Prince Vance: The Story of a Prince with a Court in His Box

by Arlo Bates and Eleanor Putnam

  "Go and eat without hands, then!" he cried crossly; and seizing theflabby creature he tossed it recklessly away from him among the vines.

  He had, however, hardly drawn a breath of relief, and was just settinghis teeth in a delicious bit of nougat, when back came the jelly-fishquite unhurt and fully as cheerful as ever.

  "Now, why should you take the trouble to do a thing of that sort?"demanded the fish. "It cannot amuse you, and it doesn't hurt me. I shallcertainly flump back again as often as you throw me away, so you see itis of no use; and if it is of no use, why, it certainly is not useful. Isuppose even you can see that. Feed me!"

  "I don't see any way of feeding you," replied the Prince, with his mouthfull of sugared apricot; "you certainly have no mouth."

  "That is apparently true," returned the fish, amiably; "but just lay asoft bonbon on top of me and see what will happen."

  The Prince did as he was bid, and had the satisfaction of seeing a largeorange cream melt gradually away as the jelly-fish slowly drew it intohimself.

  The Prince had eaten, for once in his life, all the sugar-plums hewanted, and had just taken a drink of water from the cold, clear brook,when he heard a voice like thunder rolling among the hills.

  "Who is this," it cried, "in my lollipop field, stealing my lollipops?"

  With his heart thumping loudly against his side, Vance looked up andbeheld a sight which might have made a king and his army shake in theirshoes; and how much more a poor little Prince with a Court to care forand only a jelly-fish to help him!

  X

  The sight which so terrified Prince Vance was indeed nothing more norless than a horrible giant, fully as tall as the tallest church-steepleyou ever saw, and having in his forehead three hideous great eyes--red,white, and blue--and a mouth which looked like nothing so much as a darkcave on a mountain side.

  Before Vance really knew what had happened, he found himself snatched upand standing upon the great hand of the giant, as if it were a table.

  "Please," he said, speaking in a great hurry, he was sofrightened,--"please, we only took a few because we were nearlystarving. We did not know they belonged to you, and we meant no harm.Please, oh, please let us go this once, and we'll promise never, neverto come back any more."

  "Oh, ho!" cried the giant, with a great laugh; "let you go, indeed! Notso fast, Thumbkin! I am fond of little people like you."

  Poor Vance danced helplessly about upon the giant's great palm, butcould do nothing to help himself and had to look on as the giant seizedthe box in his other hand and shook it gently, making the little folkfly about wildly and get many a bruise and bump from tables and chairs.

  "These will amuse my wife vastly," said the giant, as he began to stridetoward home. "I should not wonder but she'd preserve ye in brown sugar.I like such little relishes, and 'tis a long time since I've had any."

  At this you can fancy that poor Vance became quite ill with fear; but asthere seemed just then to be no way of escaping, he held his tongue andlooked sharply about him until in time they came to the giant's castle.It was a huge gray stone building, with iron-barred windows, and at thegate three dogs so enormous in size and so hideous to see that merely tohear of them would be enough to give one the shivers, so you shall betold nothing at all about them. Horrible as they looked, they stood infear of the giant; and at his word they lay down meekly enough, and didnot even growl as he strode by them through the court and into thecastle hall.

  "Wife," cried the giant to a woman who stood admiring herself in a bigmirror in the end of the room,--"wife, come ye here and see what I havefound."

  "What have you found?" asked she, without turning away from the glass."Is it anything to wear?"

  "Zounds!" shouted the giant. "Can you think of nothing but dress, Madam?No, it is far better than something to wear; it is something to eat.Come, put on the pot!"

  At this all hope forsook poor Vance, and he thought that his end hadcome indeed. But the giant's wife spoke up sharply, and declared that itwas quite too late to be cooking anything fresh for supper, and that thegiant might wait until morning.

  "What is there for supper, anyhow?" asked the giant, discontentedly,for he had quite counted upon the fresh stew he would have made fromVance.

  "Why," replied the giantess, "there's the sea-serpent pie I've warmedup, and I've opened a can of elephant's heads by way of a relish."

  "Be quick with it," growled the giant, "or I shall eat this boy up rawin no time!"

  At this the giant's wife, who was by no means a bad-hearted woman,though rather fond of dress and vain of her beauty, (and being as highas a steeple, one must confess that there was a good deal of her to bevain of!) gave Vance a shove into a corner to get him out of herhusband's sight; and in the corner Vance was glad enough to stay hidwhile the giant ate an enormous supper, and drank a whole cask of alewhich his wife drew for him from a huge butt in the corner of the hall.

  After he had finished eating and drinking, the giant bade his wife lookto it that the boy was put in a safe place for the night; then, seizinga candle as long as a bean-pole, he stumbled heavily away to bed. Hiswife, who had been sitting by the fire, now rose and invited Vance tocome and share the remains of the supper.

  "You are a pretty little boy," she said, "and that peach-colored velvetjacket must have been handsome before it grew so soiled. Now come, eat abit of pie and drink a little ale; you want to be in good condition forto-morrow. If you must be made into a stew, of course you'd rather be agood stew than a bad one."

  "I don't know about that," replied Vance, dismally; "if I must be cookedwhether I like it or not, I rather think I would like to tasteparticularly nasty."

  "Oh, fie now!" cried the giantess. "Good little boys do not talk so. Iam sure you must be a good little boy, by your looks. What is in yourbox? Jewelry?"

  "If I will show you," asked Vance, with some hope in his voice, "willyou let me go? My dear, kind lady, you do pity me, don't you? I am sureyou are kind and good. Only let me go, and I will send you beautifuljewels. I will do anything for you if you will only let me go."

  "No," said the giantess, "I can't do that. He would beat me to death ifI let you go; besides, you could not get by the dogs if I let you freetwenty times over. But I'll tell you what I will do; if you will unlockyour box I'll give you laughing-gas before I cook you to-morrow, andthen you won't know what has happened till you are fairly stewed andeaten."

  This was but cold comfort to Vance, as you may imagine; but he saw thatthe giantess meant kindly, and he still hoped to escape in some way, sohe swallowed his sobs as best he could and proceeded to open his box. Nosooner were the tiny people free than they began to run eagerly aboutthe table, eating the crumbs of oaten bread and the grains of sugarwhich the untidy giantess had scattered. Small as the little courtierswere, their jewels and robes glistened and made a fine show; and thegiantess leaned upon her elbows and watched them with delight, declaringthem the prettiest little things she ever saw.

  "I should not wonder, now," she said, "if my husband would give theselittle things to me; they are too small to be of any use except asseasoning. I wish I could make them useful in some way."

  The giantess, as has been said, was a vain woman, and she was alwaysthinking how everything could be put to use as something to wear.

  "I have an idea," she said, suddenly jumping up and bringing a spool ofpink silk from her work-box, which was about the size of a Saratogatrunk. "I have heard of ladies wearing live beetles fastened by tinygold chains to their breast-pins. I believe I can do something of thesort with these little puppets."

  "But, Madam," begged Vance, in dismay, "you do not seem to understandthat these are my own royal rela--"

  "Now, you be still!" said the giant's wife, playfully, "or I'll pop youinto that steaming kettle over there without a single sniff oflaughing-gas; and you can't begin to fancy how unpleasant you would findit,--you can't, really."

  At this Prince Vance shivered, and said very feebly indeed,--

 
"Please don't hurt them, dear Mrs. Giant; they are very tender."

  "I shall not hurt them," said the lady, "or at least only enough to makethem kick; they are so amusing when they kick."

  As she talked, she tied bits of silk about the waists of the King andthe Queen, and hung them in her ears as children sometimes hang buttonswhen they pretend to have eardrops. When she had fastened on her strangeear-rings, she made a necklace of the Princesses and Courtiers, andhaving put it on she began to admire herself in the glass as if shewould never be done. After a while, however, she got so sleepy that shecould no longer see, and was even too tired to toss her head and makethe King and the Queen swing about in her ears. She put her new jewelryback in their box, and picking Vance up put him into a wooden bird-cageon the wall.

  "Pleasant dreams!" she said cheerfully.

  And then she too went away to bed.

  XI

  Left alone in his high-hung cage, poor Vance was indeed in deep despair.He saw no way out of his troubles, and could not help weeping as hebemoaned his miserable lot.

  "It is all the fault of that wretched Blue Wizard!" he exclaimed; for itdid not occur to him that it was his own bad behavior which brought theBlue Wizard to the palace in the first place.

  Just at this moment, in a pause between his sobs, the Prince heard afamiliar flumping sound on the stone floor below him; and looking downbeheld to his surprise his old companion the jelly-fish.

  "How do you do?" asked the jelly-fish, politely. "I suppose you're notvery glad to see me."

  "Oh, but I am, though!" cried the Prince, not very politely. "I shouldbe glad to see anybody now, no matter who. How did you get by the dogs?"

  "I flew," replied the creature.

  "Jelly-fish cannot fly," said the Prince; "so that cannot be true."

  "Well, then," responded the jelly-fish, indifferently, "I swam; and ifthat isn't true, why, I suppose it is false. Even you can see the wisdomof that, can't you? However, now that I am here, I've something to tellyou. This castle is in the township of Bogarru, and Bogarru is situatedon the western boundary of Jolliland, which--"

  "Who cares for boundaries?" the impatient Prince interrupted. "Have younothing pleasanter than that to talk about?"

  "--brings me to my point," the unmoved jelly-fish continued. "Whenever Ivisit a place for the first time I am able to have one wish come true.This is my first visit to Bogarru. Now the question is, Shall I wish theheathen of Gobbs Island to become converted, stop eating theirgrandmothers and take to wearing clothes; or shall I wish you out ofthis castle, you and your Court, in the time a cat winks?"

  "The last, the last!" cried the Prince, too eager to speak correctly."Dear, kind, good jelly-fish, do wish us out of this horrible place, andyou shall go everywhere with me if you want to, and I'll never speakrudely to you again as long as you live!"

  "Ah!" replied the fish, "I was afraid you'd choose thus. You care morefor yourself than you do for the Gobbs Islanders. It is not truly noble,but perhaps it is natural. Now, then, open your mouth and shut youreyes!"

  The Prince obeyed, and at once there was a taste of somethingexceedingly bitter on his tongue; sparks danced before his closed eyes,and directly he felt a whiff of cool fresh air blowing upon him.

  "Open your eyes!" said the voice of the jelly-fish.

  The Prince did so, and to his great joy found himself, with his boxbeside him, out upon a country road, with the stars twinkling over hishead.

  "Oh, dear, good jelly-fish!" he cried joyously, "how can I ever thankyou?"

  "You seem to be fonder of me than you were a while ago," observed thejelly-fish, dryly. "However, I forgive you. If you want to find theCrushed Strawberry Wizard, keep straight on along this road till youcome to the house of the Funny Man. Flubaloo!"

  The jelly-fish disappeared as he spoke this last mysterious word.

  "What a pity!" said the Prince; "I can never tell him how sorry I am formy rudeness. I have lost my only friend. I wonder what he meant by'flubaloo,' now?"

  This, however, was so hard a question to think out that at last thePrince decided to give it up. So, shouldering his pack, he startedbriskly off along the high-road, not daring to linger till daylight forfear that the giant would wake up, and, finding his prisoner gone, wouldcome after him and carry him back to the terrible castle of Bogarru.

  XII

  All night Prince Vance trudged on in the starlight, and did not stopeven to take breath till he saw the sky begin to grow red with thecoming sunrise; then, clambering over a hedge, he laid himself down inits shelter, and instantly fell into a deep and heavy sleep.

  The sun was high above him when he woke, and at once he became aware ofa great ringing of bells, blowing of horns, and beating of drums, as ifhe were in the midst of some holiday celebration. He started up, rubbinghis eyes, and found that he had fallen asleep in a field which was nowgay with hundreds of merry-makers. Flags were flying from tents andbooths; bands of musicians were playing; glass-blowers and jugglers wereperforming their tricks; peasants in gay dresses were singing, dancing,and feasting; and there were all manner of shows and swings andmerry-go-rounds, enough to have turned your head entirely, had you beenthere to see. As to the Prince, he was so delighted as even to forgetfor a while both hunger and weariness, and walked about from sight tosight, crying "Hurrah!" as the jugglers and rope-dancers performed theircurious and daring tricks.

  At length he came to a booth in which an old woman was preparing overher fire a kettle of steaming stew, which to the hungry Prince seemed tosend forth the most delicious odor of any stew he ever had known in hislife.

  "Ah," he exclaimed eagerly, "that smells exceedingly savory, goodmother!"

  "Ay," replied the old woman; "and truly it ought, for it has in it bluepigeons, a fine fat cock, three wild hares, and every vegetable andsavory herb known in all Jolliland. Will you have a bowl?"

  "Ay," said the Prince, "that I will; and let the bowl be a large one!"he added, as he watched the old woman filling a goodly wooden basin withthe stew.

  "There!" she exclaimed as she held it toward him, "there it is; and goodenough eating for a royal prince, if I do say it who made it. One silverbit and 'tis yours, my fine young fellow!"

  "But," stammered the Prince, his mouth watering as the fragrant steamreached his nostrils,--"but I have no silver bit. If you will only trustme for it, I will pay you as soon as ever I find the Crushed Straw--"

  He stopped speaking suddenly, for he saw that the woman was laughing athim. She had snatched the basin of stew as it were from his very mouth;and as she laughed loudly and shrilly, she pointed at the Prince withher fat forefinger.

  Drawn by the noise she was making, all the peasants flocked around,crying out,--

  "What is it, Mother Michael? What is the joke? Tell us, that we maylaugh too; for you know we must laugh. It is our duty to laugh."

  "He wants to be trusted for a basin of broth," tittered the old dame,"and he says that he will pay me when he finds the Crushed StrawberryWizard!"

  At this all the peasants laughed in chorus till the very hills echoed.

  "I don't see what you are laughing at," cried the poor Prince, hotly; "Ithink you are very silly indeed."

  "Of course we are!" answered the laughing peasants. "It is our duty tobe silly. If we cannot laugh at something, we laugh at nothing, sincethis is Sillyburg, the merriest town in Jolliland."

  "But," asked the Prince, in vexation, "does nobody here know anything?Has nobody any sense?"

  "Of course not!" said the peasants. "Who cares about knowing anything,and what's the good of having sense? We have a good time in the world,and that's enough for us."

  The Prince would have reproved the peasants for talking so foolishly,but that the words seemed to have a strangely familiar sound; and hesuddenly remembered that he had used them himself at one time when histutor was urging him to learn common fractions.

  In the mean time the peasants, always eager for any new thing, hadbecome very anxious to know what was in
the mysterious box which thePrince carried.

  "If it is a show," they cried, "open the box and set it out. We areweary for something new to laugh at."

  But the Prince hardly thought it would please the King and Queen to belaughed at by a crowd of gaping rustics. To be sure, he had shown thembefore, but that was in private and not as a real exhibition at a publicfair. Some days ago this would not have troubled the Prince at all; buttrial and hardship were fast making Vance into a very different sort ofboy from the Prince who was the despair of his poor tutor and thetorment of the entire palace.

  However, the poor wayfarer reflected that as food was only to be had formoney, money must be earned in some way, or the Court and himself werecertain to starve. It also occurred to him that if his family still hadany feelings they must be such exceedingly small ones that they were notof much importance; and accordingly he opened his box and proceeded toshow off his tiny relatives, the peasants screaming with laughter at theairs and graces of the little Courtiers, and offering them all manner ofcakes, fruits, and bonbons for the sake of seeing them eat. The CourtPriest pleased the rustics particularly, as he seized the only sugaredalmond and ran away with it into a corner, pursued by the entire Court,all squabbling and quarrelling in the most undignified manner possible.This sight so delighted the peasants that they gave Vance plenty of goodsilver bits, and thus he was able at last to buy himself a breakfast,though you may be quite sure he did not get it of the old woman who hadmade sport of him before.