|
Once upon
a time...
Once upon a time there lived a Fairy who had power over the
earth, the sea, fire, and the air; and this Fairy had four sons. The
eldest, who was quick and lively, with a vivid imagination, she made
Lord of Fire, which was in her opinion the noblest of all the
elements. To the second son, whose wisdom and prudence made amends
for his being rather dull, she gave the government of the earth. The
third was wild and savage, and of monstrous stature; and the Fairy,
his mother, who was ashamed of his defects, hoped to hide them by
creating him King of the Seas. The youngest, who was the slave of
his passions and of a very uncertain temper, became Prince of the
Air.
Being the youngest, he was naturally his mother's favourite; but
this did not blind her to his weaknesses, and she foresaw that some
day he would suffer much pain through falling in love. So she
thought the best thing she could do was to bring him up with a
horror of women; and, to her great delight, she saw this dislike
only increased as he grew older. From his earliest childhood he
heard nothing but stories of princes who had fallen into all sorts
of troubles through love; and she drew such terrible pictures of
poor little Cupid that the young man had no difficulty in believing
that he was the root of all evil.
All the time that this wise mother could spare from filling her son
with hatred for all womenkind she passed in giving him a love of the
pleasures of the chase, which henceforth became his chief joy. For
his amusement she had made a new forest, planted with the most
splendid trees, and turned loose in it every animal that could be
found in any of the four quarters of the globe. In the midst of this
forest she built a palace which had not its equal for beauty in the
whole world, and then she considered that she had done enough to
make any prince happy.
Now it is all very well to abuse the God of Love, but a man cannot
struggle against his fate. In his secret heart the Prince got tired
of his mother's constant talk on this subject; and when one day she
quitted the palace to attend to some business, begging him never to
go beyond the grounds, he at once jumped at the chance of disobeying
her.
Left to himself the Prince soon forgot the wise counsels of his
mother, and feeling very much bored with his own company, he ordered
some of the spirits of the air to carry him to the court of a
neighbouring sovereign. This kingdom was situated in the Island of
Roses, where the climate is so delicious that the grass is always
green and the flowers always sweet. The waves, instead of beating on
the rocks, seemed to die gently on the shore; clusters of golden
bushes covered the land, and the vines were bent low with grapes.
The King of this island had a daughter named Rosalie, who was more
lovely than any girl in the whole world. No sooner had the eyes of
the Prince of the Air rested on her than he forgot all the terrible
woes which had been prophesied to him ever since he was born, for in
one single moment the plans of years are often upset. He instantly
began to think how best to make himself happy, and the shortest way
that occurred to him was to have Rosalie carried off by his
attendant spirits.
It is easy to imagine the feelings of the King when he found that
his daughter had vanished. He wept her loss night and day, and his
only comfort was to talk over it with a young and unknown prince,
who had just arrived at the Court. Alas! he did not know what a deep
interest the stranger had in Rosalie, for he too had seen her, and
had fallen a victim to her charms.
One day the King, more sorrowful than usual, was walking sadly along
the sea-shore, when after a long silence the unknown Prince, who was
his only companion, suddenly spoke. 'There is no evil without a
remedy,' he said to the unhappy father; 'and if you will promise me
your daughter in marriage, I will undertake to bring her back to
you.'
'You are trying to soothe me by vain promises,' answered the King.
'Did I not see her caught up into the air, in spite of cries which
would have softened the heart of any one but the barbarian who has
robbed me of her? The unfortunate girl is pining away in some
unknown land, where perhaps no foot of man has ever trod, and I
shall see her no more. But go, generous stranger; bring back Rosalie
if you can, and live happy with her ever after in this country, of
which I now declare you heir.'
Although the stranger's name and rank were unknown to Rosalie's
father, he was really the son of the King of the Golden Isle, which
had for capital a city that extended from one sea to another. The
walls, washed by the quiet waters, were covered with gold, which
made one think of the yellow sands. Above them was a rampart of
orange and lemon trees, and all the streets were paved with gold.
The King of this beautiful island had one son, for whom a life of
adventure had been foretold at his birth. This so frightened his
father and mother that in order to comfort them a Fairy, who
happened to be present at the time, produced a little pebble which
she told them to keep for the Prince till he grew up, as by putting
it in his mouth he would become invisible, as long as he did not try
to speak, for if he did the stone would lose all its virtue. In this
way the good fairy hoped that the Prince would be protected against
all dangers.
No sooner did the Prince begin to grow out of boyhood than he longed
to see if the other countries of the world were as splendid as the
one in which he lived. So, under pretence of visiting some small
islands that belonged to his father, he set out. But a frightful
storm drove his ship on to unknown shores, where most of his
followers were put to death by the savages, and the Prince himself
only managed to escape by making use of his magic pebble. By this
means he passed through the midst of them unseen, and wandered on
till he reached the coast, where he re-embarked on board his ship.
The first land he sighted was the Island of Roses, and he went at
once to the court of the King, Rosalie's father. The moment his eyes
beheld the Princess, he fell in love with her like everyone else.
He had already spent several months in this condition when the
Prince of the Air whirled her away, to the grief and despair of
every man on the island. But sad though everybody was, the Prince of
the Golden Isle was perfectly inconsolable, and he passed both days
and nights in bemoaning his loss.
'Alas!' he cried; 'shall I never see my lovely Princess again?' Who
knows where she may be, and what fairy may have her in his keeping?
I am only a man, but I am strong in my love, and I will seek the
whole world through till I find her.'
So saying, he left the court, and made ready for his journey.
He travelled many weary days without hearing a single word of the
lost Princess, till one morning, as he was walking through a thick
forest, he suddenly perceived a magnificent palace standing at the
end of a pine avenue, and his heart bounded to think that he might
be gazing on Rosalie's prison. He hastened his steps, and quickly
arrived at the gate of the palace, which was formed of a single
agate. The gate swung open to let him through, and he next passed
successively three courts, surrounded by deep ditches filled with
running water, with birds of brilliant plumage flying about the
banks. Everything around was rare and beautiful, but the Prince
scarcely raised his eyes to all these wonders. He thought only of
the Princess and where he should find her, but in vain he opened
every door and searched in every corner; he neither saw Rosalie nor
anyone else. At last there was no place left for him to search but a
little wood, which contained in the centre a sort of hall built
entirely of orange-trees, with four small rooms opening out of the
corners. Three of these were empty except for statues and wonderful
things, but in the fourth the Invisible Prince caught sight of
Rosalie. His joy at beholding her again was, however, somewhat
lessened by seeing that the Prince of the Air was kneeling at her
feet, and pleading his own cause. But it was in vain that he
implored her to listen; she only shook her head. 'No,' was all she
would say; 'you snatched me from my father whom I loved, and all the
splendour in the world can never console me. Go! I can never feel
anything towards you but hate and contempt.' With these words she
turned away and entered her own apartments.
Unknown to herself the Invisible Prince had followed her, but
fearing to be discovered by the Princess in the presence of others,
he made up his mind to wait quietly till dark; and employed the long
hours in writing a poem to the Princess, which he laid on the bed
beside her. This done, he thought of nothing but how best to deliver
Rosalie, and he resolved to take advantage of a visit which the
Prince of the Air paid every year to his mother and brothers in
order to strike the blow.
One day Rosalie was sitting alone in her room thinking of her
troubles when she suddenly saw a pen get up from off the desk and
begin to write all by itself on a sheet of white paper. As she did
not know that it was guided by an invisible hand she was very much
astonished, and the moment that the pen had ceased to move she
instantly went over to the table, where she found some lovely
verses, telling her that another shared her distresses, whatever
they might be, and loved her with all his heart; and that he would
never rest until he had delivered her from the hands of the man she
hated. Thus encouraged, she told him all her story, and of the
arrival of a young stranger in her father's palace, whose looks had
so charmed her that since that day she had thought of no one else.
At these words the Prince could contain himself no longer. He took
the pebble from his mouth, and flung himself at Rosalie's feet.
When they had got over the first rapture of meeting they began to
make plans to escape from the power of the Prince of the Air. But
this did not prove easy, for the magic stone would only serve for
one person at a time, and in order to save Rosalie the Prince of the
Golden Isle would have to expose himself to the fury of his enemy.
But Rosalie would not hear of this.
'No, Prince,' she said; 'since you are here this island no longer
feels a prison. Besides, you are under the protection of a Fairy,
who always visits your father's court at this season. Go instantly
and seek her, and when she is found implore the gift of another
stone with similar powers. Once you have that, there will be no
further difficulty in the way of escape.'
The Prince of the Air returned a few days later from his mother's
palace, but the Invisible Prince had already set out. He had,
however, entirely forgotten the road by which he had come, and lost
himself for so long in the forest, that when at last he reached home
the Fairy had already left, and, in spite of all his grief, there
was nothing for it but to wait till the Fairy's next visit, and
allow Rosalie to suffer three months longer. This thought drove him
to despair, and he had almost made up his mind to return to the
place of her captivity, when one day, as he was strolling along an
alley in the woods, he saw a huge oak open its trunk, and out of it
step two Princes in earnest conversation. As our hero had the magic
stone in his mouth they imagined themselves alone, and did not lower
their voices.
'What!' said one, 'are you always going to allow yourself to be
tormented by a passion which can never end happily, and in your
whole kingdom can you find nothing else to satisfy you?'
'What is the use,' replied the other, 'of being Prince of the
Gnomes, and having a mother who is queen over all the four elements,
if I cannot win the love of the Princess Argentine? From the moment
that I first saw her, sitting in the forest surrounded by flowers, I
have never ceased to think of her night and day, and, although I
love her, I am quite convinced that she will never care for me. You
know that I have in my palace the cabinets of the years. In the
first, great mirrors reflect the past; in the second, we contemplate
the present; in the third, the future can be read. It was here that
I fled after I had gazed on the Princess Argentine, but instead of
love I only saw scorn and contempt. Think how great must be my
devotion, when, in spite of my fate, I still love on!'
Now the Prince of the Golden Isle was enchanted with this
conversation, for the Princess Argentine was his sister, and he
hoped, by means of her influence over the Prince of the Gnomes, to
obtain from his brother the release of Rosalie. So he joyfully
returned to his father's palace, where he found his friend the
Fairy, who at once presented him with a magic pebble like his own.
As may be imagined, he lost no time in setting out to deliver
Rosalie, and travelled so fast that he soon arrived at the forest,
in the midst of which she lay a captive. But though he found the
palace he did not find Rosalie. He hunted high and low, but there
was no sign of her, and his despair was so great that he was ready,
a thousand times over, to take his own life. At last he remembered
the conversation of the two Princes about the cabinets of the years,
and that if he could manage to reach the oak tree, he would be
certain to discover what had become of Rosalie. Happily, he soon
found out the secret of the passage and entered the cabinet of the
present, where he saw reflected in the mirrors the unfortunate
Rosalie sitting on the floor weeping bitterly, and surrounded with
genii, who never left her night or day.
This sight only increased the misery of the Prince, for he did not
know where the castle was, nor how to set about finding it. However,
he resolved to seek the whole world through till he came to the
right place. He began by setting sail in a favourable wind, but his
bad luck followed him even on the sea. He had scarcely lost sight of
the land when a violent storm arose, and after several hours of
beating about, the vessel was driven on to some rocks, on which it
dashed itself to bits. The Prince was fortunate enough to be able to
lay hold of a floating spar, and contrived to keep himself afloat;
and, after a long struggle with the winds and waves, he was cast
upon a strange island. But what was his surprise, on reaching the
shore, to hear sounds of the most heartrending distress, mingled
with the sweetest songs which had ever charmed him! His curiosity
was instantly roused, and he advanced cautiously till he saw two
huge dragons guarding the gate of a wood. They were terrible indeed
to look upon. Their bodies were covered with glittering scales;
their curly tails extended far over the land; flames darted from
their mouths and noses, and their eyes would have made the bravest
shudder; but as the Prince was invisible and they did not see him,
he slipped past them into the wood. He found himself at once in a
labyrinth, and wandered about for a long time without meeting
anyone; in fact, the only sight he saw was a circle of human hands,
sticking out of the ground above the wrist, each with a bracelet of
gold, on which a name was written. The farther he advanced in the
labyrinth the more curious he became, till he was stopped by two
corpses lying in the midst of a cypress alley, each with a scarlet
cord round his neck and a bracelet on his arm on which were engraved
their own names, and those of two Princesses.
The invisible Prince recognised these dead men as Kings of two large
islands near his own home, but the names of the Princesses were
unknown to him. He grieved for their unhappy fate, and at once
proceeded to bury them; but no sooner had he laid them in their
graves, than their hands started up through the earth and remained
sticking up like those of their fellows.
The Prince went on his way, thinking about this strange adventure,
when suddenly at the turn of the walk he perceived a tall man whose
face was the picture of misery, holding in his hands a silken cord
of the exact colour of those round the necks of the dead men. A few
steps further this man came up with another as miserable to the full
as he himself; they silently embraced, and then without a word
passed the cords round their throats, and fell dead side by side. In
vain the Prince rushed to their assistance and strove to undo the
cord. He could not loosen it; so he buried them like the others and
continued his path.
He felt, however, that great prudence was necessary, or he himself
might become the victim of some enchantment; and he was thankful to
slip past the dragons, and enter a beautiful park, with clear
streams and sweet flowers, and a crowd of men and maidens. But he
could not forget the terrible things he had seen, and hoped eagerly
for a clue to the mystery. Noticing two young people talking
together, he drew near thinking that he might get some explanation
of what puzzled him. And so he did.
'You swear,' said the Prince, 'that you will love me till you die,
but I fear your faithless heart, and I feel that I shall soon have
to seek the Fairy Despair, ruler of half this island. She carries
off the lovers who have been cast away by their mistresses, and wish
to have done with life. She places them in a labyrinth where they
are condemned to walk for ever, with a bracelet on their arms and a
cord round their necks, unless they meet another as miserable as
themselves. Then the cord is pulled and they lie where they fall,
till they are buried by the first passer by. Terrible as this death
would be,' added the Prince, 'it would be sweeter than life if I had
lost your love.'
The sight of all these happy lovers only made the Prince grieve the
more, and he wandered along the seashore spending his days; but one
day he was sitting on a rock bewailing his fate, and the
impossibility of leaving the island, when all in a moment the sea
appeared to raise itself nearly to the skies, and the caves echoed
with hideous screams. As he looked a woman rose from the depths of
the sea, flying madly before a furious giant. The cries she uttered
softened the heart of the Prince; he took the stone from his mouth,
and drawing his sword he rushed after the giant, so as to give the
lady time to escape. But hardly had he come within reach of the
enemy, than the giant touched him with a ring that he held in his
hand, and the Prince remained immovable where he stood. The giant
then hastily rejoined his prey, and, seizing her in his arms, he
plunged her into the sea. Then he sent some tritons to bind chains
about the Prince of the Golden Isle, and he too felt himself borne
to the depths of the ocean, and without the hope of ever again
seeing the Princess.
Now the giant whom the invisible had so rashly attacked was the Lord
of the Sea, and the third son of the Queen of the Elements, and he
had touched the youth with a magic ring which enabled a mortal to
live under water. So the Prince of the Golden Isle found, when bound
in chains by the tritons, he was carried through the homes of
strange monsters and past immense seaweed forests, till he reached a
vast sandy space, surrounded by huge rocks. On the tallest of the
rocks sat the giant as on a throne.
'Rash mortal,' said he, when the Prince was dragged before him, 'you
have deserved death, but you shall live only to suffer more cruelly.
Go, and add to the number of those whom it is my pleasure to
torture.'
At these words the unhappy Prince found himself tied to a rock; but
he was not alone in his misfortunes, for all round him were chained
Princes and Princesses, whom the giant had led captive. Indeed, it
was his chief delight to create a storm, in order to add to the list
of his prisoners.
As his hands were fastened, it was impossible for the Prince of the
Golden Isle to make use of his magic stone, and he passed his nights
and days dreaming of Rosalie. But at last the time came when the
giant took it into his head to amuse himself by arranging fights
between some of his captives. Lots were drawn, and one fell upon our
Prince, whose chains were immediately loosened. The moment he was
set free, he snatched up his stone, and became invisible.
The astonishment of the giant at the sudden disappearance of the
Prince may well be imagined. He ordered all the passages to be
watched, but it was too late, for the Prince had already glided
between two rocks. He wandered for a long while through the forests,
where he met nothing but fearful monsters; he climbed rock after
rock, steered his way from tree to tree, till at length he arrived
at the edge of the sea, at the foot of a mountain that he remembered
to have seen in the cabinet of the present, where Rosalie was held
captive.
Filled with joy, he made his way to the top of the mountain which
pierced the clouds, and there he found a palace. He entered, and in
the middle of a long gallery he discovered a crystal room, in the
midst of which sat Rosalie, guarded night and day by genii. There
was no door anywhere, nor any window. At this sight the Prince
became more puzzled than ever, for he did not know how he was to
warn Rosalie of his return. Yet it broke his heart to see her
weeping from dawn till dark.
One day, as Rosalie was walking up and down her room, she was
surprised to see that the crystal which served for a wall had grown
cloudy, as if some one had breathed on it, and, what was more,
wherever she moved the brightness of the crystal always became
clouded. This was enough to cause the Princess to suspect that her
lover had returned. In order to set the Prince of the Air's mind at
rest she began by being very gracious to him, so that when she
begged that her captivity might be a little lightened she should not
be refused. At first the only favour she asked was to be allowed to
walk for one hour every day up and down the long gallery. This was
granted, and the Invisible Prince speedily took the opportunity of
handing her the stone, which she at once slipped into her mouth. No
words can paint the fury of her captor at her disappearance. He
ordered the spirits of the air to fly through all space, and to
bring back Rosalie wherever she might be. They instantly flew off to
obey his commands, and spread themselves over the whole earth.
Meantime Rosalie and the Invisible Prince had reached, hand in hand,
a door of the gallery which led through a terrace into the gardens.
In silence they glided along, and thought themselves already safe,
when a furious monster dashed itself by accident against Rosalie and
the Invisible Prince, and in her fright she let go his hand. No one
can speak as long as he is invisible, and besides, they knew that
the spirits were all around them, and at the slightest sound they
would be recognised; so all they could do was to feel about in the
hope that their hands might once more meet.
But, alas! the joy of liberty lasted but a short time. The Princess,
having wandered in vain up and down the forest, stopped at last on
the edge of a fountain. As she walked she wrote on the trees: 'If
ever the Prince, my lover, comes this way, let him know that it is
here I dwell, and that I sit daily on the edge of this fountain,
mingling my tears with its waters.'
These words were read by one of the genii, who repeated them to his
master. The Prince of the Air, in his turn making himself invisible,
was led to the fountain, and waited for Rosalie. When she drew near
he held out his hand, which she grasped eagerly, taking it for that
of her lover; and, seizing his opportunity, the Prince passed a cord
round her arms, and throwing off his invisibility cried to his
spirits to drag her into the lowest pit.
It was at this moment that the Invisible Prince appeared, and at the
sight of the Prince of the Genii mounting into the air, holding a
silken cord, he guessed instantly that he was carrying off Rosalie.
He felt so overwhelmed by despair that he thought for an instant of
putting an end to his life. 'Can I survive my misfortunes?' he
cried. 'I fancied I had come to an end of my troubles, and now they
are worse than ever. What will become of me? Never can I discover
the place where this monster will hide Rosalie.'
The unhappy youth had determined to let himself die, and indeed his
sorrow alone was enough to kill him, when the thought that by means
of the cabinets of the years he might find out where the Princess
was imprisoned, gave him a little ray of comfort. So he continued to
walk on through the forest, and after some hours he arrived at the
gate of a temple, guarded by two huge lions. Being invisible, he was
able to enter unharmed. In the middle of the temple was an altar, on
which lay a book, and behind the altar hung a great curtain. The
Prince approached the altar and opened the book, which contained the
names of all the lovers in the world: and in it he read that Rosalie
had been carried off by the Prince of the Air to an abyss which had
no entrance except the one that lay by way of the Fountain of Gold.
Now, as the Prince had not the smallest idea where this fountain was
to be found, it might be thought that he was not much nearer Rosalie
than before. This was not, however, the view taken by the Prince.
'Though every step that I take may perhaps lead me further from
her,' he said to himself, 'I am still thankful to know that she is
alive somewhere.'
On leaving the temple the Invisible Prince saw six paths lying
before him, each of which led through the wood. He was hesitating
which to choose, when he suddenly beheld two people coming towards
him, down the track which lay most to his right. They turned out to
be the Prince Gnome and his friend, and the sudden desire to get
some news of his sister, Princess Argentine, caused the Invisible
Prince to follow them and to listen to their conversation.
'Do you think,' the Prince Gnome was saying, 'do you think that I
would not break my chains if I could? I know that the Princess
Argentine will never love me, yet each day I feel her dearer still.
And as if this were not enough, I have the horror of feeling that
she probably loves another. So I have resolved to put myself out of
my pain by means of the Golden Fountain. A single drop of its water
falling on the sand around will trace the name of my rival in her
heart. I dread the test, and yet this very dread convinces me of my
misfortune.'
It may be imagined that after listening to these words the Invisible
Prince followed Prince Gnome like his shadow, and after walking some
time they arrived at the Golden Fountain. The unhappy lover stooped
down with a sigh, and dipping his finger in the water let fall a
drop on the sand. It instantly wrote the name of Prince Flame, his
brother. The shock of this discovery was so real, that Prince Gnome
sank fainting into the arms of his friend.
Meanwhile the Invisible Prince was turning over in his mind how he
could best deliver Rosalie. As, since he had been touched by the
Giant's ring, he had the power to live in the water as well as on
land, he at once dived into the fountain. He perceived in one corner
a door leading into the mountain, and at the foot of the mountain
was a high rock on which was fixed an iron ring with a cord
attached. The Prince promptly guessed that the cord was used to
chain the Princess, and drew his sword and cut it. In a moment he
felt the Princess's hand in his, for she had always kept her magic
pebble in her mouth, in spite of the prayers and entreaties of the
Prince of the Air to make herself visible.
So hand in hand the invisible Prince and Rosalie crossed the
mountain; but as the Princess had no power of living under water,
she could not pass the Golden Fountain. Speechless and invisible
they clung together on the brink, trembling at the frightful tempest
the Prince of the Air had raised in his fury. The storm had already
lasted many days when tremendous heat began to make itself felt. The
lightning flashed, the thunder rattled, fire bolts fell from heaven,
burning up the forests and even the fields of corn. In one instant
the very streams were dried up, and the Prince, seizing his
opportunity, carried the Princess over the Golden Fountain.
It took them a long time still to reach the Golden Isle, but at last
they got there, and we may be quite sure they never wanted to leave
it any more.
The Invisible Prince
from the Yellow Fairy Book
Story Edited
by Andrew Lang |
