The King said that nothing was easier, and he led the merchant through a
long corridor into another room, which belonged to the Prince.
The Prince was a young man, scarcely twenty-one years old. His hair was
as bright as the rice-fields in winter, and his eyes were as blue as the
sea. He was strong and nimble, and his voice was as tuneful as a bell.
The Prince said to the merchant: "I am very glad to see you. I am always
glad to see people who come from a far country; but what do you want of
me?"
So the merchant told him all his story--how he had three daughters; how
he had remembered to bring back the gifts which the two eldest had asked
of him; and how he had forgotten the Golden Ring which he had promised
to his youngest daughter, Daphne.
Then the Prince said: "I quite understand. Is your daughter Daphne very
beautiful?"
And the merchant said: "All my daughters are beautiful. My eldest
daughter, Heliodore, is as beautiful as the day; and my second daughter,
Hermione, is as glorious as the night; but my third daughter, Daphne,
is like the first day of spring. She is more beautiful than any woman in
the world."
Then the Prince led him along a long corridor into a room in which there
were many beautiful pictures of beautiful women; and he said to the
merchant: "Is your daughter Daphne as beautiful as any of the people who
are pictured here?"
And the merchant said: "My daughter Daphne is a thousand times more
beautiful than any of these pictures."
And the Prince knew by the tone of voice in which he said it, that what
he said was true. He then led him into another room, in which there was
only one picture, and this was a picture of a woman he had once seen
long ago, in a dream, when he had dreamt of her who should be his wife;
and this picture was the most beautiful picture in the world; and the
woman who was painted in this picture was like a dream or a vision, so
that those people who looked at it could not believe that such a
beautiful thing could possibly be true. When the Prince had drawn the
curtain from this picture he said to the merchant, "Is your daughter as
beautiful as that?" and the merchant answered, "That is my daughter
Daphne." Then the Prince said to him: "I thought so. I will give you
something to take back to her."
He took the merchant into another room, and gave him a letter written on
parchment, a cup made of crystal, and a small golden ring of plain gold,
and he said to the merchant: "Please do not forget to take these three
gifts to your youngest daughter, Daphne. Farewell."
The Prince said good-bye to the merchant, and the King said good-bye to
him also, and a slave was sent with him to show him the way out of the
palace, and the nearest road to the coast; and there he found his ship
waiting for him, and directly he got on board and set sail, the ship
answered to the breeze, and swiftly and surely he arrived in his native
country.
Now no sooner had he got home than his daughters asked him: "Father,
have you brought us back the presents which you promised us?"
"Yes," said the merchant, "I have. I have brought Heliodore a veil woven
of moonbeams, which I found in the northern hills of India, and it was
very expensive. And I have brought Hermione a necklace of rubies, in
exchange for which I had to part with a precious nightingale. And I have
brought Daphne the gifts which she asked for." So saying, he gave his
daughters their various presents, and to Daphne the letter, the cup, and
the ring which the Prince had given him.
When Heliodore and Hermione saw what their father had brought Daphne,
they were very pleased, because they thought a piece of paper, a cup
such as was to be seen in almost any shop in Athens, and a golden ring
worth at the most a few pieces of silver, were indeed shabby presents
compared with the treasures which they had received, and they laughed at
their sister.
But Daphne paid no heed to this. She took her gifts to her room, and
locked herself in, and there she unrolled the scroll of paper which her
father had given her, and read what was written in it. It was written on
the parchment that she was to pour water into the crystal cup, throw the
Golden Ring into it, and call three times aloud: "Come hither, come
hither, come hither, my Golden Ring!" No sooner had she read this than
she filled the crystal cup with water, threw the Golden Ring into it,
and called out to the ring as she had been told to do; and as she
called, lo and behold! a wood-pigeon flew into her room and alighted on
the crystal cup, and dived and swam in the water; and as soon as its
body was completely immersed in the water, it changed into the very
Prince whom the merchant had seen in India.
"I am Prince Fortunate," said the Prince, "and I live in India. I have
seen you many times in my dreams, and the first time I saw you I made up
my mind that you should be my wife, for you are the most beautiful woman
in the world, and I love you with all my heart." And Daphne told the
Prince that she loved him too, although she had never seen him before,
except in her dreams, and they talked happily together for more than an
hour.
Then the Prince dipped his fingers into the crystal cup, and instantly
changed into a wood-pigeon, and flew away through the window. But before
he flew away, the bird gave Daphne a nut, and told her to crack it and
to put on what she should find inside it.
As soon as Daphne was left alone, she cracked the nut, and she found
inside it a beautiful dress, as dark as a summer night, but on the folds
of which were painted the sun, the moon, and all the stars of heaven.
She put it on, and went for a walk in the garden, and her dress shone
like a starry night, and it was a wonderful sight to behold; and her
sisters, who were leaning out of a window which overlooked the garden,
were dazzled by the sight of the shining garment, and they wondered
greatly, and they were filled with envy and jealousy.
The next day all this happened again. The pigeon flew in at Daphne's
window, changed into the Prince, and talked to her for an hour, and
when the hour was over changed back into a pigeon again and flew away,
leaving her a fig, which he told her to cut open, and to wear what she
should find inside it. She cut open the fig, and inside it she found a
dress on which the azure sea and all its white waves were painted. This
dress was like the sea at dawn, when the wind ruffles it, and little
waves of crested foam dance for joy in the morning air.
Daphne put it on, and went for a walk in her garden, and her sisters,
who were leaning out of the window, were amazed at the lovely sight, and
cried out in surprise--for at first they thought it was Queen Aphrodite
just fresh from the sea; and they envied Daphne sorely.
The next day the same thing happened again. Daphne threw the ring into
the cup, and all happened as before; and when the pigeon flew away, he
left her a hazel-nut, and told her to crack it and wear what she should
find inside it.
Daphne cracked the hazel-nut, and inside it she found a garment on which
the month of May with all its flowers was painted. She put it on, and
she again went for a walk in the garden, and her sisters, who were
leaning out of the window, gave a great cry when they saw her--for
beautiful as had been the dress on which the sun, the moon, and the
stars were painted, and beautiful the dress on which were pictured the
sea and all its waves, this one was far lovelier still, for it was as
frail as blossom, and as soft, and fragrant exceedingly; and as Daphne
walked across the grass in it, her sisters thought that Queen Proserpine
had left her dismal home and had come back to visit the earth once more,
arrayed in the glory of May--and then they saw that it was only their
sister Daphne, whom they had always despised. This made Heliodore and
Hermione so jealous that they took counsel one with the other how they
might do Daphne harm, and at last they settled on a plan.
[Illustration: A GARMENT IN WHICH THE MONTH OF MAY IN ALL ITS FLOWERS
WAS PAINTED]
Every morning, as soon as the sun rose, the three sisters used to go to
the baths and bathe. So the morning after Daphne had walked about in the
garden, in the dress, on which the month of May and all its flowers
were painted, as they were walking together to the baths, Heliodore took
with her a bag full of seed-pearls, and all at once she pretended to
slip, and in slipping scattered the pearls on to the path. Then she said
to Hermione and Daphne, "You go on in front, whilst I pick up my
pearls." As soon as Hermione and Daphne were out of sight, she swept up
the pearls with a small broom and put them all back into the bag, and
then she returned to the house. There she took the key of Daphne's
room--for she had noticed that Daphne always hid this key in a crevice
on the hearth--and she opened Daphne's door, went into her room, and
searched in every corner to see what she might find; and there, at the
back of the cupboard, she found the Prince's letter, the crystal cup,
and the Golden Ring. She read the Prince's letter, filled the crystal
cup with water, threw the Golden Ring into it, and called out the magic
words. But it so happened that Daphne had that day left her knife in the
cup; so when Heliodore cried out, "Come hither, come hither, come
hither, my Golden Ring!" the wood-pigeon flew in at the window, and
dived into the crystal cup, but just as he was going to change into the
Prince he fell upon the knife, and he flew away with a wound in his
breast.
Now when Heliodore saw that there was a drop of blood in the crystal
cup, she was afraid, and she ran away from Daphne's room, and rejoined
her sisters at the baths.
When they came back from the baths, Daphne went to her room and took the
cup from the cupboard. But when she saw that there was a drop of blood
in it, she cried bitterly, for she saw what had happened, and she
understood what her sister had done; and when she had cried for a long
time by herself, she went out of doors, and she found her father and
said to him: "Oh sir, buy me a man's dress, such as will prevent those
who see me from recognising me, when I wear it; and buy me a swift ship,
so that I may travel."
Her father gave her the dress and the ship, and she embarked on it and
started for India, disguised as a pedlar, in order to find the Prince.
She sailed to India, but when she disembarked, she was at a loss as to
what to do, for she did not know where the Prince lived, nor the way to
his palace. As she was brooding in her perplexity, she caught sight of
two pigeons who were quarrelling with each other, and one of them was
threatening to kill the other. Daphne listened to their conversation,
for she understood the language of birds because of the Golden Ring
which she wore on her finger. And one of the birds was saying to the
other: "Prince Fortunate is sick, and the physicians do not know how to
cure him." And the other bird said: "Will he be cured?" And the first
pigeon answered: "If some one were to kill us and to dip our bodies in
the spring which is hard by, and then make an ointment of the water of
the spring, and rub the Prince with that ointment, he would surely get
well."
Directly Daphne heard this she took a stone and killed the pigeons, and
dipped them into the water of the spring, and made an ointment, as they
had said. No sooner had she done this than a wandering minstrel passed
her, and asked her whither she was going.
"I am looking," said Daphne, "for the King's palace, where Prince
Fortunate lives, but I do not know where it is."
The minstrel said: "Come with me, for I know the way. But what is your
trade?"
"I am a physician," said Daphne, "and I have good medicine to sell."
So presently she reached the King's palace, and called outside the
windows: "Good medicine to sell. Good medicine to sell."
When the King heard that there was a physician there, he sent for him
and said: "Can you cure my son?"
Daphne answered: "In eight days I will make him so well that he will
ride on his horse, and shoot with his bow and arrow."
The King was pleased; but when the other doctors heard of this, they
said that if this new physician cured the King's son in a week, the King
would be at liberty to cut off their heads.
So Daphne, in the disguise of a doctor, was taken to the Prince, and she
rubbed him with the ointment she had made, and instantly he grew a
little better, and in two or three days' time he grew much better, and
in a week's time he was quite well and able to ride on his horse and to
shoot with his bow and arrow.
Now, when the King saw this, he was greatly pleased, and he said to the
physician: "You have cured my son; what can I do for you in return?"
And the physician answered, "All I desire is that your Majesty should
give a great banquet, and invite to it all the kings and princes of
India."
The King said: "That is but a trifling favour to ask." And he gave
orders at once that a great feast should be prepared, and he invited to
it all the kings and princes of India, Persia, and Arabia, and they ate
and drank and made merry.
When the banquet was over, Daphne, in the disguise of the doctor, said
to the King: "Let there be silence, for I have a story to tell the
company." The King gave orders, and every one was silent. Then Daphne
told the whole of her story, as I have told it now, and she told
everything except one thing--she did not say who she was, for she was
keeping this to the end. But when she reached the end of the story and
told how the merchant's daughter had disguised herself as a doctor in
order to cure the Prince, she said--
"I am the merchant's daughter. My name is Daphne, and in the disguise of
a doctor I cured the Prince. I did it because I am betrothed to him, and
because he will make me his wife; and I never did the Prince any harm,
but my sister did that evil thing from envy, because she was jealous of
our happiness."
As soon as the Prince heard this, he recognised Daphne, and he embraced
her and said: "It is true. This is Daphne, my betrothed, and my bride
that is to be."
And the King prepared a splendid wedding-feast, which lasted three days,
and they were married in a temple of gold, and on the first day of the
feast Daphne wore the dress on which the sun, the moon, and the stars
were painted; and on the second day she wore the dress on which were
pictured the sea and all its waves; but on the third day she wore the
dress which was adorned with the month of May and all its flowers, and
on that day she was more beautiful than ever she had been before, for it
was her wedding-day. And she lived with the Prince happily for ever
afterwards.