9. Put Me in Again.
It must have been about this time that the son of a king, who lived
a thousand miles from Lagobel set out to look for the daughter of
a queen. He travelled far and wide, but as sure as he found a
princess, he found some fault in her. Of course he could not marry
a mere woman, however beautiful; and there was no princess to be
found worthy of him. Whether the prince was so near perfection that
he had a right to demand perfection itself, I cannot pretend to
say. All I know is, that he was a fine, handsome, brave, generous,
well-bred, and well-behaved youth, as all princes are.
In his wanderings he had come across some reports about our
princess; but as everybody said she was bewitched, he never dreamed
that she could bewitch him. For what indeed could a prince do with
a princess that had lost her gravity? Who could tell what she might
not lose next? She might lose her visibility, or her tangibility;
or, in short, the power of making impressions upon the radical
sensorium; so that he should never be able to tell whether she was
dead or alive. Of course he made no further inquiries about her.
One day he lost sight of his retinue in a great forest. These
forests are very useful in delivering princes from their courtiers,
like a sieve that keeps back the bran. Then the princes get away to
follow their fortunes. In this way they have the advantage of the
princesses, who are forced to marry before they have had a bit of
fun. I wish our princesses got lost in a forest sometimes.
One lovely evening, after wandering about for many days, he found
that he was approaching the outskirts of this forest; for the trees
had got so thin that he could see the sunset through them; and he
soon came upon a kind of heath. Next he came upon signs of human
neighbourhood; but by this time it was getting late, and there was
nobody in the fields to direct him.
After travelling for another hour, his horse, quite worn out with
long labour and lack of food, fell, and was unable to rise again.
So he continued his journey on foot. At length he entered another
wood--not a wild forest, but a civilized wood, through which a
footpath led him to the side of a lake. Along this path the prince
pursued his way through the gathering darkness. Suddenly he paused,
and listened. Strange sounds came across the water. It was, in
fact, the princess laughing. Now there was something odd in her
laugh, as I have already hinted; for the hatching of a real hearty
laugh requires the incubation of gravity; and perhaps this was how
the prince mistook the laughter for screaming. Looking over the
lake, he saw something white in the water; and, in an instant, he
had torn off his tunic, kicked off his sandals, and plunged in. He
soon reached the white object, and found that it was a woman. There
was not light enough to show that she was a princess, but quite
enough to show that she was a lady, for it does not want much light
to see that.
Now I cannot tell how it came about,--whether she pretended to be
drowning, or whether he frightened her, or caught her so as to
embarrass her,--but certainly he brought her to shore in a fashion
ignominious to a swimmer, and more nearly drowned than she had ever
expected to be; for the water had got into her throat as often as
she had tried to speak.
At the place to which he bore her, the bank was only a foot or two
above the water; so he gave her a strong lift out of the water, to
lay her on the bank. But, her gravitation ceasing the moment she
left the water, away she went up into the air, scolding and
screaming.
"You naughty, naughty, NAUGHTY, NAUGHTY man!" she cried.
No one had ever succeeded in putting her into a passion before.-
before.--When the prince saw her ascend, he thought he must have
been bewitched, and have mistaken a great swan for a lady. But the
princess caught hold of the topmost cone upon a lofty fir. This
came off; but she caught at another; and, in fact, stopped herself
by gathering cones, dropping them as the stalks gave way. The
prince, meantime, stood in the water, staring, and forgetting to
get out. But the princess disappearing, he scrambled on shore, and
went in the direction of the tree. There he found her climbing down
one of the branches towards the stem. But in the darkness of the
wood, the prince continued in some bewilderment as to what the
phenomenon could be; until, reaching the ground, and seeing him
standing there, she caught hold of him, and said,--
"I'll tell papa."
"Oh no, you won't!" returned the prince.
"Yes, I will," she persisted. "What business had you to pull me
down out of the water, and throw me to the bottom of the air? I
never did you any harm."
"Pardon me. I did not mean to hurt you."
"I don't believe you have any brains; and that is a worse loss than
your wretched gravity. I pity you.'
The prince now saw that he had come upon the bewitched princess,
and had already offended her. But before he could think what to say
next, she burst out angrily, giving a stamp with her foot that
would have sent her aloft again but for the hold she had of his
arm,--
"Put me up directly."
"Put you up where, you beauty?" asked the prince.
He had fallen in love with her almost, already; for her anger made
her more charming than any one else had ever beheld her; and, as
far as he could see, which certainly was not far, she had not a
single fault about her, except, of course, that she had not any
gravity. No prince, however, would judge of a princess by weight.
The loveliness of her foot he would hardly estimate by the depth of
the impression it could make in mud.
"Put you up where, you beauty?" asked the prince.
"In the water, you stupid!" answered the princess.
"Come, then," said the prince.
The condition of her dress, increasing her usual difficulty in
walking, compelled her to cling to him; and he could hardly
persuade himself that he was not in a delightful dream,
notwithstanding the torrent of musical abuse with which she
overwhelmed him. The prince being therefore in no hurry, they came
upon the lake at quite another part, where the bank was twenty-five
feet high at least; and when they had reached the edge, he turned
towards the princess, and said,--
"How am I to put you in?"
"That is your business," she answered, quite snappishly. "You took
me out--put me in again."
"Very well," said the prince; and, catching her up in his arms, he
sprang with her from the rock. The princess had just time to give
one delighted shriek of laughter before the water closed over them.
When they came to the surface, she found that, for a moment or two,
she could not even laugh, for she had gone down with such a rush,
that it was with difficulty she recovered her breath. The instant
they reached the surface--
"How do you like falling in?" said the prince.
After some effort the princess panted out,--
"Is that what you call FALLING IN?"
"Yes," answered the prince, "I should think it a very tolerable
specimen."
"It seemed to me like going up," rejoined she.
"My feeling was certainly one of elevation too," the prince
conceded.
The princess did not appear to understand him, for she retorted his
question:--
"How do YOU like falling in?" said the princess.
"Beyond everything," answered he; "for I have fallen in with the
only perfect creature I ever saw."
"No more of that: I am tired of it," said the princess.
Perhaps she shared her father's aversion to punning.
"Don't you like falling in then?" said the prince.
"It is the most delightful fun I ever had in my life," answered
she. "I never fell before. I wish I could learn. To think I am the
only person in my father's kingdom that can't fall!"
Here the poor princess looked almost sad.
"I shall be most happy to fall in with you any time you like," said
the prince, devotedly.
"Thank you. I don't know. Perhaps it would not be proper. But I
don't care. At all events, as we have fallen in, let us have a swim
together."
"With all my heart," responded the prince.
And away they went, swimming, and diving, and floating, until at
last they heard cries along the shore, and saw lights glancing in
all directions. It was now quite late, and there was no moon.
"I must go home," said the princess. "I am very sorry, for this is
delightful."
"So am I," returned the prince. "But I am glad I haven't a home to
go to--at least, I don't exactly know where it is."
"I wish I hadn't one either," rejoined the princess; "it is so
stupid! I have a great mind," she continued, "to play them all a
trick. Why couldn't they leave me alone? They won't trust me in the
lake for a single night!--You see where that green light is
burning? That is the window of my room. Now if you would just swim
there with me very quietly, and when we are all but under the
balcony, give me such a push--up you call it-as you did a little
while ago, I should be able to catch hold of the balcony, and get
in at the window; and then they may look for me till to-morrow
morning!"
"With more obedience than pleasure," said the prince, gallantly;
and away they swam, very gently.
"Will you be in the lake to-morrow night?" the prince ventured to
ask.
"To be sure I will. I don't think so. Perhaps," was the princess's
somewhat strange answer.
But the prince was intelligent enough not to press her further; and
merely whispered, as he gave her the parting lift, "Don't tell."
The only answer the princess returned was a roguish look. She was
already a yard above his head. The look seemed to say, "Never fear.
It is too good fun to spoil that way."
So perfectly like other people had she been in the water, that even
yet the prince could scarcely believe his eyes when he saw her
ascend slowly, grasp the balcony, and disappear through the window.
He turned, almost expecting to see her still by his side. But he
was alone in the water. So he swam away quietly, and watched the
lights roving about the shore for hours after the princess was safe
in her chamber. As soon as they disappeared, he landed in search of
his tunic and sword, and, after some trouble, found them again.
Then he made the best of his way round the lake to the other side.
There the wood was wilder, and the shore steeper-rising more
immediately towards the mountains which surrounded the lake on all
sides, and kept sending it messages of silvery streams from morning
to night, and all night long. He soon found a spot whence he could
see the green light in the princess's room, and where, even in
the broad daylight, he would be in no danger of being discovered
from the opposite shore. It was a sort of cave in the rock, where
he provided himself a bed of withered leaves, and lay down too
tired for hunger to keep him awake. All night long he dreamed that
he was swimming with the princess.
