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Though this novel was actually written in 1896, after Hope's very successful The Prisoner of Zenda (1894), it is still considered a prequel. It
goes back to the 1730s, to the reign of Rudolf III, whose indiscretions with an English lady were responsible for the occasional redhead in the Rassendyll
line. I expected this novel to go back in time and fill in the blanks of the whole naughty story.
It did not. In fact, though Rudolf is a character, who part way through the book becomes
King Rudolf after the passing of his overbearing father, King Henry the Lion, the book is mostly about his beautiful sister Osra and her
unfortunate suitors. It has none of the depth and skillful spinning out of a tale filled with danger
and heroics, as does The Prisoner of Zenda, yet it is charming—almost fairy-tale like, and suitable for
children. And of course, all of Osra's romantic escapades take place at or near the castle at Zenda ,in the fictitious country of Ruritania.
Osra is looking for love, though she may not think she is, But men keep falling for
her, mostly for her beauty, and quite a few lose their life for her unrequited love. Each one loves her in a different way, and a few don't love her at all!
And though she temporarily falls for several of them, none really fulfill what she seeks. And she's not even sure what she seeks! In the end, she wants to
just give up on men, but then she falls in love with a young man who is a student, and she decides to run off with him to live in a little cottage and
keep house. Or does she?
Here is a rundown of the chapters, each a different love affair:
The Happiness of Stephen the Smith
Stephen has inherited his business from Aaron Lazarus, the Jew, who, dying with no kin, left
it to his only friend and apprentice, Stephen, who is now a wealthy man. But he continues the smith business because he likes
it. Now one day he is visited by Prince Henry, Rudolf's brother, who tells him
he will be summoned to the castle because his father, King Henry the Lion has decided Stephen shall marry Countess Hilda von Lauengram. The reason being that
Prince Henry wants to marry her, and his father is against it. Osra had made the suggestion in jest that Hilda should marry the smith, and the King decides
it shall be. But when Stephen arrives at the castle, he confesses he loves another, but the lady he loves doesn't know it yet. He says he will marry the
Countess when the lady he loves turns him down thrice. And the lady is Osra herself! At first she is amused, but then realizes Stephen is quite handsome.
She can only turn him down twice, then needs to think about it. The bishop, who is there to perform the wedding rites is sent home. Does Osra end up falling in
love with the smith? I'll let that be a surprise.
The Wager of the Marquis de Mérosailles
Rudolf really doesn't have many scruples, so, one day as he and the Marquis are
drinking and playing cards, he thinks nothing of placing a bet with the Marquis that he will be unable to turn the head of his aloof sister, Osra. The Marquis
thinks he's quite a lady's man, and is quite confident he can turn the head of anyone he wishes. So he plays a little trick, but it backfires in the most
tragic way.
The Madness of Lord Harry Culverhouse
And his madness is caused by the beauty of Osra, with whom he is madly in love, though
she is not. He barters everything for an expensive gift to present to her, then takes a position as a guard to the castle., in disguise, of course. But she
recognizes him. They ride out one day, and he threatens to kill her because her beauty drives men mad. but he kills himself instead. That's two out of three
dead suitors. . .
The Courtesy of Christian the Highwayman
Osra gets herself into messes. Here, a gentleman, pretending not to know she is the
princess has bet his friend, who is to be married that he can find a woman more beautiful than his bride, and escort her to the wedding. He has bet his horse,
and his horse is very precious to him. So Osra agrees to come to the wedding. She, of course, is more beautiful than the bride, so Christian gets to keep his
horse, but she finds to her dismay that he is a highway robber. She begs him to stop, and offers him a job in the
King's service. He says he likes robbing, but she still gives him the option of calling upon her if he needs help. And he does
The Sin of the Bishop of Modenstein
Rudolf and Count Nikolas don't really like each other, but they pretend to be friends. In
fact, they have been playing at dice, and Rudolf soon finds he is so deeply in debt, the only thing he has left is his castle. He loses all. On the day Nikolas
is to take over his ownership of Zenda, Osra decides to win it back, and she bets herself as the prize. She rolls good dice, but as Nikolas rolls, she looks
in the mirror, and can see behind her that he cheats! She calls him on it, and he violently kidnaps her when she threatens to tell all that Nikolas is a
cheater. Rudolf is no longer in the castle, and no one comes to Osra's rescue, except the young, strong and handsome Bishop. He saves Osra, kills Nikolas, and
then has sinful thoughts!
The Device of Giraldo the Painter
In this one, Rudolf has hired a fine artist from Verona to paint his sister's portrait so it
may be sent out to other royalty in the hopes of finding Osra a husband. Giraldo's paintings are exquisite, and capture the most minute details of Osra's
beauty, yet no young men are requesting company with the princess. It turns out Giraldo is a bit sneaky and quite mad.
The Indifference of the Miller of Hofbau
In this one, it is Osra who decides she can turn the head of a man determined not to care about women. But what he really
wants is a woman around the house that cooks and cleans up. The miller doesn't get out much, so he doesn't know that his "handy wench" is really the princess. He
decides to marry her because she does the chores right. She intends on showing up on the "wedding day" and of course she will tell him then who she is. But
she and Rudolf are delayed and get there late, And they find that the miller has married another instead!
The Love of the Prince of Glottenberg
The Prince has come to Zenda to court Osra, yet she feels nothing for him, not even a
blush. Still he is handsome and a fine gentleman, and she finally agrees to marry him. But several times, he has been unable to keep an engagement with
her, Fortunately, she finally finds out the truth about where he is and who he is with.
The book ends with The Victory of the Grand Duke of Mittenheim.
This is a fun book and not deep at all. As is often the case, Project Gutenberg offers
the option of downloading a version with images or one without. For this particular book, the images are also able to be viewed on the HTML version,
which you can read online on your computer. So I copied them; (there are fifteen). You may view them on
Trilogy main page
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