plenty of my own, thank you. What's the matter with your health that
you want every one to drink it up? You 'd better keep it: it may come
in useful, later on."
This was such an entirely new view of the matter that a complete
silence fell on every one in the room; and all the guests put down
their glasses of ginger beer, and stared into them to see if the
Prince's health was floating about on the top. In the midst of the
pause, the Fairy Zigzag stalked to the table, nodded to the royal
parents, and took the seat that had been reserved for her at the
Queen's right hand.
"So good of you to come," murmured the Queen, nervously. "We never
thought you would give us so great a pleasure."
"Oh, didn't you? Then, why did you invite me?" snapped the fairy
godmother. The Queen said nothing, for she did not know what to say.
The King did his best to put matters right.
"The Prince has been looking forward to your visit all day," he
hastened to say. "The dear boy has hardly known how to wait until this
evening."
"Rubbish," said the Fairy Zigzag, laughing most unpleasantly. "It is
quite time for the dear boy to be in bed. What is that other child
doing, over there?"
She pointed with her wand at the little Princess Pansy, whose eyes were
now so full of sleep that she could hardly keep them open. When,
however, she saw the Fairy Zigzag pointing at her, she instantly became
wide awake, and grew quite pink with pleasure at being noticed. It was
the first time any one had noticed her all that day; but of course, one
must expect to be forgotten when it is somebody else's birthday.
"Oh!" cried Princess Pansy, holding out both her hands to the cross old
Fairy Zigzag. "Are you really a fairy godmother? I have never seen a
real fairy before, and I am so glad you have come!"
The King and Queen were horrified at the familiar way in which the
little Princess was speaking to such an important guest as the fairy
godmother. It was true that she was only eight years old, but it was
quite time she learnt some of the charming manners for which her
brother the Prince was so remarkable. If the Fairy Zigzag had turned
her into a toad, or a marble statue, or something chilly like that,
they would not have been in the least surprised. But the Fairy Zigzag
did nothing of the sort. She just took the two hands the Princess
Pansy held out to her, and looked her full in the face; and directly
she did that all the crossness faded out of her own, and instead of
being just a disagreeable old fairy she suddenly appeared quite
good-natured and pleasant. This, indeed, was no wonder; for it would
have been difficult to look at the little Princess without feeling
happier for it. The King and Queen, however, mistook her silence for
anger.
"Pray forgive her," they said, tremblingly. "She is so young, and she
doesn't know any better. We have tried in vain to teach her good
manners. Doubtless, when she is as old as the Prince Perfection she
will have learnt to be as polite as he is."
"It is to be hoped not," said the Fairy Zigzag, turning once more to
the royal parents. "And if I know anything about it, she will never be
as polite as the Prince Perfection. That child is a real child, and
none of us will ever make her anything else. Now, I don't mean to
waste any more time; so come here, godson, and tell me what you would
like for a birthday present."
The Prince Perfection did not know what to say. He longed to ask for a
steamboat that went by real steam, or a cannon that would fire real
gunpowder, or a balloon that would take him wherever he wished to go;
but he felt that only an ordinary boy would have asked for such things
as these, and Prince Perfection had always been told by his nurses that
he was not an ordinary boy.
"Please give me whatever you like, dear godmother," he said, and hoped
very much that it would be a steamboat with real steam.
"The dear boy does not like to appear greedy," said the Queen.
"Fiddlesticks!" said the Fairy Zigzag, and then she pointed again at
the little Princess Pansy. "If I were to give _you_ a present, do you
think you would know what to choose?" she asked her, smiling.
"Oh, how beautiful!" exclaimed Princess Pansy, clapping her hands. To
have a present without a birthday was more than she had ever believed
possible.
"What will you have?" asked the Fairy, raising her wand. The Princess
did not stop to think.
"I will have a wax doll, please, with blue eyes and yellow hair and
pink cheeks, dressed in a white silk frock with lots of little frills,"
she said, rapidly. "And, if you _could_ manage it," she added,
glancing sideways at the Prince, her brother, "I think I should like
one that doesn't melt when you put it near the fire."
"I think I can manage it," said the Fairy Zigzag, and down came her
wand with a sharp tap on the table. Princess Pansy gave a cry of
delight. In front of her lay the most beautiful wax doll any little
girl of eight years old has ever possessed. She had blue eyes and
yellow curls and pink cheeks; she was dressed in a white silk frock
with rows and rows of little frills; she had a gold crown perched on
her head, and she wore high-heeled shoes on her dainty feet; she had a
real pocket with a real lace handkerchief sticking out of it; she
carried a fan in one hand and a scent bottle in the other; and she
actually possessed real six-buttoned gloves, which could be drawn on
and off her little hands. Princess Pansy was breathless. She had
never seen anything so beautiful before.
"You must thank the Fairy Zigzag," whispered the King and Queen. The
little Princess gave a sigh and looked up; it seemed so stupid to say
"Thank you" for such a superb dolly as hers. After all, she had to say
nothing whatever, for the Fairy Zigzag was no longer there; she had
gone away without a chariot, or a cloud of blue smoke, or even a bang!
"She has given nothing to her godson," said the courtiers to one
another; and they fully expected that Prince Perfection would fly into
a passion. However, Prince Perfection did not fly into a passion. He
looked at the little Princess as she laughed with joy over her
beautiful new doll; he thought just once of the steamboat that would
have gone by real steam, and the cannon that would have fired real
gunpowder, and the balloon that would have taken him wherever he wished
to go; and then he remembered that he was ten years old and a Prince,
and he flung back his head and began to whistle.
"It doesn't matter," he said, indifferently. "I have five hundred and
fifty-four presents upstairs, and I don't care for dolls."
Little Princess Pansy had never been so contented in the whole of her
life. The palace seemed a different place to her, now that it
contained the doll that had come from Fairyland; and she immediately
named her the Lady Emmelina, which was the most important name she
could remember on the spur of the moment. From that day the Princess
and her doll were never separated. When the Prince and Princess went
for a drive, the Lady Emmelina sat up stiffly between them; when the
Professors came to give the children their lessons, they found that
they had to give them also to a little lady in a white silk frock with
rows and rows of little frills, who stared at them solemnly with her
large, impassive blue eyes, and never answered a word to any of their
questions. Princess Pansy no longer wished to be ten years old; she no
longer wished for anything: she had everything she wanted in the
unchangeable Lady Emmelina. For the Lady Emmelina never varied; the
Princess might have as many moods as she pleased, but the Lady Emmelina
merely smiled. For a constant companion, it would have been difficult
to find any one more delightful than the Lady Emmelina. The Prince
Perfection, however, took a very different view of the matter. Thanks
to the Lady Emmelina, he had no one to play with. He had never been
left so much to himself in his life, and in spite of his excellent
opinion of himself he found himself extremely dull. He could no longer
play cricket, since the Princess was not there to bowl for him; it was
no fun to play at soldiers if the Princess was not there to be on the
losing side; he could not pretend to be the Royal Executioner if the
Princess was not there to be executed. To be sure, he had five hundred
and fifty-four birthday presents; but what consolation could they
afford him when he was still without a steamboat that went by real
steam? The Lady Emmelina was the cause of all his misfortunes, and he
could not bear the Lady Emmelina. It was the Lady Emmelina who had
come in the place of his real steamboat and his real cannon and his
real balloon; it was the Lady Emmelina who had bewitched the little
Princess, his sister, and robbed him of his best playfellow. And the
Prince Perfection, whatever his faults were, was extremely fond of the
little Princess.
"If you will come and play cricket with me, I will let you have the
first innings," he said to her in despair one sunny afternoon.
"It is far too rough a game for the Lady Emmelina," answered Princess
Pansy, shaking her head.
"Then choose any game you like, only do come and play with me," begged
the Prince. He had never had to beg so hard for anything before, for
the little Princess had been his willing slave as long as he could
remember.
"We cannot possibly come this afternoon," answered Princess Pansy.
"The Lady Emmelina is going to have a tea-party. I will ask her to
invite you if you like."
The Prince, however, would have nothing to do with Lady Emmelina's
tea-party. He went and sat by the pond instead, and thought how fine
his steamboat would have looked if it had gone puffing across the water
with real smoke coming out of the funnel. The mere thought of it made
him dislike the Lady Emmelina so much more than before that he made up
his mind to be revenged on her. Now, this was an extremely bold thing
even to think about, for she had come straight from Fairyland, and it
is never safe to meddle with toys that have come straight from
Fairyland. For all that, the Prince crept into the nursery that very
same night, when everyone in the palace was asleep, and prepared to
have his revenge on the waxen Lady Emmelina. There she sat in all her
magnificence on the nursery table, with both her gloves tightly
buttoned, and both her pointed toes turned upwards. The very sight of
her annoyed the jealous little Prince. He pattered across the floor on
his bare feet, and seized the Lady Emmelina by the arm. She greeted
him with a shrill and angry shriek.
"How dare you? Let me go at once!" she screamed. The Prince was so
surprised that he dropped her on the table again. The Lady Emmelina,
shaking all over with fury, began smoothing out her rows of crumpled
frills.
"The idea of such a thing!" she gasped. "I declare, you have actually
pushed my crown on one side, and there is no looking-glass in the room.
I have a great mind to report you to Fairyland."
"You may do what you like," answered the Prince, who was no coward and
had recovered from his astonishment. "You have bewitched the Princess
Pansy, and I mean to hide you where no one will be able to find you."
No sooner had he uttered these words than the Lady Emmelina turned
extremely pale. If he had tried to melt her at the fire or to cut off
her head with the scissors, which was the kind of thing he usually did
to his sister's dolls, she knew that she would have been safe; but he
had threatened to do the one thing that even the fairies who protected
her could not prevent him from doing. Her only hope was that he would
hide her somewhere so that she should have time to escape before
sunrise; for after sunrise all her powers of moving or speaking would
desert her and she would be nothing but a wax doll again. She need not
have been afraid, for the Prince did not mean to waste any more time
than he could help; and the next moment she was being carried swiftly
out of the room under his arm. Downstairs ran the little Prince, with
his hand over the Lady Emmelina's mouth to prevent her from screaming;
and along the marble passages he hastened, until he came to a little
door that led into the garden, and this he unlocked with the diamond
key that usually hung on the nail on the nursery wall. It is not
pleasant to run without shoes along a gravel path, and Prince
Perfection soon turned aside on to the lawn, and trotted over the grass
in search of a hiding place for the Lady Emmelina. A large white stone
lay in the middle of the lawn and gleamed in the moonlight. The Prince
did not remember having seen it there before; indeed, it was not likely
that the royal gardeners would have allowed it to remain in such a
place for a moment. He stooped down and rolled it on one side, and
found that it covered a neat round hole lined with green moss. It was
the very place for the Lady Emmelina; and he laid her gently in the
very middle of it.
"I hope you will not be very cramped," said Prince Perfection, politely.
Lady Emmelina lay motionless on the mossy ground, and stared at the
moon. No one would have thought that she was the same dolly who had
screamed so angrily in the nursery ten minutes ago.
"It is the nicest place I could have found in the whole garden,"
continued Prince Perfection a little anxiously. After all, she was a
very beautiful doll, and she had come straight from Fairyland.
Still the Lady Emmelina stared intently at the moon, with her large
blue eyes.
"I should never have thought of putting you anywhere if you had not
bewitched the Princess," declared Prince Perfection, feeling still more
uncomfortable. It was not easy to go on apologising to some one who
persisted in staring at the moon just as though no one was speaking to
her.
"Why did you bewitch the Princess Pansy?" cried the little Prince. "If
you will promise not to bewitch her any more, I will take you straight
back to the nursery."
But although he waited eagerly for her answer, not a word came from the
Lady Emmelina; and the Prince ceased to feel sorry for her, and gave up
apologising.
"It is your own fault, and I don't care a bit," he said, impatiently;
and he rolled the large white stone over the hole, until the doll from
Fairyland was completely hidden. It is a wonder the fairies did not
interfere; but perhaps they had their reasons.
There was no peace for any one in the palace when the Princess
discovered that the Lady Emmelina was gone; and she discovered it
before breakfast the very next morning. It was in vain that the Prince
offered to give her his five hundred and fifty-four birthday presents
if she would only stop crying: the Princess wanted her doll from
Fairyland, and nothing but her doll from Fairyland would console her.
Every one who loved the little Princess--and that was every one in the
palace--began looking for the Lady Emmelina; but no one succeeded in
finding a trace of her. This, however, was by no means so surprising
as it sounds, for the large white stone was no longer in the middle of
the lawn, and the neat round hole lined with green moss had disappeared
just as completely. The Prince was no less unhappy than his sister.
Nothing was turning out as he had expected; for, instead of being ready
to play with him again, the little Princess was far too miserable to
think of playing at all. He tried all day long to coax her into a good
humour; but bedtime came, and he had not won a single smile from her.
It was then that he made up his mind to go out into the world and find
the Lady Emmelina. So that night the Prince once more unhooked the
diamond key from the nail on the nursery wall, and stole into the
garden in the moonlight. This time, however, he had not forgotten to
put on his shoes and stockings and his second-best court suit, for when
a prince goes out into the world he must at least do his best to look
like a prince. When he came to the lawn he stopped and stared with
amazement; for there, in the moonlight, lay the large white stone under
which he had hidden the doll from Fairyland. Overjoyed at reaching the
end of his journey so soon, he ran forward and rolled the stone on one
side. There, to be sure, was the neat round hole lined with green
moss; but in the middle of it sat a large grasshopper, and not a sign
of the Lady Emmelina was to be seen.
The Prince was so disappointed that he had the greatest difficulty in
remembering that he was ten years old, and that crying was therefore
out of the question. The grasshopper was winking at him as though he
understood how he felt.
"I guessed you would come," he said, in a kind voice. "I just waited
on purpose."
"Where has she gone?" asked Prince Perfection, dolefully.
"Ask me something easier than that," answered the grasshopper. "I
didn't see her go. I happened to look in as I was passing; and when I
found she was gone I thought I'd just wait and tell you she was gone,
don't you see?"
"What is the good of waiting to tell me something I could have found
out for myself?" asked Prince Perfection. "If you can't help me to
find her, you might just as well not be there."
"I didn't say I couldn't help you to find her," said the grasshopper,
looking hurt; "though if you are going to be cross about it I don't
know that I will."
"Oh," cried Prince Perfection, "I will never be cross again, if you
will help me to find the Lady Emmelina."
"Then why did you hide her in the first place?" asked the grasshopper.
The Prince looked foolish.
"Because I had no one to play with," he said.
"If you do find her," continued the grasshopper, "do you think the
Princess will play with you again?"
"Oh, no," sighed the Prince. "She will only want to play with the Lady
Emmelina."
"Then don't try to find the Lady Emmelina," said the grasshopper,
promptly.
"I must," said Prince Perfection. "Anything is better than seeing the
Princess cry. I took her doll away, you see, and it is my fault that
Pansy is so unhappy. I don't mean to go home again until I have found
the Lady Emmelina."
"Right you are," said the grasshopper. "You're the man for me. I'll
help you as far as I can, but you must come down here first; I can't go
on shouting like this."
"Down there?" said the Prince. "The hole is much too small."
"Nonsense! Come and try," said the grasshopper, and indeed, before he
tried at all, the Prince found himself inside the neat round hole, with
the mossy walls reaching far above his head, and the grasshopper
shaking hands with him.
"Feel all right?" asked the grasshopper. "Sit down and get your
breath. These sudden changes are apt to be exhausting if you are not
used to them."
"Are you used to them?" asked the Prince, when he had recovered enough
breath to speak.
"Dear me, yes!" said the grasshopper with a chuckle. "When I get up in
the morning I never know how many changes I may not have to go through
before the day is over. Don't think I am complaining though, for of
course it is part of my profession."
"What is your profession?" asked the Prince.
"Chief Spy in Particular to the Fairy Queen," answered the grasshopper.
"It's very hard work, I can tell you; some days I haven't a moment to
myself. Of course, I find out a great deal that nobody else knows,
which is always amusing. Yesterday, for instance, if I hadn't been a
cockchafer, a doll's teapot, a garden seat, a rose tree and a nursery
table, I shouldn't know as much as I do about you and the Lady
Emmelina."
"Then please tell me what I must do in order to find the Lady
Emmelina," begged the Prince.
"By all means," said the grasshopper, cheerfully. "Go straight on
without turning to the right or the left; and whenever some one greets
you, ask him politely to give you what he is thinking about, and then
you will be able to find the Lady Emmelina."
It seemed rather a roundabout way of finding anything; but, as the
grasshopper disappeared directly he had finished speaking, there was
nothing to do but to follow his advice. The first part was easy
enough, for just in front of him the Prince noticed a little door in
the green mossy wall, which he was quite sure had not been there
before; and through this he straightway walked. He immediately found
himself in a blaze of sunshine on the sea-shore, with green waves
stretching before him as far as he could see, and nothing on either
side of him except the flat stony beach. "It's all very well to tell
any one to go straight on, but how am I to get across the sea?" thought
the Prince. He had never been afraid of anything in his life, however,
so he ran down the beach and put one foot into the white foam at the
edge.
"Good-day to you!" said a voice. "Who are you, and what do you want?"
"I am Prince Perfection, and I want what you are thinking about,"
answered the Prince, boldly, although he could not see who was speaking.
"That is a strange thing to want," said the voice; "for I was just
thinking about a little steamboat that would go by real steam; and how
you can possibly want such a thing as that is more than I can
understand."
At that moment there was a faint puffing sound in the distance, which
came nearer and nearer; and presently over the waves rode a most
perfect little steamboat, with real smoke coming out of the funnel. It
was just large enough for the Prince, and he stepped on board directly
it came near enough, and put his hand on the little brass wheel.
"Thank you very much," he said as loudly as he could, in the hope that
the owner of the mysterious voice would hear him. Nobody answered him;
but he wondered why an old crab, who was shuffling along the beach,
chose that particular moment to wink at him.
Certainly, no one has ever reached the shore on the opposite side of
the sea so quickly as Prince Perfection in his real steamboat. It was
a pleasure to hear it puff as it cut through the big green waves; and
he stood like a real captain with his hand on the little brass wheel,
and steered it right into a bay that seemed waiting on purpose for it.
It was very sad that it should disappear directly he stepped out of it;
but as it had come from nowhere at all because he wanted it, he could
not complain because it went back to nowhere at all when he had done
with it. So he sighed twice, and then walked straight ahead as before,
up the beach and over a flat grassy plain, covered with yellow poppies
and gorse bushes and purple heather. Nothing could have been easier
than this; and Prince Perfection had not the slightest wish to turn to
the right or the left, until he came suddenly upon a thick clump of
gorse bushes which lay in the very middle of his path. He made two
attempts to clamber over it; but, each time, he was caught in the gorse
bushes and was scratched all over; and even if one is ten years old and
a prince, it is hard to bear being scratched all over by a gorse bush.
Prince Perfection began to wonder if it would be very wrong to follow
the path to the right until he should come to an opening, but before he
had time to decide such a difficult question a shrill voice broke the
silence once more.
"Good-day to you," it said. "Who are you, and what do you want?"
"I am Prince Perfection, and I want what you are thinking about,"
answered the Prince, boldly.
"How ridiculous!" laughed the voice. "Why, I am thinking about a
cannon, a real cannon that will fire real gunpowder. Surely, you can
want nothing so useless as that?"
"Indeed, I do," said the Prince; and there stood the most perfect
little real cannon, loaded with real shot, and in his hand was a
lighted match ready to fire it with. He lost no time in pointing it
straight at the clump of furze bushes, and the real gunpowder made a
flash and a splutter, and the shot went right into the middle of the
yellow gorse and blew it all away so completely that not a trace of it
was left, except one small bush that the Prince had no difficulty in
jumping over. The cannon went back to nowhere at all, just as the
steamboat had done.
"Thank you very much," said the Prince Perfection as loudly as he
could; and again no one answered him. He was much surprised, however,
when he looked back and found that the gorse bush had disappeared as
soon as he had jumped over it. After that he walked on for a long way;
and just as he was beginning to feel tired, and the sun was beginning
to think about setting, he tumbled right up against a big iceberg. It
is not usual for icebergs to drop down suddenly in the middle of the
road, but that is what this particular iceberg did, and that is why the
Prince tumbled against it.