Julius & Juliana

CHAPTER 2

When they got there, they searched every nook and corner of the surrounding but they couldn't find the mad widow. They searched and searched but still couldn't locate her, so they grew tired of searching and decided to take a break. " We've been searching for long now and yet there's no sign of the mad widow or whoever it is that we came here to look for" said the chief guard, feeling so exhausted." I think we better start returning to the palace because I doubt we are ever going to see anyone in this lonely and empty place" said the second guard. He brought out his own jar of water and drank some of it as he was also exhausted from searching for the mad widow. "Maybe she's not around today, we can check back some other time. Do any of you have a clue of what the meeting of the king and the sorceress was about?" Asked the chief guard. None of them knew about the meeting that was held behind closed doors and so they returned to the king and told him they couldn't find the mad widow. The king waited for three days to pass before sending the guards to go in search of the mad widow again. They went and yet again, their efforts were futile. The king began to think negative of the witch's prophesy after sending the guards to go in search of the mad widow for the third time after a week with yet another unsuccessful return. Each time they went in search of her, they usually spend the whole day, morning till night looking for her and they always came back empty-handed.

The king refused to continue searching for the mad widow and decided to forget about all that the witch had said was going to happen till one night in which he had a dream. In his dream, he was finding the mad widow all by himself by the hills and he eventually saw her. He woke up from the dream at that point and by morning, he decided to send his guards once again to go and find her but he didn't decide to go with them.

They went to the hills but were not happy that the king has decided to keep searching for her after all their futile efforts. They searched and searched as usual and by evening, they grew tired and frustrated and turned to go but just as they were leaving, they heard a woman's voice that sounded as if she was weeping. They hurried to the spot where she was and they met a mad woman that was about to stab herself with a broken bottle. "Hold it woman! Take it easy, put it away. You have no right to take away your life" said the chief guard. The insane woman hesitated to put the broken bottle down but as the guards slowly got nearer to her, they saw tears rolling down her cheeks whilst she was still smiling. And as they got very close to her, she stood up and began moving backwards. She started threatening them with the broken bottle as if to tell them that if they came further close to her, she would stab them one after the other with the broken bottle. The guards were smart and they intelligently gathered around her, seized the broken bottle and threw it far away. She started struggling with them but they overpowered her. They felt sorry for her and didn't wanted to execute her just as the king instructed them to do. They decided to take her to see him first before they could execute her at his command. They tied her legs and hands with ropes they had brought with them from the palace for capturing her if seen. They took her along with them in their horse but she was struggling to be free like someone who is being forced to his or her place of death.

They arrived at the king's palace and presented the mad widow before him. Duncan ran his eyes up and down at her for some time then he began asking her some questions "What is your name woman?" She didn't answer. "Where are you from? Are you married? Can't you speak?" She remained silent while biting her fingers and smiling mischievously as a result of her insanity. He continued running his eyes up and down the mad widow in admiration of her beauty and suddenly found himself falling in love with her. She was a young and beautiful woman. He realized she was more beautiful than his three wives and this made him restrain from executing her. The guards were surprised when he finally said "do her no harm, I pity her." "But you must execute her or the witch's prophesy comes to pass. Remember that she lives thus" said the chief guard. The king stared at the mad widow once again and saw how beautiful she was. He wished he could spare her life but he couldn't endure the shame that he married a dirty mad woman, even someone that have been married before to become his fourth wife.

He was mesmerized by her astonishing beauty and became bewildered at the thought of executing her or sparing her life. "She's innocent, look at her. She's just a poor mad woman who might have been married and may have lost her husband and her family" said the king. Then in order not to convince the guards that he was going to spare her life, he said "can't you see the tears in her eyes? It could be that she's still mourning her late husband and her lost family. Since you failed to execute her in the first place, I also feel sorry for her now but in order that the witch's prophesy don't come to pass, she has to be executed tomorrow. I do not want to set my eyes on her tomorrow so that I don't feel sorry for her again" concluded the king.