The Christmas Books
by
William Makepeace Thackeray
Part 4 out of 5
infirmities, which, after all, may be no greater than our own. She
was kind to her nephew; and if she had any scruples of conscience
about her husband's taking the young Prince's crown, consoled
herself by thinking that the King, though a usurper, was a most
respectable man, and that at his death Prince Giglio would be
restored to his throne, and share it with his cousin, whom he loved
so fondly.
The Prime Minister was Glumboso, an old statesman, who most
cheerfully swore fidelity to King Valoroso, and in whose hands the
monarch left all the affairs of his kingdom. All Valoroso wanted
was plenty of money, plenty of hunting, plenty of flattery, and as
little trouble as possible. As long as he had his sport, this
monarch cared little how his people paid for it: he engaged in some
wars, and of course the Paflagonian newspapers announced that he
had gained prodigious victories: he had statues erected to himself
in every city of the empire; and of course his pictures placed
everywhere, and in all the print-shops: he was Valoroso the
Magnanimous, Valoroso the Victorious, Valoroso the Great, and so
forth;--for even in these early times courtiers and people knew how
to flatter.
This royal pair had one only child, the Princess Angelica, who, you
may be sure, was a paragon in the courtiers' eyes, in her parents',
and in her own. It was said she had the longest hair, the largest
eyes, the slimmest waist, the smallest foot, and the most lovely
complexion of any young lady in the Paflagonian dominions. Her
accomplishments were announced to be even superior to her beauty;
and governesses used to shame their idle pupils by telling them
what Princess Angelica could do. She could play the most difficult
pieces of music at sight. She could answer any one of "Mangnall's
Questions." She knew every date in the history of Paflagonia, and
every other country. She knew French, English, Italian, German,
Spanish, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Cappadocian, Samothracian, Aegean,
and Crim Tartar. In a word, she was a most accomplished young
creature; and her governess and lady-in-waiting was the severe
Countess Gruffanuff.
Would you not fancy, from this picture, that Gruffanuff must have
been a person of highest birth? She looks so haughty that I should
have thought her a princess at the very least, with a pedigree
reaching as far back as the Deluge. But this lady was no better
born than many other ladies who give themselves airs; and all
sensible people laughed at her absurd pretensions. The fact is,
she had been maid-servant to the Queen when her Majesty was only
Princess, and her husband had been head footman; but after his
death or DISAPPEARANCE, of which you shall hear presently, this
Mrs. Gruffanuff, by flattering, toadying, and wheedling her royal
mistress, became a favorite with the Queen (who was rather a weak
woman), and her Majesty gave her a title, and made her nursery
governess to the Princess.
And now I must tell you about the Princess's learning and
accomplishments, for which she had such a wonderful character.
Clever Angelica certainly was, but as IDLE AS POSSIBLE. Play at
sight, indeed! she could play one or two pieces, and pretend that
she had never seen them before; she could answer half a dozen
"Mangnall's Questions;" but then you must take care to ask the
RIGHT ones. As for her languages, she had masters in plenty, but I
doubt whether she knew more than a few phrases in each, for all her
presence; and as for her embroidery and her drawing, she showed
beautiful specimens, it is true, but WHO DID THEM?
This obliges me to tell the truth, and to do so I must go back ever
so far, and tell you about the FAIRY BLACKSTICK.
III. TELLS WHO THE FAIRY BLACKSTICK WAS, AND WHO WERE EVER SO MANY
GRAND PERSONAGES BESIDES.
Between the kingdoms of Paflagonia and Crim Tartary, there lived a
mysterious personage, who was known in those countries as the Fairy
Blackstick, from the ebony wand or crutch which she carried; on
which she rode to the moon sometimes, or upon other excursions of
business or pleasure, and with which she performed her wonders.
When she was young, and had been first taught the art of conjuring
by the necromancer, her father, she was always practicing her
skill, whizzing about from one kingdom to another upon her black
stick, and conferring her fairy favors upon this Prince or that.
She had scores of royal godchildren; turned numberless wicked
people into beasts, birds, millstones, clocks, pumps, boot jacks,
umbrellas, or other absurd shapes; and, in a word, was one of the
most active and officious of the whole college of fairies.
But after two or three thousand years of this sport, I suppose
Blackstick grew tired of it. Or perhaps she thought, "What good am
I doing by sending this Princess to sleep for a hundred years? by
fixing a black pudding on to that booby's nose? by causing diamonds
and pearls to drop from one little girl's mouth, and vipers and
toads from another's? I begin to think I do as much harm as good
by my performances. I might as well shut my incantations up, and
allow things to take their natural course.
"There were my two young goddaughters, King Savio's wife, and Duke
Padella's wife: I gave them each a present, which was to render
them charming in the eyes of their husbands, and secure the
affection of those gentlemen as long as they lived. What good did
my Rose and my Ring do these two women? None on earth. From
having all their whims indulged by their husbands, they became
capricious, lazy, ill-humored, absurdly vain, and leered and
languished, and fancied themselves irresistibly beautiful, when
they were really quite old and hideous, the ridiculous creatures!
They used actually to patronise me when I went to pay them a visit--
ME, the Fairy Blackstick, who knows all the wisdom of the
necromancers, and could have turned them into baboons, and all
their diamonds into strings of onions, by a single wave of my rod!"
So she locked up her books in her cupboard, declined further
magical performances, and scarcely used her wand at all except as a
cane to walk about with.
So when Duke Padella's lady had a little son (the Duke was at that
time only one of the principal noblemen in Crim Tartary), Blackstick,
although invited to the christening, would not so much as attend;
but merely sent her compliments and a silver papboat for the baby,
which was really not worth a couple of guineas. About the same time
the Queen of Paflagonia presented his Majesty with a son and heir;
and guns were fired, the capital illuminated, and no end of feasts
ordained to celebrate the young Prince's birth. It was thought the
fairy, who was asked to be his godmother, would at least have
presented him with an invisible jacket, a flying horse, a
Fortunatus's purse, or some other valuable token of her favor; but
instead, Blackstick went up to the cradle of the child Giglio, when
everybody was admiring him and complimenting his royal papa and
mamma, and said, "My poor child, the best thing I can send you is a
little MISFORTUNE;" and this was all she would utter, to the disgust
of Giglio's parents, who died very soon after, when Giglio's uncle
took the throne, as we read in Chapter I.
In like manner, when CAVOLFIORE, King of Crim Tartary, had a
christening of his only child, ROSALBA, the Fairy Blackstick, who
had been invited, was not more gracious than in Prince Giglio's
case. Whilst everybody was expatiating over the beauty of the
darling child, and congratulating its parents, the Fairy Blackstick
looked very sadly at the baby and its mother, and said, "My good
woman (for the Fairy was very familiar, and no more minded a Queen
than a washerwoman)--my good woman, these people who are following
you will be the first to turn against you; and as for this little
lady, the best thing I can wish her is a LITTLE MISFORTUNE." So
she touched Rosalba with her black wand, looked severely at the
courtiers, motioned the Queen an adieu with her hand, and sailed
slowly up into the air out of the window.
When she was gone, the Court people, who had been awed and silent
in her presence, began to speak. "What an odious Fairy she is"
(they said)--"a pretty Fairy, indeed! Why, she went to the King of
Paflagonia's christening, and pretended to do all sorts of things
for that family; and what has happened--the Prince, her godson, has
been turned off his throne by his uncle. Would we allow our sweet
Princess to be deprived of her rights by any enemy? Never, never,
never, never!"
And they all shouted in a chorus, "Never, never, never, never!"
Now, I should like to know, and how did these fine courtiers show
their fidelity? One of King Cavolfiore's vassals, the Duke Padella
just mentioned, rebelled against the King, who went out to chastise
his rebellious subject. "Any one rebel against our beloved and
august Monarch!" cried the courtiers; "any one resist HIM? Pooh!
He is invincible, irresistible. He will bring home Padella a
prisoner, and tie him to a donkey's tail, and drive him round the
town, saying, 'This is the way the Great Cavolfiore treats
rebels.'"
The King went forth to vanquish Padella; and the poor Queen, who
was a very timid, anxious creature, grew so frightened and ill that
I am sorry to say she died; leaving injunctions with her ladies to
take care of the dear little Rosalba. Of course they said they
would. Of course they vowed they would die rather than any harm
should happen to the Princess. At first the Crim Tartar Court
Journal stated that the King was obtaining great victories over the
audacious rebel: then it was announced that the troops of the
infamous Padella were in flight: then it was said that the royal
army would soon come up with the enemy, and then--then the news
came that King Cavolfiore was vanquished and slain by his Majesty,
King Padella the First!
At this news, half the courtiers ran off to pay their duty to the
conquering chief, and the other half ran away, laying hands on all
the best articles in the palace; and poor little Rosalba was left
there quite alone--quite alone: she toddled from one room to
another, crying, "Countess! Duchess!" (only she said "Tountess,
Duttess," not being able to speak plain) "bring me my mutton-sop;
my Royal Highness hungy! Tountess! Duttess!" And she went from
the private apartments into the throne-room and nobody was there;--
and thence into the ballroom and nobody was there;--and thence into
the pages' room and nobody was there; --and she toddled down the
great staircase into the hall and nobody was there;--and the door
was open, and she went into the court, and into the garden, and
thence into the wilderness, and thence into the forest where the
wild beasts live, and was never heard of any more!
A piece of her torn mantle and one of her shoes were found in the
wood in the mouths of two lionesses' cubs whom KING PADELLA and a
royal hunting party shot--for he was King now, and reigned over
Crim Tartary. "So the poor little Princess is done for," said he;
"well, what's done can't be helped. Gentlemen, let us go to
luncheon!" And one of the courtiers took up the shoe and put it in
his pocket. And there was an end of Rosalba!
IV. HOW BLACKSTICK WAS NOT ASKED TO THE PRINCESS ANGELICA'S
CHRISTENING.
When the Princess Angelica was born, her parents not only did not
ask the Fairy Blackstick to the christening party, but gave orders
to their porter absolutely to refuse her if she called. This
porter's name was Gruffanuff, and he had been selected for the post
by their Royal Highnesses because he was a very tall fierce man,
who could say "Not at home" to a tradesman or an unwelcome visitor
with a rudeness which frightened most such persons away. He was
the husband of that Countess whose picture we have just seen, and
as long as they were together they quarrelled from morning till
night. Now this fellow tried his rudeness once too often, as you
shall hear. For the Fairy Blackstick coming to call upon the
Prince and Princess, who were actually sitting at the open drawing-
room window, Gruffanuff not only denied them, but made the most
ODIOUS VULGAR SIGN as he was going to slam the door in the Fairy's
face! "Git away, hold Blackstick!" said he. "I tell you, Master
and Missis ain't at home to you;" and he was, as we have said,
GOING to slam the door.
But the Fairy, with her wand, prevented the door being shut; and
Gruffanuff came out again in a fury, swearing in the most
abominable way, and asking the Fairy "whether she thought he was
a-going to stay at that there door hall day?"
"You ARE going to stay at that door all day and all night, and for
many a long year," the Fairy said, very majestically; and
Gruffanuff, coming out of the door, straddling before it with his
great calves, burst out laughing, and cried, "Ha, ha, ha! this IS a
good un! Ha--ah--what's this? Let me down--oh--o--h'm!" and then
he was dumb!
For, as the Fairy waved her wand over him, he felt himself rising
off the ground, and fluttering up against the door, and then, as if
a screw ran into his stomach, he felt a dreadful pain there, and
was pinned to the door; and then his arms flew up over his head;
and his legs, after writhing about wildly, twisted under his body;
and he felt cold, cold, growing over him, as if he was turning into
metal; and he said, "Oh--o--h'm!" and could say no more, because he
was dumb.
He WAS turned into metal! He was, from being BRAZEN, BRASS! He
was neither more nor less than a knocker! And there he was, nailed
to the door in the blazing summer day, till he burned almost red-
hot; and there he was, nailed to the door all the bitter winter
nights, till his brass nose was dropping with icicles. And the
postman came and rapped at him, and the vulgarest boy with a letter
came and hit him up against the door. And the King and Queen
(Princess and Prince they were then) coming home from a walk that
evening, the King said, "Hullo, my dear! you have had a new knocker
put on the door. Why, it's rather like our porter in the face!
What has become of that boozy vagabond?" And the housemaid came
and scrubbed his nose with sand-paper; and once, when the Princess
Angelica's little sister was born, he was tied up in an old kid-
glove; and, another night, some LARKING young men tried to wrench
him off, and put him to the most excruciating agony with a turn
screw. And then the Queen had a fancy to have the color of the
door altered; and the painters dabbed him over the mouth and eyes,
and nearly choked him, as they painted him pea-green. I warrant he
had leisure to repent of having been rude to the Fairy Blackstick!
As for his wife, she did not miss him; and as he was always
guzzling beer at the public-house, and notoriously quarrelling with
his wife, and in debt to the tradesmen, it was supposed he had run
away from all these evils, and emigrated to Australia or America.
And when the Prince and Princess chose to become King and Queen,
they left their old house, and nobody thought of the porter any
more.
V. HOW PRINCESS ANGELICA TOOK A LITTLE MAID.
One day, when the Princess Angelica was quite a little girl, she
was walking in the garden of the palace, with Mrs. Gruffanuff, the
governess, holding a parasol over her head, to keep her sweet
complexion from the freckles, and Angelica was carrying a bun, to
feed the swans and ducks in the royal pond.
They had not reached the duck-pond, when there came toddling up to
them such a funny little girl! She had a great quantity of hair
blowing about her chubby little cheeks, and looked as if she had
not been washed or combed for ever so long. She wore a ragged bit
of a cloak, and had only one shoe on.
"You little wretch, who let you in here?" asked Mrs. Gruffanuff.
"Div me dat bun," said the little girl, "me vely hungy."
"Hungry! what is that?" asked Princess Angelica, and gave the child
the bun.
"Oh, Princess!" says Mrs. Gruffanuff, "how good, how kind, how
truly angelical you are! See, Your Majesties," she said to the
King and Queen, who now came up, along with their nephew, Prince
Giglio, "how kind the Princess is! She met this little dirty
wretch in the garden--I can't tell how she came in here, or why the
guards did not shoot her dead at the gate!--and the dear darling of
a Princess has given her the whole of her bun!"
"I didn't want it," said Angelica.
"But you are a darling little angel all the same," says the
governess.
"Yes; I know I am," said Angelica. "Dirty little girl, don't you
think I am very pretty?" Indeed, she had on the finest of little
dresses and hats; and, as her hair was carefully curled, she really
looked very well.
"Oh, pooty, pooty!" says the little girl, capering about, laughing,
and dancing, and munching her bun; and as she ate it she began to
sing, "O what fun to have a plum bun! how I wis it never was done!"
At which, and her funny accent, Angelica, Giglio, and the King and
Queen began to laugh very merrily.
"I can dance as well as sing," says the little girl. "I can dance,
and I can sing, and I can do all sorts of ting." And she ran to a
flower-bed, and pulling a few polyanthuses, rhododendrons, and
other flowers, made herself a little wreath, and danced before the
King and Queen so drolly and prettily, that everybody was delighted.
"Who was your mother--who were your relations, little girl?" said
the Queen.
The little girl said, "Little lion was my brudder; great big
lioness my mudder; neber heard of any udder." And she capered away
on her one shoe, and everybody was exceedingly diverted.
So Angelica said to the Queen, "Mamma, my parrot flew away
yesterday out of its cage, and I don't care any more for any of my
toys; and I think this funny little dirty child will amuse me. I
will take her home, and give her some of my old frocks--"
"Oh, the generous darling!" says Mrs. Gruffanuff.
"--Which I have worn ever so many times, and am quite tired of,"
Angelica went on; "and she shall be my little maid. Will you come
home with me, little dirty girl?"
The child clapped her hands, and said, "Go home with you--yes! You
pooty Princess! Have a nice dinner, and wear a new dress!"
And they all laughed again, and took home the child to the palace,
where, when she was washed and combed, and had one of the
Princess's frocks given to her, she looked as handsome as Angelica,
almost. Not that Angelica ever thought so; for this little lady
never imagined that anybody in the world could be as pretty, as
good, or as clever as herself. In order that the little girl
should not become too proud and conceited, Mrs. Gruffanuff took her
old ragged mantle and one shoe, and put them into a glass box, with
a card laid upon them, upon which was written, "These were the old
clothes in which little BETSINDA was found when the great goodness
and admirable kindness of Her Royal Highness the Princess Angelica
received this little outcast." And the date was added, and the box
locked up.
For a while little Betsinda was a great favorite with the Princess,
and she danced, and sang, and made her little rhymes, to amuse her
mistress. But then the Princess got a monkey, and afterwards a
little dog, and afterwards a doll, and did not care for Betsinda
any more, who became very melancholy and quiet, and sang no more
funny songs, because nobody cared to hear her. And then, as she
grew older, she was made a little lady's-maid to the Princess; and
though she had no wages, she worked and mended, and put Angelica's
hair in papers, and was never cross when scolded, and was always
eager to please her mistress, and was always up early and to bed
late, and at hand when wanted, and in fact became a perfect little
maid. So the two girls grew up, and, when the Princess came out,
Betsinda was never tired of waiting on her; and made her dresses
better than the best milliner, and was useful in a hundred ways.
Whilst the Princess was having her masters, Betsinda would sit and
watch them; and in this way she picked up a great deal of learning;
for she was always awake, though her mistress was not, and listened
to the wise professors when Angelica was yawning or thinking of the
next ball. And when the dancing-master came, Betsinda learned
along with Angelica; and when the music-master came, she watched
him, and practiced the Princess's pieces when Angelica was away at
balls and parties; and when the drawing-master came, she took note
of all he said and did; and the same with French, Italian, and all
other languages--she learned them from the teacher who came to
Angelica. When the Princess was going out of an evening she would
say, "My good Betsinda, you may as well finish what I have begun."
"Yes, miss," Betsinda would say, and sit down very cheerful, not to
FINISH what Angelica began, but to DO it.
For instance, the Princess would begin a head of a warrior, let us
say, and when it was begun it was something like this:
But when it was done, the warrior was like this:--(only handsomer
still if possible), and the Princess put her name to the drawing;
and the Court and King and Queen, and above all poor Giglio,
admired the picture of all things, and said, "Was there ever a
genius like Angelica?" So, I am sorry to say, was it with the
Princess's embroidery and other accomplishments; and Angelica
actually believed that she did these things herself, and received
all the flattery of the Court as if every word of it was true.
Thus she began to think that there was no young woman in all the
world equal to herself, and that no young man was good enough for
her. As for Betsinda, as she heard none of these praises, she was
not puffed up by them, and being a most grateful, good-natured
girl, she was only too anxious to do everything which might give
her mistress pleasure. Now you begin to perceive that Angelica had
faults of her own, and was by no means such a wonder of wonders as
people represented Her Royal Highness to be.
VI. HOW PRINCE GIGLIO BEHAVED HIMSELF.
And now let us speak about Prince Giglio, the nephew of the
reigning monarch of Paflagonia. It has already been stated, in
page seven, that as long as he had a smart coat to wear, a good
horse to ride, and money in his pocket, or rather to take out of
his pocket, for he was very good-natured, my young Prince did not
care for the loss of his crown and sceptre, being a thoughtless
youth, not much inclined to politics or any kind of learning. So
his tutor had a sinecure. Giglio would not learn classics or
mathematics, and the Lord Chancellor of Paflagonia, SQUARETOSO,
pulled a very long face because the Prince could not be got to
study the Paflagonian laws and constitution; but, on the other
hand, the King's gamekeepers and huntsmen found the Prince an apt
pupil; the dancing-master pronounced that he was a most elegant and
assiduous scholar; the First Lord of the Billiard Table gave the
most flattering reports of the Prince's skill; so did the Groom of
the Tennis Court; and as for the Captain of the Guard and Fencing-
master, the VALIANT and VETERAN Count KUTASOFF HEDZOFF, he avowed
that since he ran the General of Crim Tartary, the dreadful
Grumbuskin, through the body, he never had encountered so expert a
swordsman as Prince Giglio.
I hope you do not imagine that there was any impropriety in the
Prince and Princess walking together in the palace garden, and
because Giglio kissed Angelica's hand in a polite manner. In the
first place they are cousins; next, the Queen is walking in the
garden too (you cannot see her, for she happens to be behind that
tree), and her Majesty always wished that Angelica and Giglio
should marry: so did Giglio: so did Angelica sometimes, for she
thought her cousin very handsome, brave, and good-natured: but then
you know she was so clever and knew so many things, and poor Giglio
knew nothing, and had no conversation. When they looked at the
stars, what did Giglio know of the heavenly bodies? Once, when on
a sweet night in a balcony where they were standing, Angelica said,
"There is the Bear." "Where?" says Giglio. "Don't be afraid,
Angelica! if a dozen bears come, I will kill them rather than they
shall hurt you." "Oh, you silly creature!" says she; "you are very
good, but you are not very wise." When they looked at the flowers,
Giglio was utterly unacquainted with botany, and had never heard of
Linnaeus. When the butterflies passed, Giglio knew nothing about
them, being as ignorant of entomology as I am of algebra. So you
see, Angelica, though she liked Giglio pretty well, despised him on
account of his ignorance. I think she probably valued HER OWN
LEARNING rather too much; but to think too well of one's self is
the fault of people of all ages and both sexes. Finally, when
nobody else was there, Angelica liked her cousin well enough.
King Valoroso was very delicate in health, and withal so fond of
good dinners (which were prepared for him by his French cook
Marmitonio), that it was supposed he could not live long. Now the
idea of anything happening to the King struck the artful Prime
Minister and the designing old lady-in-waiting with terror. For,
thought Glumboso and the Countess, "when Prince Giglio marries his
cousin and comes to the throne, what a pretty position we shall be
in, whom he dislikes, and who have always been unkind to him. We
shall lose our places in a trice; Mrs. Gruffanuff will have to give
up all the jewels, laces, snuff-boxes, rings, and watches which
belonged to the Queen, Giglio's mother; and Glumboso will be forced
to refund two hundred and seventeen thousand millions nine hundred
and eighty-seven thousand four hundred and thirty-nine pounds,
thirteen shillings, and sixpence halfpenny, money left to Prince
Giglio by his poor dear father."
So the Lady of Honor and the Prime Minister hated Giglio because
they had done him a wrong; and these unprincipled people invented a
hundred cruel stories about poor Giglio, in order to influence the
King, Queen, and Princess against him; how he was so ignorant that
he could not spell the commonest words, and actually wrote Valoroso
Valloroso, and spelt Angelica with two l's; how he drank a great
deal too much wine at dinner, and was always idling in the stables
with the grooms; how he owed ever so much money at the pastry-
cook's and the haberdasher's; how he used to go to sleep at church;
how he was fond of playing cards with the pages. So did the Queen
like playing cards; so did the King go to sleep at church, and eat
and drink too much; and, if Giglio owed a trifle for tarts, who
owed him two hundred and seventeen thousand millions nine hundred
and eighty-seven thousand four hundred and thirty-nine pounds,
thirteen shillings, and sixpence halfpenny, I should like to know?
Detractors and tale-bearers (in my humble opinion) had much better
look at HOME. All this backbiting and slandering had effect upon
Princess Angelica, who began to look coldly on her cousin, then to
laugh at him and scorn him for being so stupid, then to sneer at
him for having vulgar associates; and at Court balls, dinners, and
so forth, to treat him so unkindly that poor Giglio became quite
ill, took to his bed, and sent for the doctor.
His Majesty King Valoroso, as we have seen, had his own reasons for
disliking his nephew; and as for those innocent readers who ask
why?--I beg (with the permission of their dear parents) to refer
them to Shakespeare's pages, where they will read why King John
disliked Prince Arthur. With the Queen, his royal but weak-minded
aunt, when Giglio was out of sight he was out of mind. While she
had her whist and her evening parties, she cared for little else.
I dare say TWO VILLAINS, who shall be nameless, wished Doctor
Pildrafto, the Court Physician, had killed Giglio right out, but he
only bled and physicked him so severely that the Prince was kept to
his room for several months, and grew as thin as a post.
Whilst he was lying sick in this way, there came to the Court of
Paflagonia a famous painter, whose name was Tomaso Lorenzo, and who
was Painter in Ordinary to the King of Crim Tartary, Paflagonia's
neighbor. Tomaso Lorenzo painted all the Court, who were delighted
with his works; for even Countess Gruffanuff looked young and
Glumboso good-humored in his pictures. "He flatters very much,"
some people said. "Nay!" says Princess Angelica, "I am above
flattery, and I think he did not make my picture handsome enough.
I can't bear to hear a man of genius unjustly cried down, and I
hope my dear papa will make Lorenzo a knight of his Order of the
Cucumber."
The Princess Angelica, although the courtiers vowed Her Royal
Highness could draw so BEAUTIFULLY that the idea of her taking
lessons was absurd, yet chose to have Lorenzo for a teacher, and it
was wonderful, AS LONG AS SHE PAINTED IN HIS STUDIO, what beautiful
pictures she made! Some of the performances were engraved for the
"Book of Beauty:" others were sold for enormous sums at Charity
Bazaars. She wrote the SIGNATURES under the drawings, no doubt,
but I think I know who did the pictures--this artful painter, who
had come with other designs on Angelica than merely to teach her to
draw.
One day, Lorenzo showed the Princess a portrait of a young man in
armor, with fair hair and the loveliest blue eyes, and an
expression at once melancholy and interesting.
"Dear Signor Lorenzo, who is this?" asked the Princess. "I never
saw anyone so handsome," says Countess Gruffanuff (the old humbug).
"That," said the painter, "that, Madam, is the portrait of my
august young master, his Royal Highness Bulbo, Crown Prince of Crim
Tartary, Duke of Acroceraunia, Marquis of Poluphloisboio, and
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Pumpkin. That is the Order
of the Pumpkin glittering on his manly breast, and received by His
Royal Highness from his august father, his Majesty King PADELLA I.,
for his gallantry at the battle of Rimbombamento, when he slew with
his own princely hand the King of Ograria and two hundred and
eleven giants of the two hundred and eighteen who formed the King's
bodyguard. The remainder were destroyed by the brave Crim Tartar
army after an obstinate combat, in which the Crim Tartars suffered
severely."
"What a Prince!" thought Angelica: "so brave--so calm-looking--so
young--what a hero!"
"He is as accomplished as he is brave," continued the Court
Painter. "He knows all languages perfectly: sings deliciously:
plays every instrument: composes operas which have been acted a
thousand nights running at the Imperial Theatre of Crim Tartary,
and danced in a ballet there before the King and Queen; in which he
looked so beautiful, that his cousin, the lovely daughter of the
King of Circassia, died for love of him."
"Why did he not marry the poor Princess?" asked Angelica, with a
sigh.
"Because they were FIRST COUSINS, Madam, and the clergy forbid
these unions," said the Painter. "And, besides, the young Prince
had given his royal heart ELSEWHERE."
"And to whom?" asked Her Royal Highness.
"I am not at liberty to mention the Princess's name," answered the
Painter.
"But you may tell me the first letter of it," gasped out the
Princess.
"That Your Royal Highness is at liberty to guess," said Lorenzo.
"Does it begin with a Z?" asked Angelica.
The Painter said it wasn't a Z; then she tried a Y; then an X; then
a W, and went so backwards through almost the whole alphabet.
When she came to D, and it wasn't D, she grew very excited; when
she came to C, and it wasn't C, she was still more nervous; when
she came to B, AND IT WASN'T B, "Oh dearest Gruffanuff," she said,
"lend me your smelling-bottle!" and, hiding her head in the
Countess's shoulder, she faintly whispered, "Ah, Signor, can it be
A?"
"It was A; and though I may not, by my Royal Master's orders, tell
Your Royal Highness the Princess's name, whom he fondly, madly,
devotedly, rapturously loves, I may show you her portrait," says
this slyboots: and leading the Princess up to a gilt frame, he drew
a curtain which was before it.
O goodness! the frame contained A LOOKING-GLASS! and Angelica saw
her own face!
VII. HOW GIGLIO AND ANGELICA HAD A QUARREL.
The Court Painter of his Majesty the King of Crim Tartary returned
to that monarch's dominions, carrying away a number of sketches
which he had made in the Paflagonian capital (you know, of course,
my dears, that the name of that capital is Blombodinga); but the
most charming of all his pieces was a portrait of the Princess
Angelica, which all the Crim Tartar nobles came to see. With this
work the King was so delighted, that he decorated the Painter with
his Order of the Pumpkin (sixth class) and the artist became Sir
Tomaso Lorenzo, K.P., thenceforth.
King Valoroso also sent Sir Tomaso his Order of the Cucumber,
besides a handsome order for money, for he painted the King, Queen,
and principal nobility while at Blombodinga, and became all the
fashion, to the perfect rage of all the artists in Paflagonia,
where the King used to point to the portrait of Prince Bulbo, which
Sir Tomaso had left behind him, and say "Which among you can paint
a picture like that?"
It hung in the royal parlor over the royal sideboard, and Princess
Angelica could always look at it as she sat making the tea. Each
day it seemed to grow handsomer and handsomer, and the Princess
grew so fond of looking at it, that she would often spill the tea
over the cloth, at which her father and mother would wink and wag
their heads; and say to each other, "Aha! we see how things are
going."
In the meantime poor Giglio lay upstairs very sick in his chamber,
though he took all the doctor's horrible medicines like a good
young lad: as I hope YOU do, my dears, when you are ill and mamma
sends for the medical man. And the only person who visited Giglio
(besides his friend the captain of the guard, who was almost always
busy or on parade), was little Betsinda the housemaid, who used to
do his bedroom and sitting-room out, bring him his gruel, and warm
his bed.
When the little housemaid came to him in the morning and evening,
Prince Giglio used to say, "Betsinda, Betsinda, how is the Princess
Angelica?"
And Betsinda used to answer, "The Princess is very well, thank you,
my Lord." And Giglio would heave a sigh, and think, "If Angelica
were sick, I am sure I should not be very well."
Then Giglio would say, "Betsinda, has the Princess Angelica asked
for me today?" And Betsinda would answer, "No, my Lord, not
today"; or, "She was very busy practicing the piano when I saw
her"; or, "She was writing invitations for an evening party, and
did not speak to me"; or make some excuse or other, not strictly
consonant with truth: for Betsinda was such a good-natured creature
that she strove to do everything to prevent annoyance to Prince
Giglio, and even brought him up roast chicken and jellies from the
kitchen (when the Doctor allowed them, and Giglio was getting
better), saying, "that the Princess had made the jelly, or the
bread-sauce, with her own hands, on purpose for Giglio."
When Giglio heard this he took heart and began to mend immediately;
and gobbled up all the jelly, and picked the last bone of the
chicken--drumsticks, merry-thought, sides'-bones, back, pope's
nose, and all--thanking his dear Angelica; and he felt so much
better the next day, that he dressed and went downstairs--where,
whom should he meet but Angelica going into the drawing-room? All
the covers were off the chairs, the chandeliers taken out of the
bags, the damask curtains uncovered, the work and things carried
away, and the handsomest albums on the tables. Angelica had her
hair in papers: in a word, it was evident there was going to be a
party.
"Heavens, Giglio!" cries Angelica: "YOU here in such a dress! What
a figure you are!"
"Yes, dear Angelica, I am come downstairs, and feel so well today,
thanks to the FOWL and the JELLY."
"What do I know about fowls and jellies, that you allude to them in
that rude way?" says Angelica.
"Why, didn't--didn't you send them, Angelica dear?" says Giglio.
"I send them indeed! Angelica dear! No, Giglio dear," says she,
mocking him, "I was engaged in getting the rooms ready for His
Royal Highness the Prince of Crim Tartary, who is coming to pay my
papa's Court a visit."
"The--Prince--of--Crim--Tartary!" Giglio said, aghast.
"Yes, the Prince of Crim Tartary," says Angelica, mocking him. "I
dare say you never heard of such a country. What DID you ever hear
of? You don't know whether Crim Tartary is on the Red Sea or on
the Black Sea, I dare say."
"Yes, I do: it's on the Red Sea," says Giglio; at which the
Princess burst out laughing at him, and said, "Oh, you ninny! You
are so ignorant, you are really not fit for society! You know
nothing but about horses and dogs, and are only fit to dine in a
mess-room with my Royal Father's heaviest dragoons. Don't look so
surprised at me, sir: go and put your best clothes on to receive
the Prince, and let me get the drawing-room ready."
Giglio said, "Oh, Angelica, Angelica, I didn't think this of you.
THIS wasn't your language to me when you gave me this ring, and I
gave you mine in the garden, and you gave me that k--"
But what k-- was we never shall know, for Angelica, in a rage,
cried, "Get out, you saucy, rude creature! How dare you to remind
me of your rudeness? As for your little trumpery twopenny ring,
there, sir--there!" And she flung it out of the window.
"It was my mother's marriage-ring," cried Giglio.
"I don't care whose marriage-ring it was," cries Angelica. "Marry
the person who picks it up if she's a woman; you shan't marry ME.
And give me back MY ring. I've no patience with people who boast
about the things they give away! I know who'll give me much finer
things than you ever gave me. A beggarly ring indeed, not worth
five shillings!"
Now Angelica little knew that the ring which Giglio had given her
was a fairy ring; if a man wore it, it made all the women in love
with him; if a woman, all the gentlemen. The Queen, Giglio's
mother, quite an ordinary-looking person, was admired immensely
whilst she wore this ring, and her husband was frantic when she was
ill. But when she called her little Giglio to her, and put the
ring on his finger, King Savio did not seem to care for his wife so
much any more, but transferred all his love to little Giglio. So
did everybody love him as long as he had the ring; but when, as
quite a child, he gave it to Angelica, people began to love and
admire HER; and Giglio, as the saying is, played only second
fiddle.
"Yes," says Angelica, going on in her foolish ungrateful way. "I
know who'll give me much finer things than your beggarly little
pearl nonsense."
"Very good, miss! You may take back your ring too!" says Giglio,
his eyes flashing fire at her, and then, as his eyes had been
suddenly opened, he cried out, "Ha! what does this mean? Is THIS
the woman I have been in love with all my life? Have I been such a
ninny as to throw away my regard upon you? Why--actually--yes--you
are a little crooked!"
"Oh, you wretch!" cries Angelica.
"And, upon my conscience, you--you squint a little."
"Eh!" cries Angelica.
"And your hair is red--and you are marked with the smallpox--and
what? you have three false teeth--and one leg shorter than the
other!"
"You brute, you brute, you!" Angelica screamed out: and as she
seized the ring with one hand, she dealt Giglio one, two, three
smacks on the face, and would have pulled the hair off his head had
he not started laughing, and crying,
"Oh dear me, Angelica, don't pull out MY hair, it hurts! You might
remove a great deal of YOUR OWN, as I perceive, without scissors or
pulling at all. Oh, ho, ho! ha, ha, ha! he he he!"
And he nearly choked himself with laughing, and she with rage;
when, with a low bow, and dressed in his Court habit, Count
Gambabella, the first lord-in-waiting, entered and said, "Royal
Highnesses! Their Majesties expect you in the Pink Throne-room,
where they await the arrival of the Prince of CRIM TARTARY."
VIII. HOW GRUFFANUFF PICKED THE FAIRY RING UP, AND PRINCE BULBO
CAME TO COURT.
Prince Bulbo's arrival had set all the court in a flutter:
everybody was ordered to put his or her best clothes on: the
footmen had their gala liveries; the Lord Chancellor his new wig;
the Guards their last new tunics; and Countess Gruffanuff, you may
be sure, was glad of an opportunity of decorating HER old person
with her finest things. She was walking through the court of the
Palace on her way to wait upon their Majesties, when she espied
something glittering on the pavement, and bade the boy in buttons
who was holding up her train, to go and pick up the article shining
yonder. He was an ugly little wretch, in some of the late groom-
porter's old clothes cut down, and much too tight for him; and yet,
when he had taken up the ring (as it turned out to be), and was
carrying it to his mistress, she thought he looked like a little
cupid. He gave the ring to her; it was a trumpery little thing
enough, but too small for any of her old knuckles, so she put it
into her pocket.
"Oh, mum!" says the boy, looking at her "how--how beyoutiful you do
look, mum, to-day, mum!"
"And you, too, Jacky," she was going to say; but, looking down at
him--no, he was no longer good-looking at all--but only the
carroty-haired little Jacky of the morning. However, praise is
welcome from the ugliest of men or boys, and Gruffanuff, bidding
the boy hold up her train, walked on in high good-humor. The
Guards saluted her with peculiar respect. Captain Hedzoff, in the
anteroom, said, "My dear madam, you look like an angel today." And
so, bowing and smirking, Gruffanuff went in and took her place
behind her Royal Master and Mistress, who were in the throne-room,
awaiting the Prince of Crim Tartary. Princess Angelica sat at
their feet, and behind the King's chair stood Prince Giglio,
looking very savage.
The Prince of Crim Tartary made his appearance, attended by Baron
Sleibootz, his chamberlain, and followed by a black page carrying
the most beautiful crown you ever saw! He was dressed in his
travelling costume, and his hair, as you see, was a little in
disorder. "I have ridden three hundred miles since breakfast,"
said he, "so eager was I to behold the Prin--the Court and august
family of Paflagonia, and I could not wait one minute before
appearing in Your Majesties' presences."
Giglio, from behind the throne, burst out into a roar of
contemptuous laughter; but all the Royal party, in fact, were so
flurried, that they did not hear this little outbreak. "Your R. H.
is welcome in any dress," says the King. "Glumboso, a chair for
His Royal Highness."
"Any dress His Royal Highness wears IS a Court-dress," says
Princess Angelica, smiling graciously.
"Ah! but you should see my other clothes," said the Prince. "I
should have had them on, but that stupid carrier has not brought
them. Who's that laughing?"
It was Giglio laughing. "I was laughing," he said, "because you
said just now that you were in such a hurry to see the Princess,
that you could not wait to change your dress; and now you say you
come in those clothes because you have no others."
"And who are you?" says Prince Bulbo, very fiercely.
"My father was King of this country, and I am his only son,
Prince!" replies Giglio, with equal haughtiness.
"Ha!" said the King and Glumboso, looking very flurried; but the
former, collecting himself, said, "Dear Prince Bulbo, I forgot to
introduce to Your Royal Highness my dear nephew, His Royal Highness
Prince Giglio! Know each other! Embrace each other! Giglio, give
His Royal Highness your hand!" and Giglio, giving his hand,
squeezed poor Bulbo's until the tears ran out of his eyes.
Glumboso now brought a chair for the Royal visitor, and placed it
on the platform on which the King, Queen, and Prince were seated;
but the chair was on the edge of the platform, and as Bulbo sat
down, it toppled over, and he with it, rolling over and over, and
bellowing like a bull. Giglio roared still louder at this
disaster, but it was with laughter; so did all the Court when
Prince Bulbo got up; for though when he entered the room he
appeared not very ridiculous, as he stood up from his fall for a
moment he looked so exceedingly plain and foolish, that nobody
could help laughing at him. When he had entered the room, he was
observed to carry a rose in his hand, which fell out of it as he
tumbled.
"My rose! my rose!" cried Bulbo; and his chamberlain dashed
forwards and picked it up, and gave it to the Prince, who put it in
his waistcoat. Then people wondered why they had laughed; there
was nothing particularly ridiculous in him. He was rather short,
rather stout, rather red-haired, but, in fine, for a Prince, not so
bad.
So they sat and talked, the Royal personages together, the Crim
Tartar officers with those of Paflagonia--Giglio very comfortable
with Gruffanuff behind the throne. He looked at her with such
tender eyes, that her heart was all in a flutter. "Oh, dear
Prince," she said, "how could you speak so haughtily in presence of
Their Majesties? I protest I thought I should have fainted."
"I should have caught you in my arms," said Giglio, looking
raptures.
"Why were you so cruel to Prince Bulbo, dear Prince?" says Gruff.
"Because I hate him," says Gil.
"You are jealous of him, and still love poor Angelica," cries
Gruffanuff, putting her handkerchief to her eyes.
"I did, but I love her no more!" Giglio cried. "I despise her!
Were she heiress to twenty thousand thrones, I would despise her
and scorn her. But why speak of thrones? I have lost mine. I am
too weak to recover it--I am alone, and have no friend."
"Oh, say not so, dear Prince!" says Gruffanuff.
"Besides," says he, "I am so happy here BEHIND THE THRONE, that I
would not change my place, no, not for the throne of the world!"
"What are you two people chattering about there?" says the Queen,
who was rather good-natured, though not over-burthened with wisdom.
"It is time to dress for dinner. Giglio, show Prince Bulbo to his
room. Prince, if your clothes have not come, we shall be very
happy to see you as you are." But when Prince Bulbo got to his
bedroom, his luggage was there and unpacked; and the hairdresser
coming in, cut and curled him entirely to his own satisfaction; and
when the dinner-bell rang, the Royal company had not to wait above
five-and-twenty minutes until Bulbo appeared, during which time the
King, who could not bear to wait, grew as sulky as possible. As
for Giglio, he never left Madam Gruffanuff all this time, but stood
with her in the embrasure of a window, paying her compliments. At
length the Groom of the Chambers announced His Royal Highness the
Prince of Crim Tartary! and the noble company went into the royal
dining-room. It was quite a small party; only the King and Queen,
the Princess, whom Bulbo took out, the two Princes, Countess
Gruffanuff, Glumboso the Prime Minister, and Prince Bulbo's
chamberlain. You may be sure they had a very good dinner--let
every boy or girl think of what he or she likes best, and fancy it
on the table.*
* Here a very pretty game may be played by all the children saying
what they like best for dinner.
The Princess talked incessantly all dinner-time to the Prince of
Crimea, who ate an immense deal too much, and never took his eyes
off his plate, except when Giglio, who was carving a goose, sent a
quantity of stuffing and onion sauce into one of them. Giglio only
burst out a-laughing as the Crimean Prince wiped his shirt-front
and face with his scented pocket-handkerchief. He did not make
Prince Bulbo any apology. When the Prince looked at him, Giglio
would not look that way. When Prince Bulbo said, "Prince Giglio,
may I have the honor of taking a glass of wine with you?" Giglio
WOULDN'T answer. All his talk and his eyes were for Countess
Gruffanuff, who you may be sure was pleased with Giglio's
attentions--the vain old creature! When he was not complimenting
her, he was making fun of Prince Bulbo, so loud that Gruffanuff was
always tapping him with her fan, and saying, "Oh, you satirical
Prince! Oh, fie, the Prince will hear!" "Well, I don't mind,"
says Giglio, louder still. The King and Queen luckily did not
hear; for her Majesty was a little deaf, and the King thought so
much about his own dinner, and, besides, made such a dreadful
noise, hob-gobbling in eating it, that he heard nothing else.
After dinner, his Majesty and the Queen went to sleep in their arm-
chairs.
This was the time when Giglio began his tricks with Prince Bulbo,
plying that young gentleman with port, sherry, madeira, champagne,
marsala, cherry-brandy, and pale ale, of all of which Master Bulbo
drank without stint. But in plying his guest, Giglio was obliged
to drink himself, and, I am sorry to say, took more than was good
for him, so that the young men were very noisy, rude, and foolish
when they joined the ladies after dinner; and dearly did they pay
for that imprudence, as now, my darlings, you shall hear!
Bulbo went and sat by the piano, where Angelica was playing and
singing, and he sang out of tune, and he upset the coffee when the
footman brought it, and he laughed out of place, and talked
absurdly, and fell asleep and snored horridly. Booh, the nasty
pig! But as he lay there stretched on the pink satin sofa,
Angelica still persisted in thinking him the most beautiful of
human beings. No doubt the magic rose which Bulbo wore caused this
infatuation on Angelica's part; but is she the first young woman
who has thought a silly fellow charming?
Giglio must go and sit by Gruffanuff, whose old face he, too, every
moment began to find more lovely. He paid the most outrageous
compliments to her:--There never was such a darling. Older than he
was?--Fiddle-de-dee! He would marry her--he would, have nothing
but her!
To marry the heir to the throne! Here was a chance! The artful
hussy actually got a sheet of paper, and wrote upon it, "This is to
give notice that I, Giglio, only son of Savio, King of Paflagonia,
hereby promise to marry the charming and virtuous Barbara Griselda
Countess Gruffanuff, and widow of the late Jenkins Gruffanuff,
Esq."
"What is it you are writing, you charming Gruffy?" says Giglio, who
was lolling on the sofa, by the writing-table.
"Only an order for you to sign, dear Prince, for giving coals and
blankets to the poor, this cold weather. Look! the King and Queen
are both asleep, and your Royal Highness's order will do."
So Giglio, who was very good-natured, as Gruffy well knew, signed
the order immediately; and, when she had it in her pocket, you may
fancy what airs she gave herself. She was ready to flounce out of
the room before the Queen herself, as now she was the wife of the
RIGHTFUL King of Paflagonia! She would not speak to Glumboso, whom
she thought a brute, for depriving her DEAR HUSBAND of the crown!
And when candles came, and she had helped to undress the Queen and
Princess, she went into her own room, and actually practiced on a
sheet of paper, "Griselda Paflagonia," "Barbara Regina," "Griselda
Barbara, Paf. Reg.," and I don't know what signatures besides,
against the day when she should be Queen forsooth!
IX. HOW BETSINDA GOT THE WARMING PAN.
Little Betsinda came in to put Gruffanuff's hair in papers; and the
Countess was so pleased, that, for a wonder, she complimented
Betsinda. "Betsinda!" she said, "you dressed my hair very nicely
today; I promised you a little present. Here are five sh--no, here
is a pretty little ring, that I picked--that I have had some time."
And she gave Betsinda the ring she had picked up in the court. It
fitted Betsinda exactly.
"It's like the ring the Princess used to wear," says the maid.
"No such thing," says Gruffanuff, "I have had it this ever so long.
There, tuck me up quite comfortable; and now, as it's a very cold
night (the snow was beating in at the window), you may go and warm
dear Prince Giglio's bed, like a good girl, and then you may unrip
my green silk, and then you can just do me up a little cap for the
morning, and then you can mend that hole in my silk stocking, and
then you can go to bed, Betsinda. Mind I shall want my cup of tea
at five o'clock in the morning."
"I suppose I had best warm both the young gentlemen's beds, Ma'am,"
says Betsinda.
Gruffanuff, for reply, said, "Hau-au-ho!--Grau-haw-hoo!--Hong-
hrho!" In fact, she was snoring sound asleep.
Her room, you know, is next to the King and Queen, and the Princess
is next to them. So pretty Betsinda went away for the coals to the
kitchen, and filled the royal warming-pan.
Now, she was a very kind, merry, civil, pretty girl; but there must
have been something very captivating about her this evening, for
all the women in the servants' hall began to scold and abuse her.
The housekeeper said she was a pert, stuck-up thing: the upper-
housemaid asked, how dare she wear such ringlets and ribbons, it
was quite improper! The cook (for there was a woman-cook as well
as a man-cook) said to the kitchen-maid that SHE never could see
anything in that creetur: but as for the men, every one of them,
Coachman, John, Buttons, the page, and Monsieur, the Prince of Crim
Tartary's valet, started up, and said--
"My eyes! }
"O mussey! } what a pretty girl Betsinda is!"
"O jemmany! }
"O ciel! }
"Hands off; none of your impertinence, you vulgar, low people!"
says Betsinda, walking off with her pan of coals. She heard the
young gentlemen playing at billiards as she went upstairs: first to
Prince Giglio's bed, which she warmed, and then to Prince Bulbo's
room.
He came in just as she had done; and as soon as he saw her, "O! O!
O! O! O! O! what a beyou--oo--ootiful creature you are! You angel--
you Peri--you rosebud, let me be thy bulbul--thy Bulbo, too! Fly
to the desert, fly with me! I never saw a young gazelle to glad me
with its dark blue eye that had eyes like thine. Thou nymph of
beauty, take, take this young heart. A truer never did itself
sustain within a soldier's waistcoat. Be mine! Be mine! Be
Princess of Crim Tartary! My Royal father will approve our union;
and, as for that little carroty-haired Angelica, I do not care a
fig for her any more."
"Go away, Your Royal Highness, and go to bed, please," said
Betsinda, with the warming-pan.
But Bulbo said, "No, never, till thou swearest to be mine, thou
lovely, blushing chambermaid divine! Here, at thy feet, the Royal
Bulbo lies, the trembling captive of Betsinda's eyes."
And he went on, making himself SO ABSURD AND RIDICULOUS, that
Betsinda, who was full of fun, gave him a touch with the warming-
pan, which, I promise you, made him cry "O-o-o-o!" in a very
different manner.
Prince Bulbo made such a noise that Prince Giglio, who heard him
from the next room, came in to see what was the matter. As soon as
he saw what was taking place, Giglio, in a fury, rushed on Bulbo,
kicked him in the rudest manner up to the ceiling, and went on
kicking him till his hair was quite out of curl.
Poor Betsinda did not know whether to laugh or to cry; the kicking
certainly must hurt the Prince, but then he looked so droll! When
Giglio had done knocking him up and down to the ground, and whilst
he went into a corner rubbing himself, what do you think Giglio
does? He goes down on his own knees to Betsinda, takes her hand,
begs her to accept his heart, and offers to marry her that moment.
Fancy Betsinda's condition, who had been in love with the Prince
ever since she first saw him in the palace garden, when she was
quite a little child.
"Oh, divine Betsinda!" says the Prince, "how have I lived fifteen
years in thy company without seeing thy perfections? What woman in
all Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, nay, in Australia, only it
is not yet discovered, can presume to be thy equal? Angelica?
Pish! Gruffanuff? Phoo! The Queen? Ha, ha! Thou art my Queen.
Thou art the real Angelica, because thou art really angelic."
"Oh, Prince! I am but a poor chambermaid," says Betsinda, looking,
however, very much pleased.
"Didst thou not tend me in my sickness, when all forsook me?"
continues Giglio. "Did not thy gentle hand smooth my pillow, and
bring me jelly and roast chicken?"
"Yes, dear Prince, I did," says Betsinda, "and I sewed Your Royal
Highness's shirt-buttons on too, if you please, Your Royal
Highness," cries this artless maiden.
When poor Prince Bulbo, who was now madly in love with Betsinda,
heard this declaration, when he saw the unmistakable glances which
she flung upon Giglio, Bulbo began to cry bitterly, and tore
quantities of hair out of his head, till it all covered the room
like so much tow.
Betsinda had left the warming-pan on the floor while the princes
were going on with their conversation, and as they began now to
quarrel and be very fierce with one another, she thought proper to
run away.
"You great big blubbering booby, tearing your hair in the corner
there; of course you will give me satisfaction for insulting
Betsinda. YOU dare to kneel down at Princess Giglio's knees and
kiss her hand!"
"She's not Princess Giglio!" roars out Bulbo. "She shall be
Princess Bulbo, no other shall be Princess Bulbo."
"You are engaged to my cousin!" bellows out Giglio.
"I hate your cousin," says Bulbo.
"You shall give me satisfaction for insulting her!" cries Giglio in
a fury.
"I'll have your life."
"I'll run you through."
"I'll cut your throat."
"I'll blow your brains out."
"I'll knock your head off."
"I'll send a friend to you in the morning."
'I'll send a bullet into you in the afternoon."
"We'll meet again," says Giglio, shaking his fist in Bulbo's face;
and seizing up the warming-pan, he kissed it, because, forsooth,
Betsinda had carried it, and rushed downstairs. What should he see
on the landing but his Majesty talking to Betsinda, whom he called
by all sorts of fond names. His Majesty had heard a row in the
building, so he stated, and smelling something burning, had come
out to see what the matter was.
"It's the young gentlemen smoking, perhaps, sir," says Betsinda.
"Charming chambermaid," says the King (like all the rest of them),
"never mind the young men! Turn thy eyes on a middle-aged
autocrat, who has been considered not ill-looking in his time."
"Oh, sir! what will her Majesty say?" cries Betsinda.
"Her Majesty!" laughs the monarch. "Her Majesty be hanged. Am I
not Autocrat of Paflagonia? Have I not blocks, ropes, axes,
hangmen--ha? Runs not a river by my palace wall? Have I not sacks
to sew up wives withal? Say but the word, that thou wilt be mine
own,--your mistress straightway in a sack is sewn, and thou the
sharer of my heart and throne."
When Giglio heard these atrocious sentiments, he forgot the respect
usually paid to Royalty, lifted up the warming-pan, and knocked
down the King as flat as a pancake; after which, Master Giglio took
to his heels and ran away, and Betsinda went off screaming, and the
Queen, Gruffanuff, and the Princess, all came out of their rooms.
Fancy their feelings on beholding their husband, father, sovereign,
in this posture!
X. HOW KING VALOROSO WAS IN A DREADFUL PASSION.
As soon as the coals began to burn him, the King came to himself
and stood up. "Ho! my captain of the guards!" his Majesty
exclaimed, stamping his royal feet with rage. O piteous spectacle!
the King's nose was bent quite crooked by the blow of Prince
Giglio! His Majesty ground his teeth with rage. "Hedzoff," he
said, taking a death-warrant out of his dressing-gown pocket,
"Hedzoff, good Hedzoff, seize upon the Prince. Thou'lt find him in
his chamber two pair up. But now he dared, with sacrilegious hand,
to strike the sacred night-cap of a king--Hedzoff, and floor me
with a warming-pan! Away, no more demur, the villain dies! See it
be done, or else,--h'm--ha!--h'm! mind thine own eyes!" And
followed by the ladies, and lifting up the tails of his dressing-
gown, the King entered his own apartment.
Captain Hedzoff was very much affected, having a sincere love for
Giglio. "Poor, poor Giglio!" he said, the tears rolling over his
manly face, and dripping down his moustachios; "my noble young
Prince, is it my hand must lead thee to death?"
"Lead him to fiddlestick, Hedzoff," said a female voice. It was
Gruffanuff, who had come out in her dressing-gown when she heard
the noise. "The King said you were to hang the Prince. Well, hang
the Prince."
"I don't understand you," says Hedzoff, who was not a very clever
man.
"You Gaby! he didn't say WHICH Prince," says Gruffanuff.
"No; he didn't say which, certainly," said Hedzoff.
"Well then, take Bulbo, and hang HIM!"
When Captain Hedzoff heard this, he began to dance about for joy.
"Obedience is a soldier's honor," says he. "Prince Bulbo's head
will do capitally;" and he went to arrest the Prince the very first
thing next morning.
He knocked at the door. "Who's there?" says Bulbo. "Captain
Hedzoff? Step in, pray, my good Captain; I'm delighted to see you;
I have been expecting you."
"Have you?" says Hedzoff.
"Sleibootz, my Chamberlain, will act for me," says the Prince.
"I beg Your Royal Highness's pardon, but you will have to act for
yourself, and it's a pity to wake Baron Sleibootz."
The Prince Bulbo still seemed to take the matter very coolly. "Of
course, Captain," says he, "you are come about that affair with
Prince Giglio?"
"Precisely," says Hedzoff, "that affair of Prince Giglio."
"Is it to be pistols, or swords, Captain?" asks Bulbo. "I'm a
pretty good hand with both, and I'll do for Prince Giglio as sure
as my name is My Royal Highness Prince Bulbo."
"There's some mistake, my Lord," says the Captain. "The business
is done with AXES among us."
"Axes? That's sharp work," says Bulbo. "Call my Chamberlain,
he'll be my second, and in ten minutes, I flatter myself, you'll
see Master Giglio's head off his impertinent shoulders. I'm hungry
for his blood Hoo-oo--aw!" and he looked as savage as an ogre.
"I beg your pardon, sir, but by this warrant I am to take you
prisoner, and hand you over to--to the executioner."
"Pooh, pooh, my good man!--Stop, I say,--ho!--hulloa!" was all
that this luckless Prince was enabled to say: for Hedzoff's guards
seizing him, tied a handkerchief over his mouth and face, and
carried him to the place of execution.
The King, who happened to be talking to Glumboso, saw him pass, and
took a pinch of snuff and said, "So much for Giglio. Now let's go
to breakfast."
The Captain of the Guard handed over his prisoner to the Sheriff,
with the fatal order,
"AT SIGHT CUT OFF THE BEARER'S HEAD.
"VALOROSO XXIV."
"It's a mistake," says Bulbo, who did not seem to understand the
business in the least.
"Poo--poo--pooh," says the Sheriff. "Fetch Jack Ketch instantly.
Jack Ketch!"
And poor Bulbo was led to the scaffold, where an executioner with a
block and a tremendous axe was always ready in case he should be
wanted.
But we must now revert to Giglio and Betsinda.
XI. WHAT GRUFFANUFF DID TO GIGLIO AND BETSINDA.
Gruffanuff, who had seen what had happened with the King, and knew
that Giglio must come to grief, got up very early the next morning,
and went to devise some plans for rescuing her darling husband, as
the silly old thing insisted on calling him. She found him walking
up and down the garden, thinking of a rhyme for Betsinda (TINDER
and WINDA were all he could find), and indeed having forgotten all
about the past evening, except that Betsinda was the most lovely of
beings.
"Well, dear Giglio," says Gruff.
"Well, dear Gruffy," says Giglio, only HE was quite satirical.
"I have been thinking, darling, what you must do in this scrape.
You must fly the country for a while."
"What scrape?--fly the country? Never without her I love,
Countess," says Giglio.
"No, she will accompany you, dear Prince," she says, in her most
coaxing accents. "First, we must get the jewels belonging to our
royal parents, and those of her and his present Majesty. Here is
the key, duck; they are all yours, you know, by right, for you are
the rightful King of Paflagonia, and your wife will be the rightful
Queen."
"Will she?" says Giglio.
"Yes; and having got the jewels, go to Glumboso's apartment, where,
under his bed, you will find sacks containing money to the amount
of L217,000,000,987,439, 13s. 6-1/2d., all belonging to you, for he
took it out of your royal father's room on the day of his death.
With this we will fly."
"WE will fly?" says Giglio.
"Yes, you and your bride--your affianced love--your Gruffy!" says
the Countess, with a languishing leer.
"YOU my bride!" says Giglio. "You, you hideous old woman!"
"Oh, you--you wretch! didn't you give me this paper promising
marriage?" cries Gruff.
"Get away, you old goose! I love Betsinda, and Betsinda only!"
And in a fit of terror he ran from her as quickly as he could.
"He! he! he!" shrieks out Gruff; "a promise is a promise if there
are laws in Paflagonia! And as for that monster, that wretch, that
fiend, that ugly little vixen--as for that upstart, that ingrate,
that beast, Betsinda, Master Giglio will have no little difficulty
in discovering her whereabouts. He may look very long before
finding HER, I warrant. He little knows that Miss Betsinda is--"
Is--what? Now, you shall hear. Poor Betsinda got up at five in
winter's morning to bring her cruel mistress her tea; and instead
of finding her in a good humor, found Gruffy as cross as two
sticks. The Countess boxed Betsinda's ears half a dozen times
whilst she was dressing; but as poor little Betsinda was used to
this kind of treatment, she did not feel any special alarm. "And
now," says she, "when her Majesty rings her bell twice, I'll
trouble you, miss, to attend."
So when the Queen's bell rang twice, Betsinda came to her Majesty
and made a pretty little curtsey. The Queen, the Princess, and
Gruffanuff were all three in the room. As soon as they saw her
they began,
"You wretch!" says the Queen.
"You little vulgar thing!" says the Princess.
"You beast!" says Gruffanuff.
"Get out of my sight!" says the Queen.
"Go away with you, do!" says the Princess.
"Quit the premises!" says Gruffanuff.
"Alas! and woe is me!" very lamentable events had occurred to
Betsinda that morning, and all in consequence of that fatal
warming-pan business of the previous night. The King had offered
to marry her; of course her Majesty the Queen was jealous: Bulbo
had fallen in love with her; of course Angelica was furious: Giglio
was in love with her, and oh, what a fury Gruffy was in!
{ cap }
"Take off that {petticoat} I gave you," they said, all at once,
{ gown }
and began tearing the clothes off poor Betsinda.
{ the King?" }
"How dare you flirt with {Prince Bulbo?" } cried the Queen, the
{Prince Giglio?"} Princess, and Countess.
"Give her the rags she wore when she came into the house, and turn
her out of it!" cries the Queen.
"Mind she does not go with MY shoes on, which I lent her so
kindly," says the Princess; and indeed the Princess's shoes were
a great deal too big for Betsinda.
"Come with me, you filthy hussy!" and taking up the Queen's poker,
the cruel Gruffanuff drove Betsinda into her room.
The Countess went to the glass box in which she had kept Betsinda's
old cloak and shoe this ever so long, and said, "Take those rags,
you little beggar creature, and strip off everything belonging to
honest people, and go about your business"; and she actually tore
off the poor little delicate thing's back almost all her things,
and told her to be off out of the house.
Poor Betsinda huddled the cloak round her back, on which were
embroidered the letters PRIN. . . . ROSAL . . and then came a great
rent.
As for the shoe, what was she to do with one poor little tootsey
sandal? The string was still to it, so she hung it round her neck.
"Won't you give me a pair of shoes to go out in the snow, mum, if
you please, mum?" cried the poor child.
"No, you wicked beast!" says Gruffanuff, driving her along with the
poker--driving her down the cold stairs--driving her through the
cold hall--flinging her out into the cold street, so that the
knocker itself shed tears to see her!
But a kind fairy made the soft snow warm for her little feet, and
she wrapped herself up in the ermine of her mantle, and was gone!
"And now let us think about breakfast," says the greedy Queen.
"What dress shall I put on, mamma? the pink or the pea-green?" says
Angelica. "Which do you think the dear Prince will like best?"
"Mrs. V.!" sings out the King from his dressing-room, "let us have
sausages for breakfast! Remember we have Prince Bulbo staying with
us!"
And they all went to get ready.
Nine o'clock came, and they were all in the breakfast-room, and no
Prince Bulbo as yet. The urn was hissing and humming: the muffins
were smoking--such a heap of muffins! the eggs were done, there was
a pot of raspberry jam, and coffee, and a beautiful chicken and
tongue on the side-table. Marmitonio the cook brought in the
sausages. Oh, how nice they smelt!
"Where is Bulbo?" said the King. "John, where is His Royal
Highness?"
John said he had a took hup His Roilighnessesses shaving-water, and
his clothes and things, and he wasn't in his room, which he sposed
His Royliness was just stepped hout.
"Stepped out before breakfast in the snow! Impossible!" says the
King, sticking his fork into a sausage. "My dear, take one.
Angelica, won't you have a saveloy?" The Princess took one, being
very fond of them; and at this moment Glumboso entered with Captain
Hedzoff, both looking very much disturbed.
"I am afraid Your Majesty--" cries Glumboso.
"No business before breakfast, Glum!" says the King." Breakfast
first, business next. Mrs. V., some more sugar!"
"Sire, I am afraid if we wait till after breakfast it will be too
late," says Glumboso. "He--he--he'll be hanged at half-past nine."
"Don't talk about hanging and spoil my breakfast, you unkind,
vulgar man you," cries the Princess. "John, some mustard. Pray
who is to be hanged?"
"Sire, it is the Prince," whispers Glumboso to the King.
"Talk about business after breakfast, I tell you!" says his
Majesty, quite sulky.
"We shall have a war, Sire, depend on it," says the Minister. "His
father, King Padella. . . ."
"His father, King WHO?" says the King. "King Padella is not
Giglio's father. My brother, King Savio, was Giglio's father."
"It's Prince Bulbo they are hanging, Sire, not Prince Giglio," says
the Prime Minister.
"You told me to hang the Prince, and I took the ugly one," says
Hedzoff. "I didn't, of course, think Your Majesty intended to
murder your own flesh and blood!"
The King for all reply flung the plate of sausages at Hedzoff's
head. The Princess cried out "Hee-karee-karee!" and fell down in a
fainting fit.
"Turn the cock of the urn upon Her Royal Highness," said the King,
and the boiling water gradually revived her. His Majesty looked at
his watch, compared it by the clock in the parlor, and by that of
the church in the square opposite; then he wound it up; then he
looked at it again. "The great question is," says he, "am I fast
or am I slow? If I'm slow, we may as well go on with breakfast.
If I'm fast, why, there is just the possibility of saving Prince
Bulbo. It's a doosid awkward mistake, and upon my word, Hedzoff, I
have the greatest mind to have you hanged too."
"Sire, I did but my duty: a soldier has but his orders. I didn't
expect after forty-seven years of faithful service, that my
sovereign would think of putting me to a felon's death!"
"A hundred thousand plagues upon you! Can't you see that while you
are talking my Bulbo is being hung?" screamed the Princess.
"By Jove! she's always right, that girl, and I'm so absent," says
the King, looking at his watch again. "Ha! there go the drums!
What a doosid awkward thing though!"
"O, papa, you goose! Write the reprieve, and let me run with it,"
cries the Princess--and she got a sheet of paper, and pen and ink,
and laid them before the King.
"Confound it! Where are my spectacles?" the Monarch exclaimed.
"Angelica! Go up into my bedroom, look under my pillow, not your
mamma's; there you'll see my keys. Bring them down to me, and--
Well, well! what impetuous things these girls are!" Angelica was
gone, and had run up panting to the bedroom, and found the keys,
and was back again before the King had finished a muffin. "Now,
love," says he, "you must go all the way back for my desk, in which
my spectacles are. If you would but have heard me out. . . . Be
hanged to her! There she is off again. Angelica! ANGELICA!" When
his Majesty called in his LOUD voice, she knew she must obey, and
came back.
"My dear, when you go out of a room, how often have I told you,
SHUT THE DOOR. That's a darling. That's all." At last the keys
and the desk and the spectacles were got, and the King mended his
pen, and signed his name to a reprieve, and Angelica ran with it as
swift as the wind. "You'd better stay, my love, and finish the
muffins. There's no use going. Be sure it's too late. Hand me
over that raspberry jam, please," said the Monarch. "Bong!
Bawong! There goes the half-hour. I knew it was."
Angelica ran, and ran, and ran, and ran. She ran up Fore Street,
and down High Street, and through the Market-place, and down to the
left, and over the bridge, and up the blind alley, and back again,
and round by the Castle, and so along by the Haberdasher's on the
right, opposite the lamp-post, and round the square, and she came--
she came to the EXECUTION PLACE, where she saw Bulbo laying his
head on the block!!! The executioner raised his axe, but at that
moment the Princess came panting up and cried Reprieve! "Reprieve!"
screamed the Princess. "Reprieve!" shouted all the people. Up the
scaffold stairs she sprang, with the agility of a lighter of lamps;
and flinging herself in Bulbo's arms, regardless of all ceremony,
she cried out, "Oh, my Prince! my lord! my love! my Bulbo! Thine
Angelica has been in time to save thy precious existence, sweet
rosebud; to prevent thy being nipped in thy young bloom! Had aught
befallen thee, Angelica too had died, and welcomed death that joined
her to her Bulbo."
"H'm! there's no accounting for tastes," said Bulbo, looking so
very much puzzled and uncomfortable that the Princess, in tones of
tenderest strain, asked the cause of his disquiet.
"I tell you what it is, Angelica," said he, "since I came here
yesterday, there has been such a row, and disturbance, and
quarrelling, and fighting, and chopping of heads off, and the deuce
to pay, that I am inclined to go back to Crim Tartary."
"But with me as thy bride, my Bulbo! Though wherever thou art is
Crim Tartary to me, my bold, my beautiful, my Bulbo!"
"Well, well, I suppose we must be married," says Bulbo. "Doctor,
you came to read the Funeral Service--read the Marriage Service,
will you? What must be, must. That will satisfy Angelica, and
then, in the name of peace and quietness, do let us go back to
breakfast."
Bulbo had carried a rose in his mouth all the time of the dismal
ceremony. It was a fairy rose, and he was told by his mother that
he ought never to part with it. So he had kept it between his
teeth, even when he laid his poor head upon the block, hoping
vaguely that some chance would turn up in his favor. As he began
to speak to Angelica, he forgot about the rose, and of course it
dropped out of his mouth. The romantic Princess instantly stooped
and seized it. "Sweet rose!" she exclaimed, "that bloomed upon my
Bulbo's lip, never, never will I part from thee!" and she placed it
in her bosom. And you know Bulbo COULDN'T ask her to give the rose
back again. And they went to breakfast; and as they walked, it
appeared to Bulbo that Angelica became more exquisitely lovely
every moment.
He was frantic until they were married; and now, strange to say, it
was Angelica who didn't care about him! He knelt down, he kissed
her hand, he prayed and begged; he cried with admiration; while she
for her part said she really thought they might wait; it seemed to
her he was not handsome any more--no, not at all, quite the
reverse; and not clever, no, very stupid; and not well bred, like
Giglio; no, on the contrary, dreadfully vul--
What, I cannot say, for King Valoroso roared out "POOH, stuff!" in
a terrible voice. "We will have no more of this shilly-shallying!
Call the Archbishop, and let the Prince and Princess be married
offhand!"
So, married they were, and I am sure for my part I trust they will
be happy.
XII. HOW BETSINDA FLED, AND WHAT BECAME OF HER.
Betsinda wandered on and on, till she passed through the town
gates, and so on the great Crim Tartary road, the very way on which
Giglio too was going. "Ah!" thought she, as the diligence passed
her, of which the conductor was blowing a delightful tune on his
horn, "how I should like to be on that coach!" But the coach and
the jingling horses were very soon gone. She little knew who was
in it, though very likely she was thinking of him all the time.
Then came an empty cart, returning from market; and the driver
being a kind man, and seeing such a very pretty girl trudging along
the road with bare feet, most good-naturedly gave her a seat. He
said he lived on the confines of the forest, where his old father
was a woodman, and, if she liked, he would take her so far on her
road. All roads were the same to little Betsinda, so she very
thankfully took this one.
And the carter put a cloth round her bare feet, and gave her some
bread and cold bacon, and was very kind to her. For all that she
was very cold and melancholy. When after travelling on and on,
evening came, and all the black pines were bending with snow, and
there, at last, was the comfortable light beaming in the woodman's
windows; and so they arrived, and went into his cottage. He was an
old man, and had a number of children, who were just at supper,
with nice hot bread-and-milk, when their elder brother arrived with
the cart. And they jumped and clapped their hands; for they were
good children; and he had brought them toys from the town. And
when they saw the pretty stranger, they ran to her, and brought her
to the fire, and rubbed her poor little feet, and brought her bread
and milk.
"Look, father!" they said to the old woodman, "look at this poor
girl, and see what pretty cold feet she has. They are as white as
our milk! And look and see what an odd cloak she has, just like
the bit of velvet that hangs up in our cupboard, and which you
found that day the little cubs were killed by King Padella, in the
forest! And look, why, bless us all! she has got round her neck
just such another little shoe as that you brought home, and have
shown us so often--a little blue velvet shoe!"
"What," said the old woodman, "what is all this about a shoe and a
cloak?"
And Betsinda explained that she had been left, when quite a little
child, at the town with this cloak and this shoe. And the persons
who had taken care of her had--had been angry with her, for no
fault, she hoped, of her own. And they had sent her away with her
old clothes--and here, in fact, she was. She remembered having
been in a forest--and perhaps it was a dream--it was so very odd
and strange--having lived in a cave with lions there; and, before
that, having lived in a very, very fine house, as fine as the
King's, in the town.
When the woodman heard this, he was so astonished, it was quite
curious to see how astonished he was. He went to his cupboard, and
took out of a stocking a five-shilling piece of King Cavolfiore,
and vowed it was exactly like the young woman. And then he
produced the shoe and piece of velvet which he had kept so long,
and compared them with the things which Betsinda wore. In
Betsinda's little shoe was written, "Hopkins, maker to the Royal
Family"; so in the other shoe was written, "Hopkins, maker to the
Royal Family." In the inside of Betsinda's piece of cloak was
embroidered, "PRIN ROSAL"; in the other piece of cloak was
embroidered "CESS BA. NO. 246." So that when put together you
read, "PRINCESS ROSALBA. NO. 246."
On seeing this, the dear old woodman fell down on his knee, saying,
"O my Princess, O my gracious royal lady, O my rightful Queen of
Crim Tartary,--I hail thee--I acknowledge thee--I do thee homage!"
And in token of his fealty, he rubbed his venerable nose three
times on the ground, and put the Princess's foot on his head.
"Why," said she, "my good woodman, you must be a nobleman of my
royal father's Court!" For in her lowly retreat, and under the
name of Betsinda, HER MAJESTY, ROSALBA, Queen of Crim Tartary, had
read of the customs of all foreign courts and nations.
"Marry, indeed, am I, my gracious liege--the poor Lord Spinachi
once--the humble woodman these fifteen years syne--ever since the
tyrant Padella (may ruin overtake the treacherous knave!) dismissed
me from my post of First Lord."
"First Lord of the Toothpick and Joint Keeper of the Snuffbox? I
mind me! Thou heldest these posts under our royal Sire. They are
restored to thee, Lord Spinachi! I make thee knight of the second
class of our Order of the Pumpkin (the first class being reserved
for crowned heads alone). Rise, Marquis of Spinachi!" And with
indescribable majesty, the Queen, who had no sword handy, waved the
pewter spoon with which she had been taking her bread-and-milk,
over the bald head of the old nobleman, whose tears absolutely made
a puddle on the ground, and whose dear children went to bed that
night Lords and Ladies Bartolomeo, Ubaldo, Catarina, and Ottavia
degli Spinachi!
The acquaintance HER MAJESTY showed with the history, and NOBLE
FAMILIES of her empire, was wonderful. "The House of Broccoli
should remain faithful to us," she said; "they were ever welcome at
our Court. Have the Articiocchi, as was their wont, turned to the
Rising Sun? The family of Sauerkraut must sure be with us--they
were ever welcome in the halls of King Cavolfiore." And so she
went on enumerating quite a list of the nobility and gentry of Crim
Tartary, so admirably had her Majesty profited by her studies while
in exile.
The old Marquis of Spinachi said he could answer for them all; that
the whole country groaned under Padella's tyranny, and longed to
return to its rightful sovereign; and late as it was, he sent his
children, who knew the forest well, to summon this nobleman and
that; and when his eldest son, who had been rubbing the horse down
and giving him his supper, came into the house for his own, the
Marquis told him to put his boots on, and a saddle on the mare, and
ride hither and thither to such and such people.
When the young man heard who his companion in the cart had been, he
too knelt down and put her royal foot on his head; he too bedewed
the ground with his tears; he was frantically in love with her, as
everybody now was who saw her: so were the young Lords Bartolomeo
and Ubaldo, who punched each other's little heads out of jealousy:
and so, when they came from east and west at the summons of the
Marquis degli Spinachi, were the Crim Tartar Lords who still
remained faithful to the House of Cavolfiore. They were such very
old gentlemen for the most part that her Majesty never suspected
their absurd passion, and went among them quite unaware of the
havoc her beauty was causing, until an old blind Lord who had
joined her party told her what the truth was; after which, for fear
of making the people too much in love with her, she always wore a
veil. She went about privately, from one nobleman's castle to
another; and they visited among themselves again, and had meetings,
and composed proclamations and counter-proclamations, and
distributed all the best places of the kingdom amongst one another,
and selected who of the opposition party should be executed when
the Queen came to her own. And so in about a year they were ready
to move.
The party of Fidelity was in truth composed of very feeble old
fogies for the most part; they went about the country waving their
old swords and flags, and calling "God save the Queen!" and King
Padella happening to be absent upon an invasion, they had their own
way for a little, and to be sure the people were very enthusiastic
whenever they saw the Queen; otherwise the vulgar took matters very
quietly, for they said, as far as they could recollect, they were
pretty well as much taxed in Cavolfiore's time, as now in
Padella's.
XIII. HOW QUEEN ROSALBA CAME TO THE CASTLE OF THE BOLD COUNT
HOGGINARMO.
Her Majesty, having indeed nothing else to give, made all her
followers Knights of the Pumpkin, and Marquises, Earls, and
Baronets; and they had a little court for her, and made her a
little crown of gilt paper, and a robe of cotton velvet; and they
quarrelled about the places to be given away in her court, and
about rank and precedence and dignities;--you can't think how they
quarrelled! The poor Queen was very tired of her honors before she
had had them a month, and I dare say sighed sometimes even to be a
lady's-maid again. But we must all do our duty in our respective
stations, so the Queen resigned herself to perform hers.
We have said how it happened that none of the Usurper's troops came
out to oppose this Army of Fidelity: it pottered along as nimbly as
the gout of the principal commanders allowed: it consisted of twice
as many officers as soldiers: and at length passed near the estates
of one of the most powerful noblemen of the country, who had not
declared for the Queen, but of whom her party had hopes, as he was
always quarrelling with King Padella.
When they came close to his park gates, this nobleman sent to say
he would wait upon her Majesty: he was a most powerful warrior, and
his name was Count Hogginarmo, whose helmet it took two strong
negroes to carry. He knelt down before her and said, "Madam and
liege lady! it becomes the great nobles of the Crimean realm to
show every outward sign of respect to the wearer of the Crown,
whoever that may be. We testify to our own nobility in
acknowledging yours. The bold Hogginarmo bends the knee to the
first of the aristocracy of his country."
Rosalba said the bold Count of Hogginarmo was uncommonly kind; but
she felt afraid of him, even while he was kneeling, and his eyes
scowled at her from between his whiskers, which grew up to them.
"The first Count of the Empire, madam," he went on, "salutes the
Sovereign. The Prince addresses himself to the not more noble
lady! Madam, my hand is free, and I offer it, and my heart and my
sword to your service! My three wives lie buried in my ancestral
vaults. The third perished but a year since; and this heart pines
for a consort! Deign to be mine, and I swear to bring to your
bridal table the head of King Padella, the eyes and nose of his son
Prince Bulbo, the right hand and ears of the usurping Sovereign of
Paflagonia, which country shall thenceforth be an appanage to your--
to OUR Crown! Say yes; Hogginarmo is not accustomed to be denied.
Indeed I cannot contemplate the possibility of a refusal; for
frightful will be the result; dreadful the murders; furious the
devastations; horrible the tyranny; tremendous the tortures,
misery, taxation, which the people of this realm will endure, if
Hogginarmo's wrath be aroused! I see consent in Your Majesty's
lovely eyes--their glances fill my soul with rapture!"
"Oh, sir!" Rosalba said, withdrawing her hand in great fright.
"Your Lordship is exceedingly kind; but I am sorry to tell you
that I have a prior attachment to a young gentleman by the name of--
Prince Giglio--and never--never can marry any one but him."
Who can describe Hogginarmo's wrath at this remark? Rising up from
the ground, he ground his teeth so that fire flashed out of his
mouth, from which at the same time issued remarks and language, so
LOUD, VIOLENT, AND IMPROPER, that this pen shall never repeat them!
"R-r-r-r-r-r--Rejected! Fiends and perdition! The bold Hogginarmo
rejected! All the world shall hear of my rage; and you, madam, you
above all shall rue it!" And kicking the two negroes before him,
he rushed away, his whiskers streaming in the wind.
Her Majesty's Privy Council was in a dreadful panic when they saw
Hogginarmo issue from the royal presence in such a towering rage,
making footballs of the poor negroes--a panic which the events
justified. They marched off from Hogginarmo's park very crest-
fallen; and in another half-hour they were met by that rapacious
chieftain with a few of his followers, who cut, slashed, charged,
whacked, banged, and pommelled amongst them, took the Queen
prisoner, and drove the Army of Fidelity to I don't know where.
Poor Queen! Hogginarmo, her conqueror, would not condescend to see
her. "Get a horse-van!" he said to his grooms, "clap the hussy
into it, and send her, with my compliments, to his Majesty King
Padella."
Along with his lovely prisoner, Hogginarmo sent a letter full of
servile compliments and loathsome flatteries to King Padella, for
whose life, and that of his royal family, the HYPOCRITICAL HUMBUG
pretended to offer the most fulsome prayers. And Hogginarmo
promised speedily to pay his humble homage at his august master's
throne, of which he begged leave to be counted the most loyal and
constant defender. Such a WARY old BIRD as King Padella was not to
be caught by Master Hogginarmo's CHAFF and we shall hear presently
how the tyrant treated his upstart vassal. No, no; depend on't,
two such rogues do not trust one another.
So this poor Queen was laid in the straw like Margery Daw, and
driven along in the dark ever so many miles to the Court, where
King Padella had now arrived, having vanquished all his enemies,
murdered most of them, and brought some of the richest into
captivity with him for the purpose of torturing them and finding
out where they had hidden their money.
Rosalba heard their shrieks and groans in the dungeon in which she
was thrust; a most awful black hole, full of bats, rats, mice,
toads, frogs, mosquitoes, bugs, fleas, serpents, and every kind of
horror. No light was let into it, otherwise the gaolers might have
seen her and fallen in love with her, as an owl that lived up in
the roof of the tower did, and a cat, you know, who can see in the
dark, and having set its green eyes on Rosalba, never would be got
to go back to the turnkey's wife to whom it belonged. And the
toads in the dungeon came and kissed her feet, and the vipers wound
round her neck and arms, and never hurt her, so charming was this
poor Princess in the midst of her misfortunes.
At last, after she had been kept in this place EVER SO LONG, the
door of the dungeon opened, and the terrible KING PADELLA came in.
But what he said and did must be reserved for another chapter, as
we must now back to Prince Giglio.
XIV. WHAT BECAME OF GIGLIO.
The idea of marrying such an old creature as Gruffanuff frightened
Prince Giglio so, that he ran up to his room, packed his trunks,
fetched in a couple of porters, and was off to the diligence office
in a twinkling.
It was well that he was so quick in his operations, did not dawdle
over his luggage, and took the early coach: for as soon as the
mistake about Prince Bulbo was found out, that cruel Glumboso sent
up a couple of policemen to Prince Giglio's room, with orders that
he should be carried to Newgate, and his head taken off before
twelve o'clock. But the coach was out of the Paflagonian dominions
before two o'clock; and I dare say the express that was sent after
Prince Giglio did not ride very quick, for many people in
Paflagonia had a regard for Giglio, as the son of their old
sovereign; a Prince who, with all his weaknesses, was very much
better than his brother, the usurping, lazy, careless, passionate,
tyrannical, reigning monarch. That Prince busied himself with the
balls, fetes, masquerades, hunting-parties, and so forth, which he
thought proper to give on occasion of his daughter's marriage to
Prince Bulbo; and let us trust was not sorry in his own heart that
his brother's son had escaped the scaffold.
It was very cold weather, and the snow was on the ground, and
Giglio, who gave his name as simple Mr. Giles, was very glad to get
a comfortable place in the coupe of the diligence, where he sat
with the conductor and another gentleman. At the first stage from
Blombodinga, as they stopped to change horses, there came up to the
diligence a very ordinary, vulgar-looking woman, with a bag under
her arm, who asked for a place. All the inside places were taken,
and the young woman was informed that if she wished to travel, she
must go upon the roof; and the passenger inside with Giglio (a rude
person, I should think), put his head out of the window, and said,
"Nice weather for travelling outside! I wish you a pleasant
journey, my dear." The poor woman coughed very much, and Giglio
pitied her. "I will give up my place to her," says he, "rather
than she should travel in the cold air with that horrid cough." On
which the vulgar traveller said, "YOU'D keep her warm, I am sure,
if it's a MUFF she wants." On which Giglio pulled his nose, boxed
his ears, hit him in the eye, and gave this vulgar person a warning
never to call him MUFF again.
Then he sprang up gaily on to the roof of the diligence, and made
himself very comfortable in the straw. The vulgar traveller got
down only at the next station, and Giglio took his place again, and
talked to the person next to him. She appeared to be a most
agreeable, well-informed, and entertaining female. They travelled
together till night, and she gave Giglio all sorts of things out of
the bag which she carried, and which indeed seemed to contain the
most wonderful collection of articles. He was thirsty--out there
came a pint bottle of Bass's pale ale, and a silver mug! Hungry--
she took out a cold fowl, some slices of ham, bread, salt, and a
most delicious piece of cold plum-pudding, and a little glass of
brandy afterwards.
As they travelled, this plain-looking, queer woman talked to Giglio
on a variety of subjects, in which the poor Prince showed his
ignorance as much as she did her capacity. He owned, with many
blushes, how ignorant he was; on which the lady said, "My dear
Gigl--my good Mr. Giles, you are a young man, and have plenty of
time before you. You have nothing to do but to improve yourself.
Who knows but that you may find use for your knowledge some day?
When--when you may be wanted at home, as some people may be."
"Good heavens, madam!" says he, "do you know me?"
"I know a number of funny things," says the lady. "I have been at
some people's christenings, and turned away from other folks'
doors. I have seen some people spoilt by good fortune, and others,
as I hope, improved by hardship. I advise you to stay at the town
where the coach stops for the night. Stay there and study, and
remember your old friend to whom you were kind."
"And who is my old friend?" asked Giglio.
"When you want anything," says the lady, "look in this bag, which I
leave to you as a present, and be grateful to--"
"To whom, madam?" says he.
"To the Fairy Blackstick," says the lady, flying out of the window.
And then Giglio asked the conductor if he knew where the lady was?
"What lady?" says the man; "there has been no lady in this coach,
except the old woman, who got out at the last stage." And Giglio
thought he had been dreaming. But there was the bag which
Blackstick had given him lying on his lap; and when he came to the
town he took it in his hand and went into the inn.
They gave him a very bad bedroom, and Giglio, when he woke in the
morning, fancying himself in the Royal Palace at home, called,
"John, Charles, Thomas! My chocolate--my dressing-gown--my
slippers;" but nobody came. There was no bell, so he went and
bawled out for water on the top of the stairs.
The landlady came up, looking--looking like this--
"What are you a-hollering and a-bellaring for here, young man?"
says she.
"There's no warm water--no servants; my boots are not even
cleaned."
"He, he! Clean 'em yourself," says the landlady. "You young
students give yourselves pretty airs. I never heard such
impudence."
"I'll quit the house this instant," says Giglio.
"The sooner the better, young man. Pay your bill and be off. All
my rooms is wanted for gentlefolks, and not for such as you."
"You may well keep the Bear Inn," said Giglio. "You should have
yourself painted as the sign."
The landlady of the Bear went away GROWLING. And Giglio returned
to his room, where the first thing he saw was the fairy bag lying
on the table, which seemed to give a little hop as he came in. "I
hope it has some breakfast in it," says Giglio, "for I have only a
very little money left." But on opening the bag, what do you think
was there? A blacking brush and a pot of Warren's jet, and on the
pot was written,
"Poor young men their boots must black:
Use me and cork me and put me back."
So Giglio laughed and blacked his boots, and put back the brush and
the bottle into the bag.
When he had done dressing himself, the bag gave another little hop,
and he went to it and took out--
1. A tablecloth and a napkin.
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