_The Black Cat and the Brethren_!
Who was glad to see the prince, if it was not Lady Rosalind? The white
roses of her cheeks turned to red roses in a moment, and then back to
white again, they were so alarmed at the change. So the two went into
the gardens together, and talked about a number of things; but at last
the prince told her that, before three days were over, all would be well,
or all would be over with him. For either he would have brought his
brothers back, sound and well, to Falkenstein, or he would not survive
his dishonour.
"It is no more than right," he said; "for had I gone first, neither of
them would have been sent to meet the monster after I had fallen. And I
_should_ have fallen, dear Rosalind, if I had faced the Firedrake before
I knew _you_."
Then when she asked him why, and what good she had done him, he told her
all the story; and how, before he fell in love with her, he didn't
believe in fairies, or Firedrakes, or caps of darkness, or anything nice
and impossible, but only in horrid useless facts, and chemistry, and
geology, and arithmetic, and mathematics, and even political economy. And
the Firedrake would have made a mouthful of him, then.
So she was delighted when she heard this, almost as much delighted as she
was afraid that he might fail in the most difficult adventure. For it
was one thing to egg on a Remora to kill a Firedrake, and quite another
to find the princes if they were alive, and restore them if they were
dead!
But the prince said he had his plan, and he stayed that night at the
ambassador's. Next morning he rose very early, before anyone else was
up, that he might not have to say "Good-bye" to Lady Rosalind. Then he
flew in a moment to the old lonely castle, where nobody went for fear of
ghosts, ever since the Court retired to Falkenstein.
How still it was, how deserted; not a sign of life, and yet the prince
was looking everywhere _for some living thing_. He hunted the castle
through in vain, and then went out to the stable-yard; but all the dogs,
of course, had been taken away, and the farmers had offered homes to the
poultry. At last, stretched at full length in a sunny place, the prince
found a very old, half-blind, miserable cat. The poor creature was lean,
and its fur had fallen off in patches; it could no longer catch birds,
nor even mice, and there was nobody to give it milk. But cats do not
look far into the future; and this old black cat--Frank was his name--had
got a breakfast somehow, and was happy in the sun. The prince stood and
looked at him pityingly, and he thought that even a sick old cat was, in
some ways, happier than most men.
"Well," said the prince at last, "he could not live long anyway, and it
must be done. He will feel nothing."
Then he drew the sword of sharpness, and with one turn of his wrist cut
the cat's head clean off.
{Poor old Frank: p128.jpg}
It did not at once change into a beautiful young lady, as perhaps you
expect; no, that was improbable, and, as the prince was in love already,
would have been vastly inconvenient. The dead cat lay there, like any
common cat.
Then the prince built up a heap of straw, with wood on it, and there he
laid poor puss, and set fire to the pile. Very soon there was nothing of
old black Frank left but ashes!
Then the prince ran upstairs to the fairy cupboard, his heart beating
loudly with excitement. The sun was shining through the arrow-shot
window, all the yellow motes were dancing in its rays. The light fell on
the strange heaps of fairy things--talismans and spells. The prince
hunted about here and there, and at last he discovered six ancient water-
vessels of black leather, each with a silver plate on it, and on the
plate letters engraved. This was what was written on the plates:
AQVA. DE. FONTE. LEONVM. {130}
"Thank heaven!" said the prince. "I thought they were sure to have
brought it!"
Then he took one of the old black-leather bottles, and ran downstairs
again to the place where he had burned the body of the poor old sick cat.
He opened the bottle, and poured a few drops of the water on the ashes
and the dying embers.
Up there sprang a tall, white flame of fire, waving like a tongue of
light; and forth from the heap jumped the most beautiful, strong, funny,
black cat that ever was seen!
{The Prince and the bottles: p130.jpg}
It was Frank as he had been in the vigour of his youth; and he knew the
prince at once, and rubbed himself against him and purred.
The prince lifted up Frank and kissed his nose for joy; and a bright tear
rolled down on Frank's face, and made him rub his nose with his paw in
the most comical manner.
Then the prince set him down, and he ran round and round after his tail;
and, lastly, cocked his tail up, and marched proudly after the prince
into the castle.
"Oh, Frank!" said Prince Prigio, "no cat since the time of Puss in Boots
was ever so well taken care of as you shall be. For, if the fairy water
from the Fountain of Lions can bring _you_ back to life--why, there is a
chance for Alphonso and Enrico!"
Then Prigio bustled about, got ready some cold luncheon from the store-
room, took all his fairy things that he was likely to need, sat down with
them on the flying carpet, and wished himself at the mountain of the
Firedrake.
"I have the king now," he said; "for if I can't find the ashes of my
brothers, by Jove! I'll!--"
Do you know what he meant to do, if he could not find his brothers? Let
every child guess!
Off he flew; and there he was in a second, just beside poor Alphono's
garden-engine. Then Prigio, seeing a little heap of grey ashes beside
the engine, watered them with the fairy water; and up jumped Alphonso, as
jolly as ever, his sword in his hand.
"Hullo, Prigio!" cried he; "are you come after the monster too? I've
been asleep, and I had a kind of dream that he beat me. But the pair of
us will tackle him. How is Molinda?"
"Prettier than ever," said Prigio; "but anxious about you. However, the
Firedrake's dead and done for; so never mind him. But I left Enrico
somewhere about. Just you sit down and wait a minute, till I fetch him."
The prince said this, because he did not wish Alphonso to know that he
and Enrico had not had quite the best of it in the affair with the
monster.
"All right, old fellow," says Alphonso; "but have you any luncheon with
you? Never was so hungry in my life!"
Prince Prigio had thought of this, and he brought out some cold sausage
(to which Alphonso was partial) and some bread, with which the younger
prince expressed himself satisfied. Then Prigio went up the hill some
way, first warning Alphonso _not_ to sit on his carpet for fear of
_accidents_ like that which happened to Benson. In a hollow of the hill,
sure enough there was the sword of Enrico, the diamonds of the hilt
gleaming in the sun. And there was a little heap of grey ashes.
The prince poured a few drops of the water from the Fountain of Lions on
them, and up, of course, jumped Enrico, just as Alphonso had done.
"Sleepy old chap you are, Enrico," said the prince; "but come on,
Alphonso will have finished the grub unless we look smart."
So back they came, in time to get their share of what was going; and they
drank the Remora's very good health, when Prigio told them about the
fight. But neither of them ever knew that they had been dead and done
for; because Prigio invented a story that the mountain was enchanted, and
that, as long as the Firedrake lived, everyone who came there fell
asleep. He did tell them about the flying carpet, however, which of
course did not much surprise them, because they had read all about it in
the _Arabian Nights_ and other historical works.
"And now I'll show you fun!" said Prigio; and he asked them both to take
their seats on the carpet, and wished to be in the valley of the Remora.
There they were in a moment, among the old knights whom, if you remember,
the Remora had frozen into stone. There was quite a troop of them, in
all sorts of armour--Greek and Roman, and Knight Templars like Front de
Boeuf and Brian du Bois Gilbert--all the brave warriors that had tried to
fight the Remora since the world began.
Then Prigio gave each of his brothers some of the water in their caps,
and told them to go round pouring a drop or two on each frozen knight.
And as they did it, lo and behold! each knight came alive, with his
horse, and lifted his sword and shouted:
"Long live Prince Prigio!"
in Greek, Latin, Egyptian, French, German, and Spanish,--all of which the
prince perfectly understood, and spoke like a native.
So he marshalled them in order, and sent them off to ride to Falkenstein
and cry:
"Prince Prigio is coming!"
Off they went, the horses' hoofs clattering, banners flying, sunshine
glittering on the spear-points. Off they rode to Falkenstein; and when
the king saw them come galloping in, I can tell you he had no more notion
of hanging Prigio.
{Riding off to Falkenstein: p136.jpg}