Once upon a time there lived a King and Queen who had two beautiful
sons and one little daughter, who was so pretty that no one who saw her
could help loving her. When it was time for the christening of the
Princess, the Queen—as she always did—sent for all the fairies to be
present at the ceremony, and afterwards invited them to a splendid
banquet.
When it was over, and they were preparing to go away, the Queen said to
them:
‘Do not forget your usual good custom. Tell me what is going to happen
to Rosette.’
For that was the name they had given the Princess.
But the fairies said they had left their book of magic at home, and
they would come another day and tell her.
‘Ah!’ said the Queen, ‘I know very well what that means—you have
nothing good to say; but at least I beg that you will not hide anything
from me.’
So, after a great deal of persuasion, they said:
‘Madam, we fear that Rosette may be the cause of great misfortunes to
her brothers; they may even meet with their death through her; that is
all we have been able to foresee about your dear little daughter. We
are very sorry to have nothing better to tell you.’
Then they went away, leaving the Queen very sad, so sad that the King
noticed it, and asked her what was the matter.
The Queen said that she had been sitting too near the fire, and had
burnt all the flax that was upon her distaff.
‘Oh! is that all?’ said the King, and he went up into the garret and
brought her down more flax than she could spin in a hundred years. But
the Queen still looked sad, and the King asked her again what was the
matter. She answered that she had been walking by the river and had
dropped one of her green satin slippers into the water.
‘Oh! if that’s all,’ said the King, and he sent to all the shoe-makers
in his kingdom, and they very soon made the Queen ten thousand green
satin slippers, but still she looked sad. So the King asked her again
what was the matter, and this time she answered that in eating her
porridge too hastily she had swallowed her wedding-ring. But it so
happened that the King knew better, for he had the ring himself, and he
said:
‘Oh! you are not telling me the truth, for I have your ring here in my
purse.’
Then the Queen was very much ashamed, and she saw that the King was
vexed with her; so she told him all that the fairies had predicted
about Rosette, and begged him to think how the misfortunes might be
prevented.
Then it was the King’s turn to look sad, and at last he said:
‘I see no way of saving our sons except by having Rosette’s head cut
off while she is still little.’
But the Queen cried that she would far rather have her own head cut
off, and that he had better think of something else, for she would
never consent to such a thing. So they thought and thought, but they
could not tell what to do, until at last the Queen heard that in a
great forest near the castle there was an old hermit, who lived in a
hollow tree, and that people came from far and near to consult him; so
she said:
‘I had better go and ask his advice; perhaps he will know what to do to
prevent the misfortunes which the fairies foretold.’
She set out very early the next morning, mounted upon a pretty little
white mule, which was shod with solid gold, and two of her ladies rode
behind her on beautiful horses. When they reached the forest they
dismounted, for the trees grew so thickly that the horses could not
pass, and made their way on foot to the hollow tree where the hermit
lived. At first when he saw them coming he was vexed, for he was not
fond of ladies; but when he recognised the Queen, he said:
‘You are welcome, Queen. What do you come to ask of me?’
Then the Queen told him all the fairies had foreseen for Rosette, and
asked what she should do, and the hermit answered that she must shut
the Princess up in a tower and never let her come out of it again. The
Queen thanked and rewarded him, and hastened back to the castle to tell
the King. When he heard the news he had a great tower built as quickly
as possible, and there the Princess was shut up, and the King and Queen
and her two brothers went to see her every day that she might not be
dull. The eldest brother was called ‘the Great Prince,’ and the second
‘the Little Prince.’ They loved their sister dearly, for she was the
sweetest, prettiest princess who was ever seen, and the least little
smile from her was worth more than a hundred pieces of gold. When
Rosette was fifteen years old the Great Prince went to the King and
asked if it would not soon be time for her to be married, and the
Little Prince put the same question to the Queen.
Their majesties were amused at them for thinking of it, but did not
make any reply, and soon after both the King and the Queen were taken
ill, and died on the same day. Everybody was sorry, Rosette especially,
and all the bells in the kingdom were tolled.
Then all the dukes and counsellors put the Great Prince upon a golden
throne, and crowned him with a diamond crown, and they all cried, ‘Long
live the King!’ And after that there was nothing but feasting and
rejoicing.
The new King and his brother said to one another:
‘Now that we are the masters, let us take our sister out of that dull
tower which she is so tired of.’
They had only to go across the garden to reach the tower, which was
very high, and stood up in a corner. Rosette was busy at her
embroidery, but when she saw her brothers she got up, and taking the
King’s hand cried:
‘Good morning, dear brother. Now that you are King, please take me out
of this dull tower, for I am so tired of it.’
Then she began to cry, but the King kissed her and told her to dry her
tears, as that was just what they had come for, to take her out of the
tower and bring her to their beautiful castle, and the Prince showed
her the pocketful of sugar plums he had brought for her, and said:
‘Make haste, and let us get away from this ugly tower, and very soon
the King will arrange a grand marriage for you.’
When Rosette saw the beautiful garden, full of fruit and flowers, with
green grass and sparkling fountains, she was so astonished that not a
word could she say, for she had never in her life seen anything like it
before. She looked about her, and ran hither and thither gathering
fruit and flowers, and her little dog Frisk, who was bright green all
over, and had but one ear, danced before her, crying ‘Bow-wow-wow,’ and
turning head over heels in the most enchanting way.
Everybody was amused at Frisk’s antics, but all of a sudden he ran away
into a little wood, and the Princess was following him, when, to her
great delight, she saw a peacock, who was spreading his tail in the
sunshine. Rosette thought she had never seen anything so pretty. She
could not take her eyes off him, and there she stood entranced until
the King and the Prince came up and asked what was amusing her so much.
She showed them the peacock, and asked what it was, and they answered
that it was a bird which people sometimes ate.
‘What!’ said the Princess, ‘do they dare to kill that beautiful
creature and eat it? I declare that I will never marry any one but the
King of the Peacocks, and when I am Queen I will take very good care
that nobody eats any of my subjects.’
At this the King was very much astonished.
‘But, little sister,’ said he, ‘where shall we find the King of the
Peacocks?’
‘Oh! wherever you like, sire,’ she answered, ‘but I will never marry
any one else.’
After this they took Rosette to the beautiful castle, and the peacock
was brought with her, and told to walk about on the terrace outside her
windows, so that she might always see him, and then the ladies of the
court came to see the Princess, and they brought her beautiful
presents—dresses and ribbons and sweetmeats, diamonds and pearls and
dolls and embroidered slippers, and she was so well brought up, and
said, ‘Thank you!’ so prettily, and was so gracious, that everyone went
away delighted with her.
Meanwhile the King and the Prince were considering how they should find
the King of the Peacocks, if there was such a person in the world. And
first of all they had a portrait made of the Princess, which was so
like her that you really would not have been surprised if it had spoken
to you. Then they said to her:
‘Since you will not marry anyone but the King of the Peacocks, we are
going out together into the wide world to search for him. If we find
him for you we shall be very glad. In the meantime, mind you take good
care of our kingdom.’
Rosette thanked them for all the trouble they were taking on her
account, and promised to take great care of the kingdom, and only to
amuse herself by looking at the peacock, and making Frisk dance while
they were away.