Princess Stories

Princess Belle-Etoile

By Madame D'Aulnoy

Once upon a time there lived a princess who possessed nothing of her former greatness but the canopy of her throne and the case that had contained her knife, fork, and spoon; the former was of velvet embroidered with pearls, and the latter of gold set with diamonds. She took as much care of them as possible, but the extreme poverty to which she was reduced compelled her from time to time to remove a pearl, a diamond, or an emerald, and have it secretly sold in order that she might have the wherewithal to feed her suite. She was a widow with three young and lovely daughters. She saw' that if she brought them up in a manner suitable to their rank they would afterwards feel their misfortunes the more. She, therefore, determined to sell her few remaining possessions and settle with her three daughters in some distant country house, where they could live in a style suited to their small fortune. In crossing a forest she was robbed and scarcely anything was left. The poor princess, more grieved by this last misfortune than by all that had gone before, recognised that she must either earn her living or die of hunger. She had formerly been fond of good eating, and knew how to make excellent sauces. She had never gone anywhere without her little gold kitchen that people came from afar to visit. What had been a mere amusement, now afforded her a means of subsistence. She settled near a large town in a very pretty house. She cooked marvellously good dishes, and, as the people of that land were rather greedy, everybody patronised her. They talked of nothing hut the excellent cook, and scarcely gave her time to breathe. Meanwhile her three daughters grew up, and their beauty would have made as great a stir as the princess's sauces, had she not shut them up in a room they rarely left.

On one of the finest days in the year, a little old woman who seemed very tired entered their house; she supported herself on a stick, her body was bent, and her face wrinkled. "I come," she said, "for you to serve me a nice dinner, for I wish before going into the next world to enjoy myself in this." Taking a cane-bottomed chair she sat down near the fire, asking the princess to be quick. As she could riot do it all without assistance, she summoned her three daughters; the eldest was called Roussette, the second Brunette, and the youngest Blondine. She had given them these names on account of the colour of their hair. They were dressed like peasants, with bodices and petticoats of different colours. The youngest was the prettiest and sweetest. Their mother told one to fetch pigeons from the pigeon-house, another to kill chickens, and the last to make pastry. In less than a moment they had laid the table for the old lady very nicely; the linen was beautifully white, the china well polished, and the courses many and various. The wine was excellent, ice was not forgotten, and the glasses were rinsed every time by the prettiest hands imaginable. All this gave the good old woman a fine appetite. If she ate well, she drank still better. She became a little flustered and said many things which the princess, who pretended not to pay any attention, found very witty.

The dinner ended as cheerfully as it had begun; the old lady rose from the table and said to the princess: "My dear friend, if I had any money I would pay you, but I was ruined a long time ago; I wanted to come to you in order to get such good cheer. All I can promise you is to send you better customers than my self." The princess began to smile, and said kindly "Do not distress yourself, my good mother; I am always well paid when I give pleasure". "We were delighted to wait on you," said Blondine, "and if you will take supper here, we shall be even better pleased." "Oh what a happy thing it is," exclaimed the old woman, "to be horn with a kindly heart. But do you not hope to receive its due reward? Be sure," she continued, "that the first thing you wish for, without thinking of me, will be granted." At the same moment she disappeared, and they never doubted she was a fairy.

The adventure astonished them mightily; they had never seen a fairy before and felt afraid. For five or six months they talked of nothing else, and as soon as they wished for anything, thought of her. Thus nothing turned out as they desired, and they were extremely angry with the fairy. But one day when the king was hunting he came to the good cook's abode to see if she was as clever as people said. He made so much noise in approaching the garden that the three sisters who were picking strawberries heard him. "Ah," said Roussette, "if I was lucky enough to marry the admiral, I promise to spin with my shuttle and distaff a great quantity of thread, and to weave out of it so much cloth that he would not need to buy any for the sails of his ships." "And I," said Brunette, "if fortune was kind enough to make me the wife of the king's brother, I promise to make him so much lace with my needle that his palace would be filled with it." "And I," added Blondine, "I promise that if the king would wed me, I should have after a short space of time two handsome boys and a beautiful girl; their hair shall fall in ringlets and shall scatter precious stones; they shall have a shining star on the forehead and a rich gold chain round the neck."