Prince Ricardo of Pantouflia | Page 6

been, Tell me the secret the heart is hiding, Wash me the truth of it, clear and clean!"
As she sang the water in the silver basin foamed and bubbled, and then fell still again; and the princess knelt in the middle of the room, and the moon and the white light from the mirror of the moon fell in the water.
Then the princess raised the basin, and stooped her mouth to it and drank the water, spilling a few drops, and so she drank the moon and the knowledge of the moon. Then the moon was darkened without a cloud, and there was darkness in the sky for a time, and all the dogs in the world began to howl. When the moon shone again, the princess rose and put out the two white lights, and drew the curtains; and presently she went to bed.
{The Princess drinks the Moon: p41.jpg}
"Now I know all about it," she said. "It is clever; everything the king does is clever, and he is so kind that I daresay he does not mean any harm. But it seems a cruel trick to play on poor Ricardo. However, Jaqueline is on the watch, and I'll show them a girl can do more than people think,"--as, indeed, she could.
After meditating in this way, the princess fell sleep, and did not waken till her maid came to call her.
"Oh! your Royal Highness, what's this on the floor?" said the faithful Rosina, as she was arranging the princess's things for her to get up.
"Why, what is it?" asked the princess.
"Ever so many--four, five, six, seven--little shining drops of silver lying on the carpet, as if they had melted and fallen there!"
"They have not hurt the carpet?" said the princess. "Oh dear! the queen won't be pleased at all. It was a little chemical experiment I was trying last night."
But she knew very well that she must have dropped seven drops of the enchanted water.
"No, your Royal Highness, the carpet is not harmed," said Rosina; "only your Royal Highness should do these things in the laboratory. Her Majesty has often spoke about it."
"You are quite right," said the princess; "but as there is no harm done, we'll say nothing about it this time. And, Rosina, you may keep the silver drops for yourself."
"Your Royal Highness is always very kind," said Rosina, which was true; but how much better and wiser it is not to begin to deceive! We never know how far we may be carried, and so Jaqueline found out.
For when she went down to breakfast, there was the king in a great state of excitement, for him.
"It's most extraordinary," said his Majesty.
"What is?" asked the queen.
"Why, didn't you notice it? No, you had gone to bed before it happened. But I was taking a walk in the moonlight, on the balcony, and I observed it carefully."
"Observed what, my dear?" asked the queen, who was pouring out the tea.
"Didn't you see it, Dick? Late as usual, you young dog!" the king remarked as Ricardo entered the room.
"See what, sir?" said Dick.
"Oh, you were asleep hours before, now I think of it! But it was the most extraordinary thing, an unpredicted eclipse of the moon! You must have noticed it, Jaqueline; you sat up later. How the dogs howled!"
"No; I mean yes," murmured poor Jaqueline, who of course had caused the whole affair by her magic arts, but who had forgotten, in the excitement of the moment, that an eclipse of the moon, especially if entirely unexpected, is likely to attract very general attention. Jaqueline could not bear to tell a fib, especially to a king who had been so kind to her; besides, fibbing would not alter the facts.
"Yes, I did see it," she admitted, blushing. "Had it not been predicted?"
"Not a word about it whispered anywhere," said his Majesty. "I looked up the almanack at once. It is the most extraordinary thing I ever saw, and I've seen a good many."
"The astronomers must be duffers," said Prince Ricardo. "I never thought there was much in physical science of any sort; most dreary stuff. Why, they say the earth goes round the sun, whereas any fool can see it is just the other way on."
King Prigio was struck aghast by these sentiments in the mouth of his son and heir, the hope of Pantouflia. But what was the king to say in reply? The astronomers of Pantouflia, who conceived that they knew a great deal, had certainly been taken by surprise this time. Indeed, they have not yet satisfactorily explained this eclipse of the moon, though they have written volumes about it.
"Why, it may be the sun next!" exclaimed his Majesty. "Anything may happen. The very laws of gravitation themselves may go askew!"
At this moment the butler, William, who