History Revealed

Adolphus looked down with a start. He was still holding his knife – not to challenge Rhodri with it, goodness no, but he had forgotten about it, and now the vegetable boy was staring at the shining blade protruding from his closed fist. He jumped down from the bench, turning his back to Rhodri, swiftly closing the knife and dropping it into his pocket.

“It’s just a bit of stone I like,” he said. “That white stone. Bettina, what’s that white stone?”

“Shiny?” She splashed the column again with gouts of water.

“Yes, oh – quartz. Just a bit of quartz. That’s all.” Rhodri was staring at him. He studied the fountain intently, edging around until it shielded him from the other boy’s gaze.

“What are you doing over there?”

“There’s mud packed onto the carvings on this side. We’re taking it off.”

“Why?”

Bettina splashed Rhodri.

“To find out what’s under it, of course,” Adolphus said. “Reveal the hidden, illuminate the dark, examine the possibilities-” He stopped. He’d heard his father say that many times. He stopped picking at the packed dirt and scanned the sky, but Father was not there.

“What does it matter?” Rhodri said. “It’s only a kitchen fountain. It’s not even in the Palace proper. I’ve heard Her Majesty’s personal bathing fountain is carved as a rocky cliff, with night-scented flowers growing over it, and the fountain pours down off the top like a waterfall!”

“Eglantine,” said Bettina.

She pointed at a carving. The bas-relief figure wore a crown. She was sowing seed from both hands, hailed by a cheering multitude. She looked exactly like Lady Aubergine. The figure above her did too, shown diverting one stream into many so that her people might drink.  Midway up the pillar a sterner Eglantine lookalike pierced the heart of a ferocious beast with a spear. At the very top, an Eglantine ancestor toppled a forest to let the violet sun bathe the fields.

“The history of the Aubergine queens,” breathed Adolphus. “No wonder it was covered.”

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Photo credit G.dallorto/Fontana maggiore di Perugia