The Wooden Gazelle
O ne day, as a young man was passing by the king’s palace, he saw a girl looking down at the people in the street. The girl was beautifully dressed and the young man realized that she was the king’s daughter.
As soon as he saw her, his heart was filled with a great feeling of love for her. Knowing that a poor peasant can never marry the king’s daughter, he went back home in great sadness. He could neither eat nor sleep because his mind was filled with the picture of that girl.

The girl herself, when she had looked down from the walls of the palace, had noticed the young man’s handsome features and had fallen in love with him, but she too knew that it was a hopeless love, since she had already been engaged to the son of the neighboring king.

Some days later the young man fell ill and neither doctors nor medicines were able to cure him. At last his mother asked an old woman, who was famous for her cures of life and people, to pay her son a visit. The old woman sat by his bed and immediately realized what was wrong with the young man. She tried to cheer him up by saying that he should not despair, that everything in life has its solution and that miracles can sometimes happen.

“Maybe,” said the young man sadly, “ miracles do happen. But for the son of a poor peasant to marry a princess, this can happen only in story-books”

The old woman left the room and went to talk to his mother who was crying. “With God’s help, we shall find a cure for your son, but what I’ll do will have to be our secret,” said the old woman. The old woman then pointed to a large wooden box that stood in the corner of the room. “ Perhaps you know a skilful carpenter who could make this box into the form of a beautiful gazelle?”

“ Indeed I do and although it is a difficult task, I’m sure he will do it at a reasonable price for me, “ said the mother. The mother then went off and brought the carpenter who promised to finish the work in two days. “ But do not tell anyone about this,” the mother told him, and he promised not to utter a word about it.

As soon as the gazelle was ready, the mother went to get the old woman. The old woman was pleased to see that the gazelle looked exactly as she wanted and took it to the king’s palace. She told the guards she wanted to see the king himself and asked two guards to carry the wooden gazelle to the king’s throne-room.

“ Your majesty, I’m going on the Pilgrimage to the Holy Cities and I ask you to keep this wooden gazelle in your place till I return.” The king agreed to her request. The old woman then asked if the gazelle could be kept in the king’s daughter’s room so that she might look after it.

The king said that this would greatly please him, especially that recently his daughter had been sick and the gazelle might help her feel better.