The Fairies and the Christmas Child Read online

  Chapter II

  The Princess with the Sea-Green hair.

  The cliffs were hidden in the mist when we left Dover, and the sky wasdull and grey. But very soon it began to clear; a silvery light shonebehind the clouds, and then the sun came out, and the rolling wavesturned emerald green. They tossed our steamer up and down as if it werea cork, and Father soon went below, but I begged so hard to be allowedto stay on deck that he said I might if I would promise, "honourbright," not to get into mischief.

  When he had gone I put my cap into my pocket, so that it might not blowoff, and leaned over the rails to watch the swell of the sea. I wasn'tthinking of Fairies then, nor of being a Christmas child, but of how itmust feel to be shipwrecked. So when the spray blew in my face and mademe blink, I was surprised to see a merry red face grinning up at me fromthe foam. It had curls of seaweed upon its forehead, and a mouth like abig round "O".

  "I'm Father Neptune," it roared, so loudly that I could hear it quitedistinctly above the noise of the wind. "Why not take a header, andcome and ride one of my fine sea horses? 'Father wouldn't like it?'Ho! ho! ho! What a molly-coddle of a boy!"

  A big wave tossed him on one side, and on its crest was a beautiful girlwith a shining tail, and hair like a stream of gold. Of course I knewshe was a mermaid, and would want me to go to her coral caves.

  "Won't you come with me and play with my sheeny pearls?" she cried."They gleam like the dawn on a summer morning, and you shall choose theloveliest for your very own."

  She held out her arms and I nearly sprang into them, for I thought thata pearl would be splendid for Father's pin. But just behind her I sawtwo ugly mermen, with horrid green teeth and bright red eyes, and ropesof seaweed in their long thin hands. Then I remembered that mermaidswere dangerous, and I ran straight over to the other side of the steamerand put my fingers into my ears, so that I might not hear her call. Shespoke so sweetly that it was difficult to resist, but I did not trusther.

  The water was calmer on this side, and I wondered why until I saw somefunny brown men, rather like Brownies, but ever so much bigger andstronger, stretched out at full length on the tops of the waves.They were blowing on conchs as hard as they could, and whereverthey blew, the waves grew quieter. I guessed at once that they wereTritons--seafolk who live with Neptune in his crystal palace under thesea. I was still watching them when Father came up behind me, and toldme that we were really in.

  We stayed the night at a big hotel where almost everyone spoke in alanguage which I did not understand, and I had a grown-up dinner withFather, with heaps of different dishes, most of them tasting much alike.Next day we went on for hours in the train, and the air grew warmer andwarmer, and the grass more green, until at last we were in the south ofFrance. There were palms and orange groves and heaps of flowers, and itwould have been just splendid if Father had been all right. He hadn'thad time to be ill at home you see, and now there were no sick peopleto worry him, he was so tired that he couldn't do anything. But he toldme not to worry, for once he was really rested, he would soon get well.

  And so he did, though it took a long time to rest him, and we couldn'texplore a bit. In the mornings we strolled through the gardens, or downto the sea, and most afternoons we did nothing at all. Very often, as Isat beside him on the verandah, with the sun shining full on the greenawning, and the roses nodding to us over the balcony, he would fallasleep; and then a Flower-Fairy would peep through the ferns, and tellme the loveliest stories. The Rose-Fairy came, and the Queen of theLilies, with a lovely gold crown upon her head; but my favourite Fairylived in a bed of violets. Her frock was purple, and I knew when she wascoming because the air all round grew sweet. Her stories were the bestof all. She had heard them from the wind, she said, as he played withher leaves at dawn. My favourite was one that she said he had broughtfrom Provence.

  The Princess with the Sea-Green Hair.

  "A worthy couple at Marseilles," she began, "had longed for a childfor years in vain, and great was their joy when they knew at last thattheir wish was about to be granted. The boy was born during a fearfulstorm, and the first sound he heard was the crash of the sea as it brokeon the shore. He was christened Paul, and grew up into a handsome ladwith a quantity of thick fair hair which curled like the tips of thewaves, and piercing blue eyes which were always twinkling with fun andmischief.

  There was not any question as to what calling he should follow, for thesea claimed him as a son of her own, and he was never content on dryland. When his ship came home and the crew was dismissed, he could notrest, and every evening at sunset he would row himself out in a littleboat as far as he could go. One summer night, when a thousand ripplesdanced on the waves, he leaned over the side of his boat, gazingdown--down--down. He did not know why, but he felt quite sure thatsomeone was calling him, and with all his heart he longed to obey thesummons. Presently he felt himself lifted gently, and drawn throughthe gleaming water by hands which he could not see. It was black asnight before they released him, for neither sun nor moon pierce thedepths of the ocean. He would have been in total darkness but for thestrange-shaped fish who carried lanterns on their heads, and guidedhim to the gates of a palace, formed of millions of barnacles. Thesewere piled one on the top of the other until they reached an enormousheight, and were decorated with what looked like a row of human eyes.

  The gates flew open as Paul approached them, and through a passage ofmother-of-pearl he reached a chamber that flashed with opal lights. Herea Fairy Princess awaited him--a Princess so exquisitely beautiful inspite of her sea-green hair, that though his heart did not go out toher, he was not repelled by the love she showed him.

  She kept him with her for many hours, and at dawn of day she bade himreturn to his home, giving him two golden fish which he was to showto all who asked him where he had spent the night, telling them hehad been a'fishing. The invisible hands which had brought him thitherbore him back to his boat, and he landed just at sunrise. His goldenfish were a source of awe and wonder to his neighbours, who had neverseen their like before; but the priest shook his head, and warned him tohave no dealings with the powers of darkness.

  Here a Fairy Princess awaited him--]

  But Paul could not resist rowing out to the edge of the sunset. Eveningafter evening he plied his oars, and always at twilight he was drawndown--down, to the palace of the strange Princess with the sea-greenhair. When he went on a voyage all was well with him, for his vesselbore him to other seas, where no one called him when the sky grew red;but he was no sooner at home with his parents than something within himmade him row out to the west.

  At last it seemed as if he had forgotten the Princess, for he fell inlove with sweet Lucile, who was as good and gentle as she was fair, andwillingly gave him her troth. Their wedding was fixed for Easter Day,and the night before, Paul wandered down to the sea-shore, thinkingof the bliss in store for him on the morrow. His love-lit eyes felldreamily on his boat, which had lain for months in the shallow covewhere he had moored her, and without thinking what he was doing, hestepped inside and took the oars in his hands. Alas! No sooner did hefeel the boat moving under him, than he was seized by the old wildlonging to sail towards the west.

  All happened as before, until he reached the Princess's palace; but now,instead of smiling sweetly, she received him with threatening lookswhich showed an array of cruel teeth behind her rose-red lips.

  'So! you have been unfaithful to me!' she cried. 'I will not slay you,since I have greater punishments in store than death.... You shall stayin the depths of the sea until your yellow hair is bleached and white,and your face a mask of hideous wrinkles. Then, and then only, shall youreturn to land, and those who have loved you best shall spurn you fromthem as something loathsome. Scorn for scorn, and pain for pain. Thuswill I take my revenge.'

  So for seven long years Paul was a prisoner in the darkness of the deep,his bed the black and slimy ooze, and his companions fearsome monsterswho would fain have devoured him. At last, when his hair was whiteas snow, and his face so wrinkled and ugly that the children of themer-folk shuddered as they passed, he was seized by a sprawling octopus,and dragged up through the water. The loathsome creature held him fastuntil they reached a spot not far from the little brown cottage whereLucile had lived with her old father, and here it loosened its coils;and a great wave cast Paul on shore. The cottage was empty and deserted,and the winding path he had trodden so often was covered with moss.Close by, however, was another cottage, far more spacious, and throughthe open door of this Paul saw his old sweetheart sitting beside acradle. She sang as she rocked it gently with her foot, and her shiningneedles flew in and out of a fisherman's coarse blue sock.

  As the shadow fell across the threshold she looked up brightly,expecting to see her husband. Meeting Paul's gaze instead, her owngrew strained with horror, and snatching her baby from the cradle shefled to the inner room. Without a word Paul hastened away. He knew hisdoom, and hastened to throw himself back to the sea.

  In his headlong flight he stumbled against an old, old woman, gatheringdrift-wood on the wreck-strewn coast. She would have fallen if he hadnot caught her in his arms, and as he held her she saw his eyes. Theyalone were unchanged, and his mother knew them.

  'My boy--my dear boy!' she cried with a sob of joy. And she drew hisseared face down to her bosom, murmuring over it the same fond words shehad used when he was a child. She kissed him, and the spell was broken;once more he was good to look upon.... The Princess had not known, yousee, that a mother's love is immortal."

  * * * * *

  Father was still asleep when the story came to an end, so I implored theFairy to tell me another.

  "This comes from Provence, too," she said in answer to my pleading, "andwill show you that sea-folk
can sometimes be merciful."

  The Sailor and the Porpoise.

  "Among the crew of the good ship _L'Oiseau_, was a sailor named Antoine,who kept all on board alive with his merry wit. One day, while sailingthe waters of the Mediterranean, the sea only faintly ruffled by thebreeze that helped them on their way, they espied what at first appearedto be a huge sea-serpent making its way towards them. For a few momentsthe mariners watched it in much alarm; then, to their immense relief,they found that their 'sea-serpent' was a string of harmless porpoises,swimming in a row, with their shining black backs just appearing abovethe surface of the water. As they neared the ship they broke theirranks, and evidently regarding the sailors as their friends, gambolledupon the waves like boisterous children. No man dreamt of interferingwith them until Antoine thoughtlessly picked up a rusty spear and threwit at one of those farthest away. He did not do this from any desire tokill, but only to show how excellent was his aim, and when he saw hisshaft strike home, tinging the sea with red as his victim sank with aconvulsive shudder, he was seized with self-reproach and a namelessdread.

  And behold! a great storm shook the sea, as if the gods themselves wereangry. Thunder and lightning rolled and flashed, and raindrops heavy asleaden balls fell in swift torrents. So fearful was the tempest that itthreatened to overwhelm the ship, and the Captain was in despair.

  In this dire extremity a knight on a magnificent black charger cameriding over the waves.

  'Surrender him who threw the spear!' he cried, and the sea stayed itsturmoil to listen. 'Do this, and I will save the ship. Else shall itperish, with all on board, and sea creatures shall gnaw your bones.'

  The sailors were exceedingly afraid, but they would not betray theircomrade. Seeing this, Antoine stepped forth of his own accord, for hewould not let his shipmates suffer for his fault. Leaping from the deck,he landed upon the haunches of the charger, behind the knight, and thatmoment the sea became smooth as glass, and the strange steed disappearedwith his two riders.

  The ship made good way, and his shipmates never expected to see poorAntoine again, but to the amazement and joy of all, he rejoinedthe vessel a few days later as though it had stood by for him. Theexcitement of the men was great as they gathered round him to hear ofhis adventures.

  And truly he had a marvellous story to relate. He had ridden, he toldthem, to a distant island, where in a castle of shimmering gold, on abed of the softest eiderdown, he found a knight stretched in agony. Itwas he whom he had wounded, while in the form of a porpoise, and thespear he had thrown so thoughtlessly was still sticking in his side.He drew this out, with tears of shame, and then, with his guilty righthand, he cleansed and bathed the wound. When this was done, the knightfell into a deep sleep, and woke at dawn well as ever. Taking Antoine'shand, he led him through many corridors lit with gems to a resplendentbanquet hall, where the walls were encrusted with star-shaped sapphires,and the floor was of beaten gold. Many other knights were assembledhere, and maidens so fair that Antoine sighed to think of them. When hehad feasted on curious dishes of rich fruits, the same knight who hadbrought him thither took him back to the sea-shore, where the same blackhorse awaited their coming. Mounting as before, the charger sped likethe wind over the sea until the ship hove in sight. When they came towithin one hundred yards of the vessel, the black steed and his riderdisappeared as mysteriously as they had come, and Antoine was leftstruggling in the water. However, he was an excellent swimmer, and soonreached the ship's side, up which he easily clambered by the aid of arope which fortunately happened to be trailing in the water.

  This was the tale that Antoine told his shipmates, and in memory of theclemency of the porpoise-knight, the sailors vowed that never againwould they injure a porpoise. Not only were they as good as their word,but the vow is kept to this day by their children's children."