The Field of Clover | Page 7

by stood an old woman,
wringing her hands and begging them to leave it alone: 'For,' cried she,
'if the Plough touches but the feet of the Princess, she will be uprooted,
and will presently wither away and die. Of what use is it to break one,
if the other enchantments cannot be broken?'
In the centre of the lawn grew a bower of roses, and beneath the bower
stood the loveliest princess that ever eye beheld; but she stood there
motionless, and without sign of life. She seemed neither to hear, nor
see, nor breathe; her feet were rooted to the ground; though they
seemed only to rest lightly under her weight upon the grass, no man,
nor a hundred men, could stir her from where she stood. And, as the
spell that held her fast bound to the spot, even so was the spell that
sealed her senses,--no man might lift it from her. When Noodle set eyes
upon her he knew that for the third time his heart had been stolen from
him, and that to be happy he must possess her, or die.
He ran quickly to the old woman, who, unregarded by the serving-men,
stood weeping and wringing her hands. 'Tell me, said Noodle, 'who is
this sleeper who stands enchanted and rooted like a flower to earth?

And who are you, and these others who work and cry at cross
purposes?'
The old woman cried from a wide mouth: 'It is my mistress, the
honey-jewel of my heart, whom you see here so grievously enchanted.
All the gifts of the fairies at her christening did not prevent what was
foretold of her at her birth. In her seventeenth year, as you see her now,
so it was told of her that she should be.'
'Does she live?' asked Noodle; 'is she asleep? She is not dead; when
will she wake? Tell me, old woman, her history, and how this fate has
come upon her.'
'She was the daughter of the king of this country by his first wife,' said
the old woman, 'and heir to the throne after his death; but when her
mother died the king married again, and the three daughters he had by
his second wife were jealous of the beauty, and charm, and goodness
which raised their sister so high above them in the estimation of all
men. So they asked their mother to teach them a spell that should rob
Melilot of her charms, and make them useless in the eyes of men. And
their mother, who was wise in such arts, taught to each of them a spell,
so that together they might work their will.
'One day they came running to Melilot, and said, "Come and play with
us a new game that our mother has taught us!" Then they began turning
themselves into flowers. "I will be a hollyhock!" said one. "And I will
be a columbine!" said another; and saying the spell over each other they
became each the flower they had named.
'Then they unloosed the spells, and became themselves again. "Oh, it is
so nice to be a flower!" they cried, laughing and clapping their hands.
But Melilot knew no spell.
'At last, seeing how her sisters turned into flowers, and came back safe
again, "I will be a rose!" she cried; "turn me into a rose and out again!"
'Then her three sisters joined their tongues together, and finished the
spell over her. And so soon as she had become a rose-tree, the three

sisters turned into three moles, and went down under the earth and
gnawed at the roots.
'Then they came up, and took their own forms again, and sang,--
'"Sister, sister, here you are now, Till the ploughman come with the
Galloping Plough!"
'Then they turned into bees, and sucked out the honey from the roses,
and coming to themselves again they sang,--
'"Sister, here you must doze and doze, Till they bring you a flower of
the Burning Rose!"
'Then they shook the dewdrops out of her eyes, crying,--
"Sister, your brain lies under our spell, Till water be brought from the
Thirsty Well!"
'Then they took the top blossom of all, and broke it to pieces, and threw
the petals away as they cried,--
"Sister, your life goes down for a term, Till they bring you breath from
the Camphor-Worm!"
'And when they had done all this, they turned her back into her true
shape, and left her standing even as you see her now, without warmth,
or sight, or memory, or motion, dead saving for her beauty, that never
changes or dies. And here she must stand till the spells which have
been fastened upon her have been unloosed. No long time after, the
wickedness of the three