The Magic Fishbone | Page 2

yourself."
The King hung his head under this reproof, and said he wouldn't talk
about things disagreeing, any more.
"Be good, then," said the Fairy Grandmarina, "and don't! When the
beautiful Princess Alicia consents to partake of the salmon--as I think
she will--you will find she will leave a fish-bone on her plate. Tell her
to dry it, and to rub it, and to polish it till it shines like mother-of-pearl,
and to take care of it as a present from me."
"Is that all?" asked the King.
"Don't be impatient, sir," returned the Fairy Grandmarina, scolding him
severely. "Don't catch people short, before they have done speaking.
Just the way with you grown-up persons. You are always doing it."
The King again hung his head, and said he wouldn't do so any more.
"Be good then," said the Fairy Grandmarina, "and don't! Tell the
Princess Alicia, with my love, that the fish-bone is a magic present
which can only be used once; but that it will bring her, that once,
whatever she wishes for, PROVIDED SHE WISHES FOR IT AT THE
RIGHT TIME. That is the message. Take care of it."
[Illustration: HOITY TOITY ME!]
The King was beginning, "Might I ask the reason--?" when the Fairy
became absolutely furious.
"Will you be good, sir?" she exclaimed, stamping her foot on the
ground. "The reason for this, and the reason for that, indeed! You are
always wanting the reason. No reason. There! Hoity toity me! I am sick
of your grown-up reasons."
The King was extremely frightened by the old lady's flying into such a
passion, and said he was very sorry to have offended her, and he
wouldn't ask for reasons any more.

"Be good then," said the old lady, "and don't!"
With those words, Grandmarina vanished, and the King went on and on
and on, till he came to the office. There he wrote and wrote and wrote,
till it was time to go home again. Then he politely invited the Princess
Alicia, as the Fairy had directed him, to partake of the salmon. And
when she had enjoyed it very much, he saw the fish-bone on her plate,
as the Fairy had told him he would, and he delivered the Fairy's
message, and the Princess Alicia took care to dry the bone, and to rub it,
and to polish it till it shone like mother-of-pearl.
[Illustration: He saw the Fish-bone on her Plate]
And so when the Queen was going to get up in the morning, she said,
"O, dear me, dear me; my head, my head!" and then she fainted away.
The Princess Alicia, who happened to be looking in at the
chamber-door, asking about breakfast, was very much alarmed when
she saw her Royal Mamma in this state, and she rang the bell for Peggy,
which was the name of the Lord Chamberlain. But remembering where
the smelling-bottle was, she climbed on a chair and got it, and after that
she climbed on another chair by the bedside and held the
smelling-bottle to the Queen's nose, and after that she jumped down
and got some water, and after that she jumped up again and wetted the
Queen's forehead, and, in short, when the Lord Chamberlain came in,
that dear old woman said to the little Princess, "What a Trot you are! I
couldn't have done it better myself!"
[Illustration]
But that was not the worst of the good Queen's illness. O, no! She was
very ill indeed, for a long time. The Princess Alicia kept the seventeen
young Princes and Princesses quiet, and dressed and undressed and
danced the baby, and made the kettle boil, and heated the soup, and
swept the hearth, and poured out the medicine, and nursed the Queen,
and did all that ever she could, and was as busy busy busy, as busy
could be. For there were not many servants at that Palace, for three
reasons; because the King was short of money, because a rise in his

office never seemed to come, and because quarter day was so far off
that it looked almost as far off and as little as one of the stars.
But on the morning when the Queen fainted away, where was the
magic fish-bone? Why, there it was in the Princess Alicia's pocket. She
had almost taken it out to bring the Queen to life again, when she put it
back, and looked for the smelling-bottle.
After the Queen had come out of her swoon that morning, and was
dozing, the Princess Alicia hurried up-stairs to tell a most particular
secret to a most particularly confidential friend of hers, who was a
Duchess. People did suppose her to be a Doll; but she was really a
Duchess, though nobody knew it except the Princess.
[Illustration]