Princess September (Story of the Month)

Story of the Month

The King of Siam had two daughters whose names were Night and Day. Then he came to have two more besides, so he changed the names of the first two and gave the four the names of the seasons. But Divine Providence saw fit to present him with three others, so he was obliged once again to change their names to the seven days of the week... Then, after the eighth was born to him, followed by the ninth, he fell into a perplexity from which nothing rescued him but the months of the year, when they occurred to him; and so the little princesses were called thus: January, February.... and on to September — in the Siamese language, of course. And the King had resolved, after much hesitation and deep sorrow ("for he loved the Queen"), to cut off Her Majesty's head should the series exceed twelve girls. And that, of course, was not something that would please Her Majesty!... But the Almighty willed the continuance of her happiness and well-being, and Princess September was the last of her kind... for after her the Queen gave birth to a series of boys — itself no short one either — who were given names from the letters of the alphabet, where there is room to spare, so that Her Majesty need feel no anxiety.

As for Their Highnesses the princesses, their characters were affected and their tempers colored by the successive changes in their names, above all the elder ones among them, who were exposed to the most changing and coloring — all except September, who was known as September: of a nature gentle, bewitching, and winning ("except when her sisters heaped every kind of epithet upon her, out of jealousy and spite!").

One day came the birthday of the King, their father.. It was among His Majesty's customs on this occasion to bestow gifts and distribute presents to his people, instead of having them presented to him ("contrary to the traditions we follow among ourselves"). The strange thing is that the King of Siam admired this custom, and often wished he had been born many times over, so as to have more than one birthday — but so nature has decreed, and there is no way to attain the wish!!

On this very day the King found himself without valuable things for the giving of gifts, after all the royal titles had run out on him, and most of his wedding presents, and the gifts the country's rich men had offered him when the reins of rule were handed to him... His palace was empty even of his crowns, which had fallen away from the taste of that age...! This being the case, he was obliged to present each of his nine princesses with a beautiful green parrot in a cage of pure gold. And these creatures became the objects of the princesses' love and pride, and they took to teaching them speech an hour each day ("for, like His Majesty their father, they follow special, fixed regimens in their way of living..."), until at last, with much effort, every parrot could repeat this sentence, "God save the King," in Siamese — and that is very difficult — and in seven other Eastern languages.

And one morning the youngest princess, September, went to greet her parrot as usual, and behold — she found it lying on the floor of the golden cage, dead!!

There is no need to describe the sorrow that cut into her heart or the flood of sincere tears that poured forth... Nothing distracted or consoled her for the loss of her beloved bird.. no.. nor all that the ten maids of honor attempted by way of cheering and comforting her.. At their wits' end and baffled by her case, they went and told her mother the Queen.. But Her Majesty judged that her daughter had sunk into absurdity, and sentenced her to imprisonment in her room, and denied her her supper... and so it was decreed for her that night!

And while she was weeping hotly for her bird from time to time, her heart weighed down with grief and hunger gnawing at her insides, behold — a little bird alighted in her room...! She stopped crying, took her little finger — which she had been sucking — out of her mouth, and listened attentively:.. the bird had begun to sing!! He was singing to her of the splendor of the lake in the King's garden — in a sweet, lovely melody — and telling her of the fresh cypress trees around that

lake as they gaze at their dancing reflections cast upon the calm face of the water..! He was describing to her how the fish twist joyfully among the shadows of the branches flung across the surface of the waters.. She was enchanted and delighted, and forgot her grief, and said to him in wonder:

"Truly, your song was magnificent!"

The bird bowed before her with the utmost courtesy, good breeding, and grace. And no wonder — he is an artist!! And artists, of course, are well-mannered, and it pleases them that people should admire their skill. Then he asked her:

"Would you like me to take the place of your parrot?... I know I do not resemble his handsome, brilliant form... but on the other hand I am the possessor of a beautiful voice."

Princess September could do nothing but clap her hands with mirth and delight, and the little bird rejoiced and perched on the edge of her bed and sang to her until she drifted into a deep sleep.

And when she awoke the next day the bird greeted her with a sweet trill, and he was still standing there watching her. When breakfast time came the maids of honor brought it to her, and the bird came forward and picked up the rice from the Princess's palms and bathed in the water of her little cup, and then drank from it. The maids were disgusted at him and considered him beyond the bounds of accepted taste and manners: for one does not drink of water that is used for bathing! But Princess September is a philosopher by nature, for she counted that as what suits the temperament of an artist.

Then the bird set about letting them hear his sweet, magnificent musical art, and he amazed the maids of honor in spite of themselves and took hold of their hearts; as for the Princess, she was proud of him and happy.. She wanted to introduce her bird to her sisters, so she took him on the forefinger of her hand, her ten maids of honor following her, and began with Princess January, then February.. down to Princess August — in accordance with correct tradition — and the bird sang each of them a new song, while their parrots could utter nothing but this sentence: "God save the King." When the King and Queen saw him they admired him, and the Queen expressed to His Majesty her weariness and boredom with the repeated sentence "God save the King"; but he answered her that the sentiment in itself pleased him, and repetition did not trouble him. It reminded him much of his ministers, who repeat the very same idea in seven different ways, just as the parrots repeat this sentence in seven languages. And at last Princess September went round all the halls of the palace with her bird, singing like a bulbul, while the little bird flew about her, trilling like the nightingale — which was none other than himself.

As for the princesses, jealousy overran their hearts — and in truth the parrots were dull creatures — so they went to September and lined up around her in a circle, and then sat down, hiding their feet ("as is the custom followed by Siamese princesses on such occasions").. Then they told her of their deep regret at the death of her parrot, and of their resolve to buy her a yellow-and-green parrot with what they had saved of their allowances. But September rejected their offer with a coldness that was not entirely gracious of her, saying:

"I thank you for nothing. I have my bird, who sings me the sweetest songs, and I do not know, in heaven's name, what I should do with a green-and-yellow parrot."

And Siamese princesses sometimes lose patience with one another. So they said to her:

"It is nonsense, my dear, to talk of your bird, when he is free and at large, going as he pleases and coming as he pleases."

And they craned their necks and raised their eyes until their foreheads disappeared from so much staring; whereupon September remarked that this would give them dreadful wrinkles. They said, ignoring her cruel observation:

"Will you tell us where he is now, and what makes you believe he will return??"

"He has gone to visit his uncle and his wife's father.. and he always comes back."

They said: "But, my dear, you are taking a risk! Seize the opportunity when he comes back to you, and shut him up in the golden cage."

She said: "But I want him to fly!" And they said with one voice: "Safety first."

And they left her, wagging their heads like those who have grasped the secret of wisdom. They left her with a little suspicion seeping into her, and anxiety stealing into her soul. And her doubts and misgivings grew when she fancied that the bird's absence really had grown long, and thoughts crowded and floundered in her imagination.. Strange — what is he doing now?. Has some danger crossed his path..! What, when the ravening serpents and the eager hunters are so many?! Who knows into what strait he may fall?! Perhaps he has forgotten her and turned away to another. No. No. That would be dreadful. If only he were here now, and in safety, inside that empty golden cage which the maids of honor had left after they laid her bird in the earth. Suddenly she heard the flutter of a wing and a soft chirping just behind her ear, and she turned: the bird had alighted with the utmost gentleness on her shoulder, so that she had not even felt him. She addressed him at once:

"I do not know, in heaven's name, what happened to you, and why this delay?"

He answered: "I knew you would worry, but the truth is that I was on the point of

not coming at all tonight. For my wife's father gave a singing party, and how strongly it tempted me to stay — but I feared to stir up your anxieties, so I came."

Those words, at such a time and in such circumstances as we have seen, were the poor thing's ill fortune. All at once September felt her heart beating fast between her ribs, warning and cautioning, and fear swept over her, and she resolved to run no risk after this. She stretched out her hand and seized the little bird, who felt not a shadow of doubt: she was caressing him as usual, and he loves the warmth of her gentle hand, and knows that she delights in the feel of the quick beats of his heart in the hollow of her palms. But how great was his astonishment when she carried him to the cage and, in the twinkling of an eye, made him a prisoner — so that he did not know what to do. At last, when he had recovered his breath and hopped onto the porcelain perch, he asked her:

"What kind of joke is this?!"

She answered: "There is no joke; I only wanted to protect you from my mother's cats, which are prowling about here tonight."

He said: "I do not know why the Queen keeps all these cats!"

"They are of an excellent breed, with blue eyes, and their tails are spotted, and they belong to the royal family — if you understand what I mean."

"Quite. But why did you not tell me that before putting me in here? I do not think this is the place I like."

She said: "I could not have closed my eyes tonight had I not made sure you were safe."

"Very well, this once — so long as you let me out in the morning."

Then he took his food and began to sing.. but he felt a lump in his throat that kept him from going on with his singing, and he said:

"I do not know what has come over me! I have no mind to sing tonight."

"Sleep, then," the Princess said to him.

And upon that he twisted his head under his wings and passed into a quiet doze, and September followed him into it likewise. But she awoke in the early morning to the bird's voice calling her at the top of his voice:

"Get up.. get up and open the cage door for me. I want to fly while the dew still clings to the flowers and the morning moisture wets the earth. Come, get up!"

"You are quite well off here in this beautiful cage, made by the most skillful craftsman in my father's kingdom... and so great was my father's delight in it that he cut off that craftsman's head, so that he should make no other."

"Let me out. Let me out.."

But she said to him: "My maids of honor will feed you three times every day, and you shall be free of every care, and you may sing whatever you please to your heart's content."

"Let me out. I will not."

And he tried in vain to pass through the bars of the cage and to open the door with his wings.

And when the princesses came and saw him, they were pleased that September had acted on their advice, and they told her that he would grow used to his cage and would forget, within a few days, that he had once upon a time been free. The bird listened to them, silent and still, and no sooner had they gone out than he returned to his entreaties and begged her to open for him. She answered, her patience exhausted:

"Do not be a fool. I only put you in the cage because I am so very fond of you, and I know better than you what is good for you. Sing me a little and I will give you a piece of brown sugar." But the little bird stood in a corner of the cage, staring at the blue sky, and did not sing a single passage all day long. September reproached him, saying:

"What is the use of sulking.. why do you not sing and forget your cares?"

"How can I sing! I must see the trees and the lake and the green rice growing in the fields."

"If that is what you want, I will take you out for a stroll. And I will take you out every day, because I love you and want your happiness." And she carried the cage and walked with it toward the lake around which the cypress trees grow, and stood with it at the edge of the field that stretches on without end, till the eye turns back from it wearied.. He said to her, and in his tone there was a moan:

"It is not the same thing; the fields and the lake and the trees do not look beautiful from behind the bars of a cage!"

And it troubled her that he refused food that

day, so she consulted her sisters; but they warned her, saying: "You must be firm."

"But if he does not eat, he will die."

They said: "That would truly be shocking ingratitude on his part. He must know that you are thinking only of his good and his benefit; and if he is headstrong and dies, that will be a punishment for him, and you will be rid of him forever."

But September did not quite share their view — yet what was to be done, when eight stern sisters opposed her, and all of them older than she? So she consoled herself with the hope that perhaps he would grow used to his cage by the morrow. But when the morrow came, and she cried out her morning greeting and received no answer, she leapt from her bed and ran toward the cage. Then she shrieked in terror.. for there.. on the floor of the golden cage, lying on his side, was the little bird, his eyes closed, as though he had departed this life and followed the fate of his predecessor!! She opened the door quickly and took him out, and let out a deep sigh of relief that spoke all the burning that had been in her breast, when she felt that the little heart was still beating with life.

She said to him, the tears dripping from her eyes onto his feathers:

"Get up, get up, my little bird."

He opened his eyes and felt that the bars of the cage had vanished from around him, and said to her:

"I cannot sing unless I am free.. and if I do not sing, I die!!"

Choking back a sob, she said:

"Here, then, is your freedom, my bird.. I wanted you to be mine alone, but I did not know that this would be the cause of your misery. Go. Soar far away among the trees and fly over the lake. I love you, and I will leave you your happiness as you desire it. Go and come as you will, and wherever it pleases you."

Then she opened the window and set him gently upon its ledge. He shook himself a little and said:

"I will come back, Princess, for I love you, and I will sing you the loveliest of songs. I shall go far away, but I will never forget you."

And he shook his little body again and said:

"Good heavens, how cramped my wings have grown!!"

Then he spread them and flew far into the blue of the sky. Upon his departure the Princess burst out weeping — and no wonder: it is hard to put the happiness of the one you love before your own happiness. And with her bird out of sight, she felt a desolate loneliness.

And when her sisters learned of her affair they laughed at her and assured her that he would not return. But her small companion did not forget her: he came back to her and sat on her shoulders and picked up grain from her hand, and sang her the beautiful melodies he had composed and shaped and set to music in his wanderings over God's wide lands.

And so Princess September used to leave the window of her room open night and day, so that the bird might come whenever longing stirred him to see her. The effect of this on her health and her growth was great, and when she grew up she was a bewitching beauty, and she married the King of Cambodia, and was carried the whole length of the road on a white elephant.

As for her sisters, they did not sleep in rooms with open windows, and for this reason they grew ugly of form; and when the time of their marriage came, they were given to the King's ministers, along with an uqiyya of tea and a Siamese cat!