There was, once upon a time, a King and Queen who died young, and left
a very fine empire to the Princess, their only daughter, who was then
but thirteen years of age. She imagined that she knew how to reign, and
all her good subjects persuaded themselves into the same idea, without
well knowing why: however, it is a profession which is not without its
difficulties.
The King and Queen had at least the consolation, when dying, of leaving
the Princess, their daughter, under the protection of a friendly fairy.
She was called Mirdandenne, and was a very good woman, but she added to
the defect of allowing herself to be prejudiced that of obstinacy in
continuing so. As for the little Princess, she was so very diminutive,
that they called her Minute.
Thus was this fine kingdom governed by prejudice and frivolity; for
the Princess had never been corrected in the taste which she showed
for trifles; and it was for her that all those little knickknacks were
invented, with which we have since been overwhelmed.
This Princess exhibited the grandeur of her ideas by an act which I
will select from a thousand such. She would not retain as General of
her forces, nay, even exiled from her Court, a veteran distinguished
for the services which he had rendered the State. And why? Because he
had appeared in her presence with a hat bound with silver when his coat
was laced with gold. She thought that a man who could be guilty of such
negligence at Court would be also, for the same reason, very capable
of allowing himself to be surprised by the enemy. The discernment which
she flattered herself as having shown in this instance, and the sound
judgment which the Fairy distinguished in her most frivolous ideas,
prove the existence of a delusion which would have been enough to turn
a stronger head.
There was near this great country a little kingdom, so very small that
I hardly know what to compare it to. A Queen Mother had for a long
time reigned over it, in the name of Prince Floridor; but this good
Queen died. Floridor, who was the most affectionate son possible, felt
this loss acutely, and always retained a feeling of gratitude for the
obligations he was under to her. One of the greatest was a perfect
education--the most perfect, the most rigid, as far as concerned the
body, which had rendered him as robust as active; and the mildest with
regard to his mind, to which she had given both accomplishments and
solidity. This young Prince was handsome and well formed. He governed
wisely, without abusing his despotic power. His desires were well
regulated--in a word, he would have been an amiable person in private
life. His subjects adored him, and the strangers who visited at the
Court agreed that he would have conferred happiness on the greatest
empire. But one thing they were not aware of was, that he owed to a
charming Ant a great number of his advantages. She had been attached to
him from his infancy.
At the death of the Queen the good Ant was his sole consolation. He
took no single step without going previously to consult this Ant, in
a wood in the palace gardens, which she had chosen as her residence.
He often abandoned the Court and its pleasures to go and converse with
her. No weather prevented his presenting himself to her, and however
severe might be the winter, she always came out of her anthill, which
was the best regulated for an hundred miles round, and gave him advice
full of prudence and wisdom.
You may easily have guessed that the pretty Ant of whom we speak was
a fairy. Her history, which dates back seven thousand years, will be
found brought down to the twenty-two thousandth year of the world at
the four hundred and sixtieth page of the volume for that year. It
would therefore have been easy for this Ant to give the King, whom she
loved so well, several kingdoms--for Fairies dispose of them at their
own pleasure,--but the Ant was prudent, and prudence is always guided
by justice. It was not that she did not heartily desire the advancement
of Floridor, but she wished him to employ no means to obtain it but
those that might increase the true glory with the love of which she had
inspired his heart.
The Ant was naturally patient: she waited for an opportunity to bring
to light the virtues of her pupil. The conduct of Minute, and the
prejudice of Mirdandenne, soon furnished her with one. They were
informed that the flame of revolt was kindled in the mighty kingdom of
Minute. When this news had been confirmed by all the newspapers, the
good fairy Ant desired King Floridor to set out, attended by a simple
groom, to assist the Queen, his neighbour. She gave him, at parting,
nothing but a common sparrow, a little knife, which is usually called
a _jambette_,[25] and a walnut-shell. "My gifts," said she, "appear
mean; but make yourself easy respecting them. They will be of service
in your need, and I hope you will be satisfied with them." He readily
assured her of that confidence which her former favours had rendered it
but just that he should place in her, and having bidden her tenderly
farewell, he set out on his journey; every inhabitant of his little
kingdom regretting his departure as much as if he had been a brother, a
son, or a bosom friend.
He arrived in the capital of Queen Minute's dominions; he found it in
a state of commotion, as they had heard that a neighbouring king was
advancing rapidly, followed by a terrible army. He was coming with
the design of seizing the kingdom. Floridor learnt that the Queen had
retired to a delightful residence she possessed near the capital, and
in which she had collected all sorts of brilliant gewgaws. She had,
however, a motive for this retirement: she wished to consider seriously
and decide, without being interrupted, whether the troops which the
Fairy had ordered to be levied to oppose the usurper should wear blue
or white cockades. The Queen was, notwithstanding, at this time twenty
years of age. King Floridor having ascertained the road which led to
this country-house, proceeded there with all speed. His handsome face
prejudiced Mirdandenne in his favour. The compliments which he paid
to the Queen and her only increased the good opinion which his first
appearance had inspired her with, and the offer of his services was all
the better received as the state was in a very embarrassed situation.
Minute appeared to Floridor to be charming.
From that moment the King fell desperately in love. The zeal and
alacrity always inseparable from that passion were displayed in his
words and actions, and shone in his eyes; and it was with extreme
care he investigated the existing position of affairs. He wished to
have recourse to the powers of Fairyland; but the blind prejudice of
Mirdandenne had induced her long before to give her wand to Minute,
with the idea of amusing her, and that Princess had made such a
prodigal use of it, that it was worn out, and had neither strength nor
virtue, particularly for important things. Floridor returned to the
capital, but found there neither fortifications nor munitions of war.
Meanwhile the invader advanced nearer and nearer. Floridor saw only a
rival in the person of the hostile king; and finding no other resource,
he was obliged to propose to the Queen to take flight, offering her
with pride an asylum in his dominions. Prudence suggested to him a line
of conduct which his courage condemned; but it was necessary to save
an unhappy sovereign, and he only made this proposition on condition
of his being allowed to return and expose himself to every danger, and
use every effort to restore to the Queen a throne which so legitimately
belonged to her, the moment he had placed her person in safety in his
little kingdom. Mirdandenne, convinced by all the King represented to
her, accepted the proposition; but the Queen only consented to depart
when they promised her that the horse she was to ride should have a
rose-coloured harness, and Floridor had agreed to present her with
the sparrow which the fairy Ant had given him on his leaving her. The
bird was soon given, but though the departure was urgent, they had to
wait till a harness such as the Queen wished for could be procured
from the city. It came at length, and Floridor and Minute, with no
other suite but Mirdandenne, took the road to the King's dominions.
Floridor was enchanted at being allowed to conduct Minute to his own
kingdom, and at believing himself to be useful to her he adored. To be
in love and a traveller are two things which make people exceedingly
talkative. Floridor, in announcing the limited extent of his states,
at which he sometimes blushed, could not refrain from speaking of the
obligations he owed to the good Ant. When he came, however, to the
details of their parting, the walnut, the little knife, and the sparrow
appeared to the Queen very singular presents. She was very anxious to
see the walnut: the King gave it to her without any scruples. As soon
as it was in her hand, she cried, "Heavens, what do I hear!" She put
her ear to it with the utmost attention, and then said, with surprise
mingled with curiosity, "I hear very distinctly little voices of men,
neighing of horses, trumpets, in short, a singular murmur. This is
the prettiest thing in the world!" she exclaimed. While the King was
himself occupied by that which amused her whom he loved, he perceived
the scouts of the revolted army close upon them, and consequently ready
to take them prisoners. At this perilous moment, by an involuntary
movement, he broke the walnut, and out of it he saw issue thirty
thousand effective men, horse, foot, and dragoons,[26] with artillery
and all the necessary munitions of war. He placed himself at their
head, and showing a bold front to the enemy, he made, without ever
striking a blow, the most beautiful retreat in the world; he took
possession in this way of the mountains he found on his road, and
saved the Queen from the hands of her rebellious subjects. After this
fine military manœuvre, which was not accomplished without much
fatigue, and alarm at the danger the Queen had incurred, they halted
several days on the mountain; but as all the country was up in arms,
they perceived, on recommencing their march, another army, much more
numerous than that which they had escaped, and which it would have been
the height of rashness to give battle to. In this cruel situation,
the Queen asked for the little knife which the Ant had given to him,
to use for some trifling purpose; but finding that it did not cut to
her fancy, she threw it away, saying, "There's a pleasant knife!" The
moment it touched the ground it made a considerable hole in it. The
King was struck with the talent of his _jambette_, and immediately cut
with it deep entrenchments all round the mountain, which rendered their
position impregnable.
When this operation was finished, which only occupied him the time
necessary to make the circuit, the sparrow he had presented to Minute
took wing, and flew to the summit of the mountain; then flapping its
wings, it cried, in a terrible voice, "Leave me alone to deal with
them; you are about to see a fine game. Let all descend the mountain,
march upon the enemy, and fear nothing." He was instantly obeyed, and
the sparrow raised the mountain as easily as if it had been a straw,
and traversing the air with it, he let it fall upon the army of the
enemy, crushing, no doubt, the greater part of them; the rest took
flight and left the passage free. The King, who was solely occupied
with the desire of seeing the Queen in safety, was anxious to put the
horses to their speed; but as the march of an army is necessarily
slow, he would have been glad if it had re-entered the walnut-shell.
Hardly had he formed the wish when it actually did so. He put it in
his pocket, and they arrived in the little kingdom, where the good Ant
received them with every mark of sincere friendship.
When Floridor had made every arrangement for the accommodation of
Minute, and was satisfied that she could want for nothing in the
palace, he began to think of his departure, and he did so more
cheerfully as the good Ant assured him of her attention to all that
concerned the Queen. During the journey he had lately performed, and
the short time he had passed in his own dominions, he had taken the
opportunity of declaring his passion to Minute, which she had been kind
enough to approve. At length he was obliged to leave her; their adieus
were tender, and Floridor set out with no other assistance but that
of a letter from Minute, addressed to her good and faithful subjects,
in which she required them to obey the commands of King Floridor
implicitly.
The good Ant neither gave him the walnut nor the little knife which
he had returned to her when he came back: the Queen only begged him
to accept from her hand the sparrow which he had given her, praying
that he would always carry it about with him, as well as a scarf of
_nonpareille_[27] which she had herself made for him. The King followed
exactly the same road that he had taken in conducting the Queen, not
only because lovers are gratified by seeing again the places which are
associated in their memories with those whom they love, but because it
was also the shortest cut.
When he was near the transplanted mountain, the sparrow, rising in
the air, took it up with the same facility as before, and carried it
back to the spot which it had formerly occupied. The sparrow then in
that terrible voice which he knew how to assume when he wished, said to
those whom he found shut up under the mountain, "Be faithful to Minute,
and do what King Floridor shall command you in her name." This singular
sparrow then disappeared.
The mountain, it seems, was hollow, so those who had found themselves
enclosed in it were as if under a bell; they had wanted for nothing
during the time of their imprisonment; all the soldiers and officers
who saw the light of day again with the utmost pleasure, ran in crowds
to Floridor, whose handsome countenance interested them, and looking
upon him as a demi-god, they were ready to worship him. The King,
moved by their obedience and the new vows of fidelity to the lawful
Queen, which they took at his hands, received their respects but
not their adoration, after having shown them the letter with which
he was charged. He made the army pass in review, and chose from it
fifty thousand of the finest men, and of those to whose devotion a
general's success is mostly due. He established in his new army a very
strict discipline, of which he was both the author and example; and it
was with these troops that he became invincible--that he defied the
countless forces of the usurper, whom he slew with his own hand in one
of the last battles, and whose death restored to Minute a kingdom which
she had entirely lost. Floridor marched through all the provinces of
this great state, and re-established the authority of Minute, whom he
then hastened to rejoin.
But what a change did he find in the character and mind of this lovely
Queen? The counsels of the good Ant, and, above all, Love, and the wish
to please and be worthy of Floridor, had completely corrected her only
fault. She was ashamed of having always done little things with great
assistance, whilst her lover had done such great things with so little.
They married, and lived happily ever after.