little Rose was well--the baby looked a picture of health, but--she was still sleeping.
"The fresh keen air has made her drowsy, I suppose," said the headnurse, late in the evening when the Queen returned again.
"And she has had nothing to eat since the middle of the day," said themother, anxiously. "I almost think if she does not wake of herself inan hour or so, you will have to rouse her."
To this the nurse agreed. But two hours later, on the Queen's nextvisit to the nursery, there was a strange report to give her. The nursehad tried to wake the baby, but it was all in vain. Little Rose justsmiled sweetly and rolled over on her other side, without attempting inthe least to open her eyes. It seemed cruel to disturb her. She was sovery sleepy.
"I think we must let the Princess have her sleep out--children are likethat sometimes," said the nurse.
And the Queen was forced to agree to it, though she had a strangesinking at the heart, and even the King when he came to look at hislittle daughter felt uneasy, though he tried to speak cheerfully.
"No doubt she will awake in the morning quite bright and merry," hesaid,--"all the brighter and merrier for sleeping a good round and ahalf of the clock."
The morning dawned--the slow-coming winter daylight of the north foundits way into the Princess's nursery through the one thickly glazedwindow--a tiny gleam of ruddy sunshine even managed to creep in to kissher dimpled cheek, but still the baby slept--as soundly as if the nightwas only beginning. And matters grew serious.
It was no use trying to wake her. They all did their best--King, Queen,ladies, nurses; and after them the great court physicians and learnedmen of every kind. All were summoned and all consulted, and as the dayswent on, a hundred different things were tried. They held the strongestsmelling salts to her poor little nostrils; the baby only drew up hersmall nose the least bit in the world and turned over again with a tinysnore. They rang the bells, they had the loudest German bands to befound far or near to play all at once in her room; they fetched all thepet dogs in the neighbourhood and set them snarling and snapping at eachother close beside her; as a last resource they lifted her out of bedand plunged her into a cold bath--she did not even shiver!
And with tears rolling down their faces, the Queen and the ladies andthe nurses wrapped her up again and put her back cosily to bed, whereshe seemed as contented as ever, while they all sat down together tohave a good cry, which, sad to say, was of no use at all.
"She is bewitched," said the cleverest of all the doctors, and as timewent on, everybody began to agree with him. Even the King himself wasobliged to think something of the kind must be at the bottom of it, andat last one day the Queen, unable to endure her remorse any longer, toldhim the whole story, entreating him to forgive her for having by herdiscontent and murmuring brought upon him so great a sorrow.
The King was very kind but very grave.
"I understand it now," he said. "The summer fairy told you true. Ournorthern Winter Spirit is indeed stern and implacable; we must submit--if we are patient and resigned it is possible that in the future evenhis cold heart may be melted by the sight of our suffering."
"It is only I who deserve it," wept the poor Queen. "The worst part ofit all is to know that I have brought this sorrow upon you, my dearhusband."
And so repentant was she that she almost forgot to think of herself--never had she been so sweet and loving a wife. She did everything shepossibly could to please and cheer the King, concealing from him themany bitter tears she shed as she sat for hours together beside thesleeping child.
The winter was terribly severe--never had the snow lain more thickly,never had the wind-blasts raged and howled more furiously. Often didthe Queen think to herself that the storm spirits must be infuriated ather very presence in their special domain.
"They might pity me now," she thought, "now that I am so punished;" butshe bore all the winter cold and terrors uncomplainingly, nay, evencheerfully, nerving herself to go out alone in the bitterest weatherwith a sort of hope of pleasing the winter fairy; possibly if she couldbut see him, of making an appeal to him. But for many months he heldhis icy sway--often indeed it seemed as if gentler times were never toreturn.
Then suddenly one night the frost went; a mild soft breeze replaced thefierce blast; spring had come. And wonderful to relate, the very nextmorning the Queen was roused by loud knockings and voices at her door;trembling, she knew not why, she opened it; and the head nurse fell ather feet laughing and crying at once. The Princess had awakened!
Yes; there she was, chattering in her baby way, smiling and rosy, as ifnothing had been the matter. She held out her arms to her mother,calling "Mamma," in the most delightful way; she knew her father againquite well; she was very hungry for her breakfast. Oh! the joy of herparents, and the jubilation all through the palace! I could notdescribe it.
And all through the summer little Rose was wide awake, in the day-timethat is to say, just like other children. She was as well and strongand happy as a baby could be. But--the summer will not last for ever;again returned the autumn bringing with it the signs of the approachingwinter, and one morning when her nurse went to awaken the Princess, shefound it was no use--Rose was sleeping again, with a smile on her face,calm and content, but alas! not to be awakened! And then it wasremembered that the first snow had fallen during the night.
More to satisfy the Queen than with the hope of its doing any good, allthe efforts of the year before were repeated, but with no success. Andgradually the child's distressed parents resigned themselves to the sadtruth: their daughter was to be theirs only for half her life; for fullsix months out of every twelve, she was to be in a sense as far awayfrom them as if the winter monarch had carried her off to his palace ofice altogether.
But no; it was not quite so bad as that would have been. And the Queen,who was fast learning to count her blessings instead of her troubles,smiled through her tears as she said to the King what a mercy it wasthat they were still able to watch beside their precious child--to kissher soft warm cheek every morning and every night.
And so it went on. In the spring the Princess woke up again, bright andwell and lively, and in every way six months older than when she hadfallen asleep; so that, to see her in the summer time, no one could haveguessed the strange spell that was over her. She became the sweetestand most charming girl in the world; only one thing ever saddened her,and that was any mention of the winter, especially of snow.
"What does it mean?" she would ask sometimes. "What are they talkingof? Show me this wonderful thing! Where does it grow? I want to seeit."
But no one could make her understand; and at these times a very strangelook would come into her blue eyes.
"I must see it," she said. "Some day I shall go away and travel far,far, till I find it."
These words used to distress her mother more, than she could say; andshe would shower presents and treasures on her daughter, of flowers andsinging-birds, and lovely embroidered dresses--all to make her think ofthe sunshine and the summer. And for the time they would please thegirl, till again she shook her head and murmured--"I want the snow."
So the years followed each other, till Rose was sixteen. Every winterthe Queen had a faint hope, which, however, grew ever fainter andfainter, that the spell was perhaps to be broken. But it was not so.And strange stories got about concerning the Princess--some saying shewas a witch in disguise; others that she had no heart or understanding;others that she turned into a bird or some animal during half her life--so that the neighbouring Princes, in spite of her beauty and sweetness,were afraid to ask her in marriage. And this brought new sorrow to herparents. For she was their only child.
"What will become of her after we are dead and gone?" they said. "Whowill care for and protect our darling? Who will help her to rule overour nation? No people will remain faithful to a sovereign who is onlyawake half the year. There will be revolts and rebellion, and our angelRose may perhaps be put to death, or driven away."
And they fretted so over this, that the hair of both King and Queen grewwhite long before its time. But Rose only loved them the more on thisaccount, for she had heard some one say that white hair was like snow;though she kept the fancy to herself, for she knew it troubled the Queenif ever she mentioned the strange, mysterious word.
She was so lovely that painters came from many countries just to see herface, and, if possible, be allowed to make a picture of her. And one ofthese portraits found its way to the court of a King who was a distantcousin of her father, and who had heard the strange things said of thePrincess. He was very angry about it, for he had two sons, and he wasafraid of their falling in love with the beautiful face. So he orderedthe picture to be destroyed before the elder Prince, who was away on avisit, came home.
But the servant who was to burn the picture thought it such a pity
An Enchanted Garden: Fairy Stories Page 11
