Felicia and the Pot of Pinks

Once upon a time there was a poor laborer who, feeling that he did not have much longer to live, wished to divide his possessions between his son and daughter, whom he loved dearly.

So he called them to him and said: "Your mother brought me as her dowry two stools and a straw bed. I also have a hen, a pot of pinks, and a silver ring, which were given to me by a noble lady who once stayed in my poor cottage. When she left, she said to me:

'Be careful of my gifts, good man. Do not lose the ring or forget to water the pinks. As for your daughter, I promise you that she shall be more beautiful than anyone you have ever seen in your life. Call her Felicia, and when she grows up, give her the ring and the pot of pinks to comfort her for her poverty.' Take them both, then, my dear child," he added, "and your brother shall have everything else."

The two children seemed quite content, and when their father died they wept for him and divided his possessions as he had told them. Felicia believed that her brother loved her, but when she sat down on one of the stools he said angrily:

"Keep your pot of pinks and your ring, but leave my things alone. I like order in my house."

Felicia, who was very gentle, said nothing, but stood up crying quietly, while Bruno, for that was her brother's name, sat comfortably by the fire. Presently, when supper time came, Bruno had a delicious egg, and he threw the shell to Felicia, saying:

"There, that is all I can give you. If you don't like it, go out and catch frogs. There are plenty of them in the marsh nearby." Felicia did not answer, but she cried more bitterly than ever and went away to her own little room. She found it filled with the sweet scent of the pinks, and, going up to them, she said sadly:

"Beautiful pinks, you are so sweet and so pretty. You are the only comfort I have left. Be very sure that I will take care of you and water you well and never allow any cruel hand to tear you from your stems."

As she leaned over them she noticed that they were very dry. So, taking her pitcher, she ran off in the clear moonlight to the fountain, which was some distance away. When she reached it she sat down on the edge to rest, but she had hardly done so when she saw a stately lady coming toward her, surrounded by many servants. Six maids of honor carried her train, and she leaned on the arm of another.

When they came near the fountain, a canopy was spread for her, under which was placed a sofa of cloth of gold. Presently a dainty supper was served on a table covered with dishes of gold and crystal, while the wind in the trees and the falling water of the fountain played the softest music.

Felicia was hidden in the shade, too amazed by all she saw to dare move. But in a few moments the Queen said:

"I think I see a shepherdess near that tree. Bid her come here."

So Felicia came forward and greeted the Queen timidly, but with so much grace that everyone was surprised.

"What are you doing here, my pretty child?" asked the Queen. "Are you not afraid of robbers?"

"Ah! Madam," said Felicia, "a poor shepherdess who has nothing to lose does not fear robbers."

"You are not very rich, then?" said the Queen, smiling.

"I am so poor," answered Felicia, "that a pot of pinks and a silver ring are my only possessions in the world."

"But you have a heart," said the Queen. "What would you say if someone wanted to steal that?"

"I do not know what it is like to lose one's heart, madam," she replied, "but I have always heard that without a heart one cannot live, and if it is broken one must die. And in spite of my poverty, I would be sorry not to live."

"You are quite right to take care of your heart, pretty one," said the Queen. "But tell me, have you had supper?"

"No, madam," answered Felicia. "My brother ate all the supper there was."

Then the Queen ordered that a place be made for her at the table and herself filled Felicia's plate with good things. But Felicia was too amazed to be hungry.

"I want to know what you were doing at the fountain so late," said the Queen presently.

"I came to fetch a pitcher of water for my pinks, madam," she answered, stooping to pick up the pitcher that stood beside her. But when she showed it to the Queen, she was amazed to see that it had turned to gold, all sparkling with great diamonds, and the water in it was more fragrant than the sweetest roses. She was afraid to take it until the Queen said:

"It is yours, Felicia. Go and water your pinks with it, and let it remind you that the Queen of the Woods is your friend."

The shepherdess threw herself at the Queen's feet and thanked her humbly for her kind words.

"Ah! Madam," she cried, "if I could beg you to stay here a moment, I would run and fetch my pot of pinks for you. They could not fall into better hands."

"Go, Felicia," said the Queen, stroking her cheek softly. "I will wait here until you come back."

So Felicia took up her pitcher and ran to her little room, but while she had been away Bruno had gone in and taken the pot of pinks, leaving a large cabbage in its place. When she saw the unlucky cabbage, Felicia was very upset and did not know what to do. But at last she ran back to the fountain and, kneeling before the Queen, said:

"Madam, Bruno has stolen my pot of pinks, so I have nothing but my silver ring. But I beg you to accept it as a proof of my gratitude."

"But if I take your ring, my pretty shepherdess," said the Queen, "you will have nothing left. And what will you do then?"

"Ah! Madam," she answered simply, "if I have your friendship, I shall do very well."

So the Queen took the ring and put it on her finger, and mounted her chariot, which was made of coral studded with emeralds and drawn by six milk-white horses. And Felicia watched her until the winding of the forest path hid her from sight, and then she went back to the cottage, thinking over all the wonderful things that had happened.

The first thing she did when she reached her room was to throw the cabbage out of the window.

But she was very surprised to hear a strange little voice cry out: "Oh! I am half killed!" and could not tell where it came from, because cabbages do not usually speak.

As soon as it was light, Felicia, who was very unhappy about her pot of pinks, went out to look for it. The first thing she found was the unlucky cabbage. She gave it a push with her foot, saying: "What are you doing here, and how dare you put yourself in the place of my pot of pinks?"

"If I hadn't been carried," replied the cabbage, "you may be very sure that I wouldn't have thought of going there."

It made her shiver with fright to hear the cabbage talk, but he went on:

"If you will be good enough to plant me back with my comrades, I can tell you where your pinks are at this moment—hidden in Bruno's bed!"

Felicia was in despair when she heard this, not knowing how she could get them back. But she replanted the cabbage very kindly in its old place, and as she finished doing it, she saw Bruno's hen and said, catching hold of it:

"Come here, horrid little creature! You shall suffer for all the unkind things my brother has done to me."

"Ah! Shepherdess," said the hen, "don't kill me. I am rather a gossip, and I can tell you some surprising things that you will like to hear. Don't imagine that you are the daughter of the poor laborer who brought you up. Your mother was a queen who had six girls already, and the King threatened that unless she had a son who could inherit his kingdom, he would have her head cut off.

"So when the Queen had another little daughter, she was quite frightened and agreed with her sister (who was a fairy) to exchange her for the fairy's little son. Now the Queen had been shut up in a great tower by the King's orders, and when many days went by and still she heard nothing from the Fairy, she escaped from the window using a rope ladder, taking her little baby with her.

After wandering about until she was half dead with cold and tiredness, she reached this cottage. I was the laborer's wife and was a good nurse, and the Queen gave you into my care and told me all her misfortunes.

Then she died before she had time to say what was to become of you.

"As I could never in all my life keep a secret, I could not help telling this strange tale to my neighbors. One day a beautiful lady came here, and I told it to her also.

When I had finished, she touched me with a wand she held in her hand, and instantly I became a hen, and there was an end of my talking! I was very sad, and my husband, who was out when it happened, never knew what had become of me.

After seeking me everywhere, he believed that I must have been drowned or eaten by wild beasts in the forest. That same lady came here once more and commanded that you should be called Felicia and left the ring and the pot of pinks to be given to you.

And while she was in the house, twenty-five of the King's guards came to search for you, no doubt meaning to kill you. But she muttered a few words, and immediately they all turned into cabbages. It was one of them that you threw out of your window yesterday.

"I don't know how it was that he could speak. I have never heard either of them say a word before, nor have I been able to do it myself until now."

The Princess was greatly astonished at the hen's story and said kindly: "I am truly sorry for you, my poor nurse, and wish it was in my power to restore you to your real form. But we must not despair. It seems to me, after what you have told me, that something must be going to happen soon. Just now, however, I must go and look for my pinks, which I love better than anything in the world."

Bruno had gone out into the forest, never thinking that Felicia would search in his room for the pinks, and she was delighted by his unexpected absence and thought to get them back without further trouble. But as soon as she entered the room, she saw a terrible army of rats guarding the straw bed. And when she tried to approach it, they sprang at her, biting and scratching furiously. Quite terrified, she drew back, crying out: "Oh! My dear pinks, how can you stay here in such bad company?"

Then she suddenly remembered the pitcher of water and, hoping that it might have some magic power, she ran to fetch it and sprinkled a few drops over the fierce-looking swarm of rats. In a moment, not a tail or a whisker was to be seen.

Each one had made for its hole as fast as its legs could carry it, so that the Princess could safely take her pot of pinks. She found them nearly dying for lack of water and hastily poured all that was left in the pitcher upon them.

As she bent over them, enjoying their sweet scent, a soft voice that seemed to rustle among the leaves said:

"Lovely Felicia, the day has come at last when I may have the happiness of telling you how even the flowers love you and rejoice in your beauty."

The Princess, quite overcome by the strangeness of hearing a cabbage, a hen, and a pink speak, and by the terrible sight of an army of rats, suddenly became very pale and fainted away.

At this moment, in came Bruno. Working hard in the heat had not improved his temper, and when he saw that Felicia had found her pinks, he was so angry that he dragged her out into the garden and shut the door on her. The fresh air soon made her open her pretty eyes, and there before her stood the Queen of the Woods, looking as charming as ever.

"You have a bad brother," she said. "I saw that he turned you out. Shall I punish him for it?"

"Ah! No, madam," she said. "I am not angry with him."

"But supposing he was not your brother, after all, what would you say then?" asked the Queen.

"Oh! But I think he must be," said Felicia.

"What!" said the Queen. "Have you not heard that you are a Princess?"

"I was told so a little while ago, madam, but how could I believe it without a single proof?"

"Ah! Dear child," said the Queen, "the way you speak assures me that, in spite of your humble upbringing, you are indeed a real princess. And I can save you from being treated in such a way again."

She was interrupted at this moment by the arrival of a very handsome young man. He wore a coat of green velvet fastened with emerald clasps and had a crown of pinks on his head. He knelt on one knee and kissed the Queen's hand.

"Ah!" she cried. "My pink, my dear son, what a happiness to see you restored to your natural shape by Felicia's aid!" And she embraced him joyfully. Then, turning to Felicia, she said:

"Charming Princess, I know all that the hen told you. But you cannot have heard that the zephyrs, to whom was entrusted the task of carrying my son to the tower where the Queen, your mother, so anxiously waited for him, left him instead in a garden of flowers while they flew off to tell your mother. Whereupon a fairy with whom I had quarreled changed him into a pink, and I could do nothing to prevent it.

"You can imagine how angry I was and how I tried to find some way to undo the mischief she had done. But there was no help for it. I could only bring Prince Pink to the place where you were being brought up, hoping that when you grew up he might love you and by your care be restored to his natural form.

And you see everything has turned out as I hoped. Your giving me the silver ring was the sign that the power of the charm was nearly over, and my enemy's last chance was to frighten you with her army of rats. That she did not succeed in doing.

So now, my dear Felicia, if you will marry my son with this silver ring, your future happiness is certain. Do you think him handsome and kind enough to marry him?"

"Madam," replied Felicia, blushing, "you overwhelm me with your kindness. I know that you are my mother's sister and that by your magic you turned the soldiers who were sent to kill me into cabbages and my nurse into a hen, and that you do me only too much honor in proposing that I marry your son. How can I explain to you the cause of my hesitation? I feel, for the first time in my life, how happy it would make me to be loved. Can you indeed give me the Prince's heart?"

"It is yours already, lovely Princess!" he cried, taking her hand in his. "But for the horrible enchantment that kept me silent, I would have told you long ago how dearly I love you."

This made the Princess very happy, and the Queen, who could not bear to see her dressed like a poor shepherdess, touched her with her wand, saying:

"I wish you to be attired as befits your rank and beauty." And immediately the Princess's cotton dress became a magnificent robe of silver brocade embroidered with carbuncles, and her soft dark hair was encircled by a crown of diamonds, from which floated a clear white veil. With her bright eyes and the lovely color in her cheeks, she was altogether such a dazzling sight that the Prince could hardly bear it.

"How pretty you are, Felicia!" he cried. "Don't keep me in suspense, I beg you. Say that you will marry me."

"Ah!" said the Queen, smiling. "I think she will not refuse now."

Just then Bruno, who was going back to his work, came out of the cottage and thought he must be dreaming when he saw Felicia. But she called him very kindly and begged the Queen to take pity on him.

"What!" she said. "When he was so unkind to you?"

"Ah! Madam," said the Princess, "I am so happy that I would like everyone else to be happy too."

The Queen kissed her and said: "Well, to please you, let me see what I can do for this cross Bruno." And with a wave of her wand, she turned the poor little cottage into a splendid palace full of treasures.

Only the two stools and the straw bed remained just as they were, to remind him of his former poverty. Then the Queen touched Bruno himself and made him gentle and polite and grateful, and he thanked her and the Princess a thousand times.

Lastly, the Queen restored the hen and the cabbages to their natural forms and left them all very content. The Prince and Princess were married as soon as possible with great splendor and lived happily ever after.