by E. Nesbit
XII
THE MAGICIAN'S HEART
We all have our weaknesses. Mine is mulberries. Yours, perhaps, motorcars. Professor Taykin's was christenings--royal christenings. He alwaysexpected to be asked to the christening parties of all the little royalbabies, and of course he never was, because he was not a lord, or aduke, or a seller of bacon and tea, or anything really high-class, butmerely a wicked magician, who by economy and strict attention tocustomers had worked up a very good business of his own. He had notalways been wicked. He was born quite good, I believe, and his oldnurse, who had long since married a farmer and retired into the calm ofcountry life, always used to say that he was the duckiest little boy ina plaid frock with the dearest little fat legs. But he had changed sincehe was a boy, as a good many other people do--perhaps it was his trade.I dare say you've noticed that cobblers are usually thin, and brewersare generally fat, and magicians are almost always wicked.
Well, his weakness (for christenings) grew stronger and stronger becauseit was never indulged, and at last he 'took the bull into his ownhands,' as the Irish footman at the palace said, and went to achristening without being asked. It was a very grand party given by theKing of the Fortunate Islands, and the little prince was christenedFortunatus. No one took any notice of Professor Taykin. They were toopolite to turn him out, but they made him wish he'd never come. He feltquite an outsider, as indeed he was, and this made him furious. So thatwhen all the bright, light, laughing, fairy godmothers were crowdinground the blue satin cradle, and giving gifts of beauty and strength andgoodness to the baby, the Magician suddenly did a very difficult charm(in his head, like you do mental arithmetic), and said:
'Young Forty may be all that, but _I_ say he shall be the stupidestprince in the world,' and on that he vanished in a puff of red smokewith a smell like the Fifth of November in a back garden on StreathamHill, and as he left no address the King of the Fortunate Islandscouldn't prosecute him for high treason.
Taykin was very glad to think that he had made such a lot of peopleunhappy--the whole Court was in tears when he left, including thebaby--and he looked in the papers for another royal christening, so thathe could go to that and make a lot more people miserable. And there wasone fixed for the very next Wednesday. The Magician went to that, too,disguised as a wealthy.
This time the baby was a girl. Taykin kept close to the pink velvetcradle, and when all the nice qualities in the world had been given tothe Princess he suddenly said, 'Little Aura may be all that, but _I_ sayshe shall be the ugliest princess in all the world.'
And instantly she was. It was terrible. And she had been such abeautiful baby too. Every one had been saying that she was the mostbeautiful baby they had ever seen. This sort of thing is often said atchristenings.
Having uglified the unfortunate little Princess the Magician did thespell (in his mind, just as you do your spelling) to make himselfvanish, but to his horror there was no red smoke and no smell offireworks, and there he was, still, where he now very much wished not tobe. Because one of the fairies there had seen, just one second too lateto save the Princess, what he was up to, and had made a strong littlecharm in a great hurry to prevent his vanishing. This Fairy was a WhiteWitch, and of course you know that White Magic is much stronger thanBlack Magic, as well as more suited for drawing-room performances. Sothere the Magician stood, 'looking like a thunder-struck pig,' as someone unkindly said, and the dear White Witch bent down and kissed thebaby princess.
'There!' she said, 'you can keep that kiss till you want it. When thetime comes you'll know what to do with it. The Magician can't vanish,Sire. You'd better arrest him.'
'Arrest that person,' said the King, pointing to Taykin. 'I suppose yourcharms are of a permanent nature, madam.'
'Quite,' said the Fairy, 'at least they never go till there's no longerany use for them.'
So the Magician was shut up in an enormously high tower, and allowed toplay with magic; but none of his spells could act outside the tower sohe was never able to pass the extra double guard that watched outsidenight and day. The King would have liked to have the Magician executedbut the White Witch warned him that this would never do.
'Don't you see,' she said, 'he's the only person who can make thePrincess beautiful again. And he'll do it some day. But don't you go_asking_ him to do it. He'll never do anything to oblige you. He's thatsort of man.'
So the years rolled on. The Magician stayed in the tower and did magicand was very bored,--for it is dull to take white rabbits out of yourhat, and your hat out of nothing when there's no one to see you.
Prince Fortunatus was such a stupid little boy that he got lost quiteearly in the story, and went about the country saying his name wasJames, which it wasn't. A baker's wife found him and adopted him, andsold the diamond buttons of his little overcoat, for three hundredpounds, and as she was a very honest woman she put two hundred away forJames to have when he grew up.
The years rolled on. Aura continued to be hideous, and she was veryunhappy, till on her twentieth birthday her married cousin Belinda cameto see her. Now Belinda had been made ugly in her cradle too, so shecould sympathise as no one else could.
'But _I_ got out of it all right, and so will you,' said Belinda. 'I'msure the first thing to do is to find a magician.'
'Father banished them all twenty years ago,' said Aura behind her veil,'all but the one who uglified me.'
'Then I should go to _him_,' said beautiful Belinda. 'Dress up as abeggar maid, and give him fifty pounds to do it. Not more, or he maysuspect that you're not a beggar maid. It will be great fun. I'd go withyou only I promised Bellamant faithfully that I'd be home to lunch.' Andoff she went in her mother-of-pearl coach, leaving Aura to look throughthe bound volumes of _The Perfect Lady_ in the palace library, to findout the proper costume for a beggar maid.
Now that very morning the Magician's old nurse had packed up a ham, andsome eggs, and some honey, and some apples, and a sweet bunch ofold-fashioned flowers, and borrowed the baker's boy to hold the horsefor her, and started off to see the Magician. It was forty years sinceshe'd seen him, but she loved him still, and now she thought she coulddo him a good turn. She asked in the town for his address, and learnedthat he lived in the Black Tower.
'But you'd best be careful,' the townsfolk said, 'he's a spiteful chap.'
'Bless you,' said the old nurse, 'he won't hurt me as nursed him when hewas a babe, in a plaid frock with the dearest little fat legs ever yousee.'
So she got to the tower, and the guards let her through. Taykin wasalmost pleased to see her--remember he had had no visitors for twentyyears--and he was quite pleased to see the ham and the honey.
'But where did I put them _h_eggs?' said the nurse, 'and the apples--Imust have left them at home after all.'
She had. But the Magician just waved his hand in the air, and there wasa basket of apples that hadn't been there before. The eggs he took outof her bonnet, the folds of her shawl, and even from his own mouth, justlike a conjurer does. Only of course he was a real Magician.
'Lor!' said she, 'it's like magic.'
'It _is_ magic,' said he. 'That's my trade. It's quite a pleasure tohave an audience again. I've lived here alone for twenty years. It'svery lonely, especially of an evening.'
'Can't you get out?' said the nurse.
'No. King's orders must be respected, but it's a dog's life.' Hesniffed, made himself a magic handkerchief out of empty air, and wipedhis eyes.
'Take an apprentice, my dear,' said the nurse.
'And teach him my magic? Not me.'
'Suppose you got one so stupid he _couldn't_ learn?'
'That would be all right--but it's no use advertising for a stupidperson--you'd get no answers.'
'You needn't advertise,' said the nurse; and she went out and brought inJames, who was really the Prince of the Fortunate Islands, and also thebaker's boy she had brought with her to hold the horse's head.
'Now, James,' she said, 'you'd like to be apprenticed, wouldn't you?'
'Yes,' said the poor stupid boy.
'Then give the gentleman your money, James.'
James did.
'My last doubts vanish,' said the Magician, 'he _is_ stupid. Nurse, letus celebrate the occasion with a little drop of something. Not beforethe boy because of setting an example. James, wash up. Not here, silly;in the back kitchen.'
So James washed up, and as he was very clumsy he happened to break alittle bottle of essence of dreams that was on the shelf, and instantlythere floated up from the washing-up water the vision of a princess morebeautiful than the day--so beautiful that even James could not helpseeing how beautiful she was, and holding out his arms to her as shecame floating through the air above the kitchen sink. But when he heldout his arms she vanished. He sighed and washed up harder than ever.
'I wish I wasn't so stupid,' he said, and then there was a knock at thedoor. James wiped his hands and opened. Some one stood there in verypicturesque rags and tatters. 'Please,' said some one, who was of coursethe Princess, 'is Professor Taykin at home?'
'Walk in, please,' said James.
'My snakes alive!' said Taykin, 'what a day we're having. Threevisitors in one morning. How kind of you to call. Won't you take achair?'
'I hoped,' said the veiled Princess, 'that you'd give me something elseto take.'
'A glass of wine,' said Taykin. 'You'll take a glass of wine?'
'No, thank you,' said the beggar maid who was the Princess.
'Then take ... take your veil off,' said the nurse, 'or you won't feelthe benefit of it when you go out.'
'I can't,' said Aura, 'it wouldn't be safe.'
'Too beautiful, eh?' said the Magician. 'Still--you're quite safe here.'
'Can you do magic?' she abruptly asked.
'A little,' said he ironically.
'Well,' said she, 'it's like this. I'm so ugly no one can bear to lookat me. And I want to go as kitchenmaid to the palace. They want a cookand a scullion and a kitchenmaid. I thought perhaps you'd give mesomething to make me pretty. I'm only a poor beggar maid.... It would bea great thing to me if....'
'Go along with you,' said Taykin, very cross indeed. 'I never give tobeggars.'
'Here's twopence,' whispered poor James, pressing it into her hand,'it's all I've got left.'
'Thank you,' she whispered back. 'You _are_ good.'
And to the Magician she said:
'I happen to have fifty pounds. I'll give it you for a new face.'
'Done,' cried Taykin. 'Here's another stupid one!' He grabbed the money,waved his wand, and then and there before the astonished eyes of thenurse and the apprentice the ugly beggar maid became the loveliestprincess in the world.
'Lor!' said the nurse.
'My dream!' cried the apprentice.
'Please,' said the Princess, 'can I have a looking-glass?' Theapprentice ran to unhook the one that hung over the kitchen sink, andhanded it to her. 'Oh,' she said, 'how _very_ pretty I am. How can Ithank you?'
'Quite easily,' said the Magician, 'beggar maid as you are, I herebyoffer you my hand and heart.'
He put his hand into his waistcoat and pulled out his heart. It was fatand pink, and the Princess did not like the look of it.
'Thank you very much,' said she, 'but I'd rather not.'
'But I insist,' said Taykin.
'But really, your offer....'
'Most handsome, I'm sure,' said the nurse.
'My affections are engaged,' said the Princess, looking down. 'I can'tmarry you.'
'Am I to take this as a refusal?' asked Taykin; and the Princess saidshe feared that he was.
'Very well, then,' he said, 'I shall see you home, and ask your fatherabout it. He'll not let you refuse an offer like this. Nurse, come andtie my necktie.'
So he went out, and the nurse with him.
Then the Princess told the apprentice in a very great hurry who she was.
'It would never do,' she said, 'for him to see me home. He'd find outthat I was the Princess, and he'd uglify me again in no time.'
'He sha'n't see you home,' said James. 'I may be stupid but I'm strongtoo.'
'How brave you are,' said Aura admiringly, 'but I'd rather slip awayquietly, without any fuss. Can't you undo the patent lock of that door?'The apprentice tried but he was too stupid, and the Princess was notstrong enough.
'I'm sorry,' said the apprentice who was a Prince. 'I can't undo thedoor, but when _he_ does I'll hold him and you can get away. I dreamedof you this morning,' he added.
'I dreamed of you too,' said she, 'but you were different.'
'Perhaps,' said poor James sadly, 'the person you dreamed about wasn'tstupid, and I am.'
'Are you _really_?' cried the Princess. 'I _am_ so glad!'
'That's rather unkind, isn't it?' said he.
'No; because if _that's_ all that makes you different from the man Idreamed about I can soon make _that_ all right.'
And with that she put her hands on his shoulders and kissed him. And ather kiss his stupidness passed away like a cloud, and he became asclever as any one need be; and besides knowing all the ordinary lessonshe would have learned if he had stayed at home in his palace, he knewwho he was, and where he was, and why, and he knew all the geography ofhis father's kingdom, and the exports and imports and the condition ofpolitics. And he knew also that the Princess loved him.
So he caught her in his arms and kissed her, and they were very happy,and told each other over and over again what a beautiful world it was,and how wonderful it was that they should have found each other, seeingthat the world is not only beautiful but rather large.
'That first one was a magic kiss, you know,' said she. 'My fairygodmother gave it to me, and I've been keeping it all these years foryou. You must get away from here, and come to the palace. Oh, you'llmanage it--you're clever now.'
'Yes,' he said, 'I _am_ clever now. I can undo the lock for you. Go, mydear, go before he comes back.'
So the Princess went. And only just in time; for as she went out of onedoor Taykin came in at the other.
He was furious to find her gone; and I should not like to write down thethings he said to his apprentice when he found that James had been sostupid as to open the door for her. They were not polite things at all.
He tried to follow her. But the Princess had warned the guards, and hecould not get out.
'Oh,' he cried, 'if only my old magic would work outside this tower. I'dsoon be even with her.'
And then in a strange, confused, yet quite sure way, he felt that thespell that held him, the White Witch's spell, was dissolved.
'To the palace!' he cried; and rushing to the cauldron that hung overthe fire he leaped into it, leaped out in the form of a red lion, anddisappeared.
Without a moment's hesitation the Prince, who was his apprentice,followed him, calling out the same words and leaping into the samecauldron, while the poor nurse screamed and wrung her hands. As hetouched the liquor in the cauldron he felt that he was not quitehimself. He was, in fact, a green dragon. He felt himself vanish--a mostuncomfortable sensation--and reappeared, with a suddenness that took hisbreath away, in his own form and at the back door of the palace.
The time had been short, but already the Magician had succeeded inobtaining an engagement as palace cook. How he did it without referencesI don't know. Perhaps he made the references by magic as he had made theeggs, and the apples, and the handkerchief.
Taykin's astonishment and annoyance at being followed by his faithfulapprentice were soon soothed, for he saw that a stupid scullion would beof great use. Of course he had no idea that James had been made cleverby a kiss.
'But how are you going to cook?' asked the apprentice. 'You don't knowhow!'
'I shall cook,' said Taykin, 'as I do everything else--by magic.' And hedid. I wish I had time to tell you how he turned out a hot dinner ofseventeen courses from totally empty saucepans, how James looked in acupboard for spices and found it empty, and how next moment the nursewalked out of it. The Magician had bee
n so long alone that he seemed torevel in the luxury of showing off to some one, and he leaped about fromone cupboard to another, produced cats and cockatoos out of empty jars,and made mice and rabbits disappear and reappear till James's head wasin a whirl, for all his cleverness; and the nurse, as she washed up,wept tears of pure joy at her boy's wonderful skill.
'All this excitement's bad for my heart, though,' Taykin said at last,and pulling his heart out of his chest, he put it on a shelf, and as hedid so his magic note-book fell from his breast and the apprenticepicked it up. Taykin did not see him do it; he was busy making thekitchen lamp fly about the room like a pigeon.
It was just then that the Princess came in, looking more lovely thanever in a simple little morning frock of white chiffon and diamonds.
'The beggar maid,' said Taykin, 'looking like a princess! I'll marry herjust the same.'
'I've come to give the orders for dinner,' she said; and then she sawwho it was, and gave one little cry and stood still, trembling.
'To order the dinner,' said the nurse. 'Then you're----'
'Yes,' said Aura, 'I'm the Princess.'
'You're the Princess,' said the Magician. 'Then I'll marry you all themore. And if you say no I'll uglify you as the word leaves your lips.Oh, yes--you think I've just been amusing myself over my cooking--butI've really been brewing the strongest spell in the world. Marry me--ordrink----'
The Princess shuddered at these dreadful words.
'Drink, or marry me,' said the Magician. 'If you marry me you shall bebeautiful for ever.'
'Ah,' said the nurse, 'he's a match even for a Princess.'
'I'll tell papa,' said the Princess, sobbing.
'No, you won't,' said Taykin. 'Your father will never know. If you won'tmarry me you shall drink this and become my scullery maid--my hideousscullery maid--and wash up for ever in the lonely tower.'
He caught her by the wrist.
'Stop,' cried the apprentice, who was a Prince.
'Stop? _Me?_ Nonsense! Pooh!' said the Magician.
'Stop, I say!' said James, who was Fortunatus. '_I've got your heart!_'He had--and he held it up in one hand, and in the other a cooking knife.
'One step nearer that lady,' said he, 'and in goes the knife.'
The Magician positively skipped in his agony and terror.
'I say, look out!' he cried. 'Be careful what you're doing. Accidentshappen so easily! Suppose your foot slipped! Then no apologies wouldmeet the case. That's my heart you've got there. My life's bound up init.'
'I know. That's often the case with people's hearts,' said Fortunatus.'We've got you, my dear sir, on toast. My Princess, might I trouble youto call the guards.'
The Magician did not dare to resist, so the guards arrested him. Thenurse, though in floods of tears, managed to serve up a very good plaindinner, and after dinner the Magician was brought before the King.
Now the King, as soon as he had seen that his daughter had been made sobeautiful, had caused a large number of princes to be fetched bytelephone. He was anxious to get her married at once in case she turnedugly again. So before he could do justice to the Magician he had tosettle which of the princes was to marry the Princess. He had chosen thePrince of the Diamond Mountains, a very nice steady young man with agood income. But when he suggested the match to the Princess shedeclined it, and the Magician, who was standing at the foot of thethrone steps loaded with chains, clattered forward and said:
'Your Majesty, will you spare my life if I tell you something you don'tknow?'
The King, who was a very inquisitive man, said 'Yes.'
'Then know,' said Taykin, 'that the Princess won't marry _your_ choice,because she's made one of her own--my apprentice.'
The Princess meant to have told her father this when she had got himalone and in a good temper. But now he was in a bad temper, and in fullaudience.
The apprentice was dragged in, and all the Princess's agonized pleadingsonly got this out of the King--
'All right. I won't hang him. He shall be best man at your wedding.'
Then the King took his daughter's hand and set her in the middle of thehall, and set the Prince of the Diamond Mountains on her right and theapprentice on her left. Then he said:
'I will spare the life of this aspiring youth on your left if you'llpromise never to speak to him again, and if you'll promise to marry thegentleman on your right before tea this afternoon.'
The wretched Princess looked at her lover, and his lips formed the word'Promise.'
So she said: 'I promise never to speak to the gentleman on my left andto marry the gentleman on my right before tea to-day,' and held out herhand to the Prince of the Diamond Mountains.
Then suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, the Prince of the DiamondMountains was on her left, and her hand was held by her own Prince, whostood at her right hand. And yet nobody seemed to have moved. It was thepurest and most high-class magic.
'Dished,' cried the King, 'absolutely dished!'
'A mere trifle,' said the apprentice modestly. 'I've got Taykin's magicrecipe book, as well as his heart.'
'Well, we must make the best of it, I suppose,' said the King crossly.'Bless you, my children.'
He was less cross when it was explained to him that the apprentice wasreally the Prince of the Fortunate Islands, and a much better match thanthe Prince of the Diamond Mountains, and he was quite in a good temperby the time the nurse threw herself in front of the throne and beggedthe King to let the Magician off altogether--chiefly on the ground thatwhen he was a baby he was the dearest little duck that ever was, in theprettiest plaid frock, with the loveliest fat legs.
The King, moved by these arguments, said:
'I'll spare him if he'll promise to be good.'
'You will, ducky, won't you?' said the nurse, crying.
'No,' said the Magician, 'I won't; and what's more, I can't.'
The Princess, who was now so happy that she wanted every one else to behappy too, begged her lover to make Taykin good 'by magic.'
'Alas, my dearest Lady,' said the Prince, 'no one can be made good bymagic. I could take the badness out of him--there's an excellent recipein this note-book--but if I did that there'd be so very little left.'
'Every little helps,' said the nurse wildly.
Prince Fortunatus, who was James, who was the apprentice, studied thebook for a few moments, and then said a few words in a language no onepresent had ever heard before.
And as he spoke the wicked Magician began to tremble and shrink.
'Oh, my boy--be good! Promise you'll be good,' cried the nurse, stillin tears.
The Magician seemed to be shrinking inside his clothes. He grew smallerand smaller. The nurse caught him in her arms, and still he grew lessand less, till she seemed to be holding nothing but a bundle of clothes.Then with a cry of love and triumph she tore the Magician's clothes awayand held up a chubby baby boy, with the very plaid frock and fat legsshe had so often and so lovingly described.
'I said there wouldn't be much of him when the badness was out,' saidthe Prince Fortunatus.
'I will be good; oh, I will,' said the baby boy that had been theMagician.
'I'll see to that,' said the nurse. And so the story ends with love anda wedding, and showers of white roses.
