The Little Lame Prince

M >> Miss Mulock Pseudonym of Maria Dinah Craik >> The Little Lame Prince


She accepted his offer at once, and returned with the ambassadors. He
made all haste to meet and welcome her, but when she was only three
leagues distant from his capital, before he had time even to kiss her
hand, the magician who had once assumed the shape of his mother's cat,
Minon, appeared in the air and carried her off before the lover's very
eyes.

Prince Wish, almost beside himself with grief, declared that nothing
should induce him to return to his throne and kingdom till he had found
Darling. He would suffer none of his courtiers or attendants to follow
him; but bidding them all adieu, mounted a good horse, laid the reins on
the animal's neck, and let him take him wherever he would.

The horse entered a wide-extended plain, and trotted on steadily the
whole day without finding a single house. Master and beast began almost
to faint with hunger; and Prince Wish might have wished himself at home
again, had he not discovered, just at dusk, a cavern, where there sat,
beside a bright lantern, a little woman who might have been more than a
hundred years old.

She put on her spectacles the better to look at the stranger, and he
noticed that her nose was so small that the spectacles would hardly
stay on; then the prince and the fairy--for she was a fairy--burst into
laughter.

"What a funny nose!" cried the one.

"Not so funny as yours, madam," returned the other. "But pray let us
leave our noses alone, and be good enough to give me something to eat,
for I am dying with hunger, and so is my poor horse."

"With all my heart," answered the fairy. "Although your nose is
ridiculously long, you are no less the son of one of my best friends. I
loved your father like a brother; he had a very handsome nose."

"What is wanting to my nose?" asked Wish rather savagely.

"Oh! nothing at all. On the contrary, there is a great deal too much of
it; but never mind, one may be a very honest man, and yet have too big a
nose. As I said, I was a great friend of your father's; he came often to
see me. I was very pretty then, and oftentimes he used to say to me, 'My
sister----'"

"I will hear the rest, madam, with pleasure, when I have supped; but
will you condescend to remember that I have tasted nothing all day?"

"Poor boy," said the fairy, "I will give you some supper directly; and
while you eat it I will tell you my history in six words, for I hate
much talking. A long tongue is as insupportable as a long nose; and I
remember when I was young how much I used to be admired because I was
not a talker; indeed, some one said to the queen my mother--for poor as
you see me now, I am the daughter of a great king, who always----"

"Ate when he was hungry, I hope," interrupted the prince, whose patience
was fast departing.

"You are right," said the imperturbable old fairy; "and I will bring
you your supper directly, only I wish first just to say that the king my
father----"

"Hang the king your father!" Prince Wish was about to exclaim, but he
stopped himself, and only observed that however the pleasure of her
conversation might make him forget his hunger, it could not have the
same effect upon his horse, who was really starving.

The fairy, pleased at his civility, called her servants and bade them
supply him at once with all he needed. "And," added she, "I must say you
are very polite and very good-tempered, in spite of your nose."

"What has the old woman to do with my nose?" thought the prince. "If I
were not so very hungry, I would soon show her what she is--a regular
old gossip and chatterbox. She to fancy she talks little, indeed! One
must be very foolish not to know one's own defects. This comes of being
born a princess. Flatterers have spoiled her and persuaded her that she
talks little. Little, indeed! I never knew anybody chatter so much."

While the prince thus meditated, the servants were laying the table,
the fairy asking them a hundred unnecessary questions, simply for the
pleasure of hearing herself talk. "Well," thought Wish, "I am delighted
that I came hither, if only to learn how wise I have been in never
listening to flatterers, who hide from us our faults, or make us believe
they are perfections. But they could never deceive me. I know all my own
weak points, I trust." As truly he believed he did.

So he went on eating contentedly, nor stopped till the old fairy began
to address him.

"Prince," said she, "will you be kind enough to turn a little? Your nose
casts such a shadow that I cannot see what is on my plate. And, as I was
saying, your father admired me and always made me welcome at court. What
is the court etiquette there now? Do the ladies still go to assemblies,
promenades, balls?--I beg your pardon for laughing, but how very long
your nose is."

"I wish you would cease to speak of my nose," said the prince, becoming
annoyed. "It is what it is, and I do not desire it any shorter."

"Oh! I see that I have vexed you," returned the fairy. "Nevertheless,
I am one of your best friends, and so I shall take the liberty of
always----" She would doubtless have gone on talking till midnight; but
the prince, unable to bear it any longer, here interrupted her, thanked
her for her hospitality, bade her a hasty adieu, and rode away.

He traveled for a long time, half over the world, but he heard no news
of Princess Darling. However, in each place he went to, he heard one
remarkable fact--the great length of his own nose. The little boys in
the streets jeered at him, the peasants stared at him, and the more
polite ladies and gentlemen whom he met in society used to try in vain
to keep from laughing, and to get out of his way as soon as they could.
So the poor prince became gradually quite forlorn and solitary; he
thought all the world was mad, but still he never thought of there being
anything queer about his own nose. At last the old fairy, who, though
she was a chatterbox, was very good-natured; saw that he was almost
breaking his heart. She felt sorry for him and wished to help him in
spite of himself, for she knew the enchantment which hid from him the
Princess Darling could never be broken till he had discovered his own
defect. So she went in search of the princess, and being more powerful
than the magician, since she was a good fairy and he was an evil
magician, she got her away from him and shut her up in a palace of
crystal, which she placed on the road which Prince Wish had to pass.

He was riding along, very melancholy, when he saw the palace; and at its
entrance was a room, made of the purest glass, in which sat his beloved
princess, smiling and beautiful as ever. He leaped from his horse and
ran toward her. She held out her hand for him to kiss, but he could
not get at it for the glass. Transported with eagerness and delight, he
dashed his sword through the crystal and succeeded in breaking a small
opening, to which she put up her beautiful rosy mouth. But it was in
vain; Prince Wish could not approach it. He twisted his neck about, and
turned his head on all sides, till at length, putting up his hand to his
face, he discovered the impediment.

"It must be confessed," exclaimed he, "that my nose is too long."

That moment the glass walls all split asunder, and the old fairy
appeared, leading Princess Darling.

"Avow, prince," said she, "that you are very much obliged to me, for now
the enchantment is ended. You may marry the object of your choice. But,"
added she, smiling, "I fear I might have talked to you forever on the
subject of your nose, and you would not have believed me in its length,
till it became an obstacle to your own inclinations. Now behold it!" and
she held up a crystal mirror. "Are you satisfied to be no different from
other people?"

"Perfectly," said Prince Wish, who found his nose had shrunk to an
ordinary length. And taking the Princess Darling by the hand, he kissed
her courteously, affectionately, and satisfactorily. Then they departed
to their own country, and lived very happily all their days.




THE FROG-PRINCE

IN times of yore, when wishes were both heard and granted, lived a king
whose daughters were all beautiful but the youngest was so lovely that
the sun himself, who has seen so much, wondered at her beauty every
time he looked in her face. Now, near the king's castle was a large dark
forest; and in the forest, under an old linden tree, was a deep well.
When the day was very hot, the king's daughter used to go to the wood
and seat herself at the edge of the cool well; and when she became
wearied, she would take a golden ball, throw it up in the air, and catch
it again. This was her favorite amusement. Once it happened that her
golden ball, instead of falling back into the little hand that she
stretched out for it, dropped on the ground, and immediately rolled away
into the water. The king's daughter followed it with her eyes, but the
ball had vanished, and the well was so deep that no one could see down
to the bottom. Then she began to weep, wept louder and louder every
minute, and could not console herself at all.

While she was thus lamenting some one called to her: "What is the matter
with you, king's daughter? You weep so that you would touch the heart of
a stone."

She looked around to see whence the voice came, and saw a frog
stretching his thick ugly head out of the water.

"Ah! it is you, old water-paddler!" said she. "I am crying for my golden
ball, which has fallen into the well."

"Be content," answered the frog; "I dare say I can give you some good
advice; but what will you give me if I bring back your plaything to
you?"

"Whatever you like, dear frog," said she, "my clothes, my pearls and
jewels, even the golden crown I wear."

The frog answered, "Your clothes, your pearls and jewels, even your
golden crown, I do not care for; but if you will love me, and let me be
your companion and play-fellow, sit near you at your little table, eat
from your little golden plate, drink from your little cup, and sleep in
your little bed--if you will promise me this, then I will bring you back
your golden ball from the bottom of the well."

"Oh, yes!" said she; "I promise you every-thing, if you will only bring
me back my golden ball."

She thought to herself, meanwhile: "What nonsense the silly frog talks!
He sits in the water with the other frogs, and croaks, and cannot be
anybody's playfellow!"

But the frog, as soon as he had received the promise dipped his head
under the water and sank down. In a little while up he came again with
the ball in his mouth, and threw it on the grass. The king's daughter
was overjoyed when she beheld her pretty plaything again, picked it up,
and ran away with it.

"Wait! wait!" cried the frog; "take me with you. I cannot run as fast as
you."

Alas! of what use was it that he croaked after her as loud as he could.
She would not listen to him, but hastened home, and soon forgot the poor
frog, who was obliged to plunge again to the bottom of his well.

The next day, when she was sitting at dinner with the king and all the
courtiers, eating from her little gold plate, there came a sound of
something creeping up the marble staircase--splish, splash; and when it
had reached the top, it knocked at the door and cried, "Youngest king's
daughter, open to me."

She ran, wishing to see who was outside; but when she opened the door
and there sat the frog, she flung it hastily to again and sat down at
table, feeling very, very uncomfortable. The king saw that her heart was
beating violently, and said, "How, my child, why are you afraid? Is a
giant standing outside the door to carry you off?"

"Oh, no!" answered she, "it is no giant, but a nasty frog, who
yesterday, when I was playing in the wood near the well, fetched my
golden ball out of the water. For this I promised him he should be my
companion, but I never thought he could come out of his well. Now he is
at the door, and wants to come in."

Again, the second time there was a knock, and a voice cried:

"Youngest king's daughter,
Open to me;
Know you what yesterday
You promised me,
By the cool water?
Youngest king's daughter,
Open to me."

Then said the king, "What you promised you must perform. Go and open the
door."

She went and opened the door; the frog hopped in, always following and
following her till he came up to her chair. There he sat and cried out,
"Lift me up to you on the table."

She refused, till the king, her father, commanded her to do it. When
the frog was on the table, he said, "Now push your little golden plate
nearer to me, that we may eat together." She did as he desired, but one
could easily see that she did it unwillingly. The frog seemed to enjoy
his dinner very much, but every morsel she ate stuck in the throat of
the poor little princess.

Then said the frog, "I have eaten enough, and am tired; carry me to your
little room, and make your little silken bed smooth, and we will lay
ourselves down to sleep together."

At this the daughter of the king began to weep; for she was afraid of
the cold frog, who wanted to sleep in her pretty clean bed.

But the king looked angrily at her, and said again: "What you have
promised you must perform. The frog is your companion."

It was no use to complain; whether she liked it or not, she was obliged
to take the frog with her up to her little bed. So she picked him
up with two fingers, hating him bitterly the while, and carried him
upstairs: but when she got into bed, instead of lifting him up to her,
she threw him with all her strength against the wall, saying, "Now you
nasty frog, there will be an end of you."

But what fell down from the wall was not a dead frog, but a living young
prince, with beautiful and loving eyes, who at once became, by her own
promise and her father's will, her dear companion and husband. He told
her how he had been cursed by a wicked sorceress, and that no one but
the king's youngest daughter could release him from his enchantment and
take him out of the well.

The next day a carriage drove up to the palace gates with eight white
horses, having white feathers on their heads and golden reins. Behind it
stood the servant of the young prince, called the faithful Henry. This
faithful Henry had been so grieved when his master was changed into a
frog that he had been compelled to have three iron bands fastened round
his heart, lest it should break. Now the carriage came to convey the
prince to his kingdom, so the faithful Henry lifted in the bride and
bridegroom and mounted behind, full of joy at his lord's release. But
when they had gone a short distance, the prince heard behind him a noise
as if something was breaking. He cried out, "Henry, the carriage is
breaking!"

But Henry replied: "No, sir, it is not the carriage but one of the bands
from my heart, with which I was forced to bind it up, or it would have
broken with grief while you sat as a frog at the bottom of the well."

Twice again this happened, and the prince always thought the carriage
was breaking; but it was only the bands breaking off from the heart of
the faithful Henry, out of joy that his lord, the frog-prince, was a
frog no more.




CLEVER ALICE

ONCE upon a time there was a man who had a daughter who was called
"Clever Alice," and when she was grown up, her father said, "We must see
about her marrying."

"Yes," replied her mother, "whenever a young man shall appear who is
worthy of her."

At last a certain youth, by name Hans, came from a distance to make a
proposal of marriage; but he required one condition, that the clever
Alice should be very prudent.

"Oh," said her father, "no fear of that! she has got a head full of
brains;" and the mother added, "ah, she can see the wind blow up the
street, and hear the flies cough!"

"Very well," replied Hans; "but remember, if she is not very prudent,
I will not take her." Soon afterward they sat down to dinner, and her
mother said, "Alice, go down into the cellar and draw some beer."

So Clever Alice took the jug down from the wall, and went into the
cellar, jerking the lid up and down on her way, to pass away the time.
As soon as she got downstairs she drew a stool and placed it before
the cask, in order that she might not have to stoop, for she thought
stooping might in some way injure her back and give it an undesirable
bend. Then she placed the can before her and turned the tap, and while
the beer was running, as she did not wish her eyes to be idle, she
looked about upon the wall above and below. Presently she perceived,
after much peeping into this corner and that corner, a hatchet, which
the bricklayers had left behind? sticking out of the ceiling right above
her head. At the sight of this Clever Alice began to cry, saying, "Oh!
if I marry Hans, and we have a child, and he grows up, and we send him
into the cellar to draw beer, the hatchet will fall upon his head and
kill him," and so she sat there weeping with all her might over the
impending misfortune.

Meanwhile the good folks upstairs were waiting for the beer, but as
Clever Alice did not come, her mother told the maid to go and see what
she was stopping for. The maid went down into the cellar and found Alice
sitting before the cask crying heartily, and she asked, "Alice, what are
you weeping about?"

"Ah," she replied, "have I not cause? If I marry Hans, and we have a
child, and he grows up, and we send him here to draw beer, that hatchet
will fall upon his head and kill him."

"Oh," said the maid, "what a clever Alice we have!" And sitting down,
she began to weep, too, for the misfortune that was to happen.

After a while, when the servant did not return, the good folks above
began to feel very thirsty; so the husband told the boy to go down into
the cellar and see what had become of Alice and the maid. The boy went
down, and there sat Clever Alice and the maid both crying, so he asked
the reason; and Alice told him the same tale, of the hatchet that was
to fall on her child, if she married Hans, and if they had a child. When
she had finished, the boy exclaimed, "What a clever Alice we have!" and
fell weeping and howling with the others.

Upstairs they were still waiting, and the husband said, when the boy
did not return, "Do you go down, wife, into the cellar and see why Alice
stays so long." So she went down, and finding all three sitting there
crying, asked the reason, and Alice told her about the hatchet which
must inevitably fall upon the head of her son. Then the mother likewise
exclaimed, "Oh, what a clever Alice we have!" and, sitting down, began
to weep as much as any of the rest.

Meanwhile the husband waited for his wife's return; but at last he felt
so very thirsty that he said, "I must go myself down into the cellar and
see what is keeping our Alice." As soon as he entered the cellar, there
he found the four sitting and crying together, and when he heard the
reason, he also exclaimed, "Oh, what a clever Alice we have!" and sat
down to cry with the whole strength of his lungs.

All this time the bridegroom above sat waiting, but when nobody
returned, he thought they must be waiting for him, and so he went down
to see what was the matter. When he entered, there sat the five crying
and groaning, each one in a louder key than his neighbor.

"What misfortune has happened?" he asked.

"Ah, dear Hans!" cried Alice, "if you and I should marry one another,
and have a child, and he grew up, and we, perhaps, send him down to
this cellar to tap the beer, the hatchet which has been left sticking up
there may fall on his head, and so kill him; and do you not think this
is enough to weep about?"

"Now," said Hans, "more prudence than this is not necessary for my
housekeeping; because you are such a clever Alice, I will have you for
my wife." And, taking her hand, he led her home, and celebrated the
wedding directly.

After they had been married a little while, Hans, said one morning,
"Wife, I will go out to work and earn some money; do you go into the
field and gather some corn wherewith to make bread."

"Yes," she answered, "I will do so, dear Hans." And when he was gone,
she cooked herself a nice mess of pottage to take with her. As she came
to the field, she said to herself, "What shall I do? Shall I cut first,
or eat first? Aye, I will eat first!" Then she ate up the contents of
her pot, and when it was finished, she thought to herself, "Now, shall I
reap first or sleep first? Well, I think I will have a nap!" and so she
laid herself down among the corn, and went to sleep.

Meanwhile Hans returned home, but Alice did not come, and so he said,
"Oh, what a prudent Alice I have! She is so industrious that she does
not even come home to eat anything." By and by, however, evening came
on, and still she did not return; so Hans went out to see how much she
had reaped; but, behold, nothing at all, and there lay Alice fast asleep
among the corn! So home he ran very fast, and brought a net with little
bells hanging on it, which he threw over her head while she still slept
on. When he had done this, he went back again and shut to the
house door, and, seating himself on his stool, began working very
industriously.

At last, when it was nearly dark, the clever Alice awoke, and as soon as
she stood up, the net fell all over her hair, and the bells jingled at
every step she took. This quite frightened her, and she began to doubt
whether she were really Clever Alice, and said to herself, "Am I she, or
am I not?" This was a question she could not answer, and she stood still
a long while considering about it. At last she thought she would go home
and ask whether she was really herself--supposing somebody would be able
to tell her.

When she came up to the house door it was shut; so she tapped at the
window, and asked, "Hans, is Alice within?" "Yes," he replied, "she
is." At which answer she became really terrified, and exclaiming, "Ah,
heaven, then I am not Alice!" she ran up to another house, intending
to ask the same question. But as soon as the folks within heard the
jingling of the bells in her net, they refused to open their doors, and
nobody would receive her. So she ran straight away from the village, and
no one has ever seen her since.