The Blue Fairy Book
“Ah! madam,” she answered simply, “if I have your friendship I shall do
very well.”
So the Queen took the ring and put it on her finger, and mounted her
chariot, which was made of coral studded with emeralds, and drawn by six
milk-white horses. And Felicia looked after her until the winding of
the forest path hid her from her sight, and then she went back to the
cottage, thinking over all the wonderful things that had happened.
The first thing she did when she reached her room was to throw the
cabbage out of the window.
But she was very much surprised to hear an odd little voice cry out:
“Oh! I am half killed!” and could not tell where it came from, because
cabbages do not generally speak.
As soon as it was light, Felicia, who was very unhappy about her pot of
pinks, went out to look for it, and the first thing she found was the
unfortunate cabbage. She gave it a push with her foot, saying: “What are
you doing here, and how dared you put yourself in the place of my pot of
pinks?”
“If I hadn’t been carried,” replied the cabbage, “you may be very sure
that I shouldn’t have thought of going there.”
It made her shiver with fright to hear the cabbage talk, but he went on:
“If you will be good enough to plant me by my comrades again, I can tell
you where your pinks are at this moment--hidden in Bruno’s bed!”
Felicia was in despair when she heard this, not knowing how she was
to get them back. But she replanted the cabbage very kindly in his old
place, and, as she finished doing it, she saw Bruno’s hen, and said,
catching hold of it:
“Come here, horrid little creature! you shall suffer for all the unkind
things my brother has done to me.”
“Ah! shepherdess,” said the hen, “don’t kill me; I am rather a gossip,
and I can tell you some surprising things that you will like to hear.
Don’t imagine that you are the daughter of the poor laborer who brought
you up; your mother was a queen who had six girls already, and the King
threatened that unless she had a son who could inherit his kingdom she
should have her head cut off.
“So when the Queen had another little daughter she was quite frightened,
and agreed with her sister (who was a fairy) to exchange her for the
fairy’s little son. Now the Queen had been shut up in a great tower
by the King’s orders, and when a great many days went by and still she
heard nothing from the Fairy she made her escape from the window by
means of a rope ladder, taking her little baby with her. After wandering
about until she was half dead with cold and fatigue she reached this
cottage. I was the laborer’s wife, and was a good nurse, and the Queen
gave you into my charge, and told me all her misfortunes, and then died
before she had time to say what was to become of you.
“As I never in all my life could keep a secret, I could not help telling
this strange tale to my neighbors, and one day a beautiful lady came
here, and I told it to her also. When I had finished she touched me with
a wand she held in her hand, and instantly I became a hen, and there was
an end of my talking! I was very sad, and my husband, who was out
when it happened, never knew what had become of me. After seeking me
everywhere he believed that I must have been drowned, or eaten up by
wild beasts in the forest. That same lady came here once more, and
commanded that you should be called Felicia, and left the ring and
the pot of pinks to be given to you; and while she was in the house
twenty-five of the King’s guards came to search for you, doubtless
meaning to kill you; but she muttered a few words, and immediately they
all turned into cabbages. It was one of them whom you threw out of your
window yesterday.
“I don’t know how it was that he could speak--I have never heard either
of them say a word before, nor have I been able to do it myself until
now.”
The Princess was greatly astonished at the hen’s story, and said kindly:
“I am truly sorry for you, my poor nurse, and wish it was in my power to
restore you to your real form. But we must not despair; it seems to
me, after what you have told me, that something must be going to happen
soon. Just now, however, I must go and look for my pinks, which I love
better than anything in the world.”
Bruno had gone out into the forest, never thinking that Felicia
would search in his room for the pinks, and she was delighted by
his unexpected absence, and thought to get them back without further
trouble. But as soon as she entered the room she saw a terrible army
of rats, who were guarding the straw bed; and when she attempted to
approach it they sprang at her, biting and scratching furiously. Quite
terrified, she drew back, crying out: “Oh! my dear pinks, how can you
stay here in such bad company?”
Then she suddenly bethought herself of the pitcher of water, and, hoping
that it might have some magic power, she ran to fetch it, and sprinkled
a few drops over the fierce-looking swarm of rats. In a moment not a
tail or a whisker was to be seen. Each one had made for his hole as fast
as his legs could carry him, so that the Princess could safely take her
pot of pinks. She found them nearly dying for want of water, and hastily
poured all that was left in the pitcher upon them. As she bent over
them, enjoying their delicious scent, a soft voice, that seemed to
rustle among the leaves, said:
“Lovely Felicia, the day has come at last when I may have the happiness
of telling you how even the flowers love you and rejoice in your
beauty.”
The Princess, quite overcome by the strangeness of hearing a cabbage,
a hen, and a pink speak, and by the terrible sight of an army of rats,
suddenly became very pale, and fainted away.
At this moment in came Bruno. Working hard in the heat had not improved
his temper, and when he saw that Felicia had succeeded in finding her
pinks he was so angry that he dragged her out into the garden and shut
the door upon her. The fresh air soon made her open her pretty eyes, and
there before her stood the Queen of the Woods, looking as charming as
ever.
“You have a bad brother,” she said; “I saw he turned you out. Shall I
punish him for it?”
“Ah! no, madam,” she said; “I am not angry with him.
“But supposing he was not your brother, after all, what would you say
then?” asked the Queen.
“Oh! but I think he must be,” said Felicia.
“What!” said the Queen, “have you not heard that you are a Princess?”
“I was told so a little while ago, madam, but how could I believe it
without a single proof?”
“Ah! dear child,” said the Queen, “the way you speak assures me that, in
spite of your humble upbringing, you are indeed a real princess, and I
can save you from being treated in such a way again.”
She was interrupted at this moment by the arrival of a very handsome
young man. He wore a coat of green velvet fastened with emerald clasps,
and had a crown of pinks on his head. He knelt upon one knee and kissed
the Queen’s hand.
“Ah!” she cried, “my pink, my dear son, what a happiness to see you
restored to your natural shape by Felicia’s aid!” And she embraced him
joyfully. Then, turning to Felicia, she said:
“Charming Princess, I know all the hen told you, but you cannot have
heard that the zephyrs, to whom was entrusted the task of carrying my
son to the tower where the Queen, your mother, so anxiously waited for
him, left him instead in a garden of flowers, while they flew off to
tell your mother. Whereupon a fairy with whom I had quarrelled changed
him into a pink, and I could do nothing to prevent it.
“You can imagine how angry I was, and how I tried to find some means of
undoing the mischief she had done; but there was no help for it. I could
only bring Prince Pink to the place where you were being brought up,
hoping that when you grew up he might love you, and by your care be
restored to his natural form. And you see everything has come right, as
I hoped it would. Your giving me the silver ring was the sign that the
power of the charm was nearly over, and my enemy’s last chance was to
frighten you with her army of rats. That she did not succeed in doing;
so now, my dear Felicia, if you will be married to my son with this
silver ring your future happiness is certain. Do you think him handsome
and amiable enough to be willing to marry him?”
“Madam,” replied Felicia, blushing, “you overwhelm me with your
kindness. I know that you are my mother’s sister, and that by your art
you turned the soldiers who were sent to kill me into cabbages, and my
nurse into a hen, and that you do me only too much honor in proposing
that I shall marry your son. How can I explain to you the cause of my
hesitation? I feel, for the first time in my life, how happy it would
make me to be beloved. Can you indeed give me the Prince’s heart?”
“It is yours already, lovely Princess!” he cried, taking her hand in
his; “but for the horrible enchantment which kept me silent I should
have told you long ago how dearly I love you.”
This made the Princess very happy, and the Queen, who could not bear
to see her dressed like a poor shepherdess, touched her with her wand,
saying:
“I wish you to be attired as befits your rank and beauty.” And
immediately the Princess’s cotton dress became a magnificent robe of
silver brocade embroidered with carbuncles, and her soft dark hair was
encircled by a crown of diamonds, from which floated a clear white veil.
With her bright eyes, and the charming color in her cheeks, she was
altogether such a dazzling sight that the Prince could hardly bear it.
“How pretty you are, Felicia!” he cried. “Don’t keep me in suspense, I
entreat you; say that you will marry me.”
“Ah!” said the Queen, smiling, “I think she will not refuse now.”
Just then Bruno, who was going back to his work, came out of the
cottage, and thought he must be dreaming when he saw Felicia; but she
called him very kindly, and begged the Queen to take pity on him.
“What!” she said, “when he was so unkind to you?”
“Ah! madam,” said the Princess, “I am so happy that I should like
everybody else to be happy too.”
The Queen kissed her, and said: “Well, to please you, let me see what I
can do for this cross Bruno.” And with a wave of her wand she turned the
poor little cottage into a splendid palace, full of treasures; only the
two stools and the straw bed remained just as they were, to remind him
of his former poverty. Then the Queen touched Bruno himself, and made
him gentle and polite and grateful, and he thanked her and the Princess
a thousand times. Lastly, the Queen restored the hen and the cabbages
to their natural forms, and left them all very contented. The Prince and
Princess were married as soon as possible with great splendor, and lived
happily ever after.(1)
(1) Fortunee. Par Madame la Comtesse d’Aulnoy.
THE WHITE CAT
Once upon a time there was a king who had three sons, who were all so
clever and brave that he began to be afraid that they would want to
reign over the kingdom before he was dead. Now the King, though he felt
that he was growing old, did not at all wish to give up the government
of his kingdom while he could still manage it very well, so he thought
the best way to live in peace would be to divert the minds of his sons
by promises which he could always get out of when the time came for
keeping them.
So he sent for them all, and, after speaking to them kindly, he added:
“You will quite agree with me, my dear children, that my great age makes
it impossible for me to look after my affairs of state as carefully as
I once did. I begin to fear that this may affect the welfare of my
subjects, therefore I wish that one of you should succeed to my crown;
but in return for such a gift as this it is only right that you should
do something for me. Now, as I think of retiring into the country, it