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Once upon
a time...
There lived a king who was so just and kind that his subjects
called him "the Good King." It happened one day, when he was out
hunting, that a little white rabbit, which his dogs were chasing,
sprang into his arms for shelter. The King stroked it gently, and
said to it:
"Well, bunny, as you have come to me for protection I will see that
nobody hurts you."
And he took it home to his palace and had it put in a pretty little
house, with all sorts of nice things to eat.
That night, when he was alone in his room, a beautiful lady suddenly
appeared before him; her long dress was as white as snow, and she
had a crown of white roses upon her head. The good King was very
much surprised to see her, for he knew his door had been tightly
shut, and he could not think how she had got in. But she said to
him:
"I am the Fairy Truth. I was passing through the wood when you were
out hunting, and I wished to find out if you were really good, as
everybody said you were, so I took the shape of a little rabbit and
came to your arms for shelter, for I know that those who are
merciful to animals will be still kinder to their fellow-men. If you
had refused to help me I should have been certain that you were
wicked. I thank you for the kindness you have shown me, which has
made me your friend for ever. You have only to ask me for anything
you want and I promise that I will give it to you."
"Madam," said the good King, "since you are a fairy you no doubt
know all my wishes. I have but one son whom I love very dearly, that
is why he is called Prince Darling. If you are really good enough to
wish to do me a favor, I beg that you will become his friend."
"With all my heart," answered the Fairy. "I can make your son the
handsomest prince in the world, or the richest, or the most
powerful; choose whichever you like for him."
"I do not ask either of these things for my son," replied the good
King; "but if you will make him the best of princes, I shall indeed
be grateful to you. What good would it do him to be rich, or
handsome, or to possess all the kingdoms of the world if he were
wicked? You know well he would still be unhappy. Only a good man can
be really contented."
"You are quite right," answered the Fairy; "but it is not in my
power to make Prince Darling a good man unless he will help me; he
must himself try hard to become good, I can only promise to give him
good advice, to scold him for his faults, and to punish him if he
will not correct and punish himself."
The good King was quite satisfied with this promise; and very soon
afterward he died.
Prince Darling was very sorry, for he loved his father with all his
heart, and he would willingly have given all his kingdoms and all
his treasures of gold and silver if they could have kept the good
King with him.
Two days afterward, when the Prince had gone to bed, the Fairy
suddenly appeared to him and said:
"I promised your father that I would be your friend, and to keep my
word I have come to bring you a present." At the same time she put a
little gold ring upon his finger.
"Take great care of this ring," she said: "it is more precious than
diamonds; every time you do a bad deed it will prick your finger,
but if, in spite of its pricking, you go on in your own evil way,
you will lose my friendship, and I shall become your enemy."
So saying, the Fairy disappeared, leaving Prince Darling very much
astonished.
For some time he behaved so well that the ring never pricked him,
and that made him so contented that his subjects called him Prince
Darling the Happy.
One day, however, he went out hunting, but could get no sport, which
put him in a very bad temper; it seemed to him as he rode along that
his ring was pressing into his finger, but as it did not prick him
he did not heed it. When he got home and went to his own room, his
little dog Bibi ran to meet him, jumping round him with pleasure.
"Get away!" said the Prince, quite gruffly. "I don't want you, you
are in the way."
The poor little dog, who didn't understand this at all, pulled at
his coat to make him at least look at her, and this made Prince
Darling so cross that he gave her quite a hard kick.
Instantly his ring pricked him sharply, as if it had been a pin. He
was very much surprised, and sat down in a corner of his room
feeling quite ashamed of himself.
"I believe the Fairy is laughing at me," he thought. "Surely I can
have done no great wrong in just kicking a tiresome animal! What is
the good of my being ruler of a great kingdom if I am not even
allowed to beat my own dog?"
"I am not making fun of you," said a voice, answering Prince
Darling's thoughts. "You have committed three faults. First of all,
you were out of temper because you could not have what you wanted,
and you thought all men and animals were only made to do your
pleasure; then you were really angry, which is very naughty indeed;
and lastly, you were cruel to a poor little animal who did not in
the least deserve to be ill-treated
"I know you are far above a little dog, but if it were right and
allowable that great people should ill-treat all who are beneath
them, I might at this moment beat you, or kill you, for a fairy is
greater than a man. The advantage of possessing a great empire is
not to be able to do the evil that one desires, but to do all the
good that one possibly can."
The Prince saw how naughty he had been, and promised to try and do
better in future, but he did not keep his word. The fact was he had
been brought up by a foolish nurse, who had spoiled him when he was
little. If he wanted anything he only had to cry and fret and stamp
his feet and she would give him whatever he asked for, which had
made him self-willed; also she had told him from morning to night
that he would one day be a king, and that kings were very happy,
because everyone was bound to obey and respect them, and no one
could prevent them from doing just as they liked.
When the Prince grew old enough to understand, he soon learned that
there could be nothing worse than to be proud, obstinate, and
conceited, and he had really tried to cure himself of these defects,
but by that time all his faults had become habits; and a bad habit
is very hard to get rid of. Not that he was naturally of a bad
disposition; he was truly sorry when he had been naughty, and said:
"I am very unhappy to have to struggle against my anger and pride
every day; if I had been punished for them when I was little they
would not be such a trouble to me now."
His ring pricked him very often, and sometimes he left off what he
was doing at once; but at other times he would not attend to it.
Strangely enough, it gave him only a slight prick for a trifling
fault, but when he was really naughty it made his finger actually
bleed. At last he got tired of being constantly reminded, and wanted
to be able to do as he liked, so he threw his ring aside, and
thought himself the happiest of men to have got rid of its teasing
pricks. He gave himself up to doing every foolish thing that
occurred to him, until he became quite wicked and nobody could like
him any longer.
One day, when the Prince was walking about, he saw a young girl who
was so very pretty that he made up his mind at once that he would
marry her. Her name was Celia, and she was as good as she was
beautiful.
Prince Darling fancied that Celia would think herself only too happy
if he offered to make her a great queen, but she said fearlessly:
"Sire, I am only a shepherdess, and a poor girl, but, nevertheless,
I will not marry you."
"Do you dislike me?" asked the Prince, who was very much vexed at
this answer.
"No, my Prince," replied Celia; "I cannot help thinking you very
handsome; but what good would riches be to me, and all the grand
dresses and splendid carriages that you would give me, if the bad
deeds which I should see you do every day made me hate and despise
you?"
The Prince was very angry at this speech, and commanded his officers
to make Celia a prisoner and carry her off to his palace. All day
long the remembrance of what she had said annoyed him, but as he
loved her he could not make up his mind to have her punished.
One of the Prince's favourite companions was his foster- brother,
whom he trusted entirely; but he was not at all a good man, and gave
Prince Darling very bad advice, and encouraged him in all his evil
ways. When he saw the Prince so downcast he asked what was the
matter, and when he explained that he could not bear Celia's bad
opinion of him, and was resolved to be a better man in order to
please her, this evil adviser said to him:
"You are very kind to trouble yourself about this little girl; if I
were you I would soon make her obey me. Remember that you are a
king, and that it would be laughable to see you trying to please a
shepherdess, who ought to be only too glad to be one of your slaves.
Keep her in prison, and feed her on bread and water for a little
while, and then, if she still says she will not marry you, have her
head cut off, to teach other people that you mean to be obeyed. Why,
if you cannot make a girl like that do as you wish, your subjects
will soon forget that they are only put into this world for our
pleasure."
"But," said Prince Darling, "would it not be a shame if I had an
innocent girl put to death? For Celia has done nothing to deserve
punishment."
"If people will not do as you tell them they ought to suffer for
it," answered his foster-brother; "but even if it were unjust, you
had better be accused of that by your subjects than that they should
find out that they may insult and thwart you as often as they
please."
In saying this he was touching a weak point in his brother's
character; for the Prince's fear of losing any of his power made him
at once abandon his first idea of trying to be good, and resolve to
try and frighten the shepherdess into consenting to marry him.
His foster-brother, who wanted him to keep this resolution, invited
three young courtiers, as wicked as himself to sup with the Prince,
and they persuaded him to drink a great deal of wine, and continued
to excite his anger against Celia by telling him that she had
laughed at his love for her; until at last, in quite a furious rage,
he rushed off to find her, declaring that if she still refused to
marry him she should be sold as a slave the very next day.
But when he reached the room in which Celia had been locked up, he
was greatly surprised to find that she was not in it, though he had
the key in his own pocket all the time. His anger was terrible, and
he vowed vengeance against whoever had helped her to escape. His bad
friends, when they heard him, resolved to turn his wrath upon an old
nobleman who had formerly been his tutor; and who still dared
sometimes to tell the Prince of his faults, for he loved him as if
he had been his own son. At first Prince Darling had thanked him,
but after a time he grew impatient and thought it must be just mere
love of fault-finding that made his old tutor blame him when
everyone else was praising and flattering him. So he ordered him to
retire from his Court, though he still, from time to time, spoke of
him as a worthy man whom he respected, even if he no longer loved
him. His unworthy friends feared that he might some day take it into
his head to recall his old tutor, so they thought they now had a
good opportunity of getting him banished for ever.
They reported to the Prince that Suilman, for that was the tutor's
name, had boasted of having helped Celia to escape, and they bribed
three men to say that Suilman himself had told them about it. The
Prince, in great anger, sent his foster-brother with a number of
soldiers to bring his tutor before him, in chains, like a criminal.
After giving this order he went to his own room, but he had scarcely
got into it when there was a clap of thunder which made the ground
shake, and the Fairy Truth appeared suddenly before him.
"I promised your father," said she sternly, "to give you good
advice, and to punish you if you refused to follow it. You have
despised my counsel, and have gone your own evil way until you are
only outwardly a man; really you are a monster--the horror of
everyone who knows you. It is time that I should fulfil my promise,
and begin your punishment. I condemn you to resemble the animals
whose ways you have imitated. You have made yourself like the lion
by your anger, and like the wolf by your greediness. Like a snake,
you have ungratefully turned upon one who was a second father to
you; your churlishness has made you like a bull. Therefore, in your
new form, take the appearance of all these animals."
The Fairy had scarcely finished speaking when Prince Darling saw to
his horror that her words were fulfilled. He had a lion's head, a
bull's horns, a wolf's feet, and a snake's body. At the same instant
he found himself in a great forest, beside a clear lake, in which he
could see plainly the horrible creature he had become, and a voice
said to him:
"Look carefully at the state to which your wickedness has brought
you; believe me, your soul is a thousand times more hideous than
your body."
Prince Darling recognized the voice of the Fairy Truth and turned in
a fury to catch her and eat her up if he possibly could; but he saw
no one, and the same voice went on:
"I laugh at your powerlessness and anger, and I intend to punish
your pride by letting you fall into the hands of your own subjects."
The Prince began to think that the best thing he could do would be
to get as far away from the lake as he could, then at least he would
not be continually reminded of his terrible ugliness. So he ran
toward the wood, but before he had gone many yards he fell into a
deep pit which had been made to trap bears, and the hunters, who
were hiding in a tree, leaped down, and secured him with several
chains, and led him into the chief city of his own kingdom.
On the way, instead of recognizing that his own faults had brought
this punishment upon him, he accused the Fairy of being the cause of
all his misfortunes, and bit and tore at his chains furiously.
As they approached the town he saw that some great rejoicing was
being held, and when the hunters asked what had happened they were
told that the Prince, whose only pleasure it was to torment his
people, had been found in his room, killed by a thunder-bolt (for
that was what was supposed to have become of him). Four of his
courtiers, those who had encouraged him in his wicked doings, had
tried to seize the kingdom and divide it between them, but the
people, who knew it was their bad counsels which had so changed the
Prince, had cut off their heads, and had offered the crown to
Suilman, whom the Prince had left in prison. This noble lord had
just been crowned, and the deliverance of the kingdom was the cause
of the rejoicing "For," they said, "he is a good and just man, and
we shall once more enjoy peace and prosperity."
Prince Darling roared with anger when he heard this; but it was
still worse for him when he reached the great square before his own
palace. He saw Suilman seated upon a magnificent throne, and all the
people crowded round, wishing him a long life that he might undo all
the mischief done by his predecessor.
Presently Suilman made a sign with his hand that the people should
be silent, and said: "I have accepted the crown you have offered me,
but only that I may keep it for Prince Darling, who is not dead as
you suppose; the Fairy has assured me that there is still hope that
you may some day see him again, good and virtuous as he was when he
first came to the throne. Alas!" he continued, "he was led away by
flatterers. I knew his heart, and am certain that if it had not been
for the bad influence of those who surrounded him he would have been
a good king and a father to his people. We may hate his faults, but
let us pity him and hope for his restoration. As for me, I would die
gladly if that could bring back our Prince to reign justly and
worthily once more."
These words went to Prince Darling's heart; he realized the true
affection and faithfulness of his old tutor, and for the first time
reproached himself for all his evil deeds; at the same instant he
felt all his anger melting away, and he began quickly to think over
his past life, and to admit that his punishment was not more than he
had deserved. He left off tearing at the iron bars of the cage in
which he was shut up, and became as gentle as a lamb.
The hunters who had caught him took him to a great menagerie, where
he was chained up among all the other wild beasts, and he determined
to show his sorrow for his past bad behavior by being gentle and
obedient to the man who had to take care of him. Unfortunately, this
man was very rough and unkind, and though the poor monster was quite
quiet, he often beat him without rhyme or reason when he happened to
be in a bad temper. One day when this keeper was asleep a tiger
broke its chain, and flew at him to eat him up. Prince Darling, who
saw what was going on, at first felt quite pleased to think that he
should be delivered from his persecutor, but soon thought better of
it and wished that he were free.
"I would return good for evil," he said to himself, "and save the
unhappy man's life." He had hardly wished this when his iron cage
flew open, and he rushed to the side of the keeper, who was awake
and was defending himself against the tiger. When he saw the monster
had got out he gave himself up for lost, but his fear was soon
changed into joy, for the kind monster threw itself upon the tiger
and very soon killed it, and then came and crouched at the feet of
the man it had saved.
Overcome with gratitude, the keeper stooped to caress the strange
creature which had done him such a great service; but suddenly a
voice said in his ear:
"A good action should never go unrewarded," and at the same instant
the monster disappeared, and he saw at his feet only a pretty little
dog!
Prince Darling, delighted by the change, frisked about the keeper,
showing his joy in every way he could, and the man, taking him up in
his arms, carried him to the King, to whom he told the whole story.
The Queen said she would like to have this wonderful little dog, and
the Prince would have been very happy in his new home if he could
have forgotten that he was a man and a king. The Queen petted and
took care of him, but she was so afraid that he would get too fat
that she consulted the court physician, who said that he was to be
fed only upon bread, and was not to have much even of that. So poor
Prince Darling was terribly hungry all day long, but he was very
patient about it.
One day, when they gave him his little loaf for breakfast, he
thought he would like to eat it out in the garden; so he took it up
in his mouth and trotted away toward a brook that he knew of a long
way from the palace. But he was surprised to find that the brook was
gone, and where it had been stood a great house that seemed to be
built of gold and precious stones. Numbers of people splendidly
dressed were going into it, and sounds of music and dancing and
feasting could be heard from the windows.
But what seemed very strange was that those people who came out of
the house were pale and thin, and their clothes were torn, and
hanging in rags about them. Some fell down dead as they came out
before they had time to get away; others crawled farther with great
difficulty; while others again lay on the ground, fainting with
hunger, and begged a morsel of bread from those who were going into
the house, but they would not so much as look at the poor creatures.
Prince Darling went up to a young girl who was trying to eat a few
blades of grass, she was so hungry. Touched with compassion, he said
to himself:
"I am very hungry, but I shall not die of starvation before I get my
dinner; if I give my breakfast to this poor creature perhaps I may
save her life."
So he laid his piece of bread in the girl's hand, and saw her eat it
up eagerly.
She soon seemed to be quite well again, and the Prince, delighted to
have been able to help her, was thinking of going home to the
palace, when he heard a great outcry, and, turning round, saw Celia,
who was being carried against her will into the great house.
For the first time the Prince regretted that he was no longer the
monster, then he would have been able to rescue Celia; now he could
only bark feebly at the people who were carrying her off, and try to
follow them, but they chased and kicked him away.
He determined not to quit the place till he knew what had become of
Celia, and blamed himself for what had befallen her.
"Alas!" he said to himself, "I am furious with the people who are
carrying Celia off, but isn't that exactly what I did myself, and if
I had not been prevented did I not intend to be still more cruel to
her?"
Here he was interrupted by a noise above his head someone was
opening a window, and he saw with delight that it was Celia herself,
who came forward and threw out a plate of most delicious-looking
food, then the window was shut again, and Prince Darling, who had
not had anything to eat all day, thought he might as well take the
opportunity of getting something. He ran forward to begin, but the
young girl to whom he had given his bread gave a cry of terror and
took him up in her arms, saying:
"Don't touch it, my poor little dog--that house is the palace of
pleasure, and everything that comes out of it is poisoned!"
At the same moment a voice said:
"You see a good action always brings its reward," and the Prince
found himself changed into a beautiful white dove. He remembered
that white was the favourite colour of the Fairy Truth, and began to
hope that he might at last win back her favor. But just now his
first care was for Celia, and rising into the air he flew round and
round the house, until he saw an open window; but he searched
through every room in vain. No trace of Celia was to be seen, and
the Prince, in despair, determined to search through the world till
he found her. He flew on and on for several days, till he came to a
great desert, where he saw a cavern, and, to his delight, there sat
Celia, sharing the simple breakfast of an old hermit.
Overjoyed to have found her, Prince Darling perched upon her
shoulder, trying to express by his caresses how glad he was to see
her again, and Celia, surprised and delighted by the tameness of
this pretty white dove, stroked it softly, and said, though she
never thought of its understanding her:
"I accept the gift that you make me of yourself, and I will love you
always."
"Take care what you are saying, Celia," said the old hermit; "are
you prepared to keep that promise?"
"Indeed, I hope so, my sweet shepherdess," cried the Prince, who was
at that moment restored to his natural shape. "You promised to love
me always; tell me that you really mean what you said, or I shall
have to ask the Fairy to give me back the form of the dove which
pleased you so much."
"You need not be afraid that she will change her mind," said the
Fairy, throwing off the hermit's robe in which she had been
disguised and appearing before them.
"Celia has loved you ever since she first saw you, only she would
not tell you while you were so obstinate and naughty. Now you have
repented and mean to be good you deserve to be happy, and so she may
love you as much as she likes."
Celia and Prince Darling threw themselves at the Fairy's feet, and
the Prince was never tired of thanking her for her kindness. Celia
was delighted to hear how sorry he was for all his past follies and
misdeeds, and promised to love him as long as she lived.
"Rise, my children," said the Fairy, "and I will transport you to
the palace, and Prince Darling shall have back again the crown he
forfeited by his bad behavior."
While she was speaking, they found themselves in Suilman's hall, and
his delight was great at seeing his dear master once more. He gave
up the throne joyfully to the Prince, and remained always the most
faithful of his subjects.
Celia and Prince Darling reigned for many years, but he was so
determined to govern worthily and to do his duty that his ring,
which he took to wearing again, never once pricked him severely.
Prince Darling
from the Blue Fairy Book
Story Edited
by Andrew Lang |
