The Magic Fishbone | Page 5

shot silk smelling of dried lavender, fanning
herself with a sparkling fan.
"Alicia, my dear," said this charming old Fairy, "how do you do, I hope
I see you pretty well, give me a kiss."
The Princess Alicia embraced her, and then Grandmarina turned to the
King, and said rather sharply:--"Are you good?"
[Illustration: "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,"
kissing the Princess again, "did not apply to the fish-bone sooner?" said
the Fairy.
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 good then," said the Fairy, "and live happy ever afterwards."
Then, Grandmarina waved her fan, and the Queen came in most
splendidly dressed, and the seventeen young Princes and Princesses, no
longer grown out of their clothes, came in newly fitted out from top to
toe, with tucks in everything to admit of its being let out. After that, the
Fairy tapped the Princess Alicia with her fan, and the smothering
coarse apron flew away, and she appeared exquisitely dressed, like a
little Bride, with a wreath of orange-flowers and a silver veil. After that,
the kitchen dresser changed of itself into a wardrobe, made of beautiful
woods and gold and looking glass, which was full of dresses of all sorts,
all for her and all exactly fitting her. After that, the angelic baby came
in, running alone, with his face and eye not a bit the worse but much
the better. Then, Grandmarina begged to be introduced to the Duchess,
and, when the Duchess was brought down many compliments passed
between them.
A little whispering took place between the Fairy and the Duchess, and
then the Fairy said out loud, "Yes. I thought she would have told you."
Grandmarina then turned to the King and Queen, and said, "We are
going in search of Prince Certainpersonio. The pleasure of your
company is requested at church in half an hour precisely." So she and

the Princess Alicia got into the carriage, and Mr Pickles's boy handed
in the Duchess who sat by herself on the opposite seat, and then Mr
Pickles's boy put up the steps and got up behind, and the Peacocks flew
away with their tails spread.
[Illustration: She appeared exquisitely dressed, like a little Bride]
Prince Certainpersonio was sitting by himself, eating barley-sugar and
waiting to be ninety. When he saw the Peacocks followed by the
carriage, coming in at the window, it immediately occurred to him that
something uncommon was going to happen.
"Prince," said Grandmarina, "I bring you your Bride."
The moment the Fairy said those words, Prince Certainpersonio's face
left off being stickey, and his jacket and corduroys changed to
peach-bloom velvet, and his hair curled, and a cap and feather flew in
like a bird and settled on his head. He got into the carriage by the
Fairy's invitation, and there he renewed his acquaintance with the
Duchess, whom he had seen before.
In the church were the Prince's relations and friends, and the Princess
Alicia's relations and friends, and the seventeen Princes and Princesses,
and the baby, and a crowd of the neighbours. The marriage was
beautiful beyond expression. The Duchess was bridesmaid, and beheld
the ceremony from the pulpit where she was supported by the cushion
of the desk.
Grandmarina gave a magnificent wedding feast afterwards, in which
there was everything and more to eat, and everything and more to drink.
The wedding cake was delicately ornamented with white satin ribbons,
frosted silver and white lilies, and was forty-two yards round.
When Grandmarina had drunk her love to the young couple, and Prince
Certainpersonio had made a speech, and everybody had cried Hip hip
hip hurrah! Grandmarina announced to the King and Queen that in
future there would be eight quarter days in every year, except in leap
year, when there would be ten. She then turned to Certainpersonio and

Alicia, and said, "My dears, you will have thirty-five children, and they
will all be good and beautiful. Seventeen of your children will be boys,
and eighteen will be girls. The hair of the whole of your children will
curl naturally. They will never have the measles, and will have
recovered from the whooping-cough before being born."
On hearing such good news, everybody cried out "Hip hip hip hurrah!"
again.
"It only remains," said Grandmarina in conclusion, "to make an end of
the fish-bone."
So she took it from the hand of the Princess Alicia, and it instantly flew
down the throat of the dreadful little snapping pug-dog next door