‘I assure you, Sire, that Fiordelisa is vain enough already. Pray make
her no more flattering speeches.’
The King quite understood that she was not pleased, but that did not
matter to him, so he admired Fiordelisa to his heart’s content, and
talked to her for three hours without stopping.
The Queen was in despair, and so was Turritella, when they saw how much
the King preferred Fiordelisa. They complained bitterly to the King, and
begged and teased him, until he at last consented to have the Princess
shut up somewhere out of sight while King Charming’s visit lasted.
So that night, as she went to her room, she was seized by four masked
figures, and carried up into the topmost room of a high tower, where
they left her in the deepest dejection. She easily guessed that she was
to be kept out of sight for fear the King should fall in love with her;
but then, how disappointing that was, for she already liked him very
much, and would have been quite willing to be chosen for his bride! As
King Charming did not know what had happened to the Princess, he looked
forward impatiently to meeting her again, and he tried to talk about
her with the courtiers who were placed in attendance on him. But by the
Queen’s orders they would say nothing good of her, but declared that
she was vain, capricious, and bad-tempered; that she tormented her
waiting-maids, and that, in spite of all the money that the King gave
her, she was so mean that she preferred to go about dressed like a poor
shepherdess, rather than spend any of it. All these things vexed the
King very much, and he was silent.
‘It is true,’ thought he, ‘that she was very poorly dressed, but then
she was so ashamed that it proves that she was not accustomed to be so.
I cannot believe that with that lovely face she can be as ill-tempered
and contemptible as they say. No, no, the Queen must be jealous of her
for the sake of that ugly daughter of hers, and so these evil reports
are spread.’
The courtiers could not help seeing that what they had told the King did
not please him, and one of them cunningly began to praise Fiordelisa,
when he could talk to the King without being heard by the others.
King Charming thereupon became so cheerful, and interested in all he
said, that it was easy to guess how much he admired the Princess. So
when the Queen sent for the courtiers and questioned them about all they
had found out, their report confirmed her worst fears. As to the poor
Princess Fiordelisa, she cried all night without stopping.
‘It would have been quite bad enough to be shut up in this gloomy tower
before I had ever seen King Charming,’ she said; ‘but now when he is
here, and they are all enjoying themselves with him, it is too unkind.’
The next day the Queen sent King Charming splendid presents of jewels
and rich stuffs, and among other things an ornament made expressly in
honour of the approaching wedding. It was a heart cut out of one huge
ruby, and was surrounded by several diamond arrows, and pierced by one.
A golden true-lover’s knot above the heart bore the motto, ‘But one can
wound me,’ and the whole jewel was hung upon a chain of immense pearls.
Never, since the world has been a world, had such a thing been made,
and the King was quite amazed when it was presented to him. The page who
brought it begged him to accept it from the Princess, who chose him to
be her knight.
‘What!’ cried he, ‘does the lovely Princess Fiordelisa deign to think of
me in this amiable and encouraging way?’
‘You confuse the names, Sire,’ said the page hastily. ‘I come on behalf
of the Princess Turritella.’
‘Oh, it is Turritella who wishes me to be her knight,’ said the King
coldly. ‘I am sorry that I cannot accept the honour.’ And he sent the
splendid gifts back to the Queen and Turritella, who were furiously
angry at the contempt with which they were treated. As soon as he
possibly could, King Charming went to see the King and Queen, and as he
entered the hall he looked for Fiordelisa, and every time anyone came
in he started round to see who it was, and was altogether so uneasy and
dissatisfied that the Queen saw it plainly. But she would not take any
notice, and talked of nothing but the entertainments she was planning.
The Prince answered at random, and presently asked if he was not to have
the pleasure of seeing the Princess Fiordelisa.
‘Sire,’ answered the Queen haughtily, ‘her father has ordered that she
shall not leave her own apartments until my daughter is married.’
‘What can be the reason for keeping that lovely Princess a prisoner?’
cried the King in great indignation.
‘That I do not know,’ answered the Queen; ‘and even if I did, I might
not feel bound to tell you.’
The King was terribly angry at being thwarted like this. He felt certain
that Turritella was to blame for it, so casting a furious glance at her
he abruptly took leave of the Queen, and returned to his own apartments.
There he said to a young squire whom he had brought with him: ‘I
would give all I have in the world to gain the good will of one of the
Princess’s waiting-women, and obtain a moment’s speech with Fiordelisa.’
‘Nothing could be easier,’ said the young squire; and he very soon
made friends with one of the ladies, who told him that in the evening
Fiordelisa would be at a little window which looked into the garden,
where he could come and talk to her. Only, she said, he must take very
great care not to be seen, as it would be as much as her place was worth
to be caught helping King Charming to see the Princess. The squire was
delighted, and promised all she asked; but the moment he had run off to
announce his success to the King, the false waiting-woman went and
told the Queen all that had passed. She at once determined that her own
daughter should be at the little window; and she taught her so well all
she was to say and do, that even the stupid Turritella could make no
mistake.
The night was so dark that the King had not a chance of finding out the
trick that was being played upon him, so he approached the window with
the greatest delight, and said everything that he had been longing
to say to Fiordelisa to persuade her of his love for her. Turritella
answered as she had been taught, that she was very unhappy, and that
there was no chance of her being better treated by the Queen until her
daughter was married. And then the King entreated her to marry him; and
thereupon he drew his ring from his finger and put it upon Turritella’s,
and she answered him as well as she could. The King could not help
thinking that she did not say exactly what he would have expected from
his darling Fiordelisa, but he persuaded himself that the fear of being
surprised by the Queen was making her awkward and unnatural. He would
not leave her until she had promised to see him again the next night,
which Turritella did willingly enough. The Queen was overjoyed at the
success of her stratagem, end promised herself that all would now be as
she wished; and sure enough, as soon as it was dark the following night
the King came, bringing with him a chariot which had been given him by
an Enchanter who was his friend. This chariot was drawn by flying frogs,
and the King easily persuaded Turritella to come out and let him put her
into it, then mounting beside her he cried triumphantly--
‘Now, my Princess, you are free; where will it please you that we shall
hold our wedding?’
And Turritella, with her head muffled in her mantle, answered that the
Fairy Mazilla was her godmother, and that she would like it to be at her
castle. So the King told the Frogs, who had the map of the whole world
in their heads, and very soon he and Turritella were set down at the
castle of the Fairy Mazilla. The King would certainly have found out his
mistake the moment they stepped into the brilliantly lighted castle, but
Turritella held her mantle more closely round her, and asked to see the
Fairy by herself, and quickly told her all that had happened, and how
she had succeeded in deceiving King Charming.
‘Oho! my daughter,’ said the Fairy, ‘I see we have no easy task before
us. He loves Fiordelisa so much that he will not be easily pacified. I
feel sure he will defy us!’ Meanwhile the King was waiting in a splendid
room with diamond walls, so clear that he could see the Fairy and
Turritella as they stood whispering together, and he was very much
puzzled.
‘Who can have betrayed us?’ he said to himself. ‘How comes our enemy
here? She must be plotting to prevent our marriage. Why doesn’t my
lovely Fiordelisa make haste and come hack to me?’
But it was worse than anything he had imagined when the Fairy Mazilla
entered, leading Turritella by the hand, and said to him--
‘King Charming, here is the Princess Turritella to whom you have
plighted your faith. Let us have the wedding at once.’
‘I!’ cried the King. ‘I marry that little creature! What do you take me
for? I have promised her nothing!’
‘Say no more. Have you no respect for a Fairy?’ cried she angrily.
‘Yes, madam,’ answered the King, ‘I am prepared to respect you as much
as a Fairy can be respected, if you will give me back my Princess.’
‘Am I not here?’ interrupted Turritella. ‘Here is the ring you gave me.
With whom did you talk at the little window, if it was not with me?’
‘What!’ cried the King angrily, ‘have I been altogether deceived and
deluded? Where is my chariot? Not another moment will I stay here.’
‘Oho,’ said the Fairy, ‘not so fast.’ And she touched his feet, which
instantly became as firmly fixed to the floor as if they had been nailed
there.
‘Oh! do whatever you like with me,’ said the King; ‘you may turn me to
stone, but I will marry no one but Fiordelisa.’
And not another word would he say, though the Fairy scolded and
threatened, and Turritella wept and raged for twenty days and twenty
nights. At last the Fairy Mazilla said furiously (for she was quite
tired out by his obstinacy), ‘Choose whether you will marry my
goddaughter, or do penance seven years for breaking your word to her.’
And then the King cried gaily: ‘Pray do whatever you like with me, as
long as you deliver me from this ugly scold!’
‘Scold!’ cried Turritella angrily. ‘Who are you, I should like to know,
that you dare to call me a scold? A miserable King who breaks his word,
and goes about in a chariot drawn by croaking frogs out of a marsh!’
‘Let us have no more of these insults,’ cried the Fairy. ‘Fly from that
window, ungrateful King, and for seven years be a Blue Bird.’ As she
spoke the King’s face altered, his arms turned to wings, his feet to
little crooked black claws. In a moment he had a slender body like a
bird, covered with shining blue feathers, his beak was like ivory, his
eyes were bright as stars, and a crown of white feathers adorned his
head.
As soon as the transformation was complete the King uttered a dolorous
cry and fled through the open window, pursued by the mocking laughter
of Turritella and the Fairy Mazilla. He flew on until he reached the
thickest part of the wood, and there, perched upon a cypress tree, he
bewailed his miserable fate. ‘Alas! in seven years who knows what may
happen to my darling Fiordelisa!’ he said. ‘Her cruel stepmother may
have married her to someone else before I am myself again, and then what
good will life be to me?’
In the meantime the Fairy Mazilla had sent Turritella back to the Queen,
who was all anxiety to know how the wedding, had gone off. But when her
daughter arrived and told her all that had happened she was terribly
angry, and of course all her wrath fell upon Fiordelisa. ‘She shall have
cause to repent that the King admires her,’ said the Queen, nodding her
head meaningly, and then she and Turritella went up to the little room
in the tower where the Princess was imprisoned. Fiordelisa was immensely
surprised to see that Turritella was wearing a royal mantle and a
diamond crown, and her heart sank when the Queen said: ‘My daughter
is come to show you some of her wedding presents, for she is King
Charming’s bride, and they are the happiest pair in the world, he loves
her to distraction.’ All this time Turritella was spreading out lace,
and jewels, and rich brocades, and ribbons before Fiordelisa’s unwilling
eyes, and taking good care to display King Charming’s ring, which she
wore upon her thumb. The Princess recognised it as soon as her eyes fell
upon it, and after that she could no longer doubt that he had indeed
married Turritella. In despair she cried, ‘Take away these miserable
gauds! what pleasure has a wretched captive in the sight of them?’ and
then she fell insensible upon the floor, and the cruel Queen laughed
maliciously, and went away with Turritella, leaving her there without
comfort or aid. That night the Queen said to the King, that his daughter
was so infatuated with King Charming, in spite of his never having shown
any preference for her, that it was just as well she should stay in the
tower until she came to her senses. To which he answered that it was her
affair, and she could give what orders she pleased about the Princess.
When the unhappy Fiordelisa recovered, and remembered all she had just
heard, she began to cry bitterly, believing that King Charming was lost
to her for ever, and all night long she sat at her open window sighing
and lamenting; but when it was dawn she crept away into the darkest
corner of her little room and sat there, too unhappy to care about
anything. As soon as night came again she once more leaned out into the
darkness and bewailed her miserable lot.
Now it happened that King Charming, or rather the Blue Bird, had been
flying round the palace in the hope of seeing his beloved Princess,
but had not dared to go too near the windows for fear of being seen
and recognised by Turritella. When night fell he had not succeeded in
discovering where Fiordelisa was imprisoned, and, weary and sad, he
perched upon a branch of a tall fir tree which grew close to the tower,
and began to sing himself to sleep. But soon the sound of a soft voice
lamenting attracted his attention, and listening intently he heard it
say--
‘Ah! cruel Queen! what have I ever done to be imprisoned like this? And
was I not unhappy enough before, that you must needs come and taunt me
with the happiness your daughter is enjoying now she is King Charming’s
bride?’
The Blue Bird, greatly surprised, waited impatiently for the dawn, and
the moment it was light flew off to see who it could have been who
spoke thus. But he found the window shut, and could see no one. The next
night, however, he was on the watch, and by the clear moonlight he saw
that the sorrowful lady at the window was Fiordelisa herself.
‘My Princess! have I found you at last?’ said he, alighting close to
her.
‘Who is speaking to me?’ cried the Princess in great surprise.
‘Only a moment since you mentioned my name, and now you do not know me,
Fiordelisa,’ said he sadly. ‘But no wonder, since I am nothing but a
Blue Bird, and must remain one for seven years.’
‘What! Little Blue Bird, are you really the powerful King Charming?’
said the Princess, caressing him.
‘It is too true,’ he answered. ‘For being faithful to you I am thus
punished. But believe me, if it were for twice as long I would bear it
joyfully rather than give you up.’
‘Oh! what are you telling me?’ cried the Princess. ‘Has not your bride,
Turritella, just visited me, wearing the royal mantle and the diamond
crown you gave her? I cannot be mistaken, for I saw your ring upon her
thumb.’
Then the Blue Bird was furiously angry, and told the Princess all that
had happened, how he had been deceived into carrying off Turritella, and
how, for refusing to marry her, the Fairy Mazilla had condemned him to
be a Blue Bird for seven years.
The Princess was very happy when she heard how faithful her lover
was, and would never have tired of hearing his loving speeches and
explanations, but too soon the sun rose, and they had to part lest the
Blue Bird should be discovered. After promising to come again to the
Princess’s window as soon as it was dark, he flew away, and hid himself
in a little hole in the fir-tree, while Fiordelisa remained devoured by
anxiety lest he should be caught in a trap, or eaten up by an eagle.
But the Blue Bird did not long stay in his hiding-place. He flew away,
and away, until he came to his own palace, and got into it through a
broken window, and there he found the cabinet where his jewels were
kept, and chose out a splendid diamond ring as a present for the
Princess. By the time he got back, Fiordelisa was sitting waiting for
him by the open window, and when he gave her the ring, she scolded him
gently for having run such a risk to get it for her.
‘Promise me that you will wear it always!’ said the Blue Bird. And the
Princess promised on condition that he should come and see her in
the day as well as by night. They talked all night long, and the next
morning the Blue Bird flew off to his kingdom, and crept into his palace
through the broken window, and chose from his treasures two bracelets,
each cut out of a single emerald. When he presented them to the
Princess, she shook her head at him reproachfully, saying--
‘Do you think I love you so little that I need all these gifts to remind
me of you?’