The King of the South country was not as happy as a king ought to be
whose subjects are both peaceful and industrious. Every night when the
moths were flying and the tall candles were lit in the hall, when the
soft air was musical with the strumming of harps, and the sweet
complaint of violins, he would walk out on the great parapet with one
hand under his chin and his head drooping; then the courtiers would say,
"The King is sad."
If he looked out he could see town after town, like strings of pearls and
corals, with blue smoke coming from the chimneys of red-roofed houses,
and beyond the towns the sea like a green bowl. If he looked straight
down he could see a rush of color, as if the flowers were coming up to
him in billowy waves.
But the King was not happy, for the reason that he wanted to marry his
three sons, and he didn't know of any princesses who would, so to speak,
fill the bill. He had journeyed over the mountains to inspect several
little ladies who were brought to him, in their stiff satin gowns to
make their curtsey and smile their prettiest, but none of them seemed
desirable for a daughter. The King knew, indeed, very much what he
wanted. She mustn't chatter and she mustn't be too fond of chocolates in
gold and enameled boxes; and she mustn't have likes and dislikes; and
she must be patient, for all really royal people know how to wait; and
she must possess the beautiful art of smiling. The King had seen her in
the frames of old paintings, still and sweet and jeweled, but never
alive and lovely.
On the evening when this tale begins the King was watching the three
princes play at ball. The ball was of scented Spanish leather covered
with crimson silk on which was stamped the sporting dolphin of the royal
house. Sometimes it would drop to the green turf where the parrots would
peck at it, thinking it a gorgeous apple. The hooded falcon on the
jester's arm knew better, for the jester fed him real apples.
Prince Hugh, Prince Merlin, and Prince Richard were as supple as willows,
as straight as pines, as graceful as silver birches. Their blond hair
hung thick and straight against their necks and was cut square above
their level brows. Their manners were so good that their father didn't
quite know their characters; and that made the problem of their marriages
more difficult.
All at once, as on a stage, they stopped playing ball and began to look
at something or someone. The King followed their eyes, and saw a strange
sight. A young girl with a great dog at her side was coming slowly over
the grass, her hands clasped above her breast, her long golden hair
hanging nearly to the hem of her gown which was of coarse brown wool. She
had no stockings, and on her feet she wore wooden shoes.
That a peasant girl should walk across the royal gardens was enough to
make the princes stare. Then the King saw that they were looking at
the girl's hands, of which one was bare. On the other was a glove of
blue cut-velvet, heavily embroidered with a design of flowers which
circled themselves about a tiny mirror set exactly on the wrist; no
glove for a peasant!
She came slowly up the great stairs of the terrace as if she were
expected. By this time the court-lackeys had rushed out, full of
officiousness, to stop the outrage; but the King, at the end of a puzzled
day, was in no mood to hinder the least diversion. He advanced to meet
the visitor, who raised to him a pair of beautiful blue eyes and smiled.
"Where did she learn to smile?" thought the King, conscious that the gaze
of the three princes was still upon the girl.
She held out the gloved hand. "King Cuthbert, I am sent to your court by
King Luke. Will you be pleased to look in my mirror?"
Her wrist was raised to the level of his eyes. "What do you see?" she
asked in a soft, solicitous voice.
"Myself, maiden," he replied.
She sighed, and the tears came in her eyes.
"Who else could I see?" he exclaimed.
She smiled and shook her head, then she nodded towards the three straight
boys on the lawn. "Those are your sons?"
"Mine, indeed, maiden."
"I am sent to make their acquaintance. I am the niece of King Luke, the
Princess Myrtle."
King Cuthbert could not believe his ears, nor trust his eyes, for the
Princess Myrtle had great vaults of gold under the thousand-year-old
turrets of her castle; and pearls like pigeon eggs in the renowned
diadem with which the generations of her royal race were crowned kings
or queens.
"My uncle sends me as a beggar-maid so that I can make a true marriage. I
desire to be loved for myself alone. Speak not of me to the court, but
deal with me as I appear to be."
King Cuthbert gazed in admiration at her, for she had the voice of one
who thinks more than she speaks and feels more than she thinks, which is
the proper order for great and little ladies. "Here," thought he, "is the
child I have been seeking. I will not tell the three straight-limbed lads
so beautifully mannered who or what she is, but I will say that a friend
hath sent an orphaned girl to be protected by me; then I will watch how
they treat her, and learn at last what my sons are."
"Princess Myrtle," he said, "I will henceforth treat you as an orphaned
and poor girl. Is that to your liking?"
"It is my wish, Sir," she answered, and suddenly a rising wind blew all
the strands of her hair into a cloud of gold, so that her coarse wool
dress appeared brocaded; and while she was thus sumptuously clothed a
great peacock in iridescent array strutted by her, and she placed her
gloved hand for a moment on his shining feathers, looking, indeed, a
princess. Back of her the courtiers stared and rubbed their eyes. The
three slim boys on the lawn were smiling.
Prince Hugh tossed the scarlet ball to her and she caught it lightly as
if she were making a curtsey.
"Take the ball back to him," said the King, "and tell him I sent you."
As she went down through the parterres of flowers she was as straight
as a delphinium and fresh-colored as a rose. Where the great trees
clouded into the sky she looked as little as a floating petal; but when
she stepped upon the sward, she seemed to grow tall like an upward
soaring flame.
Though she walked with such courage towards the three slim lads her heart
was beating fast, because she was afraid they would not be as noble as
they looked. For at court nearly everyone looks noble, and the Princess
Myrtle had learned how easy it is to keep your eyes level, and your head
high, and your bearing proud; and how hard it is to preserve a sweet
heart like a rose, within the shadow of this grandeur.
So she went to meet the princes with a shy, hopeful manner, the scarlet
ball in her hand, and her blue eyes addressed to theirs.
"I am commanded by your royal father to return to you this ball," she
said.
"I pray you tell me," said Prince Hugh, "how you, being a beggar-maid,
walk as if possessed of wealth?"