The magic fishbone; romance from the pen of Miss Alice Rainbird aged seven

THE MAGIC HSHBQNE

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NY PUBLIC LIBRARY THE BRANCH LIBRARIES

Dickens

Magic fishbone

j Dickens

Vlagic fshbone

THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT

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From " Holiday Romance," first published in 1868

in < iff at Britain

TO HELEN.

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HERE was once a king; ;and he" had a queen ; and he was the
manliest of his sex, and she was the loveliest of hers. The king
was, in his private profession, under government. The queen's
father had been a medical man out of town.

They had nineteen children, and were always having more.

Seventeen of these children took care of the baby ; and Alicia, the eldest,
took care of them all. Their ages varied from seven years to seven months.

THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBKAKt

CIRCULATION BHPARTMENT
mm MUltCM 224 EAST ttSfh

Let us now resume our story.

One day the king was going to the office, when he stopped at the fish-
monger's to buy a pound and a half of salmon not too near the tail, which the
queen (who was a careful house-
keeper) had requested him to send
home. Mr. Pickles, the fishmonger,
said, "Certainly, sir; is there any
other article ? Good-morning."

The king went on towards the
office in a melancholy mood; for
quarter-day was such a long wa yr off,
and several of the dear children were
growing out of their clothes. He had
not proceeded far, when Mr.Pickles's
errand-boy came run-
ning after him, and
said, " Sir, you didn't
notice the old lady in
our shop."

"What old lady?"
inquired the king. " I
saw none."

Now the king had not seen any old lady, because this old lady had been
invisible to him, though visible to Mr. Pickles's boy. Probably oecause he
messed and splashed the water about to that degree, and flopped the pairs of
soles down in that violent manner, that, if she had not been visible to him,
he would have spoilt her clothes.

Just then the old lady came trotting up. She was dressed in shot'Silk of
the richest quality, smelling of dried lavender.

..

King Watkins the First, I believe ? " said the old lady,
' Watkins," replied the king, "is my name."

" Papa, if I am not mistaken, of the beautiful Princess Alicia ? " said the
old lady.

" And of eighteen other darlings/' replied the king.
" Listen. You are going to the office," said the old lady.
It instantly flashed upon the king that she must be a fairy, or how could

she know that ?

'You are right," said the old lady, answering his
thoughts. ' I am the good Fairy Grandmarina.
Attend ! When you return home to dinner,
politely invite the Princess Alicia to have some
of the salmon you bought just now."

" It may disagree with her," said the king.
The old lady became so very angry at this
absurd idea, that the king was quite alarmed,
and humbly begged her pardon.

"We hear a great deal too much about this
thing disagreeing, and that thing disagreeing,"
said the old lady, with the greatest contempt it
was possible to express. " Don't be greedy. I think you want it all yourself."
The king hung his head under this reproof, and said he wouldn't talk
about things disagreeing any more.

" Be good, then," said me 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

"HE DELIVERED THE DMRYS MESSAGE

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 wisfies for it at ffie rigfa time. That is the message. Take care
of it." The king was beginning, " Might I ask the reason ? " when the
fairy became absolutely furious.

"Wffyou 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

DRY

the fairy had
directed him, to
partake of the
salmon. And
when she had
enjoyed it very

°~ mucn, he saw
the fish-bone on

the bone, and to

RUB

her plate, as the
fairy had told
him he would,
and he delivered
the Fairy's mes-
sage, and the
Princess Alicia
took care to
it and to

POLISH

it, till it shone like mother-of-pearl.

And so, when the queen was going to get up in
the morning, she said, " Oh, 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 remem-
bering 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 ! '
But that was not the worst of the good queen's illness. Oh, 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.

EVDW rvEN\i\Ki THEIQM^ SATIOOXJNG AT HEH "WITH A oipss IDOK

After the queen had come out of her swoon
that morning, and was dozing, the Princess
Alicia hurried upstairs 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.

This most particular secret was the secret about the magic fish-bone, the

history of which was well-
known to the duchess, be-
cause the princess told her
everything. The princess
kneeled down by the bed
on which the duchess was
lying, full-dressed and wide-
awake, and whispered the
secret to her. The duchess
smiled and nodded. People
might have supposed that
she never smiled and nod-
ded; but she often did,
though nobody knew it

except the princess.

Then the Princess Alicia
hurried downstairs again to
keep watch in the queen's
room. She often kept watch
by herself in the queen's
room; but every evening,
while the illness lasted, she
sat there watching with the
king. And every evening
the king sat looking at her
with a cross look, wonder-
ing why she never brought
out the magic fish-bone.

As often as she noticed this, she ran upstairs, whispered the secret to the
duchess over again, and said to the duchess besides, "They think we children
never have a reason or a meaning ! " And the duchess, though the most
fashionable duchess that ever was heard of, winked her eye.

" Alicia," said the king, one evening, when she wished him good-night.

" Yes, papa."

' What is become of the magic fish'bone ? "

" In my pocket, papa."

" I thought you had lost it ? "

" Oh, no, papa ! "

" Or forgotten it ? "

" No, indeed, papa."

And so another time the dreadful little
snapping pug-dog, next door, made a rush at
one of the young princes as he stood on the
steps coming home from school, and terrified
him out of his wits ; and he put his hand
through a pane of glass, and bled, bled, bled.
When the seventeen other young princes and
princesses saw him bleed, bleed, bleed, they
were terrified out of their wits too, and
screamed themselves black in their seventeen
faces all at once. But the Princess Alicia
put her hands over all their seventeen mouths,
one after another, and persuaded them to be
quiet because of the sick queen. And then

she put the wounded prince's hand in a basin of fresh cold water, while
they stared with their twice seventeen are thirty^four, put down four and
carry three, eyes, and then she looked in the hand for bits of glass, and there
were fortunately no bits of glass there. And then she said to two chubby-

legged princes, who were sturdy though small, " Bring me in the royal
rag-bag : I must snip and stitch and cut and contrive." So these two young
princes tugged at the royal rag'bag, and lugged it in ; and the Princess Alicia
sat down on the floor, with a large pair of scissors and a needle and thread,
and snipped and stitched and cut and contrived, and made a bandage, and

put it on, and it fitted beautifully ; and so when it was all done, she saw the
king her papa looking on by the door.

" Alicia."

' Yes, papa."

" What have you been doing ? "

" Snipping, stitching, cutting, and contriving, papa."

" Where is the magic fish'bone ? "

" In my pocket, papa."

" I thought you had lost it ? "

" Oh, no, papa 1 "

" Or forgotten it ? "

" No, indeed papa."

After that, she ran upstairs to the duchess, and told her what had passed,
and told her the secret over again ; and the duchess shook her flaxen curls,
and laughed with her rosy lips.

Well ! and so another time the baby fell under the grate. The seventeen
young princes and princesses were used to it ; for they were almost always
falling under the grate or down the stairs ; but the baby was not used to it
yet, and it gave him a swelled face and a black eye. The way the poor little
darling came to tumble was, that he was out of the Princess Alicia's lap
just as she was sitting, in a great coarse apron that quite smothered her, in
front of the kitchen fire, beginning to peel the turnips for the broth for
dinner ; and the way she came to be doing that was, that the king's cook had
run away that morning with her own true love, who was a very tall but very
tipsy soldier. Then the seventeen young princes and princesses, who criea
at everything that happened, cried and roared. But the Princess Alicia (who
couldn't help crying a little herself) quietly called to them to be still, on
account of not throwing back the queen upstairs, who was fast getting well,

<\

THE SECRET ABOiUT

and said, " Hold your tongues, you wicked little monkeys, every one of you,
while I examine baby." Then she examined baby, and found that he hadn't
broken anything ; and she held cold iron to his poor dear eye, and smoothed
his poor dear face, and he presently fell asleep in her arms. Then she said
to the seventeen princes and princesses, " I am afraid to let him down yet,
lest he should wake and feel pain ; be good, and you shall all be cooks."
They jumped for joy when they heard that, and began making themselves
cooks' caps out of old newspapers. So to one she gave the salt'box, and to
one she gave the barley, and to one she gave the herbs, and to one she gave
the turnips, and to one she gave the carrots, and to one she gave the onions,
and to one she gave the spice'box, till they were all cooks, and all running
about at work, she sitting in the middle, smothered in the great coarse apron,
nursing baby.

By and by the broth was done ; and the baby woke up, smiling like an
angel, and was trusted to the sedatest princess to hold, while the other
princes and princesses were squeezed into a far-off corner to look at the
Princess Alicia turning out the saucepanful of broth, for fear (as they were
always getting into trouble) they should get splashed and scalded. When
the broth came tumbling out, steaming beautifully, and smelling like a nosegay
good to eat, they clapped their hands. That made the baby clap his hands ;
and that, and his looking as if he had a comic tooth-ache, made all the
princes and princesses laugh. So the Princess Alicia said, " Laugh and be
good ; and after dinner we will make him a nest on the floor in a corner, and
he shall sit in his nest and see a dance of eighteen cooks/' That delighted
the young princes and princesses, and they ate up all the broth, and washed
up all the plates and dishes, and cleared away, and pushed the table into a
corner ; and then they in their cooks' caps, and the Princess Alicia in the
smothering coarse apron that belonged to the cook that had run away with
her own true love that was the very tall but very tipsy soldier, danced a
dance of eighteen cooks before the angelic baby, who forgot his swelled face
and his black eye, and crowed with joy.

And so then, once more the Princess Alicia saw King Watkins the First,
her father, standing in the doorway looking on, and he said, " What have
you been doing, Alicia ? "

" Cooking and contriving, papa."

1 What else have you been doing, Alicia ? "

" Keeping the children light-hearted, papa."

' Where is the magic fish-bone, Alicia ? "

" In my pocket, papa."

" I thought you had lost it ? "

" Oh, no, papa ! "

" Or forgotten it ? "

" No, indeed, papa."

DA~NCE OP EIGHTEEN COOKS BEFORE THE ANGELIC BABY (/<-

The king then sighed so heavily, and seemed so low-spirited, and sat
down so miserably, leaning his heao upon his hand, and his elbow upon the
kitchen table pushed away in the corner, that the seventeen princes and
princesses crept softly out of the kitchen, and left him alone with the Princess
Alicia and the angelic baby.

" What is the matter, papa ? "

" I am dreadfully poor, my child."

" Have you no money at all, papa ? "

" None, my child."

" Is there no way of getting any, papa ? "

"No way," said the king. "I have tried very hard, and I have tried all ways."

When sne heard those last words, the Princess Alicia began to put her
hand into the pocket where she kept the magic fish-bone.

" Papa/' said she, " when we have tried very hard, and tried all ways, we
must have done our very, very best ? "

" No doubt, Alicia."

" When we have done our very, very best, papa, and that is not enough,
then I think the right time must have come for asking help of others." This
was the very secret connected with the magic fish-bone, which she had found
out for herself from the good Fairy Grandmarina's words, and which she had
so often whispered to her beautiful and fashionable friend, the duchess.

So she took out of her pocket the magic fish'bone, that had been dried
and rubbed and polished till it shone like mother'of'pearl ; and she gave it one
little kiss, and wished it was quarter'day. And immediately it was quarter^
day ; and the king's quarter's salary came rattling down the chimney, and
bounced into the middle of the floor.

But this was not half of what happened — no, not a quarter ; tor immediately
afterwards the good Fairy Grandmarina came riding in, in a carriage and
four (peacocks), with Mr. Pickles's boy up behind, dressed in silver and gold,
with a cocked hat, powdered hair, pink silk stockings, a jewelled cane, and a
nosegay. Down jumped Mr. Pickles's boy, with his cocked hat in his hand,
and wonderfully polite (being entirely changed by enchantment), and handed
Grandmarina out ; and there she stood, in her rich shot'Stlk smelling of dried
lavender, fanning herself with a sparkling fan.

" Alicia, my dear/' said this charming old fairy, " how do you do ? I hope
I see you pretty well ? Give me a kiss."

The Princess Alicia embraced her ; and then Grandmarina turned to the
king, and said rather sharply, " Are you good ? "

The king said he hoped so.

" I suppose you know the reason now, why my goddaughter here," kiss-
ing the princess again, " did not apply to the fish-bone sooner ? " said the fairy.

The king made a shy bow.

"Ah ! but you didn't tfien ? " said the fairy.

The king made a shyer bow.

Any more reasons to ask for ? " said the fairy.

The king said, No, and he was very sorry.

" Be good, then," said the fairy, " and live happy ever afterwards."

Then Grandmarina waved her fan, and the queen came in most splendidly
dressed ; and the seventeen young princes and princesses, no longer grown
out of their clothes, came in, newly fitted out from top to toe, with tucks in
everything to admit of its being let out. After that, the fairy tapped the
Princess Alicia with her fan ; and the smothering coarse apron flew away,
and she appeared exquisitely dressed, like a little bride, with a wreath of
orange^flowers and a silver veil. After that, the kitchen dresser changed of
itself into a wardrobe, made of beautiful woods and gold and looking-glass,
which was full of dresses of all sorts, all for her and all exactly fitting her.
After that, the angelic baby came in running alone, with his face and eye not
a bit the worse, but much the better. Then Grandmarina begged to be
introduced to the duchess ; and, when the duchess was brought down,
many compliments passed between them.

A little whispering took place between the fairy and the duchess ; and then
the fairy said out loud, " Yes, I thought she would have told you." Grand'
marina then turned to the king and queen, and said, :< We are going in search

of Prince Certainpersonio. The pleasure of your company is requested at
church in half an hour precisely/ So she and the Princess Alicia got into
the carriage ; and Mr. Fickles's boy handed in the duchess, who sat by her*
self on the opposite seat ; and then Mr. Pickles's boy put up the steps and
got up behind, and the peacocks flew away with their tails behind.

Prince Certainpersonio was sitting by himself, eating barley^sugar, and
waiting to be ninety. When he saw the peacocks, followed by the carriage,
coming in at the window, it immediately occurred to him that something
uncommon was going to happen.

" Prince," said Grandmarina, " I bring you your bride."

The moment the fairy said those words, Prince Certainpersonio's face
left off being sticky, and his jacket and corduroys changed to peach'bloom
velvet, and his hair curled, and a cap and feather flew in like a bird and
settled on his head. He got into the carriage by the fairy's invitation ; and
there he renewed his acquaintance with the duchess, whom he had seen
before.

In the church were the prince's relations and friends, and the Princess
Alicia's relations and friends, and the seventeen princes and princesses, and
the baby, and a crowd of the neighbours. The marriage was beautiful beyond
expression. The duchess was bridesmaid, and beheld the ceremony from the
pulpit, where she was supported by the cushion of the desk.

S TBEKUTTFUl, BEYOMD EXPR£bSlON

Grandmarina gave a magnificent wed-
ding-feast afterwards, in which there was
everything and more to eat, and everything
and more to drink. The wedding-cake was
delicately ornamented with white satin
ribbons, frosted silver, and white lilies,
and was forty-two yards round.

When Grandmarina had drunk her love
to the young couple, and Prince Certain-
personio had made a speech, and every-
body had cried, Hip, hip, hip, hurrah !
Grandmarina announced to the king and
queen that in future there would be eight
quarter-days in every year, except in leap-
year, when there would be ten. She then
turned to Certainpersonio and Alicia, and
said, " My dears, you will have thirty-five
children, and they will all be good and
beautiful. Seventeen of your children will
be boys, and eighteen will be girls. The
hair of the whole of your children will
curl naturally. They will never have the
measles, and will have recovered from the
whooping-cough before being born."

On hearing such good news, every-
body cried out " Hip, hip, hip, hurrah ! '
again.

" It only remains," said Grandmarina
in conclusion, "to make an end of the
fish-bone."

So she took it from the hand of the Princess Alicia, and it instantly
flew down the throat of the dreadful little snapping pug-dog, next door, and
choked him, and he expired in convulsions.

Df&^

THE NEW YOPtK PUBLIC
CIRCULATION DEPART...
STREET MANCN 224