THERE was once upon a time a King's daughter who was about to be given
in marriage to a great prince; and when the wedding-day was yet a long
way off, the whole court began to concern itself as to how the bride was
to be dressed. What she should wear, and how she should wear it, was the
question debated by the King and his Court day and night, almost without
interruption. Whatever it was to be, it must be splendid, without peer.
Must it be silk, or velvet, or satin; should it be enriched with
brocade, or with gems, or sewn thick with pearls?
But when they came to ask the Princess, she said, "I will have only a
dress of beaten gold, light as gossamer, thin as bee's-wing, soft as
swan's-down."
Then the King, calling his chief goldsmith, told him to make for the
Princess the dress of beaten gold. But the goldsmith knew no way how
such a dress was to be made, and his answer to the King was, "Sire, the
thing is not to be done."
Then the King grew very angry, for he said, "What a Princess can find it
in her head to wish, some man must find it in his wits to accomplish."
So he put the chief goldsmith in prison to think about it, and summoning
all the goldsmiths in the kingdom, told them of the Princess's wish,
that a dress should be made for her of beaten gold. But every one of the
goldsmiths went down on his knees to the King, saying, "Sire, the thing
is not to be done." Thereupon the King clapped them all into prison,
promising to cut off all their heads if in three weeks' time they had
not put them together to some purpose and devised a plan for making such
a dress as the Princess desired.
Now just then Gammelyn was passing through the country, and when he
heard of all this, he felt very sorry for the goldsmiths, who had done
nothing wrong, but had told honest truth about themselves to the King.
So he set his bright wits to work, and at last said, "I think I can save
the goldsmiths their heads, for I have found a way of making such a
dress as this fine Princess desires."
Then he went to the King and said, "I have a way for making a dress of
beaten gold."
"But," said the King, "have a care, for if you fail I shall assuredly
cut off your head."
All the same Gammelyn took that risk willingly and set to work. And
first he asked that the Princess would tell him what style of dress it
should be; and the Princess said, "Beaten gold, light as gossamer, thin
as bee's-wing, soft as swan's-down, and it must be made thus." So she
showed him of what fashion sleeve, and bodice, and train should be. Then
Gammelyn caused to be made (for he had a palace full of workers put
under him) a most lovely dress, in the fashion the Princess had named,
of white cambric closely woven; and the Princess came wondering at him,
saying that it was to be only of beaten gold.
"You wait a while!" said Gammelyn, for he had no liking for the
Princess. Then he asked the King for gold out of his treasury; but the
King supplied him instead with gold from the stores of the imprisoned
goldsmiths. So he put it in a sack, and carried it to a mill, and said
to the miller, "Grind me this sack full of gold into flour." At first
the miller stared at him for a madman, but when he saw the letter in
Gammelyn's hands which the King had written, and which said, "I'll cut
off your head if you don't!" then he set to with a will, and ground the
gold into fine golden flour. So Gammelyn shouldered his sack and jogged
back to the palace. The next thing he did was to summon all the
gold-beaters in the kingdom, which he did easily enough with the King's
letter; for directly they saw the words "I'll cut off your head if you
don't!" and the King's signature beneath, they came running as fast as
their legs could carry them, till all the streets which led up to the
palace were full of them.
Then Gammelyn chose a hundred of the strongest, and took them into the
chamber where the wedding-dress was in making. And the dress he took and
spread out on iron tables, and, sprinkling the golden flour all over it,
set the men to beat day and night for a whole week. And at the end of
the week there was a splendid dress, that looked as if it were of pure
gold only. But the Princess said, "My dress must be _all_ gold, and no
part cambric--this will not do." "You wait!" said Gammelyn, "it is not
finished yet."
Then he made a fire of sweet spices and sandalwood, jasmine, and
mignonette; and into the fire he put the wonderful dress.
The Princess screamed with grief and rage; for she was in love with the
dress, though she was so nice in holding him to the conditions of the
decree. But Gammelyn persevered, and what happened was this: the fire
burnt away all the threads of the cambric, but was not hot enough to
melt the gold; and when all the cambric was burnt, then he drew out of
the fire a dress of beaten gold, light as gossamer, thin as bee's-wing,
soft as swan's-down, and fragrant as a wind when it blows through a
Sultan's garden.
So all the goldsmiths were set free from prison; and the King appointed
Gammelyn his chief goldsmith.
But when the Princess saw the dress, she was so beside herself with
pride and pleasure that she must have also a dress made of pearl, light
as gossamer, thin as bee's-wing, soft as swan's-down. And the King sent
for all his jewellers, and told them that such a dress was to be made;
but they all went down on their bended knees, crying with one voice,
"Sire, the thing is not to be done." And all the good they got for that
was that they were clapped into prison till a way for doing it should be
found.
Then the King said to Gammelyn, "Since my jewellers cannot make this
dress, you must do it!" But Gammelyn said, "Sire, that is not in our
bargain." And the only answer the King had to that was, "I'll cut off
your head if you don't."
Gammelyn sighed like a sea-shell; but determining to make the best of a
bad business, he set to work.
And, as before, he made a dress in the fashion the Princess chose, of
the finest weaving. He made each part separate; the two sleeves
separate, the body separate, the skirt and train separate. Then, at his
desire, the King commanded that all the oysters which were dredged out
of the sea should be brought to him. Out of these he selected the five
finest oysters of all; each one was the size of a tea-tray. Then he put
them into a large tank and inside each shell he put one part of the
dress--the weaving of which was so fine that there was plenty of room
for it, as well as for the oysters. And in course of time he drew out
from each shell--from one the body, from one the skirt, from one the
train, from one a sleeve, from another the other sleeve. Next he
fastened each part together with thread, and put the whole dress back
into the tank; and into the mouth of one oyster he put the joinery of
body and skirt, and into the mouth of another the joinery of skirt and
train, and into the mouth of two others the joinery of the two sleeves,
and the fifth oyster he ate. So the oysters did their work, laying their
soft inlay over the gown, just as they laid it over the inside of their
shells; and after a time Gammelyn drew forth a dress bright and
gleaming, and pure mother-o'-pearl. But "No," said the Princess, "it
must be all pure pearl, with nothing of thread in it." But, "Wait a
while!" said Gammelyn, "I have not finished yet."
So by a decree of the King he caused to be gathered together all the
moths in the kingdom--millions of moths; and he put them all into a bare
iron room along with the dress, and sealed the doors and windows with
red sealing-wax. The Princess wept and sighed for the dress: "It will be
all eaten," said she. "Then I shall cut off his head," said the King.
But for all that, Gammelyn persevered.
[Illustration]
And when he opened the door they found that every thread had been eaten
away by the moths, while the mother-o'-pearl had been left uninjured. So
the dress was a perfect pearl, light as gossamer, thin as bee's-wing,
soft as swan's-down; and the King made Gammelyn his chief jeweller, and
set all the other jewellers free.
Then the Princess was so delighted that she wished to have one more
dress also, made all of butterflies' wings. "That were easily done,"
said Gammelyn, "but it were cruel to ask for such a dress to be made."
Nevertheless the Princess would have it so, and _he_ should make it.
"I'll cut off your head if you don't," said the King.
Gammelyn bumbled like a bee; but all he said was, "Many million
butterflies will be wanted for such a work: you must let me have again
the two dresses--the pearl, and the gold--for butterflies love bright
colours that gleam and shine; and with these alone can I gather them all
to one place."
So the Princess gave him the two dresses; and he went to the highest
part of the palace, out on to the battlements of the great tower. There
he faced towards the west, where lay a new moon, louting towards the
setting sun; and he laid the two robes, one on either arm, spreading
them abroad, till they looked like two wings--a gold and a pearl. And
a beam of the sun came and kissed the gold wing, and a pale quivering
thread of moonlight touched the pearl wing; and Gammelyn sang:
"Light of the moon,
Light of the sun,
Pearl of the sky,
Gold from on high,
Hearken to me!
"Light of the moon,
Pearl of the sea,
Gold of the land
Here in my hand,
I render to thee.
"Butterflies come!
Carry us home,
Gold of the gnome,
Pearl of the sea."
And as he sang, out of the east came a soft muttering of wings and a
deep moving mass like a bright storm-cloud. And out of the sun ran a
long gold finger, and out of the moon a pale shivering finger of pearl,
and touching the gold and the pearl, these became verily wings and not
millinery. Then before the Princess could scream more than once, or the
King say anything about cutting off heads, the bright cloud in the east
became a myriad myriad of butterflies. And drawn by the falling flashing
sun, and by the faint falling moon, and fanned by the million wings of
his fellow-creatures, Gammelyn sprang out from the palace wall on the
crest of the butterfly-wind, and flew away brighter and farther each
moment; and followed by his myriad train of butterflies, he passed out
of sight, and in that country was never heard of again.