Andrew Lang_Fairy Book 03 (28 page)

Then a wild chase began. 'I hear horses' hoofs behind us,' said
Hyacinthia to the Prince. Milan sprang from the saddle, put his
ear to the ground and listened. 'Yes,' he answered, 'they are
pursuing us, and are quite close.' 'Then no time must be lost,'
said Hyacinthia, and she immediately turned herself into a river,
Prince Milan into an iron bridge, and the charger into a
blackbird. Behind the bridge the road branched off into three
ways.

The Magician's servants hurried after the fresh tracks, but when
they came to the bridge, they stood, not knowing which road to
take, as the footprints stopped suddenly, and there were three
paths for them to choose from. In fear and trembling they returned
to tell the Magician what had happened. He flew into a dreadful
rage when he saw them, and screamed out, 'Oh, you fools! the river
and bridge were they! Go back and bring them to me at once, or it
will be the worse for you.'

Then the pursuit began afresh. 'I hear horses' hoofs,' sighed
Hyacinthia. The Prince dismounted and put his ear to the ground.
'They are hurrying after us, and are already quite near.' In a
moment the Princess Hyacinthia had changed herself, the Prince,
and his charger into a thick wood where a thousand paths and roads
crossed each other. Their pursuers entered the forest, but
searched in vain for Prince Milan and his bride. At last they
found themselves back at the same spot they had started from, and
in despair they returned once more with empty hands to the
Magician.

'Then I'll go after the wretches myself,' he shouted. 'Bring a
horse at once; they shan't escape me.'

Once more the beautiful Hyacinthia murmured, 'I hear horses' hoofs
quite near.' And the Prince answered, 'They are pursuing us hotly
and are quite close.'

'We are lost now, for that is my father himself. But at the first
church we come to his power ceases; he may chase us no further.
Hand me your cross.'

Prince Milan loosened from his neck the little gold cross his
mother had given him, and as soon as Hyacinthia grasped it, she
had changed herself into a church, Milan into a monk, and the
horse into a belfry. They had hardly done this when the magician
and his servants rode up.

'Did you see no one pass by on horseback, reverend father?' he
asked the monk.

'Prince Milan and Princess Hyacinthia have just gone on this
minute; they stopped for a few minutes in the church to say their
prayers, and bade me light this wax candle for you, and give you
their love.'

'I'd like to wring their necks,' said the magician, and made all
haste home, where he had every one of his servants beaten to
within an inch of their lives.

Prince Milan rode on slowly with his bride without fearing any
further pursuit. The sun was just setting, and its last rays lit
up a large city they were approaching. Prince Milan was suddenly
seized with an ardent desire to enter the town.

'Oh my beloved,' implored Hyacinthia, 'please don't go; for I am
frightened and fear some evil.'

'What are you afraid of?' asked the Prince. 'We'll only go and
look at what's to be seen in the town for about an hour, and then
we'll continue our journey to my father's kingdom.'

'The town is easy to get into, but more difficult to get out of,'
sighed Hyacinthia. 'But let it be as you wish. Go, and I will
await you here, but I will first change myself into a white
milestone; only I pray you be very careful. The King and Queen of
the town will come out to meet you, leading a little child with
them. Whatever you do, don't kiss the child, or you will forget me
and all that has happened to us. I will wait for you here for
three days.'

The Prince hurried to the town, but Hyacinthia remained behind
disguised as a white milestone on the road. The first day passed,
and then the second, and at last the third also, but Prince Milan
did not return, for he had not taken Hyacinthia's advice. The King
and Queen came out to meet him as she had said, leading with them
a lovely fair-haired little girl, whose eyes shone like two clear
stars. The child at once caressed the Prince, who, carried away by
its beauty, bent down and kissed it on the cheek. From that moment
his memory became a blank, and he forgot all about the beautiful
Hyacinthia.

When the Prince did not return, poor Hyacinthia wept bitterly and
changing herself from a milestone into a little blue field flower,
she said, 'I will grow here on the wayside till some passer-by
tramples me under foot.' And one of her tears remained as a
dewdrop and sparkled on the little blue flower.

Now it happened shortly after this that an old man passed by, and
seeing the flower, he was delighted with its beauty. He pulled it
up carefully by the roots and carried it home. Here he planted it
in a pot, and watered and tended the little plant carefully. And
now the most extraordinary thing happened, for from this moment
everything in the old man's house was changed. When he awoke in
the morning he always found his room tidied and put into such
beautiful order that not a speck of dust was to be found anywhere.
When he came home at midday, he found a table laid out with the
most dainty food, and he had only to sit down and enjoy himself to
his heart's content. At first he was so surprised he didn't know
what to think, but after a time he grew a little uncomfortable,
and went to an old witch to ask for advice.

The witch said, 'Get up before the cock crows, and watch carefully
till you see something move, and then throw this cloth quickly
over it, and you'll see what will happen.'

All night the old man never closed an eye. When the first ray of
light entered the room, he noticed that the little blue flower
began to tremble, and at last it rose out of the pot and flew
about the room, put everything in order, swept away the dust, and
lit the fire. In great haste the old man sprang from his bed, and
covered the flower with the cloth the old witch had given him, and
in a moment the beautiful Princess Hyacinthia stood before him.

'What have you done?' she cried. 'Why have you called me back to
life? For I have no desire to live since my bridegroom, the
beautiful Prince Milan, has deserted me.'

'Prince Milan is just going to be married,' replied the old man.
'Everything is being got ready for the feast, and all the invited
guests are flocking to the palace from all sides.'

The beautiful Hyacinthia cried bitterly when she heard this; then
she dried her tears, and went into the town dressed as a peasant
woman. She went straight to the King's kitchen, where the white-
aproned cooks were running about in great confusion. The Princess
went up to the head cook, and said, 'Dear cook, please listen to
my request, and let me make a wedding-cake for Prince Milan.'

The busy cook was just going to refuse her demand and order her
out of the kitchen, but the words died on his lips when he turned
and beheld the beautiful Hyacinthia, and he answered politely,
'You have just come in the nick of time, fair maiden. Bake your
cake, and I myself will lay it before Prince Milan.'

The cake was soon made. The invited guests were already thronging
round the table, when the head cook entered the room, bearing a
beautiful wedding cake on a silver dish, and laid it before Prince
Milan. The guests were all lost in admiration, for the cake was
quite a work of art. Prince Milan at once proceeded to cut it
open, when to his surprise two white doves sprang out of it, and
one of them said to the other: 'My dear mate, do not fly away and
leave me, and forget me as Prince Milan forgot his beloved
Hyacinthia.'

Milan sighed deeply when he heard what the little dove said. Then
he jumped up suddenly from the table and ran to the door, where he
found the beautiful Hyacinthia waiting for him. Outside stood his
faithful charger, pawing the ground. Without pausing for a moment,
Milan and Hyacinthia mounted him and galloped as fast as they
could into the country of King Kojata. The King and Queen received
them with such joy and gladness as had never been heard of before,
and they all lived happily for the rest of their lives.

There was once upon a time a beautiful girl called Helena. Her own
mother had died when she was quite a child, and her stepmother was
as cruel and unkind to her as she could be. Helena did all she
could to gain her love, and performed the heavy work given her to
do cheerfully and well; but her stepmother's heart wasn't in the
least touched, and the more the poor girl did the more she asked
her to do.

One day she gave Helena twelve pounds of mixed feathers and bade
her separate them all before evening, threatening her with heavy
punishment if she failed to do so.

The poor child sat down to her task with her eyes so full of tears
that she could hardly see to begin. And when she had made one
little heap of feathers, she sighed so deeply that they all blew
apart again. And so it went on, and the poor girl grew more and
more miserable. She bowed her head in her hands and cried, 'Is
there no one under heaven who will take pity on me?'

Suddenly a soft voice replied, 'Be comforted, my child: I have
come to help you.'

Terrified to death, Helena looked up and saw a Fairy standing in
front of her, who asked in the kindest way possible, 'Why are you
crying, my dear?'

Helena, who for long had heard no friendly voice, confided her sad
tale of woe to the Fairy, and told her what the new task she had
been given to do was, and how she despaired of ever accomplishing
it.

'Don't worry yourself about it any more,' said the kind Fairy;
'lie down and go to sleep, and I'll see that your work is done all
right.' So Helena lay down, and when she awoke all the feathers
were sorted into little bundles; but when she turned to thank the
good Fairy she had vanished.

In the evening her stepmother returned and was much amazed to find
Helena sitting quietly with her work all finished before her.

She praised her diligence, but at the same time racked her brain
as to what harder task she could set her to do.

The next day she told Helena to empty a pond near the house with a
spoon which was full of holes. Helena set to work at once, but she
very soon found that what her stepmother had told her to do was an
impossibility. Full of despair and misery, she was in the act of
throwing the spoon away, when suddenly the kind Fairy stood before
her again, and asked her why she was so unhappy?

When Helena told her of her stepmother's new demand she said,
'Trust to me and I will do your task for you. Lie down and have a
sleep in the meantime.'

Helena was comforted and lay down, and before you would have
believed it possible the Fairy roused her gently and told her the
pond was empty. Full of joy and gratitude, Helena hurried to her
stepmother, hoping that now at last her heart would be softened
towards her. But the wicked woman was furious at the frustration
of her own evil designs, and only thought of what harder thing she
could set the girl to do.

Next morning she ordered her to build before evening a beautiful
castle, and to furnish it all from garret to basement. Helena sat
down on the rocks which had been pointed out to her as the site of
the castle, feeling very depressed, but at the same time with the
lurking hope that the kind Fairy would come once more to her aid.

And so it turned out. The Fairy appeared, promised to build the
castle, and told Helena to lie down and go to sleep in the
meantime. At the word of the Fairy the rocks and stones rose and
built themselves into a beautiful castle, and before sunset it was
all furnished inside, and left nothing to be desired. You may
think how grateful Helena was when she awoke and found her task
all finished.

But her stepmother was anything but pleased, and went through the
whole castle from top to bottom, to see if she couldn't find some
fault for which she could punish Helena. At last she went down
into one of the cellars, but it was so dark that she fell down the
steep stairs and was killed on the spot.

So Helena was now mistress of the beautiful castle, and lived
there in peace and happiness. And soon the noise of her beauty
spread abroad, and many wooers came to try and gain her hand.

Among them came one Prince Fickle by name, who very quickly won
the love of fair Helena. One day, as they were sitting happily
together under a lime-tree in front of the castle, Prince Fickle
broke the sad news to Helena that he must return to his parents to
get their consent to his marriage. He promised faithfully to come
back to her as soon as he could and begged her to await his return
under the lime-tree where they had spent so many happy hours.

Helena kissed him tenderly at parting on his left cheek, and
begged him not to let anyone else kiss him there while they were
parted, and she promised to sit and wait for him under the lime-
tree, for she never doubted that the Prince would be faithful to
her and would return as quickly as he could.

And so she sat for three days and three nights under the tree
without moving. But when her lover never returned, she grew very
unhappy, and determined to set out to look for him. She took as
many of her jewels as she could carry, and three of her most
beautiful dresses, one embroidered with stars, one with moons, and
the third with suns, all of pure gold. Far and wide she wandered
through the world, but nowhere did she find any trace of her
bridegroom. At last she gave up the search in despair. She could
not bear to return to her own castle where she had been so happy
with her lover, but determined rather to endure her loneliness and
desolation in a strange land. She took a place as herd-girl with a
peasant, and buried her jewels and beautiful dresses in a safe and
hidden spot.

Every day she drove the cattle to pasture, and all the time she
thought of nothing but her faithless bridegroom. She was very
devoted to a certain little calf in the herd, and made a great pet
of it, feeding it out of her own hands. She taught it to kneel
before her, and then she whispered in its ear: