rather a coquette; the praises of her sisters softened her a little. "Very well," said she; "I will not do all the mischief to Désirée I had intended; for assuredly I had a mind to destroy her, and nothing could have prevented my doing so. However, I give you warning, that if she sees the light of day before she is fifteen years old, it will perhaps cost her her life." The Queen's tears, and the prayers of the illustrious fairies, could not alter the decree she had just pronounced. She retired, walking backwards, for she had not chosen to put off her crab's dress.
As soon as she had quitted the chamber, the sorrowful Queen asked the fairies to point out some way of preserving her daughter from the evils that threatened her. They immediately consulted together; and at last, after discussing several different opinions, they decided upon this one; which was, to build a palace without either doors or windows, to make a subterraneous entry to it, and to educate the Princess in this place, till the fatal period during which she was threatened with misfortune should have expired. Three taps of a wand began and finished this grand edifice. The exterior was of white and green marble; the ceilings and the floors were of diamonds and emeralds, placed in the form of flowers, birds, and a thousand agreeable objects. All the furniture and hangings were of different coloured velvets, embroidered by the hands of the fairies; and, as they were learned in history, it had been a pleasure to them to work representations of the greatest and most remarkable adventures; the future was depicted as well as the past. The heroic actions of the greatest king in the world[1] filled many of the pieces.
Here of the Thracian god he bore the mien;
Fierce lightnings flashing from his eyes were seen:
There over France he ruled in peace profound;
Her lot the envy of the world around.
The arts he fosters, grateful for his care,
His form august had pictured everywhere:
To fierce assaults victorious legions leading,
Or, generously, peace to vanquished foes conceding.
These wise fairies had hit upon this mode of making the young Princess more easily acquainted with the different events in the lives of heroes and other celebrated men.
In her palace there was no light to see by but that of wax
- ↑ Louis XIV.
