Tales of Folk and Fairies Part 20

"Give me a cup of water," said she; and this time the Prince was ready. Almost before she could speak he had caught up the golden cup and presented it to her.

The Princess took the cup and drank, and then she smiled upon him so brightly that he was dazzled.

"Now I am yours, and you are mine," said she, "and where you go I will follow, for I have no one in all the wide world but you."

The Prince was almost wild with happiness. He kissed her hands and looked with joy upon her face.

But she was dressed only in a linen s.h.i.+ft.

The Prince took off his cloak and wrapped it about her. "Climb up into a tree," said he, "and hide yourself among the branches, and I will go to the castle and bring you from thence robes and jewels and all things fitting for such a beautiful Princess to wear."

To this the Princess agreed. The Prince helped her to climb up among the branches of a tree that overhung the water, and then he hastened away to the castle.

The beauty sat there among the leaves waiting for his return, and the time of waiting was long, for when the Prince reached the castle he was obliged to stay and tell the whole story to his father before the King would permit him to return with the robes and jewels he had promised to bring to his bride.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Princess took the cup and drank.]

Meanwhile an ugly kitchen wench who worked in the castle came to fetch water from the spring, for every day the Princesses required it for their baths. The girl had brought with her an earthen jar to hold the water.

As she leaned over the stream to fill the jar she looked down into the water and saw the face of the Princess reflected there, as she peered out from the leaves above.

The servant wench, whose name was Lucy, thought it was the reflection of her own face that she saw. She gazed upon it with wonder and joy.

"Ah! Ah!" she cried. "What a beauty I am; why did no one ever tell me so? Not even the two Princesses are as beautiful as I." She knelt there, staring and staring at the reflection. Then in a rage she sprang to her feet.

"And they send me to draw water for them! Me, who ought to sit on a throne above them all. But I'll no longer be their slave. I'll break their water jar to pieces, and if they send me with others I'll break them too!"

With that she threw down the jar with such violence that it was broken into bits, and then she stamped about with rage.

The sight amused the Princess so that she laughed aloud. The servant wench looked up and saw the lovely face peering out at her from among the green leaves; it was the same beautiful face she had seen reflected in the water.

"Who are you? What are you doing up there among the leaves?" she asked in a thick voice.

"I am the promised bride of the Prince who has just gone up to the castle," answered the beauty. "He has gone to fetch fine robes and jewels that I may dress myself properly before I appear before his father."

When she said this an evil thought came into the servant wench's head.

"Come down," said she, "and I will dress your hair for you; I have often done this for the other Princesses, and I can arrange it so that you will look even more beautiful when the Prince returns."

The Princess was nothing loath. She had no thought of evil. She climbed down from the tree and sat herself upon a rock, while Lucy looped and pinned her hair in place and wove a crown of flowers to place upon it. "Come now, and see how beautiful you are," said the servant.

She led the Princess to the place where the stream was deepest, and then, when the beauty stooped to look at herself in the water, Lucy pushed her in. After that she stripped herself to her s.h.i.+ft, and hid her clothes under a rock, and climbed up into the tree. There she sat among the leaves, peering out just as the Princess had done.

Presently the Prince returned, bringing with him all sorts of beautiful clothes and gifts for his Princess bride. What was his amazement to see, instead of the beauty he left in the tree, the ugly face of the servant wench smiling down at him from among the leaves.

"What are you doing there?" he cried. "And what have you done with the Princess?"

"Alas," said the servant maid, pretending to weep, "I am the Princess.

After you left me a wicked enchantress came by this way and changed me into this shape."

The Prince was filled with grief and horror at these words. However, he believed her and could not find it in his heart to punish her for a misfortune she could not help. He showed her the robes and jewels he had brought, and the servant wench made haste to come down and dress herself in them. When she had done this she looked more hideous than ever. The Prince could hardly bear to look at her, his grief and shame were so great. Nevertheless he took her by the hand and led her back to the castle.

There the King was waiting full of impatience to see the bride of his youngest son, this most beautiful Princess in all of twelve kingdoms.

But when the Prince brought the ugly servant wench before him he could hardly believe his eyes.

"This a beauty!" he cried. "Are you a fool or do you take me for one?

It is an insult to bring me such a creature for a daughter-in-law."

The older Princes and their brides did not try to hide their scorn or laughter, but the servant sank on her knees, weeping, and repeated to the king the same story she had told the Prince. She a.s.sured him that she had been as beautiful as the day when she had climbed up into the tree and would be so still if the wicked enchantress had not pa.s.sed by and bewitched her.

The King frowned and stroked his beard. "Yours is a sad case," said he, "and since the Prince has given his word to marry you, marry you he must. Perchance sometime your beauty may return."

He then gave orders that Lucy should be shown to the apartments prepared for the Princess and that she should be waited on and served just as though she were the beauty his son had promised him.

But the heart of the Prince was like a stone in his bosom, and he could not bear to look upon the ugly one who was to be his bride.

Now when the Princess had been pushed into the water she had not been drowned, as Lucy thought. Instead she changed into a beautiful silver fish that swam about in the stream or hid under a gra.s.sy bank.

Now there was another servant who came down to the stream for water instead of Lucy, and one day when this servant dipped the jar into the water the fish swam into it, and she carried it back to the castle with her.

It was so pretty that she showed it to the Prince, hoping it might cheer him for a moment.

No sooner had the Prince looked upon the fish than he grew quite light and happy. He would not let the servant take the fish away but kept it with him in a crystal bowl and now he no longer grieved so bitterly about his bride.

Lucy did not know why the Prince had grown happier. She thought perhaps he had begun to love her. But when she found that he scarcely ever came to see her, but spent all his time watching the fish, she became very angry.

She bribed a servant to steal the fish from the Prince's room and bring it to her. Then she had a fire built and threw the fish into it to burn.

No sooner did the flames touch the fish, however, than it changed into a beautiful silver bird and flew out of the window.

The false Princess was frightened. "There is some magic here," thought she, "and magic that will prove my ruin."

And now the silver bird sat on a branch outside the Princess's window and sang and sang. The Prince heard it, and his heart was filled with joy, he knew not why, and he forgot the fish that had disappeared from the bowl.

Lucy also heard it and was more frightened than ever. She sent for the servant who had stolen the fish and bribed him to set a net to catch the bird. This he did one day when the Prince was away, and then he brought the bird to the false Princess. But she shuddered at sight of it as though she were cold, and bade him take it outside and wring its neck.

This the servant was loath to do, but he dared not disobey her. He carried the bird outside and did as she commanded, and three drops of blood fell on the ground just below the Prince's window.

The next morning when the Prince awoke he saw with amazement that a beautiful citron tree was growing outside of his window. Its trunk was silver, and its leaves were silver, and on the branch nearest his window hung three silver citrons, and they were exactly like the silver citrons he had brought from the Troll's home under the mountain.

The Prince saw them hanging there, and his heart was filled with joy and hope as he looked at them. He reached out and plucked them and hid them in his bosom. Then he took the silver knife and the golden cup and hastened down to the stream where he had opened the citrons before.

He cut the first citron, and at once the first Princess appeared and asked him for a drink of water, but he scarcely looked at her, and she fled away.

He cut the second citron, and the second Princess appeared and demanded water, but he never stirred, and she too vanished.

Then he filled the golden cup with water and with a trembling hand cut the third citron.

Immediately the third Princess appeared. "Give me of the water to drink," said she.