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PRINCESS WHITE FLAME
PRINCESS
WHITE FLAME
BY
GERTRUDE·CROWNFIELD
[Illustration]
ILLUSTRATIONS·BY·
ANNE·MERRIMAN·PECK·
E·P·DUTTON·&·COMPANY
NEW YORK
Copyright, 1920,
By E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY
_All Rights Reserved_
[Illustration]
_Printed in the United States of America_
TO
MY DEAR SISTER
KATHARINE
[Illustration]
CONTENTS
PAGE
PROLOGUE 1
CHAPTER
I. 5
II. 19
III. 37
IV. 53
V. 56
VI. 77
VII. 96
VIII. 106
IX. 119
X. 136
XI. 152
XII. 170
XIII. 187
XIV. 204
XV. 222
[Illustration]
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
“Here am I, Prince Radiance, come to serve you.” 65
Suddenly the Giant hurled his Cloak violently forward 129
The Sword of Flames leapt from its scabbard and was raised
on high 162
Prince Radiance fell on his knees before her 217
PRINCESS WHITE FLAME
PRINCESS WHITE FLAME
PROLOGUE
Of all the fairy countries in the world none is more wonderful or
beautiful than the country where the Fire Fairies live. Into that land
no fairies of the earth, or air, or water dare venture. They would be
seared, or changed to ash or vapor.
Many are the doors that open into the Fire Kingdom--thousands, and
hundreds of thousands in number. Wherever you see the firelight
flicker, wherever you see flames leaping and dancing, wherever you hear
the snap of the burning logs, there you may be sure is an open door.
Then if you choose to creep close to it, and peer in, you may perhaps
see wonderful things; fairy forms that flit and vanish, and reappear,
and vanish again among the leaping flames, and smoldering embers.
Perhaps, also, you may see the shining domes and glittering turrets of
the fairy palaces.
But when the fire burns down, and the hearth grows dark the door is
closed--there is no more to be seen of that wonderland.
In the very heart of the Fire Country stands the palace of King Red
Flame, the gleaming flame-colored palace, the Palace of Burning Coals.
Round it lies a wonderful garden, where paths wind away among great
fields of fire lilies, and flame roses lift their heads, and the tall
shining trees rustle in the wind with a sound like the whispering of
the fire on the hearth. Here in this glowing country the good and happy
fairies work and play, and serve their king as all good fairies should.
But not all fairies in this land are good and happy. Beyond the glow
of the roses and the lilies, beyond all sight of the glimmering trees,
there lies another part of the country where live the evil fairies of
that land. Here are great Plains of Ash, and huge Caverns of Soot,
and stretches of gloom where comes and goes the Shadow Witch. Here
Imps of Darkness lurk, here Dragons crouch, and Wizards dwell. Perhaps
sometimes when you have looked into the Fireplace you have seen those
dismal plains and darksome valleys. They lie away from the heart of the
Fire, at the side of the Hearth, and between the flames and the heaps
of ashes.
And now listen, and I will tell you of Prince Radiance, and Princess
White Flame who lived in the Fire Country and of many strange and
wonderful adventures through which they journeyed on to reach at last a
never-ending happiness.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER I
Once upon a time a wicked Earth Fairy went forth to see what mischief
she could do. She flitted on and on until she came to a House Door. She
had come to one of the homes where the good and useful House Fairies
dwell. The Door was open, and she crept up to it slyly, and peered in.
There she saw a great room, in perfect order, for the House Fairies had
put everything to rights before they went away to their tasks upstairs.
The floor was swept, the pictures hung trim and straight upon the
walls, the chairs were dusted and set about invitingly, and on the
Hearth the Fire burned warm and clear.
“Hhm!” muttered the Earth Fairy. “Here is the very chance I’ve been
looking for!”
She slipped inside the Door and set to work at once. She sprinkled
ashes on the clean-swept floor, and set the chairs askew. She pulled
the pictures crooked, and turned their faces to the wall. Into every
corner of the room she went, making mischief, and leaving disorder
behind her. No one came to interrupt her, so that she kept on and on
with her malicious task until the room was in complete confusion.
Wearied with the mischief she had done, she paused and looked about her
for a place to rest. On the Hearth lay a great bank of warm ashes, soft
as a feather-bed. She went to it at once, and threw herself down upon
it, thinking to rest only a moment before she journeyed on. Now this
was a very dangerous thing for an Earth Fairy to do, because none but
Fire Fairies can safely rest so close to Fire and Flame. But this the
Earth Fairy did not know, so she sank down, meaning to rest but for a
short time, but she was so weary that before she knew it she had fallen
off into a deep sleep, and while she slept the Fire stole from her all
her Earth magic, and her Earth powers.
Since the Fire was burning, that Door to the Fire Country was of course
wide open, so that King Red Flame riding out that morning on his
flame-colored horse caught a glimpse of the Earth Fairy’s yellow hair
as she lay in the ashes. He drew near to see who was slumbering there.
At the first glance he knew that she was not a Fire Fairy. It was
plain, too, that she was not a House Fairy. Whoever she was, he knew
that she was in great danger, and that she must be rescued at once.
He called to her, but she neither answered nor stirred. He alighted
from his horse, and bending over her shook her gently, but she gave no
sign of life. He shook her more roughly, and called louder, but quite
in vain.
“I shall have to take her to the palace,” murmured King Red Flame to
himself. “Here I can do nothing. Queen Glow and I must consult together
over the matter.”
He lifted the Earth Fairy in his arms, and laid her across his horse.
Then mounting again, he rode away with her in the direction of the
Palace of Burning Coals, satisfied that there, in counsel with his
queen, he could bring succor to the stranger in her great need.
Queen Glow was a very beautiful fairy, and as wise and good as she was
beautiful. Always her thought was how she could help and comfort those
who were in trouble or distress. As soon as King Red Flame arrived at
the palace, Queen Glow had the insensible Earth Fairy carried to her
own room, and laid upon her royal bed. Here she bent over her, chafing
her hands, and trying in every way to revive her.
There was deep silence in the room, except for the suppressed
whispering of a little group of Fire Fairies gathered about the door.
One by one other fairies that belonged to the palace came to join them,
and among the rest came Grey Smoke, old and wise, she who had nursed
Queen Glow as a child.
As soon as Grey Smoke saw the Earth Fairy, she said, “She has rested
too long on the Hearth. She has rested too long in the heat. Never
again can she return to her own life. There is only one thing left for
us to do. We must change her into a Fire Fairy. In this way only can
she again be wakened into life. Then she can live happily among us, and
fill her uses in the Fire Kingdom.”
“How is so great a change as that to be wrought?” asked King Red Flame.
“Have you knowledge of such a spell as will accomplish this?”
Dame Grey Smoke shook her head. “No, Your Majesty, not I,” she said.
“But there is in the palace, greater knowledge than I possess. It was
written long ago in the Book of Spells, that lies locked away in your
treasury.”
“True,” cried the King. “Why had I not thought of that? Let the book
be brought!”
The King and Queen waited in silence while a trusted messenger was
dispatched to fetch it from the treasure chamber where it lay. When it
was brought the King drew from his bosom a tiny key, which hung about
his neck from a golden thread. As the King unlocked the book, a thin
mist of magic floated out from its pages, and circled about his head
for a moment before it disappeared. A thrill of awe passed through the
watching fairies.
Slowly the King turned page after page, until at last he paused. “It is
here,” said he. He and the Queen stooped above the book, reading the
strange and crabbed letters written so many ages ago by the masters
of fairy magic. When they had read the charm through to the end, the
King lifted his head: “None but those who work this charm may see it
wrought,” commanded he. Then one by one the fairies passed from the
royal bedchamber, leaving the King and Queen alone.
All was silent in the room. The charm had been spoken--the spell had
been wrought. The King and Queen stood watching the still motionless
form of the Earth Fairy.
At last through her passed a thrill of wakening life. She turned upon
her side. Her eyelids fluttered, then opened wide, and her eyes rested
in bewilderment upon the two bending over her. From them her eyes
wandered to the room about her. She raised herself upon her elbow.
“Where am I?” she demanded in a trembling voice.
“You are in the Kingdom of the Fire Fairies,” answered Queen Glow
gently. “But do not be afraid. You are safe here, for we have changed
you into a Fire Fairy, and there is now no more danger for you here
from heat or flame than there is for our own royal selves.”
The Earth Fairy’s face grew black with anger. “A Fire Fairy!” she
cried. “I, a Fire Fairy! That must never be. I am of the Earth. How
dared you meddle with an Earth Fairy? Let me go instantly. I am going
back to my own country--to my own kind.”
“That cannot be,” answered the King. “There is no spell to transform
you to what you were, and it was only by changing you into a Fire Fairy
that we were able to awaken you from sleep. If we had not done this,
you would have slept and slept yourself away into a film of ashes.”
Carefully then he explained to her where he had found her, and how
every means had been tried to rouse her, but in vain, and only by the
power of the Book of Spells had it been possible to save her. But
nothing that the King or Queen could say--no words, however kind or
wise, made the slightest difference to the Earth Fairy. She sprang from
the bed, and stamped her foot. She wept, she stormed.
By and by, however, she became sulky, and sank into silence, and would
not even answer what the King and Queen said to her. They were obliged
to leave her alone, and though she ate the food that was presently sent
to her, she would neither speak, nor look at the attendants who brought
it.
But as time passed the Earth Fairy grew less sullen, and even seemed
to be in some measure content with her new home, and her life in the
palace, but Queen Glow felt sorry for her, and kept her near as her own
personal attendant. If any difference was made by the Queen between
her and the Fire Fairies, it was that she treated her with especial
kindness and affection. But the new lady in waiting never forgot her
old life, and although she was now a Fire Fairy, she always insisted
upon being called Earth Fairy, and that was the name by which everyone
knew her.
At last there came a time when she really seemed to respond to
kindness, and to feel a certain love for the Queen. She sought to
please her, and was always cheerful and complacent, and on their part
the King and Queen trusted her more and more. There was nothing in the
palace that they would not have given her, nor anything that they
would not have granted to her, if she had asked; that is, nothing that
was at all possible.
But as a matter of fact, all this affection and pleasantness was only
seeming. The Earth Fairy hated both the King and Queen, and longed to
be revenged upon them for the change they had wrought in her, even
though it had been done to save her. Constantly her anger burned
against them, and she only awaited a chance to wreak vengeance upon
them. The Earth Fairy was crafty, and had the patience of craft. She
was willing to wait and watch a long while if necessary, if only her
chance would come in the end.
While waiting she watched and listened, learning such spells as she
could from the fairies around her, and practicing them in secret. There
was not a book of magic in the Palace of Burning Coals that she did
not seek out and pore over; not a wand that she did not try. Only the
King’s own Book of Spells was locked away from her, and one precious
wand that had belonged to the mother of King Red Flame, and had been
left by her in charge of the Fairy Grey Smoke, oldest and wisest of
any save one in the Kingdom of the Fire Fairies. No one else, not even
the King himself knew of this wand, for his mother had made Grey Smoke
promise that she would never tell him of it, nor bring it from its
secret hiding-place until some great need arose that called for a spell
that nothing could possibly break.
If the Earth Fairy had known of this wand she would have spared no
pains to get hold of it; but Grey Smoke was wise and faithful, and kept
the trust that the King’s mother had reposed in her.
[Illustration]