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.