The King's Army
He woke like a giant refreshed with wine.
When he went into the king's chamber, the housemaid sat where he had
left her, and everything in the room was as it had been the night
before, save that a heavenly odour of roses filled the air of it. He
went up to the bed. The king opened his eyes, and the soul of perfect
health shone out of them. Nor was Curdie amazed in his delight.
'Is it not time to rise, Curdie?' said the king.
'It is, Your Majesty. Today we must be doing,' answered Curdie.
'What must we be doing today, Curdie?'
'Fighting, sire.'
'Then fetch me my armour--that of plated steel, in the chest there.
You will find the underclothing with it.'
As he spoke, he reached out his hand for his sword, which hung in the
bed before him, drew it, and examined the blade.
'A little rusty!' he said, 'but the edge is there. We shall polish it
ourselves today--not on the wheel. Curdie, my son, I wake from a
troubled dream. A glorious torture has ended it, and I live. I know
now well how things are, but you shall explain them to me as I get on
my armour. No, I need no bath. I am clean. Call the colonel of the
guard.'
In complete steel the old man stepped into the chamber. He knew it
not, but the old princess had passed through his room in the night.
'Why, Sir Bronzebeard!' said the king, 'you are dressed before me! You
need no valet, old man, when there is battle in the wind!'
'Battle, sire!' returned the colonel. 'Where then are our soldiers?'
'Why, there and here,' answered the king, pointing to the colonel
first, and then to himself. 'Where else, man? The enemy will be upon
us ere sunset, if we be not upon him ere noon. What other thing was in
your brave brain when you donned your armour, friend?'
'Your Majesty's orders, sire,' answered Sir Bronzebeard.
The king smiled and turned to Curdie.
'And what was in yours, Curdie, for your first word was of battle?'
'See, Your Majesty,' answered Curdie; 'I have polished my mattock. If
Your Majesty had not taken the command, I would have met the enemy at
the head of my beasts, and died in comfort, or done better.'
'Brave boy!' said the king. 'He who takes his life in his hand is the
only soldier. You shall head your beasts today. Sir Bronzebeard, will
you die with me if need be?'
'Seven times, my king,' said the colonel.
'Then shall we win this battle!' said the king. 'Curdie, go and bind
securely the six, that we lose not their guards. Can you find me a
horse, think you, Sir Bronzebeard? Alas! they told me my white charger
was dead.'
'I will go and fright the varletry with my presence, and secure, I
trust, a horse for Your Majesty, and one for myself.'
'And look you, brother!' said the king; 'bring one for my miner boy
too, and a sober old charger for the princess, for she too must go to
the battle, and conquer with us.'
'Pardon me, sire,' said Curdie; 'a miner can fight best on foot. I
might smite my horse dead under me with a missed blow. And besides
that, I must be near to my beasts.'
'As you will,' said the king. 'Three horses then, Sir Bronzebeard.'
The colonel departed, doubting sorely in his heart how to accoutre and
lead from the barrack stables three horses, in the teeth of his
revolted regiment.
In the hall he met the housemaid.
'Can you lead a horse?' he asked.
'Yes, sir.'
'Are you willing to die for the king?'
'Yes, sir.'
'Can you do as you are bid?'
'I can keep on trying, sir.'
'Come then. Were I not a man I would be a woman such as you.'
When they entered the barrack yard, the soldiers scattered like autumn
leaves before a blast of winter. They went into the stable
unchallenged--and lo! in a stall, before the colonel's eyes, stood the
king's white charger, with the royal saddle and bridle hung high beside
him!
'Traitorous thieves!' muttered the old man in his beard, and went along
the stalls, looking for his own black charger. Having found him, he
returned to saddle first the king's. But the maid had already the
saddle upon him, and so girt that the colonel could thrust no finger
tip between girth and skin. He left her to finish what she had so well
begun, and went and made ready his own. He then chose for the princess
a great red horse, twenty years old, which he knew to possess every
equine virtue. This and his own he led to the palace, and the maid led
the king's.
The king and Curdie stood in the court, the king in full armour of
silvered steel, with a circlet of rubies and diamonds round his helmet.
He almost leaped for joy when he saw his great white charger come in,
gentle as a child to the hand of the housemaid. But when the horse saw
his master in his armour, he reared and bounded in jubilation, yet did
not break from the hand that held him. Then out came the princess
attired and ready, with a hunting knife her father had given her by her
side. They brought her mother's saddle, splendent with gems and gold,
set it on the great red horse, and lifted her to it. But the saddle
was so big, and the horse so tall, that the child found no comfort in
them.
'Please, King Papa,' she said, 'can I not have my white pony?'
'I did not think of him, little one,' said the king. 'Where is he?'
'In the stable,' answered the maid. 'I found him half starved, the
only horse within the gates, the day after the servants were driven
out. He has been well fed since.'
'Go and fetch him,' said the king.
As the maid appeared with the pony, from a side door came Lina and the
forty-nine, following Curdie.
'I will go with Curdie and the Uglies,' cried the princess; and as soon
as she was mounted she got into the middle of the pack.
So out they set, the strangest force that ever went against an enemy.
The king in silver armour sat stately on his white steed, with the
stones flashing on his helmet; beside him the grim old colonel, armed
in steel, rode his black charger; behind the king, a little to the
right, Curdie walked afoot, his mattock shining in the sun; Lina
followed at his heel; behind her came the wonderful company of Uglies;
in the midst of them rode the gracious little Irene, dressed in blue,
and mounted on the prettiest of white ponies; behind the colonel, a
little to the left, walked the page, armed in a breastplate, headpiece,
and trooper's sword he had found in the palace, all much too big for
him, and carrying a huge brass trumpet which he did his best to blow;
and the king smiled and seemed pleased with his music, although it was
but the grunt of a brazen unrest. Alongside the beasts walked Derba
carrying Barbara--their refuge the mountains, should the cause of the
king be lost; as soon as they were over the river they turned aside to
ascend the Cliff, and there awaited the forging of the day's history.
Then first Curdie saw that the housemaid, whom they had all forgotten,
was following, mounted on the great red horse, and seated in the royal
saddle.
Many were the eyes unfriendly of women that had stared at them from
door and window as they passed through the city; and low laughter and
mockery and evil words from the lips of children had rippled about
their ears; but the men were all gone to welcome the enemy, the
butchers the first, the king's guard the last. And now on the heels of
the king's army rushed out the women and children also, to gather
flowers and branches, wherewith to welcome their conquerors.
About a mile down the river, Curdie, happening to look behind him, saw
the maid, whom he had supposed gone with Derba, still following on the
great red horse. The same moment the king, a few paces in front of
him, caught sight of the enemy's tents, pitched where, the cliffs
receding, the bank of the river widened to a little plain.