Princess Jaqueline Drinks the Moon.
{The King and the Prince: p30.jpg}
When dinner was over and the ladies had left the room, the king tried to
speak _seriously_ to Prince Ricardo. This was a thing which he disliked
doing very much.
"There's very little use in preaching," his Majesty used to say, "to a
man, or rather a boy, of another generation. My taste was for books; I
only took to adventures because I was obliged to do it. Dick's taste is
for adventures; I only wish some accident would make him take to books.
But everyone must get his experience for himself; and when he has got it,
he is lucky if it is not too late. I wish I could see him in love with
some nice girl, who would keep him at home."
The king did not expect much from talking seriously to Dick. However, he
began by asking questions about the day's sport, which Ricardo answered
with modesty. Then his Majesty observed that, from all he had ever read
or heard, he believed Ethiopia, where the fight was, to be in Africa, not
in Asia.
"I really wish, Ricardo, that you would attend to your geography a little
more. It is most necessary to a soldier that he should know where his
enemy is, and if he has to fight the Dutch, for instance, not to start
with his army for Central Asia."
"I could always spot them through the magic glass, father," said Dick;
"it saves such a lot of trouble. I hate geography."
"But the glass might be lost or broken, or the Fairies might take it
away, and then where are you?"
"Oh, _you_ would know where to go, or Mr. Belsham."
Now Mr. Belsham was his tutor, from Oxford.
"But I shall not always be here, and when I die--"
"Don't talk of dying, sire," said Dick. "Why, you are not so very old;
you may live for years yet. Besides, I can't stand the notion. You must
live for ever!"
"That sentiment is unusual in a Crown Prince," thought the king; but he
was pleased for all that.
"Well, to oblige you, I'll try to struggle against old age," he said;
"but there are always accidents. Now, Dick, like a good fellow, and to
please me, work hard all to-morrow till the afternoon. I'll come in and
help you. And there's always a splendid evening rise of trout in the
lake just now, so you can have your play after your work. You'll enjoy
it more, and I daresay you are tired after a long day with the big game.
It used to tire me, I remember."
"I _am_ rather tired," said Dick; and indeed he looked a little pale, for
a day in the inside of a gigantic sea-monster is fatiguing, from the heat
and want of fresh air which are usually found in such places. "I think
I'll turn in; goodnight, my dear old governor," he said, in an
affectionate manner, though he was not usually given to many words.
Then he went and kissed his mother and the Princess Jaqueline, whom he
engaged to row him on the lake next evening, while he fished.
"And don't you go muffing them with the landing-net, Jack, as you
generally do," said his Royal Highness, as he lit his bedroom candle.
"I wish he would not call me Jack," said the princess to the queen.
"It's better than Lina, my dear," said her Majesty, who in late life had
become fond of her little joke; "that always sounds as if someone else
was fatter,--and I hope there is not someone else."
The princess was silent, and fixed her eyes on her book.
Presently the king came in, and played a game with Lina at picquet. When
they were all going to bed, he said:
"Just come into the study, Lina. I want you to write a few letters for
me."
The princess followed him and took her seat at the writing table. The
letters were very short. One was to Herr Schnipp, tailor to the king and
royal family; another was to the royal swordmaker, another to the
bootmaker, another to the optician, another to the tradesman who supplied
the august family with carpets and rugs, another to his Majesty's hatter.
They were all summoned to be at the palace early next morning. Then his
Majesty yawned, apologised, and went to bed. The princess also went to
her room, or bower as it was then called, but not to sleep.
She was unhappy that Dick did not satisfy his father, and that he was so
careless, and also about other things.
"And why does the king want all these tailors and hatters so suddenly,
telescope-makers and swordmakers and shoemakers, too?" she asked herself,
as she stood at the window watching the moon.
"I _could_ find out. I could turn myself into a dog or a cat, and go
into the room where he is giving his orders. But that is awkward, for
when the servants see Rip" (that was the dog) "in two places at once,
they begin to think the palace is haunted, and it makes people talk.
Besides, I know it is wrong to listen to what one is not meant to hear.
It is often difficult to be a magician and a good girl. The temptations
are so strong, stronger than most people allow for." So she remained,
with the moon shining on her pretty yellow hair and her white dress,
wondering what the king intended to do, and whether it was something that
Dick would not like.
"How stupid of me," she said at length, "after all the lessons I have
had. Why, I can _drink the moon_!"
Now, this is a way of knowing what anyone else is thinking of and intends
to do, for the moon sees and knows everything. Whether it is _quite
fair_ is another matter; but, at all events, it is not _listening_. And
anyone may see that, if you are a magician, like the Princess Jaqueline,
a great many difficult questions as to what is right and wrong at once
occur which do not trouble other people. King Prigio's secret, why he
sent for the tailor and the other people, was his own secret. The
princess decided that she would not find it out by turning herself into
Rip or the cat (whose name was Semiramis), and, so far, she was quite
right. But she was very young, and it never occurred to her that it was
just as wrong to find out what the king meant by _drinking the moon_ as
by listening in disguise. As she grew older she learned to know better;
but this is just the danger of teaching young girls magic, and for that
very reason it has been given up in most countries.
However, the princess did not think about right and wrong, unluckily. She
went to the bookcase and took down her _Cornelius Agrippa_, in one great
tall black volume, with silver clasps which nobody else could open; for,
as the princess said, there are books which it would never do to leave
lying about where the servants or anybody could read them. Nobody could
undo the clasps, however strong or clever he might be; but the princess
just breathed on them and made a sign, and the book flew open at the
right place--Book IV., chapter vi., about the middle of page 576.
The magic spell was in Latin, of course; but the princess knew Latin very
well, and soon she had the magic song by heart. Then she closed the book
and put it back on the shelf. Then she threw open the window and drew
back the curtains, and put out all the lights except two scented candles
that burned with a white fire under a round mirror with a silver frame,
opposite the window. And into that mirror the moon shone white and full,
filling all the space of it, so that the room was steeped in a strange
silver light. Now the whole room seemed to sway gently, waving and
trembling; and as it trembled it sounded and rang with a low silver
music, as if it were filled with the waves of the sea.
Then the princess took a great silver basin, covered with strange black
signs and figures raised in the silver. She poured water into the basin,
and as she poured it she sang the magic spell from the Latin book. It
was something like this, in English:
"Oh Lady Moon, on the waters riding,
On shining waters, in silver sheen,
Show me the secret the heart is hiding,
Show me the truth of the thought, oh Queen!
"Oh waters white, where the moon is riding,
That knows what shall be and what has been,
Tell me the secret the heart is hiding,
Wash me the truth of it, clear and clean!"
As she sang the water in the silver basin foamed and bubbled, and then
fell still again; and the princess knelt in the middle of the room, and
the moon and the white light from the mirror of the moon fell in the
water.
Then the princess raised the basin, and stooped her mouth to it and drank
the water, spilling a few drops, and so she _drank the moon_ and the
knowledge of the moon. Then the moon was darkened without a cloud, and
there was darkness in the sky for a time, and all the dogs in the world
began to howl. When the moon shone again, the princess rose and put out
the two white lights, and drew the curtains; and presently she went to
bed.
{The Princess drinks the Moon: p41.jpg}
"Now I know all about it," she said. "It is clever; everything the king
does is clever, and he is so kind that I daresay he does not mean any
harm. But it seems a cruel trick to play on poor Ricardo. However,
Jaqueline is on the watch, and I'll show them a girl can do more than
people think,"--as, indeed, she could.
After meditating in this way, the princess fell sleep, and did not waken
till her maid came to call her.
"Oh! your Royal Highness, what's this on the floor?" said the faithful
Rosina, as she was arranging the princess's things for her to get up.
"Why, what is it?" asked the princess.
"Ever so many--four, five, six, seven--little shining drops of silver
lying on the carpet, as if they had melted and fallen there!"
"They have not hurt the carpet?" said the princess. "Oh dear! the queen
won't be pleased at all. It was a little chemical experiment I was
trying last night."
But she knew very well that she must have dropped seven drops of the
enchanted water.
"No, your Royal Highness, the carpet is not harmed," said Rosina; "only
your Royal Highness should do these things in the laboratory. Her
Majesty has often spoke about it."
"You are quite right," said the princess; "but as there is no harm done,
we'll say nothing about it this time. And, Rosina, you may keep the
silver drops for yourself."
"Your Royal Highness is always very kind," said Rosina, which was true;
but how much better and wiser it is not to _begin_ to deceive! We never
know how far we may be carried, and so Jaqueline found out.
For when she went down to breakfast, there was the king in a great state
of excitement, for him.
"It's _most_ extraordinary," said his Majesty.
"What is?" asked the queen.
"Why, didn't you notice it? No, you had gone to bed before it happened.
But I was taking a walk in the moonlight, on the balcony, and I observed
it carefully."
"Observed what, my dear?" asked the queen, who was pouring out the tea.
"Didn't you see it, Dick? Late as usual, you young dog!" the king
remarked as Ricardo entered the room.
"See what, sir?" said Dick.
"Oh, you were asleep hours before, now I think of it! But it was _the_
most extraordinary thing, an unpredicted eclipse of the moon! You must
have noticed it, Jaqueline; you sat up later. How the dogs howled!"
"No; I mean yes," murmured poor Jaqueline, who of course had caused the
whole affair by her magic arts, but who had forgotten, in the excitement
of the moment, that an eclipse of the moon, especially if entirely
unexpected, is likely to attract very general attention. Jaqueline could
not bear to tell a fib, especially to a king who had been so kind to her;
besides, fibbing would not alter the facts.
"Yes, I did see it," she admitted, blushing. "Had it not been
predicted?"
"Not a word about it whispered anywhere," said his Majesty. "I looked up
the almanack at once. It is the most extraordinary thing I ever saw, and
I've seen a good many."
"The astronomers must be duffers," said Prince Ricardo. "I never thought
there was much in physical science of any sort; most dreary stuff. Why,
they say the earth goes round the sun, whereas any fool can see it is
just the other way on."
King Prigio was struck aghast by these sentiments in the mouth of his son
and heir, the hope of Pantouflia. But what was the king to say in reply?
The astronomers of Pantouflia, who conceived that they knew a great deal,
had certainly been taken by surprise this time. Indeed, they have not
yet satisfactorily explained this eclipse of the moon, though they have
written volumes about it.
"Why, it may be the sun next!" exclaimed his Majesty. "Anything may
happen. The very laws of gravitation themselves may go askew!"
At this moment the butler, William, who had been in the queen's family
when she was a girl, entered, and announced:
"Some of the royal tradesmen, by appointment, to see your Majesty."
So the king, who had scarcely eaten any breakfast, much to the annoyance
of the queen, who was not agitated by eclipses, went out and joined the
tailors and the rest of them.