From: "A.K." Sent: Mon, August 13, 2007 7:07 am Subject: The Gilded Cage 1/11 (Historical) ---------------------------- THE GILDED CAGE by Andrej Koymasky (C) 2007 written on November 8, 1993 translated by the author English text kindly revised by John ----------------------------- USUAL DISCLAIMER "THE GILDED CAGE" is a gay story, with some parts containing graphic scenes of sex between males. So, if in your land, religion, family, opinion and so on this is not good for you, it will be better not to read this story. But if you really want, or because YOU don't care, or because you think you really want to read it, please be my welcomed guest. ----------------------------- CHAPTER 1 - The welcome visit of cousin Johann Mathias "Her Royal Highness Stefanie Brigitte requests an audience!" announced the door guard. Jakobus Stefan raised his eyes from the book and looked questioningly at his tutor, "Could we end the Greek lesson later, baron?" he hesitatingly asked. The tutor knit his eyebrows but nodded, "You can allow yourself fifteen minutes, Highness. In exactly fifteen minutes I shall be back and we will resume the lesson." He said standing up and, after a short bow, left the room. Then Jakobus said to the guard, "Let her come in." and stood up going eagerly towards his little sister, "Stefanie, what a pleasure seeing you again! I really needed a break." "That number who went out, is he your Greek tutor?" "Yes, Greek and Latin." "It seems he has swallowed a broom!" the little girl said giggling. "Yes. And in fifteen minutes he will be back. How are you, Stefanie?" "Fine, big brother. Do you like my new dress?" "You are splendid, as always. Were you alright, staying with the uncles?" "Oh, yes! There one can breathe. And, do you know, I have a surprise for you..." "Really?" What?" "Not what, but who. Our cousin Johann Mathias accompanied me back. He will stay here at Palace for two weeks, just think!" "This is really a good surprise! But I don't know if... you know that I have to study almost all the day long..." "Yes, I told him, and he sympathizes with you. An unpleasant life that of the heir, isn't it?" "That's true. I almost never have time for myself, as you know. I have always to steal it, like these few minutes with you..." "Today you have to go riding, don't you? We'll come to ride with you." "Very good." "And then, Johann Mathias has got a wonderful idea..." "What?" "He asked me not to tell you. He wants to give you a surprise." "Oh! But then it would have been better if you had said nothing to me... Now you have made me curious." "A future sovereign has to be able to control his own curiosity!" exclaimed the young girl mimicking the tone of their grand-mother and they burst into laughter. "Oh, Stefanie, if I hadn't got you and Friedrich, I believe I would die of sadness. Your affection is the sole beautiful thing in my life." "We are your siblings, aren't we? Of course we love you." "Will you always keep close to me, also when I'm king?" "Of course, Jakobus, what a question!" "But you will marry, and..." "And you will always be our beloved big brother. No, we will never desert you, never!" "Never ever? Whatever could happen?" "Certainly. I swear!" the young girl said, serious and solemn. "Will it really be so terrible being a king?" the girl asked in an almost frightened tone. "I'm afraid it will. Look at our father. He has very little time left to spend with us, or just for himself. He is always so taciturn, so full of worries, so sad. Do you know that in this last week I saw him laugh just once, and smile three times?" "Yes, that's so, poor papa." "And that will be my end... if you don't stay close to me." The prince said, disconsolate. His sister seized his hands, "No, Jakobus, we will always keep close to you, don't doubt it. And we will help you to smile. We love you so much. Also Friedrich admires you very much, do you know, and would do anything for you..." "Thank you, Stefanie." "Oh! Here comes the broomstick!" the little girl whispered at her brother's ear seeing the severe tutor enter the room. And after making a hint of a bow to the man, she glided away light and silent. Jakobus met his cousin Johann Mathias at dinner time. They greeted with an embrace and Jakobus enjoyed his cousin's informal way of greeting him, with slaps on the shoulders and a wide, luminous smile. But as soon as they heard the door open and "Their Majesties" followed by the Queen Mother entered, the two boys stood to attention each near his seat. After king Heinrich sat, all the family sat down. King Heinrich started to ask Johann news about his family, in a half formal half affectionate manner, while silent pages were starting to wait at table. "And my brother in law, your father, does he always go hunting?" "Oh, yes, always. You know how fond of it he is." "Yes, yes, I do know. It was after a hunt he met my sister, your mother... And it was love at first sight." "Oh, and they still love each other like two newlyweds!" Stefanie said, taking part in the conversation. The king nodded, "I do believe it. Happy are they who don't have the burden of a crown." "Onus et onor!" the queen mother Bianca Amadea said dryly. "Yes, certainly, maman, onus et onor, burden and honor." The king answered in a tired tone. After the dinner, when the king stood up from the table, the children could swarm outside the dining hall. "Oh, Johann, what a pleasure having you here!" Jakobus exclaimed. His little brother, Friedrich, said with wide eyes, "He is bigger and handsomer each time, our favourite cousin, isn't he, Jakobus?" "Yes, indeed. He is now seventeen, and next year he would make the presentation at court for his coming on age." "Yes, and god knows what a bore!" Johann exclaimed, amused. The four children were talking non-stop, laughing and joking amongst themselves, when queen Margaretha Augustina entered. They became suddenly silent and serious and greeted her. "Try to raise less noise, boys. Your laughter can be heard all over the Palace. And you, nephew, being the eldest, you should set a good example." "Yes, madam aunt. Forgive me. Could we go out in the park?" "Certainly yes. But remember the times of your schedule." The queen said and went away. "Is she always so serious, the aunt?" Johann asked in a low voice. "Oh yes. She is not like aunt Friedericka, unhappily." Friedrich answered. "Yes, maman is really cheerful, thank heaven. And also papa." "You are lucky..." Jakobus murmured. They went outside, to the park, discretely followed by two guards. "Can't you ever go around without the doggies?" Johann asked, winking. "No, safety measures." Jakobus answered. "But... even here in the Palace?" "It's etiquette." Jakobus explained shrugging his shoulders. "Do you know that I am not even allowed to do a somersault on the grass?" Friedrich exclaimed, glowering. Later the boys went to ride together. But while for the others was a pleasurable diversion, Jakobus was sided by the riding instructor, who was continually giving him advice. When Jakobus caught his cousin eye, he raised his eyes to the sky in a sign of endurance and Johann winked at him as to tell him of his sympathy. In an odd moment when they were alone together, Johann said him, "They are giving you less and less space, You are less and less free, it seems to me..." "Yes. In three years there will be the investiture of Prince Royal, and so they are increasing both my preparation and their control. I am now a full time student of Greek, Latin, French, German and English. Strategy, politics, economics. Literature, arts, music. Riding, fencing, swimming, tennis and cricket. Religion, sciences, etiquette and elocution..." "Oh my god! I hope they don't forget to let you eat and sleep!" Johann exclaimed placing a hand on his cousin's arm as if to console him. "Oh, but they control me even then! Only in the toilet do they leave me in peace. I cannot even take my baths alone. The loo has now become my secret hermitage!" Jaobus said with a bitter smile. Then added, "Grand-mother is stern. Maman is aloof. Papa is always immersed in his worries and busy in his audiences... Happily I have Stefanie and Friedrich who give me some smiles and affection. And you, Johann. I would like seeing you more often." "Yes... rather. Possibly, after my coming of age I'll perform some service here at the court, and then we can meet more often." "It would be beautiful." "It will be beautiful!" his cousin answered him with an encouraging smile. In the evening Jakobus withdrew in his rooms. He entered the bedroom saluted by the door guard. Inside there were three pages. One helped him to undress and took away his clothes. The second helped him to take his bath and dried him, then went away. The third slipped the night shirt on him, drew aside the covers and after he laid down, tucked them in and closed the canopy curtains, and then went to lie down, clothed, on his bed in the little adjoining room, ready for any need of the prince. Jakobus, on his wide bed, under the canopy with the closed curtains, was enjoying one of the rare moments when he was, finally, relatively alone. He wanted the curtain to be closed, as the page had to sleep with the communicating door open. "When I will be king, I will change these absurd rules!" Jakobus was thinking, while he waited for sleep to come. "They are making me feel like a handicapped person. They undress me, they dress me, they wash me, they dry me... Luckily they don't feed me like a child, at table..." The following morning he was awakened by the page's voice coming from behind the curtain of the bed, "Royal Highness, this is the reveille call! Royal Highness, this is the reveille call! Royal..." "Yes, yes... I did hear... thank you." Jakobus said, stretching. He lowered his night shirt that sleeping had ruffled up to is belly, tidied the covers, then said, "You can start..." He heard the page going to open the door, then the footsteps of the other two pages entering, one with his clothes, and the morning ritual began - opening the window curtains, opening the canopy curtains, bow, and... "Well awakened, Royal Highness" in a chorus. Then one of them, "Weather is slightly cloudy, temperature is cool." And the other, "The clothes you chose yesterday evening, Your Highness, are still of your acceptance?" "Yes, thank you." Jakobus answered from his bed. He would have liked to jump off the bed, go to wash himself, take his clothes and put them them on, but... The assigned page moved the cover aside and Jakobus could get out of bed. The clothes page handed him the long silk underpants, the only garment he had to put on by himself, which he slipped on under his night shirt. The chamber page then took off his night shirt. The assigned page accompanied him to the bathing room and turned on the tap for him ... Jakobus let him do so, following the ritual and inside his head he dreamed of open spaces, infinite, or else he recalled the distant memory of years before when from the landau he had seen some naked boys cheerfully wallowing in the lake... and had envied them... "You Highness! The towel for the face!" the page reminded him, handing him a different towel. Right, the small one for the hands, the wide one for the body, the medium size one for the face... "Don't we have an apposite towel for the right ear?" he asked in an ironic tone, taking the towel for the face from the page. The page had a stupefied expression, then immediately resumed his formal air, "I beg your pardon, Your Highness, I can not understand the sense of your question..." "Oh, never mind, I was just joking," Jakobus answered drying his face. "Oh. Very well, Your Highness." The page said in a formal tone. "I have to go to the toilet." Jakobus announced. The page immediately opened the door. Jakobus locked himself inside. He quickly stood up on the toilet bowl and looked out of the small, half open window. He deeply breathed the cool air, looked at the tree tops, and saw "his" birds nest and for a moment rejoiced... Then went down, lowered his long underpants, sat on the bowl and closed his eyes. Then cleaned himself, flushed the water, tidied his underpants and went out. The page opened the door towards the bedroom. The ceremony of attiring the clothes began... Then the breakfast with his siblings and the cousin, a short period of relaxation and of (moderate!) mirth. Then he greeted them and went to his study room where his History tutor was already waiting. "... and from Heinrich the Second was born Baldwin the First, who ruled for three months only. The chronicles call him Baldwin the Unfortunate, because..." Jakobus was listening. His own family history was one of the subjects that fascinated him more. Those names corresponded to the portraits hanging in the Ambassadors' Gallery. They all had a face. Rather grim some of them, mainly the most ancient ones like the founder of the family, the count Ranald I the Survivor. Other were fatuous, like the great-great-great-grand-father Jakobus I the Fair. Otto IV was haughty and Walterus III was funny... But the one he liked best, both for his portrait and for his biography was Otto III the Solitary. Possibly precisely because of that appellation "the Solitary", or for his slight smile, his straight expression, his youthful and slender figure. Otto III had his first son when he was eighteen, he was left a widower at twenty-three and he wouldn't marry again - hence his appellation. He renounced the ducal throne when he was not yet forty, abdicating in favour of his first-born, and withdrew to live in the small castle in the Silver Forest, there on the lake shore, with his small court. He died at the age of eighty-two. He was buried in the chapel of his small castle. Jakobus felt he loved him. He had been a peace-loving duke, a lover of the arts... Yes, he was Jakobus' hero... "Your Highness! Are you listening? What did Friedrich the First do in 1760?" "Eh? Hum... he married the niece of the King of France." "Yes, it is so. Those weddings were important for our nation, because..." Weddings, births, accessions to the throne, deaths. Alliances, treaties, plots, treasons. Weddings, births... "How are children begotten, sir count?" Jakobus all of a sudden asked. He really knew about it. But he amused himself by asking his various tutors and, from the different answers, he was building up a more and more complete picture... "Children are begotten for Our Lord's will, who so blesses the marriage." "Yes, but how?" "Through the conjunction of the father with the mother." "And how do they join?" Jakobus insisted with a serious face, but with an inner amusement. "God created the man so that he produces a seed that he lays in his wife through the suitable tool that is located between his thighs... But let's now resume our history lesson!" The suitable tool! The "penis" or "phallus", the rod, the "pudenda", the virile organ, the member, the "genitalia"... each one of his tutors gave it a different name, And all of them talked about it lowering their voice, pronouncing its name hurriedly, skating over the subject... Jakobus found all this amusing. And his father-confessor asked him if he touched his "pudenda" (that was the term he used) besides the strict necessities of cleaning or of "micturation". "No, father." "Very well, your Highness. Remember, it is not allowed to play with the parts of our body that Our Lord gave us 'ad mingendum et ac generandum'." "Certainly, father." Jakobus answered asking himself how one could play with a part of his body. To play with a foot, for instance! Only the newborns did such things, certainly not the grown-up people! Jakobus, in certain respects, was still somewhat naïve. For instance he thought that, when his member became hard, this simply meant he needed to urinate; in fact afterward it did return to its normal size. Even though, for a year or a little more, at times he didn't urinate, or even if he did it, it remained stiff afterwards and erect for a long while... And touching it when it was in that state was vaguely agreeable, even though he could not understand the reason. But Jakobus still didn't know about masturbation, both because nobody had taught it to him, and because he didn't discover it for himself. He had already had a few wet dreams and the first time, alarmed, he had talked about it with the court physician, the archiater, fearing that it was an emission of pus! The physician had explained him that from the virile organ (the term was his own) when one is in his growth phase, could come out a "white liqueur". The liquid is nothing but the seed that the organism is training to produce while awaiting the time to deposit it in the "womanly furrow" to conceive his progeny. And that when the seed is in excess, the organism naturally discharges it during the night through an involuntary ejaculation. Nothing alarming, in short. Jakobus felt tranquillized. Also none of his pages seemed to notice when the front of his night shirt or the sheets bore evident traces of his involuntary ejaculations. From art reproductions he knew what the "womanly furrow" or "vaginam" or front opening was, in conclusion, where the man had to insert his "phallus" and from where, nine months later, the child would come out. All this was clear enough to him and he felt neither astonished and nor interested in it. One day, he had understood, it would be his duty to marry, to deposit his seed those three or four times to beget his heirs. The only thing that amazed him a little, was how could from that slit, not so very big, come out a baby, however small he could be. When he tried to ask about it, the only rather satisfying answer he received was that "Our Lord, in his infinite wisdom, created that part of the woman's body sufficiently elastic to adapt to the necessity..." But after all Jakobus was really not interested - it would not be his problem anyway, as he was a man! In the afternoon he fenced with his cousin, and had the satisfaction of winning, even though by a hair's breadth, but he won. "Congratulations, Jakobus. It's evident you have the best instructors of the kingdom! And also that you are an excellent pupil. But after all it is just a waste of time, as you would never have to fight a duel..." "Well, it is good exercise for making you nimble and quick off the mark." Jakobus answered laying down his mask and foil. "Yes, certainly." His cousin acknowledged. They looked at Friedrich who was training in another part of the armoury hall. "He's growing nicely, my little brother, isn't he?" Jakobus said with pride. "Yes, he is. He's twelve, now, isn't he?" "Yes. He is starting to be a little man, and he is growing in wisdom, grace, intelligence and goodness." "Hey, what a beautiful picture of him are you drawing! You love him very much, don't you?" "Of course. He is my little brother." "Although our parents are very different at least we are similar in one way - amongst siblings, both in your and my family, there is concord, understanding and harmony." "Yes, Johann. This is one of the rare things that gives me the joy of living. As well as your friendship." His cousin nodded and placed an arm over his shoulders, smiling at him. "Even when you are my king, you will always be my favourite little cousin." "I really hope so!" Jakobus answered, grateful. They went to wash themselves in two tubs separated by a curtain, each assisted by a page, continuing to chat aloud. As they emerged from the tubs, each immediately covered with a cloth so that they didn't show their nakedness, they dried themselves and put on their clothes, helped by their respective pages. Then they went out to the garden where Stefanie was waiting for them. They walked along the paths and chatted, always discreetly followed by their escorting shadows. Johann at a point said, "You know, Jakobus, it is probably done..." "Done, what?" "I have handed over to your father a letter from maman, in which she invites you to spend a month at our place. And almost certainly your father will consent and give you his permission, so we can be one full month together, without all the court etiquette, in peace on our estate. And we can also go hunting and sleep in the refuge up in the woods, and fix our meals by ourselves..." "Oh! Do you really mean it? God, how good it would be! The last time I went I was... twelve?" "Yes, right. You were no more than a snotty kid." Johann jested. "Could Friedrich come too?" Jakobus asked. "No, you know the rule perfectly well - male heirs can never travel together." Stefanie recalled to him. "Yes, that's true..." Jakobus nodded, disconsolate, "since the times of duke Otto IV, when he lost his first born and second born in the same coach that fell into a ravine. And he had to busy himself to beget his third son, Friedrich VI." "I see you have studied history!" Stefanie prattled, happily. "Yes, of course. Do you want the exact date too?" "No, thank you!" his sister laughed lightly. "Do you know that the rumour is that whoever made the coach fall into the ravine was their cousin who thus hoped to inherit the ducal throne?" Jakobus asked his sister. "Oh, but Johann would never do such a thing!" Stefanie said, widening her eyes, "am I right, Johann?" "Of course I wouldn't! First of all because I love you, but also because I would never ever become a king, not for all the world!" the youth offered in lively reply. "I too never ever would..." Jakobus murmured. "Don't let grand-mother or mama hear that!" Stefanie said. "I will definitely be a king, if it is God's will. And I hope I could be a good king." Jakobus seriously commented, and pressed his lips together. During the dinner king Heinrich announced to Jakobus that he would go to spend a month at the castle of his uncle and aunt, with Johann. "Your tutors are happy with you, Jakobus, therefore we think that a four weeks rest is useful and well deserved. You will leave next week. Count Stefan will escort you." "Thank you papa. But... will the count stay at the castle with me?" "No, he has to proceed further north to take a message to our cousin Friedrich IV. He will come back in four weeks, so that he will be able to escort you back here to the capital." "Thank you papa." Jakobus answered drawing a secret sigh of relief. He didn't like count Stefan Anthonius Jakobus, a rigid and formal type, who was always quite hard to please. He had feared he would have him at his elbows the whole time, and this would have dimmed the joy of that unexpected vacation. The queen said, with gravity, "You are assuming a heavy responsibility, dear grandson, in taking care of the prince royal. I hope you are well aware of this, and that you will leave him alone not even for a single moment." "It is certainly so, madam aunt! I will answer with my life for his well being." Johann's grave and proud answer got a short nod of approbation from the queen. "Anyway," the queen mother intervened, "before starting your journey I really hope you two will go to confession and receive the sacraments!" "Maman, they are going to just a hundred and twenty kilometres from here, and inside our own lands!" king Heinrich objected. "Before any travel, be it only a few kilometres, one has to be sure of being in the grace of God!" the old woman icily retorted. "We shall certainly do so, grande-mère." Johann said, with a conciliatory smile. Finally the day of departure came. The train was composed of four coaches, loaded with trunks, lackeys and pages and escorted by a squad of King's Light Horse. Stefanie and Friedrich went to the courtyard to say goodbye. The two boys had already said goodbye to king Heinrich in his study. Queen Margaretha and queen mother Bianca, each behind the glass window of their rooms, were awaiting the departure of the train. Jakobus and Johann together got into the coach with the royal insignia and finally they set off. "Jakobus, your excursion of freedom is beginning!" "Indeed! Can I wash, dress and undress by myself?" "No, not can. . . you have to! And, as I told you, when we are at the refuge, we shall also have to fix our meals by ourselves." "Good heavens, I can't do that... Among the various topics I have to study... there are no cooking lessons!" "I shall teach you." "Are you able? Did the aunt teach you?" "No, my father." "But... don't you have cooks, at the castle?" "Of course we have. But when I go hunting with papa, we do everything by ourselves. Even stitching our torn shirts or trousers." "Good god, it would be a wonderful thing!" Jakobus happily sighed. "Since my childhood my father has taught me that a real man should be able to do everything for himself. His father also grew up in the same way." "At court, on the contrary, it seems that a king is more kingly the fewer things he does for himself. Do you know that they even slip my socks onto me? They wash and dry me!" "But your teeth, at least, do you brush them by yourself?" "Yes, I do. But they even comb my hair, you see? I feel as if I was a... a doll." "My poor Jakobus! But during this month you will take your fill, I promise. And especially when you and I will be up at the refuge." "Alone?" Jakobus asked, with wide eyes. "Practically yes. I mean, there will be the gamekeeper, and his staff, but they live in another part of the refuge. And anyway we shall have to make and strip our bed by ourselves, and sweep the floor..." "That's fantastic! And we can even wake up by ourselves?" "Of course, when the sun wakes us up." "And can we sleep without having pages or guards around?" "Of course!" "And we can..." "...do everything that pleases us." "That's a dream, Johann. But... does my family know all that?" "Of course not. They presume that everything will be more or less like at court, or at least like at the castle. They know nothing about the refuge." "But they know we'll go hunting, don't they?" "They think we will use the game villa down in the valley..." "Well then... let them think that, right, Johann?" "Certainly, Jakobus, certainly." Jakobus eyes were shining and he already anticipated the pleasure of that period of total freedom. They stopped half way as guests at the villa of viscount Maxim Andreas, whose staff had been forewarned by a dispatch rider. The had their lunch there, then resumed their journey. They reached Johann parents' castle at mid-afternoon. In the yard all the family was there to welcome them. The affectionate embrace of uncle, aunt and cousins was the first proof of the difference in the lifestyle, and Jakobus smiled at the frowning glance of count Stefan. The aristocrat would only stop for the supper and the night, then would carry on his journey. Johann guided Jakobus to the room reserved for him, where the lackeys were already bringing the trunks that the pages were opening to settle their contents. "Do you remember this room? Papa says you already slept here, three years ago..." "Yes, I vaguely remember. It is beautiful..." "It's much smaller than your bedroom at the Palace..." "This is why it is beautiful. And your room? Isn't it near this one?" "Yes, correct. Come, I'll show you." Johann said. They went along the corridor and entered the next door. "See, it has been made out of the tower. I like it because it is circular, different from all the others." "It's lovely! Did you make that model sailing ship?" Jakobus asked, with wide eyes. "Yes, sure. Do you like it?" "It is wonderful!" "It took me three months to build it. I did it when I was your age... no, a year older." "Oh, Johann, how willingly I would make an exchange with you... how I would like coming to live here, as you live..." "Hey, but I would never make this exchange, my dear cousin!" Johann answered laughing and giving a light joking punch on his cousin's chest. Jakobus went to change his clothes for supper, and for the first time he experienced the elation of undressing and dressing by himself. The supper was semi-formal, mainly because of the presence of count Stefan, but was anyway cheerful and lively. After the supper they all gathered before the wide fireplace of the hall where a small fire was burning. Then the aunt sent the children to bed and only Jakobus, Johann and his parents, and the count remained there. After a short while the count excused himself and withdrew in his rooms. Then the uncle and aunt went to bed as well. "We have to go to our rooms too?" Jakobus then asked. "No, we'll go when we feel like it." Johann answered. "But don't you have a schedule?" "Not during vacations. And anyway I don't now as I'm grown up." "You mean we can stay here as long as we want?" "Even until tomorrow morning, if you feel like it." "No, not to tomorrow morning. I think I would give way before. But it would be nice if we can stay a while longer..." "No problem, Jakobus." A page silently entered and went to stir up the fire. "You can go to sleep, David. I'll take care of the fire." Johann said. "As your lordship wishes. Have a good night." The man answered with a bow, and went out. "Do you know all the house staff working here in the castle by name?" Jakobus asked. "Yes, of course. Don't you?" "Just some of them, just a few. You know, they are so numerous... and not always the same." "And then how do you call them?" "Bah... hey, you! Or else, page! Or..." "My god, but... I wouldn't like that. It's bad." "Yes, I think you are right." "The house staff, in a way, are part of the family. And papa wants us to call them always by name and to respect them. If we ever dared to say to one of them - hey you! I think we would get a slap in the face from papa or from maman. They are human beings, not objects or slaves." "That's right. I never thought about it." Jakobus said pensively. Later, when they started to feel their eyes grow heavy, they went up to the second floor to their bedrooms. They each said the goodnight to the other at the door to their rooms and Johann shook Jakobus' hand with energy, with warmth and friendship, giving him a broad smile. Jakobus went to bed "by himself" feeling light and happy. He fell asleep almost at once, looking at the shadows of the tree branches moving outside the windows where he didn't close the curtains. He slept delightfully, a deep and refreshing sleep. And the following morning there really were the sun's rays on his face to wake him up. He was feeling fresh and rested, happy and energetic. He jumped out of the bed "bare foot" and went to the window, opened it wide and took deep breaths of the pure and crisp air. He heard knocking at the door and joyously shouted, "Come in!" Johann, already dressed, came in. "Still in your night shirt, lazy-bones?" his cousin rebuked him with a big smile. "Yes, I just woke up." "I heard you opening your window; you see, that's my room there, so I understood you got out bed and so I came." "Have you been awake long?" "About one hour." "What time is it, now?" "Eight o'clock. You have the pendulum-clock there ... oh, it stopped. Last night you should have wound it up. I forgot to tell you. Each of us winds up the clock in his room, before going to bed.." "Do I have to tidy my bed?" "No, not here at the castle, only up at the refuge. Put on your clothes, come on, so we can go to have our breakfast." Johann said and sat on a chair. Jakobus went to take his underpants and slipped them on, under his night shirt. "Hey, don't you wash before dressing?" "Of course I do..." "So then, why do you wear your underpants?" "Well... you are here... we have to never show ourselves naked, have we?" "And who on earth told you that? You are not at the Palace here! And we are cousins, both boys, and almost the same age. You aren't shy with me, are you?" "Well... yes. I am not used to..." "Oh, then I'll go out, if you want." "No, I don't mind. Do in Rome as the Romans do, my tutor says. I'll get used to your habits. Look!" Jakobus said and took off his underpants, then his night shirt and, totally naked, went to wash himself. And he really felt a wonderful, extraordinary sensation of freedom. ----------------------------- CONTINUES IN CHAPTER 2 ----------------------------- In my home page I've put some more of my stories. If someone wants to read them, the URL is http://andrejkoymasky.com If you want to send me feed-back, or desire to help revising my English translations, so that I can put on-line more of my stories in English please e-mail at andrej@andrejkoymasky.com ---------------------------