Once upon a time there was a little Prince, and he wanted to give a
valentine to a little Princess who lived in a neighboring kingdom. She
was a very beautiful little Princess indeed, for her smile was as
bright as her golden hair, and her love for her subjects was as deep
as the blue of her eyes.
"What kind of a valentine shall I get for the Princess?" the Prince
asked.
"A heart, your Highness; nothing but a heart will do!" said the Court
Wise Man.
"A beautiful heart, your Highness; nothing but a beautiful heart will
do!" said the Court Ladies.
"A priceless heart, your Highness; nothing but a priceless heart will
do!" said the Court Chancellor.
So the Prince started out to get a heart valentine for the little
Princess that would be both beautiful and beyond price, and he did not
know where to find it.
Before long, though, he came to a jeweller's shop that was full of
pretty, costly things to wear. There were pins, and bracelets, and
necklaces made of silver and gold, and set with rubies, and
sapphires, and emeralds, and diamonds.
"This is the place to find a valentine for the little Princess,"
thought the Prince, and he selected a diamond heart hung on a gold
chain as thin as a thread for the little Princess to wear about her
neck.
The Prince gave the jeweller his bag of gold and started out of the
shop with the diamond heart in his hand. But he stopped at the door,
looking at the heart. It was dull, and no longer shining. What was the
matter with it, he wondered. Then he remembered. It was not the right
valentine for the little Princess because it had been bought with his
bag of gold. So the Prince gave the diamond heart back to the
jeweller, and went on again.
After the Prince had gone quite a distance he came to a pastry shop.
It was full of delicious things to eat, jam tarts, and little
strawberry pies, thickly frosted cakes, and plum buns. In the window
of the pastry shop was a huge cake baked in the shape of a heart. It
was rich with sugar and spices, and the icing on the top was almost as
thick as the cake itself.
"This is the place to find the valentine for the little Princess!"
thought the Prince, and he pointed to the great heart cake in the
window. "How much must I pay for that cake?" he asked of the pastry
cook.
"Oh, you could not buy that cake!" the pastry cook replied. "I made it
as a decoration for the shop for Valentine's Day. But I will give it
to you, your Highness."
So the Prince thanked the pastry cook, and started out of the shop
with the great cake in his arms.
"This must surely be the valentine for the little Princess, because I
could not buy it," he thought.
Then the Prince almost dropped the cake. It had suddenly grown too
heavy for him to carry. What was the matter with the rich, huge cake,
he wondered. Then he remembered. It was not the right valentine for
the little Princess because something rich to eat is not beautiful. So
the Prince gave the cake back to the pastry cook, and went on again.
Now he went a long, long way, and he came to a bird seller beside the
road. He had little gold birds, and bright-colored ones in green
basket cages. They were all singing as if their throats would burst,
but the Prince could hear one soft note above the others, because it
was so clear and sweet. It was the cooing of a little dove who sat in
her cage apart from the others. The Prince thought he had never seen
such a beautiful little dove, as white as snow, and with rose red
feet.
"Why does she sing so much more sweetly than the others?" the Prince
asked, pointing to the little white dove.
The bird seller smiled.
"She sings because of her heart," he said. "The other birds sing in
the sunshine, but look"--he held up the dove's cage, and the Prince
saw that the little white dove had closed, blind eyes. "She sings in
the dark because of her happy heart," the bird seller said.
"May I buy her," the Prince asked, "to give as a valentine to a little
Princess?"
"Oh, I will give her to you," the bird seller said. "Very few people
want to take care of a blind bird."
But the little Princess did. She liked the white dove better than any
of her other valentines. She hung her cage in a pink rose tree in the
sunniest part of the garden, and she often invited the Prince to sit
with her under the tree and listen to the dove's sweet song.