In one moment the little soldier found himself standing before a
splendid palace. He rubbed his eyes and pinched himself, and when he was
quite sure he was not dreaming he said to a man who was smoking his pipe
before the door, ‘Where am I?’
‘Where are you? Can’t you see? Before the King’s palace, of course.’
‘What King?’
‘Why the King of the Low Countries!’ replied the man, laughing and
supposing that he was mad.
Was there ever anything so strange? But as John was an honest fellow, he
was troubled at the thought that the Seagull would think he had stolen
her mantle and purse. And he began to wonder how he could restore them
to her the soonest. Then he remembered that the mantle had some hidden
charm that enabled the bearer to transport himself at will from place to
place, and in order to make sure of this he wished himself in the best
inn of the town. In an instant he was there.
Enchanted with this discovery, he ordered supper, and as it was too late
to visit the King that night he went to bed.
The next day, when he got up, he saw that all the houses were wreathed
with flowers and covered with flags, and all the church bells were
ringing. The little soldier inquired the meaning of all this noise, and
was told that the Princess Ludovine, the King’s beautiful daughter, had
been found, and was about to make her triumphal entry. ‘That will just
suit me,’ thought the Kinglet; ‘I will stand at the door and see if she
knows me.’
He had scarcely time to dress himself when the golden coach of Ludovine
went by. She had a crown of gold upon her head, and the King and Queen
sat by her side. By accident her eyes fell upon the little soldier, and
she grew pale and turned away her head.
‘Didn’t she know me?’ the little soldier asked himself, ‘or was she
angry because I missed our meetings?’ and he followed the crowd till he
got to the palace. When the royal party entered he told the guards that
it was he who had delivered the Princess, and wished to speak to the
King. But the more he talked the more they believed him mad and refused
to let him pass.
The little soldier was furious. He felt that he needed his pipe to calm
him, and he entered a tavern and ordered a pint of beer. ‘It is this
miserable soldier’s helmet,’ said he to himself ‘If I had only money
enough I could look as splendid as the lords of the Court; but what
is the good of thinking of that when I have only the remains of the
Seagull’s fifty crowns?’
He took out his purse to see what was left, and he found that there were
still fifty crowns.
‘The Seagull must have miscounted,’ thought he, and he paid for his
beer. Then he counted his money again, and there were still fifty
crowns. He took away five and counted a third time, but there were still
fifty. He emptied the purse altogether and then shut it; when he opened
it the fifty crowns were still there!
Then a plan came into his head, and he determined to go at once to the
Court tailor and coachbuilder.
He ordered the tailor to make him a mantle and vest of blue velvet
embroidered with pearls, and the coachbuilder to make him a golden
coach like the coach of the Princess Ludovine. If the tailor and the
coachbuilder were quick he promised to pay them double.
A few days later the little soldier was driven through the city in his
coach drawn by six white horses, and with four lacqueys richly dressed
standing behind. Inside sat John, clad in blue velvet, with a bouquet of
immortelles in his hand and a scarf bound round his arm. He drove twice
round the city, throwing money to the right and left, and the third
time, as he passed under the palace windows, he saw Ludovine lift a
corner of the curtain and peep out.
V
The next day no one talked of anything but the rich lord who had
distributed money as he drove along. The talk even reached the Court,
and the Queen, who was very curious, had a great desire to see the
wonderful Prince.
‘Very well,’ said the King; ‘let him be asked to come and play cards
with me.’
This time the Kinglet was not late for his appointment.
The King sent for the cards and they sat down to play. They had six
games, and John always lost. The stake was fifty crowns, and each time
he emptied his purse, which was full the next instant.
The sixth time the King exclaimed, ‘It is amazing!’
The Queen cried, ‘It is astonishing!’
The Princess said, ‘It is bewildering!’
‘Not so bewildering,’ replied the little soldier, ‘as your change into a
serpent.’
‘Hush!’ interrupted the King, who did not like the subject.
‘I only spoke of it,’ said John, ‘because you see in me the man who
delivered the Princess from the goblins and whom she promised to marry.’
‘Is that true?’ asked the King of the Princess.
‘Quite true,’ answered Ludovine. ‘But I told my deliverer to be ready to
go with me when I passed by with my coach. I passed three times, but he
slept so soundly that no one could wake him.’
‘What is your name?’ said the King, ‘and who are you?’
‘My name is John. I am a soldier, and my father is a boatman.’
‘You are not a fit husband for my daughter. Still, if you will give us
your purse, you shall have her for your wife.’
‘My purse does not belong to me, and I cannot give it away.’
‘But you can lend it to me till our wedding-day,’ said the Princess with
one of those glances the little soldier never could resist.
‘And when will that be?’
‘At Easter,’ said the monarch.
‘Or in a blue moon!’ murmured the Princess; but the Kinglet did not hear
her and let her take his purse.
Next evening he presented himself at the palace to play picquet with
the King and to make his court to the Princess. But he was told that
the King had gone into the country to receive his rents. He returned the
following day, and had the same answer. Then he asked to see the Queen,
but she had a headache. When this had happened five or six times, he
began to understand that they were making fun of him.
‘That is not the way for a King to behave,’ thought John. ‘Old
scoundrel!’ and then suddenly he remembered his red cloak.
‘Ah, what an idiot I am!’ said he. ‘Of course I can get in whenever I
like with the help of this.’
That evening he was in front of the palace, wrapped in his red cloak.
On the first story one window was lighted, and John saw on the curtains
the shadow of the Princess.
‘I wish myself in the room of the Princess Ludovine,’ said he, and in a
second he was there.
The King’s daughter was sitting before a table counting the money that
she emptied from the inexhaustible purse.
‘Eight hundred and fifty, nine hundred, nine hundred and fifty--’
‘A thousand,’ finished John. ‘Good evening everybody!’
The Princess jumped and gave a little cry. ‘You here! What business have
you to do it? Leave at once, or I shall call--’
‘I have come,’ said the Kinglet, ‘to remind you of your promise. The
day after to-morrow is Easter Day, and it is high time to think of our
marriage.’
Ludovine burst out into a fit of laughter. ‘Our marriage! Have you
really been foolish enough to believe that the daughter of the King of
the Low Countries would ever marry the son of a boatman?’
‘Then give me back the purse,’ said John.
‘Never,’ said the Princess, and put it calmly in her pocket.
‘As you like,’ said the little soldier. ‘He laughs best who laughs the
last;’ and he took the Princess in his arms. ‘I wish,’ he cried, ‘that
we were at the ends of the earth;’ and in one second he was there, still
clasping the Princess tightly in his arms.
‘Ouf,’ said John, laying her gently at the foot of a tree. ‘I never
took such a long journey before. What do you say, madam?’ The Princess
understood that it was no time for jesting, and did not answer. Besides
she was still feeling giddy from her rapid flight, and had not yet
collected her senses.