You have many friends, but only a few get into the category of being a best friend. Best friends are the ones that already know not to tell your secrets. They are the friends that know everything about you. Would any of these best friends ditch you some where or when you needed the most help? Would they stop being your friend for no reason without an explanation? No, probably not because they are loyal to you and you are loyal to them. Their loyalty to you is what is the most important in a relationship. Loyalty is the most important factor in every relationship and is something to look for in each person you meet. Without loyalty there would be nothing, no best friends, and no couples, no one that you could really trust; without loyalty there would be nothing.
In the story, The Hundredth Dove, a fowler named Hugh is serving under the king. The king is to be married to a woman, who, when described by Hugh, “is as neat as a bird, slim and fair, with black eyes.” The king orders Hugh to capture one hundred doves for their wedding feast, though the woman, whose name is Lady Columbia and means dove, protests, the king ignores her. Hugh touches the spot on his tunic with has an emblem on it which says, “Servo” or “I serve” and leaves the castle to do what his king commands of him. This shows that Hugh is very loyal to his king, which is a good quality for one of the king’s subjects.
Loyalty is an important part in this story and Hugh goes off to catch the one hundred birds. Hugh racks up 99 doves and is still missing one, the slim and fair white dove that has slipped through his grasp each time before. Now he waits and when the dove gets close, Hugh grabs her, hands on wings, fingers around neck. He hears a voice, the voice of the queen. The white dove is in fact the queen the king was to marry. Loyalty sometimes drives us to do desperate things, and we are put in situations like Hugh. Hugh touches the emblem on his tunic and kills the queen with shaking hands.
Hugh put his loyalty first before gold and silver, fame and fortune, all of which the queen dove would have given him. This is an important quality in a person, though Hugh killed the queen, he followed his king’s orders because of his loyalty. It’s like how husbands and wives must be loyal to each other otherwise their entire relationship would fall apart. This is just like with friends, you can’t trust them with your darkest secrets until you know if they are loyal to you.
Even though Hugh killed the queen, when she was in dove form, the king couldn’t punish him because the fowler was only following his orders and being loyal to him. This is like how best friends help you with anything without complaining; even if it’s hard for them to do. In a relationship you have to earn loyalty and trust is the first step. Trust is needed to gain loyalty; once you both trust each other you will find that you are both loyal to each other.
