IT was a shining morning in Spring. King Red Flame put on his scarlet cloak and cap, kissed Queen Glow good-by, mounted his flame-colored horse, and rode away in the direction of the Dying Embers where he had been called upon important business.
The Earth Fairy, peeping from an upper window of the Palace of Burning Coals, watched him out of sight. Then she clapped her hands gleefully. “When you come back, King Red[20] Flame—ah, yes—when you come back, I think perhaps you will find a surprise awaiting you.” For at last the Earth Fairy saw a chance for the revenge for which she had long been watching, and if things but fell out as she hoped, there was no wand nor spell that could restore to the King the priceless treasure that she purposed to destroy.
That night all was still and tranquil in the Palace of Burning Coals, but the next morning a sudden stir arose. Sooner than the Queen had been led to expect it a very wonderful thing had happened in the palace, for very early, with the dawning, a tiny baby Princess came to be the daughter of King Red Flame, and Queen Glow.
All was tumult and rejoicing. The Queen lay proud and happy on the satin pillows of her great golden bed, and[21] looked and looked at the beautiful little Princess in the golden cradle at her side. Everyone was delighted at the coming of this Princess, but none seemed more so than the Earth Fairy herself. She stayed close by the Queen’s side, ready to anticipate her every want, and joined with the rest in her admiration of the baby Princess.
As soon as the child arrived, a messenger was sent in haste to recall King Red Flame to the palace, but before the man rode forth the Earth Fairy hastened down, and even as he was placing his foot in the stirrup, she told him that Queen Glow had decided not to send word to the King, as his business was too important to be interrupted. Instead the messenger was to ride off in exactly the opposite direction, and fetch back a golden cup which Queen Glow[22] had ordered to be ready when she should send for it.
This was a false errand, but the Earth Fairy did not wish anyone to know that she had countermanded the Queen’s order, and if he were seen to set out on a journey, all would suppose that he had gone in search of the King.
Soon after the messenger had departed, the Queen said to the Earth Fairy, who was sitting beside her, “Send everybody away except yourself. I wish to rest. You yourself are so quiet, dear Earth Fairy, you will not disturb me, and you can watch over my little daughter, and see that no harm comes to her while I sleep.”
“I shall be only too happy, Your Highness, to do anything that pleases you,” answered the Earth Fairy sweetly.
So it was that the Queen, and the[23] Earth Fairy, and the baby Princess were presently left alone together, and as Queen Glow turned on her side and closed her eyes, the Earth Fairy seated herself beside the cradle with a piece of embroidery.
Before Queen Glow fell asleep, she murmured softly, “To-morrow, Earth Fairy, King Red Flame will be here. Only think how happy he will be to see his little daughter!”
“Ah, Your Highness; what happiness!” purred the Earth Fairy from her chair beside the cradle.
Now the room grew very still, and Queen Glow fell into a profound slumber. Then the Earth Fairy laid down her embroidery, and rose softly from her chair. She tiptoed to the bed, bent over the Queen, and listened intently to her breathing, till she was certain[24] that her mistress slept. Then she crept from the room, and was gone for some little time. When she returned, she brought, concealed in the folds of her dress, a bundle of the most powerful wands that the palace contained. She stood a moment and listened. The Queen and the Princess slept as before.
The Earth Fairy locked the door quickly, and made haste to open the bundle of wands. She took out the one that she knew to be the most potent, and carried it to the bedside of the Queen. It was serpent-shaped and slender, and as the Earth Fairy waved it above the Queen long green tongues of flame darted from its tip.
“Sleep,” whispered the Earth Fairy. “Sleep till I bid you waken.” At these words the Queen sank into an even deeper slumber than before.
[25]Then the Earth Fairy turned to the defenseless Princess. With one sweep of the glimmering wand, she bound the cradle within a magic circle, so that she might weave a spell that no power could break.
But at the very moment that the first word of her charm fell from her lips there came a sudden knock at the door. The Earth Fairy was startled. She thrust the wand behind her, stole swiftly to the door, and laid her ear to the keyhole.
“Who is there?” she demanded in a low voice.
“It is I—Grey Smoke,” was the answer. “I bear a message to the Queen.”
“Queen Glow has given orders that she is not to be disturbed,” returned the[26] Earth Fairy. “She sleeps, and I can awaken her for no one.”
Satisfied with the answer that she had received, Grey Smoke took her departure, and the wicked Earth Fairy returned to the cradle of the Princess. She had no more than drawn a second time her circle of enchantment, had but once waved her wand above the little Princess, than there came another, and a louder knock.
Furious that her spell should again be interrupted, the Earth Fairy threw down her wand, and hurried to the door. “Who is it now who comes to disturb the Queen?” she demanded sharply. “Has not everyone been told that her Majesty wishes to sleep?”
“It is I—Spark—the page,” was the reply. “My business is important. A golden necklace has just arrived for Her[27] Highness the Princess, with orders to deliver it to the Queen at once.”
“Her Majesty is not to be disturbed for any purpose,” retorted the Earth Fairy. “Go away at once, and put it in a place of safety till she awakens.”
The page was not satisfied. “Since the Queen cannot be disturbed,” replied he, “you must yourself take it, and keep it until she awakens. Open the door, and I will give it to you.”
Obliged to control her anger, lest Spark should become suspicious that mischief was on foot, the Earth Fairy opened the door the merest crack, and received a marvelous golden box from his hands. At any other time she certainly would have turned it over curiously, and if no one had been by she would have peeped within, but now she was only anxious to guard the entrance[28] to the room as well as she could, and to shut the door quickly, before the sharp eyes of Spark should see too much.
Careful as she was, however, she did not succeed in preventing him from catching a glimpse of the bundle of wands lying upon the Queen’s bed. The sight of them in this unexpected place excited his suspicions at once, but he was far too clever to say anything concerning them to the Earth Fairy. She would give him no satisfaction, he was sure. But he lost no time in going to Grey Smoke, who was his grandmother, and telling her what he had seen.
Grey Smoke looked very grave. She had never trusted Earth Fairy, and now a strange fear took possession of her. “I will go to the Queen at once,” declared she. “I—her old nurse, must see[29] to it that no harm comes to her in the King’s absence.”
But swiftly as Grey Smoke hastened to the side of her mistress, she was too late, for as soon as the page had departed, the Earth Fairy snatched up her wand and rushed to the cradle of the Princess. Quickly she drew once more her magic circle. Quickly she waved the flaming wand three times above the sleeping child. “Become invisible!” she hissed—“Become invisible!”
Instantly the little Princess vanished from before her eyes, leaving only the golden cradle standing empty beside the Queen’s bed.
The Earth Fairy was filled with delight when she saw that she had accomplished what she had set out to do.
“Now I will awaken Queen Glow,”[30] said she triumphantly. “She shall see that she is not the only one who can work spells.”
Though the form of the Princess had indeed vanished from the cradle, the Earth Fairy did not notice that a tender white flame was hovering above the place where the child had lain, for there was one thing that the wicked fairy, with all her knowledge of magic did not know: that is, that no Fire Fairy can ever be made entirely invisible. Though its form may vanish, its spirit is always seen as a fine flame.
The Earth Fairy, in her impatience to show the hapless Queen how she had revenged herself, had turned her back upon the cradle as soon as her spell was fully wrought, and was not aware of the presence of the tiny flame. She took up the wand with which to arouse[31] the Queen. She leaned over her, and touched her with it.
“Awake!” she cried.
Immediately, as if she had only waited for the word, the Queen opened her eyes, and saw with astonishment and amaze the evil triumph written upon the face of the Earth Fairy. Instantly she started from her pillows, and glanced in the direction of the cradle. She saw that it was empty, and saw the tiny white flame flickering where the little Princess had been. Then her eyes fell upon the bundle of wands, and she knew what had been done to her helpless child.
She gave a great cry that rang through the room. Grey Smoke, hurrying down the palace hall, heard it and hastened still faster. Without waiting to knock, without even trying the door,[32] she wound herself like a thin gray thread through the keyhole, was on the other side of the door in a moment, and stood beside her mistress in her own shape.
The Queen lay back among her satin pillows, quite without life. Grief at that what had happened to her beloved child had broken her heart.
The Earth Fairy and her wands were nowhere to be seen, for as soon as the Queen had cried out, she had made haste to escape by another door that led to a distant part of the palace.
Grey Smoke was filled with horror at what she saw. At first she was unable to move, or even to think. But she recovered herself quickly. Something must be done. She rushed to the door, tore it open, and called aloud for help.
Spark, who was lingering in the hall,[33] came at once, eager to learn what she had discovered, but his grandmother’s face showed him that it was no time for questions.
“Go quickly, Spark,” commanded she. “Bring every fairy in the palace. Something terrible has happened. Bring everyone, but especially the Earth Fairy; on no account must she be allowed to escape.”
Away flashed Spark in hot haste, and did his errand so well, that presently the bedroom of the Queen was filled with anxious fairies. Under the direction of old Grey Smoke, everything known to fairy lore was done to revive Queen Glow, but nothing was of the least avail. Knowing but too well, by the flame hovering above the cradle, what had happened to the Princess, a band of the most trustworthy and faithful fairies set[34] themselves as a guard about her, lest the one who had done this wicked deed might seek to approach and do further harm, if that were possible.
It was not until all the other fairies were gathered in the room that the Earth Fairy appeared, with Spark close at her side, guarding her lest she should try to escape. But the Earth Fairy made no attempt to do this. When she entered the room she seemed to be overwhelmed by surprise at what she saw, and to be the most grief-stricken of them all.
Grey Smoke pointed an accusing finger at her. “Wicked one,” she cried, “It is you who have done this to our Queen, and to our little Princess. It is you who must pay the penalty when King Red Flame returns, and finds what you have done.”
[35]The Earth Fairy interrupted her indignantly, and declared with a storm of sobs and tears that she was absolutely innocent, and that when she had left the room to put away the wands the Queen had asked her to bring, that all had been well; the Queen had been sleeping quietly in her bed, and the child had been in the cradle by her side.
“Say no more,” commanded Grey Smoke. “No one believes you for a moment. No one else would have wrought evil upon our dear Queen.”
In spite of everything that the Earth Fairy said to try to prove her innocence, she was taken away under a close guard of Fire Fairies, to be given over to the keepers of the prison.
Around the cradle of the baby Princess a ceaseless watch was kept. The Fire Fairies who were appointed to[36] guard it kept their eyes fixed upon the white and flickering flame, awaiting the return of King Red Flame.