[Illustration: _The broom was on fire at once, blazed up and burned her
hands_]
Rosalie now ran rapidly towards the house; every time she turned she saw
the mouse galloping after her, and laughing with a mocking air. Arrived
at the house, she tried to crush the mouse in the door, but it remained
open in spite of every effort she could make and the mouse remained
quietly upon the door-sill.
"Wait awhile, wicked monster!" cried Rosalie, beside herself with rage
and terror.
She seized a broom and tried to dash it violently against the mouse but
the broom was on fire at once, blazed up and burned her hands; she threw
it quickly to the floor and pushed it into the chimney with her foot,
lest it should set fire to the house. Then seizing a kettle which was
boiling on the fire, she emptied it upon the mouse but the boiling water
was changed into good fresh milk and the mouse commenced drinking it,
saying:--
"How exceedingly amiable you are, Rosalie! Not content with having
released me from captivity, you give me an excellent breakfast."
Poor Rosalie now began to weep bitterly. She was utterly at a loss what
to do, when she heard her father entering.
"My father!" cried she, "my father! Oh! cruel mouse, I beseech you in
pity to go away that my father may not see you!"
"No, I shall not go but I will hide myself behind your heels until your
father knows of your disobedience."
The mouse had scarcely concealed herself behind Rosalie, when Prudent
entered. He looked at Rosalie, whose paleness and embarrassed air
betrayed her fear.
"Rosalie," said Prudent, with a trembling voice, "I forgot the key of
the little garden-house; have you found it?"
"Here it is, father," said Rosalie, presenting it to him, and coloring
deeply.
"How did this cream come to be upset on the floor?"
"Father, it was the cat."
"The cat? Impossible. The cat brought a vessel of milk to the middle of
the room and upset it there?"
"No! no! father, it was I that did it; in carrying it, I accidentally
overturned it."
Rosalie spoke in a low voice, and dared not look at her father.
"Take the broom, Rosalie, and sweep up this cream."
"There is no broom, father."
"No broom! there was one when I left the house."
"I burned it, father, accidentally, by---- by----"
She paused--her father looked fixedly at her, threw a searching unquiet
glance about the room, sighed and turned his steps slowly towards the
little house in the garden.
Rosalie fell sobbing bitterly upon a chair; the mouse did not stir. A
few moments afterwards, Prudent entered hastily, his countenance marked
with horror.
"Rosalie! unhappy child! what have you done? You have yielded to your
fatal curiosity and released our most cruel enemy from prison."
"Pardon me, father! oh pardon me!" she cried, throwing herself at his
feet; "I was ignorant of the evil I did."
"Misfortune is always the result of disobedience, Rosalie; disobedient
children think they are only committing a small fault, when they are
doing the greatest injury to themselves and others."
"But, father, who and what then is this mouse, who causes you this
terrible fear? How, if it had so much power, could you keep it so long a
prisoner and why can you not put it in prison again?"
"This mouse, my unhappy child, is a wicked fairy, but very powerful. For
myself, I am the genius Prudent and since you have given liberty to my
enemy, I can now reveal to you that which I should have concealed until
you were fifteen years old.
"I am, then, as I said to you, the genius Prudent; your dear mother was
a simple mortal but her virtues and her graces touched the queen of the
fairies and also the king of the genii and they permitted me to wed her.
I gave a splendid festival on my marriage-day. Unfortunately I forgot to
invoke the fairy Detestable, who was already irritated against me for
having married a princess, after having refused one of her daughters.
She was so exasperated against me that she swore an implacable hatred
against me, my wife and my children. I was not terrified at her threats,
as I myself had a power almost equal to her own and I was much beloved
by the queen of the fairies. Many times by the power of my enchantments,
I triumphed over the malicious hatred of the fairy Detestable.
"A few hours after your birth your mother was thrown into the most
violent convulsions which I could not calm. I left her for a few moments
to invoke the aid of the queen of the fairies. When I returned your
mother was dead.
"The wicked fairy Detestable had profited by my absence and caused her
death. She was about to endow you with all the passions and vices of
this evil world, when my unexpected return happily paralyzed her
efforts. I interrupted her at the moment when she had endowed you with a
curiosity sufficient to make you wretched and to subject you entirely to
her power at fifteen years of age. By my power, united to that of the
queen of the fairies, I counter-balanced this fatal influence and we
decided that you should not fall under her power at fifteen years of
age, unless you yielded three times under the gravest circumstances to
your idle curiosity.
"At the same time the queen of the fairies, to punish the fairy
Detestable, changed her into a mouse, shut her up in the little garden
house, and declared that she should never leave it unless you
voluntarily opened the door. Also, that she should never resume her
original form of fairy unless you yielded three times to your criminal
curiosity before you were fifteen years of age. Lastly, that if you
resisted once the fatal passion you should be for ever released, as well
as myself, from the power of the fairy Detestable.
"With great difficulty I obtained all these favors and only by promising
that I would share your fate and become, like yourself, the slave of
the fairy Detestable, if you weakly allowed yourself to yield three
times to your curiosity. I promised solemnly to educate you in such a
manner as to destroy this terrible passion, calculated to cause so many
sorrows.
"For all these reasons I have confined myself and you, Rosalie, in this
enclosure. I have permitted you to see no one, not even a domestic. I
procured by my power all that your heart desired and I have been feeling
quite satisfied in having succeeded so well with you. In three weeks you
would have been fifteen, and for ever delivered from the odious yoke of
the fairy Detestable.
"I was alarmed when you asked for the key of the little house, of which
you had never before seemed to think. I could not conceal the painful
impression which this demand made upon me. My agitation excited your
curiosity. In spite of your gaiety and assumed thoughtlessness, I
penetrated your thoughts, and you may judge of my grief when the queen
of the fairies ordered me to make the temptation possible and the
resistance meritorious by leaving the key at least once in your reach. I
was thus compelled to leave it, that fatal key, and thus facilitate by
my absence my own and your destruction.
"Imagine, Rosalie, what I suffered during the hour of my absence,
leaving you alone with this temptation before your eyes and when I saw
your embarrassment and blushes on my return, indicating to me too well
that you had allowed your curiosity to master you.
"I was commanded to conceal everything from you; to tell you nothing of
your birth or of the dangers which surround you, until your fifteenth
birthday. If I had disobeyed, you would at once have fallen into the
power of the fairy Detestable.
"And yet, Rosalie, all is not lost. You can yet repair your fault by
resisting for fifteen days this terrible passion. At fifteen years of
age you were to have been united to a charming prince, who is related to
us, the prince Gracious. This union is yet possible.
"Ah, Rosalie! my still dear child, take pity on yourself, if you have no
mercy for me and resist your curiosity."
Rosalie was on her knees before her father, her face concealed in her
hands and weeping bitterly. At these words she took courage, embraced
him tenderly and said to him:--
"Oh, father! I promise you solemnly that I will atone for this fault. Do
not leave me, dear father! With you by me, I shall be inspired with a
courage which would otherwise fail me. I dare not be deprived of your
wise paternal counsel."
"Alas! Rosalie! it is no longer in my power to remain with you for I am
now under the dominion of my enemy. Most certainly she will not allow me
to stay by your side and warn you against the snares and temptations
which she will spread at your feet. I am astonished at not having seen
my cruel foe before this time. The view of my affliction and despair
would have for her hard heart an irresistible charm."
"I have been near you all the time, at your daughter's feet," said the
little gray mouse, in a sharp voice, stepping out and showing herself to
the unfortunate genius. "I have been highly entertained at the recital
of all that I have already made you suffer, and the pleasure I felt in
hearing you give this account to your daughter induced me to conceal
myself till this moment. Now say adieu to your dear but curious Rosalie;
she must accompany me, and I forbid you to follow her."
Saying these words, she seized the hem of Rosalie's dress with her sharp
little teeth and tried to draw her away. Rosalie uttered a piercing cry
and clung convulsively to her father but an irresistible force bore her
off. The unfortunate genius seized a stick and raised it to strike the
mouse but before he had time to inflict the blow the mouse placed one of
her little paws on the genius's foot and he remained as immovable as a
statue. Rosalie embraced her father's knees and implored the mouse to
take pity upon her but the little wretch gave one of her sharp,
diabolical laughs and said:--
"Come, come, my pretty! Pity it is not here that you will find the
temptations to yield twice to your irresistible fault! We will travel
all over the world together and I will show you many countries in
fifteen days."
The mouse pulled Rosalie without ceasing. Her arms were still clasped
around her father, striving to resist the overpowering force of her
enemy. The mouse uttered a discordant little cry and suddenly the house
was in flames. Rosalie had sufficient presence of mind to reflect that
if she allowed herself to be burned there would be no means left of
saving her father, who must then remain eternally under the power of
Detestable. Whereas, if she preserved her own life there remained always
some chance of rescuing him.
"Adieu, adieu, dear father!" she cried; "we will meet again in fifteen
days. After having given you over to your enemy, your Rosalie will yet
save you."
She then tore herself away, in order not to be devoured by the flames.
She ran on rapidly for some time without knowing where she was going.
She walked several hours but at last, exhausted with fatigue and half
dead with hunger, she resolved to approach a kind-looking woman who was
seated at her door.
"Madam," said she, "will you give me a place to sleep? I am dying with
hunger and fatigue. Will you not be so kind as to allow me to enter and
pass the night with you?"
"How is it that so beautiful a girl as yourself is found upon the
highways and what ugly animal is that with the expression of a demon
which accompanies you."
Rosalie turned round and saw the little gray mouse smiling upon her
mockingly. She tried to chase it away but the mouse obstinately refused
to move. The good woman, seeing this contest, shook her head and said:--
"Go on your ways, my pretty one. The Evil One and his followers cannot
lodge with me."
Weeping bitterly, Rosalie continued her journey, and wherever she
presented herself they refused to receive her and the mouse, who never
quitted her side. She entered a forest where happily she found a brook
at which she quenched her thirst. She found also fruits and nuts in
abundance. She drank, ate and seated herself near a tree, thinking with
agony of her father and wondering what would become of him during the
fifteen days.
While Rosalie was thus musing she kept her eyes closed so as not to see
the wicked little gray mouse. Her fatigue, and the silence and darkness
around her, brought on sleep and she slept a long time profoundly.
THE PRINCE GRACIOUS
While Rosalie was thus quietly sleeping, the prince Gracious was engaged
in a hunt through the forest by torch-light. The fawn, pursued fiercely
by the dogs, came trembling with terror to crouch down near the brook by
which Rosalie was sleeping. The dogs and gamekeepers sprang forward
after the fawn. Suddenly the dogs ceased barking and grouped themselves
silently around Rosalie. The prince dismounted from his horse to set the
dogs again upon the trail of the deer but what was his surprise to see a
lovely young girl asleep in this lonely forest! He looked carefully
around but saw no one else. She was indeed alone--abandoned. On
examining her more closely, he saw traces of tears upon her cheeks and
indeed they were still escaping slowly from her closed eyelids.
Rosalie was simply clothed but the richness of her silk dress denoted
wealth. Her fine white hands, her rosy nails, her beautiful chestnut
locks, carefully and tastefully arranged with a gold comb, her elegant
boots and necklace of pure pearls indicated elevated rank.
Rosalie did not awake, notwithstanding the stamping of the horses, the
baying of the dogs and the noisy tumult made by a crowd of sportsmen.
The prince was stupefied and stood gazing steadily at Rosalie. No one
present recognized her. Anxious and disquieted by this profound sleep,
Prince Gracious took her hand softly. Rosalie still slept. The prince
pressed her hand lightly in his but even this did not awaken her.
Turning to his officers, he said: "I cannot thus abandon this
unfortunate child, who has perhaps been led astray by some design, the
victim of some cruel wickedness."
"But how can she be removed while she is asleep, prince," said Hubert,
his principal gamekeeper, "can we not make a litter of branches and thus
remove her to some hostel in the neighborhood while your highness
continues the chase?"
"Your idea is good, Hubert. Make the litter and we will immediately
place her upon it, only you will not carry her to a hostel, but to my
palace. This young maiden is assuredly of high birth, and she is
beautiful as an angel. I will watch over her myself, so that she may
receive the care and attention to which she is entitled."
Hubert, with the assistance of his men, soon arranged the litter upon
which Prince Gracious spread his mantle; then approaching Rosalie, who
was still sleeping softly, he raised her gently in his arms and laid her
upon the cloak. At this moment Rosalie seemed to be dreaming. She smiled
and murmured, in low tones:--
"My father! my father! saved for ever! The Queen of the Fairies! The
Prince Gracious! I see him; he is charming!"
The prince, surprised to hear his name pronounced, did not doubt that
Rosalie was a princess under some cruel enchantment. He commanded his
gamekeepers to walk very softly so as not to wake her and he walked by
the side of the litter.
On arriving at the palace, Prince Gracious ordered that the queen's
apartment should be prepared for Rosalie. He suffered no one to touch
her but carried her himself to her chamber and laid her gently upon the
bed, ordering the women who were to wait upon and watch over her to
apprise him as soon as she awaked. Then, casting a farewell look upon
the sad, sweet face of the sleeper, he strode from the room.
Rosalie slept tranquilly until morning. The sun was shining brightly
when she awoke. She looked about her with great surprise. The wicked
mouse was not near her to terrify her--it had happily disappeared.
"Am I delivered from this wicked fairy Detestable?" said she, joyfully.
"Am I in the hands of a fairy more powerful than herself?"
Rosalie now stepped to the window and saw many armed men and many
officers, dressed in brilliant uniforms. More and more surprised, she
was about to call one of the men, whom she believed to be either genii
or enchanters, when she heard footsteps approaching. She turned and saw
the prince Gracious, clothed in an elegant and rich hunting-dress,
standing before her and regarding her with admiration. Rosalie
immediately recognized the prince of her dream and cried out
involuntarily:--
"The prince Gracious!"
"You know me then?" said the prince, in amazement. "How, if you have
ever known me, could I have forgotten your name and features?"
"I have only seen you in my dreams, prince," said Rosalie, blushing. "As
to my name, you could not possibly know it, since I myself did not know
my father's name until yesterday."
"And what is the name, may I ask, which has been concealed from you so
long?"
Rosalie then told him all that she had heard from her father. She
frankly confessed her culpable curiosity and its terrible consequences.
"Judge of my grief, prince, when I was compelled to leave my father in
order to escape from the flames which the wicked fairy had lighted;
when, rejected everywhere because of the wicked mouse, I found myself
exposed to death from hunger and thirst! Soon, however, a heavy sleep
took possession of me, during which I had many strange dreams. I do not
know how I came here or whether it is in your palace that I find
myself."
Gracious then related to Rosalie how he had found her asleep in the
forest and the words which he had heard her utter in her dream. He then
added:--
"There is one thing your father did not tell you, Rosalie; that is, that
the queen of the fairies, who is our relation, had decided that we
should be married when you were fifteen years of age. It was no doubt
the queen of the fairies who inspired me with the desire to go hunting
by torchlight, in order that I might find you in the forest where you
had wandered. Since you will be fifteen in a few days, Rosalie, deign to
consider my palace as your own and command here in advance, as my queen.
Your father will soon be restored to you and we will celebrate our happy
marriage."
Rosalie thanked her young and handsome cousin heartily and then returned
to her chamber, where she found her maids awaiting her with a wonderful
selection of rich and splendid robes and head-dresses. Rosalie, who had
never given much attention to her toilet, took the first dress that was
presented to her. It was of rose-colored gauze, ornamented with fine
lace with a head-dress of lace and moss rosebuds. Her beautiful chestnut
hair was arranged in bands, forming a crown. When her toilet was
completed, the prince came to conduct her to breakfast.
Rosalie ate like a person who had not dined the day before. After the
repast, the prince led her to the garden and conducted her to the
green-houses, which were very magnificent. At the end of one of the
hot-houses there was a little rotunda, ornamented with choice flowers;
in the centre of this rotunda there was a large case which seemed to
contain a tree but a thick heavy cloth was thrown over it and tightly
sewed together. Through the cloth however could be seen a number of
points of extraordinary brilliancy.
THE TREE IN THE ROTUNDA
Rosalie admired all the flowers very much but she waited with some
impatience for the prince to remove the cloth which enveloped this
mysterious tree. He left the green-house, however, without having spoken
of it.
"What then, my prince, is this tree which is so carefully concealed?"
"It is the wedding present which I destined for you but you cannot see
it until your fifteenth birthday," said the prince, gayly.
"But what is it that shines so brilliantly under the cloth?" said she,
importunately.
"You will know all in a few days, Rosalie, and I flatter myself that you
will not find my present a common affair."
"And can I not see it before my birthday?"
"No, Rosalie; the queen of the fairies has forbidden me, under heavy
penalties, to show it to you until after you become my wife. I do hope
that you love me enough to control your curiosity till that time."
These last words made Rosalie tremble, for they recalled to her the
little gray mouse and the misfortunes which menaced her as well as her
father, if she allowed herself to fall under the temptation, which,
without doubt, her enemy the fairy Detestable had placed before her. She
spoke no more of the mysterious case, and continued her walk with the
prince. The day passed most agreeably. The prince presented her to the
ladies of his court and commanded them to honor and respect in her the
princess Rosalie, whom the queen of the fairies had selected as his
bride. Rosalie was very amiable to every one and they all rejoiced in
the idea of having so charming and lovely a queen.
The following days were passed in every species of festivity. The prince
and Rosalie both saw with joyous hearts the approach of the birth-day
which was to be also that of their marriage:--the prince, because he
tenderly loved his cousin, and Rosalie because she loved the prince,
because she desired strongly to see her father again, and also because
she hoped to see what the case in the rotunda contained. She thought of
this incessantly. She dreamed of it during the night and whenever she
was alone she could with difficulty restrain herself from rushing to
the green-house to try to discover the secret.
Finally, the last day of anticipation and anxiety arrived. In the
morning Rosalie would be fifteen. The prince was much occupied with the
preparations for his marriage; it was to be a very grand affair. All the
good fairies of his acquaintance were to be present as well as the queen
of the fairies. Rosalie found herself alone in the morning and she
resolved to take a walk. While musing upon the happiness of the morrow,
she involuntarily approached the green-house. She entered, smiling
pensively, and found herself face to face with the cloth which covered
the treasure.
"To-morrow," said she, "I shall at last know what this thick cloth
conceals from me. If I wished, indeed I might see it to-day, for I
plainly perceive some little openings in which I might insert my fingers
and by enlarging just a little----. In fact, who would ever know it? I
would sew the cloth after having taken a glimpse. Since to-morrow is so
near, when I am to see all, I may as well take a glance to-day."
Rosalie looked about her and saw no one; and, in her extreme desire to
gratify her curiosity, she forgot the goodness of the prince and the
dangers which menaced them all if she yielded to this temptation.
She passed her fingers through the little apertures and strained them
lightly. The cloth was rent from the top to the bottom with a noise
like thunder and Rosalie saw before her eyes a tree of marvellous
beauty, with a coral trunk and leaves of emeralds. The seeming fruits
which covered the tree were of precious stones of all colors--diamonds,
sapphires, pearls, rubies, opals, topazes, all as large as the fruits
they were intended to represent and of such brilliancy that Rosalie was
completely dazzled by them. But scarcely had she seen this rare and
unparalleled tree, when a noise louder than the first drew her from her
ecstasy. She felt herself lifted up and transported to a vast plain,
from which she saw the palace of the king falling in ruins and heard the
most frightful cries of terror and suffering issue from its walls. Soon
Rosalie saw the prince himself creep from the ruins bleeding and his
clothing almost torn from him. He advanced towards her and said sadly:--
"Rosalie! ungrateful Rosalie! see what you have done to me, not only to
me, but to my whole court. After what you have done, I do not doubt that
you will yield a third time to your curiosity; that you will complete my
misfortunes, those of your unhappy father and your own. Adieu, Rosalie,
adieu! May sincere repentance atone for your ingratitude towards an
unhappy prince who loved you and only sought to make you happy!"
Saying these words, he withdrew slowly.
Rosalie threw herself upon her knees, bathed in tears and called him
tenderly but he disappeared without ever turning to contemplate her
despair. Rosalie was about to faint away, when she heard the little
discordant laugh of the gray mouse and saw it before her.