this, she ran up-stairs, whispered the secret to the Duchess overagain, and said to the Duchess besides, "They think we children never havea reason or a meaning!" And the Duchess, though the most fashionableDuchess that ever was heard of, winked her eye.
"Alicia," said the King, one evening when she wished him Good Night.
"Yes, Papa."
"What is become of the magic fish-bone?"
"In my pocket, Papa."
"I thought you had lost it?"
"O, no, Papa."
"Or forgotten it?"
"No, indeed, Papa."
And so another time the dreadful little snapping pug-dog next door made arush at one of the young Princes as he stood on the steps coming home fromschool, and terrified him out of his wits and he put his hand through apane of glass, and bled bled bled. When the seventeen other young Princesand Princesses saw him bleed bleed bleed, they were terrified out of theirwits too, and screamed themselves black in their seventeen faces all atonce. But the Princess Alicia put her hands over all their seventeenmouths, one after another, and persuaded them to be quiet because of thesick Queen. And then she put the wounded Prince's hand in a basin of freshcold water, while they stared with their twice seventeen are thirty-fourput down four and carry three eyes, and then she looked in the hand forbits of glass, and there were fortunately no bits of glass there. Andthen she said to two chubby-legged Princes who were sturdy though small,"Bring me in the Royal rag-bag; I must snip and stitch and cut andcontrive." So those two young Princes tugged at the Royal rag-bag andlugged it in, and the Princess Alicia sat down on the floor with a largepair of scissors and a needle and thread, and snipped and stitched andcut and contrived, and made a bandage and put it on, and it fittedbeautifully, and so when it was all done she saw the King her Papalooking on by the door.
"Alicia."
"Yes, Papa."
"What have you been doing?"
"Snipping stitching cutting and contriving, Papa."
"Where is the magic fish-bone?"
"In my pocket, Papa."
"I thought you had lost it?"
"O, no, Papa."
"Or forgotten it?"
"No, indeed, Papa."
After that, she ran up-stairs to the Duchess and told her what had passed,and told her the secret over again, and the Duchess shook her flaxen curlsand laughed with her rosy lips.
Well! and so another time the baby fell under the grate. The seventeenyoung Princes and Princesses were used to it, for they were almost alwaysfalling under the grate or down the stairs, but the baby was not used toit yet, and it gave him a swelled face and a black eye. The way the poorlittle darling came to tumble was, that he slid out of the PrincessAlicia's lap just as she was sitting in a great coarse apron that quitesmothered her, in front of the kitchen-fire, beginning to peel the turnipsfor the broth for dinner; and the way she came to be doing that was, thatthe King's cook had run away that morning with her own true love who was avery tall but very tipsy soldier. Then, the seventeen young Princes andPrincesses, who cried at everything that happened, cried and roared. Butthe Princess Alicia (who couldn't help crying a little herself) quietlycalled to them to be still, on account of not throwing back the Queenup-stairs, who was fast getting well, and said, "Hold your tongues, youwicked little monkeys, every one of you, while I examine baby!" Then sheexamined baby, and found that he hadn't broken anything, and she heldcold iron to his poor dear eye, and smoothed his poor dear face, and hepresently fell asleep in her arms. Then, she said to the seventeen Princesand Princesses, "I am afraid to lay him down yet, lest he should wake andfeel pain, be good, and you shall all be cooks." They jumped for joy whenthey heard that, and began making themselves cooks' caps out of oldnewspapers. So to one she gave the salt-box, and to one she gave thebarley, and to one she gave the herbs, and to one she gave the turnips,and to one she gave the carrots, and to one she gave the onions, and toone she gave the spice-box, till they were all cooks, and all runningabout at work, she sitting in the middle smothered in the great coarseapron, nursing baby. By and by the broth was done, and the baby woke upsmiling like an angel, and was trusted to the sedatest Princess to hold,while the other Princes and Princesses were squeezed into a far-off cornerto look at the Princess Alicia turning out the saucepan-full of broth,for fear (as they were always getting into trouble) they should getsplashed and scalded. When the broth came tumbling out, steamingbeautifully, and smelling like a nosegay good to eat, they clapped theirhands. That made the baby clap his hands; and that, and his looking as ifhe had a comic toothache, made all the Princes and Princesses laugh. Sothe Princess Alicia said, "Laugh and be good, and after dinner we willmake him a nest on the floor in a corner, and he shall sit in his nestand see a dance of eighteen cooks." That delighted the young Princes andPrincesses, and they ate up all the broth, and washed up all the platesand dishes, and cleared away, and pushed the table into a corner, andthen they in their cooks' caps, and the Princess Alicia in the smotheringcoarse apron that belonged to the cook that had run away with her own truelove that was the very tall but very tipsy soldier, danced a dance ofeighteen cooks before the angelic baby, who forgot his swelled face andhis black eye, and crowed with joy.
The Dance of the Eighteen Cooks]
And so then, once more the Princess Alicia saw King Watkins the First,her father, standing in the doorway looking on, and he said: "What haveyou been doing, Alicia?"
"Cooking and contriving, Papa."
"What else have you been doing, Alicia?"
"Keeping the children light-hearted, Papa."
"Where is the magic fish-bone, Alicia?"
"In my pocket, Papa."
"I thought you had lost it?"
"O, no, Papa."
"Or forgotten it?"
"No, indeed, Papa."
The King then sighed so heavily, and seemed so low-spirited, and sat downso miserably, leaning his head upon his hand, and his elbow upon thekitchen table pushed away in the corner, that the seventeen Princes andPrincesses crept softly out of the kitchen, and left him alone with thePrincess Alicia and the angelic baby.
"What is the matter, Papa?"
"I am dreadfully poor, my child."
"Have you no money at all, Papa?"
"What is the matter, Papa?"]
"None my child."
"Is there no way left of getting any, Papa?"
"No way," said the King. "I have tried very hard, and I have tried allways."
When she heard those last words, the Princess Alicia began to put her handinto the pocket where she kept the magic fish-bone.
"Papa," said she, "when we have tried very hard, and tried all ways, wemust have done our very very best?"
"No doubt, Alicia."
"When we have done our very very best, Papa, and that is not enough, thenI think the right time must have come for asking help of others." This wasthe very secret connected with the magic fish-bone, which she had foundout for herself from the good fairy Grandmarina's words, and which she hadso often whispered to her beautiful and fashionable friend the Duchess.
So she took out of her pocket the magic fish-bone that had been dried andrubbed and polished till it shone like mother-of-pearl; and she gave itone little kiss and wished it was quarter day. And immediately it _was_quarter day; and the King's quarter's salary came rattling down thechimney, and bounced into the middle of the floor.
But this was not half of what happened, no not a quarter, for immediatelyafterwards the good fairy Grandmarina came riding in, in a carriage andfour (Peacocks), with Mr Pickles's boy up behind, dressed in silver andgold, with a cocked hat, powdered hair, pink silk stockings, a jewelledcane, and a nosegay. Down jumped Mr Pickles's boy with his cocked hat inhis hand and wonderfully polite (being entirely changed by enchantment),and handed Grandmarina out, and there she stood in her rich shot silksmelling of dried lavender, fanning herself with a sparkling fan.
"Alicia, my dear," said this charming old Fairy, "how do you do, I hope Isee you pretty well, give me a kiss."
"Alicia, my dear ... how do you do?"]
The King said he hoped so.
"I suppose you know the reason, _now_, why my god-Daughter here," kissingthe Princess again, "did not apply to the fish-bone sooner?" said theFairy.
The King made her a shy bow.
"Ah! but you didn't _then_!" said the Fairy.
The King made her a shyer bow.
"Any more reasons to ask for?" said the Fairy.
The King said no, and he was very sorry.
"Be
The Magic Fishbone Page 2
