Delphi Works of Ford Madox Ford (Illustrated) (11 page)

Acting on his advice the Princess went to bed, and dismissed her ladies-in-waiting and told them not to come to the room again until she called for them.

And then she lay with her hand under her head thinking of nothing in particular, and the Owl sat on the top of the canopy over her bed.

Suddenly she heaved a deep sigh.

‘I wish I knew what had become of him,’ she thought to herself.

‘You wouldn’t like it if you did know,’ said a strange cracked voice that seemed to come from nowhere in particular. She started up and looked all round the room, but there was no one to be seen; so she thought it was all imagination, and lay down again. And again she thought to herself, ‘How I should like to be with him.’

‘No, you wouldn’t,’ said the voice.

This time she was sure it came from the Owl, so she asked quite softly, ‘Did you say that, cherished Owl?’

And the Owl answered:

‘I did.’

‘But I thought you could not speak, dear Owl.’

‘Well, you see, I can sometimes — when it’s necessary.’

‘But how did you know what I was thinking? — for I did not speak aloud.’

‘Ah! you see, Princess, I can’t tell you that — it’s quite enough for you that I can tell.’

‘But why do you say I should not like to see him?’

‘Because you wouldn’t.’

‘Why? Is he all torn to pieces by the Magi?’

‘Torn to pieces! — not he,’ laughed the Owl.

‘Oh! that is good news,’ said she quite joyfully. ‘Oh! do take me to him, dear Owl.’

‘Very well, Princess. But I warn you, you won’t be pleased with what you see.’ But the Princess was quite confident ‘Oh yes, I shall, dear Owl — when shall we go?’

‘At once, if you like — the sooner the better.’

‘Oh! you dear Owl. I’ll go and get dressed at once.’

So she ran into her dressing-room and dressed herself in no time, without bothering to call up any of her ladies-in-waiting about it. Then she went back to the room where the Owl was waiting for her.

He was sitting on the floor near the fire, blinking quietly at the coals, and he did not at first notice her entry, so she said:

‘Well, good Owl, shall I send for the horse?’

‘What for?’ asked the Owl.

‘To ride on, I suppose!’ she answered.

‘Oh, that’s it, is it? That would never do. Just get on my back, and I’ll see if I can’t carry you somewhat faster than a horse could.’

So she got on his back, although she was rather afraid she would crush him altogether. But somehow, when she sat down, she sank deep into his warm feathers, — either she had grown small, or the Owl had grown very big all of a sudden. Without the least shock they passed through the wall, and out into the clear star light.

‘Good Owl,’ said the Princess, ‘you won’t let me fall, will you?’ for, to tell the truth, she felt rather afraid on the whole; but the Owl answered:

‘No, of course not; you’re quite safe, only you’d better keep close to me, for we shall go pretty fast, and the wind will be sharp enough to cut your hair off.’

So she sat still, protected against the wind, and looking at the twinkling stars — for the Owl flew so high that he almost rubbed some of them out of their places.

The wind whistled loud in the wings of the Owl, but his flight was so regular that she almost fell asleep, and was quite happy — for you see she felt quite safe. Presently the straight flight of the Owl changed, and he began to circle round and round, and then they dropped quickly towards the earth, and the Owl stopped.

‘You can get off now,’ he said, and she stepped off his back.

‘Take care,’ he said next; and she rubbed her eyes in astonishment, for she found herself on the top of a roof.

‘I told you you wouldn’t like it if you came,’ he said. ‘But you’d better look down below if you want to see anything that’s going on,’ and he gravely seated himself on her shoulder, for he seemed quite small again. So the Princess looked down, and she saw at some distance below a large fire that was blazing in a sort of courtyard, and then she saw that it was the battlements of a castle on which they were standing. Presently a horrible-looking old witch came within the glow of the fire — she was an awful old creature too, and she almost made the Princess cry out from fright. She seated herself near the fire, and began to beat the ground angrily with the handle of a broom that she carried, and every now and then muttered as she did so:

‘How awfully late he is. Why don’t he come?’ and various other complaints of his lateness.

‘But who is he?’ asked the Princess of the Owl in a whisper.

‘Wait, and you’ll see,’ said the Owl.

Just then something peculiar happened down below — a couple of men appeared suddenly. They did not seem to come from anywhere in particular, but they were there all the same. The Princess almost screamed with astonishment, but she checked herself in time by stuffing a pocket-handkerchief into her mouth, for one of the men whom she saw was the Knight of London, and the other was Magog the King of the Magi; and the Knight of London did not seem to be on bad terms with the King of the Magi.

‘You’ve come at last,’ growled the old woman, in a voice something between the squeaking of a slate-pencil on a slate and the growling of a bear with a sore head.

‘I couldn’t come any sooner, mother,’ said the Knight of London soothingly; ‘you see I had to wait for her to promise to marry me.’

‘Well, has she promised?’ said the witch.

‘Not yet.’

‘Then why on earth not?’

‘She said she had to wait for the consent of the Council.’

‘Why didn’t you eat her?’ said Magog sleepily; and then, without waiting for an answer, he curled himself up close to the fire and went to sleep.

But the old witch went on:

‘Well, and what are your plans now?’

‘I’m going back to-morrow morning, and I’m going to take old Magog and pretend that he’s my prisoner of war, and then the stupid old Council will say I’ve done a service to the State, and they will give me the hand of the Princess for my pains.’

‘But supposing they don’t?’

‘Then I shall cut them all to pieces, and kill the Princess, and make myself king by force — for you see nothing can cut through my armour, except one thing.’

‘And what’s that?’ asked the witch.

‘Well, I don’t mind telling you, mother, because you won’t go and tell any one — it’s
Paper
!’

‘That’s a funny sort of thing to cut through armour.’

‘It may be funny,’ answered the Knight, ‘but it’s true all the same, and if the Prince of India had found it out I should not be where I am now; only he didn’t, you see.’

‘So much the worse for him,’ said the witch; ‘but is there nothing at all but paper that can cut through it?’

‘Well, there is one thing that can — the beak of the Owl, to wit.’

‘Tu-whoo!’ suddenly cried the Owl.

The effect of this sudden cry was tremendous. The Knight clung to his mother, and cried out in a piteous voice:

‘Oh, mother! mother! it’s the Owl; save me!’

‘How on earth can I save you if you hang on me like this?’ said his mother. ‘Just throw some more wood on, so that we can see this Owl, and I’ll fling my broom at it, and see if that won’t bring it down.’ — .

But the Princess leant her head to the Owl, and said:

‘Dear Owl, let’s go. I’ve seen quite enough.’

And the Owl seemed to think the same, for he said:

‘All right. Just get on my back again, and we’ll go.’

So she did as she was told, and no sooner had she got on his back than she fell asleep, and remembered no more until she found herself lying on her bed with the early morning sun shining through the lattice.

She rubbed her eyes in astonishment, and it seemed as if it had been all a dream. But it all was so clear on her mind, and besides she had on her riding-clothes just as she had put them on to go with the Owl.

To make herself feel more sure she said to the Owl:

‘Good Owl, was it a-dream?’

And the Owl shook his head, but although she asked him several times to speak she could not get the least word out of him, although he always shook his head if she asked him if it was a dream.

Just then a tremendous noise in the street made her run to the window, and there she saw the Knight of London coming up to the door, dragging the King of the Magi behind him in chains, and the people of the town were following him in an excited crowd, which caused all the noise, for they were naturally very glad to see their old enemy in chains.

The Knight rode straight up to the palace door, and when he saw the Princess at the window he smiled and said:

‘Good morning, your Majesty — you see I am returned.’

And the Princess said; ‘Good morning,’ as if she were very glad to see him, for she had not yet quite made up her mind about what she was going to do — for of course she could not marry him after what she had seen the night before. So she drew back from the window to think about it — for it would never do to try to get rid of him by force. At last she hit upon a plan — she had to think of it herself — for the Owl would tell her nothing.

She went to the door of her room, but there were no guards at the door — they had run down to see what the shouting was about. But just then the doctor came up the stairs:

‘Good morning, your Majesty,’ he said; ‘have you had a good night?’

‘A very good night, thank you, doctor. But that doesn’t matter just now. I want the Prince of India.’

‘I beg your pardon,’ said the doctor. ‘I say I want the Prince of India.’

‘The
who
?’ said the astonished doctor.

‘The Prince of India.’

‘Then I am afraid he can’t come. But if the Knight of London would do—’

‘But he won’t! I want the Prince of India at once.’

‘I fear your Majesty can’t have him at once. You
wouldn’t
have him once, you know.’ — .

‘But why not?’

‘Because at the present moment he isn’t well enough to move.’

‘Oh, good gracious! — but why is that?’

‘Well, your Majesty, if you’d been thrown from your horse with great violence, and had half a foot of spear stuck into you, besides being mortified at your overthrow, perhaps you would be rather unwell.’

‘Oh, poor fellow, I didn’t know he was so bad as that. I’ll go and see him at once.’

‘I think your Majesty had better not.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because it might excite him too much, and besides, what would the Knight of London—’

But the Princess drew herself up and said:

‘I beg your pardon, but I must ask you not to mention that gentleman’s name, if you please.’

‘Whe — ew,’ ejaculated the doctor; ‘what’s in the wind now?’