PRINCE WISEWIT'S RETURN
King Winwealth was so pleased with the stories told by the wonderful
chair that he gave Snowflower many presents, among which was a golden
girdle, and promised that she should no longer go into low company, but
feast with him and his nobles in the chief hall, and sleep in one of the
best rooms of the palace.
Snowflower was delighted at the promise of feasting with those noble
lords and ladies, whose wonderful stories she had heard from the chair.
She bowed very low, and thanked King Winwealth from the bottom of her
heart. All the company were glad to make room for her, and when her
golden girdle was put on, little Snowflower looked as fine as the best
of them.
"Mamma," whispered the Princess Greedalind, while she looked ready to
cry for spite, "only see that low little girl who came here in a coarse
frock and barefooted, what finery and favour she has gained by her
story-telling chair! All the Court are praising her and overlooking me,
though the feast was made in honour of my birthday. Mamma, I must have
that chair from her. What business has a common little girl with
anything so amusing?"
"So you shall, my daughter," said Queen Wantall--for by this time she
saw that King Winwealth had, according to custom, fallen asleep on his
throne. So calling two of her pages, Screw and Hardhands, she ordered
them to bring the chair from the other end of the hall where Snowflower
sat, and at once made it a present to Princess Greedalind.
Nobody in that Court ever thought of disputing Queen Wantall's commands,
and poor Snowflower sat down in a corner to cry. While Princess
Greedalind, putting on what she thought a very grand air, laid down her
head on the cushion, saying: "Chair of my grandmother, tell me a
story."
"Where did you get a grandmother?" cried the clear voice from under the
cushion. And up went the chair with such force as to throw Princess
Greedalind off on the floor, where she lay screaming, a good deal more
angry than hurt.
All those at Court tried in vain to comfort her. But Queen Wantall,
whose temper was still worse, vowed that she would punish the impudent
thing, and sent for Sturdy, her chief woodman, to chop it up with his
axe.
At the first stroke the cushion was cut open, and to the surprise of
everybody a bird, whose snow-white feathers were tipped with purple,
darted out, and flew away through an open window.
"Catch it! catch it!" cried the Queen and the Princess; and all but King
Winwealth, who still slept on his throne, rushed out after the bird. It
flew over the palace garden and into a wild common, where houses had
been before Queen Wantall pulled them down to search for a gold mine,
which Her Majesty never found, though three deep pits were dug to come
at it.
To make the place look smart at the feast time, these pits had been
covered over with loose branches and turf. All the rest of the company
remembered this but Queen Wantall and Princess Greedalind. They were
nearest to the bird, and poor Snowflower, by running hard, came close
behind them, but Fairfortune, one of the King's pages, drew her back by
the purple mantle, when, coming to the covered pit, branches and turf
gave way, and down went the Queen and the Princess.
Everybody looked for the bird, but it was nowhere to be seen. But on the
common where the people saw it alight, there stood a fair and royal
Prince, clad in a robe of purple and a crown of changing colours, for
sometimes it seemed of gold and sometimes of forest leaves.
Most of the people stood not knowing what to think, but all the fairy
people and all the lords and ladies of the chair's stories, knew him,
and cried: "Welcome to Prince Wisewit!"
King Winwealth heard that sound where he slept, and came out glad of
heart to welcome back his brother. When her own pages came out with
ropes and lanterns to search for Queen Wantall and Princess Greedalind,
they found them safe and well at the bottom of the pit, having fallen on
a heap of loose sand. The pit was of great depth, but some daylight
shone down, and whatever were the yellow grains they saw glittering
among the sand, the Queen and the Princess believed it was full of gold.
They called the miners false knaves, lazy rogues, and a score of bad
names beside, for leaving so much wealth behind them, and utterly
refused to come out of the pit; saying, that since Prince Wisewit was
come, they could find no pleasure in the palace, but would stay there
and dig for gold, and buy the world with it for themselves.
King Winwealth thought the plan was a good one for keeping peace in his
palace. He commanded shovels and picks to be lowered to the Queen and
Princess. The two pages, Screw and Hardhands, went down to help them, in
hopes of halving the profits; and there they stayed, digging for gold.
Some of the people about the Court said they would find it. Others
believed they never could, and the gold was not found when this story
was written.
As for Prince Wisewit, he went home with the rest of the company,
leading Snowflower by the hand, and telling them all how he had been
turned into a bird by the cunning fairy Fortunetta, who found him off
his guard in the forest; how she had shut him up under the cushion of
that curious chair, and given it to old Dame Frostyface; and how all his
comfort had been in little Snowflower, to whom he told so many stories.
King Winwealth was so rejoiced to find his brother again, that he
commanded another feast to be held for many days. All that time the
gates of the palace stood open; all-comers were welcome, all complaints
heard. The houses and lands which Queen Wantall had taken away, were
given back to their rightful owners. Everybody got what they wanted
most. There were no more noises of strife without, nor discontents
within the palace; and on the last day of the feast who should arrive
but Dame Frostyface, in her grey hood and cloak.
Snowflower was right glad to see her grandmother--so were the King and
Prince, for they had known the Dame in their youth. They kept the feast
for a few days more; and when it was ended everything was right in the
kingdom. King Winwealth and Prince Wisewit reigned once more together;
and because Snowflower was the best girl in all that country, they chose
her to be their heiress, instead of Princess Greedalind.
From that day forward she wore white velvet and satin; she had seven
pages, and lived in the grandest part of the palace. Dame Frostyface,
too, was made a great lady. They put a new velvet cushion on her chair,
and she sat in a gown of grey cloth, edged with gold, spinning on an
ivory wheel in a fine painted parlour.
Prince Wisewit built a great summer-house covered with vines and roses,
on the spot where her old cottage stood. He also made a highway through
the forest, that all good people might come and go there at their
leisure; and the cunning fairy Fortunetta, finding that her reign was
over in those parts, set off on a journey round the world, and did not
return in the time of this story.
Good boys and girls, who may chance to read it, that time is long ago.
Great wars, work, and learning have passed over the world since then,
and changed all its fashions. Kings make no seven-day feasts for
all-comers now. Queens and princesses, however greedy, do not mine for
gold. Chairs tell no tales. Wells work no wonders; and there are no such
doings on hills and forests, for the fairies dance no more. Some say it
was the hum of schools--some think it was the din of factories that
frightened them. But nobody has seen them for many a year, except, it is
said, one Hans Christian Andersen, in Denmark, whose tales of the
fairies are so good that they must have been heard from themselves.
It is certain that no living man knows the later history of King
Winwealth's country, nor what became of the people who lived and
visited at his palace. Yet there are people who believe that the King
still falls asleep on his throne and into low spirits in the evening;
that Queen Wantall and Princess Greedalind have found the gold, and
begun to buy; that Dame Frostyface yet spins--they cannot tell where;
that Snowflower may still be seen at the new year's time in her dress of
white velvet, looking out for the early spring; that Prince Wisewit has
somehow fallen under a stronger spell and a thicker cushion, that he
still tells stories to Snowflower and her friends, and when cushion and
spell are broken by another stroke of Sturdy's hatchet--which they
expect will happen some time--the Prince will make all things right
again, and bring back the fairy times to the world.
PRINTED AND BOUND IN GREAT BRITAIN
_By Blackie & Son, Limited, Glasgow_
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
The original lacked a Table of Contents. One was created for this
edition.
This text often closed a quote before adding the final punctuation. An
example may be found on page 7:
Then Snowflower remembered her grandmother's
words, and, laying her head gently down, she said:
"Chair of my grandmother, tell me a story".
End of Project Gutenberg's Granny's Wonderful Chair, by Frances Browne