Wonder Tales

by Marina Warner

  When she tried to spin the filthy spider-webbing, her spindle was far too weighty for the task, and fell to the ground, time after time after time – she had the patience to gather it up, again and again and again, and to begin over and over, but it was all no use. I now see too well, said she, my overflowing misery. I am in the power of the implacable Magotine, and she is not content to have bereft me of my beauty, she is looking for pretexts to bring about my death. She began to weep, revisiting in her imagination the happy state she had enjoyed in the Kingdom of Pagody, and she threw her distaff to the ground. Let Magotine come when she pleases, said she, I cannot achieve the impossible. Then she heard a voice, which said: Ah! Queen, your indiscreet curiosity has cost you the tears you are letting fall: nevertheless it is too hard simply to watch the suffering of those one loves; I have a friend, of whom I have never spoken to you, who is called the Guardian Fairy – I hope she will be able to come to your aid. And immediately she heard three sharp knocks, and although she saw no one at all, she found her distaff full of thread, spun and combed. At the end of the two hours Magotine, intent on picking a quarrel, had the stone set aside from the mouth of the cave and swept in, followed by a whole troop of marionettes.

  Let us see, let us see, the work of a lazy creature who knows nothing about needlework and nothing about spinning.

  My lady, said the queen, I did indeed know nothing, but necessity taught me.

  When Magotine had taken in this curious turn of events, she took the bobbin of spider-thread and said: You are indeed excessively skilful, and it would be a very great pity not to make good use of your talents – and so, dear queen, go and turn this thread into fishing-nets, strong enough to take salmon.

  Ah now, for pity’s sake, replied the other, it is clear that even flies would be difficult to hold in such nets.

  You are a great arguer, my pretty friend, said Magotine, but that will do you no good at all. And she went out of her cave, had the great stone rolled back, and assured the queen that if the nets were not ready in two hours, she was lost for ever.

  Oh, Guardian Fairy, said the queen then, if it is true that my distress can move you, please do not deny me your help – and even as she spoke, there were the nets, all ready. Hidessa was infinitely amazed, and in her heart gave thanks to the helpful fairy who did so much good for her, and she thought with happiness that it was doubtless her husband who had enlisted this friend to support her. Alas, Green Worm, she said, you are very generous still to love me after the bad things I have done to you. There was no answer, for Magotine entered, and was truly amazed to find the nets so skilfully worked that no ordinary hand could have crafted them.

  And so, said she, are you going to have the effrontery to try to make me believe that it is you yourself who wove these nets?

  My lady, said the queen, if I were indeed so bold, you see I am shut away so well that it would be difficult indeed for anyone to speak to me without your permission.

  Since you are so clever and so skilful, you will be extremely useful to me in my kingdom.

  She immediately ordered her ships to be prepared, and all the marionettes to be ready to sail, and had the poor queen confined in heavy iron chains, lest in some passionate movement of despair she might cast herself into the sea. The unfortunate princess bewept her sad fate throughout a long night, and then, in the light of the stars, she saw the Green Worm, softly approaching the ship. I am still afraid of frightening you, he said, and despite the reasons I may have for treating you with less solicitude, you are still infinitely dear to me. Can you forgive my uncontrolled curiosity? she asked him. And may I say to you:

  O my dear Snake, can this be truly you?

  And do I see again my heart’s desire?

  Beloved husband whom I see anew

  After fierce pains, extreme as ice and fire –

  Which torment my poor heart

  When we two are apart.

  And the Worm replied with this verse:

  The pains of separation

  Work in our flesh and blood

  Like demons of vexation

  Sent from the hellish nation

  Transfiguring what’s good

  To fright and perturbation

  Which torment our poor hearts

  When we two are apart.

  Magotine was not one of those fairies who occasionally take a nap. The desire to do harm kept her constantly awake, and so she did not fail to hear the conversation between the king-serpent and his wife – she rushed in to interrupt it like a fury. Aha! said she, now you are whining in verse, and complaining away like the Lord of the Muses – that warms my heart – Proserpine, who is my greatest friend, has asked me to present her with a poet for her to employ – not that she hasn’t got plenty, but she seems to want more. And so, Green Worm, I command you, as the final task of your penance, to go to the dim dwelling, and make my compliments to the gentle Proserpine. The unfortunate Serpent departed immediately with long hisses, leaving the queen in the deepest grief; she thought there was no more to be done; and cried out desperately: What crime have we committed to bring down your wrath, barbarous Magotine? I was hardly in the world when your infernal curse took away my beauty and made me loathsome. Can you claim that I was guilty of anything? since I was not yet a reasonable being, and had no idea of my own identity. I am sure that the unhappy king you have just dispatched to the Underworld is as innocent as I was – so end it now, give me my death at this instant – that is the only grace I ask of you.

  You would indeed be too happy, said Magotine, if I were to grant your request – but first you must draw water from the bottomless well.

  As soon as the ships had arrived at the kingdom of the marionettes, the cruel Magotine took a millstone, hung it around the neck of the queen, and bade her climb, so encumbered, to the top of a mountain whose summit was high above the clouds; when she was there she was to gather four-leaved clover, and fill her basket with it, and thereafter she was to descend to the depth of the valley, in order to draw, in a pitcher full of holes, the Water of Discretion, and to bring back enough of that water to fill the great glass of Magotine. The queen said that it was impossible for her to fulfil this command; that the millstone was ten times her own weight; that the leaking pitcher could never hold the water the fairy desired to drink, and that she could not bring herself to undertake so impossible a task. And if you fail, said Magotine, rest assured that it will be your Green Worm who will suffer for it. This threat so terrified the queen that she did try to walk; but alas! it would have been quite hopeless, if the Guardian Fairy, whom she called on, had not come to her aid. The fairy said, as she arrived: Now you see the just reward for your fatal curiosity – do not complain, except to yourself, about the state to which Magotine has reduced you; and immediately she carried her to the mountain-top and filled her basket with four-leaved clover, despite the dreadful monsters who guarded it, who made quite supernatural efforts to defend it; but with a stroke of her wand the Guardian Fairy rendered them milder than lambs.

  She did not even wait for the queen to thank her before completing all the good she was able to do for her. She gave her a little chariot, drawn by two white canaries, who both talked and sang beautifully; she told her to go down the mountain, and throw her iron shoes at two giants armed with clubs who were guarding the fountain, and they would fall to the ground, senseless; that she should give her pitcher to the little birds who would be able to find a way to fill it with the Water of Discretion; and that as soon as she had it, she should wash her face with it, and she would immediately become the most beautiful person in the world. The fairy advised her not to stay near the fountain, nor to go back on to the mountain, but to stay her steps in a pretty little wood which she would find along her path; and there she could spend three years; for Magotine would believe that she was still trying to catch the water in her pitcher, or that the other perils of the journey had destroyed her.

  The queen embraced the knees of the Guardian Fairy, and thanked her
a thousand times for the great kindnesses she had received from her; but, she went on, neither the happy outcome you promise, nor the beauty I may receive, could give me any joy until the Serpent is unserpented. And that is what will happen, after your three years in the wood near the mountain, said the fairy, when you have finally given the water in the leaking pitcher and the clover to Magotine.

  The queen promised the Guardian Fairy to fail in nothing she had set out for her to do. And yet, my lady, she added, shall I be three years without a word of the serpent-king? You deserve to spend the rest of your life without word of him, replied the fairy; for can there be anything more terrible than to condemn this poor king, as you have done, to begin his penance once more? The queen made no answer, but the tears which streamed from her eyes and her silence were sufficient evidence of the pain she was in. She got into the little chariot, the canary birds did their work, and brought her to the depth of the valley, where the giants guarded the Fountain of Discretion. She quickly took her iron shoes and threw them at their heads; as soon as they were hit, they fell lifeless as statues; the canaries took the leaky pitcher, and mended it with such extraordinary skill that it appeared never to have been broken. The name which the water bore aroused in her a desire to drink it; it will make me, said she, more prudent, more discreet, than in the past. Alas! If I had had these qualities I should still be in the Kingdom of Pagody! And after drinking a long draught, she washed her face, and became beautiful, so beautiful, that she appeared more like a goddess than a mortal.

  And immediately the Guardian Fairy appeared and said: You have just done something which makes me infinitely happy; you knew that this water could give beauty both to your soul and your body, and I wanted to see which of the two was more important to you – in the event, it was the soul that won, for which you have my admiration – and this good deed will shorten your penance by four years. Please do not take away any of my pain, said the queen, for I deserve it all, but give comfort to the Green Worm, who deserves none. I will do what I can, said the fairy, and embraced her – but now you are so beautiful, I desire you to abandon the name Hidessa, which is quite inappropriate, and I wish you to take the name of Discretion. And with these words she vanished, leaving behind a tiny pair of slippers, so pretty and so delicately embroidered that the queen was almost sorry to put them on.

  When she got back into her chariot, holding her pitcher full of water, the canaries took her directly to the mountain wood. There never was a more pleasant place; myrtles and orange-trees joined their branches to make long covered alleys, and little woody chambers where the sun never penetrated; a thousand streams and springs which flowed softly helped to freshen this lovely dwelling, but the most remarkable thing was that all the animals could speak, and that they gave the warmest welcome in the world to the tiny canaries. We thought, said they to them, that you had abandoned us. The time of our penance is not yet exhausted, replied the canaries, but here is a queen whom the Guardian Fairy has sent here in our charge – please help to entertain her as well as you can. And at that moment she found herself surrounded by animals of all kinds, who received her with great courtesy. You shall be our queen, said they, and we shall care for you and honour you in every way. Where am I? she cried, and by what supernatural power are you able to speak to me?

  One of the little canaries, who never left her side, whispered in her ear: You should know, my lady, that several fairies, having set out to travel, were distressed to see human beings who had fallen into truly bad ways – they thought at first that it would be enough to give warnings, to tell them to mend their ways; but their concern was of no avail, and they suddenly grew irritated, and imposed penances on the wrongdoers; those who talked too much became parrots, magpies and hens; lovers and mistresses became pigeons, canaries and lapdogs; those who imitated their friends became monkeys; certain people who were too fond of good food became pigs; the angry turned into lions – indeed the number of people they transformed was so great that this whole wood is inhabited by them, and you will find people of all kinds and of all dispositions.

  From what you have just told me, my dear little canary, said the queen, I have reason to believe that you are here only because you loved too well. That is true, my lady, replied the canary. I am the son of a Spanish grandee. Love in our country exercises such power in our hearts that when it takes hold of us, we fall into the crime of rebellion. An English ambassador arrived at the court, with a wonderfully beautiful daughter, whose arrogance and sharpness were nevertheless quite unbearable; however, I became attached to her, indeed I loved and worshipped her; sometimes she seemed to respond to my attentions, and sometimes repulsed me so fiercely that she exhausted my patience. One day when she had cast me into despair, a dignified old woman came up, and reproached me with my weakness; but everything she said only made me more stubborn, which she saw, and she became angry. I condemn you, said she, to become a canary bird for three years, and your mistress shall be a wasp. And at once I felt a strange change coming over me, the most extraordinary you can imagine; despite my affliction I was unable to prevent myself from flying into the ambassador’s garden, to see what had become of his daughter; I had hardly arrived when I saw her coming towards me in the form of a wasp, buzzing four times louder than all the others; I tumbled around her with all the ardour of a lover whom nothing can deter; she made several attempts to sting me. If you desire my death, lovely wasp, said I, there is no need to use your sting – you have only to command me to die and I shall do so. The wasp made no answer, but set about the flowers, who had to endure her bad temper.

  Overcome by her scorn and my own state, I flew on without setting any particular course. I arrived eventually in one of the glorious cities of the world – the one they call Paris – I was weary, I threw myself down amongst the leafy branches of some tall trees in a walled enclosure, and without knowing who had trapped me, I found myself inside a cage, painted green and decorated in gold; the furniture and the dwelling were of a startling magnificence; and immediately a young person came to caress me, and spoke to me with so much sweetness that I was enchanted; I did not stay long in her chamber without learning the secret of her heart; I observed that she was visited by a swaggering bully, always in a rage, who was impossible to soothe, and not only overwhelmed her with Injust accusations but beat her so cruelly as to leave her almost dead in the arms of her waiting-women; I was immoderately afflicted myself to see her suffer such unworthy treatment; and what distressed me still further was that it appeared that all the blows he showered on her had the effect of arousing all the tenderness of this lovely young woman.

  I wished day and night that the fairies who had transformed me into a canary would arrive and impart some sort of order to these ill-assorted amours; my desires were fulfilled; the fairies appeared suddenly in the chamber just as the enraged lover was beginning his usual exercises; they heaped him with reproaches and condemned him to become a wolf; as for the patient woman who allowed herself to be beaten, they turned her into a sheep and sent them both off to the mountain wood; for my own part, I was able to find an easy way of flying off. I had a wish to see the different courts of Europe. I travelled through Italy, and chance put me into the hands of a man, who, since he was frequently absent on business in the city, and wanted to prevent his wife, of whom he was very jealous, from seeing anyone, locked her up carefully from dawn to dusk, and intended for me the honour of amusing this beautiful prisoner – but she was occupied with quite different concerns than my entertainment. A certain neighbour, who had long been in love with her, came every evening by the rooftop and slid down the chimney, arriving blacker than a demon. The keys employed by the jealous husband had no use beyond assuring his own peace of mind; and I was in perpetual fear of some embarrassing catastrophe – and then the fairies made their way in through the keyhole, causing no small astonishment to these two amorous persons. Away with you to do penance! they said, touching them with their wands, so that the chimney-sweeper became a squirrel
, and the lady a little monkey, for she was clever, whilst the husband who was so keen on guarding his house, became a bulldog for ten years.

  I would have far too long a tale to tell, my lady, added the canary, if I described all my adventures; but I am required from time to time to come back to the mountain wood, and I rarely come without seeing new animals, for the fairies continue to travel, and people continue to affront them with endless failings; but for the time you are here, you may be much diverted by the tales of all the adventures of the people who find themselves here. Several offered on the spot to tell her all about themselves as soon as she desired; she thanked them very civilly; but she was more in need of reflection than of conversation, and sought out a lonely place where she could be by herself. The moment she had decided on it, a little palace appeared, and she was offered the most delightful feast in the world; there was nothing but fruit, but rare and wonderful fruit, brought to her by the birds – and all the time she was in the wood, she wanted for nothing.

  There were sometimes celebrations more remarkable for their oddity than for anything else – lions could be seen dancing with lambs, bears murmured sweet nothings to doves, and snakes addressed themselves gently to linnets. There was even a flirtation between a butterfly and a panther. That is to say nothing was arranged according to species, for it was not a question of tiger or sheep, but simply of persons the fairies desired to punish for their faults.

  They loved Queen Discretion devotedly; all made her the judge in their disputes; she was absolute ruler in the little republic, and if she had not reproached herself incessantly with the misfortunes of the Green Worm, she might have been able to bear her own with a kind of patience; but when she thought about the state she had brought him to, she was unable to forgive herself for her indiscreet curiosity. When the time came to leave the mountain wood, she alerted her little guides, the faithful canaries, who assured her she would have a happy return; she stole away in the night, to avoid the farewells and the regrets which would have cost her some tears; for she was touched by the friendship and the respect which all these thinking beasts had offered her.