Four and Twenty Fairy Tales: Selected from Those of Perrault, and Other Popular Writers
General
Four and Twenty Fairy Tales: Selected from Those of Perrault, and Other Popular Writers
Fairy tales
were none but white, for that was the colour Lumineuse preferred. After
having admired this lovely maze, and easily threaded its paths, which
were only difficult for those the Fairy did not wish should enter her
agreeable dwelling, the Queen again crossed the river by a bridge of
white anemones; it took at this place its second turn, and the space
which it left before it made its third circle was occupied by a forest
of acacias always in full bloom; the roads through it were charming,
and so overshadowed that the rays of the sun never penetrated; a number
of white doves whose plumage might have put the snow to shame were seen
in all directions, and the trees were covered with countless white
canary-birds, that made a delicious concert. Lumineuse, with a touch
of her wand, had taught them the most beautiful and charming songs in
the world. They left this lovely forest by a bridge of tube-roses, and
they then entered a fair plain, wooded with trees laden with such fine
and delicious fruit, that the least of them would have put to shame the
famous gardens of the Hesperides. Every evening the Queen found the
most beautiful tents in the world prepared for her, and a magnificent
repast was served as soon as she arrived, without her seeing any of
the skilful and active officers who prepared it. The Fairy, who had
learnt by her books of the arrival of the Queen, took care that her
journey should not be in the least degree fatiguing to her. The Queen,
leaving this marvellous spot, passed the river again, by a bridge of
white pinks, and entered the park of the Fairy. It was as beautiful as
all the rest. The Fairy sometimes came to hunt there; it was filled
with an infinite number of white stags and does, with other animals of
the same colour; a pack of white greyhounds were scattered over the
park, and lying on the turf with the deer and white rabbits, and other
animals usually wild, but they were not so in this place, the art of
the Fairy had tamed them; and when the dogs chased some beast for the
amusement of Lumineuse, it appeared as if they understood it was only
in play, for while they hunted it in the best style, they never did
the animal any harm. In this place, the river made its fifth circuit
round the dwelling of the Fairy. The Queen, in quitting the park,
crossed the water on a bridge of white jasmine, and found herself in
a charming hamlet. All the little cottages were built of alabaster.
The inhabitants of this pleasant place were subjects of the Fairy,
and tended her flocks; their garments were of silver gauze; they were
crowned with chaplets of flowers; and their crooks were brilliantly
studded with precious stones. All the sheep were of surprising
whiteness; all the shepherdesses were young and handsome; and Lumineuse
loved the colour of white too well to have forgotten to bestow on them
a complexion so beautiful that even the sun itself seemed to have only
helped to render it more dazzling. All the shepherds were amiable, and
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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