These are all names which we have learnt to know and love through
the “little book” from Carmen Sylva’s “Kingdom.” Huge mountains
crowned with verdure stretch into the plain. Their feet are clothed
with forests of beech and oak, whilst their heights are covered with
fir-trees. From the monastery you attain the deep solitude of a forest
which is here as beautiful as a dream. Gigantic old trees rear their
branches to heaven. If one falls, oppressed with the weight of years,
it is allowed to remain there till, covered with creepers and moss,
it completes the woodland scenery, and young trees grow out of the
mouldering trunk. Ferns and orchids of endless varieties and unusual
height delight the friend of nature. In this magnificent vegetation
every foot of land is covered with multitudes of botanic species, one
might say the history of the forest. The most beautiful flowers of
the Alps, Edelweiss and Almenrausch, are found on the heights of the
foremost mountains. Not far from the monastery the Pelesch casts itself
down from Bucegi to the valley below in a foaming waterfall, “wildly
escaping from its bounds as if it would take the world by storm.” Its
seething waves flow down endlessly, and the river winds hither and
thither, and has often devastated the country in its course. It is a
beautiful and ever varying picture of steep mountains, shady valleys,
and running brooks.
The white walls of the monastery welcome the wanderer from afar. The
one-storied building is of very humble dimensions, and surrounds the
square court of the monastery, which is devoid of any ornament, and in
the centre of which a church stands. The inhabited part is ornamented
with wooden arcades, and old Byzantine paintings still adorn the
outside walls. Thirty monks, types of the eastern clergy, here enjoy
in peaceful repose the blessings of this pious institution. Half of
this humble habitation had been allotted to the Prince. Lightly built
additions in fir wood had been made to the principal building in order
to make it at all habitable. If the banner of Roumania had not waved
over the entrance, and sentries paced up and down the verandahs, one
could easier imagine that an artist had made his home here than that
this was the residence of a Prince. We can scarcely conceive with
what simplicity and content the princely pair here bore the greatest
discomfort for many years. The Princess, for instance, heard the
ticking of the clock in the neighbouring cell of an old monk in her
dressing-room. The monks dined in the refectory; the Prince in a
passage which had been arranged as a dining-room. At first provisions
arrived from Kronstadt only twice in the week. But no deprivations
seemed worth mentioning here, for in Sinaia as in Monrepos was forest
air and liberty in which the Princess delighted.
Higher up in the valley, under the shade of high trees, the Prince had
built a shooting-box, and surrounded it with a simple garden. Under its
roof the Princess arranged a tiny room very artistically. One gazes
through coloured windows upon the groups of fir trees of a hundred
years’ growth. A simple desk covered with cloth, a pair of chairs, and
a low table laden with books, paint brushes, and colours are all its
furniture. It is the sanctum of the Princess, to which she retires when
the stream of visitors who unceasingly come out to Sinaia have fatigued
her. Here she can write, paint, and compose poetry undisturbed.
Scientific men, musicians, and painters are constantly invited to
Sinaia, and are often for weeks the guests of the princely pair. Here
they lead an ideal life. Intercourse with distinguished people, be
they artists or learned or otherwise clever men, is the great delight
of the Prince and Princess. They love to gaze, as it were, into the
workshop whence thought has sprung, and have a deep regard for the
earnestness of labour in art or science. Gaiety and cheerfulness reign
in these circles. Often the Princess will read to the assembled company
at breakfast a poem she has just completed, that treats of their
conversations or the events of the day, with youthful cheerfulness.
By noon the winged words have already been set to music by one of the
musicians, and presented to the Princess as a duet, trio, or quartette,
according to the voices of those present. In the evening these new
compositions are performed, and the young people end the day with
dances and games.
Long walks and climbing parties are undertaken during the fine weather.
Accompanied by the sound of the waves of the restless Pelesch, one
climbs along grassy walks into the steep beech woods. In a convenient
costume for mountaineering, the Princess, hat in hand, leads the way
for the joyous company. She feels at home in the woods or in the
mountains: they are her kingdom, and there her fancy is free. The
following poem was composed on the 12th of September 1873, under the
trees near the shooting-box:--