April, 2007
The Princess Rosette - A Fairy Story
II. -- Rosette's First Day in The Royal Palace
A Journey of only two hours brought Rosette to the palace; and when she reached there she was led down by a page, to her great surprise, through a narrow, dirty court.
"I have been charged to conduct you to your apartment, my princess." the page said.
"But may I not see the queen?" she asked, timidly.
"You will see her in two hours from now, when they all meet at dinner," he replied; "and in the mean time you can make your toilet."
Rosette followed the page as he led the way through a long corridor, and up a long, steer flight of a stairs, and into another corridor, where was the room that had been reserved for her. It was a little chamber up in the attic, and poorly furnished, and evidently was one of the servants' rooms. The page set down the trunk, and he turned away, said, with an air of embarrassment, --
"You must excuse me, my princess, for bringing you to a room so unworthy of you. The queen gave all the other apartments to the invited kings and queens, all this was the only one left, and --"
"Doesn't matter," interrupted Rosette, smiling, "I shall not blame you. Besides, this will do very well."
I will come for you, my princess," said the page, "when it is the time for you to meet the king and queen."
"I will be ready," replied Rosette; and the page closed the door.
As soon as he was gone she began, with a swelling heart, to unpack her trunk, and she sighed as she took out the dress.Finding a piece of a looking-glass in one corner of the room, she went to work, uncomplainingly, to arrange her hair, and she put up her light tresses with so much taste, and showed so much skill in putting on the chicken's wing and the other rude ornaments, -- both of them the work of the fairy, -- that her head-dress really made her ten times prettier than she was before.
Then she put on her coarse list shoes, when she was all ready to leave the room, what was her surprise on seeing that her dress had been changed into a gold brocade, embroidered with rubies! Her coarse shoes, too, had suddenly become delicate white satin shoes, fastened by a large ruby of indescribable beauty; and the blue woolen stockings were now silk, and as fine as if they had been made of a spider's web.
Her necklace had become rubies, set in diamonds, and her bracelets were the most magnificent of diamonds. She hastened to the glass and found that the chicken's wing in her hair had become a most graceful plume, and that the other coarse ornament had been turned into a carbuncle of such brilliancy and beauty as only a fairy could afford.
Rosette, almost wild with delight, dances up and down in her room, and, in a loud voice, thanked her godmother for thus testing her obedience and for rewarding her so generously.
Just then there was a tap at the door, and the page entered; but he started back, dazzled and astonished by Rosette's marvelous beauty and by the richness of her dress.
( To be continued next month)
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