A king with horns (Translated Amazigh tale)

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Once upon the time lived a beautiful girl with her brother. They were poor orphans and only had a herd of goats and a modest house in an isolated tribe which they inherited from their dead parents. The girl used to take care of the house while her brother was grazing in the forest.


Tuda was breathtakingly beautiful and one day as she was bathing by the river, someone kidnapped her and sold her to the king.  The latter got spellbound by her beauty and fell in Love with her. He spoiled her and she became his queen. Nevertheless, Tuda could never forget about her brother and neither did he.  He went on a quest to find her, and from tribe the other,  he played his flute knowing that his sister would recognize his special melodies and so happened. Tuda, the queen, heard that familiar sound outside of her castle and knew it was her brother. She welcomed  and celebrated him, and she also suggested that he stay with her. Yet, he rejected it as he is not used to this lifestyle and he knew he would never adapt. The king had a brilliant idea and that is to stay in the castle and to graze the herd and the brother was convinced.


The king had a secret that he struggled to hide throughout his life. He had horns, and he used to execute all his barbers, except one who kept his secret. Unfortunately, the barber happened to be sick when the king urgently needed to shave. Thus, the king asked his brother-in-law to help him shave and when the latter discovered those horns, the king urged him and threatened him to keep this information a secret. 


The poor grazer was so anxious and at the sametime scared and worried about his sister.  He could not believe that the king who was ruling the land had horns. How come a king has horns? Does he have them because he is a king or is he a king because he has horns? lots of questions were going through his mind and the answers were so difficult to obtain. As humans usually do, the grazer decided to translate his agony and tribulation into art. 



                               " Llud, llud ,  His majesty has horns "


These were the verses he repeated over and over as he blew into his flute. 

Eventually, someone heard him by accident and everyone in the kingdom  knew about  the king's  horns. The king then had to execute the grazer to warn people from talking or discussing or criticising his horns. The poor grazer did not even have a decent funeral as the king ordered to throw him in well in the forest. As soon as he was dead, the flute would not stop making the same melodies, and trees, mountains, stones, animals… sang along about the king’s horns. 


                  " Llud Llud.. The king has horns "


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