The Invisible Straps

There were two dominions, which had for a long time been separated, though originally they had been one. The prince of the one dominion and the princess of the other were promised to one another for marriage when they were very young. Although they did not meet during their youth, they saw one another at state events. Even at a distance, their hearts raced toward one another. Without ever having spoken to one another, they became bonded in deep mutual affection.

Indeed, the prince saw the princess as being so beautiful that a doubt entered his heart as to whether he was worthy of her. Evidence of this doubt began to appear. As a result, rumors spread through both domains that the prince was not fully committed to the promise of marriage to the princess.

Because of the rumors, vulnerabilities developed in the court of the princess. Enemies of the domain took advantage of this and the princess was kidnapped and carried away to a far land and sold into slavery. The nobles of the distant land who bought her became bankrupt and sold her again to merchants. They also became bankrupt and sold her to those who hire out slaves for manual labour in an even more distant land.

As soon as it became known to the prince that the princess was lost, his heart sunk deeply into the depression of his fears and doubts where he himself was lost. He fell from level to level until it seemed that nothing would save him.

No one from her dominion had any knowledge where the princess was. Her father, the king, also became withdrawn. In time the king's heart failed him on account of the loss of his daughter. The dominion itself then deteriorated and fell into ruins on account of the tragedy of the loss of the princess.

When the time came for the prince to inherit the throne of his dominion, he did not desire it, nor would he agree to it unless his promised bride was found and restored to her place and to him, as had been promised.

Many emissaries were then sent from his dominion to seek for the princess, but none were successful. Then the king, the father of the prince, decided to send the prince himself to look for the princess. Finding the princess, he knew, was the whole desire of the prince’s heart.

This tremendous love and devotion he saw in the prince made the king believe he would find her and return her to her place. The prince then left his domain and set out to look for the princess.

When he had traveled to the ends of the earth, the prince discovered where his beloved princess was. He watched her, however, only from a distance, and did not reveal himself openly to her, although his heart ached with immeasurable pain for her.

Instead, the prince disguised himself and met her as a stranger. Posing as a friendly stranger, he listened to the story of her enslavement and of her daily suffering and labour, and sought to comfort her. She told the stranger that she often woke almost in despair from dreams about her former royal life. She mentioned the prince from her childhood. She confided to the stranger that her childhood love for that prince had never died.

The prince met with her in this manner on a number of occasions. He encouraged her to hope and believe that agents from her dominion were still searching for her, and that one day they would find her. He even encouraged her to believe that the prince whom she loved must be himself searching for her. She began, however, to find the stranger’s words disquieting. She felt torn in two. The more she longed to believe the things he said, the more she felt the harsh bitterness of her life as it was.

Although it broke his heart, even when it became clear that no encouragement to the princess would be sufficient, the prince would not reveal himself to her. For had he revealed himself to her openly at that time, her slavery and poverty, and knowledge of the poverty of her dominion, would have brought her deep grief and open humiliation. He was determined to save her from any such further pain.

Instead of continuing to try to lift the princess's spirit, the prince returned to his own land.  There he poured out his heart and his story to his father, the king. He asked if he might at that time, without ceremony, inherit the dominion; and it was given to him.

The prince then in possession of his own domain arranged to have all the great wealth and all the lands of that dominion transferred to the domain of the princess. The lands and holdings of the dominion from which the princess came, while they remained in ruins, were still the legal inheritance of the princess. Thus, to her title the prince transferred all the wealth of his own inheritance. His whole dominion he quietly transferred to her ownership.

At the same time, the prince arranged for emissaries to go to the far off land where the princess was, to redeem her from her slavery. The emissaries were charged with a mission to bring the princess back with the utmost discretion. Only a very few individuals were even informed who she was, or what was taking place. These trusted few were chosen  in  order that nothing harmful happen to her. The rest of the emissaries were told very little in order that nothing be revealed to her about what the prince had done. Accordingly, she was purchased by the emissaries as a slave and told she was to be brought to a distant land, to be the slave of anonymous owners.

This, however, was not the end of the tribulations of her exile, for spies had overheard the conversation of the emissaries who had been sent to redeem her. Although these spies were not certain who the person who was being redeemed was, they could see that she was a person of great value, and they made an arrangement with robbers to have her kidnapped and held for ransom during her transport. However the trusted emissaries were faithful and their prayers and the prayers of the prince prevailed, due to the greatness of the prince's sacrifice. The attempt that was made to again steal the princess away, while causing her trauma on her journey, was not successful, and she was soon returned to her land.

Even before the princess came to her land she began to recognize where she was and where she was being taken. As soon as she set foot on her own soil, she immediately began to declare to the emissaries and to all who would listen that she recognized everything, and that she was the princess that was lost and that she was the true heir to all that laid before her, as far as the eye could see. When people heard her saying this she was immediately taken before the courts. After strict testing and cross-examination, it was demonstrated that her claims were true, and she was the one whom she said she was. Without any further delay, with great joy, the courts installed her upon the throne.

In doing these things for his beloved princess, the prince had given all that was his in order to elevate the princess. He had left himself without anything at all, without money, without influence, even without a name. The transfer of the possessions of his own dominion to the dominion of the princess had been accomplished in a manner that had been entirely concealed from the public. In order to accomplish this, the prince had deliberately left himself with nothing and found himself in the company of the very poor.

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There were certain trusted people among the poor, however, who knew the prince.  These people he charged to spread a quiet rumor about what he had done for the princess, and of his great love for her. Once the princess was returned to her kingdom and made queen, she heard this rumor was circulating among the poor people of the land, but it was an idea that was simply too much and too good for her to believe. It was easier for her to believe that the dominion of the prince had come upon hard times and had fallen into ruins and the prince had been lost, and she, nor anyone else, knew where.

Living without means or reputation, in due time, the prince became a beggar in the queen’s own city. Always he remained true to his purpose, never attempting to reveal himself openly to the queen. He only hoped that she might hear the rumor of the truth of what he had done and that, gradually, it might fully restore her spirit. In all of this, he trusted God with his love, doing all that he did to protect the honor of the princess.

Being restored in wealth and power to her palace and to her dominion, a measure of joy and thankfulness returned to the heart of the princess. Still, her heart remained a heavy weight within her. Although all her kingdom had been restored to her it was to her as a very little thing. For her love, the prince, was not restored to her. In her secret sorrow she felt as though she still were in slavery. Remembering her slavery and her poverty, and the kind stranger who had comforted her, the queen, would once a year walk through the streets and give comfort with great compassion and charity to all the poor of the city, never neglecting even one poor person whom she saw.

A great gulf had developed between the rich and the poor in the land at the time when the wealth of the prince had begun to be transferred to the realm of the princess. For at that time there was no true authority in the land. Much of the wealth was even being diverted into surrounding lands. The queen’s heart ached continually to improve the estate of the poor in her dominion, but her will was opposed by strong powers, who had established themselves during the time of the transfer. Due to the obscure nature of how her throne came to be re-established, many regarded the queen as only a figurehead. Because of the conflict with those who opposed her, there arose a very great tribulation, which added much affliction to the poor. Still, in the midst of all this turmoil, through the queen’s wisdom the dominion slowly began to thrive.

Once on her walk through the city to bless the poor the queen came upon a very poor man, a man who was poorer than most. When the queen came upon him, the man stood with his face to a wall in a side lane. He was preparing to pray in a place that was as private as could be found by someone who was homeless. He was wrapping straps around his arm, as was the tradition for prayer of all men from the queen’s dominion from the time of her childhood and from all generations before her. Only the straps, that this man wrapped around his arm, were invisible, that is to say, they were not there.

The queen stopped and went to speak with this beggar. “May I ask your name?" she asked.  "Once I was known by the name of Ephraim," he replied.   "I once had a dear friend whose name was Ephraim" she replied.  "Why,” she asked, “do you wrap straps around your arm that are not there?” The man turned and saw that it was the queen who spoke with him, and immediately lowered his eyes. “I wrap straps that are not there,” he said, “because I wore away the leather of my straps entirely, and I am too poor to buy more.” The queen then said to him, “When I was a child I was kidnapped by the enemy of the dominion and sold into slavery. Because of this my father the king's heart failed him. His straps for praying were then put into a drawer in a chest in the palace, and have never been used by anyone since. Come with me to the palace. I will allow you to pray with my own father’s straps, both those for the head and those for the arm.”

So it was that the princess took the prince into the palace, wondering quietly if this might be her prince, but without recognizing him. Although, all the while, her heart burned within her. When he put on her father's straps, however, his true soul began to shine from his face. Immediately the princess, who was now queen of her dominion, recognized that it was her prince and her whole being began to radiate with the light of her joy!