The Widowed King

By Jameson Grem

There once was a flourishing kingdom. As in any flourishing kingdom, there was a king, yes, but more impressive still was the King’s eldest son Prince Morihiro. He was praised day and night by all with eyes that could see and minds that could perceive for how attractive he was, how skilled he was in the arts of War, how intelligent he was in scholarly subjects, and how just he was in law and punishment. So adored was he, that it was said a single look from him would bring the recipient good luck for the entire year following!

One day, the kingdom woke to bulletins posted throughout the land announcing the happy news that the search for the prince’s future queen was to begin. It was decreed that all unmarried young women of marriageable age were required to add their names to the maiden registry for consideration. Families submitted their daughters’ names eagerly, and there was talk of nothing else; everyone joyously speculated about the event!

The honorable Ito family, however, did not share in this joy. To any on the outside, their sorrow would be mysterious, indeed, for their only daughter Lady Haruko was known far and wide for being so lovely, the flowers which bloom in Spring all blush with shame when she passes for how they pale in comparison to her beauty. Many throughout the kingdom already considered her the favored candidate for the prince’s hand. Yet therein laid the Ito family’s problem. Lady Haruko had no desire to become a bride to any man, not even if that man was the wonderful Prince Morihiro! Lady Haruko’s affections were reserved for soft, fair maidens. In fact, the mere thought of being considered for the role of a bride or a queen and consequently condemned to a lifetime of suffering the clumsy attentions of a man doused her in such deep melancholy, she could scarcely get out of bed no matter what her family tried. 

Her father, Counselor Ito, an advisor in the king’s court, tried to reason with Haruko by pointing out the political strength of such a marriage. Her mother, Lady Ito, tried to make her daughter understand the various ways in which the prince was very kind and attractive. Haruko’s maid reassured her and whispered conspiratorially that Haruko could always keep a secret mistress to help her cope. Yet Lady Haruko remained inconsolable. 

It was her loving brother Akihiko who finally offered a solution when they were alone in her rooms: “Sister, you are my twin,” he said, “When you suffer, I suffer. Let me go in your place so that if you are chosen, I will be at the prince’s side, and you will be free to live as you wish.”

Haruko argued, “You will be caught. Though you look identical to me right down to the hairs on your head, they will see you as a man, not as a lady. …Not to mention there will be no hiding it on the wedding night.”

“But,” he pointed out, “have I not been the one dedicating myself to studying the art of being a lady? And do you not far surpass me in sports and politics?” She could not contradict him on those points. It was true, the two of them had made a pact in their childhood to switch places in their respective studies, for Akihiko had always felt drawn to the feminine domain and Haruko to the masculine. “Do not worry about the wedding night,” her brother assured her, “I know what to do.”  

“But, brother,” Haruko asked, “Why is it you aren’t afraid of being caught? You’ll be severely punished if you are.”

Akihiko smiled. “The truth is I have heard from the prince directly,” he revealed, “The other night when I was in my garden painting, I noticed someone drop a note over the wall. I hurried over and called out to the person, but he did not answer. When I opened it, it was the most beautiful poem I ever read. He bore his soul. He professed his heart. He wishes to marry for love, and so he has asked me to fight for us, to ensure I am chosen over all others, for, he says, he knows me. And he is in love with me! You don’t believe me? Then look here, it was signed by the prince, himself!”

Akihiko fetched the letter to show his sister and it was indeed stamped with the prince’s official crest at the bottom. This both surprised and delighted Haruko, for she knew her brother only had eyes for the prince since they were playmates long ago. “Then I am happy to switch places with you, brother. You will make a fine wife.”

“And you will make a fine counselor,” he replied, elated.  

And so it was, that the twins switched places for good. The pair exchanged clothes and claimed each others’ bed. In the morning, Haruko awoke as Akihiko, and Akihiko awoke as Haruko, and the family rejoiced at their daughter’s miraculous change of heart.

On the first day of the selection trials, Akihiko, disguised as Haruko, joined all the other young maidens who gathered at the palace. They were tested in their elegance, grace, etiquette, and manner. None so much s compared to Lady Haruko, who shone like a serene star on a warm Spring’s night, and so she was invited to attend the second round the following day. 

On the second day, the young maidens were tested in the arts. They were asked to compose and read poetry, arrange flowers, and perform a song on an instrument of their choice. Again, one particular flower bloomed so magnificently, all the others could only look on in awe. And so Lady Haruko was invited back to the final test the following day. 

On the third day, Akihiko, disguised as his sister, sat with the two other final contenders in a small room with the Queen Mother and the princess, Prince Morihiro’s younger sister. They held a friendly debate over famous literary works and religious scriptures. In the end, both the Queen Mother and the Princess were so taken with Lady Haruko, there was no question. She was the only match for their beloved Morihiro! 

Akihiko could hardly contain his elation, and privately thanked the gods for carrying his plan through without a hitch. In the days leading up to the wedding, he carefully safeguarded his identity as he endured the training from his new ladies in waiting, who taught him all he needed to know for the marriage ceremony. At night, when he could scarcely sleep, he wrote to ‘Akihiko’ back home, and assured him all was well. In no time, he would be wed to the love of his life.

From the time Haruko was announced as the prince’s bride-to-be to the wedding day itself, celebration was unending. Yet the day of the happy event dawned with somehow even more euphoria in the air as the entire city turned out dancing in the streets, singing, and throwing flowers into the air. Visitors from throughout the kingdom and from foreign lands arrived one after the other laden with gifts and offerings, some having traveled days and days to reach the capital.

To this day, there is no ceremony that has matched in splendor the wedding of Prince Morihiro and Lady Haruko. The bride is said to have been so lovely that onlookers were moved to tears. The groom, himself, bore an enraptured smile when he saw his future queen’s face for the first time. He is said to have cried out, “I prayed to the gods it would be you!” 

As grand and memorable an occasion as it was, there is still yet another event which overshadows the wedding itself in collective memory. It is true a bride was sought, and one was found, but the wedding night Akihiko’s sister had warned him of followed soon after. In the privacy of their room, upon seeing his wife’s true shape, the Prince let out a horrified shout. The guards outside must have assumed it was a cry of passion, for they did not immediately intrude. 

“What is the meaning of this?!” Prince Morihiro hissed, eyes livid with hate.

Akihiko frowned in puzzlement and quickly covered himself. “What do you mean, my prince? Am I not the one you were hoping for?”

“No! Why would I hope for you?!”

Akihiko tried to hide his pain and humiliation, but his heart was already breaking. He could not understand why his love should be so angry now. “You...you passed me such a passionate declaration of your love just this past new moon. I thought-”

Prince Morihiro’s look of shock caused Akihiko to silence himself. “That...was you? I thought...My man thought it was Lady Haruko... My note was meant for her! Who are you?! How could he have mistaken you for her?! You-!” But he couldn’t continue. Because he could not deny that he had been fooled just as easily. Whoever this was, he looked exactly like Lady Haruko in the face. It was a damning predicament.

Akihiko bowed his head in despair as he explained, “When I am in the privacy of my rooms, I prefer to dress as such, my prince…but I am her brother, Akihiko. Your childhood playmate.” 

The prince’s horror was so potent, Akihiko need not look at his face, he could feel the air trembling with it, each furious breath the sound of his doom marching closer. “I thought I was marrying Lady Haruko! I am in love with Lady Haruko!”

Each word hammered sorrow deeper and deeper into Akihiko’s poor heart. “M-my prince, I am so sorry, but it was I who received the note, and it is me, not my sister, who is in love with you! Please, spare her! She isn’t suited to this life; she will wither in a place like this.” 

Prince Morihiro paced back and forth with much anxiety. He could not reveal that he had married a man, or his reputation would never recover. Yet he could not remain married to a man!

“My prince,” the bride tried again, “Please allow me to be your queen. I am, after all, qualified for it and I am honored to have received the esteemed approval of the Queen Mother and your sister the princess. No one has to know. I can give you all a woman could.”

“You can give me heirs?!”

Akihiko shook his head, “I cannot, but your courtesans can. I do not mind. I love you, no matter what you have to do. So long as I can be by your side I am happy. I will be a loving and devoted wife to you.” 

No matter how Akihiko pleaded and begged and professed, the prince was only moved into deeper rage. He did not want the selfish love of Haruko’s brother; he wanted Haruko! In fact, the longer he looked at the pitiful creature in his bed, the colder and harder his heart became. He could not endure the thought of a future married secretly to a man, all of his offspring coming from courtesans whose clans would wrest power from him and his family at the first opportunity. He would not allow it. And he could not stand having been tricked! 

At last, much-celebrated kindness and compassion of Prince Morihiro had reached its limits. With a single, quivering bark he called in the guards who filled the room in moments. “Seize this perverted wretch!” he commanded, “He has impersonated his sister, the future queen, in her wedding bed! Bring my queen to me at once!”

“Yes!” the guards all cried with a salute. Akihiko could not muster the strength to fight, and was easily apprehended. “Lord, what shall we do with him?” 

“Execute him!” 

The very next day, Ito no Akihiko, heartbroken and weeping, was charged with treason and perversion, and put to death by public beating. He had deceived the royal family, thus he had also deceived the people, so all were encouraged to contribute to his torment until he breathed no longer. And so the very same masses who had celebrated his marriage the day before did eagerly visit their wrath upon Akihiko until well after he’d drawn his last breath.

Lady Haruko, disguised as her brother on the day of his execution, was seized and brought to the palace to take her rightful place as the future queen. However, the royal family was dismayed to find she refused to show even an ounce of the grace her brother had exhibited. Indeed, even if she tried she was not as fair a maiden as Akihiko. Lady Haruko’s hatred for the prince, too, was no small trifle and could not be hidden even from the prying eyes of the public. 

Prince Morihiro despaired at having such an unpleasant wife with her masculine mannerisms and interests. She gave him nothing he wanted from a woman, be it compassion, beauty, comfort, or tenderness, but there was one thing, at least, she could do. Some way or another, she did bear him a son. Forced from conception to childbirth, Haruko was not well through most of her pregnancy -- a mysterious illness which caused her to be in and out of consciousness until the child arrived. It is no wonder that her health did not improve even after giving birth, and she passed away weeks after. It is said that with her final breath, the beautiful Lady Haruko placed upon her husband an ugly curse, such that his life would be spent in torment, all love dying upon his fingertips.

Without the protection of Haruko’s status, Counselor Ito and his wife were banished from the kingdom without riches for the misfortune of having raised two such unpleasant and mixed up children. They were chased off into the mountains with nothing but the clothes on their back and the sorrow in their hearts.

Prince Morihiro remarried immediately after his mourning period, yet this new wife fell mysteriously ill the moment he touched her on their wedding night, and she died soon after. The same happened with the next. And in such a manner, his life continued. No matter what the court mystics tried, a queen-to-be could not survive a marriage to Mirohiro for even long enough to give him children. When he ascended the throne, Morihiro was known by his subjects as the Widowed King, and no one would offer their daughter to him for marriage - nor could his tired and battered heart stand to raise such a demand any longer.

Thus, King Morihiro had resigned himself to his lonely fate. Beneath the weight of his divinely enforced solitude he began to suspect that he was serving his own punishment for so violently rejecting the earnest love of Akihiko and so violently forcing his own upon the unwilling Lady Haruko. He saw their faces staring back at him more clearly every day from that of his only son. With these daily reminders of his crimes, King Morihiro’s mind became so filled with thoughts of the twins, his sleep each night grew fitful, filled with nightmares of the atrocities he had committed against Akihiko and Haruko. He could not sleep. He could not lead. Unable to take it any longer, he had his son sent away, yet the nightmares persisted. Even the old and wisened mystics of his court offered remedy after remedy and failed every time to give him relief.

Finally one night, a young mystic apprentice dared to seek a private audience with the king. Desperate for relief, King Morihiro decided to see him. “This humble servant dares bid his King to place this rabbit’s paw beneath his pillow at night. The answer to your problem will present itself in your dreams shortly thereafter, my King.” 

That evening, the king placed the fluffy white paw beneath his pillow and went to sleep. Rather than by nightmares, he was visited by a being swathed in opulent robes, with long, flowing white hair. Their body was haloed with brilliant light, and their face obscured by an ornate rabbit mask. He did not hear a voice, but his mind’s eye was flooded with the tragic tales of those imprisoned behind masks. Forbidden love, bitter longing, profound loneliness; these souls walked the earth along with everyone else, starved of the tenderness and love which was their birthright as much as anyone else. They were hunted, scorned, simply for wanting to love in the way most natural for them. Finally, King Morihiro understood the magnitude of his crimes and begged the rabbit god for guidance. To his astonishment, he received it. He knew what he must do, and swore to the rabbit god he would follow through. Satisfied, the mysterious god vanished. And Morihiro was blessed with peaceful sleep for the first time in years.

When he woke the next morning, the king got right to work. He immediately ordered that the twins’ remains, which had been buried separate from one another in unmarked graves, be retrieved and brought back to the palace. He commanded that their parents, too, to be plucked from poverty and exile and restored to their previous honor and wealth within the court. With the Ito parents in tearful attendance, the king had Haruko and Akihiko relocated to the royal burial grounds for both of them to be reburied with all the rites and rituals befitting deceased queens. The ceremony was open to all courtiers, who were puzzled by this sudden change of heart, but praised the king for his generosity and grace nonetheless. When he addressed the court, King Morihiro expressed sincere regret for how he had treated Ito no Akihiko and Ito no Haruko, and he honored them for their part in opening his eyes to a world beyond the one he knew. 

To complete his tribute to their spirits, the king had a public shrine to the Rabbit God from his dreams built in honor of the twins. He decreed that at this shrine, all those who were like Akihiko and Haruko could pray for guidance and protection from this God, whose loving arms encircled all whose hearts laid outside the rigid limits of societal norms. With the dedication of this shrine, King Morihiro also decreed that all forms of love, so long as it does not bring harm to others, shall be considered lawful throughout his kingdom.

From that day forward King Morihiro, whose dreams were no longer riddled with nightmares, and whose fingertips lost their deadly touch, prayed to the Rabbit God for the safety and peace of Akihiko’s and Haruko’s spirits. The kingdom rejoiced when he finally remarried once more and his queen bore him a pair of twins, one boy and one girl. They were named Akihiko and Haruko, and aside from the King’s heir, there were never such spoiled and loved children in all the kingdom. And so thus became the legacy of the Widowed King, that all Kings and Queens after him accepted and protected those who loved differently.