The Orange Fairy Book (22 page)

At the end of half an hour they had made up their minds what to do, and
at the command of the fairies, a beautiful palace sprang up, close to
that of the king and queen, but different from every palace in the
world in having no windows, and only a door right under the earth.
However, once within, daylight was hardly missed, so brilliant were the
multitudes of tapers that were burning on the walls.

Now up to this time the princess's history has been like the history of
many a princess that you have read about; but, when the period of her
imprisonment was nearly over, her fortunes took another turn. For
almost fifteen years the fairies had taken care of her, and amused her
and taught her, so that when she came into the world she might be no
whit behind the daughters of other kings in all that makes a princess
charming and accomplished. They all loved her dearly, but the fairy
Tulip loved her most of all; and as the princess's fifteenth birthday
drew near, the fairy began to tremble lest something terrible should
happen—some accident which had not been foreseen. 'Do not let her out
of your sight,' said Tulip to the queen, 'and meanwhile, let her
portrait be painted and carried to the neighbouring Courts, as is the
custom in order that the kings may see how far her beauty exceeds that
of every other princess, and that they may demand her in marriage for
their sons.'

And so it was done; and as the fairy had prophesied, all the young
princes fell in love with the picture; but the last one to whom it was
shown could think of nothing else, and refused to let it be removed
from his chamber, where he spent whole days gazing at it.

The king his father was much surprised at the change which had come
over his son, who generally passed all his time in hunting or hawking,
and his anxiety was increased by a conversation he overheard between
two of his courtiers that they feared the prince must be going out of
his mind, so moody had he become. Without losing a moment the king
went to visit his son, and no sooner had he entered the room than the
young man flung himself at his father's feet.

'You have betrothed me already to a bride I can never love!' cried he;
'but if you will not consent to break off the match, and ask for the
hand of the princess Desiree, I shall die of misery, thankful to be
alive no longer.'

These words much displeased the king, who felt that, in breaking off
the marriage already arranged he would almost certainly be bringing on
his subjects a long and bloody war; so, without answering, he turned
away, hoping that a few days might bring his son to reason. But the
prince's condition grew rapidly so much worse that the king, in
despair, promised to send an embassy at once to Desiree's father.

This news cured the young man in an instant of all his ills; and he
began to plan out every detail of dress and of horses and carriages
which were necessary to make the train of the envoy, whose name was
Becasigue, as splendid as possible. He longed to form part of the
embassy himself, if only in the disguise of a page; but this the king
would not allow, and so the prince had to content himself with
searching the kingdom for everything that was rare and beautiful to
send to the princess. Indeed, he arrived, just as the embassy was
starting, with his portrait, which had been painted in secret by the
court painter.

The king and queen wished for nothing better than that their daughter
marry into such a great and powerful family, and received the
ambassador with every sign of welcome. They even wished him to see the
princess Desiree, but this was prevented by the fairy Tulip, who feared
some ill might come of it.

'And be sure you tell him,' added she, 'that the marriage cannot be
celebrated till she is fifteen years old, or else some terrible
misfortune will happen to the child.'

So when Becasigue, surround by his train, made a formal request that
the princess Desiree might be given in marriage to his master's son,
the king replied that he was much honoured, and would gladly give his
consent; but that no one could even see the princess till her fifteenth
birthday, as the spell laid upon her in her cradle by a spiteful fairy,
would not cease to work till that was past. The ambassador was greatly
surprised and disappointed, but he knew too much about fairies to
venture to disobey them, therefore he had to content himself with
presenting the prince's portrait to the queen, who lost no time in
carrying it to the princess. As the girl took it in her hands it
suddenly spoke, as it had been taught to do, and uttered a compliment
of the most delicate and charming sort, which made the princess flush
with pleasure.

'How would you like to have a husband like that?' asked the queen,
laughing.

'As if I knew anything about husbands!' replied Desiree, who had long
ago guessed the business of the ambassador.

'Well, he will be your husband in three months,' answered the queen,
ordering the prince's presents to be brought in. The princess was very
pleased with them, and admired them greatly, but the queen noticed that
all the while her eyes constantly strayed from the softest silks and
most brilliant jewels to the portrait of the prince.

The ambassador, finding that there was no hope of his being allowed to
see the princess, took his leave, and returned to his own court; but
here a new difficulty appeared. The prince, though transported with
joy at the thought that Desiree was indeed to be his bride, was
bitterly disappointed that she had not been allowed to return with
Becasigue, as he had foolishly expected; and never having been taught
to deny himself anything or to control his feelings, he fell as ill as
he had done before. He would eat nothing nor take pleasure in
anything, but lay all day on a heap of cushions, gazing at the picture
of the princess.

'If I have to wait three months before I can marry the princess I shall
die!' was all this spoilt boy would say; and at length the king, in
despair, resolved to send a fresh embassy to Desiree's father to
implore him to permit the marriage to be celebrated at once. 'I would
have presented my prayer in person, he added in his letter, 'but my
great age and infirmities do not suffer me to travel; however my envoy
has orders to agree to any arrangement that you may propose.'

On his arrival at the palace Becasigue pleaded his young master's cause
as fervently as the king his father could have done, and entreated that
the princess might be consulted in the matter. The queen hastened to
the marble tower, and told her daughter of the sad state of the prince.
Desiree sank down fainting at the news, but soon came to herself
again, and set about inventing a plan which would enable her to go to
the prince without risking the doom pronounced over her by the wicked
fairy.

'I see!' she exclaimed joyfully at last. 'Let a carriage be built
through which no light can come, and let it be brought into my room. I
will then get into it, and we can travel swiftly during the night and
arrive before dawn at the palace of the prince. Once there, I can
remain in some underground chamber, where no light can come.'

'Ah, how clever you are,' cried the queen, clasping her in her arms.
And she hurried away to tell the king.

'What a wife our prince will have!' said Becasigue bowing low; 'but I
must hasten back with the tidings, and to prepare the underground
chamber for the princess.' And so he took his leave.

In a few days the carriage commanded by the princess was ready. It was
of green velvet, scattered over with large golden thistles, and lined
inside with silver brocade embroidered with pink roses. It had no
windows, of course; but the fairy Tulip, whose counsel had been asked,
had managed to light it up with a soft glow that came no one knew
whither.

It was carried straight up into the great hall of the tower, and the
princess stepped into it, followed by her faithful maid of honour,
Eglantine, and by her lady in waiting Cerisette, who also had fallen in
love with the prince's portrait and was bitterly jealous of her
mistress. The fourth place in the carriage was filled by Cerisette's
mother, who had been sent by the queen to look after the three young
people.

Now the Fairy of the Fountain was the godmother of the princess Nera,
to whom the prince had been betrothed before the picture of Desiree had
made him faithless. She was very angry at the slight put upon her
godchild, and from that moment kept careful watch on the princess. In
this journey she saw her chance, and it was she who, invisible, sat by
Cerisette, and put bad thoughts into the minds of both her and her
mother.

The way to the city where the prince lived ran for the most part
through a thick forest, and every night when there was no moon, and not
a single star could be seen through the trees, the guards who travelled
with the princess opened the carriage to give it an airing. This went
on for several days, till only twelve hours journey lay between them
and the palace. The Cerisette persuaded her mother to cut a great hole
in the side of the carriage with a sharp knife which she herself had
brought for the purpose. In the forest the darkness was so intense
that no one perceived what she had done, but when they left the last
trees behind them, and emerged into the open country, the sun was up,
and for the first time since her babyhood, Desiree found herself in the
light of day.

She looked up in surprise at the dazzling brilliance that streamed
through the hole; then gave a sigh which seemed to come from her heart.
The carriage door swung back, as if by magic, and a white doe sprang
out, and in a moment was lost to sight in the forest. But, quick as
she was, Eglantine, her maid of honour, had time to see where she went,
and jumped from the carriage in pursuit of her, followed at a distance
by the guards.

Cerisette and her mother looked at each other in surprise and joy.
They could hardly believe in their good fortune, for everything had
happened exactly as they wished. The first thing to be done was to
conceal the hole which had been cut, and when this was managed (with
the help of the angry fairy, though they did not know it), Cerisette
hastened to take off her own clothes, and put on those of the princess,
placing the crown of diamonds on her head. She found this heavier than
she expected; but then, she had never been accustomed to wear crowns,
which makes all the difference.

At the gates of the city the carriage was stopped by a guard of honour
sent by the king as an escort to his son's bride. Though Cerisette and
her mother could of course see nothing of what was going on outside,
they heard plainly the shouts of welcome from the crowds along the
streets.

The carriage stopped at length in the vast hall which Becasigue had
prepared for the reception of the princess. The grand chamberlain and
the lord high steward were awaiting her, and when the false bride
stepped into the brilliantly lighted room, they bowed low, and said
they had orders to inform his highness the moment she arrived. The
prince, whom the strict etiquette of the court had prevented from being
present in the underground hall, was burning with impatience in his own
apartments.

'So she had come!' cried he, throwing down the bow he had been
pretending to mend. 'Well, was I not right? Is she not a miracle of
beauty and grace? And has she her equal in the whole world?' The
ministers looked at each other, and made no reply; till at length the
chamberlain, who was the bolder of the two, observed:

'My lord, as to her beauty, you can judge of that for yourself. No
doubt it is as great as you say; but at present it seems to have
suffered, as is natural, from the fatigues of the journey.'

This was certainly not what the prince had expected to hear. Could the
portrait have flattered her? He had known of such things before, and a
cold shiver ran through him; but with an effort he kept silent from
further questioning, and only said:

'Has the king been told that the princess is in the palace?'

'Yes, highness; and he has probably already joined her.'

'Then I will go too,' said the prince.

Weak as he was from his long illness, the prince descended the
staircase, supported by the ministers, and entered the room just in
time to hear his father's loud cry of astonishment and disgust at the
sight of Cerisette.

'There was been treachery at work,' he exclaimed, while the prince
leant, dumb with horror, against the doorpost. But the lady in
waiting, who had been prepared for something of the sort, advanced,
holding in her hand the letters which the king and queen had entrusted
to her.

'This is the princess Desiree,' said she, pretending to have heard
nothing, 'and I have the honour to present to you these letters from my
liege lord and lady, together with the casket containing the princess'
jewels.'

The king did not move or answer her; so the prince, leaning on the arm
of Becasigue, approached a little closer to the false princess, hoping
against hope that his eyes had deceived him. But the longer he looked
the more he agreed with his father that there was treason somewhere,
for in no single respect did the portrait resemble the woman before
him. Cerisette was so tall that the dress of the princess did not
reach her ankles, and so thin that her bones showed through the stuff.
Besides that her nose was hooked, and her teeth black and ugly.

In his turn, the prince stood rooted to the spot. At last he spoke,
and his words were addressed to his father, and not to the bride who
had come so far to marry him.

'We have been deceived,' he said, 'and it will cost me my life.' And
he leaned so heavily on the envoy that Becasigue feared he was going to
faint, and hastily laid him on the floor. For some minutes no one
could attend to anybody but the prince; but as soon as he revived the
lady in waiting made herself heard.