CHAPTER I
THE FLIGHT OF PRINCE FLORIMEL
All that is here set down happened in a wonderful country wherewonderful things are always happening.
In a certain kingdom there was a young prince named Florimel.
His father, the king, had lately passed away, but, though Florimel washis only son, and of age, he had not succeeded to the throne that byright of birth was his.
The reason was that his father had a brother, a very cruel, crafty duke,high in the councils of the state, who had designs upon the thronehimself. In a covetous frame of mind he had once taken a photograph ofthe crown and ermine robe, and the intelligent palace parrot had made aremark thereat:
"'Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown,'" croaked the bird.
It was a wise quotation, and yet it was not wise to make it, for rightafter that something happened to the unlucky parrot.
The duke with his evil influence swayed the opinions of the royalcabinet which made the laws. In his wicked old heart he wished Florimelout of the way.
If Florimel had been like other princes one reads about his people nodoubt would have insisted upon his occupying the throne. But the thronewas of ordinary size, so that he never could have occupied it. Likeother princes he was all that was fair and handsome, but he was verysmall indeed. He was no larger than the average-sized boy of twelve, andthe people who should have proved his loyal subjects were well-grown menand women. In their talks among themselves they showed a shame thatanyone so small should rule them.
"Why, he's no bigger than a Brownie!" was a remark they very often made."It would look foolish to have such a mite for a king." For they werewell informed about the Brownies, and knew how they perched on fences,or hid adroitly whenever danger threatened.
But they were guided by appearances, as too often people wrongly are,and they failed to realize that sometimes the best goods are done up inthe smallest packages, and that even a mite may be mighty.
The fact that Florimel was so small had been a great grief to his lateparents who had never been able to understand it. He had been a fine,healthy baby who had won the hearty approval of his doctors and nurses.
His mother always had an uneasy fear that the godmother who assisted athis christening might have been concerned in his diminutive size, butthe king invariably poo-poohed at her suspicions. This godmother was anex-fairy, but advancing age had interfered with her work of magic. Herjoints had become stiff and cramped, and she had contracted rheumatismfrom sleeping in damp, dewy flowers. She did not get around in thelively fashion she used to.
"Nonsense!" said the king. "Would she have bestowed on him the gift ofsecond sight and at the same time taken away his size? Depend upon it,my dear, her intentions were perfectly straightforward and honorable."
"But it may have been this second sight has interfered with his growth,"said the queen. "His vision is simply wonderful."
This was indeed so. Prince Florimel could see things no one else could.Furthermore he could see them at night. Some wise old soothsayerdeclared that he was gifted with supernatural powers.
One other gift had his ex-fairy godmother presented to him, a bow andquiver of arrows which she averred were priceless.
"I charge you," she said most impressively to the king, "never to letyour dear son have the bow and arrows unless there comes to him somemoment of great danger. Then let him place one of these arrows to thebow, and shoot it where he will. The result will be miraculous."
After she had gone back to the old-ex-fairy-ladies' home the king wasstrongly tempted to shoot one of the arrows from the bow just to seewhat would happen. With great difficulty he repressed his curiosity, andplaced the bow and arrows in the family safe whose combinations wasknown only to himself.
So time passed happily, and one year added its joys to those of others,until there came the sad day when Florimel lost his dear mother. Therewas much sorrow throughout the entire kingdom, for the queen was agentle, gracious one whose kind words and good deeds had endeared herto the hearts of all. So great was her loss to the king that he did notsurvive her long. Ere he joined her he called his brother, the duke, tohis bed, and said to him:
"You are my only kin outside of Florimel, so to your keeping I entrusthim. He is such a little chap you must be very careful of him. AfterI am gone he will be king, and I am sure he will rule well and wisely.He is a true king at heart if not of stature. Promise me to be hiscouncilor and guide, and to incline him ever to the side of mercy,charity, and goodness."
The false duke promised with great earnestness, but all the while he wasthinking of many wicked things.
With Florimel removed he would ascend to the throne himself. Yet so welldid he hide his guilty feelings that his brother had no suspicion of anyperfidy or wrong-doing, and passed away in the peace befitting therighteous king he was.
After the king's death the duke through one pretext or another delayedthe coronation of the new. He incited his nephew to feats and deeds ofgreat danger and daring with the evil hope that some terrible accidentwould befall him. But in all the risks and hazards that he took, andnone was too great, it almost seemed that Prince Florimel bore a charmedlife.
Like other young people he had his dreams, and saw much that was unreal,but with all these there had come lasting impressions.
When the duke failed to accomplish his evil designs, he determined uponeven more desperate methods in his game.
The people were beginning to chafe at the delay in the coronation, andwere clamoring for a new ruler. So the cabinet met to decide this mostimportant matter, and the duke presided over the council.
"This is a most embarrassing situation," he said. "Ordinarily we wouldplace the only son of our late king on the throne without questionand amid great rejoicing. But we are confronted by a most perplexingquestion. Prince Florimel is what might be termed a freak. The point is,could he represent his kingdom with the proper dignity?"
"Prince Florimel may be a freak as you say," remarked a member of thecabinet, "but at the same time I have never seen a handsomer, manlieryoung fellow. His symmetry is perfect, and he is all that is chivalrousand brave. He is the stuff true kings are made of. The only thingagainst him is his size."
"That I fear is an objection which cannot be overcome," said the wilyduke. "Can we, a race of big men and women, be governed by a pygmyking--a hop-o'-my-thumb? We would be the laughing stock of otherkingdoms. Think, when the rulers of all these met, and ours cameamong them, of the mortification we would feel that we did not havea full-grown man to represent us. His insignificance would make thiscountry insignificant to others. Those who did not know us, and judgedus by him, would look upon us as a country of dwarfs."
"But Florimel is the late king's son, and heir to the throne," saidanother member of the cabinet. "Who else could reign in his stead?"
"I am the next of kin," said the duke.
"Yes, if it were not for Florimel you would be the logical king."
"Let us postpone our deliberations until tomorrow, by which time I thinkI can find a way out of the difficulty," said the duke, with deadlymeaning.
The members of the cabinet looked at each other, and the meetingsilently adjourned. It had been conducted with the utmost secrecy,and no one else was present but an old factotum named Gando who wasthere to lock the doors. And Gando, who was passionately attached toFlorimel, heard the duke's word, and was very uneasy in his mind.
"So that is why," the old man said to himself, "the duke was sharpeninghis knife on the grind-stone!"
When the duke had retired to his apartment Gando tiptoed noiselesslyafter him, and placed his feeble, dim eye close to the key-hole of thedoor.
What he saw froze the blood in his veins, and caused the few whitehairs on his head to stand stiffly up with his great fright.
The duke was seated at his window, and the moonlight played andglittered on a long, slender knife that he held in his hand.
Old Gando's knees knocked together, and he fled the spot. Of one thin
ghe was very sure. Florimel without loss of time should place himself farbeyond the reach of his wicked uncle. Each added moment increased theprince's danger. Soon escape might be too late. Before he went to warnthe sleeping prince he secured the bow and quiver of arrows that hadbeen intrusted to his care by the late king. He hastily provided himselfwith a smock, loose cap, and long trousers of coarse cloth such aschildren of poor peasants wear.
With these in his trembling arms, breathless from his exertions andthe great excitement under which he labored, he entered Florimel'sbedchamber, and closed the door noiselessly behind him. With his fairhead resting on his curved arm, Florimel slept. Gando gave a great sighof relief when he heard his gentle breathing. He flew to the bedside,and straightway roused the slumbering prince from his dreams.
"Oh, master, my dear young master!" he cried with his voice broken bysobs. "Rouse yourself, I beg of you, and go hence! Do not delay, or youmay be too late. Your cruel uncle this very moment is plotting yourdeath!"
Florimel sprang up in bed, and tried to rub the sleep from his eyes.
"But where shall I go, good Gando?" he asked.
"That I know not," said the old man. "The further you go the better. Youmust leave behind you the boundaries of the kingdom. See, I have broughtthese peasant's clothes for you to wear."
"Nay, I still have my prince's attire," said Florimel.
"That will not serve," said Gando. "If you donned it you would bequickly recognized, and your uncle would gain knowledge of you to yourswift undoing."
He assisted the bewildered Florimel to dress, swung across his back thequiver of arrows, and handed him the bow.
"This was your godmother's gift," he said, "and it might aid you."
But, though Gando urged Florimel not to take the time, the latterprinted something on a card which he tacked upon the outside of the doorbefore they left the place.
As they fled toward a secret exit they heard down the corridor thestealthy tread of feet.
The duke snarled like a wild beast as he read the lines:
"FAREWELL, DEAR UNCLE! KEEP YOUR EDGED TOOL FOR FATTED SWINE!"
"Fly!" old Gando cried, as he thrust Florimel out into the lonely,starlit night. "Oh, my dear young master, fly for your life!"
It was a sad and sudden change indeed for the youth, from the pleasantdreams of guardian Brownies surrounding his bed, to the uncertaintyof an unknown way before, and the certainty of a cruel enemy behind.Snow-capped mountain peaks in the distance had a forbidding look and, asthough in league with his old uncle, seemed to extend to him but a coolwelcome. The wakeful and observing beasts of the wood and wild saw inhim a new character never before met in the open country, and wereshaken with wonder and agitation while they watched the hastening littletraveller striding along the lonely road, his only burden the bow andsupply of arrows.