Chapter 8.
Peridot became a familiar sight in the palace library in the next few weeks.
‘I’m sure that if there’s a way of holding the moon, then it will be in one of these books,’ she muttered.’ She had worked her way from A for Aurora Borealis through to M for Milky Way before she became daunted. The dust was making her sneeze and the gloom was depressing. ‘There is nothing useful here at all,’ she moaned.
One of the royal scribes overheard her and hurried to help.
‘May I be of assistance? What are you searching for, your highness?’
Peridot regarded him thoughtfully. Ishtar was an elderly man, stooped and shortsighted from many years spent pouring over parchments and scrolls as he transcribed the daily events of the kingdom and surrounding lands into record books for the king. ‘How would you hold the moon in your hands?’ she asked.
Ishtar looked at her gravely. ‘It sounds very like a riddle to me, your highness. Or perhaps even a story. You would be better to seek the answer in one of the books on your own shelves, or even in the nursery.’
Peridot thanked him politely and decided to visit the nursery, figuring she needed some excitement after her weeks of fruitless research.
‘I can always come back and look through the rest of the books later,’ she thought with relief.
The nursery was in a small wing of the palace as far away from the king’s quarters as possible. Noni, the plump and motherly nursemaid, ruled the other servants there with a rod of iron, but she was never strict with any of the princesses.
‘Peridot, my little one. Come and let me see you. My goodness, but you’re growing up. Are you brushing your hair one hundred times each night? Tsk, tsk. Your fingernails don’t look very clean. I hope you are behaving as a young lady ought?’
‘Yes, yes,’ said Peridot impatiently, suffering a large hug and a critical inspection. She shifted her feet restlessly. ‘I wanted to ask you something, Noni.’
‘Of course. But first, come and see what your little sisters are up to.’
Noni bustled into a smaller room, where two little girls were solemnly playing with well-worn rag dolls. ‘Look, Tourmaline and Turquoise. Here is your sister Peridot come to visit you.’ She turned to Peridot with a smile. ‘ Aren’t they the beautiful little ones? See the lovely curls Tourmaline has and Turquoise has such a pretty dimple in her cheek.’
The two little girls beamed at Peridot and Tourmaline shyly offered her the doll to hold.
‘No, no, you play with it,’ said Peridot hurriedly.
The little girls were like dolls themselves and Peridot spent a happy half-hour playing at tea parties with them under the indulgent eye of Noni. Suddenly the wail of a baby caused them all to look up.
‘That will be baby Zircon,’ sighed Noni getting to her feet, her knees creaking nearly as much as the wicker chair she had been resting in. ‘It’s time for her bath now, the poppet.’
‘But I meant to ask you about the moon,’ cried Peridot. ‘Are there any stories or books here about catching the moon?’
Noni thought for a moment. ‘There’s the cow that jumped over the moon, was that what you were thinking?’
‘Yes, no, I mean… is there anything else?’
‘There are lots of rhymes and songs with the moon in,’ said Noni, ‘but none that I have heard about catching it. Is it a riddle?’
‘I don’t think so,’ said Peridot despondently. ‘But thanks anyway.’
Noni turned with her arms out as a young nursemaid handed her the red-faced bundle that was the seventeenth princess. ‘Who’s a beautiful one, then?’ she cooed.
Peridot could see that she wasn’t going to get anywhere like this so she said her farewells to Turquoise and Tourmaline and promised to come and play with them again.
‘I’m no better off than before,’ she thought crossly.’
‘The moon is brighter at night,’ said Tourmaline suddenly, as Peridot turned to go. Peridot stopped. ‘Of course it does. I should be looking for something that happens at night time, not daytime. Thanks, Tourmaline.’ She kissed her surprised sister and skipped back to her own quarters, where Amber was patiently teaching Beryl and Garnet the intricacies of cat’s cradle. ‘Do you want to play too?’ called Garnet.
‘No, I’m too busy,’ Peridot said, this not being one of her favourite games.
‘I’m going to show Moonstone how to do this when she’s older,’ Garnet told her importantly.
Moonstone! Peridot stood still. ‘Of course, our sister Moonstone. I wonder if that’s what the wizard meant. She’s certainly small enough to be picked up and I can make a wish. Where is Moonstone?’ she asked.
Garnet shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I think she went with Lapis to feed the swans.’
‘Bother. I’ve just come from that side,’ said Peridot crossly.
She turned and ran lightly through the gardens, ducking down little used pathways so no one would see her hurrying. Feeding the swans was a favourite pastime of the little princesses. A wide clear lake was fringed with reeds and waterlilies and a small arched bridge at one end led to a tiny island with an arched gazebo on it, extending over the water. The swans had rapidly learned to swim up to these arches and stretch their long necks to snatch up crusts of bread tossed in by the girls. When Peridot arrived rather breathlessly at the bridge, she could see that Moonstone and Lapis were indeed there in the company of one of the nursemaids.
‘Moonstone, can you come with me for a minute?’ asked Peridot.
Moonstone, who was a plump and determined six-year-old, looked up at her briefly. ‘I’m busy,’ she said impatiently. She reached into her basket and threw a piece of bread into the water.
‘Yes, I can see that. But I need to talk to you. It won’t be for long.’
‘No. I’m feeding the swans,’ stated Moonstone imperiously. Her mother had been the daughter of an ambitious carpet seller who had inveigled the king into marriage, then proved to be the most demanding of all his wives. Moonstone was showing all the signs of being every bit as grasping as her mother.
‘Please,’ begged Peridot.
‘What will you give me if I do?’
Peridot’s hands itched to box her sister’s ears but she knew that would get her nowhere.
‘I’ll give you one of my gold bangles,’ she offered, slipping one from her wrist and holding it out eagerly.
Moonstone glanced at it scornfully. ‘I’ve got heaps of bracelets like that. Better than that.’
Peridot rolled her eyes and glanced at the nursemaid who flashed her a sympathetic look before lowering her eyes. Lapis was concerned only with the swans and she giggled as two of them squabbled over a large, somewhat soggy chunk of bread. Peridot wracked her brains to think what she could offer Moonstone. Obviously the silly child wasn’t going to co-operate otherwise.
‘I’ll give you a pearl necklace,’ she offered recklessly.
Moonstone looked at her suspiciously. ‘Where is it?’
‘I haven’t actually got one at the moment,’ Peridot explained.
‘All right. Get me the necklace and I’ll go with you.’
Peridot recognised defeat when she saw it. Muttering curses on all small sisters she hurried back to leave a note for Ravid under the seat, together with two gold bracelets.
I need a pearl necklace. It might break the spell.
Peridot.
She checked the next day and the note and bracelets had gone but it was a week before she found a small cloth packet under the seat in the outer garden. Opening the packet Peridot found a small strand of uneven, poorly coloured pearls. ‘I guess he’s a gardener, not a jeweler,’ Peridot thought, with a flash of fury for whoever had duped Ravid into thinking this was worth two bracelets. Hoping that Moonstone wouldn’t be as discerning, she went in search of her in the nursery quarters.
Luck was with her as Moonstone was seated on a bench in a patch of sunshine, sullenly attempting to hem a handkerchief and was only too happy to
have some distraction from the task.
‘Here are the pearls I promised you,’ said Peridot, handing them over. ‘It’s a bracelet.’
Moonstone wrinkled her nose. ‘They’re not as pretty as the ones my mummy wears,’ she whined. ‘I don’t want them.’ She tossed them back to Peridot in disgust.
‘Too bad. That’s all I could get. Now come on, I’m going to pick you up and make a wish and you have to be quiet.’
‘Why?’
‘In case the wish doesn’t work,’ explained Peridot.
‘Is it a game?’ asked Moonstone hopefully.
‘Yes. It’s a really good game but you have to be quiet.’
Peridot lifted Moonstone up and staggered under her weight. She was a very solid little girl and Peridot began to wish aloud rapidly before her arms gave out.
‘I wish for the pig to be turned back to a prince,’ she whispered, and lowered Moonstone to the ground in relief.
‘Is that the game?’ Moonstone looked at her in disbelief.
‘Yes. And it’s finished now.’
Peridot walked away quickly, as Moonstone showed every sign of throwing a major tantrum. ‘I wonder if it worked. I hope it did. Ravid will be really surprised.’
Peridot expected to see or hear something but there was no sign of a new prince, even though a dozen of them were filling the palace with their noisy boasting. Finally she left a note for Ravid thanking him for the pearls and asking about the pig.
Still as fat as ever came the reply.
‘Botheration! It wasn’t Moonstone after all and I gave up two bracelets for nothing,’ fumed Peridot. ‘Maybe I’d better go out at night and see what turns up. That would be an adventure anyway, visiting the town at night.’