius met Dorigen. ‘Hello Dorigen,’ he said. ‘Do you remember our conversation about the dangerous black rocks? Do you remember what you promised? Please tell me that you remember.’

‘Yes, I remember,’ said Dorigen.

‘Well,’ said Aurelius. ‘The black rocks aren’t there anymore. Come and see!’

When they arrived, Dorigen looked at the sea. And then she said, ‘But, how can black rocks disappear? What can I do? I have to speak to my husband.’ And then she ran back home.

When Dorigen arrived home, she started to think. ‘I made a promise. And promises are important. But I’ll never do anything bad to my husband. What can I do?’ For two days, Dorigen thought about her problem. ‘What can I say to my husband’ she thought. Then Dorigen spoke to her husband. She told him everything.

‘Don’t worry,’ said Arviragus. ‘You did nothing wrong. But, you promised this to Aurelius. And that’s why you must leave me.’

‘But, I love you Arviragus’ said Dorigen. ‘Oh, what can I do?’ Dorigen went to a garden. She needed to think. When she was in the garden, a man spoke to her,

‘Hello, where are you going?’ It was Aurelius.

‘I don’t know,’ said Dorigen. ‘My husband says I must leave him. The black rocks aren’t there anymore. And I promised to be with you.’ Dorigen was very sad.

Dorigen stopped speaking. And then something changed inside Aurelius’ heart. ‘I hate to see you this sad,’ he said. ‘Your husband is a good man. You and Arviragus have a perfect love. I must stop this. Go home to your husband. We’ll forget about your promise.’

‘Thank you Aurelius, Thank you, Oh, I’m so happy’ said Dorigen. And then she went home to tell her husband.

Then, Aurelius remembered something. ‘I have to pay Simon a thousand pounds. And I only have five hundred pounds. What am I going to do? I’ll bring him five hundred pounds. I think he’ll understand.’

Aurelius went back to Simon’s house. Aurelius was very worried. ‘Simon won’t be very happy,’ he thought.

‘Hello’ said Simon. ‘Do you have my money?’

‘I can give you five hundred pounds,’ said Aurelius.

‘Why don’t you pay me everything? I did everything you asked of me, didn’t I? The black rocks disappeared.’

‘Yes, they did,’ said Aurelius. ‘And I’m very sorry about the money.’ And then Aurelius told Simon everything. He told him about Dorigen and Arviragus. He told him about their perfect love.

‘You’re all very good people,’ said the man. ‘You did a very good thing. You have a good heart. And I want to be good as well. You forgot about Dorigen’s promise. And so I’ll forget about the thousand pounds. I won’t take any money from you.’

‘Thank you Simon,’ said Aurelius. And then Aurelius went home. ‘I’ll never be with Dorigen,’ he thought. ‘But I’m happy. Because I did a good thing.’

“And that is the end of my story,” said the Franklin. “As you can see, it’s different from the Merchant’s story Because this story tells us that there are also many good people in the world.”