“We shall see! We shall see!” said Lady Alice, gently stroking Gobbolino’s fur.
When he left the tower the knight pressed a silver coin into the hand of the little serving maid and whispered:
“Don’t tell the baron of my present, Rosabel!” and the little serving maid dipped a curtsey as she meekly replied:
“Oh, no, Sir Knight, that I never will!”
Gobbolino passed the rest of the day telling stories to the Lady Alice. He found her kind, and as bored as the little princess. She listened with interest to the tales he told, and laughed aloud when he blew coloured sparks out of his ears and hid himself in odd places round the tower.
The little serving maid peeped through the door and laughed too, while purple shadows crept over the forest, the stars came out, and Lady Alice pulled her harp close to the fire and began to sing.
Sitting at her feet, Gobbolino thought he had never been so contented before.
“How strange this is!” he said to himself. “Here am I, born in a witch’s cave, turned out of an orphanage, betrayed by a sea witch, the plaything of a little princess, come to end my days after all in a tower in the middle of a forest, guarded by a dragon. But it suits me very well, and if every evening is as pleasant as this one I shall be happy to remain for ever Gobbolino the prisoner cat.”
But out of loyalty to the knight he did not want the black baron to guess his present, so when the next morning Lady Alice leaned out of her tower window and cried:
“I can see the baron crossing the ford! Go down and let him in, Rosabel, and mind you do not let him know what present the knight has brought me!”
Gobbolino, who guessed that the little serving maid had broken her promises before, slipped out of the room behind her and hissed in her ear:
“If you tell the baron about me, Rosabel, I will turn you into a gingerbread doll, and the dragon will eat you up!”
“Oh, my! Oh, my!” shrieked the little maid in terror, running down the stairs.
Gobbolino had never threatened anyone before and he did not know if he really could turn anyone into a gingerbread doll if he tried. He felt very ashamed of himself as he trotted back to his fair mistress and crept under her couch.
“I didn’t mean it,” he said to himself. “I wouldn’t hurt her for the world. Bad will out, I suppose. It comes of being born a witch’s cat.”
The black baron thundered on the tower door, and the little serving maid opened it, but she would not say a word about the present the knight had brought the Lady Alice. The baron came up the stairs in a very bad temper, for Rosabel had never failed to tell him before.
“Oh, no! No! No! I mustn’t! I mustn’t!” was all she would reply.
Lady Alice received the baron very graciously, but when he came to the knight’s present she only closed her eyes and smiled.
“It wasn’t a pair of pigeons, I suppose?” the baron asked.
“Oh, dear me, no! Just look at all the pigeons there are in the forest that come to my call!” said the Lady Alice scornfully.
“It wasn’t a silver mirror?” the baron said.
“Oh, dear me, no! I have a bowl of crystal water from the spring that is better than any mirror,” said Lady Alice. “When I smile into it the smile breaks into little ripples till all the water is laughing.Ha! Ha! Ha! He! He! He! I wouldn’t thank him for a mirror!”
“It wasn’t a little black rabbit to amuse you?” said the baron.
“Oh, no indeed!” said Lady Alice, but she turned just a little pale, and soon after the baron took his leave and went away.
If he did not guess in two more days the Lady Alice would not marry him at all, and that would certainly please the knight.
The baron left behind him a handsome golden cockerel, but it crowed so loudly that the knight heard it far across the forest as he rode to the tower in the evening.
He was so sure that the baron could not guess his gift that he had not brought any other present, and so delighted that he gave the little serving maid two silver coins when he left and whispered:
“Now, mind you do not tell the baron anything about my present!”
“Oh, no, Sir Knight!” the little serving maid replied, but Gobbolino thought it as well to say the next morning:
“Remember if you say anything about my being here I shall turn you into a gingerbread doll, and the dragon will certainly gobble you up!”
“How terrible this is!” he said to himself as he crept under his mistress’s gown. “Bad will out, I suppose, or I would not twice be threatening that little maid with such terrible revenge. But she is very heedless, I feel, and after all, I owe this kind home to the knight.”
“Oh, my! Oh, my!” sobbed the little serving maid, flying down to open the door to the baron, and she would not breathe a word to him about the knight’s present.
The baron came up the stairs in a passion. He guessed a silken gown, a lace pillow, and a jar of honey, all of which were wrong.
He threw his gift of roses on the floor and stamped down the stairs. When the knight came up later there were still petals clinging to the tapestry and of course he guessed at once what the baron had brought.
He was so sure of his own success that he had brought no other present, and he gave the little serving maid three silver coins when he went away.
“Now, don’t you tell the baron of my present tomorrow,” he said to her. “And by the evening Lady Alice will be mine.”
But when night fell the Lady Alice brought out her harp while the little serving maid went down to wash the dishes. Gobbolino sat at his mistress’s feet and listened, but the music grew sadder and sadder, till at last she burst into tears and, taking Gobbolino into her lap, laid her face against his fur and sobbed:
“Alas! Alas! What is to become of me? Tomorrow the baron will come for the last time, and when he fails to guess the knight’s present I shall have to marry the knight. Certainly he is pleasant enough, but both are so stupid, I have no wish to marry either of them! I had far rather remain for ever in this tower and play my harp, my dear sweet little Gobbolino, until my true lover comes to find me! Once, long ago, I was in love with a noble young lord, but we were too young to marry and he left home to go to the wars. I have never seen him since, and now my father says I must marry one of these foolish suitors. Oh, Gobbolino! Gobbolino! What shall I do? What shall I do?”
Gobbolino was terribly distressed when he remembered how he had helped to bring about his mistress’s downfall.
“It comes of being born a witch’s cat,” he told himself. “Bad will out, I see. Now, if I had not threatened Rosabel, and let things take their course, the knight and the baron might have gone on guessing till the end of their days, and my fair lady would not have to marry either of them.”
So he determined the next day to leave the tip of his tail exposed when he crept under the couch, so the baron would see him and guess what the present had been.
But before he could play this trick the baron had found out all for himself.
He arrived at the tower in the greatest state of excitement, for he knew that if he failed today, the Lady Alice would never be his.
In his hand he held five golden coins, for he was quite determined to bribe the little serving maid into telling him what the present had been.
Gobbolino had not said a word to her this morning, but she was far too frightened to open her mouth to the baron.
“Oh, no! No! No!” she sobbed. “Indeed I dare not; do not ask me, Baron, for pity’s sake leave me alone!”
“But what can harm you, my poor child, if you just breathe one word to me?” asked the baron.
“Why, the present, Baron! The present can harm me!” cried Rosabel. “He had the fiercest look you ever saw when he threatened me!”
“Why, you do not mean to tell me that the present had a tongue?” asked the astonished baron.
“Why, yes, Baron, indeed it had a tongue, and the brightest blue eyes you ever saw!” said the little serving maid directly. “And it said it would harm me severely!”