From “Fairy Tales Told in the Bush”
by Sister Agnes
here was once a King who had three sons, three such haughty sons, indeed they were as bad as it was possible for princes to be. Their mother had died when the youngest was a baby, and every one had petted and spoilt them until they had become unbearable. At last the Queen of the Fairies decided that if they were to do any good in the world as Princes, she had better have a hand in their education. Tutors they had had until at last there was not to be found any one in the Kingdom who would undertake to teach them. The present one had given notice that he meant to leave, but the Fairy Queen stopped that.
Their last day (for some time) amongst mortals had come. Oh, it had been a terrible day for every one in the Palace! It seemed as if the Princes had gone mad, and they had ended up by breaking every piece of crockery in every bedroom, little dreaming what hard work it would mean for them in Fairyland.
Night came, the three Princes were in bed and fast asleep. Suddenly they awoke, hearing their names distinctly called. Each Prince sat up in bed, gazing, in something like fear, at a lovely little vision, the Queen of the Fairies herself. They were only conscious of a beautiful face, above a shimmer of gold, looking sadly at them. “Princes you are called, but, unless the Fairies themselves help you, you will never be worthy of the title. You must come with me to the ‘Palace of Truth,’” said the Queen.
“Only give us one more chance,” they all said together.
“You have had too many chances already; get up and put on your clothes.”
They obeyed in silence.
“Turn out your pockets.” They obediently pulled out string, knives, and other things.
“Stand up in front of me and look at me.” The three Princes fixed their eyes upon the Fairy’s face. She waved her golden wand gently to and fro, and, as she waved it over them, they gradually grew smaller and smaller, until at last they were as tiny as it is possible for human beings to become.
“Now I shall call my carriage, and you may drive with me.” She called, her voice sounding like the tinkle of a silver bell, and in answer to her call, there came through the open window a carriage made of mother-of-pearl and drawn by butterflies. The drive really was delightful, and when they found themselves rapidly going over the Black Forest, they looked at each other joyfully.
“We have never been allowed to go near the Black Forest,” said Prince Thomas.
“No, that was the one thing we could not persuade any one to let us do, because it is haunted by hobgoblins and devils,” said Prince Richard.
“You are going there, now,” replied the Fairy, and to their astonishment the butterflies flew down to the ground in the very heart of the Forest. The three Princes got out of the carriage at a sign from the Fairy Queen. She then told them that their education in Fairyland had begun, and they must walk through the Forest until they arrived at the Palace of Truth.
She gave them each a present. Prince Thomas received a tiny walking-stick. Prince Richard two small round stones. Prince Henry a small box. The Princes thought these were stupid presents, but were afraid to say so; only they determined to throw them away as soon as they were alone.
All too soon the Fairy Queen drove away in her carriage, and the boys in fear took hold of hands, and tried to feel brave, but oh dear! how frightened they were! As long as they kept to a narrow path, which seemed to go on and on for miles, nothing happened, but if they wandered ever such a little way from the path, they heard growls and horrid noises, and saw creatures glaring at them. So they kept to the path and walked forward until they felt so weary that they really had to rest; so they sat down on the edge of the path, in the shade of a tree, and as they sat there they heard a curious grind, grind, grinding noise as of two stones grinding something between them.
Their curiosity at last made them go to try and discover what the noise really was, but, when they attempted to go near the bush from behind which the noise came, they were driven back by the silly little Stick that the Fairy had given Prince Thomas. It looked such a funny little thing as it went hoppity, hoppity, hop on its one leg that they could do nothing but roll on the ground and laugh, and then the silly Stick stood bolt upright with its crook turned towards them, and somehow it looked exactly like their last teacher. You see, it really was their last teacher turned into a stick by the Fairy, and given this work to do. When the Princes discovered the likeness in the Stick to the tutor, they laughed more than ever—indeed they laughed until they could laugh no more.
As they lay very still on the ground, tired with laughing, they heard the grinding sound cease. Prince Thomas jumped up quickly, and ran to look behind the bush. This time the Stick did not attempt to stop him. There he found three plates of bread and milk, three cups of coffee, and three slices of bread and butter. How the Princes enjoyed that meal, prepared by the Two Stones who, of course, were the two cooks from the Palace transformed by the Fairy. After breakfast, they went on their journey again, not because they wished to go, for indeed they wanted to lie still under the trees and be lazy, but the Stick drove them along, and, if one of them dared to go away from the right path, the Stick just whacked him until he went back to the path.
All day they went along that narrow path, only stopping for meals, and, when evening came, they were really tired and gladly followed the Stick to the shelter of a bush, where, to their surprise, they found three nice soft blankets. It did not take them long to roll themselves up snugly, and they were soon fast asleep. I know you have guessed that the blankets came out of the wee box given by the Fairy to Prince Henry.
For days and days they marched through the Forest, never seeming to get any nearer the end of it. Each day was just like that first one—The Stick compelled them to keep to the road, their meals were prepared by the Two Stones, and their blankets spread from the mysterious box.
At last one day they came in sight of an enormous tree, upon which grew golden apples, and, for the first time during their journey in the Forest, they saw people. But were they people? they looked like it, except for their noses, which were dreadfully long. Noses of all lengths they saw. There was one man whose nose wound round his legs and tripped him up when he tried to walk. “Keep away, keep away,” shouted this man, “take warning by me; if you eat of the fruit of this tree, if you even take a bite, you cannot leave off.” Even while he spoke, he kept on grabbing and eating. Fortunately for the Princes the Stick kept strict watch, and would not even let them go on the side near the tree, and when they were safely past, he hopped behind, to protect any of them running back to the fascinating fruit trees.
But soon they forgot all about the tree at the sight which met their eyes. Straight in front of them was a beautiful Palace, built of pure glass, and the narrow path along which they had journeyed for so many days led up to the very steps of the Palace. Hoppity, hoppity, hop went the Stick, leading the way. Open flew the door to admit them, but it closed with a bang when they were inside. Hoppity, hoppity, hop went the Stick down the big hall to a room at the far end, and when the Princes went into the room, the Stick hung itself upon a nail by the door, its work for the day being finished.
The room, which was to be their dining-room, play-room, and bedroom combined, for many days to come, was clean, but very plainly furnished with three beds, three chairs, a table, and an enormous cupboard on the top of which stood a big Noah’s Ark. The Princes tried to open the big cupboard, but could not; then they thought they would get the Noah’s Ark down and play with that, but it was so far out of their reach that even a chair held on top of another chair standing on the table was not high enough to get it down. The Princes gazed sadly at the coveted toy.
“I wish,” said Prince Thomas, after some time, “I wish it would come down.” No sooner had he uttered the wish than the little men and animals all came rushing pell-mell from their Ark, and were soon on the table. “What fun,” cried the Prince, “to play with things that can come to you of their own accord.”
For some time the strange new toy charmed the three Princes, but it was impossible for such spoiled boys to play together for long without a quarrel, and a big quarrel began between Henry and Richard for the possession of the camels. They quarrelled so badly that fists began to be used, and only stopped when Thomas called to them to look at the funny playthings, for they were all running away. Off the table scampered animals, as well as Noah and the other men, and before the Princes could stop them, they had climbed up the cupboard, gone into their Ark and shut the door. No amount of coaxing could bring them down this time, and as the top of the cupboard was quite out of reach, the Princes decided to go to bed.
A real bed was very comfortable after having lain on the ground in the Forest for so many nights. They were so excited with the strange Palace and the wonderful Noah’s Ark that they could not sleep, so they talked for a long time—at least, Thomas and Henry talked, but Prince Richard shut his eyes and tried to sleep. His brothers’ voices kept him awake, and by degrees the bed which had seemed so comfortable grew harder and harder; really he was growing more and more grumbly, although he did not know it. He turned from side to side impatiently, then, alas! a grumble slipped out: “Bother this bed, it is so hard that I——” The sentence was never finished, for the bed shot up on its end and sent Richard sprawling to the floor in the midst of the blankets. The worst of it was that the bed refused to allow him to sleep in it that night. There it stood up on end, and the united efforts of the three Princes could not bring it into its usual position. The other Princes invited Richard into their beds, but as soon as he attempted to get in, the bed began to rise upon end, and he was tumbled out.
“No use,” said Richard, “I know it is my own fault; I grumbled, so I must sleep on the floor to-night. The Fairies mean to punish me.”
After breakfast next morning the Princes intended to play with the animals of the Noah’s Ark again, but no amount of wishing would bring them down from their resting-place, for morning is the time for lessons, not for toys.
While they were still standing in front of the cupboard, looking up at the Ark and wishing their hardest, the Stick came in and drove them out of the room, down the big hall, and into a small room. There he left them, and, as the door banged behind him, they looked round the room in curiosity. It seemed to be full of dead flies, butterflies, and other insects, and while they were wondering why they should be brought into what seemed to be a burying-place for dead insects, the Queen of the Fairies appeared before them.
“Princes,” she said scornfully, “these poor dumb things which could not protect themselves were tormented and killed by Princes, who are not worthy even of the term boy, which stands for bravery—and Princes should be the leaders of boys, the bravest of the brave.” She looked terrible in her anger. The poor Princes dared not utter a word.
She went on, “You had your ‘fun,’ as you called it, now you have got to pay for it, and this is the price. Every day from morning till night, you must stay in this room, and work at these poor little insects. Every leg and every wing must be put on its owner’s body in the right place. When all are ready, I shall appear.”
The Fairy vanished, and the Princes, who had learned to obey during their journey through the Forest, set to work. Weary work it was too, and the worst of it was, that, if one of the Princes grumbled ever so little, the insect upon which he was working fell to pieces, and the parts had to be patiently searched for, and put together again.
At last, however, every insect was complete, and just as the Princes gave a sigh of relief as they looked at their finished task, there stood the Queen of the Fairies before them. No anger was in her face now, but a sweet loving smile. She gently waved her wand over the dead insects, and, lo, a buzzing and humming immediately began as they stirred, flew round the room, and out of the window into the fresh air.
The Queen looked sadly at the Princes. “If you had been cruel only, your work would now be done, your education finished, but, alas! there are two more rooms through which you must go. The work will be hard, but if you will remember that grumbling undoes the work you grumble about, your task will be much easier than this sad one has been to you.”
She vanished as suddenly as she had appeared, and the faithful old Stick came hoppity, hoppity, hop into the room, and, following it, they were led into a big room full of broken crockery. They gave a start of dismay as they saw how much there was. Could it be possible they had destroyed so many things? “Look,” said Prince Thomas, pointing to six big tables, “there are the bedroom sets we smashed up the day the Fairies took us away. I do wish we had been wiser, then we would not have had to work so hard now.” His brothers agreed, and although this was rather a selfish motive for wishing to be good, still it was a big step in the right direction, and the first real step they had taken towards going back to their father’s Palace.
They set to work with a will, patiently putting the big pieces in order, and then searching for the small bits to fit in. A long, long time it took, and knowing that the least grumble might mean the whole of the crockery falling to pieces, and the pieces all having to be put together again, they tried so hard to be patient that not a single grumble escaped one of them.
What joy when the whole of the things were mended! This time the Fairy did not appear, but they were led by the Stick into another room full of queer rolls of paper. What could they be? Looking closely at them, they soon discovered. Alas! all the bad or disobedient or rude words they had ever spoken were plainly to be seen. “Oh dear!” said Prince Richard, “can it be possible that we were such bad, disobedient, rude boys? we should have had more niceness than that.”
“Yes, indeed,” replied his brothers.
Ah, if they had but known it, that speech showed they were a good distance on the road to “home.” As they spoke the Fairy appeared and told them they must rub out the awful words, and then bury the rolls in the garden. It was not very difficult work, only tedious, and the more they rubbed, the sorrier they became for having said such words. When three rolls were cleaned, they each shouldered one, and bore them through the open French window, and down a long winding path, which led to a flower garden quite out of sight of the room in which they had worked at the rubbing. There were many mounds in this garden, and on each grew pretty flowers.
The Princes set to work to dig a hole for each bundle. This was quite a fresh kind of labour for them, and at first they thought it great fun to use a pick and shovel, but, before long, each Prince felt his back aching rather badly. The pain grew greater and greater until at last the grumbling began. It did not go on very long, however, for the sight of the three rolls, tumbling along the garden path, making straight for the house, made them remember the Fairy’s caution about grumbling. At once they ran after the rolls meaning to bring them back, but no matter how fast they ran, the rolls kept some distance in front of them, and reached the house first.
“Positively no more grumbling for me,” remarked Prince Richard.
“Nor for me.”
“Nor for me,” echoed his brothers.
When they had carried the rolls back once more, and had dug until their backs ached, they wisely lay down on the ground and rested, then set to work again, and soon finished the digging and buried the rolls.
When they brought the second lot of rolls to be buried, they were delighted to see pretty roses growing out of the mounds where they had buried their first burdens.
At last, after many weeks of patient work, the room was cleared of rolls, and the Princes waited for the Fairy to appear, or for the Stick to come and lead them to another room. Neither of these things happening, and seeing the door of the room open (it had been closed while they worked at the rubbing) they went out into the great hall. Every door on either side of the hall was open, and boys of all sizes were hurrying along, either coming out of the rooms, running along the hall, or going out of the big door at the end, while an old man, bent nearly double, rang a big bell and called loudly:
“Examination day is here, hurry to the Examination room, the Fairies are waiting there.”
He kept on repeating this, as he walked up and down, and the Princes quite meant to go to the Examination, but their attention was attracted by a queer-looking boy whose arms flapped about as if he thought they were wings, whose head was rather like a big bluebottlefly’s, and who seemed to be trying to climb up the wall, at the same time making a buzzing noise with his mouth.
“What are you doing?” asked one of the Princes.
“I’m (buzz) going to the (buzz, buzz) examination (buzz, buzz, buzz).”
“But why are you doing that sort of thing; do you think you are a fly?”
“(Buzz) I’m only (buzz, buzz, buzz) going to the door (buzz, buzz).” He looked at his questioners in a surprised way. Prince Thomas began to answer, but he never finished that answer, for the door closed with a resounding bang. They ran to it and tried to open it, but it was too firmly closed against them. It had opened for those ready for examination to go through, and they had missed their chance. However, the old man who had been calling every one to go to the Examination, did not mean to miss his chance. It was the rule that those unfit for examination, who remained in the hall after the big door closed, should be taken by the old man, and given to the gnomes for slaves.
Imagine the Princes’ surprise when they found themselves picked up and thrust into a great leather bag in company with the buzzing boy, and a few other queer looking creatures who bore some resemblance to boys. The old man carried them to the foot of a great mountain, rolled away a stone which concealed a hole in the mountain, and calling out, “Only eight this time, here they come,” emptied the bag into the opening. Down fell the victims, and when they reached the bottom, the gnomes danced around them in glee. The new-comers were quickly set to work, and kept at it too, and it was a good thing the Princes had learned patience in the Palace of Truth, or they would have grumbled and received the horrible punishments they saw inflicted on the buzzing boy and the others who had failed to learn patience during their trial time in Fairyland.
Of course the gnomes knew there must be some mistake as soon as they saw the Princes. They were not failures, but they kept them as slaves, put chains on them, and made them work as hard as the others had to, making gold for the earth. How much time the Princes spent in gnomeland they never knew, but they always kept a sharp look out for any chance to escape, and at last it came.
The gnomes were holding a great festival, as they always do once every thousand years, and the right time for it came while the Princes were with them. The slaves were set to work alone, but most of them went to sleep when there were no gnomes’ goads to make them keep awake.
First the gnomes had great jumping trials, when they jumped over the great fires, seeing, not who could jump highest, but who could bear to jump nearest the fire. Then they drank quantities of a very fiery liquid that made them first fight with each other, and then fall into a heavy sleep. The Princes knew this sleep would last for many hours, so now was the chance they had longed for, and must at once use. Quickly they filed through the heavy chains which bound them, and ran off in what they hoped was the right direction. On and on they ran, although soon tired with their unaccustomed exercise; but success meant freedom from slavery, so, though very tired, they persevered in their running.
At length they saw a point of light, and when they reached it, lo! it led them out into a beautiful meadow filled with green grass and flowers. They threw themselves at full length on the sweet smelling grass, so delightful to touch and see and smell after their long imprisonment in the gold-mine.
Presently Prince Thomas said, “There is a great thing like an umbrella here, if you will help me, I shall climb to the top, see what there is to be seen, and tell you, for we must soon decide in which direction to journey on.”
The great thing was a big toadstool.
With his brothers’ help the Prince climbed to the top, but almost at once he took a flying leap to the ground again, crying, “Hide, get under this shelter, for there is a great monster coming this way.”
They crept under the toadstool, but to their horror, the monster stopped quite close to them, and began to think aloud.
“Enemies encompass me on every side, my nephew has secretly been working against me, telling lies, and stirring the people to rebellion.” Here he sighed deeply. “If only my three sons were with me! but alas, the fairies took them away many years ago, and they have never been heard of since.”
The Princes who had listened to all the old man (who seemed a monster to them because of their tiny size) said, began to understand. This was their father, the King. They peeped out at him. Yes, their dear father, though now an old, old man with white hair. So their cousin, Prince Claude, was a traitor.
A great longing filled the breast of each Prince. Oh, to be big enough to fight for and take care of their dear father. No thought of self now. Ah, that was just what their lessons in Fairyland had taught them. This unselfish desire to help another was the one thing needed to restore them to their proper size, and to their astonishment each saw, not only himself, but the other two, grow and grow and grow until they were quite as big as their father.
The King had flung himself on the ground, and lay still with his eyes closed. Hearing a noise, he looked up and saw three strong-looking young men standing before him.
“Treachery,” he cried, springing to his feet and drawing his sword, “Prince Claude has sent you to follow and kill me.”
He would have struck at them, but they stood quite still, and, as they uttered the one word “Father” his sword dropped from his hand.
It did not take long for them to tell him what had happened since their disappearance with the Fairies, neither did it take long for him to tell of the sad state of affairs in his Kingdom, brought about by their cousin, who was trying to make the people rebel against their lawful King.
Great was the rejoicing in the City that night. A great supper was made, bonfires were lighted, the bells were rung, and the King presented his sons to the chief Ministers of State. Prince Thomas being the eldest had, of course, to remain at home, and help the King to govern the land. Prince Richard led the Army, and quickly put down all rebellion in the Kingdom. Prince Henry took command of the Navy, and gained great victories at sea.
The Kingdom, governed and guarded so wisely by the Fairy-taught Princes, was known throughout the whole world as the Happy Kingdom.
