The Violet Fairy Book (33 page)

'
I
will,' cried the eldest girl, springing to her feet. But
her father only shook his head sadly.

'Never will I bring shame upon you,' urged the girl. 'Let me go.
Am I not a princess, and the daughter of an emperor?'

'Go then!' he said.

The brave girl's heart almost stopped beating from joy, as she
set about her preparations. She was not still for a single
moment, but danced about the house, turning chests and wardrobes
upside down. She set aside enough things for a whole
year—dresses embroidered with gold and precious stones, and a
great store of provisions. And she chose the most spirited horse
in the stable, with eyes of flame, and a coat of shining silver.

When her father saw her mounted and curvetting about the court,
he gave her much wise advice, as to how she was to behave like
the young man she appeared to be, and also how to behave as the
girl she really was. Then he gave her his blessing, and she
touched her horse with the spur.

The silver armour of herself and her steed dazzled the eyes of
the people as she darted past. She was soon out of sight, and if
after a few miles she had not pulled up to allow her escort to
join her, the rest of the journey would have been performed
alone.

But though none of his daughters were aware of the fact, the old
emperor was a magician, and had laid his plans accordingly. He
managed, unseen, to overtake his daughter, and throw a bridge of
copper over a stream which she would have to cross. Then,
changing himself into a wolf, he lay down under one of the
arches, and waited.

He had chosen his time well, and in about half an hour the sound
of a horse's hoofs was heard. His feet were almost on the
bridge, when a big grey wolf with grinning teeth appeared before
the princess. With a deep growl that froze the blood, he drew
himself up, and prepared to spring.

The appearance of the wolf was so sudden and so unexpected, that
the girl was almost paralysed, and never even dreamt of flight,
till the horse leaped violently to one side. Then she turned him
round, and urging him to his fullest speed, never drew rein till
she saw the gates of the palace rising before her.

The old emperor, who had got back long since, came to the door to
meet her, and touching her shining armour, he said, 'Did I not
tell you, my child, that flies do not make honey?'

The days passed on, and one morning the second princess implored
her father to allow her to try the adventure in which her sister
had made such a failure. He listened unwillingly, feeling sure
it was no use, but she begged so hard that in the end he
consented, and having chosen her arms, she rode away.

But though, unlike her sister, she was quite prepared for the
appearance of the wolf when she reached the copper bridge, she
showed no greater courage, and galloped home as fast as her horse
could carry her. On the steps of the castle her father was
standing, and as still trembling with fright she knelt at his
feet, he said gently, 'Did I not tell you, my child, that every
bird is not caught in a net?'

The three girls stayed quietly in the palace for a little while,
embroidering, spinning, weaving, and tending their birds and
flowers, when early one morning, the youngest princess entered
the door of the emperor's private apartments. 'My father, it is
my turn now. Perhaps I shall get the better of that wolf!'

'What, do you think you are braver than your sisters, vain little
one? You who have hardly left your long clothes behind you!' but
she did not mind being laughed at, and answered,

'For your sake, father, I would cut the devil himself into small
bits, or even become a devil myself. I think I shall succeed,
but if I fail, I shall come home without more shame than my
sisters.'

Still the emperor hesitated, but the girl petted and coaxed him
till at last he said,

'Well, well, if you must go, you must. It remains to be seen
what I shall get by it, except perhaps a good laugh when I see
you come back with your head bent and your eyes on the ground.'

'He laughs best who laughs last,' said the princess.

Happy at having got her way, the princess decided that the first
thing to be done was to find some old white-haired boyard, whose
advice she could trust, and then to be very careful in choosing
her horse. So she went straight to the stables where the most
beautiful horses in the empire were feeding in the stalls, but
none of them seemed quite what she wanted. Almost in despair she
reached the last box of all, which was occupied by her father's
ancient war-horse, old and worn like himself, stretched sadly out
on the straw.

The girl's eyes filled with tears, and she stood gazing at him.
The horse lifted his head, gave a little neigh, and said softly,
'You look gentle and pitiful, but I know it is your love for your
father which makes you tender to me. Ah, what a warrior he was,
and what good times we shared together! But now I too have grown
old, and my master has forgotten me, and there is no reason to
care whether my coat is dull or shining. Yet, it is not too
late, and if I were properly tended, in a week I could vie with
any horse in the stables!'

'And how should you be tended?' asked the girl.

'I must be rubbed down morning and evening with rain water, my
barley must be boiled in milk, because of my bad teeth, and my
feet must be washed in oil.'

'I should like to try the treatment, as you might help me in
carrying out my scheme.'

'Try it then, mistress, and I promise you will never repent.'

So in a week's time the horse woke up one morning with a sudden
shiver through all his limbs; and when it had passed away, he
found his skin shining like a mirror, his body as fat as a water
melon, his movement light as a chamois.

Then looking at the princess who had come early to the stable, he
said joyfully,

'May success await on the steps of my master's daughter, for she
has given me back my life. Tell me what I can do for you,
princess, and I will do it.'

'I want to go to the emperor who is our over-lord, and I have no
one to advise me. Which of all the white-headed boyards shall I
choose as counsellor?'

'If you have me, you need no one else: I will serve you as I
served your father, if you will only listen to what I say.'

'I will listen to everything. Can you start in three days?'

'This moment, if you like,' said the horse.

The preparations of the emperor's youngest daughter were much
fewer and simpler than those of her sisters. They only consisted
of some boy's clothes, a small quantity of linen and food, and a
little money in case of necessity. Then she bade farewell to her
father, and rode away.

A day's journey from the palace, she reached the copper bridge,
but before they came in sight of it, the horse, who was a
magician, had warned her of the means her father would take to
prove her courage.

Still in spite of his warning she trembled all over when a huge
wolf, as thin as if he had fasted for a month, with claws like
saws, and mouth as wide as an oven, bounded howling towards her.
For a moment her heart failed her, but the next, touching the
horse lightly with her spur, she drew her sword from its sheath,
ready to separate the wolf's head from its body at a single blow.

The beast saw the sword, and shrank back, which was the best
thing it could do, as now the girl's blood was up, and the light
of battle in her eyes. Then without looking round, she rode
across the bridge.

The emperor, proud of this first victory, took a short cut, and
waited for her at the end of another day's journey, close to a
river, over which he threw a bridge of silver. And this time he
took the shape of a lion.

But the horse guessed this new danger and told the princess how
to escape it. But it is one thing to receive advice when we feel
safe and comfortable, and quite another to be able to carry it
out when some awful peril is threatening us. And if the wolf had
made the girl quake with terror, it seemed like a lamb beside
this dreadful lion.

At the sound of his roar the very trees quivered and his claws
were so large that every one of them looked like a cutlass.

The breath of the princess came and went, and her feet rattled in
the stirrups. Suddenly the remembrance flashed across her of the
wolf whom she had put to flight, and waving her sword, she rushed
so violently on the lion that he had barely time to spring on one
side, so as to avoid the blow. Then, like a flash, she crossed
this bridge also.

Now during her whole life, the princess had been so carefully
brought up, that she had never left the gardens of the palace, so
that the sight of the hills and valleys and tinkling streams, and
the song of the larks and blackbirds, made her almost beside
herself with wonder and delight. She longed to get down and
bathe her face in the clear pools, and pick the brilliant
flowers, but the horse said 'No,' and quickened his pace, neither
turning to the right or the left.

'Warriors,' he told her, 'only rest when they have won the
victory. You have still another battle to fight, and it is the
hardest of all.'

This time it was neither a wolf nor a lion that was waiting for
her at the end of the third day's journey, but a dragon with
twelve heads, and a golden bridge behind it.

The princess rode up without seeing anything to frighten her,
when a sudden puff of smoke and flame from beneath her feet,
caused her to look down, and there was the horrible creature
twisted and writhing, its twelve heads reared up as if to seize
her between them.

The bridle fell from her hand: and the sword which she had just
grasped slid back into its sheath, but the horse bade her fear
nothing, and with a mighty effort she sat upright and spurred
straight on the dragon.

The fight lasted an hour and the dragon pressed her hard. But in
the end, by a well-directed side blow, she cut off one of the
heads, and with a roar that seemed to rend the heavens in two,
the dragon fell back on the ground, and rose as a man before her.

Although the horse had informed the princess the dragon was
really her own father, the girl had hardly believed him, and
stared in amazement at the transformation. But he flung his arms
round her and pressed her to his heart saying, 'Now I see that
you are as brave as the bravest, and as wise as the wisest. You
have chosen the right horse, for without his help you would have
returned with a bent head and downcast eyes. You have filled me
with the hope that you may carry out the task you have
undertaken, but be careful to forget none of my counsels, and
above all to listen to those of your horse.'

When he had done speaking, the princess knelt down to receive his
blessing, and they went their different ways.

The princess rode on and on, till at last she came to the
mountains which hold up the roof of the world. There she met two
Genii who had been fighting fiercely for two years, without one
having got the least advantage over the other. Seeing what they
took to be a young man seeking adventures, one of the combatants
called out, 'Fet-Fruners! deliver me from my enemy, and I will
give you the horn that can be heard the distance of a three days'
journey;' while the other cried, 'Fet-Fruners! help me to
conquer this pagan thief, and you shall have my horse, Sunlight.'

Before answering, the princess consulted her own horse as to
which offer she should accept, and he advised her to side with
the genius who was master of Sunlight, his own younger brother,
and still more active than himself.

So the girl at once attacked the other genius, and soon clove his
skull; then the one who was left victor begged her to come back
with him to his house and he would hand her over Sunlight, as he
had promised.

The mother of the genius was rejoiced to see her son return safe
and sound, and prepared her best room for the princess, who,
after so much fatigue, needed rest badly. But the girl declared
that she must first make her horse comfortable in his stable; but
this was really only an excuse, as she wanted to ask his advice
on several matters.

But the old woman had suspected from the very first that the boy
who had come to the rescue of her son was a girl in disguise, and
told the genius that she was exactly the wife he needed. The
genius scoffed, and inquired what female hand could ever wield a
sabre like that; but, in spite of his sneers, his mother
persisted, and as a proof of what she said, laid at night on each
of their pillows a handful of magic flowers, that fade at the
touch of man, but remain eternally fresh in the fingers of a
woman.

It was very clever of her, but unluckily the horse had warned the
princess what to expect, and when the house was silent, she stole
very softly to the genius's room, and exchanged his faded flowers
for those she held. Then she crept back to her own bed and fell
fast asleep.

At break of day, the old woman ran to see her son, and found, as
she knew she would, a bunch of dead flowers in his hand. She
next passed on to the bedside of the princess, who still lay
asleep grasping the withered flowers. But she did not believe
any the more that her guest was a man, and so she told her son.
So they put their heads together and laid another trap for her.

After breakfast the genius gave his arm to his guest, and asked
her to come with him into the garden. For some time they walked
about looking at the flowers, the genius all the while pressing
her to pick any she fancied. But the princess, suspecting a
trap, inquired roughly why they were wasting the precious hours
in the garden, when, as men, they should be in the stables
looking after their horses. Then the genius told his mother that
she was quite wrong, and his deliverer was certainly a man. But
the old woman was not convinced for all that.