CHAPTER V.
If any reader, big or little, should wonder whether there is a meaningin this story, deeper than that of an ordinary fairy tale, I will ownthat there is. But I have hidden it so carefully that the smallerpeople, and many larger folk, will never find it out, and meantime thebook may be read straight on, like "Cinderella," or "Blue-Beard," or"Hop-o'-my Thumb," for what interest it has, or what amusement it maybring.
Having said this, I return to Prince Dolor, that little lame boy whommany may think so exceedingly to be pitied. But if you had seen himas he sat patiently untying his wonderful cloak, which was done up ina very tight and perplexing parcel, using skilfully his deft littlehands, and knitting his brows with firm determination, while his eyesglistened with pleasure, and energy, and eager anticipation--if you hadbeheld him thus, you might have changed your opinion.
When we see people suffering or unfortunate, we feel very sorry forthem; but when we see them bravely bearing their sufferings, and makingthe best of their misfortunes, it is quite a different feeling. Werespect, we admire them. One can respect and admire even a little child.
When Prince Dolor had patiently untied all the knots, a remarkablething happened. The cloak began to undo itself. Slowly unfolding, itlaid itself down on the carpet, as flat as if it had been ironed; thesplit joined with a little sharp crick-crack, and the rim turned up allround till it was breast-high; for meantime the cloak had grown andgrown, and become quite large enough for one person to sit in it, ascomfortable as if in a boat.
The Prince watched it rather anxiously; it was such an extraordinary,not to say a frightening thing. However, he was no coward, but athorough boy, who, if he had been like other boys, would doubtless havegrown up daring and adventurous--a soldier, a sailor, or the like. Asit was, he could only show his courage morally, not physically, bybeing afraid of nothing, and by doing boldly all that it was in hisnarrow powers to do. And I am not sure but that in this way he showedmore real valour than if he had had six pairs of proper legs.
He said to himself, "What a goose I am! As if my dear godmother wouldever have given me anything to hurt me. Here goes!"
So, with one of his active leaps, he sprang right into the middle ofthe cloak, where he squatted down, wrapping his arms tight round hisknees, for they shook a little and his heart beat fast. But there hesat, steady and silent, waiting for what might happen next.
Nothing did happen, and he began to think nothing would, and to feelrather disappointed, when he recollected the words he had been told torepeat--"Abracadabra, dum, dum, dum!"
He repeated them, laughing all the while, they seemed such nonsense.And then--and then----
Now, I don't expect anybody to believe what I am going to relate,though a good many wise people have believed a good many sillierthings. And as seeing's believing, and I never saw it, I cannot beexpected implicitly to believe it myself, except in a sort of a way;and yet there is truth in it--for some people.
The cloak rose, slowly and steadily, at first only a few inches, thengradually higher and higher, till it nearly touched the skylight.Prince Dolor's head actually bumped against the glass, or would havedone so, had he not crouched down, crying, "Oh, please don't hurt me!"in a most melancholy voice.
Then he suddenly remembered his godmother's express command--"Open theskylight!"
Regaining his courage at once, without a moment's delay, he liftedup his head and began searching for the bolt, the cloak meanwhileremaining perfectly still, balanced in air. But the minute the windowwas opened, out it sailed--right out into the clear fresh air, withnothing between it and the cloudless blue.
Prince Dolor had never felt any such delicious sensation before! Ican understand it. Cannot you? Did you never think, in watching therooks going home singly or in pairs, oaring their way across the calmevening sky, till they vanish like black dots in the misty grey, howpleasant it must feel to be up there, quite out of the noise and din ofthe world, able to hear and see everything down below, yet troubled bynothing and teased by no one--all alone, but perfectly content.
Something like this was the happiness of the little lame Prince when hegot out of Hopeless Tower, and found himself for the first time in thepure open air, with the sky above him and the earth below.
True, there was nothing but earth and sky; no houses, no trees, norivers, mountains, seas--not a beast on the ground, or a bird in theair. But to him even the level plain looked beautiful; and then therewas the glorious arch of the sky, with a little young moon sitting inthe west like a baby queen. And the evening breeze was so sweet andfresh, it kissed him like his godmother's kisses; and by-and-by a fewstars came out, first two or three, and then quantities--quantities! sothat, when he began to count them, he was utterly bewildered.
"_By-and-by a few stars came out, first two or three,and then quantities!_"]
By this time, however, the cool breeze had become cold, the mistgathered, and as he had, as he said, no outdoor clothes, poor PrinceDolor was not very comfortable. The dews fell damp on his curls--hebegan to shiver.
"Perhaps I had better go home," thought he.
But how?--For in his excitement the other words which his godmotherhad told him to use had slipped his memory. They were only a littledifferent from the first, but in that slight difference all theimportance lay. As he repeated his "Abracadabra," trying ever so manyother syllables after it, the cloak only went faster and faster,skimming on through the dusky empty air.
The poor little Prince began to feel frightened. What if his wonderfultravelling-cloak should keep on thus travelling, perhaps to the world'send, carrying with it a poor, tired, hungry boy, who, after all, wasbeginning to think there was something very pleasant in supper and bed?
"Dear godmother," he cried pitifully, "do help me! Tell me just thisonce and I'll never forget again."
Instantly the words came rushing into his head--"Abracadabra, tum, tum,ti!" Was that it? Ah, yes!--for the cloak began to turn slowly. Herepeated the charm again, more distinctly and firmly, when it gave agentle dip, like a nod of satisfaction, and immediately started back,as fast as ever, in the direction of the tower.
He reached the skylight, which he found exactly as he had left it,and slipped in, cloak and all, as easily as he had got out. He hadscarcely reached the floor, and was still sitting in the middle of histravelling-cloak--like a frog on a water-lily leaf, as his godmotherhad expressed it--when he heard his nurse's voice outside.
"Bless us! what has become of your Royal Highness all this time? Tosit stupidly here at the window till it is quite dark, and leave theskylight open too. Prince! what can you be thinking of? You are thesilliest boy I ever knew."
"Am I?" said he absently, and never heeding her crossness; or his onlyanxiety was lest she might find out anything.
She would have been a very clever person to have done so. The instantPrince Dolor got off it, the cloak folded itself up into the tiniestpossible parcel, tied all its own knots, and rolled itself of its ownaccord into the farthest and darkest corner of the room. If the nursehad seen it, which she didn't, she would have taken it for a merebundle of rubbish not worth noticing.
Shutting the skylight with an angry bang, she brought in the supper andlit the candles, with her usual unhappy expression of countenance. ButPrince Dolor hardly saw it; he only saw, hid in the corner where nobodyelse would see it, his wonderful travelling-cloak. And though hissupper was not particularly nice, he ate it heartily, scarcely hearinga word of his nurse's grumbling, which to-night seemed to have takenthe place of her sullen silence.
"_She brought in the supper and lit the candles,with her usual unhappy expression ... he only saw his wonderfultravelling-cloak._" _Page 58._]
"Poor woman!" he thought, when he paused a minute to listen and look ather, with those quiet, happy eyes, so like his mother's. "Poor woman!_she_ hasn't got a travelling-cloak!"
And when he was left alone at last, and crept into his littlebed, where he lay awake a good while, watching
what he called his"sky-garden," all planted with stars, like flowers, his chief thoughtwas, "I must be up very early to-morrow morning and get my lessonsdone, and then I'll go travelling all over the world on my beautifulcloak."
So, next day, he opened his eyes with the sun, and went with a goodheart to his lessons. They had hitherto been the chief amusement ofhis dull life; now, I am afraid, he found them also a little dull. Buthe tried to be good--I don't say Prince Dolor always was good, but hegenerally tried to be--and when his mind went wandering after the darkdusty corner where lay his precious treasure, he resolutely called itback again.
"For," he said, "how ashamed my godmother would be of me if I grew up astupid boy."
But the instant lessons were done, and he was alone in the empty room,he crept across the floor, undid the shabby little bundle, his fingerstrembling with eagerness, climbed on the chair, and thence to thetable, so as to unbar the skylight--he forgot nothing now--said hismagic charm, and was away out of the window, as children say, "in a fewminutes less than no time!"
Nobody missed him. He was accustomed to sit so quietly always, thathis nurse, though only in the next room, perceived no difference. Andbesides, she might have gone in and out a dozen times, and it wouldhave been just the same; she never could have found out his absence.
For what do you think the clever godmother did? She took a quantityof moonshine, or some equally convenient material, and made an image,which she set on the window-sill reading, or by the table drawing,where it looked so like Prince Dolor, that any common observer wouldnever have guessed the deception; and even the boy would have beenpuzzled to know which was the image and which was himself.
And all this while the happy little fellow was away, floating in theair on his magic cloak, and seeing all sorts of wonderful things--orthey seemed wonderful to him, who had hitherto seen nothing at all.
First, there were the flowers that grew on the plain, which, wheneverthe cloak came near enough, he strained his eyes to look at; they werevery tiny, but very beautiful--white saxifrage, and yellow lotus,and ground-thistles, purple and bright, with many others the namesof which I do not know. No more did Prince Dolor, though he tried tofind them out by recalling any pictures he had seen of them. But hewas too far off; and though it was pleasant enough to admire them asbrilliant patches of colour, still he would have liked to examine themall. He was, as a little girl I know once said of a playfellow, "a very_examining_ boy."
"I wonder," he thought, "whether I could see better through a pair ofglasses like those my nurse reads with, and takes such care of. How Iwould take care of them too! if only I had a pair!"
Immediately he felt something queer and hard fixing itself on to thebridge of his nose. It was a pair of the prettiest gold spectacles everseen; and looking downwards, he found that, though ever so high abovethe ground, he could see every minute blade of grass, every tiny budand flower--nay, even the insects that walked over them.
"Thank you, thank you!" he cried in a gush of gratitude--to anybody oreverybody, but especially to his dear godmother, whom he felt sure hadgiven him this new present. He amused himself with it for ever so long,with his chin pressed on the rim of the cloak, gazing down upon thegrass, every square foot of which was a mine of wonders.
Then, just to rest his eyes, he turned them up to the sky--the blue,bright, empty sky, which he had looked at so often and seen nothing.
Now, surely there was something. A long, black, wavy line, moving onin the distance, not by chance, as the clouds move apparently, butdeliberately, as if it were alive. He might have seen it before--healmost thought he had; but then he could not tell what it was. Lookingat it through his spectacles, he discovered that it really was alive;being a long string of birds, flying one after the other, their wingsmoving steadily and their heads pointed in one direction, as steadilyas if each were a little ship, guided invisibly by an unerring helm.
"They must be the passage-birds flying seawards!" cried the boy, whohad read a little about them, and had a great talent for putting twoand two together and finding out all he could. "Oh, how I should liketo see them quite close, and to know where they come from, and whitherthey are going! How I wish I knew everything in all the world!"
A silly speech for even an "examining" little boy to make; because, aswe grow older, the more we know, the more we find out there is to know.And Prince Dolor blushed when he had said it, and hoped nobody hadheard him.
Apparently somebody had, however; for the cloak gave a sudden boundforward, and presently he found himself high up in air, in the verymiddle of that band of aerial travellers, who had no magic cloak totravel on--nothing except their wings. Yet there they were, makingtheir fearless way through the sky.
Prince Dolor looked at them, as one after the other they glided pasthim; and they looked at him--those pretty swallows, with their changingnecks and bright eyes--as if wondering to meet in mid-air such anextraordinary sort of a bird.
"_They looked at him ... as if wondering to meet inmid-air such an extraordinary sort of bird._" _Page 62._]
"Oh, I wish I were going with you, you lovely creatures!" cried theboy. "I'm getting so tired of this dull plain, and the dreary andlonely tower. I do so want to see the world! Pretty swallows, dearswallows! tell me what it looks like--the beautiful, wonderful world!"
But the swallows flew past him--steadily, slowly, pursuing their courseas if inside each little head had been a mariner's compass, to guidethem safe over land and sea, direct to the place where they desired togo.
The boy looked after them with envy. For a long time he followed withhis eyes the faint wavy black line as it floated away, sometimeschanging its curves a little, but never deviating from its settledcourse, till it vanished entirely out of sight.
Then he settled himself down in the centre of the cloak, feeling quitesad and lonely.
"I think I'll go home," said he, and repeated his "Abracadabra, tum,tum, ti!" with a rather heavy heart. The more he had, the more hewanted; and it is not always one can have everything one wants--atleast, at the exact minute one craves for it; not even though one is aprince, and has a powerful and beneficent godmother.
He did not like to vex her by calling for her, and telling her howunhappy he was, in spite of all her goodness; so he just kept histrouble to himself, went back to his lonely tower, and spent three daysin silent melancholy without even attempting another journey on histravelling-cloak.
The Little Lame Prince and His Travelling Cloak Page 5