The Sleeping Beauty (Evans)/Chapter 3

by Charles Perrault

CHAPTER III

The King and the Queen sat on a dais at the end of the banqueting hall, and above them in a little gallery there was a band of fiddlers and flute-players. On either side of the royal pair sat the twelve fairy godmothers, six on the right hand and six on the left. In front of each fairy was a golden plate and a golden casket made to hold her knife, fork and spoon. These caskets were beautifully carved and engraved, and each one was of a different shape. One was in the form of a ship, another of a shell, a third in the form of: a castle with turrets, and so on; nothing more beautiful could be imagined, for they had all been specially made for the occasion by the cleverest goldsmiths in the kingdom, and they were the King’s presents to the fairy godmothers. He felt very proud when the fairies spoke admiringly of these caskets and said that they would be pleased to accept them.

Below the dais were six long tables for the guests, and there was only just room between the tables for the servants to pass, so you may judge how crowded the room was. Such a glittering of silks, such a flashing of jewels, such a dazzle and splendour had never been seen since the time of the King’s coronation, and all the guests were laughing and talking merrily. The court painter was there, of course, to make a picture of the gorgeous scene, and was kept so busy sketching on his tablets that he had no time to get any food, though probably he had a good meal afterwards.

And the nice things there were to eat! There were:

Force-meat balls flavoured with rare spices from the East;

Sardines from Sardinia;

 

Tunny fish from the Mediterranean and Sturgeon from Russia;

Steaming boars’ heads with lemons in their mouths;

Turkeys, peacocks and swans;

Ortolans;

Wonderful roasts and delicious stews;

Roe deer and Bears’ hams;

 

Sweets in all sorts of curious shapes, as, for instance, cakes like castles with little men made of sweet~stuff for sentries on the battlements, each complete in gilded armour and with a halberd over his shoulder. (A rare sight!) And eagles carved of ice hovering over silver dishes filled with apricots.

Then followed the smaller dishes:

Tiny cakes as white and delicate as ladies’ fingers;

Birds’ nests made of spun sugar (and in the nests were eggs of marsh-mallow, and in each egg was a tiny chicken made of caramel!);

Figs and dates from the desert;

Other fruits, in and out of season;

Syrups and preserves fetched from the four corners of the world;

Wines cooled in snow from the distant mountains.

One might fill pages merely by setting down the names of all the delicacies.

Each dish was brought in by the servants in a kind of procession, headed by the Master-Cook, looking as grand and solemn as an archbishop, for he was a grave and dignified person, and of course he had a great responsibility. The guests were served by little page-boys of noble birth,

 

dressed in the liveries of their masters, and these pages handed the dishes and the wines most politely on their bended knees as they had been taught to do.

So the guests enjoyed themselves, and the fiddlers played, and the King laughed at everything everybody said, because he was in a mighty good humour, and the bright afternoon sun, shining through the western windows, lighted up the rich hangings on the walls, and flashed upon the jewels on fair ladies’ fingers, and fell upon the marble pavement in a pool of gold.

And then, you know, when the merriment was at its height, something happened! There was a sudden cry, and a harsh voice, like the croaking of a raven, sounded through the room.

“Be merry, my lords and ladies,” cried the voice. “Laugh while you may, but remember that tears may follow laughter.”

A hush fell upon all the brilliant assembly. The Queen turned pale and shuddered. The King rose hurriedly from his place, and he and all the guests turned to look at the strange figure that had suddenly appeared in the doorway.

They saw an old woman bent almost double with age, her grey head with matted hair sunk deep between her shoulders, Her face was white and twisted with anger, and her green eyes flashed spitefully.

Slowly she advanced towards the dais, and stretching out her arm, pointed her finger at the gold plates and the gold caskets set before the By godmothers. “There’s one,” said she, with a harsh laugh, “there’s two, there’s twelve! Did you not know, O King, that there were thirteen wise women in your kingdom, and the thirteenth the wisest and most powerful of all? Where, then, is the plate and the casket set for me?”

The King began to make excuses, imploring the angry old fairy to forgive him for his neglect, and begging her to sit down and join them in their festivities. “For,” said he, “I am sure you are very welcome.”

“Is it so, indeed?” said the thirteenth fairy. “I am not too late, then, though the feast is all but done. I shall eat off silver while my sisters eat off gold, and there is no curiously-shaped casket for me. No matter, I am content, because I am in time, and I shall dower the Princess with the gift which I have brought for her!” And here the spiteful creature uttered another of her sneering laughs, which made the blood of all the guests run cold.

By dint of much coaxing the King at-last managed to persuade her to sit down, and the feast proceeded. But a chill had been cast over the assembly, and nothing was quite the same as it had been before. The old crone muttered and mouthed over her food, now and again smiling to herself as though she were cherishing some secret and evil triumph. The other fairies cast anxious glances at her, for they feared her malice, and the youngest fairy of all, who happened to be seated at the end of the table, presently rose up quietly from her place and, stealing away, hid herself behind the arras. And nobody saw her go, nor did a single person remark upon her absence.