پرنده‌ای در قفس

Chapter four

A bird in a cage

Odile’s room was at the top of the castle tower. Rocford had put her there, after he had taken her from her parents. She was the most beautiful Princess in the land, and her parents were good and kind. Rocford had asked her father if he could marry Odile.

“We must ask my daughter what she thinks.”

Odile was brought to the wizard.

“Odile, this man lias asked to marry you. He says he is very rich and that he will make you the happiest princess in the world. What do you think?”

Odile looked into the wizard’s eyes.

“Do you promise to love me forever, with all your heart?” Will you love me so much that you will not think of what you want, even if it hurts you to do this?”

The look in her eyes and her questions made Rocford uncomfortable.

“Why do you ask me such questions? I told your father I could give you everything you could want.”

The Princess smiled and turned her head away.

“I’m sorry Father, but I will not marry this man. He does not know what love is.”

They did not know then that he was a wizard. Rocford had looked like a Prince. He wore beautiful clothes and looked very handsome. But, when he heard what Odile said to her father, his face began to change. It became old and ugly. His clothes changed from blue to black.

“You do not know what you are saying, you silly girl. I do not have to ask for what I want. I am a wizard, and I can do anything I please.”

He waved his hands through the air, and a fire started in the castle where the Princess and her parents lived. He had turned Odile into a small bird in a cage, and carried her to his castle where he locked her up in a tower.

The entire kingdom was destroyed by this fire, and her parents were killed.

There was a real bird in a cage in Odile’s room at the wizard’s castle. The wizard had put it there so that Odile would remember the power he had over her. He only let her leave the castle as a swan because he did not want other men to fall in love with her. At night, she stayed in her room talking to the bird, who was her only friend. She called the bird Patrice, because it was her mother’s name.

“Oh Patrice, what should I do? The ball is tonight, and I am a prisoner here. I believe the Prince loves me with all his heart. I saw it in his eyes. He loved me even as a swan.”

The bird began moving its wings wildly. It always knew when something horrible was about to happen.

“What is it Patrice, what are you afraid of?”

Odile heard keys in her locked door. She put the bird and its cage behind a curtain, because she did not want the bird to see what was about to happen.