Chương Chương 5 · ROSANELLA

. ROSANELLA

Everybody knows that though the fairies live hundreds of years they do

sometimes die, and especially as they are obliged to pass one day in

every week under the form of some animal, when of course they are liable

to accident. It was in this way that death once overtook the Queen of

the Fairies, and it became necessary to call a general assembly to elect

a new sovereign. After much discussion, it appeared that the choice lay

between two fairies, one called Surcantine and the other Paridamie; and

their claims were so equal that it was impossible without injustice to

prefer one to the other. Under these circumstances it was unanimously

decided that whichever of the two could show to the world the greatest

wonder should be Queen; but it was to be a special kind of wonder,

no moving of mountains or any such common fairy tricks would do.

Surcantine, therefore, resolved that she would bring up a Prince whom

nothing could make constant. While Paridamie decided to display to

admiring mortals a Princess so charming that no one could see her

without falling in love with her. They were allowed to take their

own time, and meanwhile the four oldest fairies were to attend to the

affairs of the kingdom.

Now Paridamie had for a long time been very friendly with King

Bardondon, who was a most accomplished Prince, and whose court was the

model of what a court should be. His Queen, Balanice, was also charming;

indeed it is rare to find a husband and wife so perfectly of one mind

about everything. They had one little daughter, whom they had named

‘Rosanella,’ because she had a little pink rose printed upon her white

throat. From her earliest infancy she had shown the most astonishing

intelligence, and the courtiers knew her smart sayings by heart, and

repeated them on all occasions. In the middle of the night following the

assembly of fairies, Queen Balanice woke up with a shriek, and when her

maids of honour ran to see what was the matter, they found she had had a

frightful dream.

‘I thought,’ said she, ‘that my little daughter had changed into a

bouquet of roses, and that as I held it in my hand a bird swooped down

suddenly and snatched it from me and carried it away.’

‘Let some one run and see that all is well with the Princess,’ she

added.

So they ran; but what was their dismay when they found that the cradle

was empty; and though they sought high and low, not a trace of Rosanella

could they discover. The Queen was inconsolable, and so, indeed, was the

King, only being a man he did not say quite so much about his feelings.

He presently proposed to Balanice that they should spend a few days at

one of their palaces in the country; and to this she willingly agreed,

since her grief made the gaiety of the capital distasteful to her. One

lovely summer evening, as they sat together on a shady lawn shaped like

a star, from which radiated twelve splendid avenues of trees, the Queen

looked round and saw a charming peasant-girl approaching by each path,

and what was still more singular was that everyone carried something in

a basket which appeared to occupy her whole attention. As each drew near

she laid her basket at Balanice’s feet, saying:

‘Charming Queen, may this be some slight consolation to you in your

unhappiness!’

The Queen hastily opened the baskets, and found in each a lovely

baby-girl, about the same age as the little Princess for whom she

sorrowed so deeply. At first the sight of them renewed her grief; but

presently their charms so gained upon her that she forgot her

melancholy in providing them with nursery-maids, cradle-rockers, and

ladies-in-waiting, and in sending hither and thither for swings and

dolls and tops, and bushels of the finest sweetmeats.

Oddly enough, every baby had upon its throat a tiny pink rose. The Queen

found it so difficult to decide on suitable names for all of them,

that until she could settle the matter she chose a special colour for

everyone, by which it was known, so that when they were all together

they looked like nothing so much as a nosegay of gay flowers. As they

grew older it became evident that though they were all remarkably

intelligent, and profited equally by the education they received, yet

they differed one from another in disposition, so much so that they

gradually ceased to be known as ‘Pearl,’ or ‘Primrose,’ or whatever

might have been their colour, and the Queen instead would say:

‘Where is my Sweet?’ or ‘my Beautiful,’ or ‘my Gay.’

Of course, with all these charms they had lovers by the dozen. Not only

in their own court, but princes from afar, who were constantly arriving,

attracted by the reports which were spread abroad; but these lovely

girls, the first Maids of Honour, were as discreet as they were

beautiful, and favoured no one.

But let us return to Surcantine. She had fixed upon the son of a king

who was cousin to Bardondon, to bring up as her fickle Prince. She had

before, at his christening, given him all the graces of mind and body

that a prince could possibly require; but now she redoubled her efforts,

and spared no pains in adding every imaginable charm and fascination.

So that whether he happened to be cross or amiable, splendidly or simply

attired, serious or frivolous, he was always perfectly irresistible! In

truth, he was a charming young fellow, since the Fairy had given him the

best heart in the world as well as the best head, and had left nothing

to be desired but--constancy. For it cannot be denied that Prince

Mirliflor was a desperate flirt, and as fickle as the wind; so much so,

that by the time he arrived at his eighteenth birthday there was not a

heart left for him to conquer in his father’s kingdom--they were all his

own, and he was tired of everyone! Things were in this state when he was

invited to visit the court of his father’s cousin, King Bardondon.

Imagine his feelings when he arrived and was presented at once to twelve

of the loveliest creatures in the world, and his embarrassment was

heightened by the fact that they all liked him as much as he liked each

one of them, so that things came to such a pass that he was never happy

a single instant without them. For could he not whisper soft speeches

to Sweet, and laugh with Joy, while he looked at Beauty? And in his more

serious moments what could be pleasanter than to talk to Grave upon some

shady lawn, while he held the hand of Loving in his own, and all the

others lingered near in sympathetic silence? For the first time in his

life he really loved, though the object of his devotion was not one

person, but twelve, to whom he was equally attached, and even

Surcantine was deceived into thinking that this was indeed the height of

inconstancy. But Paridamie said not a word.

In vain did Prince Mirliflor’s father write commanding him to return,

and proposing for him one good match after another. Nothing in the world

could tear him from his twelve enchantresses.

One day the Queen gave a large garden-party, and just as the guests were

all assembled, and Prince Mirliflor was as usual dividing his

attentions between the twelve beauties, a humming of bees was heard. The

Rose-maidens, fearing their stings, uttered little shrieks, and fled all

together to a distance from the rest of the company. Immediately, to the

horror of all who were looking on, the bees pursued them, and, growing

suddenly to an enormous size, pounced each upon a maiden and carried

her off into the air, and in an instant they were all lost to view. This

amazing occurrence plunged the whole court into the deepest affliction,

and Prince Mirliflor, after giving way to the most violent grief at

first, fell gradually into a state of such deep dejection that it was

feared if nothing could rouse him he would certainly die. Surcantine

came in all haste to see what she could do for her darling, but he

rejected with scorn all the portraits of lovely princesses which she

offered him for his collection. In short, it was evident that he was in

a bad way, and the Fairy was at her wits’ end. One day, as he wandered

about absorbed in melancholy reflections, he heard sudden shouts and

exclamations of amazement, and if he had taken the trouble to look up he

could not have helped being as astonished as everyone else, for through

the air a chariot of crystal was slowly approaching which glittered

in the sunshine. Six lovely maidens with shining wings drew it

by rose-coloured ribbons, while a whole flight of others, equally

beautiful, were holding long garlands of roses crossed above it, so as

to form a complete canopy. In it sat the Fairy Paridamie, and by her

side a Princess whose beauty positively dazzled all who saw her. At the

foot of the great staircase they descended, and proceeded to the Queen’s

apartments, though everyone had run together to see this marvel, till it

was quite difficult to make a way through the crowd; and exclamations

of wonder rose on all sides at the loveliness of the strange Princess.

‘Great Queen,’ said Paridamie, ‘permit me to restore to you your

daughter Rosanella, whom I stole out of her cradle.’

After the first transports of joy were over the Queen said to Paridamie:

‘But my twelve lovely ones, are they lost to me for ever? Shall I never

see them again?’

But Paridamie only said:

‘Very soon you will cease to miss them!’ in a tone that evidently meant

‘Don’t ask me any more questions.’ And then mounting again into her

chariot she swiftly disappeared.

The news of his beautiful cousin’s arrival was soon carried to the

Prince, but he had hardly the heart to go and see her. However, it

became absolutely necessary that he should pay his respects, and he had

scarcely been five minutes in her presence before it seemed to him that

she combined in her own charming person all the gifts and graces which

had so attracted him in the twelve Rose-maidens whose loss he had so

truly mourned; and after all it is really more satisfactory to make love

to one person at a time. So it came to pass that before he knew where he

was he was entreating his lovely cousin to marry him, and the moment the

words had left his lips, Paridamie appeared, smiling and triumphant, in

the chariot of the Queen of the Fairies, for by that time they had all

heard of her success, and declared her to have earned the kingdom. She

had to give a full account of how she had stolen Rosanella from her

cradle, and divided her character into twelve parts, that each might

charm Prince Mirliflor, and when once more united might cure him of his

inconstancy once and for ever.

And as one more proof of the fascination of the whole Rosanella, I may

tell you that even the defeated Surcantine sent her a wedding gift, and

was present at the ceremony which took place as soon as the guests could

arrive. Prince Mirliflor was constant for the rest of his life. And

indeed who would not have been in his place? As for Rosanella, she loved

him as much as all the twelve beauties put together, so they reigned in

peace and happiness to the end of their long lives.

By the Comte de Caylus.