Tales and Legends from the Land of the Tzar/Princess Grey-Goose
PRINCESS GREY-GOOSE.
In a certain kingdom there lived a king and queen, who had two children, a boy and a girl, Prince Demitrius and Princess Marie.
When the princess was quite a little child none of her nurses could ever make her sleep. She would always lie in bed awake all the night long and stare in front of her. At last the young prince thought he might be able to sing his little sister to sleep, so sat down beside her as she was lying in bed, and sang,—
"Go to sleep, little sister dear; when you grow up I shall give you in marriage to my best of friends, Prince Ignatius, of the kingdom near the World's End."
And the little princess went to sleep immediately. When the prince saw that he was successful in sending her into the land of dreams, he continued the prescription, and always with success.
Years passed; the prince and princess became tall and handsome, nay, beautiful. Prince Demitrius went to stay three or four months with his great friend, Prince Ignatius, the handsome son and heir of the king of a kingdom near the World's End. The two princes were passionately fond of each other, and were never happier than when together. They went about riding, rowing, hunting, and, in fact, did everything they possibly could to enjoy themselves. Though Prince Demitrius had often visited and stayed with his friend, Prince Ignatius had never once been able to return the visits.
On one occasion, however, when Prince Demitrius was leaving the glorious kingdom at the World's End, he made his friend promise to come and stay at his father's court some day, and have some fun.
"All right, old fellow," said Prince Ignatius. "I will try my best to come this time."
And so the two friends parted.
Now Prince Demitrius had, at the foot of his sofa in his own particular room, a large and handsome portrait of his wonderfully beautiful sister, he would often lie on this sofa and gaze with admiration at the sweet face before him, and think that there was no girl like her in the whole world,—and he was right, a more perfect creature was never seen.
One day, the prince, tired out with hunting, threw himself down on his sofa to rest, and allowed his eyes to feast as usual on his sister's portrait until he fell into a peaceful slumber.
Suddenly, who should walk into the room but Prince Ignatius; he had arrived quite unexpectedly at court to stay with his friend for a few days, and after asking the footmen where the prince was, had walked into the chamber in order to astonish his friend, and was rather surprised to find that noble personage asleep! However, not wishing to wake him, he began to amuse himself by looking at the various little things in the room, when all at once his eyes fell on the lovely portrait;—he stood transfixed with admiration. He forgot for the moment where he was, who he was, and everything else, knowing only that he had fallen desperately in love with that beautiful face. He had never seen his friend's sister in his life, but had only heard of her; so when he saw this picture he did not know that it was hers, but thought it must be Prince Demitrius' bride; feeling angry and jealous he rushed up to the sofa and drew his sword, intending to kill the young prince; but fortunately just at that very moment Prince Demitrius woke, and on seeing his friend standing over him with his drawn sword, he sprang up, exclaiming,—
"You here, Ignatius, and what in the name of all that is wonderful are you going to do?"
"To kill you!"
"Kill me! My dear friend, what for?"
"Because, Demitrius, that portrait is that of your bride, and I felt jealous of you, for I have fallen in love with that face."
"No; it is a portrait of Princess Marie, my much beloved sister."
"But why, my friend, did you never tell me more about her, and of her great beauty? I feel as though I could not live without her now."
"Well, marry her, Ignatius, and then we shall be brothers."
"Where is she? Let me see her at once!"
"She is away from home, staying with the princess at the kingdom opposite the World's End, but the moment she returns, I will tell her that you wish to marry her."
Prince Ignatius threw his arms round his friend's neck and embraced him. When his stay had come to an end, Prince Ignatius returned home. He set to work to make arrangements for the wedding.
When Princess Marie came home from her stay at the kingdom opposite the World's End, she was delighted to hear that the handsome Prince Ignatius, her brother's best friend, wished to marry her, and that she was, so to speak, engaged to a prince whom she had never seen!
Everything was got ready, and the beautiful young bride was soon sailing away in a handsome ship to the kingdom near the World's End, with her old nurse and her ugly daughter; while Prince Demitrius sailed in front with his men in another ship.
When the ship in which the princess was had left the shore on which it was built far behind, and was surrounded on all sides by the dark blue sea, the nurse came up to the princess, and said,—
"Fair princess, you look tired, go take off your costly garments and go to sleep, so as to look fresh and bright by the time we reach the kingdom of your future husband."
Princess Marie obeyed, and was soon fast asleep. Now the nurse was a very wicked old witch, and thought that if she could get rid of the princess somehow, she would be able to dress up her own daughter in the princess's garments, and give her to Prince Ignatius for a wife. As it happened to be getting towards night and the young bride was still asleep, the bad nurse went gently to the bedside, and touched the fair sleeper with a little stick, and changed her into a grey-goose, which flew from the ship on to the dark blue sea; while the horrid nurse took the beautiful garments and dressed her daughter up in them.
When they at last arrived at the kingdom near the World's End, Prince Ignatius was standing waiting on the shore with all his men ready to receive them; Prince Demitrius had already landed, and was looking forward just as much as his friend to seeing his sister.
At last the nurse landed with the supposed princess, who had very carefully drawn a thick veil over her ugly face; but Prince Ignatius ordered her to throw it off, and then, looking from a little miniature of Princess Marie, which he held in his hand, to the nurse's ugly daughter, he flew into a dreadful rage, declaring that it was a trick of his friend, Prince Demitrius, and that the miniature was that of his bride, as he had said from the beginning. So he ordered the unfortunate young prince to be locked up in prison, and that no one was to go near him; as for the nurse and her daughter, he ordered them to be locked up also.
When midnight came, and the moon shed her silvery rays upon the dark blue sea, there came out of the midst of the waters the grey-goose, who flew to the prison where Prince Demitrius sat, and hung her feathers upon a nail on the window and resuming her proper shape once more, came up to her brother, saying,—
"Dearest of brothers! My poor Demitrius! How dreadful it must be for you to be shut up in this wretched prison with nothing but bread and water, it is my wicked nurse who is to blame, she changed me into a grey-goose, and dressed her daughter up in my wedding clothes."
The brother and sister burst into tears and bemoaned their hard fate; but when morning dawned the princess again put on her feathers and became a grey-goose once more, and flew away to sea. This went on for some time, till at last one night a soldier saw all that passed between the brother and sister, and how the princess changed herself into a grey-goose and flew away; so he went and told his master, Prince Ignatius, all he had heard and seen. The prince was greatly astonished, and ordered that when the grey-goose again made her appearance, he should be told of it.
Midnight came, and with it Princess Marie; she hung her feathers on the nail by the window and ran to her brother. The guards at once told their prince, who ordered the feathers to be burnt immediately, and then putting his ear to the key-hole of the prison-door, heard the princess say,—
"Demitrius, dearest and best of brothers, how frightfully dull and horrid it must be for you in this dreadful place. And to think that all this misfortune has come through that horrid nurse of mine, who changed me into a grey-goose, and dressed her daughter up in my wedding garments, so that she might marry Prince Ignatius. Oh, dear! and I am heartily sick of being a goose. It is such a stupid life."
As soon as Prince Ignatius heard all this he unlocked the prison-door and rushed in. Poor Princess Marie was so frightened that she ran to the window for her feathers, but—they were gone; before she knew what to do, or where to go, Prince Ignatius caught her in his arms and held her tightly, while he looked with admiration at the lovely face; but as he held her she changed suddenly into a stick and rolled down on his feet. Prince Ignatius, however, was not astonished, nor in the least "put out," for he was well acquainted with all magic arts, and knew what to do and how to manage them. He picked up the little stick, and breaking it in three, threw the two ends behind him and the middle before him, saying,—
"Before me appear the most beautiful of maidens, the charming Princess Marie, and behind me a thick oak-tree."
And so it was; behind him stood the oak-tree and before him appeared the lovely princess, once more in all her great beauty. After this Prince Ignatius begged his friend's pardon, and was gladly forgiven; they then all three of them went to the palace, where Prince Ignatius gave orders for a grand feast on the following day, and also arrangements for his marriage with Princess Marie, which was to take place at the same time.
The wedding was very grand indeed; all the kings and queens of the kingdoms round about the World's End were invited to it, and they all made merry. Prince Demitrius was best man. Everything went off splendidly, and the people enjoyed themselves immensely, with the exception of the wicked nurse and her daughter, who were sent to a place where they remained for the rest of their lives and were heard of no more.