The Blue Fairy Book

by Andrew Lang

  ‘ What can we do?’ said Miranda; ‘unless you take him my heart and my tongue he will never believe you.

  The Princess and the Captain of the Guard were talking so earnestly that they did not think of Patypata, but she had overheard all they said, and now came and threw herself at Miranda’s feet.

  ‘ Madam,’ she said, ‘I offer you my life; let me be killed, I shall be only too happy to die for such a kind mistress.’

  ‘ Why, Patypata,’ cried the Princess, kissing her, ‘ that would never do; your life is as precious to me as my own, especially after such a proof of your affection as you have just given me.’

  ‘ You are right, Princess,’ said Grabugeon, coming forward, ‘to love such a faithful slave as Patypata; she is of more use to you than I am, I offer you my tongue and my heart most willingly, especially as I wish to make a great name for myself in Goblin Land.’

  ‘ No, no, my little Grabugeon,’ replied Miranda; ‘I cannot bear the thought of taking your life.’

  ‘ Such a good little dog as I am,’ cried Tintin, ‘ could not think of letting either of you die for his mistress. If anyone is to die for her it must be me.’

  And then began a great dispute between Patypata, Grabugeon, and Tintin, and they came to high words, until at last Grabugeon, who was quicker than the others, ran up to the very top of the nearest tree, and let herself fall, head first, to the ground, and there she lay—quite dead!

  The Princess was very sorry, but as Grabugeon was really dead, she allowed the Captain of the Guard to take her tongue; but, alas! it was such a little one—not bigger than the Princess’s thumb, that they decided sorrowfully that it was no use at all: the King would not have been taken in by it for a moment!

  ‘ Alas ! my little monkey,’ cried the Princess, ‘I have lost you, and yet I am no better off than I was before.’

  ‘ The honour of saving your life is to be mine,’ interrupted Patypata, and, before they could prevent her, she had picked up a knife and cut her head off in an instant.

  But when the Captain of the Guard would have taken her tongue it turned out to be quite black, so that would not have deceived the King either.

  ‘Am I not unlucky?’ cried the poor Princess; ‘I lose everything I love, and am none the better for it.’

  ‘ If you had accepted my offer,’ said Tintin,’ you would only have had me to regret, and I should have had all your gratitude.’

  Miranda kissed her little dog, crying so bitterly, that at last she could bear it no longer, and turned away into the forest. When she looked back the Captain of the Guard was gone, and she was alone, except for Patypata, Grabugeon, and Tintin, who lay upon the ground. She could not leave the place until she had buried them in a pretty little mossy grave at the foot of a tree, and she wrote their names upon the bark of the tree, and how they had all died to save her life. And then she began to think where she could go for safety—for this forest was so close to her father’s castle that she might be seen and recognised by the first passer-by, and, beside that, it was full of lions and wolves, who would have snapped up a princess just as soon as a stray chicken. So she began to walk as fast as she could, but the forest was so large and the sun was so hot that she nearly died of heat and terror and fatigue; look which way she would there seemed to be no end to the forest, and she was so frightened that she fancied every minute that she heard the King running after her to kill her. You may imagine how miserable she was, and how she cried as she went on, not knowing which path to follow, and with the thorny bushes scratching her dreadfully and tearing her pretty frock to pieces.

  At last she heard the bleating of a sheep, and said to herself:

  ‘ No doubt there are shepherds here with their flocks; they will show me the way to some village where I can live disguised as a peasant girl. Alas! it is not always kings and princes who are the happiest people in the world. Who could have believed that I should ever be obliged to run away and hide because the King, for no reason at all, wishes to kill me?’

  So saying she advanced towards the place where she heard the bleating, but what was her surprise when, in a lovely little glade quite surrounded by trees, she saw a large sheep; its wool was as white as snow, and its horns shone like gold; it had a garland of flowers round its neck, and strings of great pearls about its legs, and a collar of diamonds; it lay upon a bank of orange-flowers, under a canopy of cloth of gold which protected it from the heat of the sun. Nearly a hundred other sheep were scattered about, not eating the grass, but some drinking coffee, lemonade, or sherbet, others eating ices, strawberries and cream, or sweetmeats, while others, again, were playing games. Many of them wore golden collars with jewels, flowers, and ribbons.

  Miranda stopped short in amazement at this unexpected sight, and was looking in all directions for the shepherd of this surprising flock, when the beautiful sheep came bounding towards her.

  ‘Approach, lovely Princess,’ he cried; ‘have no fear of such gentle and peaceable animals as we are.’

  ‘What a marvel!’ cried the Princess, starting back a little. ‘Here is a sheep who can talk.’

  ‘Your monkey and your dog could talk, madam,’ said he; ‘are you more astonished at us than at them ? ’

  ‘A fairy gave them the power to speak,’ replied Miranda. ‘So I was used to them.’

  ‘Perhaps the same thing has happened to us,’ he said, smiling sheepishly. ‘But, Princess, what can have led you here? ’

  ‘A thousand misfortunes, Sir Sheep,’ she answered. ‘ I am the unhappiest princess in the world, and I am seeking a shelter against my father’s anger.’

  ‘Come with me, madam,’ said the Sheep; ‘I offer you a hiding-place which you only will know of, and where you will be mistress of everything you see.’

  ‘ I really cannot follow you,‘ said Miranda, ‘ for I am too tired to walk another step.’

  The Sheep with the golden horns ordered that his chariot should be fetched, and a moment after appeared six goats, harnessed to a pumpkin, which was so big that two people could quite well sit in it, and was all lined with cushions of velvet and down. The Princess stepped into it, much amused at such a new kind of carriage, the King of the Sheep took his place beside her, and the goats ran away with them at full speed, and only stopped when they reached a cavern, the entrance to which was blocked by a great stone. This the King touched with his foot, and immediately it fell down, and he invited the Princess to enter without fear. Now, if she had not been so alarmed by everything that had happened, nothing could have induced her to go into this frightful cave, but she was so afraid of what might be behind her that she would have thrown herself even down a well at this moment. So, without hesitation, she followed the Sheep, who went before her, down, down, down, until she thought they must come out at the other side of the world—indeed, she was not sure that he wasn’t leading her into Fairyland. At last she saw before her a great plain, quite covered with all sorts of flowers, the scent of which seemed to her nicer than anything she had ever smelt before; a broad river of orange-flower water flowed round it, and fountains of wine of every kind ran in all directions and made the prettiest little cascades and brooks. The plain was covered with the strangest trees, there were whole avenues where partridges, ready roasted, hung from every branch, or, if you preferred pheasants, quails, turkeys, or rabbits, you had only to turn to the right hand or to the left and you were sure to find them. In places the air was darkened by showers of lobster-patties, white puddings, sausages, tarts, and all sorts of sweetmeats, or with pieces of gold and silver, diamonds and pearls. This unusual kind of rain, and the pleasantness of the whole place, would, no doubt, have attracted numbers of people to it, if the King of the Sheep had been of a more sociable disposition, but from all accounts it is evident that he was as grave as a judge.

  As it was quite the nicest time of the year when Miranda arrived in this delightful land the only palace she saw was a long row of orange trees, jasmines, honeysuckles, and musk-roses, and their interl
acing branches made the prettiest rooms possible, which were hung with gold and silver gauze, and had great mirrors and candlesticks, and most beautiful pictures. The wonderful Sheep begged that the Princess would consider herself queen over all that she saw, and assured her that, though for some years he had been very sad and in great trouble, she had it in her power to make him forget all his grief.

  ‘You are so kind and generous, noble Sheep,’ said the Princess, ‘that I cannot thank you enough, but I must confess that all I see here seems to me so extraordinary that I don’t know what to think of it.’

  As she spoke a band of lovely fairies came up and offered her amber baskets full of fruit, but when she held out her hands to them they glided away, and she could feel nothing when she tried to touch them.

  ‘ Oh!’ she cried, ‘what can they be? Whom am I with?’ and she began to cry.

  At this instant the King of the Sheep came back to her, and was so distracted to find her in tears that he could have torn his wool.

  ‘What is the matter, lovely Princess?’ he cried. ‘ Has anyone failed to treat you with due respect? ’

  ‘Oh! no,’ said Miranda; ‘only I am not used to living with sprites and with sheep that talk, and everything here frightens me. It was very kind of you to bring me to this place, but I shall be even more grateful to you if you will take me up into the world again.’

  ‘Do not be afraid,’ said the wonderful Sheep; ‘I entreat you to have patience, and listen to the story of my misfortunes. I was once a king, and my kingdom was the most splendid in the world. My subjects loved me, my neighbours envied and feared me. I was respected by everyone, and it was said that no king ever deserved it more.

  ‘I was very fond of hunting, and one day, while chasing a stag, I left my attendants far behind; suddenly I saw the animal leap into a pool of water, and I rashly urged my horse to follow it, but before we had gone many steps I felt an extraordinary heat, instead of the coolness of the water; the pond dried up, a great gulf opened before me, out of which flames of fire shot up, and I fell helplessly to the bottom of a precipice.

  ‘ I gave myself up for lost, but presently a voice said: “ Ungrateful Prince, even this fire is hardly enough to warm your cold heart! ”

  ‘ “ Who complains of my coldness in this dismal place ? ” I cried.

  ‘“An unhappy being who loves you hopelessly,” replied the voice, and at the same moment the flames began to flicker and cease to burn, and I saw a fairy, whom I had known as long as I could remember, and whose ugliness had always horrified me. She was leaning upon the arm of a most beautiful young girl, who wore chains of gold on her wrists and was evidently her slave.

  ‘“Why, Ragotte,” I said, for that was the fairy’s name, “what is the meaning of all this? Is it by your orders that I am here? ”

  ‘“And whose fault is it,” she answered, “that you have never understood me until now? Must a powerful fairy like myself condescend to explain her doings to you who are no better than an ant by comparison, though you think yourself a great king? ”

  ‘“ Call me what you like,” I said impatiently; “but what is it that you want—my crown, or my cities, or my treasures? ”

  ‘“ Treasures!” said the fairy, disdainfully. “If I chose I could make any one of my scullicns richer and more powerful than you. I do not want your treasures, but,” she added softly, “if you will give me your heart—if you will marry me—I will add twenty kingdoms to the one you have already; you shall have a hundred castles full of gold and five hundred full of silver, and, in short, anything you like to ask me for.”

  ‘ “Madam Ragotte,” said I, “when one is at the bottom of a pit where one has fully expected to be roasted alive, it is impossible to think of asking such a charming person as you are to marry one! I beg that you will set me at liberty, and then I shall hope to answer you fittingly.”

  ‘ “ Ah!” said she, “if you loved me really you would not care where you were—a cave, a wood, a fox-hole, a desert, would please you equally well. Do not think that you can deceive me; you fancy you are going to escape, but I assure you that you are going to stay here, and the first thing I shall give you to do will be to keep my sheep—they are very good company and speak quite as well as you do.”

  ‘ As she spoke she advanced, and led me to this plain where we now stand, and showed me her flock, but I paid little attention to it, or to her; to tell the truth I was so lost in admiration of her beautiful slave that I forgot everything else, and the cruel Ragotte, perceiving this, turned upon her so furious and terrible a look that she fell lifeless to the ground.

  ‘ At this dreadful sight I drew my sword and rushed at Ragotte, and should certainly have cut off her head had she not by her magic arts chained me to the spot on which I stood; all my efforts to move were useless, and at last, when I threw myself down on the ground in despair, she said to me, with a scornful smile:

  ‘ “ I intend to make you feel my power. It seems that you are a lion at present, I mean you to be a sheep.”

  ‘ So saying, she touched me with her wand, and I became what you see. I did not lose the power of speech, or of feeling the misery of my present state.

  ‘ “ For five years,” she said, “you shall be a sheep, and lord of this pleasant land, while I, no longer able to see your face, which I loved so much, shall be better able to hate you as you deserve to be hated.”

  ‘ She disappeared as she finished speaking, and if I had not been too unhappy to care about anything I should have been glad that she was gone.

  ‘ The talking sheep received me as their king, and told me that they, too, were unfortunate princes who had, in different ways, offended the revengeful fairy, and had been added to her flock for a certain number of years; some more, some less. From time to time, indeed, one regains his own proper form and goes back again to his place in the upper world; but the other beings whom you saw are the rivals or the enemies of Ragotte, whom she has imprisoned for a hundred years or so; though even they will go back at last. The young slave of whom I told you is one of these; I have seen her often, and it has been a great pleasure to me. She never speaks to me, and if I went nearer to her I know I should find her only a shadow, which would be very annoying. However, I noticed that one of my companions in misfortune was also very attentive to this little sprite, and I found out that he had been her lover, whom the cruel Ragotte had taken away from her long before; since then I have cared for, and thought of, nothing but how I might regain my freedom. I have often been into the forest; that is where I have seen you, lovely Princess, sometimes driving your chariot, which you did with all the grace and skill in the world; sometimes riding to the chase on so spirited a horse that it seemed as if no one but yourself could have managed it, and sometimes running races on the plain with the Princesses of your Court—running so lightly that it was you always who won the prize. Oh! Princess, I have loved you so long, and yet how dare I tell you of my love! what hope can there be for an unhappy sheep like myself?’

  Miranda was so surprised and confused by all that she had heard that she hardly knew what answer to give to the King of the Sheep, but she managed to make some kind of little speech, which certainly did not forbid him to hope, and said that she should not be afraid of the shadows now she knew that they would some day come to life again. ‘Alas!’ she continued, ‘if my poor Patypata, my dear Grabugeon, and pretty little Tintin, who all died for my sake, were equally well off, I should have nothing left to wish for here! ’

  Prisoner though he was, the King of the Sheep had still some powers and privileges.

  ‘Go,’ said he to his Master of the Horse, ‘go and seek the shadows of the little black girl, the monkey, and the dog: they will amuse our Princess.’

  And an instant afterwards Miranda saw them coming towards her, and their presence gave her the greatest pleasure, though they did not come near enough for her to touch them.

  The King of the Sheep was so kind and amusing, and loved Miranda so dearly, th
at at last she began to love him too. Such a handsome sheep, who was so polite and considerate, could hardly fail to please, especially if one knew that he was really a king, and that his strange imprisonment would soon come to an end. So the Princess’s days passed very gaily while she waited for the happy time to come. The King of the Sheep, with the help of all the flock, got up balls, concerts, and hunting parties, and even the shadows joined in all the fun, and came, making believe to be their own real selves.

  One evening, when the couriers arrived (for the King sent most carefully for news—and they always brought the very best kinds), it was announced that the sister of the Princess Miranda was going to be married to a great prince, and that nothing could be more splendid than all the preparations for the wedding.

  ‘Ah!’ cried the young Princess, ‘how unlucky I am to miss the sight of so many pretty things! Here am I prisoned under the earth, with no company but sheep and shadows, while my sister is to be adorned like a queen and surrounded by all who love and admire her, and everyone but myself can go to wish her joy!’

  ‘ Why do you complain, Princess?’ said the King of the Sheep. ‘Did I say that you were not to go to the wedding? Set out as soon as you please; only promise me that you will come back, for I love you too much to be able to live without you.’

  Miranda was very grateful to him, and promised faithfully that nothing in the world should keep her from coming back. The King caused an escort suitable to her rank to be got ready for her, and she dressed herself splendidly, not forgetting anything that could make her more beautiful. Her chariot was of mother-of-pearl, drawn by six dun-coloured griffins just brought from the other side of the world, and she was attended by a number of guards in splendid uniforms, who were all at least eight feet high and had come from far and near to ride in the Princess’s train.