Andrew Lang_Fairy Book 03 Read Online Free Page B

hither and thither without a word, until
he had collected a handful of magic herbs, with which, and a few
incantations, he speedily made the King whole and sound again.
    'Now,' said he, 'let me hear all about it. There must be a
Princess at the bottom of this.'
    'There are two!' answered King Charming, with a wry smile.
    And then he told the whole story, accusing Fiordelisa of having
betrayed the secret of his visits to make her peace with the
Queen, and indeed saying a great many hard things about her
fickleness and her deceitful beauty, and so on. The Enchanter
quite agreed with him, and even went further, declaring that all
Princesses were alike, except perhaps in the matter of beauty,
and advised him to have done with Fiordelisa, and forget all
about her. But, somehow or other, this advice did not quite
please the King.
    'What is to be done next?' said the Enchanter, 'since you still
have five years to remain a Blue Bird.'
    'Take me to your palace,' answered the King; 'there you can at
least keep me in a cage safe from cats and swords.'
    'Well, that will be the best thing to do for the present,' said
his friend. 'But I am not an Enchanter for nothing. I'm sure to
have a brilliant idea for you before long.'
    In the meantime Fiordelisa, quite in despair, sat at her window
day and night calling her dear Blue Bird in vain, and imagining
over and over again all the terrible things that could have
happened to him, until she grew quite pale and thin. As for the
Queen and Turritella, they were triumphant; but their triumph was
short, for the King, Fiordelisa's father, fell ill and died, and
all the people rebelled against the Queen and Turritella, and
came in a body to the palace demanding Fiordelisa.
    The Queen came out upon the balcony with threats and haughty
words, so that at last they lost their patience, and broke open
the doors of the palace, one of which fell back upon the Queen
and killed her. Turritella fled to the Fairy Mazilla, and all the
nobles of the kingdom fetched the Princess Fiordelisa from her
prison in the tower, and made her Queen. Very soon, with all the
care and attention they bestowed upon her, she recovered from the
effects of her long captivity and looked more beautiful than
ever, and was able to take counsel with her courtiers, and
arrange for the governing of her kingdom during her absence. And
then, taking a bagful of jewels, she set out all alone to look
for the Blue Bird, without telling anyone where she was going.
    Meanwhile, the Enchanter was taking care of King Charming, but as
his power was not great enough to counteract the Fairy Mazilla's,
he at last resolved to go and see if he could make any kind of
terms with her for his friend; for you see, Fairies and
Enchanters are cousins in a sort of way, after all; and after
knowing one another for five or six hundred years and falling
out, and making it up again pretty often, they understand one
another well enough. So the Fairy Mazilla received him
graciously. 'And what may you be wanting, Gossip?' said she.
    'You can do a good turn for me if you will;' he answered. 'A
King, who is a friend of mine, was unlucky enough to offend
you—'
    'Aha! I know who you mean,' interrupted the Fairy. 'I am sorry
not to oblige you, Gossip, but he need expect no mercy from me
unless he will marry my goddaughter, whom you see yonder looking
so pretty and charming. Let him think over what I say.'
    The Enchanter hadn't a word to say, for he thought Turritella
really frightful, but he could not go away without making one
more effort for his friend the King, who was really in great
danger as long as he lived in a cage. Indeed, already he had met
with several alarming accidents. Once the nail on which his cage
was hung had given way, and his feathered Majesty had suffered
much from the fall, while Madam Puss, who happened to be in the
room at the time, had given him a scratch in the eye which came
very near blinding him. Another time they had forgotten to give
him any