Once upon a time there was a young Prince who was so well liked by
everyone in the kingdom where he lived that they named him Prince
Darling.
This boy's father, the King, was a very good man, and his subjects
loved and respected him for his justness and kindness. The King loved
his son greatly, and he loved his subjects, too. He was very anxious to
have his son grow up to be a splendid man, and a just ruler for his
people. The King was no longer young, and he knew that it would not be
many years before his son would be left without a father's advice. He
knew, too, that the boy would succeed to the throne, and would have to
see that everyone in the kingdom was treated justly and kindly.
One day a strange thing happened. The King was out hunting, when
suddenly a little white rabbit leaped into his arms. The rabbit seemed
to think that in the King's arms it would find protection from the dogs
that were chasing it, and had nearly run it down. And the rabbit was
right; for the King stroked the trembling creature gently, and said:
"The dogs shan't get you now, poor bunny!" Then the King took the
rabbit home, and saw that the best care was given it.
That night, after everyone else had gone to bed, the King sat alone
thinking about Prince Darling. Suddenly a beautiful lady seemed to come
into the room. She was dressed in pure white, and wore a wreath of
white roses on her golden hair.
"You don't recognize me, do you?" she asked in a lovely, clear
voice. "I am the rabbit you rescued from the dogs in the forest this
afternoon. The rabbit was really the Fairy Truth. I took the shape of a
rabbit to see whether you were really as good as everyone said. Now I
know you are, and I shall always be your friend. Isn't there something
you want, above everything else in the world, which I can give you to
repay you for your goodness to me?"
The King was amazed by the lovely Fairy and her wonderful offer. He
thought at once that if only he could win the friendship of the Fairy
Truth for Prince Darling, all would be well. So he said:
"Good Fairy, above all things I should like to know that you would be
my son's friend. Will you?"
"Gladly. I will make him the richest or the handsomest or the most
powerful Prince in the world. Which shall it be?" the Fairy inquired.
"I would not ask any of those things, good Fairy, but I would have him
good, the best instead of the richest of princes. If he is good and his
conscience does not trouble him, I am sure he will be happy. Riches and
power and good looks, without goodness, cannot make him happy."
"That is all true," said the Fairy, "and I will do all I can to make
Prince Darling good. He will have to do most of it himself, though. I
can only advise him, praise him when he is good, and scold him when he
is bad. But I will do all I can."
Not long after this strange happening the King died, and Prince Darling
became King in his father's place. The Fairy Truth remembered her
promise, and came to the palace with a present for Prince Darling.
"This little gold ring," she said, as she slipped it on his finger, "is
my gift to you. I promised your father that I would be your friend.
This ring will help you to keep my friendship. When it pricks you, you
will know you have done something mean or unkind. It will warn you to
stop doing such things. If you stop, I will be your friend; if you keep
on doing wicked things, I will become your enemy."
Before Prince Darling could say a word the Fairy vanished.
The Prince was curious to know whether the ring really would do as the
Fairy said. But he never felt a single prick from the ring. Then one
day he was badly pricked. He came home from hunting in a horrid temper,
and kicked his unoffending little dog, that was trying to be friendly,
until it howled with pain.
"Really, Prince Darling, that is too bad of you." The Fairy's voice
sounded quietly in his ear. "You lost your temper because things did
not go just to suit you. Even if you are a prince, the world cannot
always run just to suit your whims. What's worse, you hurt a poor
creature who loves you. I don't think that's being the sort of a prince
your father would be proud of, do you?"
The Prince was greatly embarrassed, and thrust his hands deep into his
pockets to make himself seem full-grown up--so he would not cry! He
promised to be good forever after.
But he wasn't, and the ring pricked him often. After a time he paid
hardly any attention to the ring at all. Finally he made up his mind
that a prince ought to be able to decide for himself what was right or
wrong. Besides, the ring pricked so hard and so often that it made his
finger bleed. So he threw it away entirely.
Just after this he met Celia, the loveliest girl he had ever seen. It
seemed to him he could never be happy until he had made her his wife;
and he lost no time in asking her to marry him.
"Sire, I cannot," said the girl.
The Prince was indignant, for he thought any girl should be proud to
have him offer to marry her and make her Queen.
"Sire," Celia went on, "you are handsome and rich and powerful, I know;
but the man I marry must be good."
This speech made the Prince so angry that he ordered his men to take
Celia off to the palace as a prisoner.
[Illustration: "THIS LITTLE GOLD RING IS MY GIFT TO YOU"]
Now, the Prince had a foster-brother who was a very wicked man. When
the Prince told him about Celia, he said:
"What! a peasant girl refuse to marry the Prince! How ridiculous! The
whole kingdom would laugh if they knew about it."
This speech hurt the Prince's pride, and he decided to make Celia
consent to marry him at any cost. He rushed off to find her. His men
had given him the key to the cell where they had imprisoned her. But
the cell was quite empty.
The Prince was terribly angry, and swore that he would put to death the
person who had helped Celia to escape. It happened that this threat
gave some of the Prince's wicked friends the very chance they wanted to
get rid of the Prince's tutor, an old nobleman whom they all hated
because he was good.
Soon these wicked men had everyone in the court whispering: "Yes, it
was Suliman who helped Celia escape." Some men even were found who
swore that Suliman himself had told them about it. When the Prince
heard it he was still more angry. To think that his old tutor could
treat him so! He ordered his men to arrest the supposed offender, put
him in chains, as if he were a murderer, and bring him to court.
No sooner was the order given than there was a tremendous roar of
thunder. The ground was still shaking when the Fairy Truth appeared.
"Until now, Prince Darling," the fairy said sternly, "I have been very
gentle with you. You have been very wicked, but I have done no more
than warn you that you were doing wrong and becoming the very sort of
man your father, the good King, wanted you NOT to be. Now I must take
stronger measures, for you have paid no attention to my warnings.
"Really you are more like the wild animals than a man and a prince. You
roar with anger like a lion. You are greedy for fine food and clothes
and a good time, as a wolf is greedy for its prey. You are untrue to
your friends, like a treacherous snake. You even turn upon the kind
tutor who was your father's firmest friend, and who would like to help
you, too, if you would let him. You are as disagreeable as an angry
bull, that keeps everyone out of its neighborhood, because everyone
knows it is not safe to go near."
The Fairy's voice now roared forth in terrible tones, which made Prince
Darling shake from head to heel:
"Therefore, I condemn you to have a hideous body like your ugly
character--part lion, part wolf, part snake, and part bull."
The Prince put his hand to his head, because he felt as if he should
weep at this awful sentence. He found his face covered with a lion's
shaggy beard; a bull's horns had grown out of his skull. He looked at
his feet: they were those of a wolf. His body was the long slimy body
of a snake.
The palace had disappeared, and he stood beside a clear lake in a deep
forest. He shuddered with horror when he saw his reflection in the
lake. His horror turned to rage when he heard the Fairy Truth say:
"Your punishment has just begun. Your pride will be hurt still more
when you fall into the hands of your own subjects. And that is what is
going to happen to you."
Just as the Fairy said the Prince fell into the hands of his subjects,
and in a most humiliating way, for he was caught in a trap which had
been set to catch bears. Thus he was captured alive and led into the
chief city of the kingdom.
There was no mourning in the town because of the Prince's death, by a
thunderbolt, as they supposed. Instead, there was great rejoicing, for
Suliman had been made King by the people, who were sick and tired of
the way Prince Darling had misruled them.
"Long live King Suliman!" they shouted. "His rule will bring us peace
and prosperity."
In the middle of the public park sat King Suliman. Just as the Prince,
in his ugly disguise came up, Suliman was saying:
"Prince Darling is not dead, as you suppose. I have accepted the crown
only until he comes back, for the Fairy Truth says he may still return,
a good and just man like his father. For myself, I want nothing more
than to see Prince Darling come back a worthy ruler for this mighty
kingdom."
This speech made the Prince feel very much ashamed of himself, for it
showed plainly that the Fairy was right, and that he himself had
misjudged Suliman.
Meantime the Prince was put in the menagerie, and people pointed him
out as a most strange beast, the only one of his sort ever found
anywhere. The Prince was beginning to feel like his old, gentle self.
He was even good to his keeper, although the keeper was anything but
good to him.
One day a tiger broke through his cage and attacked the keeper. At
first the Prince was pleased to see the keeper in danger of his life,
and mused: "When he's dead and out of the way I can easily escape."
But the Prince's punishment had not been in vain, for suddenly he began
to think, "Well, the poor old keeper; after all I'm sorry for him!"
Then as if by magic the bars of the Prince's cage seemed to melt away,
and he rushed out to rescue the keeper who had treated him so badly.
The man was more terrified than ever when he saw the huge monster
loose. But imagine his amazement when the beast fell upon the tiger,
instead of crushing his (the keeper's) life out, as he had feared.
Naturally the keeper was filled with gratitude. The strange beast's
kindness made him feel ashamed when he remembered how badly he had
treated the animal.
The keeper now tried to stroke the beast's head, by way of gratitude,
when to his amazement he found himself stroking, not a wild animal, but
a gentle little dog.
The keeper picked up the dog in his arms and took him to the King, to
whom he told the strange story of his rescue. The Queen liked the dog,
and decided to keep him for a pet. Unluckily for Prince Darling,
however, she took him to the court doctor, who decided that too much
food would be very bad for the dog, and ordered that he be fed nothing
but bread, and very little at that! So Prince Darling prized the small
amount of bread he got very highly indeed.
Once Prince Darling trotted off with his little loaf of bread--all he
would get to eat that day--to a brook some distance away. Strange to
tell, the brook was gone, and in its place was a huge house. Prince
Darling thought the persons who lived there must be fabulously rich,
because the house was made of precious stones and gold, and the people
were dressed in the most elegant and expensive clothes. He heard music,
and saw people feasting and dancing.
Yet the people who came out of the house presented the most forlorn
appearance--ragged, and sick, and half starved. Prince Darling saw a
poor young girl, and his heart was filled with pity. She was eating
grass and leaves, she was so hungry. Prince Darling was hungry himself,
but he thought:
"I can't be as hungry as that poor girl, and to-morrow I'll have
another loaf." So he gave the bread to her, and she ate it eagerly.
Suddenly there was a great outcry, and the Prince, running in the
direction whence the noise came, saw Celia being dragged against her
will into this mysterious house. The poor little dog could do nothing
to help her. Then he thought sadly: "I am very angry now with these
terrible people who treat Celia so badly; but not long ago I was myself
threatening to have her killed!"
And the little dog, feeling quite forlorn, put its tail between its
legs, as dogs often do, and went off to watch the house where Celia was
imprisoned.
An upper window was opened, and a girl threw out some food. The dog
thought this was because the girl had a kind heart. But when it started
to eat, the one to whom it had given the bread but a short time before
cried out: "Stop! If you touch that you will die! That food came from
the house of pleasure, and is deadly poison."
So once again the Prince found that his good action had been rewarded.
And the Fairy Truth, to show her approval, transformed the little dog
into a lovely white dove.
The dove flew straight into the house of pleasure, searching for Celia.
No sign of her could it find there, as she had escaped. Therefore it
decided to fly and fly all around the world until it did get her.
One day it came to a desert island, where no living person could be
seen, nor any green tree to light upon. It searched about, and after a
time found a cavern, and in it was Celia, sharing a simple meal with an
old hermit.
Prince Darling flew right up to Celia, lighted on her shoulder, and
tried in all the ways a dove knows to show its affection for her. Celia
in return stroked it gently, although she, of course, had no idea who
it was. Indeed, Celia seemed delighted to have found a new friend, and
said softly:
"I am glad you have come to me, and I will care for you and love you
always."
Celia did not expect the dove to understand what she said. The hermit
understood, however, and asked her whether she really meant it.
"Ah! Celia," Prince Darling exclaimed, "with my whole heart I hope you
do mean it!" And the astonished Celia turned and saw Prince Darling
himself standing before her.
"Celia will not stop loving you now, Prince Darling," said Fairy Truth,
who had been disguised as the hermit all this time. "She has loved you
from the beginning, and now that you have started on the road to
goodness I know she will gladly join her fate with yours."
Then Celia and Prince Darling threw themselves at the Fairy's feet, and
thanked her a thousand times over for bringing them together again
after all their trials.
"Come, my children," said the Fairy, "if you had not helped me I could
not have brought this to pass. And now, let's go back to Prince
Darling's kingdom, for I know King Suliman is waiting eagerly for a
chance to give back the throne."
The Fairy had scarcely stopped speaking when they found themselves in
the royal palace. King Suliman was overjoyed to see the Prince return,
and gladly yielded the throne to him again.
When the Prince was crowned King for the second time he also put on
again the little gold ring which he had thrown away so long before. He
and Celia gave their whole hearts to the effort to govern the kingdom
justly and kindly. You will know that they succeeded very well, when I
tell you that the magic ring never again pricked Prince Darling's
finger.
[Illustration: "PRINCE DARLING FLEW RIGHT UP TO CELIA"]
[Illustration: "ONCE UPON A TIME THERE LIVED"]