THE LIGHT PRINCESS
I
_What! No Children?_
Once upon a time, so long ago that I have quite forgotten the date,
there lived a king and queen who had no children.
And the king said to himself, "All the queens of my acquaintance have
children, some three, some seven, and some as many as twelve; and my
queen has not one. I feel ill-used." So he made up his mind to be cross
with his wife about it. But she bore it all like a good patient queen as
she was. Then the king grew very cross indeed. But the queen pretended
to take it all as a joke, and a very good one too.
"Why don't you have any daughters, at least?" said he. "I don't say
_sons_; that might be too much to expect."
"I am sure, dear king, I am very sorry," said the queen.
"So you ought to be," retorted the king; "you are not going to make a
virtue of _that_, surely."
But he was not an ill-tempered king, and in any matter of less moment
would have let the queen have her own way with all his heart. This,
however, was an affair of State.
The queen smiled.
"You must have patience with a lady, you know, dear king," said she.
She was, indeed, a very nice queen, and heartily sorry that she could
not oblige the king immediately.
The king tried to have patience, but he succeeded very badly. It was
more than he deserved, therefore, when, at last, the queen gave him a
daughter--as lovely a little princess as ever cried.
II
_Won't I, Just?_
The day drew near when the infant must be christened. The king wrote all
the invitations with his own hand. Of course somebody was forgotten.
Now it does not generally matter if somebody _is_ forgotten, only you
must mind who. Unfortunately, the king forgot without intending to
forget; and so the chance fell upon the Princess Makemnoit, which was
awkward. For the princess was the king's own sister; and he ought not to
have forgotten her. But she had made herself so disagreeable to the old
king, their father, that he had forgotten her in making his will; and so
it was no wonder that her brother forgot her in writing his invitations.
But poor relations don't do anything to keep you in mind of them. Why
don't they? The king could not see into the garret she lived in, could
he?
She was a sour, spiteful creature. The wrinkles of contempt crossed the
wrinkles of peevishness, and made her face as full of wrinkles as a pat
of butter. If ever a king could be justified in forgetting anybody, this
king was justified in forgetting his sister, even at a christening. She
looked very odd, too. Her forehead was as large as all the rest of her
face, and projected over it like a precipice. When she was angry, her
little eyes flashed blue. When she hated anybody, they shone yellow and
green. What they looked like when she loved anybody, I do not know; for
I never heard of her loving anybody but herself, and I do not think she
could have managed that if she had not somehow got used to herself. But
what made it highly imprudent in the king to forget her was--that she
was awfully clever. In fact, she was a witch; and when she bewitched
anybody, he very soon had enough of it; for she beat all the wicked
fairies in wickedness, and all the clever ones in cleverness. She
despised all the modes we read of in history, in which offended fairies
and witches have taken their revenges; and therefore, after waiting and
waiting in vain for an invitation, she made up her mind at last to go
without one, and make the whole family miserable, like a princess as she
was.
So she put on her best gown, went to the palace, was kindly received by
the happy monarch, who forgot that he had forgotten her, and took her
place in the procession to the royal chapel. When they were all gathered
about the font, she contrived to get next to it, and throw something
into the water; after which she maintained a very respectful demeanour
till the water was applied to the child's face. But at that moment she
turned round in her place three times, and muttered the following words,
loud enough for those beside her to hear:
"Light of spirit, by my charms,
Light of body, every part,
Never weary human arms--
Only crush thy parents' heart!"
They all thought she had lost her wits, and was repeating some foolish
nursery rhyme; but a shudder went through the whole of them
notwithstanding. The baby, on the contrary, began to laugh and crow;
while the nurse gave a start and a smothered cry, for, she thought she
was struck with paralysis: she could not feel the baby in her arms. But
she clasped it tight and said nothing.
The mischief was done.
III
_She Can't Be Ours!_
Her atrocious aunt had deprived the child of all her gravity. If you ask
me how this was effected, I answer, "In the easiest way in the world.
She had only to destroy gravitation." For the princess was a
philosopher, and knew all the ins and outs of the laws of gravitation as
well as the ins and outs of her boot-lace. And being a witch as well,
she could abrogate those laws in a moment; or at least so clog their
wheels and rust their bearings that they would not work at all. But we
have more to do with what followed than with how it was done.
The first awkwardness that resulted from this unhappy privation was,
that the moment the nurse began to float the baby up and down, she flew
from her arms towards the ceiling. Happily, the resistance of the air
brought her ascending career to a close within a foot of it. There she
remained, horizontal as when she left her nurse's arms, kicking and
laughing amazingly. The nurse in terror flew to the bell, and begged the
footman, who answered it, to bring up the house-steps directly.
Trembling in every limb, she climbed upon the steps, and had to stand
upon the very top, and reach up, before she could catch the floating
tail of the baby's long clothes.
When the strange fact came to be known, there was a terrible commotion
in the palace. The occasion of its discovery by the king was naturally a
repetition of the nurse's experience. Astonished that he felt no weight
when the child was laid in his arms, he began to wave her up and--not
down; for she slowly ascended to the ceiling as before, and there
remained floating in perfect comfort and satisfaction, as was testified
by her peals of tiny laughter. The king stood staring up in speechless
amazement, and trembled so that his beard shook like grass in the wind.
At last, turning to the queen, who was just as horror-struck as himself,
he said, gasping, staring, and stammering:
"She _can't_ be ours, queen!"
Now the queen was much cleverer than the king, and had begun already to
suspect that "this effect defective came by cause."
"I am sure she is ours," answered she. "But we ought to have taken
better care of her at the christening. People who were never invited
ought not to have been present."
"Oh, ho!" said the king, tapping his forehead with his forefinger, "I
have it all. I've found her out. Don't you see it, queen? Princess
Makemnoit has bewitched her."
"That's just what I say," answered the queen.
"I beg your pardon, my love; I did not hear you. John! bring the steps I
get on my throne with."
For he was a little king with a great throne, like many other kings.
The throne-steps were brought, and set upon the dining-table, and John
got upon the top of them. But, he could not reach the little princess,
who lay like a baby-laughter-cloud in the air, exploding continuously.
"Take the tongs, John," said his Majesty; and getting up on the table,
he handed them to him.
John could reach the baby now, and the little princess was handed down
by the tongs.
IV
_Where Is She?_
One fine summer day, a month after these her first adventures, during
which time she had been very carefully watched, the princess was lying
on the bed in the queen's own chamber, fast asleep. One of the windows
was open, for it was noon, and the day was so sultry that the little
girl was wrapped in nothing less ethereal than slumber itself. The queen
came into the room, and not observing that the baby was on the bed,
opened another window. A frolicsome fairy wind, which had been watching
for a chance of mischief, rushed in at the one window, and taking its
way over the bed where the child was lying, caught her up, and rolling
and floating her along like a piece of flue, or a dandelion seed,
carried her with it through the opposite window, and away. The queen
went down-stairs, quite ignorant of the loss she had herself occasioned.
When the nurse returned, she supposed that her Majesty had carried her
off, and, dreading a scolding, delayed making inquiry about her. But
hearing nothing, she grew uneasy, and went at length to the queen's
boudoir, where she found her Majesty.
"Please, your Majesty, shall I take the baby?" said she.
"Where is she?" asked the queen.
"Please forgive me. I know it was wrong."
"What do you mean?" said the queen, looking grave.
"Oh! don't frighten me, your Majesty!" exclaimed the nurse, clasping her
hands.
The queen saw that something was amiss, and fell down in a faint. The
nurse rushed about the palace, screaming, "My baby! my baby!"
Every one ran to the queen's room. But the queen could give no orders.
They soon found out, however, that the princess was missing, and in a
moment the palace was like a beehive in a garden; and in one minute more
the queen was brought to herself by a great shout and a clapping of
hands. They had found the princess fast asleep under a rose-bush, to
which the elfish little wind-puff had carried her, finishing its
mischief by shaking a shower of red rose-leaves all over the little
white sleeper. Startled by the noise the servants made, she woke, and,
furious with glee, scattered the rose-leaves in all directions, like a
shower of spray in the sunset.
She was watched more carefully after this, no doubt; yet it would be
endless to relate all the odd incidents resulting from this peculiarity
of the young princess. But there never was a baby in a house, not to say
a palace, that kept the household in such constant good humour, at least
below-stairs. If it was not easy for her nurses to hold her, at least
she made neither their arms nor their hearts ache. And she was so nice
to play at ball with! There was positively no danger of letting her
fall. They might throw her down, or knock her down, or push her down,
but they couldn't _let_ her down. It is true, they might let her fly
into the fire or the coal-hole, or through the window; but none of these
accidents had happened as yet. If you heard peals of laughter resounding
from some unknown region, you might be sure enough of the cause. Going
down into the kitchen, or _the room_, you would find Jane and Thomas,
and Robert and Susan, all and sum, playing at ball with the little
princess. She was the ball herself, and did not enjoy it the less for
that. Away she went, flying from one to another, screeching with
laughter. And the servants loved the ball itself better even than the
game. But they had to take some care how they threw her, for if she
received an upward direction, she would never come down again without
being fetched.
V
_What Is to Be Done?_
But above-stairs it was different. One day, for instance, after
breakfast, the king went into his counting-house, and counted out his
money.
The operation gave him no pleasure.
"To think," said he to himself, "that every one of these gold sovereigns
weighs a quarter of an ounce, and my real, live, flesh-and-blood
princess weighs nothing at all!"
And he hated his gold sovereigns, as they lay with a broad smile of
self-satisfaction all over their yellow faces.
The queen was in the parlour, eating bread and honey. But at the second
mouthful she burst out crying, and could not swallow it. The king heard
her sobbing. Glad of anybody, but especially of his queen, to quarrel
with, he clashed his gold sovereigns into his money-box, clapped his
crown on his head, and rushed into the parlour.
"What is all this about?" exclaimed he. "What are you crying for,
queen?"
"I can't eat it," said the queen, looking ruefully at the honey-pot.
"No wonder!" retorted the king. "You've just eaten your breakfast--two
turkey eggs, and three anchovies."
"Oh, that's not it!" sobbed her Majesty. "It's my child, my child!"
"Well, what's the matter with your child? She's neither up the chimney
nor down the draw-well. Just hear her laughing."
Yet the king could not help a sigh, which he tried to turn into a cough,
saying:
"It is a good thing to be light-hearted, I am sure, whether she be ours
or not."
"It is a bad thing to be light-headed," answered the queen, looking with
prophetic soul far into the future.
"'T is a good thing to be light-handed," said the king.
"'T is a bad thing to be light-fingered," answered the queen.
"'T is a good thing to be light-footed," said the king.
"'T is a bad thing--" began the queen; but the king interrupted her.
"In fact," said he, with the tone of one who concludes an argument in
which he has had only imaginary opponents, and in which, therefore, he
has come off triumphant--"in fact, it is a good thing altogether to be
light-bodied."
"But it is a bad thing altogether to be light-minded," retorted the
queen, who was beginning to lose her temper.
This last answer quite discomfited his Majesty, who turned on his heel,
and betook himself to his counting-house again. But he was not half-way
towards it, when the voice of his queen overtook him.
"And it's a bad thing to be light-haired," screamed she, determined to
have more last words, now that her spirit was roused.
The queen's hair was black as night; and the king's had been, and his
daughter's was, golden as morning. But it was not this reflection on his
hair that arrested him; it was the double use of the word _light_. For
the king hated all witticisms, and punning especially. And besides, he
could not tell whether the queen meant light-_haired_ or light-_heired_;
for why might she not aspirate her vowels when she was exasperated
herself?
He turned upon his other heel, and rejoined her. She looked angry still,
because she knew that she was guilty, or, what was much the same, knew
that he thought so.
"My dear queen," said he, "duplicity of any sort is exceedingly
objectionable between married people of any rank, not to say kings and
queens; and the most objectionable form duplicity can assume is that of
punning."
"There!" said the queen, "I never made a jest, but I broke it in the
making. I am the most unfortunate woman in the world!"
She looked so rueful that the king took her in his arms; and they sat
down to consult.
"Can you bear this?" said the king.
"No, I can't," said the queen.
"Well, what's to be done?" said the king.
"I'm sure I don't know," said the queen. "But might you not try an
apology?"
"To my old sister, I suppose you mean?" said the king.
"Yes," said the queen.
"Well, I don't mind," said the king.
So he went the next morning to the house of the princess, and, making a
very humble apology, begged her to undo the spell. But the princess
declared, with a grave face, that she knew nothing at all about it. Her
eyes, however, shone pink, which was a sign that she was happy. She
advised the king and queen to have patience, and to mend their ways. The
king returned disconsolate. The queen tried to comfort him.
"We will wait till she is older. She may then be able to suggest
something herself. She will know at least how she feels, and explain
things to us."
"But what if she should marry?" exclaimed the king, in sudden
consternation at the idea.
"Well, what of that?" rejoined the queen.
"Just think! If she were to have children! In the course of a hundred
years the air might be as full of floating children as of gossamers in
autumn."
"That is no business of ours," replied the queen. "Besides, by that time
they will have learned to take care of themselves."
A sigh was the king's only answer.
He would have consulted the court physicians; but he was afraid they
would try experiments upon her.
VI
_She Laughs Too Much_
Meantime, notwithstanding awkward occurrences, and griefs that she
brought upon her parents, the little princess laughed and grew--not fat,
but plump and tall. She reached the age of seventeen, without having
fallen into any worse scrape than a chimney; by rescuing her from which,
a little bird-nesting urchin got fame and a black face. Nor, thoughtless
as she was, had she committed anything worse than laughter at everybody
and everything that came in her way. When she was told, for the sake of
experiment, that General Clanrunfort was cut to pieces with all his
troops, she laughed; when she heard that the enemy was on his way to
besiege her father's capital, she laughed hugely; but when she was told
that the city would certainly be abandoned to the mercy of the enemy's
soldiery--why, then she laughed immoderately. She never could be brought
to see the serious side of anything. When her mother cried, she said:
"What queer faces mamma makes! And she squeezes water out of her cheeks!
Funny mamma!"
And when her papa stormed at her, she laughed, and danced round and
round him, clapping her hands, and crying:
"Do it again, papa. Do it again! It's such fun! Dear, funny papa!"
And if he tried to catch her, she glided from him in an instant, not in
the least afraid of him, but thinking it part of the game not to be
caught. With one push of her foot, she would be floating in the air
above his head; or she would go dancing backwards and forwards and
sideways, like a great butterfly. It happened several times, when her
father and mother were holding a consultation about her in private, that
they were interrupted by vainly repressed outbursts of laughter over
their heads; and looking up with indignation, saw her floating at full
length in the air above them, whence she regarded them with the most
comical appreciation of the position.
One day an awkward accident happened. The princess had come out upon the
lawn with one of her attendants, who held her by the hand. Spying her
father at the other side of the lawn, she snatched her hand from the
maid's, and sped across to him. Now when she wanted to run alone, her
custom was to catch up a stone in each hand, so that she might come down
again after a bound. Whatever she wore as part of her attire had no
effect in this way. Even gold, when it thus became as it were a part of
herself, lost all its weight for the time. But whatever she only held in
her hands retained its downward tendency. On this occasion she could see
nothing to catch up but a huge toad, that was walking across the lawn as
if he had a hundred years to do it in. Not knowing what disgust meant,
for this was one of her peculiarities, she snatched up the toad and
bounded away. She had almost reached her father, and he was holding out
his arms to receive her, and take from her lips the kiss which hovered
on them like a butterfly on a rosebud, when a puff of wind blew her
aside into the arms of a young page, who had just been receiving a
message from his Majesty. Now it was no great peculiarity in the
princess that, once she was set agoing, it always cost her time and
trouble to check herself. On this occasion there was no time. She _must_
kiss--and she kissed the page. She did not mind it much; for she had no
shyness in her composition; and she knew, besides, that she could not
help it. So she only laughed, like a musical box. The poor page fared
the worst. For the princess, trying to correct the unfortunate tendency
of the kiss, put out her hands to keep off the page; so that, along with
the kiss, he received, on the other cheek, a slap with the huge black
toad, which she poked right into his eye. He tried to laugh, too, but
the attempt resulted in such an odd contortion of countenance, as showed
that there was no danger of his pluming himself on the kiss. As for the
king, his dignity was greatly hurt, and he did not speak to the page for
a whole month.
I may here remark that it was very amusing to see her run, if her mode
of progression could properly be called running. For first she would
make a bound; then, having alighted, she would run a few steps, and make
another bound. Sometimes she would fancy she had reached the ground
before she actually had, and her feet would go backwards and forwards,
running upon nothing at all, like those of a chicken on its back. Then
she would laugh like the very spirit of fun; only in her laugh there was
something missing. What it was, I find myself unable to describe. I
think it was a certain tone, depending upon the possibility of
sorrow--_morbidezza_, perhaps. She never smiled.
VII
_Try Metaphysics_
After a long avoidance of the painful subject, the king and queen
resolved to hold a council of three upon it; and so they sent for the
princess. In she came, sliding and flitting and gliding from one piece
of furniture to another, and put herself at last in an arm-chair, in a
sitting posture. Whether she could be said _to sit_, seeing she received
no support from the seat of the chair, I do not pretend to determine.
"My dear child," said the king, "you must be aware by this time that you
are not exactly like other people."
"Oh, you dear funny papa! I have got a nose, and two eyes, and all the
rest. So have you. So has mamma."
"Now be serious, my dear, for once," said the queen.
"No, thank you, mamma; I had rather not."
"Would you not like to be able to walk like other people?" said the
king.
"No indeed, I should think not. You only crawl. You are such slow
coaches!"
"How do you feel, my child?" he resumed, after a pause of discomfiture.
"Quite well, thank you."
"I mean, what do you feel like?"
"Like nothing at all, that I know of."
"You must feel like something."
"I feel like a princess with such a funny papa, and such a dear pet of a
queen-mamma!"
"Now really!" began the queen; but the princess interrupted her.
"Oh, yes," she added, "I remember. I have a curious feeling sometimes,
as if I were the only person that had any sense in the whole world."
She had been trying to behave herself with dignity; but now she burst
into a violent fit of laughter, threw herself backwards over the chair,
and went rolling about the floor in an ecstasy of enjoyment. The king
picked her up easier than one does a down quilt, and replaced her in her
former relation to the chair. The exact preposition expressing this
relation I do not happen to know.
"Is there nothing you wish for?" resumed the king, who had learned by
this time that it was useless to be angry with her.
"Oh, you dear papa!--yes," answered she.
"What is it, my darling?"
"I have been longing for it--oh, such a time!--ever since last night."
"Tell me what it is."
"Will you promise to let me have it?"
The king was on the point of saying yes, but the wiser queen checked him
with a single motion of her head.
"Tell me what it is first," said he.
"No, no. Promise first."
"I dare not. What is it?"
"Mind, I hold you to your promise. It is--to be tied to the end of a
string--a very long string indeed, and be flown like a kite. Oh, such
fun! I would rain rose-water, and hail sugar-plums, and snow
whipped-cream, and--and--and--"
A fit of laughing checked her; and she would have been off again over
the floor, had not the king started up and caught her just in time.
Seeing that nothing but talk could be got out of her, he rang the bell,
and sent her away with two of her ladies-in-waiting.
"Now, queen," he said, turning to her Majesty, "what _is_ to be done?"
"There is but one thing left," answered she. "Let us consult the college
of Metaphysicians."
"Bravo!" cried the king; "we will."
Now at the head of this college were two very wise Chinese
philosophers--by name Hum-Drum, and Kopy-Keck. For them the king sent;
and straightway they came. In a long speech he communicated to them what
they knew very well already--as who did not?--namely, the peculiar
condition of his daughter in relation to the globe on which she dwelt;
and requested them to consult together as to what might be the cause and
probable cure of her _infirmity_. The king laid stress upon the word,
but failed to discover his own pun. The queen laughed; but Hum-Drum and
Kopy-Keck heard with humility and retired in silence.
Their consultation consisted chiefly in propounding and supporting, for
the thousandth time, each his favourite theories. For the condition of
the princess afforded delightful scope for the discussion of every
question arising from the division of thought--in fact, of all the
Metaphysics of the Chinese Empire. But it is only justice to say that
they did not altogether neglect the discussion of the practical
question, _what was to be done_.
Hum-Drum was a Materialist, and Kopy-Keck was a Spiritualist. The former
was slow and sententious; the latter was quick and flighty; the latter
had generally the first word; the former the last.
"I reassert my former assertion," began Kopy-Keck, with a plunge. "There
is not a fault in the princess, body or soul; only they are wrong put
together. Listen to me now, Hum-Drum, and I will tell you in brief what
I think. Don't speak. Don't answer me. I _won't_ hear you till I have
done. At that decisive moment, when souls seek their appointed
habitations, two eager souls met, struck, rebounded, lost their way, and
arrived each at the wrong place. The soul of the princess was one of
those, and she went far astray. She does not belong by rights to this
world at all, but to some other planet, probably Mercury. Her proclivity
to her true sphere destroys all the natural influence which this orb
would otherwise possess over her corporeal frame. She cares for nothing
here. There is no relation between her and this world.
"She must therefore be taught, by the sternest compulsion, to take an
interest in the earth as the earth. She must study every department of
its history--its animal history, its vegetable history, its mineral
history, its social history, its moral history, its political history,
its scientific history, its literary history, its musical history, its
artistical history, above all, its metaphysical history. She must begin
with the Chinese dynasty and end with Japan. But first of all she must
study geology, and especially the history of the extinct races of
animals--their natures, their habits, their loves, their hates, their
revenges. She must--"
"Hold, h-o-o-old!" roared Hum-Drum. "It is certainly my turn now. My
rooted and insubvertible conviction is, that the causes of the anomalies
evident in the princess's condition are strictly and solely physical.
But that is only tantamount to acknowledging that they exist. Hear my
opinion. From some cause or other, of no importance to our inquiry, the
motion of her heart has been reversed. That remarkable combination of
the suction and the force-pump works the wrong way--I mean in the case
of the unfortunate princess, it draws in where it should force out, and
forces out where it should draw in. The offices of the auricles and the
ventricles are subverted. The blood is sent forth by the veins, and
returns by the arteries. Consequently it is running the wrong way
through all her corporeal organism--lungs and all. Is it then at all
mysterious, seeing that such is the case, that on the other particular
of gravitation as well, she should differ from normal humanity? My
proposal for the cure is this:
"Phlebotomise until she is reduced to the last point of safety. Let it
be effected, if necessary, in a warm bath. When she is reduced to a
state of perfect asphyxy, apply a ligature to the left ankle, drawing it
as tight as the bone will bear. Apply, at the same moment, another of
equal tension around the right wrist. By means of plates constructed for
the purpose, place the other foot and hand under the receivers of two
air-pumps. Exhaust the receivers. Exhibit a pint of French brandy, and
await the result."
"Which would presently arrive in the form of grim Death," said
Kopy-Keck.
"If it should, she would yet die in doing our duty," retorted Hum-Drum.
But their Majesties had too much tenderness for their volatile offspring
to subject her to either of the schemes of the equally unscrupulous
philosophers. Indeed, the most complete knowledge of the laws of nature
would have been unserviceable in her case; for it was impossible to
classify her. She was a fifth imponderable body, sharing all the other
properties of the ponderable.
VIII
_Try a Drop of Water_
Perhaps the best thing for the princess would have been to fall in love.
But how a princess who had no gravity could fall into anything is a
difficulty--perhaps _the_ difficulty. As for her own feelings on the
subject, she did not even know that there was such a beehive of honey
and stings to be fallen into. But now I come to mention another curious
fact about her.
The palace was built on the shores of the loveliest lake in the world;
and the princess loved this lake more than father or mother. The root of
this preference no doubt, although the princess did not recognise it as
such, was, that the moment she got into it, she recovered the natural
right of which she had been so wickedly deprived--namely, gravity.
Whether this was owing to the fact that water had been employed as the
means of conveying the injury, I do not know. But it is certain that she
could swim and dive like the duck that her old nurse said she was. The
manner in which this alleviation of her misfortune was discovered was as
follows:
One summer evening, during the carnival of the country, she had been
taken upon the lake by the king and queen, in the royal barge. They were
accompanied by many of the courtiers in a fleet of little boats. In the
middle of the lake she wanted to get into the lord chancellor's barge,
for his daughter, who was a great favourite with her, was in it with her
father. Now though the old king rarely condescended to make light of his
misfortune, yet, happening on this occasion to be in a particularly good
humour, as the barges approached each other, he caught up the princess
to throw her into the chancellor's barge. He lost his balance, however,
and, dropping into the bottom of the barge, lost his hold of his
daughter; not, however, before imparting to her the downward tendency of
his own person, though in a somewhat different direction, for, as the
king fell into the boat, she fell into the water. With a burst of
delighted laughter she disappeared into the lake. A cry of horror
ascended from the boats. They had never seen the princess go down
before. Half the men were under water in a moment; but they had all, one
after another, come up to the surface again for breath, when--tinkle,
tinkle, babble, and gush! came the princess's laugh over the water from
far away. There she was, swimming like a swan. Nor would she come out
for king or queen, chancellor or daughter. She was perfectly obstinate.
But at the same time she seemed more sedate than usual. Perhaps that was
because a great pleasure spoils laughing. At all events, after this, the
passion of her life was to get into the water, and she was always the
better behaved and the more beautiful the more she had of it. Summer and
winter it was quite the same; only she could not stay so long in the
water when they had to break the ice to let her in. Any day, from
morning to evening in summer, she might be descried--a streak of white
in the blue water--lying as still as the shadow of a cloud, or shooting
along like a dolphin; disappearing, and coming up again far off, just
where one did not expect her. She would have been in the lake of a night
too, if she could have had her way; for the balcony of her window
overhung a deep pool in it; and through a shallow reedy passage she
could have swum out into the wide wet water, and no one would have been
any the wiser. Indeed, when she happened to wake in the moonlight she
could hardly resist the temptation. But there was the sad difficulty of
getting into it. She had as great a dread of the air as some children
have of the water. For the slightest gust of wind would blow her away;
and a gust might arise in the stillest moment. And if she gave herself a
push towards the water and just failed of reaching it, her situation
would be dreadfully awkward, irrespective of the wind; for at best there
she would have to remain, suspended in her night-gown, till she was seen
and angled for by somebody from the window.
"Oh! if I had my gravity," thought she, contemplating the water, "I
would flash off this balcony like a long white sea-bird, headlong into
the darling wetness. Heigh-ho!"
This was the only consideration that made her wish to be like other
people.
Another reason for her being fond of the water was that in it alone she
enjoyed any freedom. For she could not walk without a _cortège_,
consisting in part of a troop of light-horse, for fear of the liberties
which the wind might take with her. And the king grew more apprehensive
with increasing years, till at last he would not allow her to walk
abroad at all without some twenty silken cords fastened to as many parts
of her dress, and held by twenty noblemen. Of course horseback was out
of the question. But she bade good-bye to all this ceremony when she got
into the water.
And so remarkable were its effects upon her, especially in restoring her
for the time to the ordinary human gravity, that Hum-Drum and Kopy-Keck
agreed in recommending the king to bury her alive for three years; in
the hope that, as the water did her so much good, the earth would do her
yet more. But the king had some vulgar prejudices against the
experiment, and would not give his consent. Foiled in this, they yet
agreed in another recommendation; which, seeing that one imported his
opinions from China and the other from Thibet, was very remarkable
indeed. They argued that, if water of external origin and application
could be so efficacious, water from a deeper source might work a perfect
cure; in short, that if the poor afflicted princess could by any means
be made to cry, she might recover her lost gravity.
But how was this to be brought about? Therein lay all the difficulty--to
meet which the philosophers were not wise enough. To make the princess
cry was as impossible as to make her weigh. They sent for a professional
beggar, commanded him to prepare his most touching oracle of woe, helped
him out of the court charade box to whatever he wanted for dressing up,
and promised great rewards in the event of his success. But it was all
in vain. She listened to the mendicant artist's story, and gazed at his
marvellous make up, till she could contain herself no longer, and went
into the most undignified contortions for relief, shrieking, positively
screeching with laughter.
When she had a little recovered herself, she ordered her attendants to
drive him away, and not give him a single copper; whereupon his look of
mortified discomfiture wrought her punishment and his revenge, for it
sent her into violent hysterics, from which she was with difficulty
recovered.
But so anxious was the king that the suggestion should have a fair
trial, that he put himself in a rage one day, and, rushing up to her
room, gave her an awful whipping. Yet not a tear would flow. She looked
grave, and her laughing sounded uncommonly like screaming--that was all.
The good old tyrant, though he put on his best gold spectacles to look,
could not discover the smallest cloud in the serene blue of her eyes.
IX
_Put Me in Again!_
It must have been about this time that the son of a king, who lived a
thousand miles from Lagobel, set out to look for the daughter of a
queen. He travelled far and wide, but as sure as he found a princess, he
found some fault with her. Of course he could not marry a mere woman,
however beautiful; and there was no princess to be found worthy of him.
Whether the prince was so near perfection that he had a right to demand
perfection itself, I cannot pretend to say. All I know is, that he was a
fine, handsome, brave, generous, well-bred, and well-behaved youth, as
all princes are.
In his wanderings he had come across some reports about our princess;
but as everybody said she was bewitched, he never dreamed that she could
bewitch him. For what indeed could a prince do with a princess that had
lost her gravity? Who could tell what she might not lose next? She might
lose her visibility, or her tangibility; or, in short, the power of
making impressions upon the radical sensorium; so that he should never
be able to tell whether she was dead or alive. Of course he made no
further inquiries about her.
One day he lost sight of his retinue in a great forest. These forests
are very useful in delivering princes from their courtiers, like a sieve
that keeps back the bran. Then the princes get away to follow their
fortunes. In this way they have the advantage of the princesses, who are
forced to marry before they have had a bit of fun. I wish our princesses
got lost in a forest sometimes.
One lovely evening, after wandering about for many days, he found that
he was approaching the outskirts of this forest; for the trees had got
so thin that he could see the sunset through them; and he soon came upon
a kind of heath. Next he came upon signs of human neighbourhood; but by
this time it was getting late, and there was nobody in the fields to
direct him.
After travelling for another hour, his horse, quite worn out with long
labour and lack of food, fell, and was unable to rise again. So he
continued his journey on foot. A length he entered another wood--not a
wild forest, but a civilised wood, through which a footpath led him to
the side of a lake. Along this path the prince pursued his way through
the gathering darkness. Suddenly he paused, and listened. Strange sounds
came across the water. It was, in fact, the princess laughing. Now there
was something odd in her laugh, as I have already hinted; for the
hatching of a real hearty laugh requires the incubation of gravity; and
perhaps this was how the prince mistook the laughter for screaming.
Looking over the lake, he saw something white in the water; and, in an
instant, he had torn off his tunic, kicked off his sandals, and plunged
in. He soon reached the white object, and found that it was a woman.
There was not light enough to show that she was a princess, but quite
enough to show that she was a lady, for it does not want much light to
see that.
Now I cannot tell how it came about--whether she pretended to be
drowning, or whether he frightened her, or caught her so as to embarrass
her--but certainly he brought her to shore in a fashion ignominious to a
swimmer, and more nearly drowned than she had ever expected to be; for
the water had got into her throat as often as she had tried to speak.
At the place to which he bore her, the bank was only a foot or two above
the water; so he gave her a strong lift out of the water, to lay her on
the bank. But, her gravitation ceasing the moment she left the water,
away she went up into the air, scolding and screaming.
"You naughty, _naughty_, Naughty, NAUGHTY man!" she cried.
No one had ever succeeded in putting her into a passion before. When the
prince saw her ascend, he thought he must have been bewitched, and have
mistaken a great swan for a lady. But the princess caught hold of the
topmost cone upon a lofty fir. This came off; but she caught at another;
and, in fact, stopped herself by gathering cones, dropping them as the
stalks gave way. The prince, meantime, stood in the water, staring, and
forgetting to get out. But the princess disappearing, he scrambled on
shore, and went in the direction of the tree. There he found her
climbing down one of the branches towards the stem. But in the darkness
of the wood, the prince continued in some bewilderment as to what the
phenomenon could be; until, reaching the ground, and seeing him standing
there, she caught hold of him, and said:
"I'll tell papa,"
"Oh no, you won't!" returned the prince.
"Yes, I will," she persisted. "What business had you to pull me down out
of the water, and throw me to the bottom of the air? I never did you any
harm."
"Pardon me. I did not mean to hurt you."
"I don't believe you have any brains; and that is a worse loss than your
wretched gravity. I pity you."
The prince now saw that he had come upon the bewitched princess, and had
already offended her. But before he could think what to say next, she
burst out angrily, giving a stamp with her foot that would have sent her
aloft again but for the hold she had of his arm:
"Put me up directly."
"Put you up where, you beauty?" asked the prince.
He had fallen in love with her almost, already; for her anger made her
more charming than any one else had ever beheld her; and, as far as he
could see, which certainly was not far, she had not a single fault about
her, except, of course, that she had not any gravity. No prince,
however, would judge of a princess by weight. The loveliness of her foot
he would hardly estimate by the depth of the impression it could make in
mud.
"Put you up where, you beauty?" asked the prince.
"In the water, you stupid!" answered the princess.
"Come, then," said the prince.
The condition of her dress, increasing her usual difficulty in walking,
compelled her to cling to him; and he could hardly persuade himself that
he was not in a delightful dream, notwithstanding the torrent of musical
abuse with which she overwhelmed him. The prince being therefore in no
hurry, they came upon the lake at quite another part, where the bank was
twenty-five feet high at least; and when they had reached the edge, he
turned towards the princess, and said:
"How am I to put you in?"
"That is your business," she answered, quite snappishly. "You took me
out--put me in again."
"Very well," said the prince; and, catching her up in his arms, he
sprang with her from the rock. The princess had just time to give one
delighted shriek of laughter before the water closed over them. When
they came to the surface, she found that, for a moment or two, she could
not even laugh, for she had gone down with such a rush, that it was with
difficulty she recovered her breath. The instant they reached the
surface--
"How do you like falling in?" said the prince.
After some effort the princess panted out:
"Is that what you call _falling in_?"
"Yes," answered the prince, "I should think it a very tolerable
specimen."
"It seemed to me like going up," rejoined she.
"My feeling was certainly one of elevation too," the prince conceded.
The princess did not appear to understand him, for she retorted his
question:
"How do _you_ like falling in?" said the princess.
"Beyond everything," answered he; "for I have fallen in with the only
perfect creature I ever saw."
"No more of that. I am tired of it," said the princess.
Perhaps she shared her father's aversion to punning.
"Don't you like falling in, then?" said the prince.
"It is the most delightful fun I ever had in my life," answered she. "I
never fell before. I wish I could learn. To think I am the only person
in my father's kingdom that can't fall!"
Here the poor princess looked almost sad.
"I shall be most happy to fall in with you any time you like," said the
prince, devotedly.
"Thank you. I don't know. Perhaps it would not be proper. But I don't
care. At all events, as we have fallen in, let us have a swim together."
"With all my heart," responded the prince.
And away they went, swimming, and diving, and floating, until at last
they heard cries along the shore, and saw lights glancing in all
directions. It was now quite late, and there was no moon.
"I must go home," said the princess. "I am very sorry, for this is
delightful."
"So am I," returned the prince. "But I am glad I haven't a home to go
to--at least, I don't exactly know where it is."
"I wish I hadn't one either," rejoined the princess; "it is so stupid! I
have a great mind," she continued, "to play them all a trick. Why
couldn't they leave me alone? They won't trust me in the lake for a
single night! You see where that green light is burning? That is the
window of my room. Now if you would just swim there with me very
quietly, and when we are all but under the balcony, give me such a
push--_up_ you call it--as you did a little while ago, I should be able
to catch hold of the balcony, and get in at the window; and then they
may look for me till to-morrow morning!"
"With more obedience than pleasure," said the prince, gallantly; and
away they swam, very gently.
"Will you be in the lake to-morrow night?" the prince ventured to ask.
"To be sure I will. I don't think so. Perhaps," was the princess's
somewhat strange answer.
But the prince was intelligent enough not to press her further; and
merely whispered, as he gave her the parting lift, "Don't tell." The
only answer the princess returned was a roguish look. She was already a
yard above his head. The look seemed to say, "Never fear. It is too good
fun to spoil that way."
So perfectly like other people had she been in the water, that even yet
the prince could scarcely believe his eyes when he saw her ascend
slowly, grasp the balcony, and disappear through the window. He turned,
almost expecting to see her still by his side. But he was alone in the
water. So he swam away quietly, and watched the lights roving about the
shore for hours after the princess was safe in her chamber. As soon as
they disappeared, he landed in search of his tunic and sword, and, after
some trouble, found them again. Then he made the best of his way round
the lake to the other side. There the wood was wilder, and the shore
steeper--rising more immediately towards the mountains which surrounded
the lake on all sides, and kept sending it messages of silvery streams
from morning to night, and all night long. He soon found a spot where he
could see the green light in the princess's room, and where, even in the
broad daylight, he would be in no danger of being discovered from the
opposite shore. It was a sort of cave in the rock, where he provided
himself a bed of withered leaves, and lay down too tired for hunger to
keep him awake. All night long he dreamed that he was swimming with the
princess.
X
_Look at the Moon_
Early the next morning the prince set out to look for something to eat,
which he soon found at a forester's hut, where for many following days
he was supplied with all that a brave prince could consider necessary.
And having plenty to keep him alive for the present, he would not think
of wants not yet in existence. Whenever Care intruded, this prince
always bowed him out in the most princely manner.
When he returned from his breakfast to his watch-cave, he saw the
princess already floating about in the lake, attended by the king and
queen--whom he knew by their crowns--and a great company in lovely
little boats, with canopies of all the colours of the rainbow, and flags
and streamers of a great many more. It was a very bright day, and the
prince, burned up with the heat, began to long for the cold water and
the cool princess. But he had to endure till twilight; for the boats had
provisions on board, and it was not till the sun went down that the gay
party began to vanish. Boat after boat drew away to the shore, following
that of the king and queen, till only one, apparently the princess's own
boat, remained. But she did not want to go home even yet, and the prince
thought he saw her order the boat to the shore without her. At all
events it rowed away; and now, of all the radiant company, only one
white speck remained. Then the prince began to sing.
And this is what he sung:
"Lady fair,
Swan-white,
Lift thine eyes,
Banish night
By the might
Of thine eyes.
"Snowy arms,
Oars of snow,
Oar her hither,
Plashing low.
Soft and slow,
Oar her hither.
"Stream behind her
O'er the lake,
Radiant whiteness!
In her wake
Following, following, for her sake,
Radiant whiteness!
"Cling about her,
Waters blue;
Part not from her,
But renew
Cold and true
Kisses round her.
"Lap me round,
Waters sad
That have left her
Make me glad,
For ye had
Kissed her ere ye left her."
Before he had finished his song, the princess was just under the place
where he sat, and looking up to find him. Her ears had led her truly.
"Would you like a fall, princess?" said the prince, looking down.
"Ah! there you are! Yes, if you please, prince," said the princess,
looking up.
"How do you know I am a prince, princess?" said the prince.
"Because you are a very nice young man, prince," said the princess.
"Come up then, princess."
"Fetch me, prince."
The prince took off his scarf, then his swordbelt then his tunic, and
tied them all together, and let them down. But the line was far too
short. He unwound his turban, and added it to the rest, when it was all
but long enough; and his purse completed it. The princess just managed
to lay hold of the knot of money, and was beside him in a moment. This
rock was much higher than the other, and the splash and the dive were
tremendous. The princess was in ecstasies of delight, and their swim was
delicious.
Night after night they met, and swam about in the dark clear lake, where
such was the prince's gladness, that (whether the princess's way of
looking at things infected him, or he was actually getting light-headed)
he often fancied that he was swimming in the sky instead of the lake.
But when he talked about being in heaven, the princess laughed at him
dreadfully.
When the moon came, she brought them fresh pleasure. Everything looked
strange and new in her light, with an old, withered, yet unfading
newness. When the moon was nearly full, one of their great delights was
to dive deep in the water, and then, turning round, look up through it
at the great blot of light close above them, shimmering and trembling
and wavering, spreading and contracting, seeming to melt away, and again
grow solid. Then they would shoot up through the blot, and lo! there was
the moon, far off, clear and steady and cold, and very lovely, at the
bottom of a deeper and bluer lake than theirs, as the princess said.
The prince soon found out that while in the water the princess was very
like other people. And besides this, she was not so forward in her
questions or pert in her replies at sea as on shore. Neither did she
laugh so much; and when she did laugh, it was more gently. She seemed
altogether more modest and maidenly in the water than out of it. But
when the prince, who had really fallen in love when he fell in the lake,
began to talk to her about love, she always turned her head towards him
and laughed. After a while she began to look puzzled, as if she were
trying to understand what he meant, but could not--revealing a notion
that he meant something. But as soon as ever she left the lake, she was
so altered, that the prince said to himself, "If I marry her, I see no
help for it: we must turn merman and mermaid, and go out to sea at
once,"
XI
_Hiss_!
The princess's pleasure in the lake had grown to a passion, and she
could scarcely bear to be out of it for an hour. Imagine then her
consternation, when, diving with the prince one night, a sudden
suspicion seized her that the lake was not so deep as it used to be. The
prince could not imagine what had happened. She shot to the surface,
and, without a word, swam at full speed towards the higher side of the
lake. He followed, begging to know if she was ill, or what was the
matter. She never turned her head, or took the smallest notice of his
question. Arrived at the shore, she coasted the rocks with minute
inspection. But she was not able to come to a conclusion, for the moon
was very small, and so she could not see well. She turned therefore and
swam home, without saying a word to explain her conduct to the prince,
of whose presence she seemed no longer conscious. He withdrew to his
cave, in great perplexity and distress.
Next day she made many observations, which, alas! strengthened her
fears. She saw that the banks were too dry; and that the grass on the
shore, and the trailing plants on the rocks, were withering away. She
caused marks to be made along the borders, and examined them, day after
day, in all directions of the wind; till at last the horrible idea
became a certain fact--that the surface of the lake was slowly sinking.
The poor princess nearly went out of the little mind she had. It was
awful to her to see the lake, which she loved more than any living
thing, lie dying before her eyes. It sank away, slowly vanishing. The
tops of rocks that had never been seen till now, began to appear far
down in the clear water. Before long they were dry in the sun. It was
fearful to think of the mud that would soon lie there baking and
festering, full of lovely creatures dying, and ugly creatures coming to
life, like the unmaking of a world. And how hot the sun would be without
any lake! She could not bear to swim in it any more, and began to pine
away. Her life seemed bound up with it; and ever as the lake sank, she
pined. People said she would not live an hour after the lake was gone.
But she never cried.
Proclamation was made to all the kingdom, that whosoever should discover
the cause of the lake's decrease, would be rewarded after a princely
fashion. Hum-Drum and Kopy-Keck applied themselves to their physics and
metaphysics; but in vain. Not even they could suggest a cause.
Now the fact was that the old princess was at the root of the mischief.
When she heard that her niece found more pleasure in the water than any
one else had out of it, she went into a rage, and cursed herself for her
want of foresight,
"But," said she, "I will soon set all right. The king and the people
shall die of thirst; their brains shall boil and frizzle in their skulls
before I will lose my revenge."
And she laughed a ferocious laugh, that made the hairs on the back of
her black cat stand erect with terror.
Then she went to an old chest in the room, and opening it, took out what
looked like a piece of dried seaweed. This she threw into a tub of
water. Then she threw some powder into the water, and stirred it with
her bare arm, muttering over it words of hideous sound, and yet more
hideous import. Then she set the tub aside, and took from the chest a
huge bunch of a hundred rusty keys, that clattered in her shaking hands.
Then she sat down and proceeded to oil them all. Before she had
finished, out from the tub, the water of which had kept on a slow motion
ever since she had ceased stirring it, came the head and half the body
of a huge gray snake. But the witch did not look round. It grew out of
the tub, waving itself backwards and forwards with a slow horizontal
motion, till it reached the princess, when it laid its head upon her
shoulder, and gave a low hiss in her ear. She started--but with joy; and
seeing the head resting on her shoulder, drew it towards her and kissed
it. Then she drew it all out of the tub, and wound it round her body. It
was one of those dreadful creatures which few have ever beheld--the
White Snakes of Darkness.
Then she took the keys and went down to her cellar; and as she unlocked
the door she said to herself:
"This _is_ worth living for!"
Locking the door behind her, she descended a few steps into the cellar,
and crossing it, unlocked another door into a dark, narrow passage. She
locked this also behind her, and descended a few more steps. If any one
had followed the witch-princess, he would have heard her unlock exactly
one hundred doors, and descend a few steps after unlocking each. When
she had unlocked the last, she entered a vast cave, the roof of which
was supported by huge natural pillars of rock. Now this roof was the
under side of the bottom of the lake.
She then untwined the snake from her body, and held it by the tail high
above her. The hideous creature stretched up its head towards the roof
of the cavern, which it was just able to reach. It then began to move
its head backwards and forwards, with a slow oscillating motion, as if
looking for something. At the same moment the witch began to walk round
and round the cavern, coming nearer to the centre every circuit; while
the head of the snake described the same path over the roof that she did
over the floor, for she kept holding it up. And still it kept slowly
osculating. Round and round the cavern they went, ever lessening the
circuit, till at last the snake made a sudden dart, and clung to the
roof with its mouth.
"That's right, my beauty!" cried the princess; "drain it dry."
She let it go, left it hanging, and sat down on a great stone, with her
black cat, which had followed her all round the cave, by her side. Then
she began to knit and mutter awful words. The snake hung like a huge
leech, sucking at the stone; the cat stood with his back arched, and his
tail like a piece of cable, looking up at the snake; and the old woman
sat and knitted and muttered. Seven days and seven nights they remained
thus; when suddenly the serpent dropped from the roof as if exhausted,
and shrivelled up till it was again like a piece of dried seaweed. The
witch started to her feet, picked it up, put it in her pocket, and
looked up at the roof. One drop of water was trembling on the spot where
the snake had been sucking. As soon as she saw that, she turned and
fled, followed by her cat. Shutting the door in a terrible hurry, she
locked it, and having muttered some frightful words, sped to the next,
which also she locked and muttered over; and so with all the hundred
doors, till she arrived in her own cellar. Then she sat down on the
floor ready to faint, but listening with malicious delight to the
rushing of the water, which she could hear distinctly through all the
hundred doors.
But this was not enough. Now that she had tasted revenge, she lost her
patience. Without further measures, the lake would be too long in
disappearing. So the next night, with the last shred of the dying old
moon rising, she took some of the water in which she had revived the
snake, put it in a bottle, and set out, accompanied by her cat. Before
morning she had made the entire circuit of the lake, muttering fearful
words as she crossed every stream, and casting into it some of the water
out of her bottle. When she had finished the circuit she muttered yet
again, and flung a handful of water towards the moon. Thereupon every
spring in the country ceased to throb and bubble, dying away like the
pulse of a dying man. The next day there was no sound of falling water
to be heard along the borders of the lake. The very courses were dry;
and the mountains showed no silvery streaks down their dark sides. And
not alone had the fountains of mother Earth ceased to flow; for all the
babies throughout the country were crying dreadfully--only without
tears.
XII
_Where Is the Prince_?
Never since the night when the princess left him so abruptly had the
prince had a single interview with her. He had seen her once or twice in
the lake; but as far as he could discover, she had not been in it any
more at night. He had sat and sung, and looked in vain for his Nereid,
while she, like a true Nereid, was wasting away with her lake, sinking
as it sank, withering as it dried. When at length he discovered the
change that was taking place in the level of the water, he was in great
alarm and perplexity. He could not tell whether the lake was dying
because the lady had forsaken it; or whether the lady would not come
because the lake had begun to sink. But he resolved to know so much at
least.
He disguised himself, and, going to the palace, requested to see the
lord chamberlain. His appearance at once gained his request; and the
lord chamberlain, being a man of some insight, perceived that there was
more in the prince's solicitation than met the ear. He felt likewise
that no one could tell whence a solution of the present difficulties
might arise. So he granted the prince's prayer to be made shoeblack to
the princess. It was rather cunning in the prince to request such an
easy post, for the princess could not possibly soil as many shoes as
other princesses.
He soon learned all that could be told about the princess. He went
nearly distracted; but after roaming about the lake for days, and diving
in every depth that remained, all that he could do was to put an extra
polish on the dainty pair of boots that was never called for.
For the princess kept her room, with the curtains drawn to shut out the
dying lake, but could not shut it out of her mind for a moment. It
haunted her imagination so that she felt as if the lake were her soul,
drying up within her, first to mud, then to madness and death. She thus
brooded over the change, with all its dreadful accompaniments, till she
was nearly distracted. As for the prince, she had forgotten him. However
much she had enjoyed his company in the water, she did not care for him
without it. But she seemed to have forgotten her father and mother too.
The lake went on sinking. Small slimy spots began to appear, which
glittered steadily amidst the changeful shine of the water. These grew
to broad patches of mud, which widened and spread, with rocks here and
there, and floundering fishes and crawling eels swarming. The people
went everywhere catching these, and looking for anything that might have
dropped from the royal boats.
At length the lake was all but gone, only a few of the deepest pools
remaining unexhausted.
It happened one day that a party of youngsters found themselves on the
brink of one of these pools in the very centre of the lake. It was a
rocky basin of considerable depth. Looking in, they saw at the bottom
something that shone yellow in the sun. A little boy jumped in and dived
for it. It was a plate of gold covered with writing. They carried it to
the king.
On one side of it stood these words:
"Death alone from death can save.
Love is death, and so is brave.
Love can fill the deepest grave.
Love loves on beneath the wave."
Now this was enigmatical enough to the king and courtiers. But the
reverse of the plate explained it a little. Its writing amounted to
this:
"If the lake should disappear, they must find the hole through which the
water ran. But it would be useless to try to stop it by any ordinary
means. There was but one effectual mode. The body of a living man could
alone staunch the flow. The man must give himself of his own will; and
the lake must take his life as it filled. Otherwise the offering would
be of no avail. If the nation could not provide one hero, it was time it
should perish,"
XIII
_Here I Am_!
This was a very disheartening revelation to the king--not that he was
unwilling to sacrifice a subject, but that he was hopeless of finding a
man willing to sacrifice himself. No time was to be lost however, for
the princess was lying motionless on her bed, and taking no nourishment
but lake-water, which was now none of the best. Therefore the king
caused the contents of the wonderful plate of gold to be published
throughout the country.
No one, however, came forward.
The prince, having gone several days' journey into the forest, to
consult a hermit whom he had met there on his way to Lagobel, knew
nothing of the oracle till his return.
When he had acquainted himself with all the particulars, he sat down and
thought:
"She will die if I don't do it, and life would be nothing to me without
her; so I shall lose nothing by doing it. And life will be as pleasant
to her as ever, for she will soon forget me. And there will be so much
more beauty and happiness in the world! To be sure, I shall not see it."
(Here the poor prince gave a sigh.) "How lovely the lake will be in the
moonlight, with that glorious creature sporting in it like a wild
goddess! It is rather hard to be drowned by inches, though. Let me
see--that will be seventy inches of me to drown." (Here he tried to
laugh, but could not.) "The longer the better, however," he resumed,
"for can I not bargain that the princess shall be beside me all the
time? So I shall see her once more, kiss her perhaps--who knows? and die
looking in her eyes. It will be no death. At least, I shall not feel it.
And to see the lake filling for the beauty again! All right! I am
ready."
He kissed the princess's boot, laid it down, and hurried to the king's
apartment. But feeling, as he went, that anything sentimental would be
disagreeable, he resolved to carry off the whole affair with
nonchalance. So he knocked at the door of the king's counting-house,
where it was all but a capital crime to disturb him.
When the king heard the knock, he started up, and opened the door in a
rage. Seeing only the shoeblack, he drew his sword. This, I am sorry to
say, was his usual mode of asserting his regality when he thought his
dignity was in danger. But the prince was not in the least alarmed.
"Please your majesty, I'm your butler," said he.
"My butler! you lying rascal! What do you mean?"
"I mean, I will cork your big bottle."
"Is the fellow mad?" bawled the king, raising the point of his sword.
"I will put the stopper--plug--what you call it, in your leaky lake,
grand monarch," said the prince.
The king was in such a rage that before he could speak he had time to
cool, and to reflect that it would be great waste to kill the only man
who was willing to be useful in the present emergency, seeing that in
the end the insolent fellow would be as dead as if he had died by his
majesty's own hand.
"Oh!" said he at last, putting up his sword with difficulty, it was so
long; "I am obliged to you, you young fool! Take a glass of wine?"
"No, thank you," replied the prince.
"Very well," said the king. "Would you like to run and see your parents
before you make your experiment?"
"No, thank you," said the prince.
"Then we will go and look for the hole at once," said his majesty, and
proceeded to call some attendants.
"Stop, please your majesty, I have a condition to make," interposed the
prince.
"What!" exclaimed the king, "a condition! and with me! How dare you?"
"As you please," returned the prince, coolly. "I wish your majesty a
good morning,"
"You wretch! I will have you put in a sack, and stuck in the hole."
"Very well, your majesty," replied the prince, becoming a little more
respectful, lest the wrath of the king should deprive him of the
pleasure of dying for the princess. "But what good will that do your
majesty? Please to remember that the oracle says the victim must offer
himself."
"Well, you _have_ offered yourself," retorted the king.
"Yes, upon one condition."
"Condition again!" roared the king, once more drawing his sword.
"Begone! Somebody else will be glad enough to take the honour off your
shoulders."
"Your majesty knows it will not be easy to get another to take my
place."
"Well, what is your condition?" growled the king, feeling that the
prince was right.
"Only this," replied the prince; "that, as I must on no account die
before I am fairly drowned, and the waiting will be rather wearisome,
the princess, your daughter, shall go with me, feed me with her own
hands, and look at me now and then to comfort me; for you must confess
it _is_ rather hard. As soon as the water is up to my eyes, she may go
and be happy, and forget her poor shoeblack."
Here the prince's voice faltered, and he very nearly grew sentimental,
in spite of his resolution.
"Why didn't you tell me before what your condition was? Such a fuss
about nothing!" exclaimed the king.
"Do you grant it?" persisted the prince.
"Of course I do," replied the king.
"Very well. I am ready."
"Go and have some dinner, then, while I set my people to find the
place."
The king ordered out his guards, and gave directions to the officers to
find the hole in the lake at once. So the bed of the lake was marked out
in divisions and thoroughly examined, and in an hour or so the hole was
discovered. It was in the middle of a stone, near the centre of the
lake, in the very pool where the golden plate had been found. It was a
three-cornered hole of no great size. There was water all round the
stone, but very little was flowing through the hole.
XIV
_This Is Very Kind of You_
The prince went to dress for the occasion, for he was resolved to die
like a prince.
When the princess heard that a man had offered to die for her, she was
so transported that she jumped off the bed, feeble as she was, and
danced about the room for joy. She did not care who the man was; that
was nothing to her. The hole wanted stopping; and if only a man would
do, why, take one. In an hour or two more everything was ready. Her maid
dressed her in haste, and they carried her to the side of the lake. When
she saw it she shrieked, and covered her face with her hands. They bore
her across to the stone, where they had already placed a little boat for
her. The water was not deep enough to float in, but they hoped it would
be, before long. They laid her on cushions, placed in the boat wines and
fruits and other nice things, and stretched a canopy over all.
In a few minutes the prince appeared. The princess recognised him at
once, but did not think it worth while to acknowledge him.
"Here I am," said the prince. "Put me in."
"They told me it was a shoeblack," said the princess.
"So I am," said the prince. "I blacked your little boots three times a
day, because they were all I could get of you. Put me in."
The courtiers did not resent his bluntness, except by saying to each
other that he was taking it out in impudence.
But how was he to be put in? The golden plate contained no instructions
on this point. The prince looked at the hole, and saw but one way. He
put both his legs into it, sitting on the stone, and, stooping forward,
covered the corner that remained open with his two hands. In this
uncomfortable position he resolved to abide his fate, and turning to the
people, said:
"Now you can go."
The king had already gone home to dinner.
"Now you can go," repeated the princess after him, like a parrot.
The people obeyed her and went.
Presently a little wave flowed over the stone, and wetted one of the
prince's knees. But he did not mind it much. He began to sing, and the
song he sang was this:
"As a world that has no well,
Darkly bright in forest dell;
As a world without the gleam
Of the downward-going stream;
As a world without the glance
Of the ocean's fair expanse;
As a world where never rain
Glittered on the sunny plain;--
Such, my heart, thy world would be,
If no love did flow in thee.
"As a world without the sound
Of the rivulets underground;
Or the bubbling of the spring
Out of darkness wandering;
Or the mighty rush and flowing
Of the river's downward going;
Or the music-showers that drop
On the outspread beech's top;
Or the ocean's mighty voice,
When his lifted waves rejoice;--Such,
my soul, thy world would be,
If no love did sing in thee.
"Lady, keep thy world's delight,
Keep the waters in thy sight
Love hath made me strong to go,
For thy sake, to realms below,
Where the water's shine and hum
Through the darkness never come.
Let, I pray, one thought of me
Spring, a little well, in thee;
Lest thy loveless soul be found
Like a dry and thirsty ground."
"Sing again, prince. It makes it less tedious," said the princess.
But the prince was too much overcome to sing any more, and a long pause
followed.
"This is very kind of you, prince," said the princess at last, quite
coolly, as she lay in the boat with her eyes shut.
"I am sorry I can't return the compliment," thought the prince, "but you
are worth dying for, after all."
Again a wavelet, and another, and another flowed over the stone, and
wetted both the prince's knees; but he did not speak or move.
Two--three--four hours passed in this way, the princess apparently
asleep, and the prince very patient. But he was much disappointed in his
position, for he had none of the consolation he had hoped for.
At last he could bear it no longer.
"Princess!" said he.
But at the moment up started the princess, crying:
"I'm afloat! I'm afloat!"
And the little boat bumped against the stone.
"Princess!" repeated the prince, encouraged by seeing her wide awake and
looking eagerly at the water.
"Well?" said she, without looking round.
"Your papa promised that you should look at me, and you haven't looked
at me once."
"Did he? Then I suppose I must. But I am so sleepy!"
"Sleep, then, darling, and don't mind me," said the poor prince.
"Really, you are very good," replied the princess. "I think I will go to
sleep again."
"Just give me a glass of wine and a biscuit first," said the prince,
very humbly.
"With all my heart," said the princess, and yawned as she said it.
She got the wine and the biscuit, however, and leaning over the side of
the boat towards him, was compelled to look at him.
"Why, prince," she said, "you don't look well! Are you sure you don't
mind it?"
"Not a bit," answered he, feeling very faint indeed. "Only I shall die
before it is of any use to you, unless I have something to eat,"
"There, then," said she, holding out the wine to him.
"Ah! you must feed me. I dare not move my hands. The water would run
away directly."
"Good gracious!" said the princess; and she began at once to feed him
with bits of biscuit and sips of wine.
As she fed him, he contrived to kiss the tips of her fingers now and
then. She did not seem to mind it, one way or the other. But the prince
felt better.
"Now, for your own sake, princess," said he, "I cannot let you go to
sleep. You must sit and look at me, else I shall not be able to keep
up."
"Well, I will do anything to oblige you," answered she, with
condescension; and, sitting down, she did look at him, and kept looking
at him with wonderful steadiness, considering all things.
The sun went down, and the moon rose, and, gush after gush, the waters
were rising up the prince's body. They were up to his waist now.
"Why can't we go and have a swim?" said the princess. "There seems to be
water enough just about here."
"I shall never swim more," said the prince.
"Oh, I forgot," said the princess, and was silent.
So the water grew and grew, and rose up and up on the prince. And the
princess sat and looked at him. She fed him now and then. The night wore
on. The waters rose and rose. The moon rose likewise higher and higher,
and shone full on the face of the dying prince. The water was up to his
neck.
"Will you kiss me, princess?" said he, feebly. The nonchalance was all
gone now.
"Yes, I will," answered the princess, and kissed him with a long, sweet,
cold kiss.
"Now," said he, with a sigh of content, "I die happy."
He did not speak again. The princess gave him some wine for the last
time: he was past eating. Then she sat down again, and looked at him.
The water rose and rose. It touched his chin. It touched his lower lip.
It touched between his lips. He shut them hard to keep it out. The
princess began to feel strange. It touched his upper lip. He breathed
through his nostrils. The princess looked wild. It covered his nostrils.
Her eyes looked scared, and shone strange in the moonlight. His head
fell back; the water closed over it, and the bubbles of his last breath
bubbled up through the water. The princess gave a shriek, and sprang
into the lake.
She laid hold first of one leg, and then of the other, and pulled and
tugged, but she could not move either. She stopped to take breath, and
that made her think that he could not get any breath. She was frantic.
She got hold of him, and held his head above the water, which was
possible now his hands were no longer on the hole. But it was of no use,
for he was past breathing.
Love and water brought back all her strength. She got under the water,
and pulled and pulled with her whole might, till at last she got one leg
out. The other easily followed. How she got him into the boat she never
could tell; but when she did, she fainted away. Coming to herself, she
seized the oars, kept herself steady as best she could, and rowed and
rowed, though she had never rowed before. Round rocks, and over
shallows, and through mud she rowed, till she got to the landing-stairs
of the palace. By this time her people were on the shore, for they had
heard her shriek. She made them carry the prince to her own room, and
lay him in her bed, and light a fire, and send for the doctors.
"But the lake, your highness!" said the chamberlain, who, roused by the
noise, came in, in his nightcap.
"Go and drown yourself in it!" she said.
This was the last rudeness of which the princess was ever guilty; and
one must allow that she had good cause to feel provoked with the lord
chamberlain.
Had it been the king himself, he would have fared no better. But both he
and the queen were fast asleep. And the chamberlain went back to his
bed. Somehow, the doctors never came. So the princess and her old nurse
were left with the prince. But the old nurse was a wise woman, and knew
what to do.
They tried everything for a long time without success. The princess was
nearly distracted between hope and fear, but she tried on and on, one
thing after another, and everything over and over again.
At last, when they had all but given it up, just as the sun rose, the
prince opened his eyes.
XV
_Look at the Rain_!
The princess burst into a passion of tears and _fell_ on the floor.
There she lay for an hour, and her tears never ceased. All the pent-up
crying of her life was spent now. And a rain came on, such as had never
been seen in that country. The sun shone all the time, and the great
drops, which fell straight to the earth, shone likewise. The palace was
in the heart of a rainbow. It was a rain of rubies, and sapphires, and
emeralds, and topazes. The torrents poured from the mountains like
molten gold; and if it had not been for its subterraneous outlet, the
lake would have overflowed and inundated the country. It was full from
shore to shore.
But the princess did not heed the lake. She lay on the floor and wept.
And this rain within doors was far more wonderful than the rain out of
doors. For when it abated a little, and she proceeded to rise, she
found, to her astonishment, that she could not. At length, after many
efforts, she succeeded in getting upon her feet. But she tumbled down
again directly. Hearing her fall, her old nurse uttered a yell of
delight, and ran to her, screaming:
"My darling child! she's found her gravity!"
"Oh, that's it! is it?" said the princess, rubbing her shoulder and her
knee alternately. "I consider it very unpleasant. I feel as if I should
be crushed to pieces."
"Hurrah!" cried the prince from the bed. "If you've come round,
princess, so have I. How's the lake?"
"Brimful," answered the nurse.
"Then we're all happy."
"That we are indeed!" answered the princess, sobbing.
And there was rejoicing all over the country that rainy day. Even the
babies forgot their past troubles, and danced and crowed amazingly. And
the king told stories, and the queen listened to them. And he divided
the money in his box, and she the honey in her pot, among all the
children. And there was such jubilation as was never heard of before.
Of course the prince and princess were betrothed at once. But the
princess had to learn to walk, before they could be married with any
propriety. And this was not so easy at her time of life, for she could
walk no more than a baby. She was always falling down and hurting
herself.
"Is this the gravity you used to make so much of?" said she one day to
the prince, as he raised her from the floor. "For my part, I was a great
deal more comfortable without it."
"No, no, that's not it. This is it," replied the prince, as he took her
up, and carried her about like a baby, kissing her all the time. "This
is gravity."
"That's better," said she. "I don't mind that so much."
And she smiled the sweetest, loveliest smile in the prince's face. And
she gave him one little kiss in return for all his; and he thought them
overpaid, for he was beside himself with delight. I fear she complained
of her gravity more than once after this, notwithstanding.
It was a long time before she got reconciled to walking. But the pain of
learning it was quite counterbalanced by two things, either of which
would have been sufficient consolation. The first was, that the prince
himself was her teacher; and the second, that she could tumble into the
lake as often as she pleased. Still, she preferred to have the prince
jump in with her; and the splash they made before was nothing to the
splash they made now.
The lake never sank again. In process of time it wore the roof of the
cavern quite through, and was twice as deep as before.
The only revenge the princess took upon her aunt was to tread pretty
hard on her gouty toe the next time she saw her. But she was sorry for
it the very next day, when she heard that the water had undermined her
house, and that it had fallen in the night, burying her in its ruins;
whence no one ever ventured to dig up her body. There she lies to this
day.
So the prince and princess lived and were happy; and had crowns of gold,
and clothes of cloth, and shoes of leather, and children of boys and
girls, not one of whom was ever known, on the most critical occasion, to
lose the smallest atom of his or her due proportion of gravity.