Well was it in truth said by the wise man, "Do not say all you know,
nor do all you are able"; for both one and the other bring unknown
danger and unforeseen ruin; as you shall hear of a certain slave (be it
spoken with all reverence for my lady the Princess), who, after doing
all the injury in her power to a poor girl, came off so badly in the
court, that she was the judge of her own crime, and sentenced herself
to the punishment she deserved.
The King of Long-Tower had once a son, who was the apple of his eye,
and on whom he had built all his hopes; and he longed impatiently for
the time when he should find some good match for him. But the Prince
was so averse to marriage and so obstinate that, whenever a wife was
talked of, he shook his head and wished himself a hundred miles off; so
that the poor King, finding his son stubborn and perverse, and
foreseeing that his race would come to an end, was more vexed and
melancholy, cast down and out of spirits, than a merchant whose
correspondent has become bankrupt, or a peasant whose ass has died.
Neither could the tears of his father move the Prince, nor the
entreaties of the courtiers soften him, nor the counsel of wise men
make him change his mind; in vain they set before his eyes the wishes
of his father, the wants of the people, and his own interest,
representing to him that he was the full-stop in the line of the royal
race; for with the obstinacy of Carella and the stubbornness of an old
mule with a skin four fingers thick, he had planted his foot
resolutely, stopped his ears, and closed his heart against all
assaults. But as frequently more comes to pass in an hour than in a
hundred years, and no one can say, Stop here or go there, it happened
that one day, when all were at table, and the Prince was cutting a
piece of new-made cheese, whilst listening to the chit-chat that was
going on, he accidentally cut his finger; and two drops of blood,
falling upon the cheese, made such a beautiful mixture of colours
that--either it was a punishment inflicted by Love, or the will of
Heaven to console the poor father--the whim seized the Prince to find a
woman exactly as white and red as that cheese tinged with blood. Then
he said to his father, "Sir, unless I have a wife as white and red as
this cheese, it is all over with me; so now resolve, if you wish to see
me alive and well, to give me all I require to go through the world in
search of a beauty exactly like this cheese, or else I shall end my
life and die by inches."
When the King heard this mad resolution, he thought the house was
falling about his ears; his colour came and went, but as soon as he
recovered himself and could speak, he said, "My son, the life of my
soul, the core of my heart, the prop of my old age, what mad-brained
fancy has made you take leave of your senses? Have you lost your wits?
You want either all or nothing: first you wish not to marry, on purpose
to deprive me of an heir, and now you are impatient to drive me out of
the world. Whither, O whither would you go wandering about, wasting
your life? And why leave your house, your hearth, your home? You know
not what toils and peril he brings on himself who goes rambling and
roving. Let this whim pass, my son; be sensible, and do not wish to see
my life worn out, this house fall to the ground, my household go to
ruin."
But these and other words went in at one ear and out at the other, and
were all cast upon the sea; and the poor King, seeing that his son was
as immovable as a rook upon a belfry, gave him a handful of dollars and
two or three servants; and bidding him farewell, he felt as if his soul
was torn out of his body. Then weeping bitterly, he went to a balcony,
and followed his son with his eyes until he was lost to sight.
The Prince departed, leaving his unhappy father to his grief, and
hastened on his way through fields and woods, over mountain and valley,
hill and plain, visiting various countries, and mixing with various
peoples, and always with his eyes wide awake to see whether he could
find the object of his desire. At the end of several months he arrived
at the coast of France, where, leaving his servants at a hospital with
sore feet, he embarked alone in a Genoese boat, and set out towards the
Straits of Gibraltar. There he took a larger vessel and sailed for the
Indies, seeking everywhere, from kingdom to kingdom, from province to
province, from country to country, from street to street, from house to
house, in every hole and corner, whether he could find the original
likeness of that beautiful image which he had pictured to his heart.
And he wandered about and about until at length he came to the Island
of the Ogresses, where he cast anchor and landed. There he found an
old, old woman, withered and shrivelled up, and with a hideous face, to
whom he related the reason that had brought him to the country. The old
woman was beside herself with amazement when she heard the strange whim
and the fancy of the Prince, and the toils and perils he had gone
through to satisfy himself; then she said to him, "Hasten away, my son!
for if my three daughters meet you I would not give a farthing for your
life; half-alive and half-roasted, a frying-pan would be your bier and
a belly your grave. But away with you as fast as a hare, and you will
not go far before you find what you are seeking!"
When the Prince heard this, frightened, terrified, and aghast, he set
off running at full speed, and ran till he came to another country,
where he again met an old woman, more ugly even than the first, to whom
he told all his story. Then the old woman said to him in like manner,
"Away with you! unless you wish to serve as a breakfast to the little
ogresses my daughters; but go straight on, and you will soon find what
you want."
The Prince, hearing this, set off running as fast as a dog with a
kettle at its tail; and he went on and on, until he met another old
woman, who was sitting upon a wheel, with a basket full of little pies
and sweetmeats on her arm, and feeding a number of jackasses, which
thereupon began leaping about on the bank of a river and kicking at
some poor swans. When the Prince came up to the old woman, after making
a hundred salaams, he related to her the story of his wanderings;
whereupon the old woman, comforting him with kind words, gave him such
a good breakfast that he licked his fingers after it. And when he had
done eating she gave him three citrons, which seemed to be just fresh
gathered from the tree; and she gave him also a beautiful knife,
saying, "You are now free to return to Italy, for your labour is ended,
and you have what you were seeking. Go your way, therefore, and when
you are near your own kingdom stop at the first fountain you come to
and cut a citron. Then a fairy will come forth from it, and will say to
you, 'Give me to drink.' Mind and be ready with the water or she will
vanish like quicksilver. But if you are not quick enough with the
second fairy, have your eyes open and be watchful that the third does
not escape you, giving her quickly to drink, and you shall have a wife
after your own heart."
The Prince, overjoyed, kissed the old woman's hairy hand a hundred
times, which seemed just like a hedgehog's back. Then taking his leave
he left that country, and coming to the seashore sailed for the Pillars
of Hercules, and arrived at our Sea, and after a thousand storms and
perils, he entered port a day's distance from his own kingdom. There he
came to a most beautiful grove, where the Shades formed a palace for
the Meadows, to prevent their being seen by the sun; and dismounting at
a fountain, which, with a crystal tongue, was inviting the people to
refresh their lips, he seated himself on a Syrian carpet formed by the
plants and flowers. Then he drew his knife from the sheath and began to
cut the first citron, when lo! there appeared like a flash of lightning
a most beautiful maiden, white as milk and red as a strawberry, who
said, "Give me to drink!" The Prince was so amazed, bewildered, and
captivated with the beauty of the fairy that he did not give her the
water quick enough, so she appeared and vanished at one and the same
moment. Whether this was a rap on the Prince's head, let any one judge
who, after longing for a thing, gets it into his hands and instantly
loses it again.
Then the Prince cut the second citron, and the same thing happened
again; and this was a second blow he got on his pate; so making two
little fountains of his eyes, he wept, face to face, tear for tear,
drop for drop, with the fountain, and sighing he exclaimed, "Good
heavens, how is it that I am so unfortunate? Twice I have let her
escape, as if my hands were tied; and here I sit like a rock, when I
ought to run like a greyhound. Faith indeed I have made a fine hand of
it! But courage, man! there is still another, and three is the lucky
number; either this knife shall give me the fay, or it shall take my
life away." So saying he cut the third citron, and forth came the third
fairy, who said like the others, "Give me to drink." Then the Prince
instantly handed her the water; and behold there stood before him a
delicate maiden, white as a junket with red streaks,--a thing never
before seen in the world, with a beauty beyond compare, a fairness
beyond the beyonds, a grace more than the most. On that hair Jove had
showered down gold, of which Love made his shafts to pierce all hearts;
that face the god of Love had tinged with red, that some innocent soul
should be hung on the gallows of desire; at those eyes the sun had
lighted two fireworks, to set fire to the rockets of sighs in the
breast of the beholder; to the roses on those lips Venus had given
their colour, to wound a thousand enamoured hearts with their thorns.
In a word, she was so beautiful from head to foot, that a more
exquisite creature was never seen. The Prince knew not what had
happened to him, and stood lost in amazement, gazing on such a
beautiful offspring of a citron; and he said to himself, "Are you
asleep or awake, Ciommetiello? Are your eyes bewitched, or are you
blind? What fair white creature is this come forth from a yellow rind?
What sweet fruit, from the sour juice of a citron? What lovely maiden
sprung from a citron-pip?"
At length, seeing that it was all true and no dream, he embraced the
fairy, giving her a hundred and a hundred kisses; and after a thousand
tender words had passed between them--words which, as a setting, had an
accompaniment of sugared kisses--the Prince said, "My soul, I cannot
take you to my father's kingdom without handsome raiment worthy of so
beautiful a person, and an attendance befitting a Queen; therefore
climb up into this oak-tree, where Nature seems purposely to have made
for us a hiding-place in the form of a little room, and here await my
return; for I will come back on wings, before a tear can be dry, with
dresses and servants, and carry you off to my kingdom." So saying,
after the usual ceremonies, he departed.
Now a black slave, who was sent by her mistress with a pitcher to fetch
water, came to the well, and seeing by chance the reflection of the
fairy in the water, she thought it was herself, and exclaimed in
amazement, "Poor Lucia, what do I see? Me so pretty and fair, and
mistress send me here. No, me will no longer bear." So saying she broke
the pitcher and returned home; and when her mistress asked her, "Why
have you done this mischief?" she replied, "Me go to the well alone,
pitcher break upon a stone." Her mistress swallowed this idle story,
and the next day she gave her a pretty little cask, telling her to go
and fill it with water. So the slave returned to the fountain, and
seeing again the beautiful image reflected in the water, she said with
a deep sigh, "Me no ugly slave, me no broad-foot goose, but pretty and
fine as mistress mine, and me not go to the fountain!" So saying, smash
again! she broke the cask into seventy pieces, and returned grumbling
home, and said to her mistress, "Ass come past, tub fell down at the
well, and all was broken in pieces." The poor mistress, on hearing
this, could contain herself no longer, and seizing a broomstick she
beat the slave so soundly that she felt it for many days; then giving
her a leather bag, she said, "Run, break your neck, you wretched slave,
you grasshopper-legs, you black beetle! Run and fetch me this bag full
of water, or else I'll hang you like a dog, and give you a good
thrashing."
Away ran the slave heels over head, for she had seen the flash and
dreaded the thunder; and while she was filling the leather bag, she
turned to look again at the beautiful image, and said, "Me fool to
fetch water! better live by one's wits; such a pretty girl indeed to
serve a bad mistress!" So saying, she took a large pin which she wore
in her hair, and began to pick holes in the leather bag, which looked
like an open place in a garden with the rose of a watering-pot making a
hundred little fountains. When the fairy saw this she laughed outright;
and the slave hearing her, turned and espied her hiding-place up in the
tree; whereat she said to herself, "O ho! you make me be beaten? but
never mind!" Then she said to her, "What you doing up there, pretty
lass?" And the fairy, who was the very mother of courtesy, told her all
she knew, and all that had passed with the Prince, whom she was
expecting from hour to hour and from moment to moment, with fine
dresses and servants, to take her with him to his father's kingdom
where they would live happy together.
When the slave, who was full of spite, heard this, she thought to
herself that she would get this prize into her own hands; so she
answered the fairy, "You expect your husband,--me come up and comb your
locks, and make you more smart." And the fairy said, "Ay, welcome as
the first of May!" So the slave climbed up the tree, and the fairy held
out her white hand to her, which looked in the black paws of the slave
like a crystal mirror in a frame of ebony. But no sooner did the slave
begin to comb the fairy's locks, than she suddenly stuck a hairpin into
her head. Then the fairy, feeling herself pricked, cried out, "Dove,
dove!" and instantly she became a dove and flew away; whereupon the
slave stripped herself, and making a bundle of all the rags that she
had worn, she threw them a mile away; and there she sat, up in the
tree, looking like a statue of jet in a house of emerald.
In a short time the Prince returned with a great cavalcade, and finding
a cask of caviar where he had left a pan of milk, he stood for awhile
beside himself with amazement. At length he said, "Who has made this
great blot of ink on the fine paper upon which I thought to write the
brightest days of my life? Who has hung with mourning this newly
white-washed house, where I thought to spend a happy life? How comes it
that I find this touchstone, where I left a mine of silver, that was to
make me rich and happy?" But the crafty slave, observing the Prince's
amazement, said, "Do not wonder, my Prince; for me turned by a wicked
spell from a white lily to a black coal."
The poor Prince, seeing that there was no help for the mischief,
drooped his head and swallowed this pill; and bidding the slave come
down from the tree, he ordered her to be clothed from head to foot in
new dresses. Then sad and sorrowful, cast-down and woe-begone, he took
his way back with the slave to his own country, where the King and
Queen, who had gone out six miles to meet them, received them with the
same pleasure as a prisoner feels at the announcement of a sentence of
hanging, seeing the fine choice their foolish son had made, who after
travelling about so long to find a white dove had brought home at last
a black crow. However, as they could do no less, they gave up the crown
to their children, and placed the golden tripod upon that face of coal.
Now whilst they were preparing splendid feasts and banquets, and the
cooks were busy plucking geese, killing little pigs, flaying kids,
basting the roast meat, skimming pots, mincing meat for dumplings,
larding capons, and preparing a thousand other delicacies, a beautiful
dove came flying to the kitchen window, and said,
"O cook of the kitchen, tell me, I pray,
What the King and the slave are doing to-day."
The cook at first paid little heed to the dove; but when she returned a
second and a third time, and repeated the same words, he ran to the
dining-hall to tell the marvellous thing. But no sooner did the lady
hear this music than she gave orders for the dove to be instantly
caught and made into a hash. So the cook went, and he managed to catch
the dove, and did all that the slave had commanded. And having scalded
the bird in order to pluck it, he threw the water with the feathers out
from a balcony on to a garden-bed, on which, before three days had
passed, there sprang up a beautiful citron-tree, which quickly grew to
its full size.
Now it happened that the King, going by chance to a window that looked
upon the garden, saw the tree, which he had never observed before; and
calling the cook, he asked him when and by whom it had been planted. No
sooner had he heard all the particulars from Master Pot-ladle, than he
began to suspect how matters stood. So he gave orders, under pain of
death, that the tree should not be touched, but that it should be
tended with the greatest care.
At the end of a few days three most beautiful citrons appeared, similar
to those which the ogress had given Ciommetiello. And when they were
grown larger, he plucked them; and shutting himself up in a chamber,
with a large basin of water and the knife, which he always carried at
his side, he began to cut the citrons. Then it all fell out with the
first and second fairy just as it had done before; but when at last he
cut the third citron, and gave the fairy who came forth from it to
drink, behold, there stood before him the self-same maiden whom he had
left up in the tree, and who told him all the mischief that the slave
had done.
Who now can tell the least part of the delight the King felt at this
good turn of fortune? Who can describe the shouting and leaping for joy
that there was? For the King was swimming in a sea of delight, and was
wafted to Heaven on a tide of rapture. Then he embraced the fairy, and
ordered her to be handsomely dressed from head to foot; and taking her
by the hand he led her into the middle of the hall, where all the
courtiers and great folks of the city were met to celebrate the feast.
Then the King called on them one by one, and said, "Tell me, what
punishment would that person deserve who should do any harm to this
beautiful lady!" And one replied that such a person would deserve a
hempen collar; another, a breakfast of stones; a third, a good beating;
a fourth, a draught of poison; a fifth, a millstone for a brooch--in
short, one said this thing and another that. At last he called on the
black Queen, and putting the same question, she replied, "Such a person
would deserve to be burned, and that her ashes should be thrown from
the roof of the castle."
When the King heard this, he said to her, "You have struck your own
foot with the axe, you have made your own fetters, you have sharpened
the knife and mixed the poison; for no one has done this lady so much
harm as yourself, you good-for-nothing creature! Know you that this is
the beautiful maiden whom you wounded with the hairpin? Know you that
this is the pretty dove which you ordered to be killed and cooked in a
stewpan? What say you now? It is all your own doing; and one who does
ill may expect ill in return." So saying, he ordered the slave to be
seized and cast alive on to a large burning pile of wood; and her ashes
were thrown from the top of the castle to all the winds of Heaven,
verifying the truth of the saying that--
"He who sows thorns should not go barefoot."