ONCE upon a time there lived a King and Queen who loved each other so much that they were never happy unless they were together.Day after day they went out hunting or fishing; night after night they went to balls or to the opera; they sang, and danced, and ate sugar-plums, and were the gayest of the gay, and all their subjects followed their example so that the kingdom was called the Joyous Land.Now in the next kingdom everything was as different as it could possibly be.The King was sulky and savage, and never enjoyed himself at all.He looked so ugly and cross that all his subjects feared him, and he hated the very sight of a cheerful face;so if he ever caught anyone smiling he had his head cut off that very minute.This kingdom was very appropriately called the Land of Tears.Now when this wicked King heard of the happiness of the Jolly King, he was so jealous that he collected a great army and set out to fight him, and the news of his approach was soon brought to the King and Queen.The Queen, when she heard of it, was frightened out of her wits, and began to cry bitterly.`Sire,'
she said, `let us collect all our riches and run away as far as ever we can, to the other side of the world.'
But the King answered:
`Fie, madam! I am far too brave for that.It is better to die than to be a coward.'
Then he assembled all his armed men, and after bidding the Queen a tender farewell, he mounted his splendid horse and rode away.When he was lost to sight the Queen could do nothing but weep, and wring her hands, and cry.
`Alas! If the King is killed, what will become of me and of my little daughter?' and she was so sorrowful that she could neither eat nor sleep.
The King sent her a letter every day, but at last, one morning, as she looked out of the palace window, she saw a messenger approaching in hot haste.
`What news, courier? What news?' cried the Queen, and he answered:
`The battle is lost and the King is dead, and in another moment the enemy will be here.'
The poor Queen fell back insensible, and all her ladies carried her to bed, and stood round her weeping and wailing.Then began a tremendous noise and confusion, and they knew that the enemy had arrived, and very soon they heard the King himself stamping about the palace seeking the Queen.Then her ladies put the little Princess into her arms, and covered her up, head and all, in the bedclothes, and ran for their lives, and the poor Queen lay there shaking, and hoping she would not be found.But very soon the wicked King clattered into the room, and in a fury because the Queen would not answer when he called to her, he tore back her silken coverings and tweaked off her lace cap, and when all her lovely hair came tumbling down over her shoulders, he wound it three times round his hand and threw her over his shoulder, where he carried her like a sack of flour.
The poor Queen held her little daughter safe in her arms and shrieked for mercy, but the wicked King only mocked her, and begged her to go on shrieking, as it amused him, and so mounted his great black horse, and rode back to his own country.When he got there he declared that he would have the Queen and the little Princess hanged on the nearest tree; but his courtiers said that seemed a pity, for when the baby grew up she would be a very nice wife for the King's only son.
The King was rather pleased with this idea, and shut the Queen up in the highest room of a tall tower, which was very tiny, and miserably furnished with a table and a very hard bed upon the floor.
Then he sent for a fairy who lived near his kingdom, and after receiving her with more politeness than he generally showed, and entertaining her at a sumptuous feast, he took her up to see the Queen.The fairy was so touched by the sight of her misery that when she kissed her hand she whispered:
`Courage, madam! I think I see a way to help you.'
The Queen, a little comforted by these words, received her graciously, and begged her to take pity upon the poor little Princess, who had met with such a sudden reverse of fortune.But the King got very cross when he saw them whispering together, and cried harshly:
`Make an end of these fine speeches, madam.I brought you here to tell me if the child will grow up pretty and fortunate.'
Then the Fairy answered that the Princess would be as pretty, and clever, and well brought up as it was possible to be, and the old King growled to the Queen that it was lucky for her that it was so, as they would certainly have been hanged if it were otherwise.
Then he stamped off, taking the Fairy with him, and leaving the poor Queen in tears.
`How can I wish my little daughter to grow up pretty if she is to be married to that horrid little dwarf, the King's son,' she said to herself, `and yet, if she is ugly we shall both be killed.If I could only hide her away somewhere, so that the cruel King could never find her.'
As the days went on, the Queen and the little Princess grew thinner and thinner, for their hard-hearted gaoler gave them every day only three boiled peas and a tiny morsel of black bread, so they were always terribly hungry.At last, one evening, as the Queen sat at her spinning-wheel--for the King was so avaricious that she was made to work day and night--she saw a tiny, pretty little mouse creep out of a hole, and said to it:
`Alas, little creature! what are you coming to look for here?
I only have three peas for my day's provision, so unless you wish to fast you must go elsewhere.'
But the mouse ran hither and thither, and danced and capered so prettily, that at last the Queen gave it her last pea, which she was keeping for her supper, saying: `Here, little one, eat it up; Ihave nothing better to offer you, but I give this willingly in return for the amusement I have had from you.'