It must have been about this time that the son of a king, who lived a
thousand miles from Lagobel, set out to look for the daughter of a
queen. He travelled far and wide, but as sure as he found a princess,
he found some fault in her. Of course he could not marry a mere woman,
however beautiful; and there was no princess to be found worthy of him.
Whether the prince was so near perfection that he had a right to demand
perfection itself, I cannot pretend to say. All I know is, that he was
a fine, handsome, brave, generous, well-bred, and well-behaved youth,
as all princes are.
In his wanderings he had come across some reports about our princess;
but as everybody said she was bewitched, he never dreamed that she
could bewitch him. For what indeed could a prince do with a princess
that had lost her gravity? Who could tell what she might not lose next?
She might lose her visibility, or her tangibility; or, in short, the
power of making impressions upon the radical sensorium; so that he
should never be able to tell whether she was dead or alive. Of course
he made no further inquiries about her.
One day he lost sight of his retinue in a great forest. These forests
are very useful in delivering princes from their courtiers, like a
sieve that keeps back the bran. Then the princes get away to follow
their fortunes. In this they have the advantage of the princesses, who
are forced to marry before they have had a bit of fun. I wish our
princesses got lost in a forest sometimes.
One lovely evening, after wandering about for many days, he found that
he was approaching the outskirts of this forest; for the trees had got
so thin that he could see the sunset through them; and he soon came
upon a kind of heath. Next he came upon signs of human neighbourhood;
but by this time it was getting late, and there was nobody in the
fields to direct him.
After travelling for another hour, his horse, quite worn out with long
labour and lack of food, fell, and was unable to rise again. So he
continued his journey on foot. At length he entered another wood--not a
wild forest, but a civilized wood, through which a footpath led him to
the side of a lake. Along this path the prince pursued his way through
the gathering darkness. Suddenly he paused, and listened. Strange
sounds came across the water. It was, in fact, the princess laughing.
Now there was something odd in her laugh, as I have already hinted, for
the hatching of a real hearty laugh requires the incubation of gravity;
and perhaps this was how the prince mistook the laughter for screaming.
Looking over the lake, he saw something white in the water; and, in an
instant, he had torn off his tunic, kicked off his sandals, and plunged
in. He soon reached the white object, and found that it was a woman.
There was not light enough to show that she was a princess, but quite
enough to show that she was a lady, for it does not want much light to
see that.
Now I cannot tell how it came about,--whether she pretended to be
drowning, or whether he frightened her, or caught her so as to
embarrass her,--but certainly he brought her to shore in a fashion
ignominious to a swimmer, and more nearly drowned than she had ever
expected to be; for the water had got into her throat as often as she
had tried to speak.
At the place to which he bore her, the bank was only a foot or two
above the water, so he gave her a strong lift out of the water, to lay
her on the bank. But, her gravitation ceasing the moment she left the
water, away she went up into the air, scolding and screaming.
"You naughty, _naughty_, NAUGHTY, NAUGHTY man!" she cried.
No one had ever succeeded in putting her into a passion before.--When
the prince saw her ascend, he thought he must have been bewitched, and
have mistaken a great swan for a lady. But the princess caught hold of
the topmost cone upon a lofty fir. This came off; but she caught at
another, and, in fact, stopped herself by gathering cones, dropping
them as the stocks gave way. The prince, meantime, stood in the water,
staring, and forgetting to get out. But the princess disappearing, he
scrambled on shore, and went in the direction of the tree. There he
found her climbing down one of the branches towards the stem. But in
the darkness of the wood, the prince continued in some bewilderment as
to what the phenomenon could be; until, reaching the ground, and seeing
him standing there, she caught hold of him, and said,--
"I'll tell papa."
"Oh no, you won't!" returned the prince.
"Yes, I will," she persisted. "What business had you to pull me down
out of the water, and throw me to the bottom of the air? I never did
you any harm."
"Pardon me. I did not mean to hurt you."
"I don't believe you have any brains; and that is a worse loss that
your wretched gravity. I pity you."
The prince now saw that he had come upon the bewitched princess, and
had already offended her. But before he could think what to say next,
she burst out angrily, giving a stamp with her foot that would have
sent her aloft again but for the hold she had of his arm,--
"Put me up directly."
"Put you up where, you beauty?" asked the prince.
He had fallen in love with her almost, already; for her anger made her
more charming than any one else had ever beheld her; and, as far as he
could see, which certainly was not far, she had not a single fault
about her, except, of course, that she had not any gravity. No prince,
however, would judge of a princess by weight. The loveliness of her
foot he would hardly estimate by the depth of the impression it could
make in the mud.
"Put you up where, you beauty?" asked the prince.
"In the water, you stupid!" answered the princess.
"Come, then," said the prince.
The condition of her dress, increasing her usual difficulty in walking,
compelled her to cling to him; and he could hardly persuade himself
that he was not in a delightful dream, notwithstanding the torrent of
musical abuse with which she overwhelmed him. The prince being
therefore in no hurry, they came upon the lake at quite another part,
where the bank was twenty-five feet high at least; and when they had
reached the edge, he turned towards the princess, and said,--
"How am I to put you in?"
"That is your business," she answered, quite snappishly. "You took me
out--put me in again."
"Very well," said the prince; and, catching her up in his arms, he
sprang with her from the rock. The princess had just time to give one
delighted shriek of laughter before the water closed over them. When
they came to the surface, she found that, for a moment or two, she
could not even laugh, for she had gone down with such a rush, that it
was with difficulty she recovered her breath. The instant they reached
the surface--
"How do you like falling in?" said the prince.