第83章 THE GOLDEN BRAN(3)

`Madam,' said Prince Curlicue, `I wish to be allowed to restore your beloved Florimond to his natural form, since I cannot forget the tears you shed for him.'

`That is very amiable of you, dear Prince,' said the Fairy, `but it is reserved for another person to do that.I cannot explain more at present.But is there nothing you wish for yourself?'

`Madam,' cried the Prince, flinging himself down at her feet, `only look at my ugliness.I am called Curlicue, and am an object of derision; I entreat you to make me less ridiculous.'

`Rise, Prince,' said the Fairy, touching him with the Golden Branch.`Be as accomplished as you are handsome, and take the name of Prince Peerless, since that is the only title which will suit you now.'

Silent from joy, the Prince kissed her hand to express his thanks, and when he rose and saw his new reflection in the mirrors which surrounded him, he understood that Curlicue was indeed gone for ever.

`How I wish,' said the Fairy, `that I dared to tell you what is in store for you, and warn you of the traps which lie in your path, but I must not.Fly from the tower, Prince, and remember that the Fairy Douceline will be your friend always.'

When she had finished speaking, the Prince, to his great astonishment, found himself no longer in the tower, but set down in a thick forest at least a hundred leagues away from it.And there we must leave him for the present, and see what was happening elsewhere.

When the guards found that the Prince did not ask for his supper as usual, they went into his room, and not finding him there, were very much alarmed, and searched the tower from turret to dungeon, but without success.Knowing that the King would certainly have their heads cut off for allowing the Prince to escape, they then agreed to say that he was ill, and after making the smallest among them look as much like Prince Curlicue as possible, they put him into his bed and sent to inform the King.

King Grumpy was quite delighted to hear that his son was ill, for he thought that he would all the sooner be brought to do as he wished, and marry the Princess.So he sent back to the guards to say that the Prince was to be treated as severely as before, which was just what they had hoped he would say.In the meantime the Princess Cabbage-Stalk had reached the palace, travelling in a litter.

King Grumpy went out to meet her, but when he saw her, with a skin like a tortoise's, her thick eyebrows meeting above her large nose, and her mouth from ear to ear, he could not help crying out:

`Well, I must say Curlicue is ugly enough, but I don't think YOU need have thought twice before consenting to marry him.'

`Sire,' she replied, `I know too well what I am like to be hurt by what you say, but I assure you that I have no wish to marry your son I had rather be called Princess Cabbage-Stalk than Queen Curlicue.'

This made King Grumpy very angry.

`Your father has sent you here to marry my son,' he said, `and you may be sure that I am not going to offend him by altering his arrangements.' So the poor Princess was sent away in disgrace to her own apartments, and the ladies who attended upon her were charged to bring her to a better mind.

At this juncture the guards, who were in great fear that they would be found out, sent to tell the King that his son was dead, which annoyed him very much.He at once made up his mind that it was entirely the Princess's fault, and gave orders that she should be imprisoned in the tower in Prince Curlicue's place.The Princess Cabbage-Stalk was immensely astonished at this unjust proceeding, and sent many messages of remonstrance to King Grumpy, but he was in such a temper that no one dared to deliver them, or to send the letters which the Princess wrote to her father.

However, as she did not know this, she lived in hope of soon going back to her own country, and tried to amuse herself as well as she could until the time should come.Every day she walked up and down the long gallery, until she too was attracted and fascinated by the ever-changing pictures in the windows, and recognised herself in one of the figures.`They seem to have taken a great delight in painting me since I came to this country,' she said to herself.`One would think that I and my crutch were put in on purpose to make that slim, charming young shepherdess in the next picture look prettier by contrast.Ah! how nice it would be to be as pretty as that.' And then she looked at herself in a mirror, and turned away quickly with tears in her eyes from the doleful sight.All at once she became aware that she was not alone, for behind her stood a tiny old woman in a cap, who was as ugly again as herself and quite as lame.

`Princess,' she said, `your regrets are so piteous that I have come to offer you the choice of goodness or beauty.If you wish to be pretty you shall have your way, but you will also be vain, capricious, and frivolous.If you remain as you are now, you shall be wise and amiable and modest.'

`Alas I madam,' cried the Princess, `is it impossible to be at once wise and beautiful?'

`No, child,' answered the old woman, `only to you it is decreed that you must choose between the two.See, I have brought with me my white and yellow muff.Breathe upon the yellow side and you will become like the pretty shepherdess you so much admire, and you will have won the love of the handsome shepherd whose picture I have already seen you studying with interest.Breathe upon the white side and your looks will not alter, but you will grow better and happier day by day.Now you may choose.'

`Ah well,' said the Princess, `I suppose one can't have everything, and it's certainly better to be good than pretty.'

And so she breathed upon the white side of the muff and thanked the old fairy, who immediately disappeared.The Princess Cabbage-Stalk felt very forlorn when she was gone, and began to think that it was quite time her father sent an army to rescue her.