The
Baby Boy of Ranbaraz
Down in Middle Earth, there was a
kingdom called Ranbaraz. This kingdom was ruled by an evil, wicked queen called
Queen Morticia, a really evil woman; she killed innocent people without mercy,
taxed people heavily, took away nearly all the crops like wheat and vegetables
that the people had grown and she loved to make everyone’s lives a misery. She
was also an evil witch; she studied dark magic when she was still a princess,
and once she became queen she was free to reign over the people with her dark
magic. She was also free to scare anyone and anything that lived in middle
earth with her dark magic. The people of Ranbaraz lived in fear of Queen
Morticia for thirty years and they all hated her. But no one, not even other
magical beings, could do anything about it because her power was too powerful
for anyone to stop her evil ways. Many had tried to stop her in the past, but
they all failed and died.
The previous king and queen of
Ranbaraz, who were Queen Morticia’s parents, were said to have no magical
abilities at all so how Morticia obtained dark magical abilities was a real
mystery. Some say that she stole someone’s magical ability in the past and
others say that she traded her soul to process dark magic abilities. But no one
knew the real truth; even Queen Morticia’s own servants didn’t know how she
became an evil witch.
There was only one hope for Ranbaraz;
there was a prophecy that a man born from a woman’s womb would have the power
to destroy Queen Morticia and take her place as the new king of Ranbaraz.
Unfortunately Queen Morticia had heard of this prophecy too and she had every
pregnant woman in her kingdom arrested and placed in the dungeons. Every single
pregnant woman hoped and prayed that they wouldn’t give birth to the child of
the prophecy. So far no baby boy, who fitted the prophecy, had yet been born.
It was said the baby boy of the prophecy would bear a birthmark, in the shape
of a crown, on his right shoulder. All of the current new born baby boys had no
birth mark on their right shoulder, so they and their mothers were sent home
free including the mothers with new born baby girls. This was a relief to the
mothers because Queen Morticia planned to kill the baby boy once it was born.
One day though a woman named Mary
gave birth to a baby boy and he had a dark brown royal birthmark on his right
shoulder. The guard of the dungeons left to tell Queen Morticia that the child
of the prophecy was born. Mary was horrified; she didn’t want her son and only
child to be killed. She begged the midwife Agnes to help her and Agnes agreed. Agnes
couldn’t really believe that a baby would have the power to take down Queen
Morticia, but she couldn’t just allow her to kill him. She wrapped the baby boy
in a blanket and placed him in a basket. Mary handed a piece of paper to Agnes
and asked her to place it with her son. “Dear God please protect my baby” she
said, tearfully. Agnes got out of the dungeon with the basket as quick as she
could.
At that moment Queen Morticia and the
guard turned up, but Agnes and the baby were gone. “You will not kill my son!”
shouted Mary “my son will kill you!” Mary hated Queen Morticia just like everyone
one else in Ranbaraz. Queen Morticia realised that Agnes had escaped with the
baby and was furious. She ordered the guards to go and arrest Mary’s husband,
Adam; she planned to have both Mary and her husband killed. So the baby boy was
left an orphan.
Meanwhile Agnes had escaped from the kingdom
with the baby boy and she cared for the boy like he was her own child. In the
past she had been a mother herself but her daughter died at an early age and
Agnes had no other family. For the next few weeks Agnes and the baby were safe
from harm, but one day they were in trouble. Queen Morticia had sent out her
guards to look for Agnes and the baby. Agnes knew that she couldn’t hide with
the baby for long, especially with the guards on her trail, so she had to
quickly do something to save the baby. Thankfully she had an idea of what to do;
she had come to a river and found a makeshift
raft of grass. She placed the basket, containing the baby and the piece of
paper that Mary had given to her, onto the raft of grass and sent it down the
river. Agnes prayed with all her heart that the river would flow gently and
keep the baby safe.
At that
time the guards turned up. “Where is the baby?” demanded the captain of the
guards. “Somewhere where you will never find him!” replied Agnes. She had no
intention of telling the guards where the baby was. The captain was not happy
with that answer and killed Agnes on the spot with his sword. “What do we do
now sir?” asked another guard. The captain looked around the area. “That baby
wouldn’t have escaped by itself,” he said “search for it now. Queen Morticia is
expecting us to find it”. “What about the woman?” asked another guard, who was
looking at Agnes’ dead body. “Leave it, it’s no importance to us,” said the
captain “what’s important is finding that brat”.
Meanwhile the raft with the baby was
still floating down the river. The river was flowing gently, so the baby wasn’t
being tossed and turned around. The raft soon stopped at a bank of the river.
All the baby could do was just lie there and watch its surroundings
