The Princess Eglantine

: The Old-fashioned Fairy Book

A certain queen had twin children, a boy and a girl, both as beautiful

as the dawn of a summer morning. As the mother was one day hanging over

the double cradle, shaped like two silver lilies growing on one stem, an

old aunt of hers, who knew a good deal about magic, arrived from the

country to see the babies and to spend the day.



The old lady took the Princess Eglantine in her arms, and kissed her,

and j ggled her, and clucked at her, after the fashion of all good

aunties.



"That's a girl to be proud of, my dear!" she said, handing the baby

back to her mamma. "And she looks as good as she is pretty, too."



"They are both wonderful children, nurse says," replied the young

queen, modestly. "And the doctor thinks them the finest pair he has

ever seen. Only the boy is a little high-tempered. He kicks and snaps

at his attendants the whole time he is awake; so take care, aunty dear,

and don't disturb him for the world. We always let him sleep as long as

he will."



"Hoity-toity!" cried aunty, "as if I came out of the woods to be

frightened by an owl. I know how to manage all children!" and the

boy opening his eyes at that moment, she lifted him from his crib, and

laid him on her lap.



Sad to say, he behaved like an infant tiger. Never was there seen such a

tempestuous baby. He wriggled, and howled, and fought, and plunged,

until the poor mother and nurses turned red with mortification. But the

old aunty held on to him bravely, and examined him from top to toe.

Nothing could she find, till she came to the sole of the right foot, and

there was a tiny red mark like a burning torch. As soon as aunty saw

this she sighed, and whispered a word in the baby's ear, when he became

as quiet as any lamb.



Aunty sent away the nurses, and told the poor queen there was no doubt

about it; her boy was bewitched, and when he grew up he would try to

devour his sister. The only thing was to keep them apart, and this the

queen told her husband; and he sent for a wise man, who confirmed what

aunty had said. The wise man added that all would go well so long as the

princess was kept apart from her brother, and as the brother was the

heir of the kingdom, there was nothing left but to banish the

unfortunate princess. The king built for his daughter, in the remotest

corner of his kingdom, an ivory tower. Around the tower was a crystal

moat full of gold and silver fish. Around the moat were lovely

flower-beds, and around the flower-beds was a thick and thorny hedge. In

this tower there was a room lined with tufted blue satin, like the

inside of a bonbon box, and all the furniture was made of fine carved

ivory. Here the princess was shut up for life, under the care of an old

dame, Madame Veloutine by name, who once had kept a boarding-school for

duchesses, and was very respectable indeed. Poor Eglantine was gradually

forgotten at court, and her cannibal brother grew up without knowing he

had ever had a sister.






Like all other captive princesses, past, present, and to come, Eglantine

was beautiful and accomplished. She could speak in every language, work

in silk and crewels, paint china plaques, make mince-pies, sing like a

nightingale, and play anything on the piano at sight with her eyes shut!

Her skin was milk-white, with a rosy flush on the cheeks, while her

glorious golden hair never came out of crimp, but rippled from the roots

to her very feet.



One day a prince, cantering by upon his palfrey, looked up at the tower

window, and there saw this lovely creature, surrounded by a flock of

pretty white doves. Prince Charming gazed and gazed, and the longer he

stood there, the more enraptured he became. When he heard from the

country people that no one knew who or what was this mysterious beauty,

excepting that once a year, by night, a grand gentleman and lady visited

her, and looked at her while asleep, the ardent young prince made a vow

to solve the secret without delay. He engaged his old tutor to make love

to Eglantine's governess, and this plan succeeded so well that the tutor

was, ere long, invited to take a cup of tea at five o'clock, in the

ground floor apartment of the tower where Madame Veloutine kept house.

Madame Veloutine was very much fluttered by the attentions of the

tutor, a gloomy-looking individual with savage dark mustache and

deep-sunken eyes. The poor old thing, who had been reading novels

without any intermission for eighteen years, was very sentimental, and

the idea of a suitor coming to woo at some period of her existence was

never wholly absent from her thoughts. She dressed herself in one of the

Princess Eglantine's white robes, put a blue sash around her waist, and

covering her little red nose with rice powder, sat in a darkened corner

with a guitar upon her knees. The tutor flattered her, and soon she grew

confidential and told him the story of her charge. When the tutor took

his leave, Madame Veloutine sighed deeply, and pitied the poor man who

had fallen a victim to her charms. She did not see the fat purse of gold

the prince bestowed on him, upon learning the true state of the case

about the enchanting captive!



Prince Charming rode, day and night, till he reached the king's palace.

"Give me your daughter for my wife," he said. The king turned pale at

hearing that the secret was betrayed. "For pity's sake speak lower,

young man," said the anxious father. "Only suppose her brother should

hear of it." With that he told the whole story to Prince Charming, who

forthwith rode to ask a wise man what he should do to set the princess

free, with safety to herself.



"Ride as far as you will, and as fast as you will with her, you may not

escape the curse," said the wise man.



The prince went off heavy hearted, and visited a witch he knew. She was

knitting a stocking, which ravelled every night as fast as it grew by

day.



"I have been knitting this stocking for fifty years," said the witch,

taking a pinch of snuff out of the soup-tureenful that she always kept

beside her. "I could as soon make it whole in one night as keep away the

curse from her."



The prince groaned as he rode away. Across his path was a green bough,

half covered by a huge cobweb. In this a tiny being, no bigger than a

fly, was entangled, and was making desperate struggles to be free.

Travelling toward it, with tremendous strides, came an enormous red

spider, with white spots and great protruding eyes. The prince, not

without a shudder, for, like most of us, he hated the nasty things,

killed the spider with a blow, and set free the pretty captive, who

proved to be a fairy. She tidied her iridescent frock, and thanked him

very nicely.



"You have saved my life, dear prince," she said. "Pray let me do

something in return for it."



"Perhaps you can help me," said the prince, eagerly. "If you can't,

never mind," he added, politely, when he had finished telling her the

sad story of his doomed princess. "I don't expect much of a person of

your size, you know; but really it's the greatest relief to talk about

the dear darling!"



"A person of my size!" said the little lady, with a shrill sniff. "I'd

have you to know, prince, that I'm the fairy Buz-fuz, the discoverer of

the celebrated invisibility powder. It is never known to fail, is made

from a fern-seed that I alone can pluck, and is not for sale at

any druggist's! As to lifting the spell from that poor young creature,

the princess, I can't undertake to do it, on any terms; but with the aid

of my powder, one pinch of which sprinkled on an object will make it

disappear from sight in a moment, I believe you can manage to keep clear

of the cannibal brother."



The prince thanked the fairy, took the powder, and galloped off,

light-hearted, to his Eglantine. She, poor thing, had thought of nothing

but the prince and his beauty, and his kind glances and smiles, since he

left her. She wearied of the society of poor old Veloutine, and sighed

for change. Veloutine was in despair. To comfort the princess she

promised to allow her a single meeting with the prince, should he ever

come that way again. "That I am sure he will!" said the princess. "If

you had only seen his eyes when he looked at me! They were so kind, so

true! Oh! Veloutine! he will come back!"



So Eglantine settled down to her embroidery. This was a gown of white

damask with large white satin flowers outlined with real pearls. She had

been at work on it for several years, and a few stitches more would

finish it. She now wrought busily, until the last stitch was set, and

then, with trembling fingers, put it on. Around her neck and waist she

wrapped great chains of pearls, and left her long hair rippling to her

knees. When her toilet was complete she went to the window. It was the

sunset of a summer's day. Around her tower grew vines heavy with

deep-red roses; the shining surface of the moat beneath was streaked

with color from the western clouds. Along the path beyond the hedge rode

a horseman gayly clad in green and gold, who, smiling, doffed a cap with

a single long white plume, and bowed to his saddle-bow. Behind him came

a splendid cavalcade of courtiers and knights on horseback, surrounding

a golden coach in which sat the father and mother of Eglantine, who had

given consent to her marriage with the prince. The poor king and queen

were dreadfully frightened at the rashness of this proceeding. They had

sent the cannibal brother off on a hunting excursion in a distant part

of the country, and had come in fear and trembling, bringing with them

the most trustworthy of their people. They could not resist Prince

Charming, who, in addition to his other attractions, had just lost his

father, the old king, and was now the sole owner and ruler of a

neighboring kingdom, and just the match for their lovely daughter. He

had sworn to them that their child should be kept so securely guarded

that her brother could never reach her.



Eglantine came down from her bower, to be introduced to her father,

mother, and lover all at once. The marriage took place without delay,

and the new king started with his bride for the sea-shore, where they

were to embark for his home.



They set sail in a ship of which the sides were plated with beaten gold.

The sails were of pink satin, and the ropes golden threads plaited

together. The young king and queen sat upon cushions of velvet on the

deck, and talked of their happy future, when suddenly the sky was

darkened as by a cloud, and, riding upon a vulture, the cannibal brother

came after them. He had been hunting, and a wandering breeze carried to

him the story of his sister's escape. Although he had never before heard

he possessed a sister, the first whisper of such a thing was sufficient

to rouse in him the dreadful cannibal instinct to drink her blood. From

where the king and queen sat they could distinctly hear him smacking his

lips with joy at the prospect of his horrible meal. Queen Eglantine,

fearing she knew not what, shuddered from head to foot, and closing her

eyes cast herself upon the king's breast for protection.



The king, bidding her be calm, sprinkled the deck of the ship with one

of the fairy's powders, which he carried in a little crystal box. At the

moment the huge foul bird of prey hovered above them and gave a fierce

swoop downward, the ship and all its contents vanished utterly from

sight, while the vulture with his rider plunged into the sea.



The cannibal prince was a good swimmer, and although his vulture was

immediately drowned, managed to keep up, until he found a dolphin and

got astride its back.



"Now, carry me in pursuit of yonder ship, and mind you swim fast and

well," he exclaimed.



"Master, I obey," said the dolphin, who recognized in him a magician.

"But, look for yourself--blue sky above, blue water below, and not a

sail upon the sea."



The prince looked, and in truth there was no ship to be seen; so,

ordering the dolphin to convey him to the nearest landing-place, he soon

reached the shores of a beautiful country, where flags were flying, and

all the inhabitants were dressed in holiday clothes. Over the wharf was

an arch of most lovely flowers, and five hundred little girls were

strewing the roads with orange blossoms.



"What is taking place?" asked the cannibal brother of the people around

the wharf.



"Where have you been, pray?" said they scornfully, "not to know that

our king brings home his bride to-day!"



Then the ship came in sight and the rejoicings began. The cannibal

brother had no sooner laid eyes upon his sister than a new longing to

drink her blood came over him; and he set about plotting how he could

get hold of her, no easy matter, since the palace was guarded night and

day by twenty white bull-dogs of the fiercest sort, besides the usual

soldiers and attendants. So he took service with a butcher near the

town, and made a bag full of little meat-balls, each one containing a

drop of deadly poison. One day his master sent him to the palace to

carry Queen Eglantine's sweetbreads and mutton-chops. "Now," thought the

brother, "I shall get inside;" but he was mistaken, for the sweetbreads

and mutton-chops were taken from him at the gate, and passed on through

twenty different hands till they reached the cook. As no outsider

whatever was allowed to penetrate the inner palace walls, behind which

the new queen lived surrounded by every luxury, the cannibal brother had

to wait many days for an opportunity to get a sight of her. Meantime his

appetite was gaining terribly, and he went to the blacksmith and had all

his teeth framed in iron, the better to enjoy his horrid meal.



At last King Charming was summoned to meet a neighboring monarch about a

right of way for his armies across a certain peninsula; and, with many

injunctions to the queen not to admit any stranger during his absence,

he reluctantly set out. No sooner was he out of sight than the pretended

butcher's boy hastened to assume his own princely clothing, and, ringing

boldly at the castle gate, told the servants to announce to the queen

that her brother had arrived, bearing messages from her father and

mother. He sent in a golden locket containing likenesses of both the

king and queen, his parents, which convinced Queen Eglantine that his

tale was true. So, joyfully, she ran forth to meet him, and would have

cast herself upon his neck, but that the trained bull-dogs rushed

between, growling most horribly.



"Come here, pretty fellow, nice fellow," said the cannibal brother,

coaxingly; but the dogs only opened their jaws wider than before and

growled defiance.



"Give them these little dainties, sister," said the wily prince,

producing his poisoned meat-balls. "They are some that I always carry

for my own pets."



The innocent queen called the dogs one after another to her side, and

fed them with the fatal balls, which they ate, licking her white hand

gratefully. At once, as the poison began to work, they all lay down in a

row, and became as quiet as they had been before ferocious. The queen

led her brother into an inner room, and bade him sit upon her silken

couch. The prince laughed to himself, for now, thought he, the hour has

come for my coveted meal. But he was seized with the notion to go into

another room in order to file his teeth, which were becoming rather

dull.



"Will you not play for me upon the piano, sister?" he asked lovingly.



The amiable queen, who never waited to be asked twice, sat down to play,

while her brother hid within a closet and began to file his teeth. Up

jumped the queen's cat, in great excitement, and sat on her mistress'

lap.



"Mistress dear," said the affectionate creature, "fly, fly, as fast as

your feet will carry you. Your brother is at this moment getting ready

to make a meal of you, and as he is a magician no one in the castle is

strong enough to defend you from him. In the stable you will find the

king's gray steed. Jump upon his back, and be off, while I play the

piano in your stead."



The terrified queen took to her royal heels, weeping as she stumbled

over the dead bodies of her faithful dogs, and the clever cat sat

playing beautifully so many runs and trills that the prince, admiring

his sister's brilliant execution, made no haste to leave his task until

it was finished to his entire satisfaction.



And now, mounted upon the good gray steed, away flew Queen Eglantine in

search of her beloved spouse. Pretty soon she heard footsteps, and

there, swifter than any horse, swifter than wind, on flew the cannibal

brother after her.



"What shall I do, dear steed?" said the alarmed queen.



"Drop your cloak into the road," said the gray horse, who was the cat's

own cousin.



The queen obeyed, and the cloak became a broad lake, across which the

cannibal brother took a long time to swim. The gray horse got a good

start, but presently the prince came nearly up with him.



"What shall I do now, dear steed?" said the queen, almost ready to fall

fainting from his back.



"Drop the veil from your head," said the horse.



This was done, and the veil became a thick fog, causing the cannibal

brother to lose his way and stumble dreadfully. But he got out of it at

last, and came nearly up with them.



"What shall I do next, dear steed?" said the queen, trembling in every

limb.



"Take your scissors and cut a long lock from your hair, and throw that

behind you."



The queen lifted the scissors that hung at her girdle, and in a moment,

snip! they went into her beautiful golden hair. The hair became a jungle

of tall reeds, and through it the cannibal brother had work indeed to

travel. While he was puffing and blowing and struggling in the reeds,

oh, joy! the queen saw her king riding swiftly to meet her.



Just as the cannibal brother, by a desperate effort of magic strength

had freed himself from the jungle, and emerged in swift pursuit, he had

the mortification of seeing the queen rush into her husband's arms. His

dreadful hunger was now increased until it drove him to desperation.

With a roar of baffled rage he darted toward the royal couple, swearing

that both of them should be his victims; and this no doubt would have

been the case--since the monster was endowed with the strength of fifty

men--but that the king, bidding his queen have no fear, quickly

sprinkled them both, and their steeds, with a pinch of the fairy

fern-seed. Immediately they disappeared from sight, and the cannibal

brother, coming with full force upon the spot where they had been,

beheld only empty space. This disappointment, combined with his now

really appalling appetite, made the miserable wretch fall in a fit upon

the ground.



The king would have killed him where he lay, but the queen pleaded for

her brother's life, so the attendants bore him, insensible, back to the

palace. There, the queen's clever cat advised that he should be left to

her to deal with. She shut herself up with the patient in a tower

bedroom, and during sixty days and nights not a morsel of food passed

the sufferer's lips, except the cat's magic castor-oil--a cupful every

ten minutes--each tasting more nauseous than the one before! In the

morning he was lifted from bed, and put into an ice-cold bath, and then

whipped soundly until his circulation was restored. At the end of the

second month the cat stopped his bath, whipping, and medicines, offering

him instead a handful of parched peas and a dry crust. This diet seemed

to him so delicious that never again could he be tempted to vary it.

Until he reached a green and virtuous old age this prince was never

known to look upon so much as a rare beefsteak without shuddering! His

father, mother, sister, and brother-in-law united their tears of joy at

this happy reform, and who should the clever cat turn out to be, but

aunty, who had taken this means of watching over her favorite Eglantine!

The gray steed was aunty's first cousin upon the mother's side; but when

peace was restored he preferred to go back to his own country to live,

although the grateful King Charming offered him every inducement to

remain, in the way of marble stalls and silver mangers, rose-water to

quench his thirst, and golden oats to eat. Aunty, too, retired to her

own distant castle, and the reformed cannibal lived quiet and happy

until the time came to reign in his good father's stead.



As for Eglantine and King Charming, they never again found use for the

fern-seed powder. Even the faults of one were invisible to the other.



Nothing occurred to disturb the serenity of their entire reign but a

suit for breach-of-promise of marriage, brought against the king's

former tutor by the queen's former governess, Madame Veloutine; and this

was settled speedily by the tutor announcing that, rather than make any

fuss about the matter, he would marry the old lady and be done with it,

although he really could not imagine what there had been in his past

conduct to put such an idea into her venerable head. So at last

Veloutine got a husband, and nobody could be surprised at anything after

that.