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Page 72
Time passed on without lessening the king's devotion to his daughter.
Her beauty was the standing theme of conversation in every corner of the
palace where the king was likely to overhear it, and the courtiers
rivalled each other in trying to read the wishes of the little princess
in her blue eyes, and in endeavouring to forestall them.
No wonder the little lady grew up exceedingly self-willed, and with no
thought of any one's pleasure but her own.
The king hired governesses, it is true, but he strictly forbade them
ever to say a harsh word to his darling; and one who had so far
transgressed this order as to reprove the princess for some fault, was
dismissed in disgrace. Thus it came about that the child grew daily more
and more wilful and capricious. Do what every one would, it was
impossible to please her, and as she was allowed to fly into a rage
about the most trifling matters, and as she sulked and scolded, and
growled and grumbled for the smallest annoyances, her voice gradually
acquired a peculiar snarling tone, which was as painful to listen to as
it was unbecoming in a young and pretty princess.
The whole court suffered from the depressing effects of the young
lady's ill-temper. Behind the king's back, the courtiers complained
pretty freely, but before his face no one dared show his annoyance, and
two old court ladies, whose nerves were not so strong as they had been,
and who feared to betray themselves, were obliged to employ a celebrated
professor of cosmetics to paint smiles on their faces that could not be
disturbed by the snarling and grumbling of the princess; but the Lord
Chamberlain concealed his feelings by a free use of his gold snuff-box,
and snuffed away his annoyance pretty successfully.
As his daughter grew up, the king was not without his share of suffering
from her ill-temper. But he bore it all very patiently,--"She will be a
queen," said he to himself, "and it is fit that she should have a will
of her own." The king himself was of an imperious temper, but such was
his love for his only child, that he bent it completely to her caprices.
In private, the courtiers were by no means so indulgent in their views,
and the future queen was known amongst them, behind her back, as the
Snarling Princess.
In spite of her ill-temper and unpleasing voice, however, she was so
beautiful, that--being also heir to the throne of a large kingdom--many
princes sought her hand in marriage. But the Snarling Princess was
resolved to reign alone, and she refused every suitor who appeared.
The princess's rooms were, of course, the most beautiful in the palace.
One of these, which looked out on to the forest, was her favourite
chamber, but it was also the source of her greatest vexation.
Never did she look out of the window towards the wood without snarling
in her harshest tone, "Hateful! Intolerable!"
The source of her annoyance was this:
On the edge of the forest, clearly to be seen from her window, there
stood a tiny cottage, in which lived an aged woman who was known amongst
the poor folks of the neighbourhood as the "Three-legged Wood-wife."
This was because of a wooden staff on which she leaned to eke out the
failing strength of her own limbs. The wood-wife was both feared and
hated by the people, amongst whom she bore the character of a very
malicious witch. The king's daughter hated not only her, but her
tumble-down house, and had sent again and again, with large offers of
gold, to try and purchase the cottage. But the wood-wife laughed
spitefully at the messengers, and only replied that the cottage suited
her, and that for no money would she quit it whilst she lived.
The poor have their rights, however, as well as the rich, and even the
Snarling Princess was obliged to submit to the disappointment at which
she could only grumble.
At one time she resolved never to go into her favourite room again. But
she could not keep her resolution. Back she went, and some irresistible
power always seemed to draw her to the window to irritate herself by the
sight of the wretched hovel which belonged to the Three-legged Witch.
At last, however, by constantly snarling and complaining to the king,
she induced him to turn the old woman by force out of her cottage. The
king, who was just and upright, did so very unwillingly, and he built
her a new and much better cottage elsewhere.
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