Old-Time Stories Part 17

The king and the prince advanced to meet him, and bowed low. 'We have come from far away, Sire,' they said, 'in order to show you a portrait.'

With these words they drew from the pack which they carried the magnificent portrait of Rosette.

'I do not believe,' said the King of the Peac.o.c.ks, when he had looked long and well at it, 'that the world holds so beautiful a maiden.'

'She is a hundred times more beautiful than that,' said the king.

'You are joking,' said the King of the Peac.o.c.ks.

'Sire,' said the prince, 'this is my brother, who is a monarch like yourself: men call him King. For myself, I am known as Prince. This portrait shows our sister, the Princess Rosette. We are here to ask if you are willing to marry her. She has good sense as well as good looks, and we will give her for dowry a bushel of golden crowns.'

'Why, certainly,' said the King of the Peac.o.c.ks, 'I will marry her with all my heart. I promise she shall want for nothing, and I will love her truly. But I would have you know that she must be as beautiful as her picture, and that if she falls short of it by the least little bit, I will put you to death.'

'We accept the conditions,' said Rosette's two brothers.

'You accept?' said the King of the Peac.o.c.ks. 'Then you must bide in prison until the princess has arrived.'

The royal brothers raised no objection to this, for they knew well that Rosette was more beautiful than her portrait. The King of the Peac.o.c.ks saw to it that his captives were well looked after, and went often to visit them. The portrait of Rosette was placed in his palace, and he was so taken up with it that, night or day, he could scarcely sleep.

From prison the king and the prince sent a letter to the princess telling her to pack at once all she might require and come as quickly as possible, for the King of the Peac.o.c.ks awaited her. They did not dare to mention that they were in prison, lest she should be too uneasy.

When the princess received this letter her transports of delight were enough to kill her. She announced to every one that the King of the Peac.o.c.ks had been found, and desired to wed her. Bonfires were lit, guns fired, and sugar and sweetmeats eaten in abundance; while for three days every one who came to see the princess was treated to bread and b.u.t.ter with jam, and cakes and ale.

Having dispensed hospitality in this liberal fas.h.i.+on, the princess gave all her beautiful dolls to her dearest friends, and entrusted her brother's realm to the wisest elders of the city. She bade them take care of everything, spend as little as possible, and save money until the king should return. At the same time she begged them to look after her peac.o.c.k.

Taking with her only her nurse and foster-sister, and her little green dog Frillikin, she embarked on a vessel and put out to sea. They had with them the bushel of golden crowns, and clothes enough to last for ten years, with a change of dress twice a day; and they did nothing but laugh and sing on the voyage.

Presently the nurse said to the boatman:

'Tell me, tell me, are we near the Land of Peac.o.c.ks?'

'Not yet, not yet,' replied the boatman.

A little later she asked again:

'Tell me, tell me, are we near it now?'

'Presently, presently,' replied the boatman.

Once more she asked:

'Tell me, tell me, are we near it now?'

[Ill.u.s.tration: _The wicked nurse_]

'Very near, very near,' said the boatman.

When he answered thus the nurse sat down beside him in the stern of the boat. 'If you like, you can be rich for ever,' she said to him.

'I should like that well,' replied the boatman.

'If you like,' she went on, 'you can gain good money.'

'I ask nothing better,' said he.

'Very well, then,' said the nurse; 'to-night, when the princess is asleep, you must help me to throw her into the sea. When she is drowned I will dress up my daughter in her fine clothes, and we will take her to the King of the Peac.o.c.ks, who will be delighted to marry her. You shall have your fill of diamonds as reward.'

The boatman was taken aback by this suggestion from the nurse. He declared it was a pity to drown so beautiful a princess, and that he had compa.s.sion for her. But the nurse fetched a bottle of wine, and plied him with drink until he no longer had wits enough left to refuse.

When night fell the princess went to sleep, according to her usual practice, with little Frillikin comfortably curled up at the foot of the bed, stirring not a paw. When Rosette was fast asleep the wicked nurse, who had remained awake, went to find the boatman. She took him to the cabin where the princess lay, and with the help of the foster-sister they lifted her up--feather-bed, mattress, sheets, blankets, and all--without disturbing her, and threw her into the sea just as she was.

So soundly did the princess slumber that she never woke up.

Now luckily her bed was made of feathers from the phoenix, which are very rare and have this peculiar virtue that they never sink in water.

Consequently the princess went floating along in her bed, just as though she were in a boat.

Presently, however, the water began little by little to lap first against the sides of the feather-bed, then against the mattress, until Rosette began to feel uncomfortable. She turned over restlessly, and Frillikin woke up. He had a very keen nose, and when he scented the soles and the cod-fish so near at hand he began yapping. He barked so loudly that he woke up all the other fish, and they began to swim round and about. Some of the big fish b.u.mped their heads against the bed, and there being nothing to steady the latter it spun round and round like a top.

You may imagine how astonished the princess was! 'Is our vessel doing a dance upon the water?' she exclaimed; 'I do not remember ever to have been so uncomfortable as I am to-night.' And all the time Frillikin was barking as though he had taken leave of his senses.

The wicked nurse and the boatman heard him from afar. 'Do you hear that?' they exclaimed; 'it is that funny little dog drinking our very good health with his mistress! Let us make haste and get ash.o.r.e.' By this time, you must understand, they were lying off the capital of the King of the Peac.o.c.ks.

A hundred carriages had been sent to the water's edge by the king. These were drawn by animals of every kind--lions, bears, stags, wolves, horses, oxen, a.s.ses, eagles, and peac.o.c.ks. The carriage in which Princess Rosette was to be borne was drawn by six blue monkeys which could leap and dance upon the tight-rope and perform endless amusing antics; these had trappings of crimson velvet, studded with gold plates.

Sixty young girls awaited the coming of the princess. They had been selected by the king to be her maids of honour, and their attire, of every colour of the rainbow, shone with ornaments of which gold and silver were the least precious.

The nurse had taken great pains over the toilette of her daughter. She had decked her out in Rosette's most beautiful gown, and placed her diamonds on her head. But nothing could disguise the fact that she was an ugly little fright. Her hair was black and greasy, she was cross-eyed and bow-legged, and in the middle of her back she had a big hump.

Moreover she was ill-tempered and sulky, and was for ever grumbling.

[Ill.u.s.tration: '_She was an ugly little fright_']

When the people of Peac.o.c.k Land saw her disembark they were so completely taken aback that none could say a word.

'What's the matter with you all?' she demanded; 'have you all gone to sleep? Bring me something to eat at once, do you hear? I'll have the lot of you hanged, precious riff-raff that you are!'

'What a horrible creature!' murmured the citizens amongst themselves, when they heard these threats; 'as ill-tempered as she is ugly! A nice bride for our king, or I am much mistaken! It was hardly worth the trouble to bring her all the way across the world.' The girl meantime continued to behave in most domineering fas.h.i.+on, giving slaps and blows to every one without the slightest provocation.

The procession, being very large, was obliged to move slowly, and as the carriage bore her along she comported herself as though she were a queen. But all the peac.o.c.ks, who had perched upon the trees to greet her as she pa.s.sed, and had arranged to call out 'Long live the beautiful Queen Rosette!' cried out when they saw how horrible she was: 'Fie! fie!

how ugly she is!' This enraged her, and she called out to her escort: 'Kill those impudent peac.o.c.ks: they are insulting me!' But the peac.o.c.ks flew nimbly away, and laughed at her.

The rascally boatman was witness of all that occurred, and whispered to the nurse: 'Things are not going well for us, my good woman: your daughter should have been prettier.'

'Hold your tongue, stupid!' she replied; 'or you will get us into trouble.'

Word was brought to the king that the princess was approaching. 'Well,'

said he; 'did her brothers speak the truth? Is she more beautiful than her portrait?'

'Sire,' said the courtiers, 'if she is only as beautiful, that should be enough.'

'Very true!' exclaimed the king. 'I shall be content with that. Let us go and see her.'