The Orange Fairy Book (14 page)

Now the princess had been wondering for many days what trimming she
should put on her dresses, so that they should outshine the dresses of
the other ladies at the court balls. Nothing that she thought of
seemed good enough, so, when the message was brought that the ogre and
his wares were below, she at once ordered that he should be brought to
her chamber.

Oh! what beautiful stones he laid before her; what lovely rubies, and
what rare pearls! No other lady would have jewels like those—of that
the princess was quite sure; but she cast down her eyes so that the
ogre might not see how much she longed for them.

'I fear they are too costly for me,' she said carelessly; 'and besides,
I have hardly need of any more jewels just now.'

'I have no particular wish to sell them myself,' answered the ogre,
with equal indifference. 'But I have a necklace of shining stones
which was left me by father, and one, the largest engraven with weird
characters, is missing. I have heard that it is in your husband's
possession, and if you can get me that stone you shall have any of
these jewels that you choose. But you will have to pretend that you
want it for yourself; and, above all, do not mention me, for he sets
great store by it, and would never part with it to a stranger!
To-morrow I will return with some jewels yet finer than those I have
with me to-day. So, madam, farewell!'

Left alone, the princess began to think of many things, but chiefly as
to whether she would persuade her husband to give her the stone or not.
At one moment she felt he had already bestowed so much upon her that
it was a shame to ask for the only object he had kept back. No, it
would be mean; she could not do it! But then, those diamonds, and
those string of pearls! After all, they had only been married a week,
and the pleasure of giving it to her ought to be far greater than the
pleasure of keeping it for himself. And she was sure it would be!

Well, that evening, when the young man had supped off his favourite
dishes which the princess took care to have specially prepared for him,
she sat down close beside him, and began stroking his head. For some
time she did not speak, but listened attentively to all the adventures
that had befallen him that day.

'But I was thinking of you all the time,' said he at the end, 'and
wishing that I could bring you back something you would like. But,
alas! what is there that you do not possess already?'

'How good of you not to forget me when you are in the midst of such
dangers and hardships,' answered she. 'Yes, it is true I have many
beautiful things; but if you want to give me a present—and to-morrow
is my birthday—there IS one thing that I wish for very much.'

'And what is that? Of course you shall have it directly!' he asked
eagerly.

'It is that bright stone which fell out of the folds of your turban a
few days ago,' she answered, playing with his finger; 'the little stone
with all those funny marks upon it. I never saw any stone like it
before.'

The young man did not answer at first; then he said, slowly:

'I have promised, and therefore I must perform. But will you swear
never to part from it, and to keep it safely about you always? More I
cannot tell you, but I beg you earnestly to take heed to this.'

The princess was a little startled by his manner, and began to be sorry
that she had every listened to the ogre. But she did not like to draw
back, and pretended to be immensely delighted at her new toy, and
kissed and thanked her husband for it.

'After all I needn't give it to the ogre,' thought she as she dropped
off to sleep.

Unluckily the next morning the young man went hunting again, and the
ogre, who was watching, knew this, and did not come till much later
than before. At the moment that he knocked at the door of the palace
the princess had tired of all her employments, and her attendants were
at their wits' end how to amuse her, when a tall negro dressed in
scarlet came to announce that the ogre was below, and desired to know
if the princess would speak to him.

'Bring him hither at once!' cried she, springing up from her cushions,
and forgetting all her resolves of the previous night. In another
moment she was bending with rapture over the glittering gems.

'Have you got it?' asked the ogre in a whisper, for the princess's
ladies were standing as near as they dared to catch a glimpse of the
beautiful jewels.

'Yes, here,' she answered, slipping the stone from her sash and placing
it among the rest. Then she raised her voice, and began to talk
quickly of the prices of the chains and necklaces, and after some
bargaining, to deceive the attendants, she declared that she liked one
string of pearls better than all the rest, and that the ogre might take
away the other things, which were not half as valuable as he supposed.

'As you please, madam,' said he, bowing himself out of the palace.

Soon after he had gone a curious thing happened. The princess
carelessly touched the wall of her room, which was wont to reflect the
warm red light of the fire on the hearth, and found her hand quite wet.
She turned round, and—was it her fancy? or did the fire burn more
dimly than before? Hurriedly she passed into the picture gallery,
where pools of water showed here and there on the floor, and a cold
chill ran through her whole body. At that instant her frightened
ladies came running down the stairs, crying:

'Madam! madam! what has happened? The palace is disappearing under our
eyes!'

'My husband will be home very soon,' answered the princess—who, though
nearly as much frightened as her ladies, felt that she must set them a
good example. 'Wait till then, and he will tell us what to do.'

So they waited, seated on the highest chairs they could find, wrapped
in their warmest garments, and with piles of cushions under their feet,
while the poor birds flew with numbed wings hither and thither, till
they were so lucky as to discover an open window in some forgotten
corner. Through this they vanished, and were seen no more.

At last, when the princess and her ladies had been forced to leave the
upper rooms, where the walls and floors had melted away, and to take
refuge in the hall, the young man came home. He had ridden back along
a winding road from which he did not see the palace till he was close
upon it, and stood horrified at the spectacle before him. He knew in
an instant that his wife must have betrayed his trust, but he would not
reproach her, as she must be suffering enough already. Hurrying on he
sprang over all that was left of the palace walls, and the princess
gave a cry of relief at the sight of him.

'Come quickly,' he said, 'or you will be frozen to death!' And a
dreary little procession set out for the king's palace, the greyhound
and the cat bringing up the rear.

At the gates he left them, though his wife besought him to allow her to
enter.

'You have betrayed me and ruined me,' he said sternly; 'I go to seek my
fortune alone.' And without another word he turned and left her.

With his falcon on his wrist, and his greyhound and cat behind him, the
young man walked a long way, inquiring of everyone he met whether they
had seen his enemy the ogre. But nobody had. Then he bade his falcon
fly up into the sky—up, up, and up—and try if his sharp eyes could
discover the old thief. The bird had to go so high that he did not
return for some hours; but he told his master that the ogre was lying
asleep in a splendid palace in a far country on the shores of the sea.
This was delightful news to the young man, who instantly bought some
meat for the falcon, bidding him make a good meal.

'To-morrow,' said he, 'you will fly to the palace where the ogre lies,
and while he is asleep you will search all about him for a stone on
which is engraved strange signs; this you will bring to me. In three
days I shall expect you back here.'

'Well, I must take the cat with me,' answered the bird.

The sun had not yet risen before the falcon soared high into the air,
the cat seated on his back, with his paws tightly clasping the bird's
neck.

'You had better shut your eyes or you may get giddy,' said the bird;
and the cat, you had never before been off the ground except to climb a
tree, did as she was bid.

All that day and all that night they flew, and in the morning they saw
the ogre's palace lying beneath them.

'Dear me,' said the cat, opening her eyes for the first time, 'that
looks to me very like a rat city down there, let us go down to it; they
may be able to help us.' So they alighted in some bushes in the heart
of the rat city. The falcon remained where he was, but the cat lay
down outside the principal gate, causing terrible excitement among the
rats.

At length, seeing she did not move, one bolder than the rest put its
head out of an upper window of the castle, and said, in a trembling
voice:

'Why have you come here? What do you want? If it is anything in our
power, tell us, and we will do it.'

'If you would have let me speak to you before, I would have told you
that I come as a friend,' replied the cat; 'and I shall be greatly
obliged if you would send four of the strongest and cunningest among
you, to do me a service.'

'Oh, we shall be delighted,' answered the rat, much relieved. 'But if
you will inform me what it is you wish them to do I shall be better
able to judge who is most fitted for the post.'

'I thank you,' said the cat. 'Well, what they have to do is this:
To-night they must burrow under the walls of the castle and go up to
the room were an ogre lies asleep. Somewhere about him he has hidden a
stone, on which are engraved strange signs. When they have found it
they must take it from him without his waking, and bring it to me.'

'Your orders shall be obeyed,' replied the rat. And he went out to
give his instructions.

About midnight the cat, who was still sleeping before the gate, was
awakened by some water flung at her by the head rat, who could not make
up his mind to open the doors.

'Here is the stone you wanted,' said he, when the cat started up with a
loud mew; 'if you will hold up your paws I will drop it down.' And so
he did. 'And now farewell,' continued the rat; 'you have a long way to
go, and will do well to start before daybreak.'

'Your counsel is good,' replied the cat, smiling to itself; and putting
the stone in her mouth she went off to seek the falcon.

Now all this time neither the cat nor the falcon had had any food, and
the falcon soon got tired carrying such a heavy burden. When night
arrived he declared he could go no further, but would spend it on the
banks of a river.

'And it is my turn to take care of the stone,' said he, 'or it will
seem as if you had done everything and I nothing.'

'No, I got it, and I will keep it,' answered the cat, who was tired and
cross; and they began a fine quarrel. But, unluckily, in the midst of
it, the cat raised her voice, and the stone fell into the ear of a big
fish which happened to be swimming by, and though both the cat and the
falcon sprang into the water after it, they were too late.

Half drowned, and more than half choked, the two faithful servants
scrambled back to land again. The falcon flew to a tree and spread his
wings in the sun to dry, but the cat, after giving herself a good
shake, began to scratch up the sandy banks and to throw the bits into
the stream.

'What are you doing that for?' asked a little fish. 'Do you know that
you are making the water quite muddy?'

'That doesn't matter at all to me,' answered the cat. 'I am going to
fill up all the river, so that the fishes may die.'

'That is very unkind, as we have never done you any harm,' replied the
fish. 'Why are you so angry with us?'

'Because one of you has got a stone of mine— a stone with strange
signs upon it—which dropped into the water. If you will promise to
get it back for me, why, perhaps I will leave your river alone.'

'I will certainly try,' answered the fish in a great hurry; 'but you
must have a little patience, as it may not be an easy task.' And in an
instant his scales might be seen flashing quickly along.

The fish swam as fast as he could to the sea, which was not far
distant, and calling together all his relations who lived in the
neighbourhood, he told them of the terrible danger which threatened the
dwellers in the river.

'None of us has got it,' said the fishes, shaking their heads; 'but in
the bay yonder there is a tunny who, although he is so old, always goes
everywhere. He will be able to tell you about it, if anyone can.' So
the little fish swam off to the tunny, and again related his story.

'Why I was up that river only a few hours ago!' cried the tunny; 'and
as I was coming back something fell into my ear, and there it is still,
for I went to sleep, when I got home and forgot all about it. Perhaps
it may be what you want.' And stretching up his tail he whisked out
the stone.

'Yes, I think that must be it,' said the fish with joy. And taking the
stone in his mouth he carried it to the place where the cat was waiting
for him.

'I am much obliged to you,' said the cat, as the fish laid the stone on
the sand, 'and to reward you, I will let your river alone.' And she
mounted the falcon's back, and they flew to their master.

Ah, how glad he was to see them again with the magic stone in their
possession. In a moment he had wished for a palace, but this time it
was of green marble; and then he wished for the princess and her ladies
to occupy it. And there they lived for many years, and when the old
king died the princess's husband reigned in his stead.

(Adapted from Contes Berberes.)

Far away over the sea of the West there reigned a king who had two
sons; and the name of the one was Oireal, and the name of the other was
Iarlaid. When the boys were still children, their father and mother
died, and a great council was held, and a man was chosen from among
them who would rule the kingdom till the boys were old enough to rule
it themselves.