Andrew Lang_Fairy Book 01 (5 page)

"Yes," said the Princess, "I will gladly consent to that."

But in that place there were some Christian folk who
had been carried off, and they had been sitting in the
chamber which was next to that of the Prince, and had
heard how a woman had been in there who had wept and
called on him two nights running, and they told the
Prince of this. So that evening, when the Princess came
once more with her sleeping-drink, he pretended to drink,
but threw it away behind him, for he suspected that it
was a sleeping-drink. So, when the girl went into the
Prince's room this time he was awake, and she had to tell
him how she had come there. "You have come just in
time," said the Prince, "for I should have been married
to-morrow; but I will not have the long-nosed Princess,
and you alone can save me. I will say that I want to see
what my bride can do, and bid her wash the shirt which
has the three drops of tallow on it. This she will consent
to do, for she does not know that it is you who let them
fall on it; but no one can wash them out but one born of
Christian folk: it cannot be done by one of a pack of
trolls; and then I will say that no one shall ever be my bride
but the woman who can do this, and I know that you
can." There was great joy and gladness between them all
that night, but the next day, when the wedding was to
take place, the Prince said, "I must see what my bride
can do." "That you may do," said the stepmother.

"I have a fine shirt which I want to wear as my wedding
shirt, but three drops of tallow have got upon it which I
want to have washed off, and I have vowed to marry no
one but the woman who is able to do it. If she cannot do
that, she is not worth having."

Well, that was a very small matter, they thought, and
agreed to do it. The Princess with the long nose began
to wash as well as she could, but, the more she washed and
rubbed, the larger the spots grew. "Ah! you can't wash
at all," said the old troll-hag, who was her mother. "Give
it to me." But she too had not had the shirt very long in
her hands before it looked worse still, and, the more she
washed it and rubbed it, the larger and blacker grew the
spots.

So the other trolls had to come and wash, but, the more
they did, the blacker and uglier grew the shirt, until at
length it was as black as if it had been up the chimney.
"Oh," cried the Prince, "not one of you is good for
anything at all! There is a beggar-girl sitting outside the
window, and I'll be bound that she can wash better than
any of you! Come in, you girl there!" he cried. So she
came in. "Can you wash this shirt clean?" he cried. "Oh!
I don't know," she said; "but I will try." And no sooner
had she taken the shirt and dipped it in the water than
it was white as driven snow, and even whiter than that.
"I will marry you," said the Prince.

Then the old troll-hag flew into such a rage that she
burst, and the Princess with the long nose and all the
little trolls must have burst too, for they have never been
heard of since. The Prince and his bride set free all the
Christian folk who were imprisoned there, and took away
with them all the gold and silver that they could carry,
and moved far away from the castle which lay east of the
sun and west of the moon.
[3]

Once upon a time there lived a queen who had been the
mother of a great many children, and of them all only one
daughter was left. But then
she
was worth at least a thousand.

Her mother, who, since the death of the King, her
father, had nothing in the world she cared for so much as
this little Princess, was so terribly afraid of losing her that
she quite spoiled her, and never tried to correct any of her
faults. The consequence was that this little person, who
was as pretty as possible, and was one day to wear a crown,
grew up so proud and so much in love with her own beauty
that she despised everyone else in the world.

The Queen, her mother, by her caresses and flatteries,
helped to make her believe that there was nothing too
good for her. She was dressed almost always in the prettiest
frocks, as a fairy, or as a queen going out to hunt, and
the ladies of the Court followed her dressed as forest
fairies.

And to make her more vain than ever the Queen caused
her portrait to be taken by the cleverest painters and sent
it to several neighboring kings with whom she was very
friendly.

When they saw this portrait they fell in love with the
Princess—every one of them, but upon each it had a
different effect. One fell ill, one went quite crazy, and a
few of the luckiest set off to see her as soon as possible,
but these poor princes became her slaves the moment they
set eyes on her.

Never has there been a gayer Court. Twenty delightful
kings did everything they could think of to make
themselves agreeable, and after having spent ever so
much money in giving a single entertainment thought
themselves very lucky if the Princess said "That's pretty."

All this admiration vastly pleased the Queen. Not a
day passed but she received seven or eight thousand
sonnets, and as many elegies, madrigals, and songs, which
were sent her by all the poets in the world. All the prose
and the poetry that was written just then was about
Bellissima—for that was the Princess's name—and all the
bonfires that they had were made of these verses, which
crackled and sparkled better than any other sort of wood.

Bellissima was already fifteen years old, and every one
of the Princes wished to marry her, but not one dared to
say so. How could they when they knew that any of
them might have cut off his head five or six times a day
just to please her, and she would have thought it a mere
trifle, so little did she care? You may imagine how
hard-hearted her lovers thought her; and the Queen, who
wished to see her married, did not know how to persuade
her to think of it seriously.

"Bellissima," she said, "I do wish you would not be so
proud. What makes you despise all these nice kings? I
wish you to marry one of them, and you do not try to
please me."

"I am so happy," Bellissima answered: "do leave me in
peace, madam. I don't want to care for anyone."

"But you would be very happy with any of these
Princes," said the Queen, "and I shall be very angry if you
fall in love with anyone who is not worthy of you."

But the Princess thought so much of herself that she
did not consider any one of her lovers clever or handsome
enough for her; and her mother, who was getting really
angry at her determination not to be married, began to
wish that she had not allowed her to have her own way so
much.

At last, not knowing what else to do, she resolved to
consult a certain witch who was called "The Fairy of the
Desert." Now this was very difficult to do, as she was
guarded by some terrible lions; but happily the Queen
had heard a long time before that whoever wanted to pass
these lions safely must throw to them a cake made of
millet flour, sugar-candy, and crocodile's eggs. This cake
she prepared with her own hands, and putting it in a
little basket, she set out to seek the Fairy. But as she
was not used to walking far, she soon felt very tired and
sat down at the foot of a tree to rest, and presently fell
fast asleep. When she awoke she was dismayed to find
her basket empty. The cake was all gone! and, to make
matters worse, at that moment she heard the roaring of
the great lions, who had found out that she was near and
were coming to look for her.

"What shall I do?" she cried; "I shall be eaten up," and
being too frightened to run a single step, she began to cry,
and leaned against the tree under which she had been
asleep.

Just then she heard some one say: "H'm, h'm!"

She looked all round her, and then up the tree, and
there she saw a little tiny man, who was eating oranges.

"Oh! Queen," said he, "I know you very well, and I
know how much afraid you are of the lions; and you are
quite right too, for they have eaten many other people:
and what can you expect, as you have not any cake to
give them?"

"I must make up my mind to die," said the poor Queen.
"Alas! I should not care so much if only my dear daughter
were married."

"Oh! you have a daughter," cried the Yellow Dwarf
(who was so called because he
was
a dwarf and had such
a yellow face, and lived in the orange tree). "I'm really
glad to hear that, for I've been looking for a wife all over
the world. Now, if you will promise that she shall marry
me, not one of the lions, tigers, or bears shall touch you."

The Queen looked at him and was almost as much
afraid of his ugly little face as she had been of the lions
before, so that she could not speak a word.

"What! you hesitate, madam," cried the Dwarf. "You
must be very fond of being eaten up alive."

And, as he spoke, the Queen saw the lions, which were
running down a hill toward them.

Each one had two heads, eight feet, and four rows of
teeth, and their skins were as hard as turtle shells, and
were bright red.

At this dreadful sight, the poor Queen, who was
trembling like a dove when it sees a hawk, cried out as loud as
she could, "Oh! dear Mr. Dwarf, Bellissima shall marry
you."

"Oh, indeed!" said he disdainfully. "Bellissima is pretty
enough, but I don't particularly want to marry her—you
can keep her."

"Oh! noble sir," said the Queen in great distress, ado
not refuse her. She is the most charming Princess in the
world."

"Oh! well," he replied, "out of charity I will take her;
but be sure and don't forget that she is mine."

As he spoke a little door opened in the trunk of the
orange tree, in rushed the Queen, only just in time, and
the door shut with a bang in the faces of the lions.

The Queen was so confused that at first she did not
notice another little door in the orange tree, but presently
it opened and she found herself in a field of thistles and
nettles. It was encircled by a muddy ditch, and a little
further on was a tiny thatched cottage, out of which came
the Yellow Dwarf with a very jaunty air. He wore wooden
shoes and a little yellow coat, and as he had no hair and
very long ears he looked altogether a shocking little
object.

"I am delighted," said he to the Queen, "that, as you
are to be my mother-in-law, you should see the little
house in which your Bellissima will live with me. With
these thistles and nettles she can feed a donkey which she
can ride whenever she likes; under this humble roof no
weather can hurt her; she will drink the water of this
brook and eat frogs—which grow very fat about here; and
then she will have me always with her, handsome, agreeable,
and gay as you see me now. For if her shadow stays
by her more closely than I do I shall be surprised."

The unhappy Queen. seeing all at once what a miserable
life her daughter would have with this Dwarf
could not bear the idea, and fell down insensible without
saying a word.

When she revived she found to her great surprise that
she was lying in her own bed at home, and, what was
more, that she had on the loveliest lace night cap that she
had ever seen in her life. At first she thought that all her
adventures, the terrible lions, and her promise to the
Yellow Dwarf that he should marry Bellissima, must
have been a dream, but there was the new cap with its
beautiful ribbon and lace to remind her that it was all
true, which made her so unhappy that she could neither
eat, drink, nor sleep for thinking of it.

The Princess, who, in spite of her wilfulness, really loved
her mother with all her heart, was much grieved when she
saw her looking so sad, and often asked her what was the
matter; but the Queen, who didn't want her to find out
the truth, only said that she was ill, or that one of her
neighbors was threatening to make war against her.
Bellissima knew quite well that something was being
hidden from her—and that neither of these was the real
reason of the Queen's uneasiness. So she made up her
mind that she would go and consult the Fairy of the
Desert about it, especially as she had often heard how
wise she was, and she thought that at the same time she
might ask her advice as to whether it would be as well to
be married, or not.

So, with great care, she made some of the proper cake
to pacify the lions, and one night went up to her room
very early, pretending that she was going to bed; but
instead of that, she wrapped herself in a long white veil,
and went down a secret staircase, and set off all by herself
to find the Witch.

But when she got as far as the same fatal orange tree,
and saw it covered with flowers and fruit, she stopped and
began to gather some of the oranges—and then, putting
down her basket, she sat down to eat them. But when
it was time to go on again the basket had disappeared
and, though she looked everywhere, not a trace of it
could she find. The more she hunted for it, the more
frightened she got, and at last she began to cry. Then all
at once she saw before her the Yellow Dwarf.

"What's the matter with you, my pretty one?" said he.
"What are you crying about?"

"Alas!" she answered; "no wonder that I am crying,
seeing that I have lost the basket of cake that was to
help me to get safely to the cave of the Fairy of the
Desert."

"And what do you want with her, pretty one?" said the
little monster, "for I am a friend of hers, and, for the
matter of that, I am quite as clever as she is."

"The Queen, my mother," replied the Princess, "has
lately fallen into such deep sadness that I fear that she
will die; and I am afraid that perhaps I am the cause of
it, for she very much wishes me to be married, and I must
tell you truly that as yet I have not found anyone I consider
worthy to be my husband. So for all these reasons
I wished to talk to the Fairy."