The Red Fairy Book Part 17

The Queen said that she had been sitting too near the fire, and had burnt all the flax that was upon her distaff.

'Oh! is that all?' said the King, and he went up into the garret and brought her down more flax than she could spin in a hundred years. But the Queen still looked sad, and the King asked her again what was the matter. She answered that she had been walking by the river and had dropped one of her green satin slippers into the water.

'Oh! if that's all,' said the King, and he sent to all the shoe-makers in his kingdom, and they very soon made the Queen ten thousand green satin slippers, but still she looked sad. So the King asked her again what was the matter, and this time she answered that in eating her porridge too hastily she had swallowed her wedding-ring. But it so happened that the King knew better, for he had the ring himself, and he said:

'Oh I you are not telling me the truth, for I have your ring here in my purse.'

Then the Queen was very much ashamed, and she saw that the King was vexed with her; so she told him all that the fairies had predicted about Rosette, and begged him to think how the misfortunes might be prevented.

Then it was the King's turn to look sad, and at last he said:

'I see no way of saving our sons except by having Rosette's head cut off while she is still little.'

But the Queen cried that she would far rather have her own head cut off, and that he had better think of something else, for she would never consent to such a thing. So they thought and thought, but they could not tell what to do, until at last the Queen heard that in a great forest near the castle there was an old hermit, who lived in a hollow tree, and that people came from far and near to consult him; so she said:

'I had better go and ask his advice; perhaps he will know what to do to prevent the misfortunes which the fairies foretold.'

She set out very early the next morning, mounted upon a pretty little white mule, which was shod with solid gold, and two of her ladies rode behind her on beautiful horses. When they reached the forest they dismounted, for the trees grew so thickly that the horses could not pa.s.s, and made their way on foot to the hollow tree where the hermit lived. At first when he saw them coming he was vexed, for he was not fond of ladies; but when he recognised the Queen, he said:

'You are welcome, Queen. What do you come to ask of me?'

Then the Queen told him all the fairies had foreseen for Rosette, and asked what she should do, and the hermit answered that she must shut the Princess up in a tower and never let her come out of it again. The Queen thanked and rewarded him, and hastened back to the castle to tell the King. When he heard the news he had a great tower built as quickly as possible, and there the Princess was shut up, and the King and Queen and her two brothers went to see her every day that she might not be dull.

The eldest brother was called 'the Great Prince,' and the second 'the Little Prince.' They loved their sister dearly, for she was the sweetest, prettiest princess who was ever seen, and the least little smile from her was worth more than a hundred pieces of gold. When Rosette was fifteen years old the Great Prince went to the King and asked if it would not soon be time for her to be married, and the Little Prince put the same question to the Queen.

Their majesties were amused at them for thinking of it, but did not make any reply, and soon after both the King and the Queen were taken ill, and died on the same day. Everybody was sorry, Rosette especially, and all the bells in the kingdom were tolled.

Then all the dukes and counsellors put the Great Prince upon a golden throne, and crowned him with a diamond crown, and they all cried, 'Long live the King!' And after that there was nothing but feasting and rejoicing.

The new King and his brother said to one another:

'Now that we are the masters, let us take our sister out of that dull tower which she is so tired of.'

They had only to go across the garden to reach the tower, which was very high, and stood up in a corner. Rosette was busy at her embroidery, but when she saw her brothers she got up, and taking the King's hand cried:

'Good morning, dear brother. Now that you are King, please take me out of this dull tower, for I am so tired of it.'

Then she began to cry, but the King kissed her and told her to dry her tears, as that was just what they had come for, to take her out of the tower and bring her to their beautiful castle, and the Prince showed her the pocketful of sugar plums he had brought for her, and said:

'Make haste, and let us get away from this ugly tower, and very soon the King will arrange a grand marriage for you.'

When Rosette saw the beautiful garden, full of fruit and flowers, with green gra.s.s and sparkling fountains, she was so astonished that not a word could she say, for she had never in her life seen anything like it before. She looked about her, and ran hither and thither gathering fruit and flowers, and her little dog Frisk, who was bright green all over, and had but one ear, danced before her, crying 'Bow-wow-wow,' and turning head over heels in the most enchanting way.

Everybody was amused at Frisk's antics, but all of a sudden he ran away into a little wood, and the Princess was following him, when, to her great delight, she saw a peac.o.c.k, who was spreading his tail in the suns.h.i.+ne. Rosette thought she had never seen anything so pretty. She could not take her eyes off him, and there she stood entranced until the King and the Prince came up and asked what was amusing her so much. She showed them the peac.o.c.k, and asked what it was, and they answered that it was a bird which people sometimes ate.

'What!' said the Princess, 'do they dare to kill that beautiful creature and eat it? I declare that I will never marry any one but the King of the Peac.o.c.ks, and when I am Queen I will take very good care that n.o.body eats any of my subjects.'

At this the King was very much astonished.

'But, little sister,' said he, 'where shall we find the King of the Peac.o.c.ks?'

'Oh! wherever you like, sire,' she answered, 'but I will never marry any one else.'

After this they took Rosette to the beautiful castle, and the peac.o.c.k was brought with her, and told to walk about on the terrace outside her windows, so that she might always see him, and then the ladies of the court came to see the Princess, and they brought her beautiful presents--dresses and ribbons and sweetmeats, diamonds and pearls and dolls and embroidered slippers, and she was so well brought up, and said, 'Thank you!' so prettily, and was so gracious, that everyone went away delighted with her.

Meanwhile the King and the Prince were considering how they should find the King of the Peac.o.c.ks, if there was such a person in the world. And first of all they had a portrait made of the Princess, which was so like her that you really would not have been surprised if it had spoken to you. Then they said to her:

'Since you will not marry anyone but the King of the Peac.o.c.ks, we are going out together into the wide world to search for him. If we find him for you we shall be very glad. In the meantime, mind you take good care of our kingdom.'

Rosette thanked them for all the trouble they were taking on her account, and promised to take great care of the kingdom, and only to amuse herself by looking at the peac.o.c.k, and making Frisk dance while they were away.

So they set out, and asked everyone they met--

'Do you know the King of the Peac.o.c.ks?'

But the answer was always, 'No, no.'

Then they went on and on, so far that no one has ever been farther, and at last they came to the Kingdom of the c.o.c.kchafers.

They had never before seen such a number of c.o.c.kchafers, and the buzzing was so loud that the King was afraid he should be deafened by it. He asked the most distinguished-looking c.o.c.kchafer they met if he knew where they could find the King of the Peac.o.c.ks.

'Sire,' replied the c.o.c.kchafer, 'his kingdom is thirty thousand leagues from this; you have come the longest way.'

'And how do you know that?' said the King.

'Oh!' said the c.o.c.kchafer, 'we all know you very well, since we spend two or three months in your garden every year.'

Thereupon the King and the Prince made great friends with him, and they all walked arm-in-arm and dined together, and afterwards the c.o.c.kchafer showed them all the curiosities of his strange country, where the tiniest green leaf costs a gold piece and more. Then they set out again to finish their journey, and this time, as they knew the way, they were not long upon the road. It was easy to guess that they had come to the right place, for they saw peac.o.c.ks in every tree, and their cries could be heard a long way off:

When they reached the city they found it full of men and women who were dressed entirely in peac.o.c.ks' feathers, which were evidently thought prettier than anything else.

They soon met the King, who was driving about in a beautiful little golden carriage which glittered with diamonds, and was drawn at full speed by twelve peac.o.c.ks. The King and the Prince were delighted to see that the King of the Peac.o.c.ks was as handsome as possible. He had curly golden hair and was very pale, and he wore a crown of peac.o.c.ks'

feathers.

When he saw Rosette's brothers he knew at once that they were strangers, and stopping his carriage he sent for them to speak to him. When they had greeted him they said:

'Sire, we have come from very far away to show you a beautiful portrait.'

So saying they drew from their travelling bag the picture of Rosette.

The King looked at it in silence a long time, but at last he said:

'I could not have believed that there was such a beautiful Princess in the world!'

'Indeed, she is really a hundred times as pretty as that,' said her brothers.

'I think you must be making fun of me,' replied the King of the Peac.o.c.ks.

'Sire,' said the Prince, 'my brother is a King, like yourself. He is called "the King," I am called "the Prince," and that is the portrait of our sister, the Princess Rosette. We have come to ask if you would like to marry her. She is as good as she is beautiful, and we will give her a bushel of gold pieces for her dowry.'