The Blue Fairy Book
Bellissima was sitting in a little thicket by a brook, leaning her head
upon her hand and weeping bitterly, but just as they passed she looked
up and saw the King and the Fairy of the Desert. Now, the Fairy was so
clever that she could not only seem beautiful to the King, but even the
poor Princess thought her the most lovely being she had ever seen.
“What!” she cried; “was I not unhappy enough in this lonely castle to
which that frightful Yellow Dwarf brought me? Must I also be made to
know that the King of the Gold Mines ceased to love me as soon as he
lost sight of me? But who can my rival be, whose fatal beauty is greater
than mine?”
While she was saying this, the King, who really loved her as much as
ever, was feeling terribly sad at being so rapidly torn away from his
beloved Princess, but he knew too well how powerful the Fairy was to
have any hope of escaping from her except by great patience and cunning.
The Fairy of the Desert had also seen Bellissima, and she tried to read
in the King’s eyes the effect that this unexpected sight had had upon
him.
“No one can tell you what you wish to know better than I can,” said
he. “This chance meeting with an unhappy princess for whom I once had a
passing fancy, before I was lucky enough to meet you, has affected me a
little, I admit, but you are so much more to me than she is that I would
rather die than leave you.”
“Ah, Prince,” she said, “can I believe that you really love me so much?”
“Time will show, madam,” replied the King; “but if you wish to convince
me that you have some regard for me, do not, I beg of you, refuse to aid
Bellissima.”
“Do you know what you are asking?” said the Fairy of the Desert,
frowning, and looking at him suspiciously. “Do you want me to employ my
art against the Yellow Dwarf, who is my best friend, and take away from
him a proud princess whom I can but look upon as my rival?”
The King sighed, but made no answer--indeed, what was there to be said
to such a clear-sighted person? At last they reached a vast meadow, gay
with all sorts of flowers; a deep river surrounded it, and many little
brooks murmured softly under the shady trees, where it was always cool
and fresh. A little way off stood a splendid palace, the walls of
which were of transparent emeralds. As soon as the swans which drew
the Fairy’s chariot had alighted under a porch, which was paved with
diamonds and had arches of rubies, they were greeted on all sides by
thousands of beautiful beings, who came to meet them joyfully, singing
these words:
“When Love within a heart would reign,
Useless to strive against him ‘tis.
The proud but feel a sharper pain,
And make a greater triumph his.”
The Fairy of the Desert was delighted to hear them sing of her triumphs;
she led the King into the most splendid room that can be imagined, and
left him alone for a little while, just that he might not feel that
he was a prisoner; but he felt sure that she had not really gone quite
away, but was watching him from some hiding-place. So walking up to a
great mirror, he said to it, “Trusty counsellor, let me see what I can
do to make myself agreeable to the charming Fairy of the Desert; for I
can think of nothing but how to please her.”
And he at once set to work to curl his hair, and, seeing upon a table a
grander coat than his own, he put it on carefully. The Fairy came back
so delighted that she could not conceal her joy.
“I am quite aware of the trouble you have taken to please me,” said she,
“and I must tell you that you have succeeded perfectly already. You see
it is not difficult to do if you really care for me.”
The King, who had his own reasons for wishing to keep the old Fairy in
a good humor, did not spare pretty speeches, and after a time he was
allowed to walk by himself upon the sea-shore. The Fairy of the Desert
had by her enchantments raised such a terrible storm that the boldest
pilot would not venture out in it, so she was not afraid of her
prisoner’s being able to escape; and he found it some relief to think
sadly over his terrible situation without being interrupted by his cruel
captor.
Presently, after walking wildly up and down, he wrote these verses upon
the sand with his stick:
“At last may I upon this shore
Lighten my sorrow with soft tears.
Alas! alas! I see no more
My Love, who yet my sadness cheers.
“And thou, O raging, stormy Sea,
Stirred by wild winds, from depth to height,
Thou hold’st my loved one far from me,
And I am captive to thy might.
“My heart is still more wild than thine,
For Fate is cruel unto me.
Why must I thus in exile pine?
Why is my Princess snatched from me?
“O! lovely Nymphs, from ocean caves,
Who know how sweet true love may be,
Come up and calm the furious waves
And set a desperate lover free!”
While he was still writing he heard a voice which attracted his
attention in spite of himself. Seeing that the waves were rolling in
higher than ever, he looked all round, and presently saw a lovely lady
floating gently toward him upon the crest of a huge billow, her long
hair spread all about her; in one hand she held a mirror, and in the
other a comb, and instead of feet she had a beautiful tail like a fish,
with which she swam.
The King was struck dumb with astonishment at this unexpected sight; but
as soon as she came within speaking distance, she said to him, “I know
how sad you are at losing your Princess and being kept a prisoner by
the Fairy of the Desert; if you like I will help you to escape from this
fatal place, where you may otherwise have to drag on a weary existence
for thirty years or more.”
The King of the Gold Mines hardly knew what answer to make to this
proposal. Not because he did not wish very much to escape, but he was
afraid that this might be only another device by which the Fairy of
the Desert was trying to deceive him. As he hesitated the Mermaid, who
guessed his thoughts, said to him:
“You may trust me: I am not trying to entrap you. I am so angry with the
Yellow Dwarf and the Fairy of the Desert that I am not likely to wish to
help them, especially since I constantly see your poor Princess, whose
beauty and goodness make me pity her so much; and I tell you that if you
will have confidence in me I will help you to escape.”
“I trust you absolutely,” cried the King, “and I will do whatever you
tell me; but if you have seen my Princess I beg of you to tell me how
she is and what is happening to her.
“We must not waste time in talking,” said she. “Come with me and I will
carry you to the Castle of Steel, and we will leave upon this shore a
figure so like you that even the Fairy herself will be deceived by it.”
So saying, she quickly collected a bundle of sea-weed, and, blowing it
three times, she said:
“My friendly sea-weeds, I order you to stay here stretched upon the sand
until the Fairy of the Desert comes to take you away.” And at once
the sea-weeds became like the King, who stood looking at them in great
astonishment, for they were even dressed in a coat like his, but they
lay there pale and still as the King himself might have lain if one
of the great waves had overtaken him and thrown him senseless upon
the shore. And then the Mermaid caught up the King, and away they swam
joyfully together.
“Now,” said she, “I have time to tell you about the Princess. In spite
of the blow which the Fairy of the Desert gave her, the Yellow Dwarf
compelled her to mount behind him upon his terrible Spanish cat; but she
soon fainted away with pain and terror, and did not recover till they
were within the walls of his frightful Castle of Steel. Here she was
received by the prettiest girls it was possible to find, who had been
carried there by the Yellow Dwarf, who hastened to wait upon her and
showed her every possible attention. She was laid upon a couch covered
with cloth of gold, embroidered with pearls as big as nuts.”
“Ah!” interrupted the King of the Gold Mines, “if Bellissima forgets me,
and consents to marry him, I shall break my heart.”
“You need not be afraid of that,” answered the Mermaid, “the Princess
thinks of no one but you, and the frightful Dwarf cannot persuade her to
look at him.”
“Pray go on with your story,” said the King.
“What more is there to tell you?” replied the Mermaid. “Bellissima was
sitting in the wood when you passed, and saw you with the Fairy of the
Desert, who was so cleverly disguised that the Princess took her to be
prettier than herself; you may imagine her despair, for she thought that
you had fallen in love with her.”
“She believes that I love her!” cried the King. “What a fatal mistake!
What is to be done to undeceive her?”
“You know best,” answered the Mermaid, smiling kindly at him. “When
people are as much in love with one another as you two are, they don’t
need advice from anyone else.”
As she spoke they reached the Castle of Steel, the side next the sea
being the only one which the Yellow Dwarf had left unprotected by the
dreadful burning walls.
“I know quite well,” said the Mermaid, “that the Princess is sitting by
the brook-side, just where you saw her as you passed, but as you will
have many enemies to fight with before you can reach her, take this
sword; armed with it you may dare any danger, and overcome the greatest
difficulties, only beware of one thing--that is, never to let it fall
from your hand. Farewell; now I will wait by that rock, and if you need
my help in carrying off your beloved Princess I will not fail you, for
the Queen, her mother, is my best friend, and it was for her sake that I
went to rescue you.”
So saying, she gave to the King a sword made from a single diamond,
which was more brilliant than the sun. He could not find words to
express his gratitude, but he begged her to believe that he fully
appreciated the importance of her gift, and would never forget her help
and kindness.
We must now go back to the Fairy of the Desert. When she found that the
King did not return, she hastened out to look for him, and reached the
shore, with a hundred of the ladies of her train, loaded with splendid
presents for him. Some carried baskets full of diamonds, others golden
cups of wonderful workmanship, and amber, coral, and pearls, others,
again, balanced upon their heads bales of the richest and most beautiful
stuffs, while the rest brought fruit and flowers, and even birds. But
what was the horror of the Fairy, who followed this gay troop, when she
saw, stretched upon the sands, the image of the King which the Mermaid
had made with the sea-weeds. Struck with astonishment and sorrow, she
uttered a terrible cry, and threw herself down beside the pretended
King, weeping, and howling, and calling upon her eleven sisters, who
were also fairies, and who came to her assistance. But they were all
taken in by the image of the King, for, clever as they were, the Mermaid
was still cleverer, and all they could do was to help the Fairy of the
Desert to make a wonderful monument over what they thought was the grave
of the King of the Gold Mines. But while they were collecting jasper
and porphyry, agate and marble, gold and bronze, statues and devices,
to immortalize the King’s memory, he was thanking the good Mermaid and
begging her still to help him, which she graciously promised to do as
she disappeared; and then he set out for the Castle of Steel. He walked
fast, looking anxiously round him, and longing once more to see his
darling Bellissima, but he had not gone far before he was surrounded by
four terrible sphinxes who would very soon have torn him to pieces with
their sharp talons if it had not been for the Mermaid’s diamond sword.