The Blue Fairy Book
stream of water which flowed through the tower he would have died of
thirst.
One day when he was in despair he said to himself:
“How can I have offended the King? I am his most faithful subject, and
have done nothing against him.”
The King chanced to be passing the tower and recognized the voice of his
former favorite. He stopped to listen in spite of Charming’s enemies,
who tried to persuade him to have nothing more to do with the traitor.
But the King said:
“Be quiet, I wish to hear what he says.”
And then he opened the tower door and called to Charming, who came very
sadly and kissed the King’s hand, saying:
“What have I done, sire, to deserve this cruel treatment?”
“You mocked me and my ambassador,” said the King, “and you said that
if I had sent you for the Princess Goldilocks you would certainly have
brought her back.”
“It is quite true, sire,” replied Charming; “I should have drawn such a
picture of you, and represented your good qualities in such a way,
that I am certain the Princess would have found you irresistible. But I
cannot see what there is in that to make you angry.”
The King could not see any cause for anger either when the matter was
presented to him in this light, and he began to frown very fiercely at
the courtiers who had so misrepresented his favorite.
So he took Charming back to the palace with him, and after seeing that
he had a very good supper he said to him:
“You know that I love Pretty Goldilocks as much as ever, her refusal has
not made any difference to me; but I don’t know how to make her change
her mind; I really should like to send you, to see if you can persuade
her to marry me.”
Charming replied that he was perfectly willing to go, and would set out
the very next day.
“But you must wait till I can get a grand escort for you,” said the
King. But Charming said that he only wanted a good horse to ride, and
the King, who was delighted at his being ready to start so promptly,
gave him letters to the Princess, and bade him good speed. It was on a
Monday morning that he set out all alone upon his errand, thinking of
nothing but how he could persuade the Princess Goldilocks to marry
the King. He had a writing-book in his pocket, and whenever any happy
thought struck him he dismounted from his horse and sat down under
the trees to put it into the harangue which he was preparing for the
Princess, before he forgot it.
One day when he had started at the very earliest dawn, and was riding
over a great meadow, he suddenly had a capital idea, and, springing from
his horse, he sat down under a willow tree which grew by a little river.
When he had written it down he was looking round him, pleased to find
himself in such a pretty place, when all at once he saw a great golden
carp lying gasping and exhausted upon the grass. In leaping after little
flies she had thrown herself high upon the bank, where she had lain till
she was nearly dead. Charming had pity upon her, and, though he couldn’t
help thinking that she would have been very nice for dinner, he picked
her up gently and put her back into the water. As soon as Dame Carp
felt the refreshing coolness of the water she sank down joyfully to the
bottom of the river, then, swimming up to the bank quite boldly, she
said:
“I thank you, Charming, for the kindness you have done me. You have
saved my life; one day I will repay you.” So saying, she sank down into
the water again, leaving Charming greatly astonished at her politeness.
Another day, as he journeyed on, he saw a raven in great distress. The
poor bird was closely pursued by an eagle, which would soon have eaten
it up, had not Charming quickly fitted an arrow to his bow and shot the
eagle dead. The raven perched upon a tree very joyfully.
“Charming,” said he, “it was very generous of you to rescue a poor
raven; I am not ungrateful, some day I will repay you.”
Charming thought it was very nice of the raven to say so, and went on
his way.
Before the sun rose he found himself in a thick wood where it was too
dark for him to see his path, and here he heard an owl crying as if it
were in despair.
“Hark!” said he, “that must be an owl in great trouble, I am sure it has
gone into a snare”; and he began to hunt about, and presently found a
great net which some bird-catchers had spread the night before.
“What a pity it is that men do nothing but torment and persecute poor
creatures which never do them any harm!” said he, and he took out his
knife and cut the cords of the net, and the owl flitted away into the
darkness, but then turning, with one flicker of her wings, she came back
to Charming and said:
“It does not need many words to tell you how great a service you have
done me. I was caught; in a few minutes the fowlers would have been
here--without your help I should have been killed. I am grateful, and
one day I will repay you.”
These three adventures were the only ones of any consequence that befell
Charming upon his journey, and he made all the haste he could to reach
the palace of the Princess Goldilocks.
When he arrived he thought everything he saw delightful and magnificent.
Diamonds were as plentiful as pebbles, and the gold and silver, the
beautiful dresses, the sweetmeats and pretty things that were everywhere
quite amazed him; he thought to himself: “If the Princess consents to
leave all this, and come with me to marry the King, he may think himself
lucky!”
Then he dressed himself carefully in rich brocade, with scarlet and
white plumes, and threw a splendid embroidered scarf over his shoulder,
and, looking as gay and as graceful as possible, he presented himself at
the door of the palace, carrying in his arm a tiny pretty dog which
he had bought on the way. The guards saluted him respectfully, and a
messenger was sent to the Princess to announce the arrival of Charming
as ambassador of her neighbor the King.
“Charming,” said the Princess, “the name promises well; I have no doubt
that he is good looking and fascinates everybody.”
“Indeed he does, madam,” said all her maids of honor in one breath. “We
saw him from the window of the garret where we were spinning flax, and
we could do nothing but look at him as long as he was in sight.”
“Well to be sure,” said the Princess, “that’s how you amuse yourselves,
is it? Looking at strangers out of the window! Be quick and give me my
blue satin embroidered dress, and comb out my golden hair. Let somebody
make me fresh garlands of flowers, and give me my high-heeled shoes and
my fan, and tell them to sweep my great hall and my throne, for I want
everyone to say I am really ‘Pretty Goldilocks.’”
You can imagine how all her maids scurried this way and that to make the
Princess ready, and how in their haste they knocked their heads together
and hindered each other, till she thought they would never have done.
However, at last they led her into the gallery of mirrors that she might
assure herself that nothing was lacking in her appearance, and then
she mounted her throne of gold, ebony, and ivory, while her ladies took
their guitars and began to sing softly. Then Charming was led in, and
was so struck with astonishment and admiration that at first not a word
could he say. But presently he took courage and delivered his harangue,
bravely ending by begging the Princess to spare him the disappointment
of going back without her.
“Sir Charming,” answered she, “all the reasons you have given me are
very good ones, and I assure you that I should have more pleasure in
obliging you than anyone else, but you must know that a month ago as I
was walking by the river with my ladies I took off my glove, and as I
did so a ring that I was wearing slipped off my finger and rolled into
the water. As I valued it more than my kingdom, you may imagine how
vexed I was at losing it, and I vowed to never listen to any proposal of
marriage unless the ambassador first brought me back my ring. So now
you know what is expected of you, for if you talked for fifteen days and
fifteen nights you could not make me change my mind.”
Charming was very much surprised by this answer, but he bowed low to the
Princess, and begged her to accept the embroidered scarf and the tiny
dog he had brought with him. But she answered that she did not want any
presents, and that he was to remember what she had just told him. When
he got back to his lodging he went to bed without eating any supper, and
his little dog, who was called Frisk, couldn’t eat any either, but came
and lay down close to him. All night Charming sighed and lamented.
“How am I to find a ring that fell into the river a month ago?” said
he. “It is useless to try; the Princess must have told me to do it on
purpose, knowing it was impossible.” And then he sighed again.
Frisk heard him and said:
“My dear master, don’t despair; the luck may change, you are too good
not to be happy. Let us go down to the river as soon as it is light.”
But Charming only gave him two little pats and said nothing, and very
soon he fell asleep.
At the first glimmer of dawn Frisk began to jump about, and when he had
waked Charming they went out together, first into the garden, and then
down to the river’s brink, where they wandered up and down. Charming was
thinking sadly of having to go back unsuccessful when he heard someone
calling: “Charming, Charming!” He looked all about him and thought he
must be dreaming, as he could not see anybody. Then he walked on and the
voice called again: “Charming, Charming!”
“Who calls me?” said he. Frisk, who was very small and could look
closely into the water, cried out: “I see a golden carp coming.” And
sure enough there was the great carp, who said to Charming:
“You saved my life in the meadow by the willow tree, and I promised that
I would repay you. Take this, it is Princess Goldilock’s ring.” Charming
took the ring out of Dame Carp’s mouth, thanking her a thousand times,
and he and tiny Frisk went straight to the palace, where someone told
the Princess that he was asking to see her.
“Ah! poor fellow,” said she, “he must have come to say good-by, finding
it impossible to do as I asked.”
So in came Charming, who presented her with the ring and said:
“Madam, I have done your bidding. Will it please you to marry my
master?” When the Princess saw her ring brought back to her unhurt she
was so astonished that she thought she must be dreaming.
“Truly, Charming,” said she, “you must be the favorite of some fairy, or
you could never have found it.”
“Madam,” answered he, “I was helped by nothing but my desire to obey
your wishes.”
“Since you are so kind,” said she, “perhaps you will do me another
service, for till it is done I will never be married. There is a prince
not far from here whose name is Galifron, who once wanted to marry me,
but when I refused he uttered the most terrible threats against me, and
vowed that he would lay waste my country. But what could I do? I could
not marry a frightful giant as tall as a tower, who eats up people as
a monkey eats chestnuts, and who talks so loud that anybody who has to
listen to him becomes quite deaf. Nevertheless, he does not cease to
persecute me and to kill my subjects. So before I can listen to your
proposal you must kill him and bring me his head.”
Charming was rather dismayed at this command, but he answered:
“Very well, Princess, I will fight this Galifron; I believe that he will
kill me, but at any rate I shall die in your defense.”
Then the Princess was frightened and said everything she could think of
to prevent Charming from fighting the giant, but it was of no use, and
he went out to arm himself suitably, and then, taking little Frisk with
him, he mounted his horse and set out for Galifron’s country. Everyone