Psyche (Couperus)/Chapter 6
The old king, assisted by pages, sat down slowly on his throne; his ministers and courtiers gathered round him. Then there was a great rustling of satin and gold, and in came Emeralda, the Princess Royal, the Princess of the Jewel, as her title ran: first pages, life-guards, and then she herself, glittering with splendour, in her dress of silver-coloured silk; her bosom blazed with emeralds, a tiara of emeralds adorned her temples; her red-golden tresses, intertwined with emeralds, fell in threefold plaits down each side of her face, from which the eyes of emerald looked proud, soulless, ice-cold, and arrogant. Court-ladies bore her train. A great retinue of halberdiers surrounded her jewelled majesty, and as she passed along, the trembling courtiers bowed lower to her than they did to the king, because they were in deadly fear of her.
Astra, with dragging step, followed her. She wore a dress of azure covered with stars, a white mantle full of stars, and her living star sparkled in her coal-black hair.
The sages of the country surrounded her: grey-haired men in velvet tabards, with very long silver beards, dim eyes, and wise, close-pressed lips.
The two princesses sat down on either side of the throne.
And for a moment the middle space of the hall between the waiting crowd remained empty. But then appeared Psyche, the third daughter, the Princess of Nakedness with the wings! Shyly she approached, looking right and left, with the laugh of a child. She was naked: only a golden veil was tied in a fold round her hips. Her wings were spread out like a butterfly’s. She had no retinue: only her old nurse followed her; and she was so pretty and charming that people forgot to bow as she passed along, that the courtiers smiled and whispered, full of admiration, because she was so beautiful in her pure chastity. Slowly she walked along, shy and laughing a little; then close to the throne, where her father saw her approaching hesitatingly, her bare foot got entangled in her trailing golden veil, and to ascend the steps she lifted it up, knelt down, and kissed the king’s hand.
Then calmly she sat down on a cushion at his feet, and was no longer shy. She looked round inquisitively and nodded a greeting here and there, child as she was, till all at once, to the right of the throne, she met the emerald look of Emeralda, and started and shivered; a cold thrill shot through her limbs, and she hid herself in the ermine of her father’s mantle to be safe and warm.
Then there was a flourish of trumpets, and at the door of the Hall heralds announced Prince Eros, the youthful monarch of the Present. He came in all alone. He was as beautiful as a god, with light-brown hair and light-brown eyes. He wore a white suit of armour over a silver shirt of mail, and his whole presence portrayed simplicity and intelligence.
The courtiers were astonished at his coming without a suite; Emeralda laughed scornfully aside with one of her court-ladies. She did not find him a king, that plain youth in his plain dress. But Eros had now approached and bowed low before the mighty monarch, and the latter bade him welcome with fatherly condescension. Then spoke the prince:
“Mighty Majesty of the Past, accept my respectful thanks for your welcome. Diffident I come to your throne, for I am young in years, have little wisdom, little power. You reign over an extensive kingdom, the horizon of which is lost in illimitableness. I reign over a country that is not larger than a garden. From my humble palace, that is like a country-house, I can survey all my territory. Your Majesty possesses lands and deserts, which you do not know. I know every flower in my beds. And that your Majesty, in spite of my poverty and insignificance, receives me with much honour and acknowledges me as sovereign in my kingdom, fills my heart with joy. Will your Majesty permit me to kneel and pay my homage to you as an obedient vassal?”
Then the old king nodded to Psyche, and the princess rose, because Eros was about to kneel.
Then said the king: “Amiable Eros, I love you as a son. Tell me, have you any wish that I can satisfy? If so, then it is granted you.”
Then said Eros: “Your Majesty makes my heart rejoice by saying that you love me as a son. Well, then, my greatest joy would be to marry one of the noble princesses, who are your Majesty’s daughters. But I am a poor prince, and whilst confessing to your Majesty my bold desire, I fear that you may think me too arrogant in presuming to cherish a wish that aims so high. . . .”
“Noble prince,” said the king, “you are poor, but of high birth and divine origin, higher and more divine than we. You are descended from the god Eros; we from his beloved Psyche. The history of the gods is to be read in the historical rolls of our kingdom. It would make my heart rejoice if you found a spouse in one of my princesses. But they are free in their choice, and you will have to win their love. Permit me, therefore, first of all to present to you my eldest daughter, the Princess Royal, Princess of the Jewel: Emeralda. . . .”
Emeralda rose, and bowed with a scornful sneer.
“And,” continued the monarch, “in the second place, to my wise Astra, Princess of the Star. . . .”
Astra rose and bowed, her look far away, as if lost in contemplation. “And would Emeralda permit me to sue for her love and her hand?” asked the prince.
“Majesty of the Present,” replied Emeralda, “my father says that you are of more divine origin than we. I, your humble slave, consider it therefore too great an honour that you should be willing to raise me to your side upon your throne. And I accept your homage, but on one condition. That condition is: That you seek for me the All-Sacred Jewel, Jewel of Mystery, the name of which may not be uttered, the noble stone of Supremacy. The legends respecting this jewel are innumerable, inexplicable and contradictory. But the Jewel exists. Tell me, ye wise men of the land—tell me, Astra, my sister, does the Jewel exist?”
“It exists!” said Astra.
“It exists!” said all the wise men after her.
“It exists!” repeated Emeralda. “Prince, I dare ask much of you, but I ask you the greatest thing that our soul and ambition can think of. If you find me beautiful and love me, then seek, and bring me the Jewel, and I will be your wife, and together we shall be the most powerful monarchs in the world.” The prince bowed, and with imperceptible irony said:
“Royal Highness of the Jewel, your words breathe the splendour of yourself, and I will weigh them in my mind. Your beauty is dazzling, and to reign with you over the united kingdoms of the Past and the Present, appears to me indeed a divine happiness. . . .”
“For other kingdoms exist not,” added Astra, and the wise men repeated her words.
“Yes,” murmured the king. “There is another kingdom. . . .”
“What kingdom?” asked all.
“The kingdom of the Future,” said the king, in a low tone.
Emeralda laughed scornfully. Astra looked compassionately. The wise men glanced at each other; the courtiers shook their heads.
“The king is getting old,” they whispered. “The mind of His Majesty often wanders,” muttered the ministers.
“Our monarch has always had much imagination,” said the wise men. “He is a poet. . . .”
But then spoke the prince.
“And you, wise Astra, Royal Highness of the Star, will you, like Emeralda, allow me to sue for your hand and heart?”
“Most willingly, Prince Eros!” said Astra, with a far-off look and in a vague tone. “But I have conditions to make as well as Emeralda, the Princess Royal. Will you hear them? Then listen. If you see any chance of lengthening my telescope, of strengthening the lenses, that I can see through them to the confines of the universe, to the last sun-system, to the Mystic Rose, to the Godhead Himself, then I will be your wife, and together we shall be the most powerful beings of the world, because then we are omniscient. For the universe is limited. . . .”
“The universe is limited!” said the wise men, after her.
“Endless is the universe!” said the king, in a subdued voice.
The people laughed and shook their heads. “The king is getting very old,” was repeated everywhere.
“The king will soon die,” prophesied the wise men, in a low tone. “He speaks like an old man, without reason; he will soon die. . . .”
“Royal Highness of the Star,” said the prince, “your words, pregnant with wisdom, I will also consider. For to be omniscient must indeed be the greatest power. But your Majesty has a third princess,” he continued, addressing the king. “Where is she?”
“She is here,” said the king. “She is the Princess of Nakedness with the wings. But she is still a child, Prince. . . .”
Psyche blushed and bowed.
The prince looked long at her. Then he said to her, gently: “Your Highness is called Psyche? You have the name of the ancestress of your race, as I have the name of the god who begot mine. Is it not true?”
“I believe so,” murmured Psyche, embarrassed.
“She is still a child, prince—forgive her!” repeated the king.
“Will your Majesty not permit me to ask for the hand and heart of your third daughter, the princess?”
“Certainly, prince; but she is still so young. . . . . If she leaves me I shall be very sad. But if she loves you, then I will give her up to you, for then she will be happy. . . .”
“Tell me, Psyche, will you be my wife?” Psyche blushed exceedingly. Her naked limbs blushed, her wings blushed.
“Prince,” said she hesitatingly and looked bashfully at her father, “you do me much honour. But my sisters are more beautiful and wiser than I. And my father would miss me if I went with you to the kingdom of the Present.”
“But tell me, Psyche, what conditions do you impose upon me?”
Psyche hesitated. She was about to exclaim joyfully: “Catch me the Chimera, bind him in a meadow to graze, and give me power over him, that I may mount his back and fly through the air as I like.”
But she durst not before the whole court and her father. And so she only stammered: “None, prince. . . .”
“Could you love me?”
“I don’t know, prince. . . .”
Psyche was shy. She kept blushing, and all at once began to tremble and weep.
And she looked round to the king, fled to his arms, hid her face in his beard and sobbed.
“Prince Eros,” said the king, “forgive her. You see she is a child. Seek for Emeralda’s Jewel, or seek for Astra the Glass which will bring to view the confines of the universe; but leave me my youngest child.”
Then the prince bowed. An indescribable sadness rose in his soul, like a sea. And pale he stammered, “I obey your Majesty.”
Then the king descended from his throne and embraced the prince. And whilst the fanfares sounded, he put his arm through the arm of Eros, took Psyche by the hand, and conducted his guest to the banquet, the princesses following, surrounded by the whole court.