The Red Fairy Book - Andrew Lang (best novels for beginners TXT) 📗

and without

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.

XVI

The 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 MAYBLOSSOM

ONCE 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