The Lady and the Lion

In this short scene, the young prince tells his father that he was on his way to visit his mother's highness, but was surprised to find that the tower was empty. He asks his father to explain to him why he ignored his instructions and ordered his men to search the tower for his mother. He explains that his mother died when he was a young child, and that his father has been spoiling his mother excessively. One moment, she is riding a horse, and the next she is escaping with the boy. They have yet to commit a crime, he says, and he fears that they will bring shame to his father. He tells his mother that he broke her out of the tower of his own volition. Her highness is innocent, he explains, and she is afraid of letting her majesty down. He says that his highness should be punished for breaking her out, but his father should be lenient, as he is a foreigner who has just come from a doctor's visit. Everyone else in the palace is avoiding his presence. The prince says that the doctor will visit him later that day, but no one is there to greet him