Part 11 (1/2)
The princess turned to see the speaker, but she was alone on the plain.
”I am the Spirit you heard by the hedge one moonlight night,” spoke the voice again. ”Do you remember?”
”I remember well,” replied Yvonne, ”and oh, Spirit, had the cruel Ironheart kept his promise, G.o.dfrey would even now be free of his dungeon; but alas! The wicked king hath set me still another task.”
”It is to help you with that task that I have come,” said the Spirit.
”Each night when the stars begin to s.h.i.+ne in the heavens, expect me, until your task be done; and now to begin as the king commanded, I must have the blue from your eyes to make the rivers and lakes.”
”The blue from my eyes!” cried the princess in dismay. ”Truly the cruel Ironheart hath said it rightly. I shall be the ugliest woman alive! But it is to free my beloved G.o.dfrey, so take it, Spirit!” She felt a movement of the air close beside her and an invisible hand was drawn across her eyelids. At the same moment she heard the singing of a brook near by and in the distance the roaring of a waterfall.
Remembering the wise woman's advice, Yvonne dipped the acorns and pine cones in the brook and planted them in the desert sand before she slept.
In the morning she awoke in a wilderness of forest, and the plain, no longer barren and desolate, was alive with birds that sang, and wild deer that ran among the trees. The princess sought the heart of this forest, and there when night had come she awaited the Spirit. When the stars began to s.h.i.+ne, it came as it had promised.
”The outer walls of the palace must be of whitest marble,” said the Spirit, ”and for that I must have the whiteness of your neck and throat.” Though the princess shuddered, she consented, and the invisible hand was pa.s.sed over her neck and throat. No sooner had it done so than in the open s.p.a.ce among the trees she could see the outlines of a great building whose walls gleamed in the moonlight.
”And now,” continued the Spirit, ”if you have no wish to wander through this forest of oak and pine, but long instead to have done with your task, give me at once the gold of your hair and the red from your lips, that I may finish the inner walls of the palace and cause thousands of red roses to climb to the towers.”
”The sooner I finish my task, the sooner will King Ironheart free G.o.dfrey from his dungeon,” replied the princess. ”While he lies in chains, the red of my lips and the gold of my hair bring me no pleasure; so take them quickly, Spirit.” The same hand was pa.s.sed over her hair and her lips and the Spirit spoke again.
”Now look at the palace to see that it is all King Ironheart desired,”
it said. ”Then when you are satisfied we shall start at once to tell him that your task is done. I shall remain with you to cheer you until you go again to the mill in the forest.”
Yvonne did as the Spirit bid. She found the palace of great splendor, and myriads of red roses blossomed over its white marble walls. Within all was bright as day; the golden walls glittered like a thousand suns.
”Even the tyrant Ironheart could ask no more,” said she. ”Lead the way, Spirit, and I shall tell him that I have finished my task.”
Traveling by a short road known only to the Spirit, the princess reached the Westland Kingdom the next day, and was on her way to the castle when the women went down to the fields to work. They regarded Yvonne as one they had never seen before, and she was puzzled for the reason.
”Alas!” cried the Spirit sadly. ”You are fair of face no longer, Yvonne.
They do not know that they have ever seen you before.” Then straight past the guards and into the presence of King Ironheart the Spirit led her.
King Ironheart cried out in fury as the princess entered the throne room. ”Old crone!” he exclaimed. ”How dare you to come into my presence? Do you not know I cannot abide old age or ugliness? You shall be punished.”
”Old age,” echoed the princess. ”I am not old. I am Yvonne, the Beggar Princess, whom you bid turn the desert plain into a wilderness of forest and build therein a splendid palace for you.”
Then the cruel king laughed heartily. ”Never,” cried he, ”have I been so diverted. Go at once to the mill in the forest where the sun rises, O Yvonne, Beggar Princess, and at the very sight of you the walls will fall. Tell Prince G.o.dfrey that I have departed his land and have betaken myself and soldiers to the splendid palace which you so kindly built for me. However, let me first reward you with this gift.” Before the princess was aware, he had flashed a mirror before her face.
Yvonne gazed spell-bound as she beheld her changed image.
”Oh!” cried she, ”you are more cruel than I had even supposed. But for you I had never known how hideous I have become. Truly I am the ugliest woman in all the world!” She wept and covered her face that she might look no more in the mirror which King Ironheart continued to hold before her gaze. The Spirit, with pitying words, led her from the castle and tried to comfort her; but at the sight of her changed image, Yvonne's courage had fled. Even when the glad shouts of the Westland people told her that Ironheart was departing the kingdom, she did not smile. She wept all the way as she journeyed sadly to the forest where the sun rose. She now longed only to free G.o.dfrey and then to die.
”For,” thought she, ”though he be gallant enough to wed me in pity for my hideous countenance, I love him too dearly, and I could not bear that all the world should look with loathing on his queen.”
Late one night the princess entered the forest where she had gone so often to seek the herds, and at midnight she stood before the mill. It was dark and dreary looking as ever, and no sign nor sound of life could be seen about it. Standing close to the window-like opening she began to sing:
”Prince G.o.dfrey, my beloved, I have come to set you free.