If the poor girl's life had been miserable before, it was ten times worse now, for the moment her father's back was turned the others teased and tormented her from morning till night; and their fury was increased by the sight of her wreath, which the doves had placed again on her head.
Things went on like this for some weeks, when, one day, as the king's son was riding through the forest, he heard some strange birds singing more sweetly than birds had ever sung before.He tied his horse to a tree, and followed where the sound led him, and, to his surprise, he saw before him a beautiful girl chopping wood, with a wreath of pink rose-buds, out of which the singing came.Standing in the shelter of a tree, he watched her a long while, and then, hat in hand, he went up and spoke to her.
'Fair maiden, who are you, and who gave you that wreath of singing roses?' asked he, for the birds were so tiny that till you looked closely you never saw them.
'I live in a hut on the edge of the forest,' she answered, blushing, for she had never spoken to a prince before.'As to the wreath, I know not how it came there, unless it may be the gift of some doves whom Ifed when they were starving!The prince was delighted with this answer, which showed the goodness of the girl's heart, and besides he had fallen in love with her beauty, and would not be content till she promised to return with him to the palace, and become his bride.The old king was naturally disappointed at his son's choice of a wife, as he wished him to marry a neighbouring princess; but as from his birth the prince had always done exactly as he like, nothing was said and a splendid wedding feast was got ready.
The day after her marriage the bride sent a messenger, bearing handsome presents to her father, and telling him of the good fortune which had befallen her.As may be imagined, the stepmother and her daughter were so filled with envy that they grew quite ill, and had to take to their beds, and nobody would have been sorry it they had never got up again;but that did not happen.At length, however, they began to feel better, for the mother invented a plan by which she could be revenged on the girl who had never done her any harm.
Her plan was this.In the town where she had lived before she was married there was an old witch, who had more skill in magic that any other witch she knew.To this witch she would go and beg her to make her a mask with the face of her stepdaughter, and when she had the mask the rest would be easy.She told her daughter what she meant to do, and although the daughter could only say 'dirty creatures,' in answer, she nodded and smiled and looked well pleased.
Everything fell out exactly as the woman had hoped.By the aid of her magic mirror the witch beheld the new princess walking in her gardens in a dress of green silk, and in a few minutes had produced a mask so like her, that very few people could have told the difference.
However, she counselled the woman that when her daughter first wore it-- for that, of course, was what she intended her to do--she had better pretend that she had a toothache, and cover her head with a lace veil.The woman thanked her and paid her well, and returned to her hut, carrying the mask under her cloak.
In a few days she heard that a great hunt was planned, and the prince would leave the palace very early in the morning, so that his wife would be alone all day.This was a chance not to be missed, and taking her daughter with her she went up to the palace, where she had never been before.The princess was too happy in her new home to remember all that she had suffered in the old one, and she welcomed them both gladly, and gave them quantities of beautiful things to take back with them.At last she took them down to the shore to see a pleasure boat which her husband had had made for her; and here, the woman seizing her opportunity, stole softly behind the girl and pushed her off the rock on which she was standing, into the deep water, where she instantly sank to the bottom.Then she fastened the mask on her daughter, flung over her shoulders a velvet cloak, which the princess had let fall, and finally arranged a lace veil over her head.
'Rest your cheek on your hand, as if you were in pain, when the prince returns,' said the mother; 'and be careful not to speak, whatever you do.I will go back to the witch and see if she cannot take off the spell laid on you by those horrible birds.Ah! why did I not think of it before!'
No sooner had the prince entered the palace than he hastened to the princess's apartments, where he found her lying on the sofa apparently in great pain.
'My dearest wife, what is the matter with you?' he cried, kneeling down beside her, and trying to take her hand; but she snatched it away, and pointing to her cheek murmured something he could not catch.
'What is it? tell me! Is the pain bad? When did it begin? Shall Isend for your ladies to bath the place?' asked the prince, pouring out these and a dozen other questions, to which the girl only shook her head.
'But I can't leave you like this,' he continued, starting up, 'I must summon all the court physicians to apply soothing balsams to the sore place!And as he spoke he sprang to his feet to go in search of them.
This so frightened the pretended wife, who knew that if the physicians once came near her the trick would at once be discovered, that she forgot her mother's counsel not to speak, and forgot even the spell that had been laid upon her, and catching hold of the prince's tunic, she cried in tones of entreaty: 'Dirty creatures!'
The young man stopped, not able to believe his ears, but supposed that pain had made the princess cross, as it sometimes does.However, he guessed somehow that she wised to be left alone, so he only said:
