Her rage was so great that she could not forbear from shaking Graciosa till the poor Princess’s teeth rattled in her head, giving, as an excuse, that the feathers were not laid evenly.
She then went away in a rage to her own room, and calling the fairy to her, she scolded her at such a rate that her voice could be heard all over the castle.
The fairy was confounded when she found this second task had also been accomplished, and, it seemed, as easily and quickly as the first.
“It is some magic,” she repeated. “Some one is helping her who is as powerful as I—perhaps even more so. But this is not the end of the matter. You shall still have a chance to punish the Princess at your pleasure. I have here a box. Give it to Graciosa, and bid her carry it to your castle, and leave it in a certain cabinet in the hall, but not by any means to open it on the way. Her curiosity will prove too much for her, she will think it no harm to peep into the box after she is out of sight and if she once opens it, she will find it impossible to close the lid on its contents and you can then punish her for her disobedience.”
The fairy at once disappeared, and Grognon sent for the Princess to come before her.
Graciosa obeyed the summons, wondering what new sorrow was to come upon her, but to her surprise the Queen met her with a smiling face. “My dear Graciosa,” said she, “I have here a box which I wish to send to my palace, and what is within it is so precious and wonderful that I do not dare to trust it to any one but you. It is not locked, and there is no key to it, but do not open it on your way, whatever you do. Place it upon the central cabinet in the main hall, and then return to me in haste, that you may assure me that you have carried it there in safety.”
Graciosa at once hastened to her room for a cloak, which she threw about her. She took the box that the Queen handed to her, and holding it in such a way that the folds of the cloak hid it, she set out upon her journey.
The Queen looked after her with an evil smile.
“This time she shall not escape me,” she muttered. “Never will she be able to withstand her wish to see what it is that the box holds.”
Graciosa, indeed, was very curious. As she hastened along, clasping the box to her, she wondered more and more what could possibly be in it that was so precious that the Queen dared not trust it to any one but herself. The way was long, and the Princess was unused to walking, and so at last when she came to a green meadow with a brook flowing through it, she sat down to rest. As she sat there, she became so tormented by curiosity as to what was in the box, that at last she determined to raise the lid very carefully just a hair’s breadth, and take one look within.