Having confided his design to the emperor he had a ship equipped, charged it with rich presents, and left the court accompanied by a dozen of the youngest and bravest lords of the empire.
The god of winds, impelling his vessel rapidly, soon allowed him to perceive the tip of the island he was seeking, but when he was only a short distance away, the sky darkened and was covered with thick cloud. The sea changed color and the waves swelled, colliding with one another with such a great impetuosity that the prince’s ship could not continue its route and ran aground on a sandbank, on which they would all have perished if the sea had not calmed down some time thereafter.
The air then became as tranquil as the waves. The clouds dissipated, and permitted the prince to run his eyes over the vast empire of Neptune, by which he was surrounded, to see if he could discover any ship.
He had not been looking for long when he saw something shiny appear, albeit a long distance away, which came towards him at a prodigious speed. When the object was within visual range, he saw that it was a mother-of-pearl boat, in the middle of which was a rose-bush that served it as a mast; the leaves were large enough to serve as sails. Eight tritons and eight sirens, who were conducting it, brought it very close to Tendrebrun.
Then one of the sirens spoke to him, saying; “Prince, we have been sent here by young Bounty, our mistress, to tell you that she is waiting for you on her island. She is the daughter of Beneficent, and is only occupied, following his example, with the care of rendering mortals happy. The art of faerie, which she possesses, has informed her of your misfortunes. Touched by the troubles you are suffering, she wants to deliver you from them by giving you the talisman of which you were going in search on the island of Tintarinos. Here is a bracelet that we have brought on her behalf; never take it off; it will return to you the lovely princess from whom you are separated. It is to our mistress that you owe your liberty and your return to Tartary, in spite of the efforts of the wicked Vicious. Hasten, then, to go and thank her for all that she has done for you.
The prince, delighted to have found such a fortunate adventure at the time he least expected it, climbed into the boat without delay, with all his retinue. After having sailed for six minutes, at the most, he landed on the island where he was awaited.
It was only planted with rose-bushes and jasmines, which formed long covered pathways; the flowers of those trees, mingled with the green leaves, produced a charming effect. Verdant grass, dotted with little pink and white flowers, covered the ground. In fact, any other color than the ones I have just mentioned, was banished from the island. That is why the prince had no sooner disembarked from the boat than he saw the blue and gold coat that he was wearing change into another, of pink gauze embroidered with emeralds and diamonds.
A sheep with a fleece of silver thread and horns of diamond presented itself o serve as his guide. It conducted him, making several bounds over the grass, to an arbor where Tendrebrun saw a hundred young women of an admirable beauty. They were surrounding a young woman of about sixteen years, who surpassed them in grace and beauty. She was lying negligently on a bed of jasmine on the edge of a crystal basin where several swans were swimming. Palisades and a vault of flowers prevented the god of the day from spreading too much light in that agreeable enclosure.
The sheep went to lie down next to its beautiful mistress, and the prince, realizing that she was the daughter of the old man of Tintarinos of whom mention had been made, expressed his gratitude to her with as much respect as intelligence. The young fay received it with a mildness and grace that he had only found previously in Constance.
She asked him whether he had the bracelet, and recommended that he never remove it from his arm, because as long as it was there, the fay Vicious and others would not be able to do him any harm. Then, presenting her hand to him, she got up and led him into a labyrinth ornamented with very well-wrought ivory statues. After having traversed the labyrinth, she led him over a terrace that overlooked the sea shore to a crystal castle, which the prince admired for a long time. She told him that he could rest there for a few days, and promised to transport him thereafter to his dear Constance.
The fay warned the prince not to go out of the apartment that he chose in the palace, during the time he spent on the island, once midnight had chimed. “If you go out,” she said, “and if you even open the windows between then and four o’clock in the morning, misfortunes will overtake you from which I will not be able to protect you. In the meantime, I am obliged to quit my palace and go to visit my father.”
Tendrebrun assured her that he would follow her advice exactly, and consented without difficulty to remain in that beautiful abode for as long as the sun took to travel the celestial vault three times.
The first day was spent savoring all the pleasures that a powerful fay can procure, and talking about the daughter of Judicious. He was astonished by the attention that Bounty had in talking to him about the person he loved, although it is true that it was always him who commenced the conversation. However, making the reflection that it was lacking in prudence, and even politeness to repeat the same thing so often and continually to exaggerate the amour one has for someone else before a person as charming as the fay, he gradually corrected himself, and his discourse was soon no longer filled with the impatience he had to see his princess again. On the contrary, he often said that he wished that he might be away from her for longer than he had said, in order to discover the effect that absence would produce in his heart. Then, remaining silent for a few moments, he kept his eyes attached to Bounty, sighed, no longer able to sustain the tenderness of her gaze without experiencing a disturbance that was not usual for him.
He eventually perceived that Constance no longer reigned over his soul, and that the beautiful fay occupied it uniquely. He no longer thought about anything, therefore, except making his passion known to her. At first he allowed his eyes and his sighs to speak, and he became sad and pensive. The fay perceived that, and proposed to him that he leave, in order to rediscover the person who was causing his languor; but Tendrebrun threw himself at her feet, took one of her hands, which he kissed with transport, and implored her not to send him away from her, to suffer that he adore her and that he might wear her chains all his life.
Bounty seemed astonished by that declaration, and blushed extremely, but assured him nevertheless that she would not refuse his request, because his inclination responded to the desire she had to content him. But she said at the same time that he could only remain with her on condition of marrying her the same day, because she had sworn an inviolable oath not to permit any man to love her who was not her husband, or to allow him to stay on her island for longer than a brief interval.
That condition pleased the prince extremely; he assured her that he accepted it with all the joy imaginable, and pressed her not to defer his happiness. As she quit him she promised to go and augment her charms, if possible, by donning a costume even more elegant.
She came back after an absence of an hour, and, everything having been prepared for the ceremony, their marriage was concluded. Nymphs came to rejoice with them, by means of their dances and songs, for such a beautiful union. They all had garlands of flowers, with which they enchained the two spouses. Several of them also married young lords in the prince’s retinue. Fauns and satyrs made the woods resound with their instruments and celebrated the happy day with games and fêtes that they invented. In sum, everything on the island that breathed was animated by pleasures, except for the unfortunate Constance, whom hazard had caused to encounter it.
She was still in the power of the bat; that monster, after having take her away from Vicious’s palace, had traveled over the four continents of the world with her, pretending to be unable to find the realm to which the malevolent fay had ordered it to take her. They had been traveling for a month when they passed over the Isle of Roses. The bat stopped then, and asked Constance whether she wanted to rest for a few moments. The princess, fatigued by the journey, conse
nted to that gladly, and the night-bird descended slowly to deposit her behind an arbor where Tendrebrun and Bounty were swearing an eternal amour.
What a spectacle for a lover! What despair did she not feel on seeing the infidel prince make a thousand caresses and say a hundred things each more passionate than the last to a young person that she found only too lovable. She thought twenty times of standing up in order to go and heap Tendrebrun with the reproaches that he merited, but, making the reflection that she would only cause, at the most, a little shame and that she would only receive from him a few excuses full of indifference, which would be a further triumph for her rival, she preferred to constrain herself and enclose within herself the mortal dolor that the change caused her.
She contented herself, therefore, with letting a torrent of tears flow from her beautiful eyes, and begged the bat to continue its voyage and to remove her promptly from a place so fatal to her repose. The latter, charged with the will of Vicious, was as malevolent as its mistress. Seeing the extreme affliction of the princess, therefore, it wanted to augment it, by telling her about the facility with which the Tartar prince had forgotten her and the pleasures that he had savored since he had been with his new bride.
Constance made no reply, silently charging his perjury with ingratitude and treason. How perfidious he is, she said to herself, but in spite of that, how lovable he is! How much amour I have just seen in his eyes! Gods, can it be that he has ceased so promptly to love me and that I am deprived forever of his tenderness? Amour, it is you who is presently causing my greatest misfortune: you are taking away all that I love, to give it to another. At least render me my indifference. But alas, I sense that it is no longer in my power to recover it, or to extinguish the fire that I feel in my soul, and that fate is condemning me to eternal dolor.
That was what the princess was thinking. When the bat had consented to depart, it stopped after a few hours of flight and told her that she had arrived in the realm of Indolent, to whom Vicious had sent her in order to marry him that same day, and it was taking her down to the palace that the king had prepared or her—which it did, immediately. It put her in the hands of several women destined to serve her and flew away, after having gone to Indolent’s apartment in order to give him the fay’s compliments and inform him of the arrival of Constance.
That prince received the news with joy, for he had a great desire to get married. He was tall, young and well made, but he had no head, and, in consequence, he could do nothing for himself. The Vices, to whom he had given free entry to his kingdom, reigned there with more authority than him.
All those monsters had taken such firm possession of all his subjects that the unfortunate king dared not do anything without their advice. Debauchery and ignorance extended their empire over the men of war and the persons of the highest status; injustice and interest made the magistrates act; hypocrisy and avarice were followed secretly by the dervishes and other ministers of altars, and gallantry by the female sex.
In sum, all of Vicious’s children had their courtiers, and commanded, independently of all that, the men and women of the realm, without fear that Indolent would have anything to say about it. So the complaisance the king had for the Vices procured him the amity of their mother. That fay had made him a present, a few days before the arrival of the daughter of Judicious of a beautiful polished head, which replaced—in appearance, at least—the one that nature had refused him. That head was attached to the shoulders, and, by means of a few springs, made all the necessary movements. At first he had a little difficulty in wearing it, but he became accustomed to it.
It might be difficult to imagine how he could see, hear and talk; I shall explain. He had a mouth in a dimple in his neck, an ear in the left hand and an eye in the right. I agree that the arrangement had its inconveniences, but in sum, a fay who had wanted to avenge herself on his mother, the queen, had placed them in that fashion when she became pregnant with the unfortunate prince. As for a nose, she had not given him one because it appeared to her that it was unnecessary, so he could not smell anything.
The prince, formed in that fashion, had no doubt that Constance would consent joyfully to marry him. He therefore went to visit her, and proclaimed that to her the day would not pass without her being his wife.
She was in a beautiful apartment; gold and silver gleamed there in abundance, but her eyes, although full of tears, spread an even greater splendor there than all the riches put together.
Indolent approached her, and, in order to see her more clearly, put his right hand near her face. He was delighted to find her so beautiful, and paid her a compliment on her beauty that he had spent two days learning by heart, and which had been found for him in a new book. Then he gave her his hand in order to conduct her to the temple, where she would, he said, receive her crown and be united with him. But the princess push him away gently, assuring him that she would never accept the honor that he wanted to do her and begging him to permit her, on the contrary, to retire to one of the temples in the city where a number of young women were enclosed, consecrated to the service of the gods.
That response astonished the king so much that he did not say anything for several moments. Recovering slightly from his surprise, he tried by mans of his pleas to make her resolve to what he desired, but, everything he said being futile, he got carried away in such a fashion that his head, which was not attached very well, fell to the floor and revealed to the princess a species of monster that appeared to her to be frightful.
The accident augmented the prince’s anger; he said a thousand offensive things, and warned her that he would only give her a week to decide to marry him, after which he promised to put her to death if she were obstinate in refusing him. Going out then, he left the unhappy Constance unintimidated by his threats, still occupied with the infidelity of the ingrate she loved.
The week passed without her reflecting even once on the fate that was in preparation for her. No sooner had the time had expired than Indolent came to visit her, in order to discover whether her sentiments were in conformity with those he had; but, having found them opposed to his own, he ordered immediately that she be taken to the black forest.
That forest was thus named because it was never illuminated by the sun’s bright rays. Thick fogs reigned there from the commencement of the year to the end. A continuous cold wind made itself felt there violently, and blew with such force that it shook the largest trees in the forest, which were only charged with yellow and faded leaves. The cries of barn owls and long-eared owls and the howls of ferocious beasts with which it was filed were heard in all directions. A wall a hundred feet high surrounded it on all sides and prevented anyone from getting out of it. In sum, one could not find a more frightful abode.
However, the exceedingly unfortunate Constance was imprisoned there, and found herself less unhappy there than in the palace she had just quit, because the most somber and deserted places seemed more appropriate to hide her dolor.
As soon as she found herself in the sad place, she expected to become the prey imminently of some of the wolves or wild boars that she saw running all around her; and although she had no appetite or life, she felt gripped by horror and dread in thinking that she was about to be devoured. Directing her tremulous footsteps toward the places that seemed to her to be the least accessible, therefore, she went to hide there, in order to avoid encountering cruel animals, and to wait there for a milder death that dolor and weakness could not fail to procure for her.
Incessantly agitated by those various thoughts, she saw a lion of enormous size coming toward her, the fierce and proud appearance of which left her no hope. At that sight, she started running at top speed; but the furious animal, more skillful in running than the young princess, caught up with her promptly and, seizing her by the dress, caused her to fall unconscious on a pile of dry leaves that the wind had assembled.
The lion in question, less cruel than Constance had imagined, did not do her any harm. On the contrary, touch
ed by the state she was in, it promptly went to fetch water in its mouth and spat it out over the face of the dying princess.
That aid brought her round. She opened her beautiful eyes, and seemed astonished to see the light again and to perceive nearby the lion she had feared so much, which was licking her hands and washing them with its tears.
“What a prodigy!” she exclaimed. “I’ve found humanity among ferocious animals, and I only encountered cruelty among humans. Why has this lion not taken away my life? My misfortunes would be over and I would not have the chagrin of thinking at this moment that the ingrate I adore has forgotten the oath that he swore to love me eternally, and is enchanted by the pleasures that he is savoring with my rival.”
As she finished speaking she allowed a great quantity of tears to flow, and would doubtless have made a few resolutions fatal to her days if the lion had not moderated her dolor somewhat by means of its caresses and attentions.
Sensible to what it was doing in order to calm her, she stroked it, in spite of her chagrin, and even thanked it, as if she were certain that it had understood her. Two frightful bears that she saw passing by terminated her discourse and caused her to forget the desire that she had had to die. She therefore got up in order to run away again, without thinking that she had a defender beside her stronger than those animals. Seeing her design, however, the lion, which was still lying beside her, tugged her gently by the dress and made her sit on its back. Then, immediately rising to its feet with a surprising lightness, it ran through the forest.
The princess, feeling herself carried away, was uncertain of her fate, and did not know whether she ought to feel dread or hope. She was finally informed. The lion took her to the foot of a rock, which the sea beat with its waves. It was the only place that was not surrounded by walls, because it was inaccessible. The lion placed her on the sand gently, and then went to look for oysters and other shellfish, which it presented to her very politely. She ate some, and drank, with pleasure, water from a spring that was not far away, which the lion had collected in a large shell.
Funestine and Other Adventures in Romancia Page 8