he queen had offered Tarella in marriage to all the neighboring
princes, but not one would marry her. They all said they'd marry Fiordelisa
in a minute, but they wouldn't marry Tarella if she were the last princess
on earth. This angered the queen terribly, and she blamed it, as usual, on
Fiordelisa. "She must be in league with those princes, just to annoy me!"
said the queen to her daughter Tarella. "Let's go up in the tower and accuse
her of it."So the queen and Tarella climbed the stairs to the top of the lonely tower. As it happened, it was nearly midnight, and Fiordelisa was sitting at the window with the Blue Bird. The pretty princess was decked out in all the lovely jewels her prince had brought her. As the queen paused outside the door to eavesdrop she heard Fiordelisa and her love singing together a little song he'd taught her. It went like this:
Oh what a luckless pair are weThe song was sad but their voices were happy, and this made the queen even angrier than before. She burst open the door with Tarella at her heels and cried out "Aha! Treachery!"
One in a prison and one in a tree
All our trouble and anguish came
From our faithfulness spoiling our enemies' game
But vainly they practice their cruel arts
For nought can sever our two fond hearts!
As soon as she saw her stepmother, Fiordelisa quickly shut the little window so the Blue Bird could escape. She then turned to the queen, who laced into her immediately. "Your plotting has been found out," said the queen furiously, "and being a princess won't save you from the punishment you deserve!"
"And with whom have I been plotting, Your Majesty?" replied Fiordelisa. "Have I not been your prisoner these last two years? Who have I seen except for my guards?"
But the queen and Tarella weren't listening. They were dazzled by her beauty, set off by the numberless jewels the prince had given her. The queen said, "And where did you get all these diamonds and such? Perhaps you mean to tell me you discovered a mine of them up here in this tower!"
"I certainly did find them here," answered Fiordelisa.
"Then tell me," continued the queen, working herself up into a real rage, "for whose admiration are you all dressed up like this?"
"For my own," replied the princess calmly. "I have had plenty of time on my hands, so you cannot be surprised if I spend some of it having a bit of fun."
"That's all very well," said the suspicious queen. "I think I'll just have a look around and see for myself." So she and Tarella began to search every corner of the little room, knocking things over and turning drawers upside down onto the floor, until they came to the straw mattress. Out fell such a number of pearls, diamonds, rubies, opals, emeralds and sapphires that they sat down on the floor in amazement and just stared.
The queen had a packet of fake letters that she intended to hide somewhere in the room to prove that Fiordelisa had been conspiring with the king's enemies; she decided that the chimney was the perfect place. Fortunately for Fiordelisa, this was exactly where the Blue Bird had perched to keep an eye on things, and when he saw what the queen was up to he sang out, "Beware Fiordelisa! Your enemy plots against you!" The strange birdlike voice so frightened the queen that she took the packet of letters in one hand and Tarella in the other and ran out the door and down the stairs as fast as she could.