When Rosette saw the beautiful garden, full of fruit and flowers, with
green grass and sparkling fountains, she was so astonished that not a
word could she say, for she had never in her life seen anything like it
before. She looked about her, and ran hither and thither gathering
fruit and flowers, and her little dog Frisk, who was bright green all
over, and had but one ear, danced before her, crying ‘Bow-wow-wow,’ and
turning head over heels in the most enchanting way.
Everybody was amused at Frisk’s antics, but all of a sudden he ran away
into a little wood, and the Princess was following him, when, to her
great delight, she saw a peacock, who was spreading his tail in the
sunshine. Rosette thought she had never seen anything so pretty. She
could not take her eyes off him, and there she stood entranced until
the King and the Prince came up and asked what was amusing her so much.
She showed them the peacock, and asked what it was, and they answered
that it was a bird which people sometimes ate.
‘What!’ said the Princess, ‘do they dare to kill that beautiful
creature and eat it? I declare that I will never marry any one but the
King of the Peacocks, and when I am Queen I will take very good care
that nobody eats any of my subjects.’
At this the King was very much astonished.
‘But, little sister,’ said he, ‘where shall we find the King of the
Peacocks?’
‘Oh! wherever you like, sire,’ she answered, ‘but I will never marry
any one else.’
After this they took Rosette to the beautiful castle, and the peacock
was brought with her, and told to walk about on the terrace outside her
windows, so that she might always see him, and then the ladies of the
court came to see the Princess, and they brought her beautiful
presents—dresses and ribbons and sweetmeats, diamonds and pearls and
dolls and embroidered slippers, and she was so well brought up, and
said, ‘Thank you!’ so prettily, and was so gracious, that everyone went
away delighted with her.
Meanwhile the King and the Prince were considering how they should find
the King of the Peacocks, if there was such a person in the world. And
first of all they had a portrait made of the Princess, which was so
like her that you really would not have been surprised if it had spoken
to you. Then they said to her:
‘Since you will not marry anyone but the King of the Peacocks, we are
going out together into the wide world to search for him. If we find
him for you we shall be very glad. In the meantime, mind you take good
care of our kingdom.’
Rosette thanked them for all the trouble they were taking on her
account, and promised to take great care of the kingdom, and only to
amuse herself by looking at the peacock, and making Frisk dance while
they were away.
So they set out, and asked everyone they met—
‘Do you know the King of the Peacocks?’
But the answer was always, ‘No, no.’
Then they went on and on, so far that no one has ever been farther, and
at last they came to the Kingdom of the Cockchafers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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