there was once a princess who dwelt in a castle in the midst of a great park. she lived hidden away from the world in her quiet home and was scarcely ever seen by strangers.
rumours of her charm and loveliness, and of her wonderful golden hair, spread far and wide over the land, and she was always known and spoken of as princess golden-bright. but her real name was gentle.
all round the castle were lovely pleasure-gardens in which were gay flower-beds and slender, dancing fountains. but the princess’s favourite spot was a circle of ash-trees which stood in the park some small distance away from the castle on a little grassy hill with a path leading up to it.
it was called the rondel.
in the middle of the circle of trees stood a table with a seat running round it; the ground was carpeted with soft moss, and the tree-trunks stood up straight and tall like marble pillars.
the princess loved nothing better than to sit in the rondel in the warm weather with her books and embroidery.
[80]it was like being in a little house with a high green roof to it.
moreover it was a fairy place, and the ash-trees would often tell her the most delightful stories of what was going on outside the walls of the park, for they were so tall that they could see a long way.
they learnt many things, too, from the birds, who loved to perch among their branches and to chatter away to one another about their adventures in the big world.
the princess very rarely went beyond the walls of the park, for she was quite happy among the birds and flowers. but because the beauty of princess golden-bright was famed throughout the land, many princes sent to ask for her hand in marriage.
some of them even came in person, but the princess would have nothing to do with any of them.
“i am quite happy,” she said; “i do not want a husband.” however, when she was twenty years old, her fairy god-mother came to pay her a visit, and talked to her most earnestly upon this very subject of getting married, telling her that it was exceedingly foolish of her to refuse to see any of these suitors. “my dear gentle,” she said, “whoever heard of a princess who was an old maid? i don’t say you need choose in a hurry,[81] but i certainly think you ought at least to see these gentlemen. you may very possibly find one among them whom you like, and the ash-trees will help you to choose if you should be in doubt.”
so the princess promised to do as her god-mother wished, and after her departure she made it known by proclamation that princess golden-bright was willing to receive any suitable person who might wish to pay her his addresses.
the day after this was done she went as usual to sit in the rondel, and while she busied herself[82] with her embroidery she talked over this matter of the suitors with her beloved ash-trees.
“how shall i know whom to choose?” said the princess. “i have no experience at all. if i must have a husband i should like to be sure that he is the right one.”
“do not be afraid, dear princess,” replied the ash-trees. “you know that whosoever stands beneath our boughs is bound to speak the truth. you need ask but one question of each of the suitors. according to his answer you will be able to judge of his suitability as a husband.”
“what shall i ask him?” said the princess.
“ask him,” replied the ash-trees, “what he most desires in a wife. that will be quite sufficient.”
so the princess sat and waited.
presently she heard a whispering among the leaves over her head.
“there’s one coming,” they said. “we can see him riding along the high road.”
“oh, what is he like?” said the princess.
“he is a very fine-looking gentleman indeed,” said the ash-trees. “he rides on a great black prancing horse, and a company of twenty knights rides behind him. he wears shining armour. the harness of his horse is studded with jewels and the hilt of his sword blazes in the sunshine.”
“it sounds very exciting,” said the princess,[83] and she put down her stitching and smoothed her golden hair and spread out the folds of her flower-embroidered gown, for naturally she wanted to look her best.
before long the prince arrived at the castle gates, and a messenger came out into the park to tell the princess that he had come from a neighbouring kingdom to seek her hand.
“i will see him here,” said the princess.
so the prince came riding through the park with his knights all jingling behind him, each of them bearing a golden casket containing a present for the princess.
when the prince reached the foot of the little hill on which the rondel stood and saw the princess under the trees, he dismounted from his horse and came on foot to where she sat.
the knights waited at the bottom of the hill.
the princess received him graciously, and he stood before her in the shadow of the ash-trees and asked if she would marry him.
“i have a great kingdom,” said he, “great riches and great power, and my enemies all fear me.”
“i am much honoured,” said the princess, “but i should like to ask you one question. what do you most desire in a wife?”
“obedience,” said the prince without an[84] instant’s hesitation, for he was obliged to speak the truth.
the princess smiled a little.
“and what would you do if your wife disobeyed you?” she asked.
“whip her,” said the prince.
“i am much obliged to you,” said the princess, “but i am afraid that i might not always be obedient, and i should not like to be whipped. good-day.”
so the prince rode away home again with his knights, and the princess went on with her sewing.
before long she again heard a whispering among the trees.
“another suitor is riding along the road,” they said.
“oh, and what is he like?” said the princess.
“he rides on a white horse,” said the ash-trees, “and he wears a blue velvet cap with a white feather in it. he carries a bunch of roses in his hand, and behind him ride six gentlemen in gaily coloured mantles with guitars slung over their shoulders. he has auburn hair and blue eyes. they ride at the trot.”
“he sounds rather pleasing,” said the princess, and she picked a flower from the syringa bush which grew at the entrance to the rondel and stuck it in her hair.
“if you will marry me,” he said, “i will spend my days making verses about you.”
the blue-eyed prince was also bidden to come[85] out to the rondel, and he too dismounted from his horse at the foot of the little hill and came gaily walking up the path till he stood beneath the branches of the ash-trees.
he bowed low before the princess and laid his bunch of roses on the table in front of her.
she smiled graciously, for he was a comely young man, and he thereupon offered her his hand in exceedingly beautiful language.
“if you will marry me,” he said, “i will spend my days making verses about you. they will be sung throughout my kingdom. i will make a whole book of them. it shall be called ‘songs of queen golden-bright.’” the princess thought this sounded rather attractive. one does not so often come across a prince who is also a poet.
but the ash-trees rustled softly above her head, and she remembered the question that she was to ask.
“will you tell me what you most desire in a wife?” she said.
“beauty,” said the prince promptly.
“but supposing,” said the princess, “that your wife fell downstairs and broke her nose, so that her beauty was spoilt. what then?”
“oh, then of course i shouldn’t be able to make up any more verses about her,” said the prince. “i should get very irritable. how could i bear to look at a wife with a crooked nose? she would[86] certainly have to be most careful not to break her nose.”
the princess laughed.
“i think you’d better get married to a waxen lady,” she said. “if you kept her in a glass case out of the sun she would remain beautiful for ever, and there would be no fear of her nose getting broken. thank you very much for coming. i fear that we are not quite suited to one another. good-day.”
the prince bowed low, picked up his bunch of roses, and rode off again through the park with his white feather streaming behind him in the wind.
“i’m sorry,” said the princess. “he looked so very nice, and i’m sure he must make lovely songs. but i should always have been afraid of breaking my nose.” and she laughed again and took up her embroidery.
several more suitors came during the day to ask for the hand of the princess, but not one of them gave a satisfactory answer to the question.
one of them thought it above all things desirable in a wife that she should be able to make a good pudding; another required that she should talk very little—“which i certainly couldn’t promise,” said the princess; another considered it most important that she should have twelve bags full of gold pieces! they all had to tell the truth when[87] they stood under the branches of the ash-trees, and some of them really had the most curious ideas.
at last, just as the sun was going down, there came a prince riding on a chestnut horse and attended only by one squire. he had come a long way, from a far-off country, and he had ridden hard, for he had heard much about the lovely princess golden-bright and was afraid that he might be too late.
in spite of his dusty and travel-stained appearance the princess was pleased with the look of him, for he was tall and slender and had dark curling hair and pleasant grey eyes, and she hoped very much that he would answer the question satisfactorily.
when he came to the top of the little hill and saw the princess he fell on his knee and could find no word to say, she was so much more beautiful than he could ever have imagined.
but she smiled kindly at him, and he took courage and told her how for a long time he had wanted to come to see her, and that now he feared he had come too late.
the princess asked him many questions, but she hesitated to ask the most important of all, for she liked him better every minute and was afraid he might not give the right answer.
the ash-trees rustled and rustled as if a wind[88] were blowing through them, and at last she felt she must wait no longer.
“will you tell me,” she said softly, “what it is that you most desire in a wife?”
the prince was perplexed; truly he had never thought about the matter. he looked down at the ground and then he looked up at the trees, and as he did so they all began to whisper softly. “gentle, gentle, gentle,” they said.
“why, of course,” said the prince, and he looked again at the princess and smiled. “there is one thing i desire above all else in a wife. she must be gentle.”
and what better answer could he have given? for gentle indeed she was.
the princess stood up and held out her hands to him. her embroidery fell to the ground.
“he’ll do, he’ll do,” rustled the ash-trees.
but the princess didn’t even hear them. she had already made up her mind.
