Wonder Tales

by Marina Warner

  When the princess stepped out of her bath, she was presented with a splendid dressing gown; several pagods, playing the flute and the oboe, walked before her; several pagodines came after, singing verses in praise of her; and so she came into a room where her toilette was laid out. And immediately pagodine ladies-in-waiting, pagodine chambermaids, began to come and go, dressing her hair, arranging her garments, complimenting her, applauding her – there was no longer any question of ugliness, no zinzolin skirt, no greasy ribbon.

  The princess was truly astonished. What, she said, can have brought me such extraordinary happiness? I am about to perish, I am awaiting my death, I have nothing else to hope for, and all at once I find myself in the most pleasant place in the world, the most splendid place, where everyone seems overjoyed to see me! Since she possessed endless wit and kindness she managed so well that all the little creatures who came near her remained happily charmed by her conduct.

  Every day, on rising, she found new clothes, new lace, new jewellery. It was a great pity that she was so ugly, but notwithstanding, she who could not bear the sight of herself, began to find herself less unpleasant, with the help of the great care that was taken in decking her out. There was no time of day when there were not some pagods or other arriving, to tell her about the most secret and the most curious happenings in the world – peace treaties, war alliances, betrayals and partings of lovers, infidelities of mistresses, despairs, makings-up, disappointed heirs, broken marriages, old widows who remarried most unsuitably, treasures uncovered, bankruptcies, fortunes made in a moment; fallen favourites, campaigns for positions, jealous husbands, flirtatious wives, wicked children, cities destroyed – in fine, what did they not come to tell the princess about, for her delectation or interest! Sometimes there were pagods with bellies so blown up and cheeks so puffed out that they were truly startling. When she asked them why they were in this state, they replied: Since we are permitted neither to laugh nor to speak in the world, and since we see there endless ridiculous things, and almost unbearable foolishness, the desire to mock is so strong that we puff up with it – it’s a kind of dropsy of laughter, which is cured as soon as we are here. The princess was greatly admiring of the good sense of the pagod race – for indeed, we should all puff up with laughter, if we had to laugh at all the oddities we see.

  No evening passed without a performance of one of the best plays of Corneille or Molière. Balls were frequent; the tiniest figures, making good use of their situation, danced on a tightrope in order to display their skills; and then, the meals which were put before the princess might well have been taken for important feasts. They brought her books – serious books, books of courtly love, history books – indeed, days flowed past like moments, whilst nevertheless, to be truthful, all these pagods, with all their wit, seemed to the princess to be almost unbearably small – for often, setting out for a walk, she would put thirty or so of them in her pocket to entertain her; it was the most delightful thing in the world to hear their tiny voices chattering away, higher and clearer than those of marionettes.

  A time came when the princess, unable to sleep, said: What will become of me – shall I always be here? My life goes on more pleasantly than I could ever have dared to hope; nevertheless I feel some kind of lack, some need in my heart – I do not know what it is, but I’m beginning to feel that this steady sequence of the same pleasures is losing its flavour. Ah! Princess, said a voice – is that not your own fault? If you were prepared to love, you would quickly understand that it is possible to remain for a long time, with the object of one’s love, in a palace, or even in a horrible lonely place, without wishing to leave. Which of the pagodines is speaking to me? she asked. What wicked counsel is she suggesting, endangering all the peace in my life? It is no pagod, replied the voice, who is warning you of something which you will indeed do, sooner or later. It is the unhappy ruler of this country, who adores you, my lady, and who trembles as he finds the courage to say so. A king who adores me! answered the princess. Has this king any eyes, or is he perhaps blind? Has he perceived that I am the ugliest person in the world? I have seen you, my lady, replied the invisible being, and I find you by no means such as you describe yourself to be; and whether because of your person, your virtue, or your misfortunes, I say again, I adore you, but my love, both respectful and fearful, still keeps me in hiding. I am deeply grateful to you, replied the princess, but alas! what would become of me if I were to love anything? You would achieve the happiness of one who cannot live without you, said he, but if you do not give your permission for him to appear, he would not dare to do so. No, said the princess, no, I wish to see nothing which might have too powerful an effect on my emotions. There was no answer to this, and she spent the rest of the night deeply pondering this adventure.

  However resolved she was to say nothing at all which might give any indication of this adventure, she was unable to prevent herself from asking the pagods whether their king had returned. They replied that he had not. This answer, which did not fit with what she had heard, made her uneasy. She persisted, and asked if their king was young and handsome; they replied that he was young, handsome, and very agreeable; she asked if they had frequent news of him, and they replied that they heard from him daily. But does he know, she asked, that I am in his palace? Oh yes, my lady, they answered, he knows everything that occurs in your life, he takes a particular interest in it, and we send off hourly messengers who bear news of you to him. She was silent then, and began to dream much more frequently than before.

  When she was alone, the voice spoke to her; sometimes she was afraid of it; but sometimes she found it pleasing, for there could be nothing more courteous and amiable than what it said to her. However resolved I am never to love, she would answer, and however strong are the reasons which lead me to defend my heart against an attraction which could only destroy it, I do admit that I should be very happy to make the acquaintance of a king with your bizarre predilections – for if it is true that you love me, you are perhaps the only creature in the world who could feel such a weakness for someone as ugly as myself. Think whatever you will about my character, my adorable princess, replied the voice – I find quite enough reason for my feelings in your virtues. Moreover it is not these things that constrain me to hide myself – I have other causes, and such unhappy ones that if you knew them, you would be unable to withhold your pity. The princess then urged the voice to explain further; but the voice spoke no more, and the princess heard only long, heavy sighs. All these things disturbed her; although this lover was unknown and hidden, he paid her a thousand attentions; and added to this was the consideration that the place where she found herself made her wish for more appropriate company than that of the pagods. And for this reason she began to feel everything around her boring and uninteresting, and to feel that only the invisible voice could occupy her time with pleasure.

  On one of the darkest nights of the year, when she had gone to sleep, she was aware, on waking, that someone was sitting beside her bed; she thought it was the pearly pagodine, who, bolder and brighter than the others, sometimes turned up to entertain her. The princess reached out her arms to take her up, but someone grasped her hand, pressed it, kissed it, and let drop a few tears on it, clearly too overcome to speak; she had no doubt but that it was the invisible king. What do you want of me, then, said she to him, sighing – can I love you without knowing you, and without seeing you? Ah, my lady, was the reply – what conditions do you impose on the delight I should feel in giving pleasure to you? It is impossible for me to let myself be seen. The wicked Magotine, who played such a cruel trick on you, has also condemned me to seven years of suffering, of which five have already passed, and two remain – and you would sweeten all the bitterness of those two last years if you would take me for your husband. You are about to decide I am foolhardy, and that what I ask is wholly impossible – but my lady, if you knew the extent both of my passion and of my distress, you could not refuse the gift I ask of you.

 
; Hidessa was finding her life uninteresting, as I have already said, and she found the invisible king very attractive as to his mind and wit, and love took hold of her heart in the deceptive guise of generous pity. She replied that a few days were still needed for her to be able to make a decision. This was already a great step forward, that she should have been brought to the point of putting things off for only a few days, and the feasts and concerts multiplied around her, she heard nothing but wedding songs, and presents were offered to her richer than any she had ever seen. The amorous voice, assiduously accompanying her, courted her through the night, and the princess retired always earlier and earlier in order to have more and more time to entertain the invisible visitor.

  At last she agreed to take the invisible king as her husband, and promised not to see him before his years of penitence were at an end. Everything hangs on this, for both of us, he told her; if you were to give way to imprudent curiosity, I should have to begin my years of suffering again, and this time you would have to share them with me; but if you are able to prevent yourself from listening to the bad advice you will be given, you will then have the happiness of seeing me as your heart desires, and at the same time of recovering the wonderful beauty stolen from you by the wicked Magotine. The princess, delighted by this new hope, vowed a thousand times to her husband to feel no curiosity which went against his wishes, and so they were married, without noise or ostentation, whilst hearts and spirits, notwithstanding, found their true satisfaction.

  Whilst all the pagods made a great effort to amuse their new queen, there was one who brought her the story of Psyche, recently retold in elegant words by a fashionable author;17 she found there many things which seemed to relate to her own adventures, and she developed such a strong desire to have her father and mother with her, and also her sister and her brother-in-law, that nothing the king could say to her would release the grip of this fantasy on her mind. The book you are reading, said he, tells you the misfortunes into which Psyche fell – please, I beg you, learn from that to avoid the same evils. She promised even more than he asked, so that eventually a ship of pagods and of presents was dispatched with letters from the Queen Hidessa to the queen, her mother. She implored her to come to visit her in her kingdom, and the pagods, on this one occasion, had permission to speak when they were not in their own country.

  The loss of the princess had not failed to bring out some sensibility in those closest to her; they had believed her to have perished, so her letters were a great happiness to the court; and the queen, who was dying with desire to see her, did not hold back for one moment, but set off with her daughter and her son-in-law. The pagods, who alone knew the way to their kingdom, conducted the whole royal family to the place, and when Hidessa saw her parents she thought she was about to die of joy. She read and reread Psyche, to be put on guard about anything that might be said, and about how she should respond; but she made a hundred mistakes; sometimes she said the king was away with the army, sometimes he was ill, or in such bad-humour that he would see no one, sometimes he was on pilgrimage, and then he was hunting or fishing. In the end it began to look as though she were sworn to say nothing that had any real meaning, and as though the cruel Magotine had completely scattered her wits. Her mother and sister discussed the situation; it was concluded that she was deceiving them, and perhaps also deceiving herself, so that, with a somewhat ill-directed eagerness they made up their minds to talk to her; they managed to do this so skilfully that they threw her mind into all sorts of fears and doubts; after having spent a long time preventing herself from agreeing to what they said, she did reveal that so far she had never set eyes on her husband, but that his conversation was so charming, that simply to hear him was enough to content her; that he was undergoing some sort of penance for another two years, and after that time, not only would she see him, but she herself would become beautiful as the bright day. Ah, you unhappy creature, cried the queen. What crude snares have been set out for you! Can it be possible that you have such simple faith in such fairy stories? Your husband is a monster, and that is what he has to be, for all these pagods whose king he is are no more than little grubs. I would more readily believe, replied Hidessa, that he is the god of love himself. What folly! cried Queen Bella, they told Psyche she had got a monster for a husband, and she found it was Love himself; you have got it into your stubborn head that Love is your husband, and he is quite certainly a monster; do at least set your mind at rest, shed a little light on something so easy to clear up; that is what the queen too argued, and her son-in-law went on in the same way for some considerable time.

  The poor princess remained so confused and disturbed that, having seen off her family with presents that very much more than repaid the zinzolin taffeta and the muff ribbon, she resolved, whatever might happen, to see hen husband. Ah! Fatal curiosity, which cannot be extinguished in us by hundreds of terrible examples, how much you are about to cost this unhappy princess! She felt it was proper to imitate her forerunner, Psyche, so she concealed a lamp, like her, and then held it up to behold the invisible king, so dear to her heart. But what dreadful screams burst from her when, instead of the young Love, golden, white, young and altogether lovely, she saw the horrid Green Worm, with his long fronded mane standing on end. He woke, consumed with rage and despair. Cruel woman, he cried, is this the reward of so much love? The princess did not hear him, for she had already fainted for fear, and the Green Worm was already far away.

  At the sound of all these tragic happenings several pagods had hurried in; they put the princess to bed, and tended her, and when she came round, she found herself in a state imagination can hardly begin to grasp – how greatly did she reproach herself for the harm she had done her husband! She loved him tenderly, but she loathed his form, and she would have given half her life not to have set eyes on it.

  However these sad reflections were interrupted by some pagods who came into her room with terrified looks; they came to warn her that several ships, full of marionettes, with Magotine at their head, had entered the port unopposed. The marionettes and the pagods are inveterate enemies; they are rivals in a thousand quarrels, and the marionettes even have the privilege of speaking wherever they are, which the pagods have not. Magotine was their queen; the hostility she felt towards the poor Green Worm and the unfortunate Hidessa had driven her to call together her forces to come and persecute them at the exact moment when their griefs were sharpest.

  She had no difficulty in succeeding in her designs: for the queen was so distraught that even when she was urged to give the necessary orders, she would not, saying that she understood nothing about warfare; orders given in her name assembled the pagods in the besieged cities, and the most important captains in the council room – she commanded them to take charge of everything, and retired into her study, looking on, almost with indifference, at the passage of life.

  Magotine’s general was the famous Polichinelle, who was very competent in his profession, and who had a large reserve battalion made up of wasps, cockchafers and butterflies, who performed wonders against a few lightly armed frogs and lizards. These had been enlisted in the pagods’ army a long time ago, and in fact their names inspired more fear than their courage.

  Magotine amused herself for some time watching the battle; the pagods and pagodines showed great courage, but the fairy, with a stroke of her wand, dissolved all the splendid surroundings – the lovely gardens, the woods, the meadows, the fountains were buried beneath the crumbled ruins, and Queen Hidessa could not escape the harsh fate of becoming the slave of the most wicked fairy there will ever be; four or five hundred marionettes forced her to come into Magotine’s presence. My lady, said Polichinelle, here is the queen of the pagods, whom I bring to you with humility and respect, I am already only too well acquainted with her, said Magotine; she was the cause of an insult offered to me on the day of her birth, which I shall never forget. Alas, my lady, said the queen, I believed you had already taken a great enough revenge for that; the gi
ft of ugliness, which you bestowed on me in the highest degree, might have sufficed anyone less vindictive than you. How she proses on, said the fairy, look at this learned doctor promulgating her new ideas. Your first task shall be to teach philosophy to my ants, so prepare yourself to give them a daily lesson. And how can I set about that, my lady, replied the afflicted queen, – I have never studied philosophy, and if I knew any, would your ants be capable of learning it? Look at her, look at this casuist, cried Magotine. Very well, dear queen, you shan’t teach them philosophy, but you will, despite yourself, give the whole world some demonstrations of patience which it will be very hard to imitate.

  And she promptly sent for some iron shoes, so tight that half the foot could not be squeezed in – and nevertheless they had to be strapped on – the poor queen had more than enough time to weep and to feel the pain. Aha, said Magotine, and now here is a distaff wound with spider-webs – I command you to spin it as fine as your own hairs, and I give you two hours and no more. I have never spun, my lady, said the queen, but, although the task appears impossible, I shall attempt to obey you. So they took her immediately into the depths of a dark cavern, closed it with a huge stone, and left her with a crust and a pitcher of water.