The Red Fairy Book by Andrew Lang (e novels for free .txt) 📖
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hesitation lifted the cup.
`Don’t drink!’ suddenly cried out the little Princess; `I would
rather marry a gardener.’
And she burst into tears.
Michael flung the contents of the cup behind him, sprang over
the table, and fell at Lina’s feet. The rest of the princes fell
likewise at the knees of the princesses, each of whom chose a husband
and raised him to her side. The charm was broken.
The twelve couples embarked in the boats, which crossed back
many times in order to carry over the other princes. Then they all
went through the three woods, and when they had passed the door
of the underground passage a great noise was heard, as if the
enchanted castle was crumbling to the earth.
They went straight to the room of the Duke of Beloeil, who had
just awoke. Michael held in his hand the golden cup, and he
revealed the secret of the holes in the shoes.
`Choose, then,’ said the Duke, `whichever you prefer.’
`My choice is already made,’ replied the garden boy, and he
offered his hand to the youngest Princess, who blushed and
lowered her eyes.
XVIThe Princess Lina did not become a gardener’s wife; on the
contrary, it was the Star Gazer who became a Prince: but before
the marriage ceremony the Princess insisted that her lover should
tell her how he came to discover the secret.
So he showed her the two laurels which had helped him, and
she, like a prudent girl, thinking they gave him too much advantage
over his wife, cut them off at the root and threw them in the fire.
And this is why the country girls go about singing:
Nous n’irons plus au bois,
Les lauriers sont coupes,’
and dancing in summer by the light of the moon.
THE PRINCESS MAYBLOSSOMONCE upon a time there lived a King and Queen whose children
had all died, first one and then another, until at last only one
little daughter remained, and the Queen was at her wits’ end to
know where to find a really good nurse who would take care of her,
and bring her up. A herald was sent who blew a trumpet at every
street corner, and commanded all the best nurses to appear before
the Queen, that she might choose one for the little Princess. So on
the appointed day the whole palace was crowded with nurses, who
came from the four corners of the world to offer themselves, until the
Queen declared that if she was ever to see the half of them, they
must be brought out to her, one by one, as she sat in a shady wood
near the palace.
This was accordingly done, and the nurses, after they had made
their curtsey to the King and Queen, ranged themselves in a line
before her that she might choose. Most of them were fair and fat
and charming, but there was one who was dark-skinned and ugly,
and spoke a strange language which nobody could understand. The
Queen wondered how she dared offer herself, and she was told to
go away, as she certainly would not do. Upon which she muttered
something and passed on, but hid herself in a hollow tree, from
which she could see all that happened. The Queen, without giving
her another thought, chose a pretty rosy-faced nurse, but no sooner
was her choice made than a snake, which was hidden in the grass,
bit that very nurse on her foot, so that she fell down as if dead.
The Queen was very much vexed by this accident, but she soon
selected another, who was just stepping forward when an eagle flew
by and dropped a large tortoise upon her head, which was cracked
in pieces like an egg-shell. At this the Queen was much horrified;
nevertheless, she chose a third time, but with no better fortune, for
the nurse, moving quickly, ran into the branch of a tree and blinded
herself with a thorn. Then the Queen in dismay cried that there
must be some malignant influence at work, and that she would
choose no more that day; and she had just risen to return to the
palace when she heard peals of malicious laughter behind her, and
turning round saw the ugly stranger whom she had dismissed, who
was making very merry over the disasters and mocking everyone,
but especially the Queen. This annoyed Her Majesty very much,
and she was about to order that she should be arrested, when the
witch—for she was a witch—with two blows from a wand summoned
a chariot of fire drawn by winged dragons, and was whirled off
through the air uttering threats and cries. When the King saw this
he cried:
`Alas! now we are ruined indeed, for that was no other than
the Fairy Carabosse, who has had a grudge against me ever since
I was a boy and put sulphur into her porridge one day for fun.’
Then the Queen began to cry.
`If I had only known who it was,’ she said, `I would have done
my best to make friends with her; now I suppose all is lost.’
The King was sorry to have frightened her so much, and
proposed that they should go and hold a council as to what was best to
be done to avert the misfortunes which Carabosse certainly meant
to bring upon the little Princess.
So all the counsellors were summoned to the palace, and when
they had shut every door and window, and stuffed up every keyhole
that they might not be overheard, they talked the affair over, and
decided that every fairy for a thousand leagues round should be
invited to the christening of the Princess, and that the time of the
ceremony should be kept a profound secret, in case the Fairy
Carabosse should take it into her head to attend it.
The Queen and her ladies set to work to prepare presents for
the fairies who were invited: for each one a blue velvet cloak, a
petticoat of apricot satin, a pair of high-heeled shoes, some sharp
needles, and a pair of golden scissors. Of all the fairies the Queen
knew, only five were able to come on the day appointed, but they
began immediately to bestow gifts upon the Princess. One promised
that she should be perfectly beautiful, the second that she should
understand anything—no matter what—the first time it was
explained to her, the third that she should sing like a nightingale, the
fourth that she should succeed in everything she undertook, and
the fifth was opening her mouth to speak when a tremendous
rumbling was heard in the chimney, and Carabosse, all covered
with soot, came rolling down, crying:
`I say that she shall be the unluckiest of the unlucky until she
is twenty years old.’
Then the Queen and all the fairies began to beg and beseech
her to think better of it, and not be so unkind to the poor little
Princess, who had never done her any harm. But the ugly old
Fairy only grunted and made no answer. So the last Fairy, who
had not yet given her gift, tried to mend matters by promising the
Princess a long and happy life after the fatal time was over. At
this Carabosse laughed maliciously, and climbed away up the
chimney, leaving them all in great consternation, and especially the
Queen. However, she entertained the fairies splendidly, and gave
them beautiful ribbons, of which they are very fond, in addition to
the other presents.
When they were going away the oldest Fairy said that they
were of opinion that it would be best to shut the Princess up in some
place, with her waiting-women, so that she might not see anyone
else until she was twenty years old. So the King had a tower built
on purpose. It had no windows, so it was lighted with wax candles,
and the only way into it was by an underground passage, which
had iron doors only twenty feet apart, and guards were posted
everywhere.
The Princess had been named Mayblossom, because she was as
fresh and blooming as Spring itself, and she grew up tall and
beautiful, and everything she did and said was charming. Every time the
King and Queen came to see her they were more delighted with her
than before, but though she was weary of the tower, and often
begged them to take her away from it, they always refused. The
Princess’s nurse, who had never left her, sometimes told her about
the world outside the tower, and though the Princess had never
seen anything for herself, yet she always understood exactly, thanks
to the second Fairy’s gift. Often the King said to the Queen:
`We were cleverer than Carabosse after all. Our Mayblossom
will be happy in spite of her predictions.’
And the Queen laughed until she was tired at the idea of having
outwitted the old Fairy. They had caused the Princess’s portrait to
be painted and sent to all the neighbouring Courts, for in four days she
would have completed her twentieth year, and it was time to decide
whom she should marry. All the town was rejoicing at the thought
of the Princess’s approaching freedom, and when the news came
that King Merlin was sending his ambassador to ask her in marriage
for his son, they were still more delighted. The nurse, who kept
the Princess informed of everything that went forward in the town,
did not fail to repeat the news that so nearly concerned her, and
gave such a description of the splendour in which the ambassador
Fanfaronade would enter the town, that the Princess was wild to
see the procession for herself.
`What an unhappy creature I am,’ she cried, `to be shut up in
this dismal tower as if I had committed some crime! I have never
seen the sun, or the stars, or a horse, or a monkey, or a lion, except
in pictures, and though the King and Queen tell me I am to be set
free when I am twenty, I believe they only say it to keep me amused,
when they never mean to let me out at all.’
And then she began to cry, and her nurse, and the nurse’s
daughter, and the cradle-rocker, and the nursery-maid, who all loved
her dearly, cried too for company, so that nothing could be heard
but sobs and sighs. It was a scene of woe. When the Princess saw
that they all pitied her she made up her mind to have her own way.
So she declared that she would starve herself to death if they did
not find some means of letting her see Fanfaronade’s grand entry
into the town.
`If you really love me,’ she said, `you will manage it, somehow
or other, and the King and Queen need never know anything
about it.’
Then the nurse and all the others cried harder than ever, and
said everything they could think of to turn the Princess from her
idea. But the more they said the more determined she was, and at
last they consented to make a tiny hole in the tower on the side
that looked towards the city gates.
After scratching and scraping all day and all night, they presently
made a hole through which they could, with great difficulty, push a
very slender needle, and out of this the Princess looked at the daylight
for the first time. She was so dazzled and delighted by what
she saw, that there she stayed, never taking her eyes away from the
peep-hole for a single minute, until presently the ambassador’s
procession appeared in sight.
At the head of it rode Fanfaronade
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