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
of the Fairy. It was so filled with wonderful flowers, extraordinary
fountains, and statues of superior beauty, that it is impossible to
give an exact description of it. If the Queen had not felt the utmost
impatience to avert the evils with which the cruel Formidable menaced
her, she would have lingered some time in this charming place. All the
Court left it with regret; but they were obliged to follow Blanc-blanc,
who conducted the Queen to the spot where the river made its last
circuit round the dwelling of Lumineuse. The Queen then saw the Palace
of the Fairy quite near to her. Nothing but the river divided her from
it. She gazed on it with pleasure as the goal of her journey, and read
this inscription, written on the tower in letters of gold:--
Of perfect bliss behold the charming seat,
By Lumineuse to pleasure dedicated.
Love only may not enter this retreat,
Although 'twould seem for Love alone created.
This inscription had been composed in honour of Lumineuse by the most
celebrated fairies of her time. They had wished to leave to posterity
the expression of their friendship and esteem for her. Whilst the Queen
thus amused herself on the banks of the river, Blanc-blanc swam across
the stream, and diving brought up a shell of mother-of-pearl, which she
again let fall into the water. At this signal six beautiful nymphs,
in brilliant attire, opened a large crystal window, and a staircase of
pearls issued from it and slowly approached the Queen. Blanc-blanc ran
up it quickly, till the arrival at the window of the Fairy, and entered
the tower: the Queen followed, but as she ascended, the steps of the
pretty staircase which she had mounted disappeared behind her, and
prevented any one else from following her. She entered the beautiful
tower of Lumineuse, and the window was immediately closed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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