A Double Story Read online

  IV.

  The wise woman lifted her tenderly, and washed and dressed her far morecarefully than even her nurse. Then she set her down by the fire, andprepared her breakfast. The princess was very hungry, and the bread andmilk as good as it could be, so that she thought she had never in herlife eaten any thing nicer. Nevertheless, as soon as she began to haveenough, she said to herself,--

  "Ha! I see how it is! The old woman wants to fatten me! That is why shegives me such nice creamy milk. She doesn't kill me now because she'sgoing to kill me then! She IS an ogress, after all!"

  Thereupon she laid down her spoon, and would not eat anothermouthful--only followed the basin with longing looks, as the wise womancarried it away.

  When she stopped eating, her hostess knew exactly what she wasthinking; but it was one thing to understand the princess, and quiteanother to make the princess understand her: that would require time.For the present she took no notice, but went about the affairs of thehouse, sweeping the floor, brushing down the cobwebs, cleaning thehearth, dusting the table and chairs, and watering the bed to keep itfresh and alive--for she never had more than one guest at a time, andnever would allow that guest to go to sleep upon any thing that had nolife in it. All the time she was thus busied, she spoke not a word tothe princess, which, with the princess, went to confirm her notion ofher purposes. But whatever she might have said would have been onlyperverted by the princess into yet stronger proof of her evil designs,for a fancy in her own head would outweigh any multitude of facts inanother's. She kept staring at the fire, and never looked round to seewhat the wise woman might be doing.

  By and by she came close up to the back of her chair, and said,

  "Rosamond!"

  But the princess had fallen into one of her sulky moods, and shutherself up with her own ugly Somebody; so she never looked round oreven answered the wise woman.

  "Rosamond," she repeated, "I am going out. If you are a good girl, thatis, if you do as I tell you, I will carry you back to your father andmother the moment I return."

  The princess did not take the least notice.

  "Look at me, Rosamond," said the wise woman.

  But Rosamond never moved--never even shrugged her shoulders--perhapsbecause they were already up to her ears, and could go no farther.

  "I want to help you to do what I tell you," said the wise woman. "Lookat me."

  Still Rosamond was motionless and silent, saying only to herself,

  "I know what she's after! She wants to show me her horrid teeth. But Iwon't look. I'm not going to be frightened out of my senses to pleaseher."

  "You had better look, Rosamond. Have you forgotten how you kissed methis morning?"

  But Rosamond now regarded that little throb of affection as a momentaryweakness into which the deceitful ogress had betrayed her, and almostdespised herself for it. She was one of those who the more they arecoaxed are the more disagreeable. For such, the wise woman had an awfulpunishment, but she remembered that the princess had been very illbrought up, and therefore wished to try her with all gentleness first.

  She stood silent for a moment, to see what effect her words might have.But Rosamond only said to herself,--

  "She wants to fatten and eat me."

  And it was such a little while since she had looked into the wisewoman's loving eyes, thrown her arms round her neck, and kissed her!

  "Well," said the wise woman gently, after pausing as long as it seemedpossible she might bethink herself, "I must tell you then without; onlywhoever listens with her back turned, listens but half, and gets buthalf the help."

  "She wants to fatten me," said the princess.

  "You must keep the cottage tidy while I am out. When I come back, Imust see the fire bright, the hearth swept, and the kettle boiling; nodust on the table or chairs, the windows clear, the floor clean, andthe heather in blossom--which last comes of sprinkling it with waterthree times a day. When you are hungry, put your hand into that hole inthe wall, and you will find a meal."

  "She wants to fatten me," said the princess.

  "But on no account leave the house till I come back," continued thewise woman, "or you will grievously repent it. Remember what you havealready gone through to reach it. Dangers lie all around this cottageof mine; but inside, it is the safest place--in fact the only quitesafe place in all the country."

  "She means to eat me," said the princess, "and therefore wants tofrighten me from running away."

  She heard the voice no more. Then, suddenly startled at the thought ofbeing alone, she looked hastily over her shoulder. The cottage wasindeed empty of all visible life. It was soundless, too: there was noteven a ticking clock or a flapping flame. The fire burned still andsmouldering-wise; but it was all the company she had, and she turnedagain to stare into it.

  Soon she began to grow weary of having nothing to do. Then sheremembered that the old woman, as she called her, had told her to keepthe house tidy.

  "The miserable little pig-sty!" she said. "Where's the use of keepingsuch a hovel clean!"

  But in truth she would have been glad of the employment, only justbecause she had been told to do it, she was unwilling; for there AREpeople--however unlikely it may seem--who object to doing a thing forno other reason than that it is required of them.

  "I am a princess," she said, "and it is very improper to ask me to dosuch a thing."

  She might have judged it quite as suitable for a princess to sweep awaythe dust as to sit the centre of a world of dirt. But just because sheought, she wouldn't. Perhaps she feared that if she gave in to doingher duty once, she might have to do it always--which was trueenough--for that was the very thing for which she had been speciallyborn.

  Unable, however, to feel quite comfortable in the resolve to neglectit, she said to herself, "I'm sure there's time enough for such a nastyjob as that!" and sat on, watching the fire as it burned away, theglowing red casting off white flakes, and sinking lower and lower onthe hearth.

  By and by, merely for want of something to do, she would see what theold woman had left for her in the hole of the wall. But when she put inher hand she found nothing there, except the dust which she ought bythis time to have wiped away. Never reflecting that the wise woman hadtold her she would find food there WHEN SHE WAS HUNGRY, she flew intoone of her furies, calling her a cheat, and a thief, and a liar, and anugly old witch, and an ogress, and I do not know how many wicked namesbesides. She raged until she was quite exhausted, and then fell fastasleep on her chair. When she awoke the fire was out.

  By this time she was hungry; but without looking in the hole, she beganagain to storm at the wise woman, in which labor she would no doubthave once more exhausted herself, had not something white caught hereye: it was the corner of a napkin hanging from the hole in the wall.She bounded to it, and there was a dinner for her of somethingstrangely good--one of her favorite dishes, only better than she hadever tasted it before. This might surely have at least changed her moodtowards the wise woman; but she only grumbled to herself that it was asit ought to be, ate up the food, and lay down on the bed, neverthinking of fire, or dust, or water for the heather.

  The wind began to moan about the cottage, and grew louder and louder,till a great gust came down the chimney, and again scattered the whiteashes all over the place. But the princess was by this time fastasleep, and never woke till the wind had sunk to silence. One of theconsequences, however, of sleeping when one ought to be awake is wakingwhen one ought to be asleep; and the princess awoke in the blackmidnight, and found enough to keep her awake. For although the wind hadfallen, there was a far more terrible howling than that of the wildestwind all about the cottage. Nor was the howling all; the air was fullof strange cries; and everywhere she heard the noise of clawsscratching against the house, which seemed all doors and windows, socrowded were the sounds, and from so many directions. All the nightlong she lay half swooning, yet listening to the hideous noises. Butwith the first glimmer of morning they ceased.

  Then she said to he
rself, "How fortunate it was that I woke! They wouldhave eaten me up if I had been asleep." The miserable little wretchactually talked as if she had kept them out! If she had done her workin the day, she would have slept through the terrors of the darkness,and awaked fearless; whereas now, she had in the storehouse of herheart a whole harvest of agonies, reaped from the dun fields of thenight!

  They were neither wolves nor hyenas which had caused her such dismay,but creatures of the air, more frightful still, which, as soon as thesmoke of the burning fir-wood ceased to spread itself abroad, and thesun was a sufficient distance down the sky, and the lone cold woman wasout, came flying and howling about the cottage, trying to get in atevery door and window. Down the chimney they would have got, but thatat the heart of the fire there always lay a certain fir-cone, whichlooked like solid gold red-hot, and which, although it might easily getcovered up with ashes, so as to be quite invisible, was continually ina glow fit to kindle all the fir-cones in the world; this it was whichhad kept the horrible birds--some say they have a claw at the tip ofevery wing-feather--from tearing the poor naughty princess to pieces,and gobbling her up.

  When she rose and looked about her, she was dismayed to see what astate the cottage was in. The fire was out, and the windows were alldim with the wings and claws of the dirty birds, while the bed fromwhich she had just risen was brown and withered, and half its purplebells had fallen. But she consoled herself that she could set all torights in a few minutes--only she must breakfast first. And, sureenough, there was a basin of the delicious bread and milk ready for herin the hole of the wall!

  After she had eaten it, she felt comfortable, and sat for a long timebuilding castles in the air--till she was actually hungry again,without having done an atom of work. She ate again, and was idle again,and ate again. Then it grew dark, and she went trembling to bed, fornow she remembered the horrors of the last night. This time she neverslept at all, but spent the long hours in grievous terror, for thenoises were worse than before. She vowed she would not pass anothernight in such a hateful haunted old shed for all the ugly women,witches, and ogresses in the wide world. In the morning, however, shefell asleep, and slept late.

  Breakfast was of course her first thought, after which she could notavoid that of work. It made her very miserable, but she feared theconsequences of being found with it undone. A few minutes before noon,she actually got up, took her pinafore for a duster, and proceeded todust the table. But the wood-ashes flew about so, that it seemeduseless to attempt getting rid of them, and she sat down again to thinkwhat was to be done. But there is very little indeed to be done when wewill not do that which we have to do.

  Her first thought now was to run away at once while the sun was high,and get through the forest before night came on. She fancied she couldeasily go back the way she had come, and get home to her father'spalace. But not the most experienced traveller in the world can ever goback the way the wise woman has brought him.

  She got up and went to the door. It was locked! What could the oldwoman have meant by telling her not to leave the cottage? She wasindignant.

  The wise woman had meant to make it difficult, but not impossible.Before the princess, however, could find the way out, she heard a handat the door, and darted in terror behind it. The wise woman opened it,and, leaving it open, walked straight to the hearth. Rosamondimmediately slid out, ran a little way, and then laid herself down inthe long heather.