She set out very early the next morning, mounted upon a pretty little
white mule, which was shod with solid gold, and two of her ladies rode
behind her on beautiful horses. When they reached the forest they
dismounted, for the trees grew so thickly that the horses could not
pass, and made their way on foot to the hollow tree where the hermit
lived. At first when he saw them coming he was vexed, for he was not
fond of ladies; but when he recognised the Queen, he said:
‘You are welcome, Queen. What do you come to ask of me?’
Then the Queen told him all the fairies had foreseen for Rosette, and
asked what she should do, and the hermit answered that she must shut
the Princess up in a tower and never let her come out of it again. The
Queen thanked and rewarded him, and hastened back to the castle to tell
the King. When he heard the news he had a great tower built as quickly
as possible, and there the Princess was shut up, and the King and Queen
and her two brothers went to see her every day that she might not be
dull. The eldest brother was called ‘the Great Prince,’ and the second
‘the Little Prince.’ They loved their sister dearly, for she was the
sweetest, prettiest princess who was ever seen, and the least little
smile from her was worth more than a hundred pieces of gold. When
Rosette was fifteen years old the Great Prince went to the King and
asked if it would not soon be time for her to be married, and the
Little Prince put the same question to the Queen.
Their majesties were amused at them for thinking of it, but did not
make any reply, and soon after both the King and the Queen were taken
ill, and died on the same day. Everybody was sorry, Rosette especially,
and all the bells in the kingdom were tolled.
Then all the dukes and counsellors put the Great Prince upon a golden
throne, and crowned him with a diamond crown, and they all cried, ‘Long
live the King!’ And after that there was nothing but feasting and
rejoicing.
The new King and his brother said to one another:
‘Now that we are the masters, let us take our sister out of that dull
tower which she is so tired of.’
They had only to go across the garden to reach the tower, which was
very high, and stood up in a corner. Rosette was busy at her
embroidery, but when she saw her brothers she got up, and taking the
King’s hand cried:
‘Good morning, dear brother. Now that you are King, please take me out
of this dull tower, for I am so tired of it.’
Then she began to cry, but the King kissed her and told her to dry her
tears, as that was just what they had come for, to take her out of the
tower and bring her to their beautiful castle, and the Prince showed
her the pocketful of sugar plums he had brought for her, and said:
‘Make haste, and let us get away from this ugly tower, and very soon
the King will arrange a grand marriage for you.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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