THE King and the Queen sat on a dais at the end of the banqueting hall,
and above them in a little gallery there was a band of fiddlers and
flute-players. On either side of the royal pair sat the twelve fairy
godmothers, six on the right hand and six on the left. In front of each
fairy was a golden plate and a golden casket made to hold her knife,
fork and spoon. These caskets were beautifully carved and engraved, and
each one was of a different shape. One was in the form of a ship,
another of a shell, a third in the form of a castle with turrets, and so
on; nothing more beautiful could be imagined, for they had all been
specially made for the occasion by the cleverest goldsmiths in the
kingdom, and they were the King's presents to the fairy godmothers. He
felt very proud when the fairies spoke admiringly of these caskets and
said that they would be pleased to accept them.
Below the dais were six long tables for the guests, and there was only
just room between the tables for the servants to pass, so you may judge
how crowded the room was. Such a glittering of silks, such a flashing of
jewels, such a dazzle and splendour had never been seen since the time
of the King's coronation, and all the guests were laughing and talking
merrily. The court painter was there, of course, to make a picture of
the gorgeous scene, and was kept so busy sketching on his tablets that
he had no time to get any food, though probably he had a good meal
afterwards.
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And the nice things there were to eat! There were:
Force-meat balls flavoured with rare spices from the East;
Sardines from Sardinia;
Tunny fish from the Mediterranean and Sturgeon from Russia;
Steaming boars' heads with lemons in their mouths;
Turkeys, peacocks and swans;
Ortolans;
Wonderful roasts and delicious stews;
Roe deer and Bears' hams;
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Sweets in all sorts of curious shapes, as, for
instance, cakes like castles with little men
made of sweet-stuff for sentries on the
battlements, each complete in gilded armour and
with a halberd over his shoulder. (A rare
sight!) And eagles carved of ice hovering over
silver dishes filled with apricots.
Then followed the smaller dishes:
Tiny cakes as white and delicate as ladies'
fingers;
Birds' nests made of spun sugar (and in the
nests were eggs of marsh-mallow, and in each
egg was a tiny chicken made of caramel!);
Figs and dates from the desert;
Other fruits, in and out of season;
Syrups and preserves fetched from the four
corners of the world;
Wines cooled in snow from the distant
mountains.
One might fill pages merely by setting down the names of all the
delicacies.
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Each dish was brought in by the servants in a kind of procession, headed
by the Master-Cook, looking as grand and solemn as an archbishop, for he
was a grave and dignified person, and of course he had a great
responsibility. The guests were served by little page-boys of noble
birth, dressed in the liveries of their masters, and these pages handed
the dishes and the wines most politely on their bended knees as they had
been taught to do.
So the guests enjoyed themselves, and the fiddlers played, and the King
laughed at everything everybody said, because he was in a mighty good
humour, and the bright afternoon sun, shining through the western
windows, lighted up the rich hangings on the walls, and flashed upon the
jewels on fair ladies' fingers, and fell upon the marble pavement in a
pool of gold.
And then, you know, when the merriment was at its height, something
happened! There was a sudden cry, and a harsh voice, like the croaking
of a raven, sounded through the room.
"Be merry, my lords and ladies," cried the voice. "Laugh while you may,
but remember that tears may follow laughter."
A hush fell upon all the brilliant assembly. The Queen turned pale and
shuddered. The King rose hurriedly from his place, and he and all the
guests turned to look at the strange figure that had suddenly appeared
in the doorway.
They saw an old woman bent almost double with age, her grey head with
matted hair sunk deep between her shoulders. Her face was white and
twisted with anger, and her green eyes flashed spitefully.
Slowly she advanced towards the dais, and stretching out her arm,
pointed her finger at the gold plates and the gold caskets set before
the fairy godmothers. "There's one," said she, with a harsh laugh,
"there's two, there's twelve! Did you not know, O King, that there were
thirteen wise women in your kingdom, and the thirteenth the wisest and
most powerful of all? Where, then, is the plate and the casket set for
me?"
The King began to make excuses, imploring the angry old fairy to forgive
him for his neglect, and begging her to sit down and join them in their
festivities. "For," said he, "I am sure you are very welcome."
"Is it so, indeed?" said the thirteenth fairy. "I am not too late, then,
though the feast is all but done. I shall eat off silver while my
sisters eat off gold, and there is no curiously-shaped casket for me. No
matter, I am content, because I am in time, and I shall dower the
Princess with the gift which I have brought for her!" And here the
spiteful creature uttered another of her sneering laughs, which made the
blood of all the guests run cold.
By dint of much coaxing the King at last managed to persuade her to sit
down, and the feast proceeded. But a chill had been cast over the
assembly, and nothing was quite the same as it had been before. The old
crone muttered and mouthed over her food, now and again smiling to
herself as though she were cherishing some secret and evil triumph. The
other fairies cast anxious glances at her, for they feared her malice,
and the youngest fairy of all, who happened to be seated at the end of
the table, presently rose up quietly from her place and, stealing away,
hid herself behind the arras. And nobody saw her go, nor did a single
person remark upon her absence.
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