The Princess Alicia embraced her; and then Grandmarina turned to the
king, and said rather sharply, “Are you good?”
The king said he hoped so.
“I suppose you know the reason _now_ why my goddaughter here,”
kissing the princess again, “did not apply to the fish-bone sooner?”
said the fairy.
The king made a shy bow.
“Ah! but you didn’t _then_?” said the fairy.
The king made a shyer bow.
“Any more reasons to ask for?” said the fairy.
The king said, “No, and he was very sorry.”
“Be good, then,” said the fairy, “and live happy ever afterward.”
Then Grandmarina waved her fan, and the queen came in most splendidly
dressed; and the seventeen young princes and princesses, no longer
grown out of their clothes, came in, newly fitted out from top to toe,
with tucks in everything to admit of its being let out. After that,
the fairy tapped the Princess Alicia with her fan; and the smothering
coarse apron flew away, and she appeared exquisitely dressed, like a
little bride, with a wreath of orange flowers and a silver veil. After
that, the kitchen dresser changed of itself into a wardrobe, made of
beautiful woods and gold and looking-glass, which was full of dresses
of all sorts, all for her and all exactly fitting her. After that,
the angelic baby came in, running alone, with his face and eye not
a bit the worse, but much the better. Then Grandmarina begged to be
introduced to the duchess; and, when the duchess was brought down,
many compliments passed between them.
A little whispering took place between the fairy and the duchess; and
then the fairy said out loud, “Yes, I thought she would have told you.”
Grandmarina then turned to the king and queen, and said: “We are going
in search of Prince Certainpersonio. The pleasure of your company is
requested at the church in half an hour precisely.” So she and the
Princess Alicia got into the carriage; and Mr. Pickles’s boy handed
in the duchess, who sat by herself on the opposite seat; and then Mr.
Pickles’s boy put up the steps and got up behind, and the peacocks flew
away with their tails behind.
Prince Certainpersonio was sitting by himself, eating barley-sugar,
and waiting to be ninety. When he saw the peacocks, followed by the
carriage, coming in at the window, it immediately occurred to him that
something uncommon was going to happen.
“Prince,” said Grandmarina, “I bring you your bride.”
The moment the fairy said those words, Prince Certainpersonio’s
face left off being sticky, and his jacket and corduroys changed to
peach-bloom velvet, and his hair curled, and a cap and feather flew
in like a bird and settled on his head. He got into the carriage by
the fairy’s invitation; and there he renewed his acquaintance with the
duchess, whom he had seen before.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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