away,' said she. And she cried so much that even her enemies were
touched.
The Queen in the meantime gave Prince Charming all the jewels he could
wish for, and lavished her attention on him. The King presented him with
a little book with gold covers and studded with diamonds, and inside it,
he told him, was a photograph of his future wife.
'What!' said Prince Charming, 'the beautiful Princess Florine? Ah! she
thinks of me, and in a most generous manner.'
'Seigneur,' said the King, 'you mistake; we take the part of the amiable
Truitonne. I am cross, seigneur, that you do not accept this great
honour; but, at the same time, a King is merely a King: he is not master
enough to make the engagements that he would like.'
The Prince at last asked for Princess Florine.
'Seigneur,' said the Queen, 'her father desired that she should go away
until my daughter is married.'
'And for what reason,' said the Prince, 'should this beautiful girl be
made a prisoner?'
'I ignore all that,' said the Queen.
So the Prince left the Queen's company because it was not congenial to
him. When he entered his own room, he said to a young Prince who had
accompanied him, and whom he loved very much, that he would give all the
world to be able to speak to one of the women of the beautiful Princess
for a moment. His young friend found one at once whom it would be
possible to question with confidence. She told him that the same evening
Florine would be at a little window that looked out on to the garden and
that he could then speak to her, but that he must take every precaution,
lest the Queen and King should overhear.
The Prince was delighted, and made ready to see the Princess. But the
wicked maid went at once and told the Queen all that had passed. It was
then arranged that Truitonne should take her place; and so, with great
precautions, Truitonne placed herself at the little window.
The night was very dark; so much so that it was impossible for Prince
Charming to suspect the change passed upon him. He expressed himself
exactly the same to Truitonne as he had to Florine and plainly showed
his love for her. Truitonne, profiting by her mother's instructions,
said that she was the most unhappy person in the world to have such a
wicked and cruel stepmother, and that she would have to suffer until her
stepsister was married. The Prince assured her that he would marry her
if she would have him, and that he would give her his heart and his
crown; and he removed a ring from his finger and put it on the finger
of Truitonne, as a token of his faith, and told her that she would only
have to wait an hour, when a carriage would come to take her away.
Truitonne begged of him to go to the Queen and ask her to give her her
liberty, and assured him that, if he would come back to-morrow at the
same hour, she would be ready.
The Queen was very happy at the success of her scheme. The Prince took a
carriage drawn by three great frogs with great big wings, which made the
carriage simply fly. Truitonne came out mysteriously by a little door,
and the Prince, who was awaiting her appearance, at once put his arms
around her and swore eternal faith, but, as he was not in any humour to
take a long journey in the flying carriage without marrying the Princess
whom he loved, he demanded of her where they could go. She told him that
she had a fairy godmother named Soussio, who was a very celebrated
person, and that they would have to go to her castle.
Then the Prince, not knowing the road, begged of the frogs with the
flying wings to put them on the right way; and they did so, for, mind
you, frogs know all the routes of the universe. And so, in no time, they
found themselves at the castle of the fairy Soussio.
Then Truitonne told the godmother that she had trapped Prince Charming
and that she wanted to marry him. The godmother was not so sure that it
could be done, 'for,' said she, 'he loves Princess Florine.' At all
events she went to the room where the Prince was, and said to him:
'Prince Charming, here is the Princess Truitonne to whom you have given
your faith; she is my godchild, and I wish that you marry her at once.'
'Me!' cried he; 'you want me to marry that little monster? You must
think I am very easily pleased when you put forward such a proposition
to me. She knows full well that I have never promised her anything. And
if she says otherwise, she is----'
'Do not deny,' said the Fairy, 'and do not be bold and forget the
respect that you owe me.'
'I respect you,' replied the Prince, 'as much as it is possible to
respect a fairy. Come, now. Will you deliver me my Princess?'
'Is it that you do not know me?' said Truitonne; and she showed him his
ring, adding, 'and to whom did you give this ring at the little window
as a pledge of your faith, if it was not to me? Come, now, do not
pretend that you have forgotten.'
'No! no! I am not going to be duped and deceived,' said the Prince.
'Come! come, my great frogs! I want to depart at once.'
'You cannot depart without my consent, said the Fairy, and she
immediately touched his feet and they became glued to the floor.
'I will not,' said the Prince, 'have any other than my Princess Florine;
on that I am resolved, and all you say and do will not change me one
little bit.'
Soussio became sweet and used every art in her power to induce the
Prince to marry Truitonne. Truitonne cried, raved, and begged; but the
Prince would not say one single word to her; he only looked at her with
indignant eyes and replied not a word to all her overtures.
He passed twenty days and twenty nights like this. At last the Fairy was
so tired of it all that she said to the Prince, 'Very well; you are
obstinate, and will not listen to reason, and will not keep your word
and marry my godchild!'
The Prince, who had not spoken a word, at last replied: 'Do to me what
you will, but deliver me from the dullness of this place!'
'Dullness!' cried Truitonne; 'bother you! You have done me a great
injury in coming here to my country and giving me your word and then
breaking it.'
'Listen to the touching words,' said the Prince in sarcasm. 'See what I
have lost in refusing to take so beautiful a woman for my wife.'
'No! no!' replied Soussio, 'she shall never be that, and for your
insult to her you shall fly through this window, and remain a Blue Bird
for seven years. Do you hear me?--a Blue Bird for seven years.'
Immediately the Prince began to change, and his arms became covered with
feathers, and he became a Blue Bird; his eyes became bright, and on his
head a great white plume arose like a crown--and he flew away through
the window.
In his sad mood he flew from branch to branch, warbling his song of
sorrow and his love for Florine, and deploring the awful wickedness of
their enemies. He thought that he was doomed for seven years, and that
Florine would be married to another.
When Truitonne returned to the Queen and told her all that had happened
she flew into a terrible temper. She resolved to punish the poor Florine
for having engaged the love of Prince Charming. So she dressed the
Princess Truitonne in all her grandeur, and on her finger was the ring
given her by the Prince; and, when Florine saw this, she knew that the
ring belonged to her Prince. The Queen then announced to all that her
daughter was engaged to Prince Charming, and that he loved her to
distraction. Florine did not doubt the truth of it all. When she
realised that she would never marry her Prince Charming, she cried all
the night, and sat at the little window nursing her regrets. And, when
the day arrived for the marriage, she shut the window and continued to
cry.
During this time the Blue Bird, or Prince Charming, did not cease to fly
round the castle. The Princess sat at the window and every night
entreated that she might be delivered. 'O wicked Queen!' she cried, 'to
keep me shut up like this because of Prince Charming!'
The Blue Bird heard this and did not lose a word, but waited to see who
the lady was who had such a sorry plaint. But she shut the window and
retired. The Blue Bird, curious to see and to hear some more, came again
the following night, and again there was a maiden at the window who was
full of regrets.
[Illustration: THE BLUE BIRD
The Prince took a carriage drawn by three great frogs with great big
wings ... Truitonne came out mysteriously by a little door.
_See page 86_]
'Fortune!' said she, 'you have taken from me the love of my father. I
have received a blow at a tender age; and it is so much pain that I am
tired of living. I demand with all my heart that my fatal destiny may
end.'
The Blue Bird listened, and then he knew that it was his Princess, and
he said: 'Florine, a King who loves you will never love any one but
you.'
'A King who loves me!' said she. 'Is this another snare of my enemies?'
'No, my Princess.' And Florine was very much afraid of this bird who
spoke with as much spirit as a man. But the beauty of his plumage
reassured her.
'Would it be possible to see you, my Princess?' said he. 'Could I taste
a happiness so great without dying of joy? But, alas! this great joy
would be troubled by your captivity, and the wicked fairy Soussio has
done this for seven years.'
'And who are you, charming bird?' said the Princess caressingly.
'You have said my name rightly, and yet you fail to recognise me,'
replied the Prince.
'What! The greatest King in the world! The Prince Charming!' cried the
Princess. 'Is he the little bird I see?'
'Alas! dear Florine, it is too true! And, if one thing consoles me, it
is that I prefer this sorrow rather than renounce the love I have for
you.'
'For me!'
And so this went on. The Blue Bird paid visits to Florine every night,
and they were as happy as it was possible to be. One evening Prince
Charming flew away to his palace, and brought back lovely diamond
bracelets, beautiful pearl necklaces and a sweet little pearl watch, and
gave them all to Florine.
The Queen could not understand how it was that Florine had such lovely
jewels and why she looked so happy, so she questioned her about it.
Florine, who knew that if she said the Blue Bird had given them to her,
they would not believe her, and would try to drive him away, said she
did not know. The Queen said the Evil One must have bought her soul, and
decided to watch.
She did so, and discovered that the Blue Bird came every night. Then
Truitonne and her mother sought the help of the wicked fairy Soussio;
and she, to please her godchild, worked another spell on the poor Blue
Bird, so that he could not come any more to see his Florine.
One day his friend the Good Fairy was passing by a certain spot where he
was a prisoner in a tree, and she saw a trail of blood and heard a very
weak voice calling her, but nowhere could she find the Blue Bird. But
she knew it was his blood. Then, after a long time, she found him in his
tiny nest, dying.
This was the Good Fairy who had given him the flying-frog carriage, so
again she resolved to help him if she could. Away she went to the fairy
Soussio and asked her to release the spell on Prince Charming. Soussio
agreed to do so if he would marry Truitonne. Then the Good Fairy
conducted Prince Charming back to his castle, where, on his arrival, the
ugly Truitonne was awaiting his return, dressed in lovely clothes, and
more ugly than ever.
Now the old King died, and the people, who hated the Queen and her ugly
daughter, said that they would have no other Queen but Florine, and they
went to her in her little room and begged her for their sake to be their
Queen. But she said she had not the heart for anything because she had
lost her lover, Prince Charming. They asked her again to become their
Queen and then to go out and look for him, and they were sure she would
find him.
So she became their Queen, and then dressed herself as a poor peasant,
and went out into strange lands and travelled in many strange places,
thinking to find her beloved Prince. But it was all of no avail. One day
she stopped, out of sheer fatigue, to rest by a fountain, and, while she
was there, the Good Fairy, disguised, came by and asked her what she was
crying for. Florine told her all about the Prince whom she loved and was
seeking. Then the Good Fairy told her that Prince Charming was at his
own castle and that the spell had been removed, and she gave Florine
four little eggs, and said that whenever she was in trouble she was to
throw one of them down, and at the same time ask what she wanted, and it
would be granted. With these words she disappeared.
Florine turned her face towards the castle of the Prince, and, after
many trials and sufferings, she found herself at the feet of her ugly
sister Truitonne. Florine, disguised as a poor peasant, was not
recognised, so she offered her lovely jewels for sale, and Truitonne,
who loved jewellery, resolved to buy them. But Florine would not sell
for money: all she asked was to spend a night in the castle. Truitonne
was only too glad to get them at such a price, and agreed.
Feeling that the poor peasant girl was giving her something for nothing,
and imagining that she did not really know the value of the jewels,
Truitonne allowed her sister every liberty in the palace. She could go
where she would, unquestioned, and do what she pleased.
Florine took every advantage of this, and, mixing freely among the
attendants, she soon learned many things about Prince Charming. Among
other pieces of news was this important item: the Prince, being unable
to sleep, was in the habit of taking a sleeping-draught every night.
On hearing this she sought the Prince's head valet, and made herself so
charming to him that he lost his head altogether, and was more than
willing to fulfil her lightest wish.
'Tell me,' said she at last, 'why does the Prince take
sleeping-draughts?'
'Ah!' replied he, looking very wise, 'it is because the Princess is so
ugly.'
'Because she is so ugly? I--I don't understand.'
'What! From the very first the Prince's waking hours have been one long,
frightful dream; and he can only banish it by night by taking the
sleeping-draught. The Prince is deeply in love with the Princess's
sister, but no one but myself knows that. Every night, when he sinks to
sleep under the draught, he smiles, and his face looks so very happy,
and he whispers one name again and again: "Florine! Florine!"'
The peasant girl's heart beat hard, and a plan shot like lightning
through her mind. She would tell this man everything and he would help
her. She knew he would, and she knew also that he would not be blind to
his own advantage. Her mind was quickly made up. The four little eggs
the Good Fairy had given her were packed in a little box. Taking this
from the folds of her dress she took one of them and threw it on the
floor.
'I _am_ Florine!' she said. 'And I want your willing help.'
The head valet stared at her in dismay. Then his face changed. He bowed
to her with the utmost respect, and said: 'Princess, I am your faithful
slave; command me and I will obey.'
'First, then,' said Florine, 'do not give the Prince the draught
to-night; and find me an apartment next to his.'
'It shall be done,' replied the valet, and with a low bow he withdrew to
make the arrangement.
'Stay!' cried Florine as he was going. 'I forbid you to tell the Prince
a word of this. You understand?'
'And obey,' he replied, bowing again and again as he left her presence,
walking backwards in respect to high royalty.
That night the Prince, impatient to forget the face of Truitonne, called
for his sleeping-draught. The head valet appeared, bearing a flavoured
mixture in a crystal goblet on a golden tray. The Prince drank it. By
its taste it was the draught, but, by its effect, it was not. No sleep
came to him, and the face of Truitonne grew uglier and uglier in his
mind. Presently he started up.
'What sound was that?'
It came from the next apartment--the sound of a woman weeping. He
listened, and in the stillness of the palace the sound came clearly. He
knew that voice: it was the voice of his dear Princess Florine, just as
he used to hear it when, as a Blue Bird, he spoke with her at her
window.
In a moment he arose and dressed himself in his royal robes. While he
was doing this, Florine in the next room took another egg from the box,
and, throwing it upon the floor, cried: 'I wish that, by storm and
lightning, all that is evil and ugly in this palace shall be destroyed,
and all that is good and beautiful left.'
As she spoke the rising wind wailed about the palace and died away; dull
thunder reverberated in the distance. The air grew stifling, and the
night flowers paid their perfumes out like threatened debtors. Another
rush of wind, then silence broken only by a peal of thunder nearer than
before. The splash of heavy drops was heard on the flagstones of the
courtyard below. The lightning was seen to flash through the windows,
and the thunder shook the castle to its foundations.
Nearer and nearer loomed the storm, growing more terrific every moment.
Every one was up and running about in panic. Those with ugly souls and
bodies, if their consciences were also wicked, went mad in the panic,
and fled in a body from the palace, thinking the end of the world had
come. But those whose consciences were clear, whose hearts were
true--those who could never be called ugly, no matter what they looked
like--they sought the Prince and gathered round him, while the palace
shuddered as all the storm gods poured out their wrath.
As the panic-stricken ones fled towards the hills, Florine looked out at
the window and saw them, a rushing group with terror in their heels.
There came a vivid flash of lightning, and the thunder split and rolled
and crashed. When Florine looked again she saw no fugitives: they had
disappeared for ever. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the storm
abated. The thunder rolled away into the distance, and the moon came out
and rode from cloud to cloud triumphant.
There was a knock upon the door. It was the Prince, and behind him were
gathered his own, the good and true, according to her wish. How could
she meet him in her peasant's garb? A quick thought came to her. She
took the third egg and smashed it on the floor, saying: 'I wish that I
may come face to face with my Prince in all the dazzling splendour that
befits a princess.'
Instantly there was a flash as if a fairy wand had cleft the air. And
there stood Florine, the most splendidly royal figure you could imagine.
She was beautiful beyond words--so beautiful that the wonderful jewels
in her hair and on her lovely dress, on her neck and arms and tiny
shoes, could never have got their beauty from any one but her.
She opened the door, and stepped back with a cry of delight. As she did
so, she placed her hand to her breast where she felt the frail little
box that contained the fourth and last egg.
In another moment she was in the Prince's arms, and the pressure of that
embrace crushed the box and broke the egg.
'I wish,' she cried on the instant, raising her lips to his, 'I wish
that you will love me for ever!'
BASHTCHELIK (OR, REAL STEEL)
A SERBIAN FAIRY TALE
The aged Tsar was dying, and his three sons and three daughters were
standing round his bed. He had yet strength to give his last commands,
which were extraordinary.
'It is my will, O my sons,' he said, 'that you give my daughters in
marriage to the first suitors that come to demand them. Question me not,
but fulfil to the letter this, my last injunction. If you fail, my curse
will fall upon you.'
These were the Tsar's last words before he died. It was approaching the
hour of midnight when he passed away; and, when the dawn found his sons
and daughters weeping for grief, they were startled by a dreadful noise.
Came a loud beating against the palace gates, and instantly an awful
tempest sprang up around the palace. Peal on peal of thunder roared, and
vivid lightning flashed. The whole place rocked and swayed and trembled
to its foundations. Then above the fearful din came a loud voice: 'In
the name of a King, open the gates!'
'Do not open!' cried the eldest brother.
'See to it that you do not open!' insisted the younger one. But the
youngest disregarded them both, and rushed to the gates.
''Tis I will open!' he flung back to them as they followed at his heels.
'Though the earth dissolve, what have we to fear? We have done no
wrong!'
With this he flung the gates wide. There was no one there, but a
sizzling light moved in towards them, and, out of the heart of it came a
clear, cold voice:
'I have come to demand the hand of your eldest sister in marriage.
Forbid me not. I await your consent, but, if you refuse, it will be at
your peril.'
The eldest brother answered at once, without a glance at the other two:
'It is unheard of! I cannot see you; I do not know you; who is to know
where or how you will bestow my sister? I might never see her again.' He
turned to the younger one and added, 'What say you, brother?'
'For my part, I will not consent,' replied he readily. 'I like not these
signs of ill omen.'
Then they both turned to the youngest.
'What say you, little brother?'
He was quick to answer:
'I obey my father, and counsel you to do the same. It is not that I fear
his curse, but I love him, and will obey his wish.'
Without waiting for any reply he ran within, and soon returned, leading
his eldest sister by the hand.
'Here,' said he, offering her to the unseen visitant, 'in accordance
with the custom of my country and the dying wish of my father, I give
you my sister for your wedded wife. May she be faithful to you.'
The Princess was then taken by an invisible hand and led away; and, as
she stepped across the threshold of the palace gates, a tremendous clap
of thunder burst overhead; the lightning flashed again, and the whole
earth rocked at the sound and sight of it; and, at terror of it, the
courtiers who had gathered round fell on their faces and prayed for
deliverance with all their might.
When the sun rose, the palace was still astir. None had slept, so none
had dreamed; therefore, when eyes met eyes, the truth was known: a
terrible thing had happened, but none knew how it had happened. All
sought to find some clue to explain the disappearance of the eldest
Princess, but there was no clue to the midnight mystery of the thing.
And on the second night the same terrible thing occurred again. The
palace was stormed by thunder and lightning till its foundations
quaked. Then, above all, came another commanding voice: 'Open the gates
immediately--in the name of a King!'
Again the elder brother demurred, and again the youngest admitted the
invisible but powerful applicant, and bestowed upon him the second
sister.
'I trust she will be loyal and faithful to you,' he said; and, as she
stepped over the threshold, the elements roared like a great lion
glutting on his prey. And still, to the courtiers who stood by, the
mystery of the thing was greater than their fear of the quakings of the
earth and the sudden gasps of icy air that smote them.
Again, on the third night, while the youngest sister, who was very
proud, was preparing to reject a suitor promised by her brothers, a
greater storm than ever swept up about the palace, and, to hear it, one
would have thought that half the world were rolling down a hill. It was
terrific, and still more terrific was a voice that cried: 'Open these
gates, in the name of a King who comes on his own business!'
As before, the two elder brothers demurred, but the youngest was more
obedient to his father's dying wish. He bestowed the youngest sister
upon the first to seek her hand. And, as she stepped over the threshold,
the whole palace trembled and fluttered as if disturbed by the wings of
a thousand giant eagles.
The two elder brothers mourned and grieved for their sisters, saying
they were lost for ever. How could they see them again? How could they
visit them? They were gone--swallowed up in the invisible.
'It is not so,' said the youngest. 'We have fulfilled our father's
command. We have done no wrong; though the skies fall down, what have we
to fear? Follow me forth: we will go and search for them!'
And so, not knowing what had befallen their sisters, nor whom they had
married, they set out to search far and wide for them.