The King's Children

The King's Children

The room, furnished with all the luxury the times allowed, was full of women running around, carrying bowls of water and clean towels, while the queen sweated on the bed, feeling the pains of childbirth that would bring the longed-for heir into the world. Her face transfigured a mixture of pain and pride. She knew that her husband, after being thrown out of the room by the slave girls, was waiting outside. A louder groan and a deep cry that would trouble the soul of any human being, was followed by laughter and applause. They brought the little baby so that the queen could see him, already wrapped in a blue blanket. He was a beautiful boy. The new mother only had time to smile and look with great affection at the prince, who was crying disconsolately in the arms of Martha, the queen's trusted slave, before he began to feel dreadful pain again, much stronger than that of the first child. And to the amazement of everyone, even the queen herself, another child ca