"Oh, indeed!" said the old woman. "May I ask what you want with her?"
"I want to tell her not to marry Prince Amaryllis, because he is not her Prince but somebody else"s Prince," said Princess Gentianella.
"Oh, indeed!" said the old woman again. "And whose Prince may he be, then?"
"He is my Prince, of course!" answered the little Princess, laughing happily; and then away she ran across the field, and into the wood that lay beyond.
In the wood, under a hazel-tree, sat a tall and beautiful girl, weeping bitterly.
"Oh dear, oh dear!" said Princess Gentianella, mournfully. "How dreadfully sorry I am!"
"Why?" asked the girl, looking up at her.
"Because you are crying, to be sure," answered the Princess. "Will you tell me why you are so sad?"
"My mother, who is always making experiments, wants me to marry a Prince I have never seen, just to see how we should like it," explained the girl. "And all the while, I am somebody else"s Princess!"
"That is very strange," remarked Princess Gentianella. "Now _I_ am sad because my Prince has got to marry Anemone, the Witch"s beautiful daughter, and I am trying to find her to tell her that he is really my Prince. Do you think she will want to marry him, when she hears that he is somebody else"s Prince?"
The beautiful girl suddenly sprang to her feet and began to laugh joyfully. "I am sure she will not," she answered, "for _I_ am Anemone, the Witch"s daughter. So n.o.body will have to marry anybody"s Prince except her own, and the witch will not be able to make experiments any more!"
"That is settled, then," said the little Princess, contentedly. "Now let us go and find our Princes. But supposing that I find your Prince first, how shall I know that he _is_ your Prince?"
"His name is Hyacinth," answered the Witch"s daughter.
"How delightful!" cried Princess Gentianella, clapping her hands. "Then I shall find my youngest brother as well as my Prince. But do you know where they are?"
Anemone, the Witch"s daughter, began to look a little doubtful. "I have just remembered," she confessed, "that I sent Hyacinth to kill your Prince, only a few minutes before you came along. Do not be anxious, however," she added hastily, "for perhaps he will not be able to find him."
The Princess Gentianella was not at all anxious. "n.o.body could possibly be strong enough to kill my Prince," she observed; "and as for Hyacinth, he will be quite safe, for Prince Amaryllis is much too nice to hurt any one!"
She proved to be right, for in another minute they saw the two Princes coming towards them arm in arm. And if this should seem extraordinary, it must be remembered that it all took place in an enchanted wood, where a witch had been making experiments for hundreds and hundreds of years.
"There was no necessity to kill him, dearest," cried Prince Hyacinth, "for he is somebody else"s Prince."
He held out his arms as he spoke, and into them ran Anemone, the Witch"s daughter, and of course there is no need to tell into whose arms the little Princess ran. After that, there was nothing to be heard in the wood except kissing, until the Witch suddenly stepped on the scenes.
"Cobwebs and broomsticks! What is the meaning of this?" she cried furiously.
Three of them turned round and faced her in an extremely nervous manner; for, after all, a witch is a witch, and they knew fast enough that she could turn them into any shape she pleased. The Princess Gentianella did not seem nervous, however.
"Why, you are the nice old lady I met in the field," she exclaimed.
"I believe I am," said the Witch, who had never been called a nice old lady in her life before, and was not quite sure how to take it.
"I have found my Prince, you see," continued the little Princess, smiling away as happily as possible.
"So it seems," said the Witch. She was afraid to say more than that, in case the Princess should find out who she was, and she thought she would like to be a nice old lady a little longer first.
"And have you found any one yet who has so brave a heart that the thistles cannot hurt it?" asked Princess Gentianella.
"I think I have," said the Witch.
"Then we have all found what we want," smiled Princess Gentianella, "and the Witch cannot surely be so unkind as to refuse to disenchant the kingdom, just because her daughter doesn"t want to marry my Prince! Do you think she can?"
The Witch dropped her thistles and held out her hands to the eager Princess. "My dear little girl," she said, "the kingdom was disenchanted the moment you came into it. As for the Witch, there is no Witch any longer, for she retired into private life as a nice old lady, just ten minutes ago. Now, as you all seem to have sorted yourselves the right way, the best thing you can do is to go off home as fast as you can."
No doubt that is where Anemone must have gone with her Prince, for when the little Princess looked round and found herself standing once more in her own garden, there was no one with her except Prince Amaryllis.
"_Now_ may I come and play in your garden?" asked Princess Gentianella, softly.
The Prince still shook his head. "I have a much better idea than that,"
he said; "we will pull down the wall and make it all into one garden."
The Tears of Princess Prunella
There is no doubt that the Princess Prunella would have been the most charming little girl on either side of the sun, if she had not been so exceedingly cross and discontented. She was as pretty as any one could wish to see, and as accomplished as all the gifts of Fairyland could make her; and she had every bit of happiness that the love of her parents and the wit of her fairy G.o.dmother could put in her way. And yet she grumbled and grumbled and grumbled!
"Can you not try to be happy, just for five minutes?" asked the Queen, in despair.
"How can you expect me to be happy, even for five minutes, when every five minutes is exactly like the last five minutes?" sighed the little Princess.
"It is tea-time, your Highness," said the head nurse, coaxingly, "and there are pink sugar cakes for tea!"
"There were pink sugar cakes yesterday," pouted the Princess. "There are always pink sugar cakes unless there are white sugar cakes, and I am equally tired of them both. Can you not tell me something new?"
"Let her go without her tea," said the King, who was rather tired of having such a cross little daughter. But the Queen only smiled.
"The child wants a change," she remarked. "It must be very dull to play alone all day."
"Dull!" exclaimed the King. "Why should it be dull? Has not her G.o.dmother given her such wonderful toys that they can play with her as well as be played with?" This was quite true, for the very ball that the Princess threw to the other end of the nursery could catch itself and throw itself back to her; and it is not every ball that can do that.
"What more can the child want?" demanded the King, crossly.
The Queen, however, thought there might be something more. "We must find her a playfellow," she said wisely.
"Stuff and nonsense!" protested the King. "Why should we bring any more crying children into the palace? However, you must do as you like, I suppose."
The King always told the Queen to do as she liked when he was tired of the conversation; so the Queen smiled again and issued a proclamation at once, to tell the whole world that the Princess Prunella wanted some one to play with, and would be ready to choose a playfellow that day week, at twelve o"clock in the morning. Now, it is not often that one gets a chance of playing with a King"s daughter, so it is no wonder that, when the Princess followed her royal parents into the great hall on the appointed day, she found it filled from end to end with all the little princes and princesses and all the little counts and countesses and all the little dukes and d.u.c.h.esses that the surrounding kingdoms could produce.
"I never had a more excellent idea," said the Queen, as she seated herself on the throne and looked down at the crowd of children.
"Prunella has talked of nothing else for a whole week, and she has not been heard to grumble once."
"That"s all very well," observed the King, a little uneasily; "but it is quite clear that she cannot play with them all, and who knows that so much disappointment will not lead to a war?"
The Queen did not answer but turned to her little daughter, who stood by her side. "Do not be in a hurry," she said to her. "So many faces are confusing at first, and you might regret it afterwards if you made a mistake."