Andrew Lang_Fairy Book 03 (4 page)

In the meantime Fiordelisa, quite in despair, sat at her window
day and night calling her dear Blue Bird in vain, and imagining
over and over again all the terrible things that could have
happened to him, until she grew quite pale and thin. As for the
Queen and Turritella, they were triumphant; but their triumph was
short, for the King, Fiordelisa's father, fell ill and died, and
all the people rebelled against the Queen and Turritella, and
came in a body to the palace demanding Fiordelisa.

The Queen came out upon the balcony with threats and haughty
words, so that at last they lost their patience, and broke open
the doors of the palace, one of which fell back upon the Queen
and killed her. Turritella fled to the Fairy Mazilla, and all the
nobles of the kingdom fetched the Princess Fiordelisa from her
prison in the tower, and made her Queen. Very soon, with all the
care and attention they bestowed upon her, she recovered from the
effects of her long captivity and looked more beautiful than
ever, and was able to take counsel with her courtiers, and
arrange for the governing of her kingdom during her absence. And
then, taking a bagful of jewels, she set out all alone to look
for the Blue Bird, without telling anyone where she was going.

Meanwhile, the Enchanter was taking care of King Charming, but as
his power was not great enough to counteract the Fairy Mazilla's,
he at last resolved to go and see if he could make any kind of
terms with her for his friend; for you see, Fairies and
Enchanters are cousins in a sort of way, after all; and after
knowing one another for five or six hundred years and falling
out, and making it up again pretty often, they understand one
another well enough. So the Fairy Mazilla received him
graciously. 'And what may you be wanting, Gossip?' said she.

'You can do a good turn for me if you will;' he answered. 'A
King, who is a friend of mine, was unlucky enough to offend
you—'

'Aha! I know who you mean,' interrupted the Fairy. 'I am sorry
not to oblige you, Gossip, but he need expect no mercy from me
unless he will marry my goddaughter, whom you see yonder looking
so pretty and charming. Let him think over what I say.'

The Enchanter hadn't a word to say, for he thought Turritella
really frightful, but he could not go away without making one
more effort for his friend the King, who was really in great
danger as long as he lived in a cage. Indeed, already he had met
with several alarming accidents. Once the nail on which his cage
was hung had given way, and his feathered Majesty had suffered
much from the fall, while Madam Puss, who happened to be in the
room at the time, had given him a scratch in the eye which came
very near blinding him. Another time they had forgotten to give
him any water to drink, so that he was nearly dead with thirst;
and the worst thing of all was that he was in danger of losing
his kingdom, for he had been absent so long that all his subjects
believed him to be dead. So considering all these things the
Enchanter agreed with the Fairy Mazilla that she should restore
the King to his natural form, and should take Turritella to stay
in his palace for several months, and if, after the time was over
he still could not make up his mind to marry her, he should once
more be changed into a Blue Bird.

Then the Fairy dressed Turritella in a magnificent gold and
silver robe, and they mounted together upon a flying Dragon, and
very soon reached King Charming's palace, where he, too, had just
been brought by his faithful friend the Enchanter.

Three strokes of the Fairy's wand restored his natural form, and
he was as handsome and delightful as ever, but he considered that
he paid dearly for his restoration when he caught sight of
Turritella, and the mere idea of marrying her made him shudder.

Meanwhile, Queen Fiordelisa, disguised as a poor peasant girl,
wearing a great straw hat that concealed her face, and carrying
an old sack over her shoulder, had set out upon her weary
journey, and had travelled far, sometimes by sea and sometimes by
land; sometimes on foot, and sometimes on horseback, but not
knowing which way to go. She feared all the time that every step
she took was leading her farther from her lover. One day as she
sat, quite tired and sad, on the bank of a little brook, cooling
her white feet in the clear running water, and combing her long
hair that glittered like gold in the sunshine, a little bent old
woman passed by, leaning on a stick. She stopped, and said to
Fiordelisa:

'What, my pretty child, are you all alone?'

'Indeed, good mother, I am too sad to care for company,' she
answered; and the tears ran down her cheeks.

'Don't cry,' said the old woman, 'but tell me truly what is the
matter. Perhaps I can help you.'

The Queen told her willingly all that had happened, and how she
was seeking the Blue Bird. Thereupon the little old woman
suddenly stood up straight, and grew tall, and young, and
beautiful, and said with a smile to the astonished Fiordelisa:

'Lovely Queen, the King whom you seek is no longer a bird. My
sister Mazilla has given his own form back to him, and he is in
his own kingdom. Do not be afraid, you will reach him, and will
prosper. Take these four eggs; if you break one when you are in
any great difficulty, you will find aid.'

So saying, she disappeared, and Fiordelisa, feeling much
encouraged, put the eggs into her bag and turned her steps
towards Charming's kingdom. After walking on and on for eight
days and eight nights, she came at last to a tremendously high
hill of polished ivory, so steep that it was impossible to get a
foothold upon it. Fiordelisa tried a thousand times, and
scrambled and slipped, but always in the end found herself
exactly where she started from. At last she sat down at the foot
of it in despair, and then suddenly bethought herself of the
eggs. Breaking one quickly, she found in it some little gold
hooks, and with these fastened to her feet and hands, she mounted
the ivory hill without further trouble, for the little hooks
saved her from slipping. As soon as she reached the top a new
difficulty presented itself, for all the other side, and indeed
the whole valley, was one polished mirror, in which thousands and
thousands of people were admiring their reflections. For this was
a magic mirror, in which people saw themselves just as they
wished to appear, and pilgrims came to it from the four corners
of the world. But nobody had ever been able to reach the top of
the hill, and when they saw Fiordelisa standing there, they
raised a terrible outcry, declaring that if she set foot upon
their glass she would break it to pieces. The Queen, not knowing
what to do, for she saw it would be dangerous to try to go down,
broke the second egg, and out came a chariot, drawn by two white
doves, and Fiordelisa got into it, and was floated softly away.
After a night and a day the doves alighted outside the gate of
King Charming's kingdom. Here the Queen got out of the chariot,
and kissed the doves and thanked them, and then with a beating
heart she walked into the town, asking the people she met where
she could see the King. But they only laughed at her, crying:

'See the King? And pray, why do you want to see the King, my
little kitchen-maid? You had better go and wash your face first,
your eyes are not clear enough to see him!' For the Queen had
disguised herself, and pulled her hair down about her eyes, that
no one might know her. As they would not tell her, she went on
farther, and presently asked again, and this time the people
answered that to-morrow she might see the King driving through
the streets with the Princess Turritella, as it was said that at
last he had consented to marry her. This was indeed terrible news
to Fiordelisa. Had she come all this weary way only to find
Turritella had succeeded in making King Charming forget her?

She was too tired and miserable to walk another step, so she sat
down in a doorway and cried bitterly all night long. As soon as
it was light she hastened to the palace, and after being sent
away fifty times by the guards, she got in at last, and saw the
thrones set in the great hall for the King and Turritella, who
was already looked upon as Queen.

Fiordelisa hid herself behind a marble pillar, and very soon saw
Turritella make her appearance, richly dressed, but as ugly as
ever, and with her came the King, more handsome and splendid even
than Fiordelisa had remembered him. When Turritella had seated
herself upon the throne, the Queen approached her.

'Who are you, and how dare you come near my high-mightiness, upon
my golden throne?' said Turritella, frowning fiercely at her.

'They call me the little kitchen-maid,' she replied, 'and I come
to offer some precious things for sale,' and with that she
searched in her old sack, and drew out the emerald bracelets King
Charming had given her.

'Ho, ho!' said Turritella, those are pretty bits of glass. I
suppose you would like five silver pieces for them.'

'Show them to someone who understands such things, Madam,'
answered the Queen; 'after that we can decide upon the price.'

Turritella, who really loved King Charming as much as she could
love anybody, and was always delighted to get a chance of talking
to him, now showed him the bracelets, asking how much he
considered them worth. As soon as he saw them he remembered those
he had given to Fiordelisa, and turned very pale and sighed
deeply, and fell into such sad thought that he quite forgot to
answer her. Presently she asked him again, and then he said, with
a great effort:

'I believe these bracelets are worth as much as my kingdom. I
thought there was only one such pair in the world; but here, it
seems, is another.'

Then Turritella went back to the Queen, and asked her what was
the lowest price she would take for them.

'More than you would find it easy to pay, Madam,' answered she;
'but if you will manage for me to sleep one night in the Chamber
of Echoes, I will give you the emeralds.'

'By all means, my little kitchen-maid,' said Turritella, highly
delighted.

The King did not try to find out where the bracelets had come
from, not because he did not want to know, but because the only
way would have been to ask Turritella, and he disliked her so
much that he never spoke to her if he could possibly avoid it. It
was he who had told Fiordelisa about the Chamber of Echoes, when
he was a Blue Bird. It was a little room below the King's own
bed-chamber, and was so ingeniously built that the softest
whisper in it was plainly heard in the King's room. Fiordelisa
wanted to reproach him for his faithlessness, and could not
imagine a better way than this. So when, by Turritella's orders,
she was left there she began to weep and lament, and never ceased
until daybreak.

The King's pages told Turritella, when she asked them, what a
sobbing and sighing they had heard, and she asked Fiordelisa what
it was all about. The Queen answered that she often dreamed and
talked aloud.

But by an unlucky chance the King heard nothing of all this, for
he took a sleeping draught every night before he lay down, and
did not wake up until the sun was high.

The Queen passed the day in great disquietude.

'If he did hear me,' she said, 'could he remain so cruelly
indifferent? But if he did not hear me, what can I do to get
another chance? I have plenty of jewels, it is true, but nothing
remarkable enough to catch Turritella's fancy.'

Just then she thought of the eggs, and broke one, out of which
came a little carriage of polished steel ornamented with gold,
drawn by six green mice. The coachman was a rose-coloured rat,
the postilion a grey one, and the carriage was occupied by the
tiniest and most charming figures, who could dance and do
wonderful tricks. Fiordelisa clapped her hands and danced for joy
when she saw this triumph of magic art, and as soon as it was
evening, went to a shady garden-path down which she knew
Turritella would pass, and then she made the mice galop, and the
tiny people show off their tricks, and sure enough Turritella
came, and the moment she saw it all cried:

'Little kitchen-maid, little kitchen-maid, what will you take for
your mouse-carriage?'

And the Queen answered:

'Let me sleep once more in the Chamber of Echoes.'

'I won't refuse your request, poor creature,' said Turritella
condescendingly.

And then she turned to her ladies and whispered

'The silly creature does not know how to profit by her chances;
so much the better for me.'

When night came Fiordelisa said all the loving words she could
think of, but alas! with no better success than before, for the
King slept heavily after his draught. One of the pages said:

'This peasant girl must he crazy;' but another answered:

'Yet what she says sounds very sad and touching.'

As for Fiordelisa, she thought the King must have a very hard
heart if he could hear how she grieved and yet pay her no
attention. She had but one more chance, and on breaking the last
egg she found to her great delight that it contained a more
marvellous thing than ever. It was a pie made of six birds,
cooked to perfection, and yet they were all alive, and singing
and talking, and they answered questions and told fortunes in the
most amusing way. Taking this treasure Fiordelisa once more set
herself to wait in the great hall through which Turritella was
sure to pass, and as she sat there one of the King's pages came
by, and said to her:

'Well, little kitchen-maid, it is a good thing that the King
always takes a sleeping draught, for if not he would be kept
awake all night by your sighing and lamenting.'

Then Fiordelisa knew why the King had not heeded her, and taking
a handful of pearls and diamonds out of her sack, she said, 'If
you can promise me that to-night the King shall not have his
sleeping draught, I will give you all these jewels.'