PRINCE FEATHERHEAD AND THE PRINCESS CELANDINE

Edition and rights: Original English text from Project Gutenberg ebook #7277, marked public domain in the USA. The literary text below is reproduced without AI rewriting.

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Once upon a time there lived a King and Queen, who were the best creatures
in the world, and so kind-hearted that they could not bear to see their
subjects want for anything. The consequence was that they gradually gave
away all their treasures, till they positively had nothing left to live
upon; and this coming to the ears of their neighbour, King Bruin, he
promptly raised a large army and marched into their country. The poor
King, having no means of defending his kingdom, was forced to disguise
himself with a false beard, and carrying his only son, the little Prince
Featherhead, in his arms, and accompanied only by the Queen, to make the
best of his way into the wild country. They were lucky enough to escape
the soldiers of King Bruin, and at last, after unheard-of fatigues and
adventures, they found themselves in a charming green valley, through
which flowed a stream clear as crystal and overshadowed by beautiful
trees. As they looked round them with delight, a voice said suddenly:
‘Fish, and see what you will catch.’ Now the King had always loved
fishing, and never went anywhere without a fish-hook or two in his pocket,
so he drew one out hastily, and the Queen lent him her girdle to fasten it
to, and it had hardly touched the water before it caught a big fish, which
made them an excellent meal—and not before they needed it, for they
had found nothing until then but a few wild berries and roots. They
thought that for the present they could not do better than stay in this
delightful place, and the King set to work, and soon built a bower of
branches to shelter them; and when it was finished the Queen was so
charmed with it that she declared nothing was lacking to complete her
happiness but a flock of sheep, which she and the little Prince might tend
while the King fished. They soon found that the fish were not only
abundant and easily caught, but also very beautiful, with glittering
scales of every imaginable hue; and before long the King discovered that
he could teach them to talk and whistle better than any parrot. Then he
determined to carry some to the nearest town and try to sell them; and as
no one had ever before seen any like them the people flocked about him
eagerly and bought all he had caught, so that presently not a house in the
city was considered complete without a crystal bowl full of fish, and the
King’s customers were very particular about having them to match the rest
of the furniture, and gave him a vast amount of trouble in choosing them.
However, the money he obtained in this way enabled him to buy the Queen
her flock of sheep, as well as many of the other things which go to make
life pleasant, so that they never once regretted their lost kingdom. Now
it happened that the Fairy of the Beech-Woods lived in the lovely valley
to which chance had led the poor fugitives, and it was she who had, in
pity for their forlorn condition, sent the King such good luck to his
fishing, and generally taken them under her protection. This she was all
the more inclined to do as she loved children, and little Prince
Featherhead, who never cried and grew prettier day by day, quite won her
heart. She made the acquaintance of the King and the Queen without at
first letting them know that she was a fairy, and they soon took a great
fancy to her, and even trusted her with the precious Prince, whom she
carried off to her palace, where she regaled him with cakes and tarts and
every other good thing. This was the way she chose of making him fond of
her; but afterwards, as he grew older, she spared no pains in educating
and training him as a prince should be trained. But unfortunately, in
spite of all her care, he grew so vain and frivolous that he quitted his
peaceful country life in disgust, and rushed eagerly after all the foolish
gaieties of the neighbouring town, where his handsome face and charming
manners speedily made him popular. The King and Queen deeply regretted
this alteration in their son, but did not know how to mend matters, since
the good old Fairy had made him so self-willed.

Just at this time the Fairy of the Beech-Woods received a visit from an
old friend of hers called Saradine, who rushed into her house so
breathless with rage that she could hardly speak.

‘Dear, dear! what is the matter?’ said the Fairy of the Beech-Woods
soothingly.

‘The matter!’ cried Saradine. ‘You shall soon hear all about it. You know
that, not content with endowing Celandine, Princess of the Summer Islands,
with everything she could desire to make her charming, I actually took the
trouble to bring her up myself; and now what does she do but come to me
with more coaxings and caresses than usual to beg a favour. And what do
you suppose this favour turns out to be—when I have been cajoled
into promising to grant it? Nothing more nor less than a request that I
will take back all my gifts—“since,” says my young madam, “if I have
the good fortune to please you, how am I to know that it is really I,
myself? And that’s how it will be all my life long, whenever I meet
anybody. You see what a weariness my life will be to me under these
circumstances, and yet I assure you I am not ungrateful to you for all
your kindness!” I did all I could,’ continued Saradine, ‘to make her think
better of it, but in vain; so after going through the usual ceremony for
taking back my gifts, I’m come to you for a little peace and quietness.
But, after all, I have not taken anything of consequence from this
provoking Celandine. Nature had already made her so pretty, and given her
such a ready wit of her own, that she will do perfectly well without me.
However, I thought she deserved a little lesson, so to begin with I have
whisked her off into the desert, and there left her!’

‘What! all alone, and without any means of existence?’ cried the
kind-hearted old Fairy. ‘You had better hand her over to me. I don’t think
so very badly of her after all. I’ll just cure her vanity by making her
love someone better than herself. Really, when I come to consider of it, I
declare the little minx has shown more spirit and originality in the
matter than one expects of a princess.’

Saradine willingly consented to this arrangement, and the old Fairy’s
first care was to smooth away all the difficulties which surrounded the
Princess, and lead her by the mossy path overhung with trees to the bower
of the King and Queen, who still pursued their peaceful life in the
valley.

They were immensely surprised at her appearance, but her charming face,
and the deplorably ragged condition to which the thorns and briers had
reduced her once elegant attire, speedily won their compassion; they
recognised her as a companion in misfortune, and the Queen welcomed her
heartily, and begged her to share their simple repast. Celandine
gracefully accepted their hospitality, and soon told them what had
happened to her. The King was charmed with her spirit, while the Queen
thought she had indeed been daring thus to go against the Fairy’s wishes.

‘Since it has ended in my meeting you,’ said the Princess, ‘I cannot
regret the step I have taken, and if you will let me stay with you, I
shall be perfectly happy.’

The King and Queen were only too delighted to have this charming Princess
to supply the place of Prince Featherhead, whom they saw but seldom, since
the Fairy had provided him with a palace in the neighbouring town, where
he lived in the greatest luxury, and did nothing but amuse himself from
morning to night. So Celandine stayed, and helped the Queen to keep house,
and very soon they loved her dearly. When the Fairy of the Beech-Woods
came to them, they presented the Princess to her, and told her story,
little thinking that the Fairy knew more about Celandine than they did.
The old Fairy was equally delighted with her, and often invited her to
visit her Leafy Palace, which was the most enchanting place that could be
imagined, and full of treasures. Often she would say to the Princess, when
showing her some wonderful thing:

‘This will do for a wedding gift some day.’ And Celandine could not help
thinking that it was to her that the Fairy meant to give the two blue
wax-torches which burned without ever getting smaller, or the diamond from
which more diamonds were continually growing, or the boat that sailed
under water, or whatever beautiful or wonderful thing they might happen to
be looking at. It is true that she never said so positively, but she
certainly allowed the Princess to believe it, because she thought a little
disappointment would be good for her. But the person she really relied
upon for curing Celandine of her vanity was Prince Featherhead. The old
Fairy was not at all pleased with the way he had been going on for some
time, but her heart was so soft towards him that she was unwilling to take
him away from the pleasures he loved, except by offering him something
better, which is not the most effectual mode of correction, though it is
without doubt the most agreeable.

However, she did not even hint to the Princess that Featherhead was
anything but absolutely perfect, and talked of him so much that when at
last she announced that he was coming to visit her, Celandine made up her
mind that this delightful Prince would be certain to fall in love with her
at once, and was quite pleased at the idea. The old Fairy thought so too,
but as this was not at all what she wished, she took care to throw such an
enchantment over the Princess that she appeared to Featherhead quite ugly
and awkward, though to every one else she looked just as usual. So when he
arrived at the Leafy Palace, more handsome and fascinating even than ever
she had been led to expect, he hardly so much as glanced at the Princess,
but bestowed all his attention upon the old Fairy, to whom he seemed to
have a hundred things to say. The Princess was immensely astonished at his
indifference, and put on a cold and offended air, which, however, he did
not seem to observe. Then as a last resource she exerted all her wit and
gaiety to amuse him, but with no better success, for he was of an age to
be more attracted by beauty than by anything else, and though he responded
politely enough, it was evident that his thoughts were elsewhere.
Celandine was deeply mortified, since for her part the Prince pleased her
very well, and for the first time she bitterly regretted the fairy gifts
she had been anxious to get rid of. Prince Featherhead was almost equally
puzzled, for he had heard nothing from the King and Queen but the praises
of this charming Princess, and the fact that they had spoken of her as so
very beautiful only confirmed his opinion that people who live in the
country have no taste. He talked to them of his charming acquaintances in
the town, the beauties he had admired, did admire, or thought he was going
to admire, until Celandine, who heard it all, was ready to cry with
vexation. The Fairy too was quite shocked at his conceit, and hit upon a
plan for curing him of it. She sent to him by an unknown messenger a
portrait of Princess Celandine as she really was, with this inscription:
‘All this beauty and sweetness, with a loving heart and a great kingdom,
might have been yours but for your well-known fickleness.’

This message made a great impression upon the Prince, but not so much as
the portrait. He positively could not tear his eyes away from it, and
exclaimed aloud that never, never had he seen anything so lovely and so
graceful. Then he began to think that it was too absurd that he, the
fascinating Featherhead, should fall in love with a portrait; and, to
drive away the recollections of its haunting eyes, he rushed back to the
town; but somehow everything seemed changed. The beauties no longer
pleased him, their witty speeches had ceased to amuse; and indeed, for
their parts, they found the Prince far less amiable than of yore, and were
not sorry when he declared that, after all, a country life suited him
best, and went back to the Leafy Palace. Meanwhile, the Princess Celandine
had been finding the time pass but slowly with the King and Queen, and was
only too pleased when Featherhead reappeared. She at once noticed the
change in him, and was deeply curious to find the reason of it. Far from
avoiding her, he now sought her company and seemed to take pleasure in
talking to her, and yet the Princess did not for a moment flatter herself
with the idea that he was in love with her, though it did not take her
long to decide that he certainly loved someone. But one day the Princess,
wandering sadly by the river, spied Prince Featherhead fast asleep in the
shade of a tree, and stole nearer to enjoy the delight of gazing at his
dear face unobserved. Judge of her astonishment when she saw that he was
holding in his hand a portrait of herself! In vain did she puzzle over the
apparent contradictoriness of his behaviour. Why did he cherish her
portrait while he was so fatally indifferent to herself? At last she found
an opportunity of asking him the name of the Princess whose picture he
carried about with him always.

‘Alas! how can I tell you?’ replied he.

‘Why should you not?’ said the Princess timidly. ‘Surely there is nothing
to prevent you.’

‘Nothing to prevent me!’ repeated he, ‘when my utmost efforts have failed
to discover the lovely original. Should I be so sad if I could but find
her? But I do not even know her name.’

More surprised than ever, the Princess asked to be allowed to see the
portrait, and after examining it for a few minutes returned it, remarking
shyly that at least the original had every cause to be satisfied with it.

‘That means that you consider it flattered,’ said the Prince severely.
‘Really, Celandine, I thought better of you, and should have expected you
to be above such contemptible jealousy. But all women are alike!’

‘Indeed, I meant only that it was a good likeness,’ said the Princess
meekly.

‘Then you know the original,’ cried the Prince, throwing himself on his
knees beside her. ‘Pray tell me at once who it is, and don’t keep me in
suspense!’

‘Oh! don’t you see that it is meant for me?’ cried Celandine.

The Prince sprang to his feet, hardly able to refrain from telling her
that she must be blinded by vanity to suppose she resembled the lovely
portrait even in the slightest degree; and after gazing at her for an
instant with icy surprise, turned and left her without another word, and
in a few hours quitted the Leafy Palace altogether.

Now the Princess was indeed unhappy, and could no longer bear to stay in a
place where she had been so cruelly disdained. So, without even bidding
farewell to the King and Queen, she left the valley behind her, and
wandered sadly away, not caring whither. After walking until she was
weary, she saw before her a tiny house, and turned her slow steps towards
it. The nearer she approached the more miserable it appeared, and at
length she saw a little old woman sitting upon the door-step, who said
grimly:

‘Here comes one of these fine beggars who are too idle to do anything but
run about the country!’

‘Alas! madam,’ said Celandine, with tears in her pretty eyes, ‘a sad fate
forces me to ask you for shelter.’

‘Didn’t I tell you what it would be?’ growled the old hag. ‘From shelter
we shall proceed to demand supper, and from supper money to take us on our
way. Upon my word, if I could be sure of finding some one every day whose
head was as soft as his heart, I wouldn’t wish for a more agreeable life
myself! But I have worked hard to build my house and secure a morsel to
eat, and I suppose you think that I am to give away everything to the
first passer-by who chooses to ask for it. Not at all! I wager that a fine
lady like you has more money than I have. I must search her, and see if it
is not so,’ she added, hobbling towards Celandine with the aid of her
stick.

‘Alas! madam,’ replied the Princess, ‘I only wish I had. I would give it
to you with all the pleasure in life.’

‘But you are very smartly dressed for the kind of life you lead,’
continued the old woman.

‘What!’ cried the Princess, ‘do you think I am come to beg of you?’

‘I don’t know about that,’ answered she; ‘but at any rate you don’t seem
to have come to bring me anything. But what is it that you do want?
Shelter? Well, that does not cost much; but after that comes supper, and
that I can’t hear of. Oh dear no! Why, at your age one is always ready to
eat; and now you have been walking, and I suppose you are ravenous?’

‘Indeed no, madam,’ answered the poor Princess, ‘I am too sad to be
hungry.’

‘Oh, well! if you will promise to go on being sad, you may stay for the
night,’ said the old woman mockingly.

Thereupon she made the Princess sit down beside her, and began fingering
her silken robe, while she muttered ‘Lace on top, lace underneath! This
must have cost you a pretty penny! It would have been better to save
enough to feed yourself, and not come begging to those who want all they
have for themselves. Pray, what may you have paid for these fine clothes?’

‘Alas! madam,’ answered the Princess, ‘I did not buy them, and I know
nothing about money.’

‘What do you know, if I may ask?’ said the old dame.

‘Not much; but indeed I am very unhappy,’ cried Celandine, bursting into
tears, ‘and if my services are any good to you—’

‘Services!’ interrupted the hag crossly. ‘One has to pay for services, and
I am not above doing my own work.’

‘Madam, I will serve you for nothing,’ said the poor Princess, whose
spirits were sinking lower and lower. ‘I will do anything you please; all
I wish is to live quietly in this lonely spot.’

‘Oh! I know you are only trying to take me in,’ answered she; ‘and if I do
let you serve me, is it fitting that you should be so much better dressed
I am? If I keep you, will you give me your clothes and wear some that I
will provide you with? It is true that I am getting old and may want
someone to take care of me some day.’

‘Oh! for pity’s sake, do what you please with my clothes,’ cried poor
Celandine miserably.

And the old woman hobbled off with great alacrity, and fetched a little
bundle containing a wretched dress, such as the Princess had never even
seen before, and nimbly skipped round, helping her to put it on instead of
her own rich robe, with many exclamations of:

‘Saints!—what a magnificent lining! And the width of it! It will
make me four dresses at least. Why, child, I wonder you could walk under
such a weight, and certainly in my house you would not have had room to
turn round.’

So saying, she folded up the robe, and put it by with great care, while
she remarked to Celandine:

‘That dress of mine certainly suits you to a marvel; be sure you take
great care of it.’

When supper-time came she went into the house, declining all the
Princess’s offers of assistance, and shortly afterwards brought out a very
small dish, saying:

‘Now let us sup.’

Whereupon she handed Celandine a small piece of black bread and uncovered
the dish, which contained two dried plums.

‘We will have one between us,’ continued the old dame; ‘and as you are the
visitor, you shall have the half which contains the stone; but be very
careful that you don’t swallow it, for I keep them against the winter, and
you have no idea what a good fire they make. Now, you take my advice—which
won’t cost you anything—and remember that it is always more
economical to buy fruit with stones on this account.’

Celandine, absorbed in her own sad thoughts, did not even hear this
prudent counsel, and quite forgot to eat her share of the plum, which
delighted the old woman, who put it by carefully for her breakfast,
saying:

‘I am very much pleased with you, and if you go on as you have begun, we
shall do very well, and I can teach you many useful things which people
don’t generally know. For instance, look at my house! It is built entirely
of the seeds of all the pears I have eaten in my life. Now, most people
throw them away, and that only shows what a number of things are wasted
for want of a little patience and ingenuity.’

But Celandine did not find it possible to be interested in this and
similar pieces of advice. And the old woman soon sent her to bed, for fear
the night air might give her an appetite. She passed a sleepless night;
but in the morning the old dame remarked:

‘I heard how well you slept. After such a night you cannot want any
breakfast; so while I do my household tasks you had better stay in bed,
since the more one sleeps the less one need eat; and as it is market-day I
will go to town and buy a pennyworth of bread for the week’s eating.’

And so she chattered on, but poor Celandine did not hear or heed her; she
wandered out into the desolate country to think over her sad fate.
However, the good Fairy of the Beech-Woods did not want her to be starved,
so she sent her an unlooked for relief in the shape of a beautiful white
cow, which followed her back to the tiny house. When the old woman saw it
her joy knew no bounds.

‘Now we can have milk and cheese and butter!’ cried she. ‘Ah! how good
milk is! What a pity it is so ruinously expensive!’ So they made a little
shelter of branches for the beautiful creature which was quite gentle, and
followed Celandine about like a dog when she took it out every day to
graze. One morning as she sat by a little brook, thinking sadly, she
suddenly saw a young stranger approaching, and got up quickly, intending
to avoid him. But Prince Featherhead, for it was he, perceiving her at the
same moment, rushed towards her with every demonstration of joy: for he
had recognised her, not as the Celandine whom he had slighted, but as the
lovely Princess whom he had sought vainly for so long. The fact was that
the Fairy of the Beech-Woods, thinking she had been punished enough, had
withdrawn the enchantment from her, and transferred it to Featherhead,
thereby in an instant depriving him of the good looks which had done so
much towards making him the fickle creature he was. Throwing himself down
at the Princess’s feet, he implored her to stay, and at least speak to
him, and she at last consented, but only because he seemed to wish it so
very much. After that he came every day in the hope of meeting her again,
and often expressed his delight at being with her. But one day, when he
had been begging Celandine to love him, she confided to him that it was
quite impossible, since her heart was already entirely occupied by
another.

‘I have,’ said she, ‘the unhappiness of loving a Prince who is fickle,
frivolous, proud, incapable of caring for anyone but himself, who has been
spoilt by flattery, and, to crown all, who does not love me.’

‘But,’ cried Prince Featherhead, ‘surely you cannot care for so
contemptible and worthless a creature as that.’

‘Alas! but I do care,’ answered the Princess, weeping.

‘But where can his eyes be,’ said the Prince, ‘that your beauty makes no
impression upon him? As for me, since I have possessed your portrait I
have wandered over the whole world to find you, and, now we have met, I
see that you are ten times lovelier than I could have imagined, and I
would give all I own to win your love.’

‘My portrait?’ cried Celandine with sudden interest. ‘Is it possible that
Prince Featherhead can have parted with it?’

‘He would part with his life sooner, lovely Princess,’ answered he; ‘I can
assure you of that, for I am Prince Featherhead.’

At the same moment the Fairy of the Beech-Woods took away the enchantment,
and the happy Princess recognised her lover, now truly hers, for the
trials they had both undergone had so changed and improved them that they
were capable of a real love for each other. You may imagine how perfectly
happy they were, and how much they had to hear and to tell. But at length
it was time to go back to the little house, and as they went along
Celandine remembered for the first time what a ragged old dress she was
wearing, and what an odd appearance she must present. But the Prince
declared that it became her vastly, and that he thought it most
picturesque. When they reached the house the old woman received them very
crossly.

‘I declare,’ said she, ‘that it’s perfectly true: wherever there is a girl
you may be sure that a young man will appear before long! But don’t
imagine that I’m going to have you here—not a bit of it, be off with
you, my fine fellow!’

Prince Featherhead was inclined to be angry at this uncivil reception, but
he was really too happy to care much, so he only demanded, on Celandine’s
behalf, that the old dame should give her back her own attire, that she
might go away suitably dressed.

This request roused her to fury, since she had counted upon the Princess’s
fine robes to clothe her for the rest of her life, so that it was some
time before the Prince could make himself heard to explain that he was
willing to pay for them. The sight of a handful of gold pieces somewhat
mollified her, however, and after making them both promise faithfully that
on no consideration would they ask for the gold back again, she took the
Princess into the house and grudgingly doled out to her just enough of her
gay attire to make her presentable, while the rest she pretended to have
lost. After this they found that they were very hungry, for one cannot
live on love, any more than on air, and then the old woman’s lamentations
were louder than before. ‘What!’ she cried, ‘feed people who were as happy
as all that! Why, it was simply ruinous!’

But as the Prince began to look angry, she, with many sighs and
mutterings, brought out a morsel of bread, a bowl of milk, and six plums,
with which the lovers were well content: for as long as they could look at
one another they really did not know what they were eating. It seemed as
if they would go on for ever with their reminiscences, the Prince telling
how he had wandered all over the world from beauty to beauty, always to be
disappointed when he found that no one resembled the portrait; the
Princess wondering how it was he could have been so long with her and yet
never have recognised her, and over and over again pardoning him for his
cold and haughty behaviour to her.

‘For,’ she said, ‘you see, Featherhead, I love you, and love makes
everything right! But we cannot stay here,’ she added; ‘what are we to
do?’

The Prince thought they had better find their way to the Fairy of the
Beech-Woods and put themselves once more under her protection, and they
had hardly agreed upon this course when two little chariots wreathed with
jasmine and honeysuckle suddenly appeared, and, stepping into them, they
were whirled away to the Leafy Palace. Just before they lost sight of the
little house they heard loud cries and lamentations from the miserly old
dame, and, looking round, perceived that the beautiful cow was vanishing
in spite of her frantic efforts to hold it fast. And they afterwards heard
that she spent the rest of her life in trying to put the handful of gold
the Prince had thrown to her into her money-bag. For the Fairy, as a
punishment for her avarice, caused it to slip out again as fast as she
dropped it in.

The Fairy of the Beech-Woods ran to welcome the Prince and Princess with
open arms, only too delighted to find them so much improved that she
could, with a clear conscience, begin to spoil them again. Very soon the
Fairy Saradine also arrived, bringing the King and Queen with her.
Princess Celandine implored her pardon, which she graciously gave; indeed
the Princess was so charming she could refuse her nothing. She also
restored to her the Summer Islands, and promised her protection in all
things. The Fairy of the Beech-Woods then informed the King and Queen that
their subjects had chased King Bruin from the throne, and were waiting to
welcome them back again; but they at once abdicated in favour of Prince
Featherhead, declaring that nothing could induce them to forsake their
peaceful life, and the Fairies undertook to see the Prince and Princess
established in their beautiful kingdoms. Their marriage took place the
next day, and they lived happily ever afterwards, for Celandine was never
vain and Featherhead was never fickle any more.

Le Prince Muguet et la Princesse Zaza.