The Secrets of the Wild Wood, Page 45
Tonke Dragt
“Do not call me that,” the boy said. “Call me Idian, like my… Did you know my father?” he said, changing the subject. He looked at Piak with an expression that said, “Talk to me about him! Please!”
Piak understood now why he was sad, this boy, Prince Iridian’s son. He took his hand and shook it firmly.
“Yes,” he said. “I… Oh, what can I say? I was at the duel, with my friend, Tiuri. And your father won!”
“I know,” said the boy quietly. “I only wish I had been there… Tell me about it!”
“Of course,” said Piak. “I’ll tell you everything I know.”
They both stood in silence for a short time, looking at the ridge of hills that the Wild Wood lay behind.
Now I understand, thought Piak. That’s why Sir Ardian told us to come here; that’s why Menaures said I should come out to call him, this boy. Iridian’s son is alive, he is the prince of the Kingdom of Unauwen! He will live here in the mountains and Menaures will teach him everything he knows. Then he will return to the land of his grandfather, the king, and one day he will rule over the kingdom in the west.
Almost in a whisper, he said, “You are sad, Idian, but I am happy to meet you. There is still a prince in the Kingdom of Unauwen; you are your father’s successor.”
“I am happy to hear you say that,” replied the young Idian. “I mean I’m happy that you are happy.”
They looked at each other and smiled.
King Unauwen is not alone, thought Piak. And besides he has many friends… Ardian, Tirillo, Ristridin, Tiuri…
“Come with me!” he said. “My friend has to meet you, too. His name is Sir Tiuri and I am his squire. Come with me, and then we shall tell you everything…” And we’ll also ask you plenty of questions, he thought to himself.
They walked together to Menaures’s hut.
Tiuri had come outside; he was standing with Ardanwen by the spring and waiting for them.
Here I come, with Prince Idian, thought Piak. Tiuri’s going to be so surprised when he finds out.
But as he came closer, he could tell from Tiuri’s face that his friend had already seen and understood.
About the Author
TONKE DRAGT was born in Jakarta in 1930 and spent most of her childhood in Indonesia. When she was twelve, she was interned in a camp run by the Japanese occupiers, where she wrote (with a friend) her very first book using begged and borrowed paper. Her family moved to the Netherlands after the war and, after studying at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, Dragt became an art teacher. She published her first book in 1961, followed a year later by The Letter for the King, which won the Children’s Book of the Year award and has been translated into sixteen languages. Dragt was awarded the State Prize for Youth Literature in 1976 and was knighted in 2001.
LAURA WATKINSON studied medieval and modern languages at Oxford, and taught English around the world before returning to the UK to take a Master’s in English and Applied Linguistics and a postgraduate certificate in literary translation. She is now a full-time translator from Dutch, Italian and German. She lives in Amsterdam. Her translations of children’s books have won the ALA’s Mildred L. Batchelder Award three times.
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Copyright
Pushkin Children’s Books
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London, WC2H 9JQ
The Secrets of the Wild Wood first published in Dutch as De geheimen van het Wilde Woud
© 1965, De geheimen van het Wilde Woud by Tonke Dragt, Uitgeverij Leopold,
Amsterdam
© illustrations Tonke Dragt
English language translation © 2015 Laura Watkinson
This edition first published by Pushkin Children’s Books in 2015
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the support of the Dutch Foundation for Literature.
ISBN 978 1 782690 62 7
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