{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_15145/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_15145","id":"gutenberg_15145","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15145","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Children's Anthologies","Children's Myths, Fairy Tales, etc.","Fairy tales","Folklore"],"text":"Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Sandra Brown and the PG Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMY BOOK\n\nOF\n\nFAVOURITE FAIRY TALES\n\n\nILLUSTRATED BY JENNIE HARBOUR.\n\n\n[Illustration: From \"THE GOOSE GIRL\"]\n\n[Illustration: _Painted by Jennie Harbour_\nTHE GOOSE GIRL]\n\n\n\n\n\nMY BOOK OF\n\nFAVOURITE FAIRY TALES\n\n\nRETOLD BY THE EDITOR\n\n& OTHERS\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nILLUSTRATED BY JENNIE HARBOUR\n\n\nEDITED BY CAPT. EDRIC VREDENBURG\n\n\nRAPHAEL TUCK &. SONS. LTP\n\n_Publishers in Their Majesties the King & Queen_\n\nLONDON & PARIS\n\n\nDESIGNED & PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN\n\n\nPHILADELPHIA\n\nDAVID MCKAY COMPANY\n\nWASHINGTON SQUARE\n\n\n[Illustration: From \"THE SLEEPING BEAUTY\"]\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n    THE OLD, OLD STORIES\n\n    THE GOOSE GIRL\n\n    LITTLE SNOW-WHITE\n\n    CINDERELLA\n\n    PRINCESS GOLDENHAIR\n\n    LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD\n\n    THE WHITE FAWN\n\n    HANSEL AND GRETHEL\n\n    SNOW-WHITE AND ROSE-RED\n\n    THE SLEEPING BEAUTY\n\n    PRINCE CHERI\n\n    THE WHITE CAT\n\n    BLUEBEARD\n\n    BEAUTY AND THE BEAST\n\n    TUFTY RIQUET\n\n    THUMBLING\n\n[Illustration: From \"THE WHITE FAWN\"]\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF COLOUR PLATES\n\n    THE GOOSE GIRL _Frontispiece_\n\n    THE MAGIC MIRROR\n\n    CINDERELLA\n\n    LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD\n\n    THE WHITE FAWN\n\n    HANSEL AND GRETHEL\n\n    SNOW-WHITE AND ROSE-RED\n\n    THE SLEEPING BEAUTY\n\n    ZELIE AND THE FAIRY CANDIDE\n\n    BLUEBEARD\n\n    BEAUTY AND THE BEAST\n\n    THE BEAUTIFUL PRINCESS\n\n[Illustration: From \"PRINCESS GOLDENHAIR\"]\n\n[Illustration: From \"CINDERELLA\"]\n\n\n\n\nTHE OLD, OLD STORIES\n\n\nHere they are again, the old, old stories, the very best; dear\nCinderella, wicked old Bluebeard, tiny Thumbling, beautiful Beauty and\nthe ugly Beast, and a host of others. But the old stories, I may tell\nyou, are always new, and always must be so, because there are new\nchildren to read them every day, and to these, of course, these old\ntales might have been written yesterday.\n\nBut the stories in this book are new in another way. Look how they are\nclothed, look at their beautiful setting, the wonderful pictures! Have\nyou ever seen such charming princes and lovely princesses, such dainty\ngrace and delicate feeling?\n\nWhat would our grandfathers and grandmothers have said of such a book!\nThey would have thought there was magic in the brush and pencil.\n\nSurely we are favoured in this generation when we see before us, the\nold, old fairy tales, which are ever new, dressed in such a beautiful\nand splendid fashion!\n\n_EDRIC VREDENBURG._\n\n[Illustration: From \"HANSEL AND GRETHEL\"]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE GOOSE GIRL\n\n\nAn old queen, whose husband had been dead some years, had a beautiful\ndaughter. When she grew up, she was betrothed to a prince who lived\na great way off; and as the time drew near for her to be married, she\ngot ready to set off on her journey to his country. Then the queen,\nher mother, packed up a great many costly things--jewels, and gold,\nand silver; trinkets, fine dresses, and, in short, everything that\nbecame a royal bride; for she loved her child very dearly: and she\ngave her a waiting-maid to ride with her, and give her into the\nbridegroom's hands; and each had a horse for the journey. Now the\nprincess's horse was called Falada, and could speak.\n\nWhen the time came for them to set out, the old queen went into her\nbed-chamber, and took a little knife, and cut off a lock of her hair,\nand gave it to her daughter, and said, \"Take care of it, dear child;\nfor it is a charm that may be of use to you on the road.\" Then they\ntook a sorrowful leave of each other, and the princess put the lock of\nher mother's hair into her bosom, got upon her horse, and set off on\nher journey to her bridegroom's kingdom. One day, as they were riding\nalong by the side of a brook, the princess began to feel very thirsty,\nand said to her maid, \"Pray get down and fetch me some water, in my\ngolden cup, out of yonder brook, for I want to drink.\" \"Nay,\" said\nthe maid, \"if you are thirsty, get down yourself, and lie down by the\nwater and drink; I shall not be your waiting-maid any longer.\" Then\nthe princess was so thirsty that she got down, and knelt over the\nbrook and drank, for she was frightened, and dared not bring out her\ngolden cup; and then she wept, and said \"Alas! what will become of\nme?\" And the lock of hair answered her, and said--\n\n      \"Alas! alas! if thy mother knew it,\n      Sadly, sadly her heart would rue it.\"\n\nBut the princess was very humble and meek, so she said nothing to her\nmaid's ill behaviour, but got upon her horse again.\n\nThen all rode further on their journey, till the day grew so warm, and\nthe sun so scorching, that the bride began to feel very thirsty again;\nand at last, when they came to a river, she forgot her maid's rude\nspeech, and said, \"Pray get down and fetch me some water to drink\nin my golden cup.\" But the maid answered her, and even spoke more\nhaughtily than before, \"Drink, if you will, but I shall not be your\nwaiting-maid.\" Then the princess was so thirsty that she got off her\nhorse and lay down, and held her head over the running stream, and\ncried, and said, \"What will become of me?\" And the lock of hair\nanswered her again--\n\n      \"Alas! alas! if thy mother knew it,\n      Sadly, sadly her heart would rue it.\"\n\nAnd as she leaned down to drink, the lock of hair fell from her bosom\nand floated away with the water, without her seeing it, she was so\nfrightened. But her maid saw it, and was very glad, for she knew the\ncharm, and saw that the poor bride would be in her power now that she\nhad lost the hair. So when the bride had drunk, and would have got\nupon Falada again, the maid said, \"I shall ride upon Falada and you\nmay have my horse instead;\" so she was forced to give up her horse,\nand soon afterwards to take off her royal clothes, and put on her\nmaid's shabby ones.\n\nAt last, as they drew near the end of the journey, this treacherous\nservant threatened to kill her mistress if she ever told anyone what\nhad happened. But Falada saw it all, and marked it well. Then the\nwaiting-maid got upon Falada, and the real bride was set upon the\nother horse, and they went on in this way till at last they came\nto the royal court. There was great joy at their coming, the prince\nhurried to meet them, and lifted the maid from her horse, thinking she\nwas the one who was to be his wife; and she was led upstairs to the\nroyal chamber, but the true princess was told to stay in the court\nbelow.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut the old king happened to be looking out of the window, and saw her\nin the yard below; and as she looked very pretty, and too delicate for\na waiting-maid, he went into the royal chamber to ask the bride who it\nwas she had brought with her, that was thus left standing in the\ncourt below. \"I brought her with me for the sake of her company on the\nroad,\" said she. \"Pray give the girl some work to do, that she may not\nbe idle.\" The old king could not for some time think of any work for\nher to do, but at last he said, \"I have a lad who takes care of my\ngeese; she may go and help him.\" Now the name of this lad, that the\nreal bride was to help in watching the king's geese, was Curdken.\n\nSoon after, the false bride said to the prince, \"Dear husband pray do\nme one piece of kindness.\" \"That I will,\" said the prince. \"Then tell\none of your slaughterers to cut off the head of the horse I rode upon,\nfor it was very unruly, and plagued me sadly on the road.\" But the\ntruth was, she was very much afraid lest Falada should speak, and\ntell all she had done to the princess. She carried her point, and the\nfaithful Falada was killed; but when the true princess heard of it she\nwept, and begged the man to nail up Falada's head against a large\ndark gate in the city through which she had to pass every morning\nand evening, that there she might still see him sometimes. Then the\nslaughterer said he would do as she wished; cut off the head, and\nnailed it fast under the dark gate.\n\nEarly the next morning, as she and Curdken went out through the gate,\nshe said sorrowfully--\n\n      \"Falada, Falada, there thou art hanging!\"\n\nand the head answered--\n\n      \"Bride, bride, there thou art ganging!\n      Alas! alas! if thy mother knew it,\n      Sadly, sadly her heart would rue it.\"\n\nThen they went out of the city, and drove the geese in. And when she\ncame to the meadow, she sat down upon a bank here, and let down her\nwaving locks of hair, which were all of pure gold; and when Curdken\nsaw it glitter in the sun, he ran up, and would have pulled some of\nthe locks out; but she cried--\n\n      \"Blow, breezes, blow!\n      Let Curdken's hat go!\n      Blow, breezes, blow!\n      Let him after it go!\n      O'er hills, dales, and rocks.\n      Away be it whirl'd,\n      Till the golden locks\n      Are all comb'd and curl'd!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen there came a wind, so strong that it blew off Curdken's hat, and\naway it flew over the hills, and he after it; till, by the time he\ncame back, she had done combing and curling her hair, and put it up\nagain safe. Then he was very angry and sulky, and would not speak\nto her at all; but they watched the geese until it grew dark in the\nevening, and then drove them homewards.\n\nThe next morning, as they were going through the dark gate, the poor\ngirl looked up at Falada's head, and cried--\n\n      \"Falada, Falada, there thou art hanging!\"\n\nand it answered--\n\n      \"Bride, bride, there thou art ganging!\n      Alas! alas! if thy mother knew it,\n      Sadly, sadly her heart would rue it.\"\n\nThen she drove on the geese and sat down again in the meadow, and\nbegan to comb out her hair as before, and Curdken ran up to her, and\nwanted to take hold of it; but she cried out quickly--\n\n      \"Blow, breezes, blow!\n      Let Curdken's hat go,\n      Blow, breezes, blow!\n      Let him after it go!\n      O'er hills, dales, and rocks,\n      Away be it whirl'd,\n      Till the golden locks\n      Are all comb'd and curl'd!\"\n\nThen the wind came and blew his hat, and off it flew a great way, over\nthe hills and far away, so that he had to run after it; and when he\ncame back, she had done up her hair again, and all was safe. So they\nwatched the geese till it grew dark.\n\nIn the evening, after they came home, Curdken went to the old king,\nand said, \"I cannot have that strange girl to help me to keep the\ngeese any longer.\"\n\n\"Why?\" said the king.\n\n\"Because she does nothing but tease me all day long.\"\n\nThen the king made him tell all that had passed.\n\nAnd Curdken said, \"When we go in the morning through the dark gate\nwith our flock of geese, she weeps, and talks with the head of a horse\nthat hangs upon the wall, and says--\n\n      \"'Falada, Falada, there thou art hanging!'\"\n\nand the head answers--\n\n      \"'Bride, bride, there thou art ganging!\n      Alas! alas! if thy mother knew it,\n      Sadly, sadly her heart would rue it.'\"\n\nAnd Curdken went on telling the king what had happened upon the meadow\nwhere the geese fed; and how his hat was blown away, and he was forced\nto run after it, and leave his flock. But the old king told him to\ngo out again as usual the next day, and when morning came, the king\nplaced himself behind the gate, and heard how she spoke to Falada, and\nhow Falada answered; and then he went into the field and hid himself\nin a bush by the meadow's side, and soon saw with his own eyes how\nthey drove the flock of geese, and how, after a little time, she let\ndown her hair that glittered in the sun; and then he heard her say--\n\n      \"Blow, breezes, blow!\n      Let Curdken's hat go!\n      Blow, breezes, blow!\n      Let him after it go!\n      O'er hills, dales, and rocks,\n      Away be it whirl'd,\n      Till the golden locks,\n      Are all comb'd and curl'd!\"\n\n[Illustration: \"THEN THERE CAME A WIND SO STRONG THAT IT BLEW OFF\nCURDKEN'S HAT.\"]\n\nAnd soon came a gale of wind, and carried away Curdken's hat, while\nthe girl went on combing and curling her hair.\n\nAll this the old king saw: so he went home without being seen; and\nwhen the little goose girl came back in the evening, he called her\naside, and asked her why she did so: but she burst into tears, and\nsaid, \"That I must not tell you or any man, or I shall lose my life.\"\n\nBut the old king begged so hard that she had no peace till she had\ntold him all, word for word: and it was very lucky for her that she\ndid so, for the king ordered royal clothes to be put upon her, and\ngazed on her with wonder, she was so beautiful.\n\nThen he called his son, and told him that he had only the false bride,\nfor that she was merely a waiting-maid, while the true one stood by.\n\nAnd the young king rejoiced when he saw her beauty, and heard how meek\nand patient she had been; and without saying anything, ordered a great\nfeast to be got ready for all his court.\n\nThe bridegroom sat at the top, with the false princess on one side,\nand the true one on the other; but nobody knew her, for she was quite\ndazzling to their eyes, and was not at all like the little goose-girl,\nnow that she had her brilliant dress.\n\nWhen they had eaten and drunk, and were very merry, the old king told\nall the story, as one that he had once heard of, and asked the true\nwaiting-maid what she thought ought to be done to anyone who would\nbehave thus.\n\n\"Nothing better,\" said this false bride, \"than that she should be\nthrown into a cask stuck round with sharp nails, and that two white\nhorses should be put to it, and should drag it from street to street\ntill she is dead.\"\n\n\"Thou art she!\" said the old king; \"and since thou hast judged\nthyself, it shall be so done to thee.\"\n\nAnd the young king was married to his true wife, and they reigned over\nthe kingdom in peace and happiness all their lives.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nLITTLE SNOW-WHITE\n\n\nIt was in the middle of winter, when the broad flakes of snow were\nfalling around, that a certain queen sat working at the window, the\nframe of which was made of fine black ebony; and as she was looking\nout upon the snow, she pricked her finger, and three drops of blood\nfell upon it. Then she gazed thoughtfully upon the red drops which\nsprinkled the white snow, and said, \"Would that my little daughter\nmay be as white as that snow, as red as the blood, and as black as the\nebony window-frame!\" And so the little girl grew up: her skin was as\nwhite as snow, her cheeks as rosy as blood, and her hair as black as\nebony; and she was called Snow-White.\n\nBut this queen died; and the king soon married another wife, who was\nvery beautiful, but so proud that she could not bear to think that any\none could surpass her. She had a magical looking-glass, to which she\nused to go and gaze upon herself in it, and say,\n\n      \"Tell me, glass, tell me true!\n      Of all the ladies in the land.\n      Who is fairest? Tell me who?\"\n\nAnd the glass answered, \"Thou, Queen, art fairest in the land.\"\n\nBut Snow-White grew more and more beautiful; and when she was seven\nyears old, she was as bright as the day, and fairer than the queen\nherself. Then the glass one day answered the queen, when she went to\nconsult it as usual:\n\n      \"Thou, Queen, may'st fair and beauteous be,\n      But Snow-White is lovelier far than thee!\"\n\nWhen she heard this she turned pale with rage and envy; and calling\nto one of her servants said, \"Take Snow-White away into the wide wood,\nthat I may never see her more.\" Then the servant led her away; but his\nheart melted when she begged him to spare her life, and he said, \"I\nwill not hurt thee, thou pretty child.\" So he left her by herself, and\nthough he thought it most likely that the wild beasts would tear her\nto pieces, he felt as if a great weight were taken off his heart when\nhe had made up his mind not to kill her, but leave her to her fate.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen poor Snow-White wandered along through the wood in great fear;\nand the wild beasts roared about her, but none did her any harm. In\nthe evening she came to a little cottage, and went in there to rest\nherself, for her weary feet would carry her no further. Everything was\nspruce and neat in the cottage: on the table was spread a white cloth,\nand there were seven little plates with seven little loaves and seven\nlittle glasses with wine in them; and knives and forks laid in order,\nand by the wall stood seven little beds. Then, as she was very hungry,\nshe picked a little piece off each loaf, and drank a very little wine\nout of each glass; and after that she thought she would lie down and\nrest. So she tried all the little beds; and one was too long, and\nanother was too short, till at last the seventh suited her; and there\nshe laid herself down and went to sleep. Presently in came the masters\nof the cottage, who were seven little dwarfs that lived among the\nmountains, and dug and searched about for gold. They lighted up their\nseven lamps, and saw directly that all was not right. The first said,\n\"Who has been sitting on my stool?\" The second, \"Who has been eating\noff my plate?\" The third, \"Who has been picking at my bread?\" the\nfourth, \"Who has been meddling with my spoon?\" The fifth, \"Who has\nbeen handling my fork?\" The sixth, \"Who has been cutting with my\nknife?\" The seventh, \"Who has been drinking my wine?\" Then the first\nlooked round and said. \"Who has been lying on my bed?\" And the rest\ncame running to him, and every one cried out that somebody had been\nupon his bed. But the seventh saw Snow-White, and called upon his\nbrethren to come and see her; and they cried out with wonder and\nastonishment, and brought their lamps to look at her, and said, \"Good\nheavens! What a lovely child she is!\" and they were delighted to see\nher, and took care not to waken her; and the seventh dwarf slept an\nhour with each of the other dwarfs in turn, till the night was gone.\n\n[Illustration: THE MAGIC MIRROR--\"LITTLE SNOW-WHITE\"]\n\nIn the morning Snow-White told them all her story; and they pitied\nher, and said if she would keep all things in order, and cook and\nwash, and knit and spin for them, she might stay where she was, and\nthey would take good care of her. Then they went out all day long\nto their work, seeking for gold and silver in the mountains; and\nSnow-White remained at home: and they warned her, and said, \"The queen\nwill soon find out where you are, so take care and let no one in.\" But\nthe queen, now that she thought Snow-White was dead, believed that\nshe was certainly the handsomest lady in the land; and she went to her\nglass, and the glass answered,\n\n      \"Thou, Queen, thou art fairest in all this land;\n      But over the hills, in the greenwood shade.\n      Where the seven dwarfs their dwelling have made.\n      There Snow-White is hiding her head; and she\n      Is lovelier far, O Queen, than thee.\"\n\nThen the queen was very much alarmed; for she knew that the glass\nalways spoke the truth, and was sure that the servant had betrayed\nher. And she could not bear to think that anyone lived who was more\nbeautiful than she was; so she disguised herself as a pedlar and went\nher way over the hills to the place where the dwarfs dwelt. Then\nshe knocked at the door, and cried, \"Fine wares to sell!\" Snow-White\nlooked out of the window, and cried, \"Good-day, good woman; what have\nyou to sell?\" \"Good wares, fine wares,\" said she; \"laces and bobbins\nof all colours.\" \"I will let the old lady in; she seems to be a\nvery good sort of a body,\" thought Snow-White; so she ran down, and\nunbolted the door. \"Bless me!\" said the woman, \"how badly your\nstays are laced. Let me lace them up with one of my nice new laces.\"\nSnow-White did not dream of any mischief; so she stood up before\nthe old woman; but she set to work so nimbly, and pulled the lace so\ntight, that Snow-White lost her breath, and fell down as if she were\ndead. \"There's an end of all thy beauty,\" said the spiteful queen, and\nwent away home.\n\n[Illustration: \"'THERE'S AN END TO ALL THY BEAUTY' SAID THE SPITEFUL\nQUEEN, AND SHE WENT AWAY HOME.\"]\n\nIn the evening the seven dwarfs returned; and I need not say how\ngrieved they were to see their faithful Snow-White stretched upon the\nground motionless, as if she were quite dead. However, they lifted her\nup, and when they found what was the matter, they cut the lace; and in\na little time she began to breathe, and soon came to life again. Then\nthey said, \"The old woman was the queen herself; take care another\ntime, and let no one in when we are away.\"\n\nWhen the queen got home, she went to her glass, and spoke to it, but\nto her surprise it said the same words as before.\n\nThen the blood ran cold in her heart with spite and malice to see\nthat Snow-White still lived; and she dressed herself up again in a\ndisguise, but very different from the one she wore before, and took\nwith her a poisoned comb, When she reached the dwarf's cottage, she\nknocked at the door, and cried, \"Fine wares to sell!\" but Snow-White\nsaid, \"I dare not let anyone in.\" Then the queen begged, \"Only look at\nmy beautiful combs;\" and gave her the poisoned one. And it looked so\npretty that she took it up and put it into her hair to try it; but the\nmoment it touched her head the poison was so powerful that she fell\ndown senseless.\n\n\"There you may lie,\" said the queen, and went her way. But by good\nluck the dwarfs returned very early that evening; and when they saw\nSnow-White lying on the ground, they thought what had happened,\nand soon found the poisoned comb. And when they took it away, she\nrecovered, and told them all that had passed; and they warned her once\nmore not to open the door to anyone.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMeantime the queen went home to her glass, and trembled with rage\nwhen she received exactly the same answer as before; and she said\n\"Snow-White shall die, if it costs me my life.\" So she went secretly\ninto a chamber, and prepared a poisoned apple; the outside looked very\nrosy and tempting, but whosoever tasted it was sure to die. Then she\ndressed herself up as a peasant's wife, and travelled over the hills\nto the dwarfs' cottage, and knocked at the door; but Snow-White put\nher head out of the window, and said, \"I dare not let anyone in, for\nthe dwarfs have told me not to.\" \"Do as you please,\" said the old\nwoman, \"but at any rate take this pretty apple; I will make you a\npresent of it.\" \"No,\" said Snow-White, \"I dare not take it.\" \"You\nsilly girl!\" answered the other, \"what are you afraid of? Do you think\nit is poisoned? Come! do you eat one part, and I will eat the other.\"\nNow the apple was so prepared that one side was good, though the other\nside was poisoned. Then Snow-White was very much tempted to taste, for\nthe apple looked exceedingly nice; and when she saw the old woman eat,\nshe could refrain no longer. But she had scarcely put the piece into\nher mouth, when she fell down dead upon the ground. \"This time nothing\nwill save thee,\" said the queen; and she went home to her glass, and\nat last it said,\n\n      \"Thou, Queen, art the fairest of all the fair.\"\n\nAnd then her envious heart was glad, and as happy as such a heart\ncould be.\n\nWhen evening came, and the dwarfs returned home, they found Snow-White\nlying on the ground; no breath passed her lips, and they were afraid\nthat she was quite dead. They lifted her up, and combed her hair,\nand washed her face with wine and water; but all was in vain, for the\nlittle girl seemed quite dead. So they laid her down upon a bier, and\nall seven watched and bewailed her three whole days; and then they\nproposed to bury her; but her cheeks were still rosy, and her face\nlooked just as it did while she was alive; so they said, \"We will\nnever bury her in the cold ground.\" And they made a coffin of glass\nso that they might still look at her, and wrote her name upon it in\ngolden letters, and that she was a king's daughter. And the coffin\nwas placed upon the hill, and one of the dwarfs always sat by it and\nwatched. And the birds of the air came too, and bemoaned Snow-White.\nFirst of all came an owl, and then a raven, but at last came a dove.\n\nAnd thus Snow-White lay for a long, long time, and still only looked\nas though she were asleep; for she was even now as white as snow,\nand as red as blood, and as black as ebony. At last a prince came and\ncalled at the dwarfs' house; and he saw Snow-White, and read what\nwas written in gold letters. Then he offered the dwarfs money, and\nearnestly prayed them to let him take her away; but they said, \"We\nwill not part with her for all the gold in the world.\" At last,\nhowever, they had pity on him, and gave him the coffin; but the moment\nhe lifted it up to carry it home with him, the piece of apple fell\nfrom between her lips, and Snow-White awoke, and said, \"Where am I?\"\nAnd the prince answered, \"Thou art safe with me.\" Then he told her all\nthat had happened, and said, \"I love you better than all the world;\ncome with me to my father's palace, and you shall be my wife.\" And\nSnow-White consented, and went home with the prince; and everything\nwas prepared with great pomp and splendour for their wedding.\n\nTo the feast was invited, among the rest, Snow-White's old enemy,\nthe queen; and as she was dressing herself in fine, rich clothes, she\nlooked, in the glass, and the glass answered,\n\n      \"Thou, lady, art the loveliest _here_, I ween;\n      But lovelier far is the new-made queen.\"\n\nWhen she heard this, she started with rage; but her envy and curiosity\nwere so great, that she could not help setting out to see the bride.\nAnd when she arrived, and saw that it was none other than Snow-White,\nwho she thought had been dead a long while, she choked with passion,\nand fell ill and died; but Snow-White and the prince lived and reigned\nhappily over that land many, many years.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCINDERELLA\n\n\nThe wife of a rich man fell sick: and when she felt that her end drew\nnigh, she called her only daughter to her bedside, and said, \"Always\nbe a good girl, and I will look down from heaven and watch over you.\"\nSoon afterwards she shut her eyes and died, and was buried in the\ngarden; and the little girl went every day to her grave and wept,\nand was always good and kind to all about her. And the snow spread a\nbeautiful white covering over the grave: but by the time the sun had\nmelted it away again, her father had married another wife. This new\nwife had two daughters of her own, that she brought home with her:\nthey were fair in face but foul at heart, and it was now a sorry time\nfor the poor little girl. \"What does the good-for-nothing thing want\nin the parlour?\" said they; \"they who would eat bread should first\nearn it; away with the kitchen maid!\" Then they took away her fine\nclothes, and gave her an old frock to put on, and laughed at her and\nturned her into the kitchen.\n\nThen she was forced to do hard work; to rise early, before daylight,\nto bring the water, to make the fire, to cook and to wash. Besides\nthat, the sisters plagued her in all sorts of ways and laughed at her.\nIn the evening, when she was tired, she had no bed to lie down on, but\nwas made to sleep by the hearth among the ashes; and then, as she was\nof course always dusty and dirty, they called her Cinderella.\n\nIt happened once that the father was going to the fair, and asked his\nwife's daughters what he should bring them. \"Fine clothes,\" said the\nfirst: \"Pearls and diamonds,\" said the second. \"Now, child,\" said he\nto his own daughter, \"what will you have?\" \"The first sprig, dear\nfather, that rubs against your hat on your way home,\" said she. Then\nhe bought for the two first the fine clothes and pearls and diamonds\nthey had asked for: and on his way home as he rode through a green\ncopse, a sprig of hazel brushed against him, and almost pushed off his\nhat; so he broke it off and brought it away; and when he got home he\ngave it to his daughter. Then she took it and went to her mother's\ngrave and planted it there, and cried so much that it was watered with\nher tears; and there it grew and became a fine tree. Three times every\nday she went to it and wept; and soon a little bird came and built\nits nest upon the tree, and talked with her and watched over her, and\nbrought her whatever she wished for.\n\nNow it happened that the king of the land held a feast which was to\nlast three days, and out of those who came to it his son was to choose\na bride for himself; and Cinderella's two sisters were asked to come.\nSo they called her up and said, \"Now, comb our hair, brush our shoes,\nand tie our sashes for us, for we are going to dance at the king's\nfeast.\" Then she did as she was told, but when all was done she could\nnot help crying, for she thought to herself, she would have liked to\ngo to the dance too; and at last she begged her mother very hard to\nlet her go. \"You! Cinderella?\" said she; \"you who have nothing to\nwear, no clothes at all, and who cannot even dance--you want to go to\nthe ball?\" And when she kept on begging--to get rid of her, she said\nat last, \"I will throw this basinful of peas into the ash heap, and\nif you have picked them all out in two hours' time you shall go to\nthe feast too.\" Then she threw the peas into the ashes; but the little\nmaiden ran out at the back door into the garden, and cried out--\n\n      \"Hither, hither, through the sky.\n      Turtle-doves and linnets, fly!\n      Blackbird, thrush, and chaffinch gay,\n      Hither, hither, haste away!\n      One and all, come help me quick,\n      Haste ye, haste ye--pick, pick, pick!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen first came two white doves flying in at the kitchen window; and\nnext came two turtle-doves; and after them all the little birds under\nheaven came chirping and fluttering in, and flew down into the ashes;\nand the little doves stooped their heads down and set to work, pick,\npick, pick; and then the others began to pick, pick, pick; and picked\nout all the good grain and put it in a dish, and left the ashes. At\nthe end of one hour the work was done, and all flew out again at the\nwindows. Then Cinderella brought the dish to her mother, overjoyed at\nthe thought that now she should go to the feast. But she said, \"No,\nno! Girl, you have no clothes and cannot dance, you shall not go.\" And\nwhen Cinderella begged very hard to go, she said, \"If you can in one\nhour's time pick two of these dishes of peas out of the ashes, you\nshall go too.\" And thus she thought she should at last get rid of her.\nSo she shook two dishes of peas into the ashes; but the little maiden\nwent out into the garden at the back of the house, and cried as\nbefore--\n\n      \"Hither, hither, through the sky.\n      Turtle-doves and linnets, fly!\n      Blackbird, thrush, and chaffinch gay,\n      Hither, hither, haste away!\n      One and all, come help me quick,\n      Haste ye, haste ye--pick, pick, pick!\"\n\nThen first came two white doves in at the kitchen window; and next\ncame the turtle-doves; and after them all the little birds under\nheaven came chirping and hopping about, and flew down about the ashes;\nand the little doves put their heads down and set to work, pick, pick,\npick; and then the others began to pick, pick, pick; and they put\nall the good grain into the dishes, and left all the ashes, Before\nhalf-an-hour's time all was done, and out they flew again. And then\nCinderella took the dishes to her mother, rejoicing to think that she\nshould now go to the ball. But her mother said, \"It is all of no use,\nyou cannot go, you have no clothes, and cannot dance, and you would\nonly put us to shame:\" and off she went with her two daughters to the\nfeast.\n\nNow when all were gone, and nobody left at home, Cinderella went\nsorrowfully and sat down under the hazel-tree, and cried out--\n\n      \"Shake, shake, hazel tree,\n      Gold and silver over me!\"\n\nThen her friend the bird flew out of the tree and brought a gold and\nsilver dress for her, and slippers of spangled silk; and she put them\non, and followed her sisters to the feast. But they did not know her,\nand thought it must be some strange princess, she looked so fine\nand beautiful in her rich clothes; and they never once thought of\nCinderella, but took for granted that she was safe at home in the\ndirt.\n\n[Illustration: _Painted by Jennie Harbour_\nCINDERELLA]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe king's son soon came up to her, and took her by the hand and\ndanced with her and no one else; and he never left her hand; but when\nany one else came to ask her to dance, he said, \"This lady is dancing\nwith me.\" Thus they danced till a late hour of the night, and then she\nwanted to go home: and the king's son said, \"I shall go and take care\nof you to your home;\" for he wanted to see where the beautiful maid\nlived. But she slipped away from him unawares, and ran off towards\nhome, and the prince followed her; but she jumped up into the\npigeon-house and shut the door. Then he waited till her father came\nhome, and told him that the unknown maiden who had been at the feast\nhad hidden herself in the pigeon-house. But when they had broken open\nthe door they found no one within; and as they came back into the\nhouse, Cinderella lay as she always did, in her dirty frock by the\nashes, and her dim little lamp burnt in the chimney; for she had\nrun as quickly as she could through the pigeon-house and on to the\nhazel-tree, and had there taken off her beautiful clothes, and laid\nthem beneath the tree, that the bird might carry them away, and had\nseated herself amid the ashes again in her little old frock.\n\nThe next day, when the feast was again held, and her father, mother,\nand sisters were gone, Cinderella went to the hazel tree, and said--\n\n      \"Shake, shake, hazel tree,\n      Gold and silver over me!\"\n\nAnd the bird came and brought a still finer dress than the one she had\nworn the day before. And when she came in it to the ball, every one\nwondered at her beauty; but the king's son, who was waiting for her,\ntook her by the hand, and danced with her; and when any one asked\nher to dance, he said as before, \"This lady is dancing with me.\" When\nnight came she wanted to go home; and the king's son followed her as\nbefore, that he might see into what house she went; but she sprang\naway from him, all at once, into the garden behind her father's house.\nIn this garden stood a fine large pear tree full of ripe fruit; and\nCinderella, not knowing where to hide herself, jumped up into it\nwithout being seen. Then the king's son could not find out where she\nwas gone, but waited till her father came home, and said to him, \"The\nunknown lady who danced with me has slipped away, and I think she must\nhave sprung into the pear tree.\" The father thought to himself, \"Can\nit be Cinderella?\" So he ordered an axe to be brought; and they cut\ndown the tree, but found no one upon it. And when they came back into\nthe kitchen, there lay Cinderella in the ashes as usual; for she had\nslipped down on the other side of the tree, and carried her beautiful\nclothes back to the bird at the hazel tree, and then put on her little\nold frock.\n\nThe third day, when her father and mother and sisters were gone she\nwent again into the garden, and said---\n\n      \"Shake, shake, hazel tree,\n      Gold and silver over me!\"\n\nThen her kind friend the bird brought a dress still finer than the\nformer ones, and slippers which were all of gold; so that when she\ncame to the feast no one knew what to say for wonder at her beauty;\nand the king's son danced with her alone; and when any one else asked\nher to dance he said, \"This lady is my partner.\" Now when night came\nshe wanted to go home; and the king's son would go with her, and said\nto himself, \"I will not lose her this time;\" but, however, she managed\nto slip away from him, though in such a hurry that she dropped her\nleft golden slipper upon the stairs.\n\n[Illustration: \"SHE SPRANG AWAY FROM HIM, ALL AT ONCE, INTO THE GARDEN\nBEHIND HER FATHER'S HOUSE.\"]\n\nSo the prince took the shoe, and went the next day to the king his\nfather, and said, \"I will take for my wife the lady that this golden\nshoe fits.\" Then both the sisters were overjoyed to hear this; for\nthey had beautiful feet, and had no doubt that they could wear the\ngolden slipper. The eldest went first into the room where the slipper\nwas, and wanted to try it on, and the mother stood by. But her great\ntoe could not go into it, and the shoe was altogether much too small\nfor her. Then the mother gave her a knife, and said, \"Never mind, cut\nit off; when you are queen you will not care about toes, you will\nnot want to go on foot.\" So the silly girl cut her great toe off, and\nsqueezed the shoe on, and went to the king's son. Then he took her for\nhis bride, and set her beside him on his horse and rode away with\nher. But on their way home they had to pass by the hazel tree that\nCinderella had planted and there sat a little dove on the branch\nsinging---\n\n      \"Back again! back again! look to the shoe!\n      The shoe is too small, and not made for you!\n      Prince! prince! look again for thy bride,\n      For she's not the true one that sits by thy side.\"\n\nThen the prince got down and looked at her foot, and saw by the blood\nthat streamed from it what a trick she had played him. So he turned\nhis horse round and brought the false bride back to her home, and\nsaid, \"This is not the right bride; let the other sister try and put\non the slipper.\" Then she went into the room and got her foot into the\nshoe, all but the heel, which was too large. But her mother squeezed\nit in till the blood came, and took her to the king's son; and he set\nher as his bride beside him on his horse, and rode away with her. But\nwhen they came to the hazel tree the little dove sat there still, and\nsang--\n\n      \"Back again! back again! look to the shoe!\n      The shoe is too small, and not made for you!\n      Prince! prince! look again for thy bride,\n      For she's not the true one that sits by thy side.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he looked down and saw that the blood streamed so from the shoe\nthat her white stockings were quite red. So he turned his horse and\nbrought her back again also. \"This is not the true bride,\" said he to\nthe father; \"have you no other daughters?\" \"No,\" said he; \"there is\nonly a little dirty Cinderella here, the child of my first wife; I am\nsure she cannot be the bride.\" However, the prince told him to send\nher. But the mother said, \"No, no, she is much too dirty, she will not\ndare to show herself;\" still the prince would have her come. And she\nfirst washed her face and hands, and then went in and curtsied to him,\nand he handed to her the golden slipper.\n\nThen she took her clumsy shoe off her left foot and put on the golden\nslipper; and it fitted her as if it had been made for her. And when\nthe Prince drew near and looked at her face he knew her, and said,\n\"This is the right bride.\"\n\nBut the mother and both the sisters were frightened and turned pale\nwith anger as he took Cinderella on his horse, and rode away with her.\nAnd when they came to the hazel tree, the white dove sang--\n\n      \"Home! home! look at the shoe!\n      Princess! the shoe was made for you!\n      Prince! prince! take home thy bride.\n      For she is the true one that sits by thy side!\"\n\nAnd when the dove had done its song, it came flying and perched upon\nher shoulder, and so went home with her.\n\n\n\n\nPRINCESS GOLDENHAIR\n\n\nThere was once a King's daughter who was the most beautiful thing in\nthe world, and as her hair was fair and reached to her feet she was\ncalled the Princess Goldenhair.\n\nA handsome young King in the neighbourhood, although he had never seen\nthis Princess, fell so deeply in love with her from what he had heard,\nthat he could neither eat nor sleep.\n\nSo an ambassador was sent with a magnificent chariot, more than a\nhundred horses, and fifty pages, to bring the Princess to the King,\nand great preparations were made for her reception.\n\n[Illustration: \"AN AMBASSADOR WAS SENT WITH MORE THAN A HUNDRED\nHORSES, AND FIFTY PAGES TO BRING THE PRINCESS TO THE KING.\"]\n\nBut whether the Princess Goldenhair was in an ill humour when the\nambassador arrived at her Court, or whatever was the reason, certain\nit is that she sent a message to the young King thanking him but\nsaying that she did not wish to marry.\n\nWhen the King heard of her refusal he wept like a child.\n\nNow at his Court there was a young man called Avenant. He was as\nbeautiful as the sun, and a more finely made fellow than any in the\nkingdom; everybody loved him except a few envious people, who were\nangry because the King favoured and confided in him, and in the\npresence of these, one day, Avenant incautiously remarked,\n\n\"If the King had sent me to fetch the Princess Goldenhair, I am\ncertain she would have come,\" and these words were repeated to the\nKing in such a manner that they made him very angry, and he ordered\nAvenant to be shut up in a high tower, to die of hunger.\n\nIn this sad plight, Avenant exclaimed one day, \"How have I offended\nhis Majesty? He has no more faithful subject than I.\"\n\nThe King who happened to be passing by the tower, heard this; he\ncalled for Avenant to be brought forth who, throwing himself on his\nknees, begged to know in what way he had offended his royal master.\n\n\"You mocked me,\" said the King, \"you said that you would have\nsucceeded with the Princess Goldenhair where I have failed.\"\n\n\"It is true, sir,\" replied Avenant, \"I did say so, for I would have\nrepresented your noble qualities in such a way, that she could not\nhelp being persuaded.\"\n\nThe King was convinced of the young man's sincerity, and with a letter\nof introduction, Avenant set out for the Court of the goldenhaired\nbeauty, riding alone, according to his wish, and thinking as he went\nhow he best could woo the Princess for his beloved master.\n\nOne day, alighting from his horse to write down some suitable words\nthat had come into his mind, he saw a golden carp who, leaping from\nthe water to catch flies, had thrown herself upon the river bank, and\nwas now nearly dead.\n\nAvenant pitied the poor thing, and put her carefully back into\nthe water. Recovering directly, the carp dived to the bottom, but\nreturning to the edge of the river, said,\n\n\"Avenant, I thank you; you have saved my life, I will repay you;\" then\nshe swam off leaving the young man in great astonishment.\n\nAnother day as Avenant journeyed he noticed a raven who was pursued by\nan eagle. \"What right has that eagle to persecute the raven? thought\nAvenant, and he drew his bow and shot the fierce bird. The raven\nperched on a bough and cried.\n\n\"Avenant you have saved my life, I will not be ungrateful, I will\nrepay you.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nNot long after this, Avenant found an owl caught in a snare, he cut\nthe strings, and freed the trembling captive. \"Avenant,\" said the owl,\n\"you have saved my life, I will repay you.\"\n\nThese three adventures were the most important that befell Avenant,\nand he went on his way, shortly before he arrived at his destination\npurchasing a beautiful little dog named Cabriole.\n\nWhen Avenant reached the Palace of the Princess Goldenhair, and saw\nthe Princess seated upon her throne, she looked so lovely that at\nfirst all his fine speeches forsook him, and he could not utter a\nword; however, taking courage, he addressed her in exquisitely chosen\nlanguage, begging her to become the King's bride.\n\nTo this the Princess replied most graciously, saying that his petition\nmoved her more than any other could do, \"but know,\" she added, \"as I\nwas walking by the river a month ago, as I took off my glove, a ring,\nthat I greatly value, fell into the water, and I have vowed that I\nwill not heed any proposal of marriage, except from the ambassador who\nbrings me back my ring.\"\n\nSad at heart Avenant left the Palace, but his little dog, Cabriole,\nsaid, \"My dear master, do not despair, you are too good to be unhappy.\nEarly to-morrow morning let us go to the river-side.\" Avenant patted\nhim, but did not answer, and, still sad, fell asleep.\n\nAs soon as it was day, Cabriole awoke him saying, \"Dress yourself, my\nmaster, and come out.\"\n\nThey wandered down to the river, and there Avenant heard a voice\ncalling him, and what should he see but the golden carp, with the\nPrincess's ring in her mouth. \"Take it, dear Avenant,\" said she, \"I\npromised to repay you for saving my life, and now I can fulfil my\npromise.\"\n\nThanking her a thousand times, Avenant, going at once to the Palace,\nsaid, \"Princess, your command is fulfilled; may it please you to\nreceive the King, my master, as your husband.\"\n\nThe Princess thought she must be dreaming when she saw the ring, but\nshe set Avenant another task.\n\n\"Not far from here there is a prince named Galifron,\" said she; \"he\nwishes to marry me, and threatens to ravish my kingdom if I refuse;\nbut how can I accept him? He is a giant, taller than my highest tower,\nhe eats a man as a monkey would eat a chestnut, and when he speaks,\nhis voice is so loud that it deafens those who hear him. He will not\ntake my refusal, but kills my subjects. You must fight and bring me\nhis head.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Well, madam,\" replied Avenant, \"I will fight Galifron; I expect I\nshall be killed, but I shall die a brave man.\" And, taking Cabriole,\nAvenant set out for Galifron's country, asking news of the giant as he\nwent along, and the more he heard the more he feared him, but Cabriole\nreassured him. \"My dear master,\" said the little dog, \"while you are\nfighting him I will bite his legs, then he will stoop to chase me, and\nyou will kill him.\" Avenant admired the bravery of the little dog, but\nhe knew his help would not be sufficient.\n\nPresently they perceived how the roads were covered with the bones of\nthe men that Galifron had eaten, and soon they saw the giant coming\ntowards them through a wood. His head was higher than the highest\ntrees, and he sang in a terrific voice:\n\n      \"Where are the children small, so small,\n      With my teeth I will crush them all,\n      On so many would I feed, feed, feed.\n      The whole world can't supply my need.\"\n\nUsing the same tune, Avenant began to sing:\n\n      \"Look down, here is Avenant beneath, beneath\n      He will draw from your head, the teeth, the teeth\n      Although he is not very big, 'tis true,\n      He is able to fight with such as you.\"\n\nThe giant put himself into a terrible passion, and would have killed\nAvenant with one blow, only a raven from above flew at his head, and\npecked him straight in the eyes, so violently that he was blinded. He\nbegan striking out on all sides, but Avenant avoided his blows, and\nwith his sword pierced him so many times that at last he fell to the\nground. Then Avenant cut off his head, and the raven, who had perched\non a tree, said,\n\n\"I have not forgotten how you rescued me from the eagle; I promised to\nrepay you, I think I have done so to-day.\"\n\n\"I owe everything to you, Mr. Raven,\" responded Avenant, as, holding\nGalifron's head, he rode off.\n\nWhen he entered the town, crowds followed him crying, \"Here is the\nbrave Avenant who has slain the monster.\"\n\nAvenant advanced to the Princess, and said, \"Madam, your enemy is\ndead. I hope you will no more refuse the King, my master.\"\n\n\"Although it is so,\" answered the Princess, \"I shall refuse him unless\nyou will bring me some water from the Grotto of Darkness. At the\nentrance there are two dragons, with fire in their eyes and mouths;\ninside the grotto there is a deep pit into which you must descend, it\nis full of toads, scorpions, and serpents. At the bottom of this pit\nthere is a little cave where flows the fountain of beauty and health.\nPositively I must possess the water; all who wash in it, if they are\nbeautiful, continue so always, if they are ugly they become beautiful;\nif they are young they remain young, if they are old they regain their\nyouth. You cannot wonder, Avenant, that I will not leave my kingdom\nwithout taking it with me.\"\n\nSo once more Avenant and Cabriole set out; they journeyed on until\nthey came to a rock, black as ink, from which smoke was issuing, and\na moment later there appeared one of the dragons belching forth fire\nfrom his eyes and mouth. He was a frightful looking creature with a\ngreen and yellow body, and his tail was so long that it went into a\nhundred curves. Avenant saw all this, but resolved to die, he drew his\nsword, and, carrying the flask the Princess had given to him to hold\nthe water, he said to Cabriole:\n\n\"My days are ended, I can never obtain that water the dragons are\nguarding; when I am dead, fill this flask with my blood and carry it\nto the Princess, that she may know what it has cost me, then go to the\nKing, my master, and tell him of my misfortune.\"\n\nAs he was speaking, a voice called, \"Avenant, Avenant,\" and looking\naround he saw an owl. \"You saved my life from the fowlers,\" said the\nowl. \"I promised to repay you, the time has now come. Give me your\nflask. I will bring you the water of beauty.\"\n\nAnd carrying the flask, the owl entered the grotto, unhindered,\nreturning in less than a quarter of an hour with it full to the brim.\nAvenant thanked the owl heartily, and joyously started for the town,\nwhere he presented the flask to the Princess, who immediately gave\norders to prepare for her departure.\n\nBut as she considered Avenant altogether charming, before she set out,\nshe several times said to him: \"If you wish, we need not go, for I\nwill make you king of my country.\" But Avenant made reply:\n\n\"I would not displease my master for all the kingdoms of earth,\nalthough your beauty I consider greater than that of the sun.\"\n\nThus they arrived at the King's capital, and the wedding took place\namidst great rejoicings; but Princess Goldenhair, who loved Avenant\nfrom the depths of her heart, was not happy unless she could see him,\nand was for ever singing his praises. \"I should not have come, had it\nnot been for Avenant,\" she told the King, \"you ought to be very much\nobliged to him.\" Then the envious courtiers counselled the King, and\nAvenant was cast once more into the tower, chained hand and foot. When\nPrincess Goldenhair heard of this imprisonment, she fell on her knees\nbefore the King, and begged for Avenant's release; but he would not\nheed her, so that she became saddened and would speak no more.\n\nThen the King thought: \"Maybe I am not handsome enough to please her!\"\nso he determined to wash his face in the water of beauty.\n\nNow it had happened that a chamber-maid had broken the flask\ncontaining this wonderful water, so that it was all spilled; then,\nwithout saying anything to anyone, she had replaced it by a similar\nflask taken from the King's apartment, but the liquid in this flask\nwas really that which was used when the princes or great lords were\ncondemned to death, for, instead of being beheaded, their faces were\nwashed with this water and they fell asleep and did not wake again.\nAnd so the King using this water one evening, thinking it to be the\nbeauty water, and hoping and expecting to be made more handsome, went\nto sleep and awoke no more. Upon hearing what had occurred, Cabriole\nat once went and told Avenant, who asked him to go to the Princess\nGoldenhair and beseech her to remember the poor prisoner. When the\nPrincess received this message, she went straight to the tower, and,\nwith her own hands, struck off the chains that bound Avenant, and\nplacing a crown of gold upon his head, and a royal mantle upon his\nshoulders, said: \"Come, dear Avenant, I will make you King, and take\nyou for my husband.\" Then there was a grand wedding, and Princess\nGoldenhair and Avenant, with Cabriole, lived long, all of them happy\nand contented.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nLITTLE RED RIDING HOOD\n\n\nMany years ago there lived a dear little girl, who was beloved by\neveryone who knew her; but her grandmother was so very fond of her\nthat she never felt that she could think and do enough for her.\n\nOn her grand-daughter's birthday she presented her with a red silk\nhood; and as it suited her very well, she would never wear anything\nelse; and so she was called Little Red Riding Hood. One day her mother\nsaid to her, \"Come, Red Riding Hood, here is a nice piece of meat,\nand a bottle of wine: take these to your grandmother; she is weak and\nailing, and they will do her good. Be there before she gets up; go\nquietly and carefully; and do not run, or you may fall and break the\nbottle, and then your grandmother will have nothing. When you go into\nher room, do not forget to say 'Good-morning'; and do not pry into all\nthe corners.\" \"I will do just as you say,\" answered Red Riding Hood,\nbidding good-bye to her mother.\n\n[Illustration: _Painted by Jennie Harbour_\nLITTLE RED RIDING HOOD]\n\nThe grandmother lived far away in the wood, a long walk from the\nvillage, and as Little Red Riding Hood came among the trees she met a\nwolf; but she did not know what a wicked animal it was, and so she\nwas not at all frightened. \"Good-morning, Little Red Riding Hood,\" he\nsaid.\n\n\"Thank you, Mr. Wolf,\" she said.\n\n\"Where are you going so early, Little Red Riding Hood?\"\n\n\"To my grandmother's,\" she answered.\n\n\"And what are you carrying under your apron?\"\n\n\"Some wine and meat,\" she replied. \"We baked the meat yesterday, so\nthat grandmother, who is very weak, might have a nice strengthening\nmeal.\"\n\n\"And where does your grandmother live?\" asked the Wolf.\n\n\"Oh, quite twenty minutes' walk further in the forest. The cottage\nstands under three great oak trees; and close by are some nut bushes,\nby which you will at once know it.\"\n\nThe wolf was thinking to himself, \"She is a nice tender thing, and\nwill taste better than the old woman; I must act cleverly, that I may\nmake a meal of both.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"WHERE ARE YOU GOING SO EARLY, LITTLE RED RIDING\nHOOD.\"]\n\nPresently he came up again to Little Red Riding Hood and said. \"Just\nlook at the beautiful flowers which grow near you; why do you not look\nabout you? I believe you don't hear how sweetly the birds are singing.\nYou walk as if you were going to school; see how cheerful everything\nis around you in the forest.\"\n\nAnd Little Red Riding Hood opened her eyes; and when she saw how the\nsunbeams glanced and danced through the trees, and what bright flowers\nwere blooming in her path, she thought, \"If I take my grandmother a\nfresh nosegay she will be much pleased; and it is so very early that\nI can, even then, get there in good time:\" and running into the forest\nshe looked about for flowers. But when she had once begun she did\nnot know how to leave off, and kept going deeper and deeper among the\ntrees looking for some still more beautiful flower. The Wolf, however,\nran straight to the house of the old grandmother, and knocked at the\ndoor.\n\n\"Who's that?\" asked the old lady.\n\n\"Only little Red Riding Hood, bringing you some meat and wine; please\nopen the door,\" answered the Wolf.\n\n\"Lift up the latch,\" cried the grandmother; \"I am much too ill to get\nup myself.\"\n\nSo the Wolf lifted the latch, and the door flew open; and without a\nword he jumped on to the bed and gobbled up the poor old lady. Then he\nput on her clothes, and tied her night-cap over his head; got into the\nbed, and drew the blankets over him.\n\nAll this time Red Riding Hood was gathering flowers; and when she had\npicked as many as she could carry, she thought of her grandmother, and\nhurried to the cottage. She wondered very much to find the door\nopen; and when she got into the room, she began to feel very ill, and\nexclaimed, \"How sad I feel! I wish I had not come to-day.\" Then she\nsaid, \"Good morning,\" but received no reply; so she went up to the\nbed, and drew back the curtains, and there lay her grandmother as\nshe imagined, with the cap drawn half over her eyes and looking very\nfierce.\n\n\"Oh, grandmother, what great ears you have!\"\n\n\"All the better to hear you with,\" was the reply.\n\n\"And what great eyes you have!\"\n\n\"All the better to see you with.\"\n\n\"And what great hands you have!\"\n\n\"All the better to touch you with.\"\n\n\"But, grandmother, what very great teeth you have!\"\n\n\"All the better to eat you with;\" and hardly were the words spoken\nwhen the Wolf made a jump out of bed and swallowed down poor Little\nRed Riding Hood also.\n\nAs soon as he had thus satisfied his hunger, he laid himself down\nagain on the bed, and went to sleep and snored very loudly. A huntsman\npassing by overheard him, and said, \"How loudly that old woman snores!\nI must see if anything is the matter.\"\n\nSo he went into the cottage; and when he came to the bed, he saw the\nWolf sleeping in it.\n\n\"What! are you here, you old rascal? I have been looking for you,\"\nexclaimed he; and taking up his gun, he shot the old Wolf through the\nhead.\n\nBut it is also said that the story ends in a different manner; for\nthat one day, when Red Riding Hood was taking some presents to her\ngrandmother, a Wolf met her, and wanted to mislead her; but she went\nstraight on, and told her grandmother that she had met a Wolf, who\nsaid good-day; but he looked so hungrily out of his great eyes, as if\nhe would have eaten her up had she not been on the high road.\n\nSo her grandmother said, \"We will shut the door, and then he cannot\nget in.\"\n\nSoon after, up came the Wolf, who tapped, and exclaimed, \"I am Little\nRed Riding Hood, grandmother; I have some roast meat for you.\" But\nthey kept quite quiet, and did not open the door; so the Wolf, after\nlooking several times round the house, at last jumped on to the roof,\nthinking to wait till Red Riding Hood went home in the evening, and\nthen to creep after her and eat her in the darkness.\n\nThe old woman, however, saw what the villain intended. There stood\nbefore the door a large stone trough, and she said to Little Red\nRiding Hood, \"Take this bucket, dear: yesterday I boiled some meat in\nthis water, now pour it into the stone trough.\" Then the Wolf sniffed\nthe smell of the meat, and his mouth watered, and he wished very much\nto taste.\n\nAt last he stretched his neck too far over, so that he lost his\nbalance, and fell down from the roof, right into the great trough\nbelow, and there he was drowned.\n\n[Illustration: \"WITHOUT A WORD HE JUMPED ON TO THE BED AND GOBBLED UP\nTHE POOR OLD LADY.\"]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE WHITE FAWN\n\n\nThere was once upon a time a King and Queen who were perfectly happy,\nwith one exception, and that was that they had no child.\n\nOne day when the Queen was staying in a watering-place, some distance\nfrom home, she was sitting by a fountain alone, sadly thinking of the\ndaughter she longed to have, when she perceived a crab coming in her\ndirection, who, to the Queen's surprise, addressed her thus:\n\n\"Great Queen, if you will condescend to be conducted by a humble\ncrab, I will lead you to a Fairies' palace and your wish shall be\nfulfilled.\"\n\n\"I would certainly come with you,\" replied the Queen, \"but I am afraid\nthat I cannot walk backwards.\"\n\nThe crab smiled, and transforming herself into a beautiful little old\nwoman, said:\n\n\"Now, madam, it is not necessary to go backwards. Come with me, and\nI beg of you to look upon me as your friend.\" She then escorted the\nQueen to the most magnificent palace that could possibly be imagined,\nit was built entirely of diamonds.\n\nIn this superb place dwelt six Fairies who received the Queen with\nthe greatest respect, and each one presented her with a flower made of\nprecious stones--a rose, tulip, an anemone, a columbine, a violet, and\na carnation.\n\n\"Madam,\" they said, \"we have pleasure in telling you that soon you\nwill have a daughter whom you will name Desiree. Directly she arrives,\ndo not fail to call upon us, for we will bestow all sorts of good\ngifts upon her. You have only to hold this bouquet, and mention each\nflower, thinking of us, and be assured that we shall at once appear in\nyour chamber.\"\n\nThe Queen, transported with joy, and overcome with gratitude, threw\nherself upon their necks, and warmly embraced them; she then spent\nseveral hours admiring the wonders of the palace and its gardens, and\nit was not until evening that she returned to her attendants, who were\nin a serious state of anxiety at the prolonged absence of Her Majesty.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nNot very long afterwards, when the Queen was once more at home in her\nRoyal Palace, a baby Princess was born, whom she named Desiree. Then\ntaking the bouquet into her hand, the Queen, one by one, pronounced\nthe names of the flowers, when there immediately appeared, flying\nthrough the air in elegant chariots drawn by different kinds of birds,\nthe six Fairies who entered the apartment, bearing beautiful presents\nfor the little baby. Marvellously fine linen, but so strong that it\ncould be worn a hundred years without going into holes, lace of the\nfinest, with the history of the world worked into its pattern, toys\nof all descriptions that a child would love to play with, and a cradle\nornamented with rubies and diamonds, and supported by four Cupids\nready to rock it should the baby cry. But, best of all, the Fairies\nendowed the little Princess with beauty, and virtue, and health, and\nevery good thing that could be desired.\n\nThe Queen was thanking the Fairies a thousand times for all their\nfavours, when the door opened, and a crab appeared.\n\n\"Ungrateful Queen,\" said the crab, \"you have not deigned to remember\nme, the Fairy of the Fountain; and to punish your ingratitude, if the\nPrincess sees daylight before she is fifteen years old, she will have\ncause to repent it, and it may cost her her life. It was well I took\nthe form of a crab, for your friendship instead of advancing has gone\nbackwards.\" Then in spite of all the Queen and the Fairies could say,\nthe crab went backwards out of the door, leaving them in the saddest\nconsternation, and it was long before they could decide what was best\nto be done.\n\nThen, with three waves of a wand, the Fairies caused a high tower to\nspring up; it had neither door nor window, an underground passage was\nmade, through which everything necessary could be carried, and in\nthis tower the little Princess was shut up and there she lived by\ncandlelight, where never a glimpse of the sun could come.\n\nWhen the Princess Desiree was fourteen years old, the Queen had her\nportrait painted, and copies of it were carried to all the Courts\nin the world. All the Princes admired it greatly, but there was one\nPrince, named Guerrier, who loved it above everything; he used to\nstand before the picture and avow his passion, just as if it heard\nwhat he said, and at last he told the King, his father.\n\n\"You have resolved that I shall marry the Princess Noire, but this I\ncan never do, so great is my love for the Princess Desiree.\"\n\n\"But where have you seen her?\" enquired the King.\n\nThe Prince hastened to fetch her portrait, and the King was so greatly\nstruck by Desiree's beauty that he agreed to follow his son's wishes\nand break off his engagement with the Princess Noire, that he might\nwed the Princess Desiree. So the King despatched as ambassador a rich\nyoung lord named Becafigue.\n\nBecafigue was devoted to Prince Guerrier, and he fitted out a most\nsplendid retinue to visit the Princess Desiree's Court. Besides\nnumerous magnificent presents, Becafigue took with him the Prince's\nportrait, which had been painted by such a clever artist that it would\nspeak; it could not exactly answer questions, but could make certain\nremarks. It was truly a speaking likeness of the young Prince.\nDesiree's father and mother were delighted when they heard that the\nPrince Guerrier was seeking their daughter's hand in marriage, for\nthey knew him to be a brave and noble young man. But as it still\nwanted three months to the Princess's fifteenth year, warned by\nthe Fairy Tulip, who had taken Desiree under her special care, they\nrefused to let him see their daughter or to let her yet marry the\nPrince Guerrier, but they showed her the Prince's portrait, with\nwhich she was greatly pleased, and particularly when it said, \"Lovely\nDesiree, you cannot imagine how ardently I am waiting for you; come\nsoon into our Court to make it beautiful by your presence.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhen Prince Guerrier saw the ambassador return without Desiree, he\nwas so terribly disappointed that he could neither eat nor sleep, and\nbefore long fell dangerously ill.\n\nMeanwhile Desiree had no less pleasure in looking at the Prince's\nportrait than he had had admiring hers, and this was soon discovered\nby those around her, and among others Giroflee and Longue Epine, her\nmaids of honour. Giroflee loved her passionately and faithfully, but\nLongue Epine was full of envy of the Princess who was so good and\nbeautiful, and, besides Longue Epine, Desiree had another enemy,\nand that was the Princess Noire, to whom Prince Guerrier had been\nbetrothed. This Princess Noire now went to the Fairy of the Fountain,\nwho was her best friend, and begged her to take revenge upon Princess\nDesiree, and this the Fairy promised to do. Meanwhile once more\nBecafigue came to the capital where Desiree's father lived, and\nthrowing himself at the King's feet, besought him in most touching\nwords to let his daughter go with him at once to the Prince, who would\nsurely die if he could not behold her.\n\nWhen Princess Desiree heard of the Prince's illness, she suggested\nthat she should set out without delay, but in a dark carriage,\nthat only at night should be opened to give her food. This plan was\napproved of; the ambassador was told, and he departed full of joy. So\nin a carriage like a large dark box, shut up with her Lady in Waiting\nand her two Maids of Honour, Giroflee and Longue Epine, Princess\nDesiree departed for Prince Guerrier's Court.\n\nPerhaps you will remember that Longue Epine did not like Princess\nDesiree, but she greatly admired Prince Guerrier, for she had seen his\nportrait speaking, and she had told her mother, the Lady in Waiting,\nthat she should die if he married Desiree.\n\nThe King and Queen had begged the Lady in Waiting to take the greatest\nof care of their dear daughter, and above all to be heedful that she\ndid not see the light of day until her fifteenth birthday, saying that\nthe ambassador had promised that until then she should be placed where\nthere was no other light than that of candles. But now as they drew\nnear their destination, while it was broad daylight the wicked woman,\nurged by her envious daughter, Longue Epine, all at once took a large\nknife which she had brought for the purpose, and with it cut the\ncovering of the carriage.\n\nThen, for the first time, the Princess Desiree saw the light of day!!!\nHardly had she perceived it when, uttering a deep sigh, she threw\nherself from the carriage, and in the form of a white fawn fleetly\nfled into a forest near by.\n\nThe Fairy of the Fountain, who was the cause of this disaster seeing\nthat all who were accompanying the Princess were about to hasten to\nthe town to tell the Prince Guerrier what had happened, called up a\ngreat thunderstorm and scattered them in every direction. Only the\nLady in Waiting, Longue Epine and Giroflee were left, Giroflee, who\nran after her mistress, making the trees and rocks echo with her\nmournful calls. Then Longue Epine clothed herself in the rich bridal\nrobes provided for Desiree. She placed the crown upon her head, the\nsceptre and orb she carried in her hands, so that all should take her\nfor the Princess. With her mother bearing her train she gravely walked\nin the direction of the town.\n\n[Illustration: \"A GREAT THUNDERSTORM SCATTERED THEM IN EVERY\nDIRECTION.\"]\n\nThey had not gone far when a brilliant procession came towards them,\namongst whom was the sick Prince in a litter, and to those in advance\nLongue Epine announced that she was the Princess Desiree, with her\nLady in Waiting, but that a jealous Fairy had sent a thunderstorm\nwhich had destroyed her carriage and scattered her other attendants.\nWhen the Prince was told of this, he could not refrain from saying\nto the messengers: \"Now acknowledge, is she not truly a miracle of\nbeauty, a Princess beyond compare?\"\n\nNo one replied at first, and then one of the boldest said,\n\n\"Sir, you will see; apparently the fatigue of the journey has somewhat\nchanged her.\" The Prince was surprised, but when he saw Longue Epine\nwords fail to express what he felt.\n\nShe was so tall that it was alarming, and the garments of the Princess\nhardly came to her knees. She was frightfully thin, and her nose,\nwhich was more hooked than a parrot's beak, shone like a danger\nsignal. Then her teeth were black and uneven, and, in fact, she was as\nugly as Desiree was beautiful.\n\nAt first the Prince could not speak a word, he simply gazed at her\nin amazement. Then he said, turning to his father, \"We have been\ndeceived, that portrait was painted to mislead us. It will be the\ndeath of me.\"\n\n\"What do I hear, they have deceived you,\" fiercely exclaimed Longue\nEpine.\n\n\"It is not to be wondered at,\" remarked the King, \"that your father\nkept such a treasure shut up for fifteen years.\"\n\nThen he and the Prince turned towards the town, and the false Princess\nand the Lady in Waiting, without any ceremony, were mounted each\nbehind a soldier and taken to be shut up in a castle.\n\n[Illustration: _Painted by Jennie Harbour_\nTHE WHITE FAWN]\n\nSoon after his terrible disappointment, Prince Guerrier, unable to\nbear any longer the life at court, secretly departed from the palace\nwith his faithful friend Becafigue, leaving a letter for his father\nsaying he would return to him as soon as his mind was in a happier\nstate, and begging him meanwhile to keep the ugly Princess prisoner,\nand think of some revenge upon the deceitful king, her father.\n\nAfter three or four days' journeying, the wanderers found themselves\nin a thick forest. Quite wearied out, the Prince threw himself\nupon the ground, while Becafigue went on further in search of fruit\nwherewith to refresh his royal master.\n\nIt is a long time since we left the White Fawn, that is to say the\ncharming Princess.\n\nVery desolately she wept when in a stream she saw her figure\nreflected, and when night came she was in great fear, for she heard\nwild beasts about her, and sometimes forgetting she was a fawn she\nwould try to climb a tree. But with morning dawn she felt a little\nsafer, and the sun appeared a marvellous sight to her from which she\ncould hardly turn her eyes. But now the Fairy Tulip, who had always\nloved the Princess guided Giroflee's feet in her direction, and\nwhen the White Fawn saw her faithful Maid of Honour her delight was\nboundless.\n\nIt did not take Giroflee long to discover that this was her\ndearly-loved mistress, and she promised the White Fawn never to\nforsake her, for she found she could hear all that was said although\nshe could not speak. Towards night the fear of having no shelter made\nthe two friends so dreadfully dismayed that the Fairy Tulip suddenly\nappeared before them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I am not going to scold you,\" she said, \"although it is through not\nfollowing my advice that you are in this misfortune, for it goes to\nmy heart to see you thus. I cannot release you altogether from this\nenchantment, but I have power to shorten the time, and also to say\nthat during the night you may regain your rightful form, but by day\nagain must you run through the forest as a Fawn.\" The fairy also told\nthem where they could find a little hut in which to pass the nights.\nThen she disappeared. Giroflee and the Fawn walked in the direction\nthe Fairy had pointed out, and arrived at a neat little cottage where\nan old woman showed them a room which they could occupy.\n\nAs soon as it was night Desiree came to her rightful form, but when\nday appeared she was once more a Fawn and, escaping into the thicket,\ncommenced to run about in the ordinary way.\n\nYou have heard how Prince Guerrier rested in the forest while\nBecafigue searched for fruit; quite late in the evening Becafigue\narrived at the cottage of the good woman who had given shelter to\nGiroflee and the White Fawn. He addressed her politely and asked for\nthe things he required for his master. She hastened to fill a basket,\nand gave it to him, saying, \"I fear that if you pass a night without\nshelter some harm may come to you. I can offer you a poor one, but at\nany rate it is secure from the lions.\"\n\nBecafigue went back to the Prince and together they returned to the\ncottage, where they were led into the room next to that occupied by\nthe Princess.\n\nNext morning the Prince arose early and went out; he had not long been\nin the forest when he saw a beautiful little Fawn. Hunting had ever\nbeen his favourite pastime, and now he pursued the little creature.\nAll day long hither and thither he chased, but did not succeed in\ncapturing her, and as evening fell the Fawn slipped away and gained\nthe little hut where Giroflee anxiously awaited her, and on hearing\nher adventure the Maid of Honour told her she must never again venture\nout, but the Princess replied:\n\n\"It is no use talking thus, when I am a Fawn this room is stifling to\nme and I must depart from it.\"\n\nThe next day the young Prince sought in vain for the White Fawn, and\nfinally tired out threw himself upon the grass and fell asleep.\n\nWhile he lay there the little Fawn drew near and looking at him\nquietly, to her astonishment she recognised his features as those of\nthe Prince Guerrier. Coming nearer and nearer she presently touched\nhim and he awoke.\n\nHis surprise was great at seeing close by the shy little Fawn, who\nstayed not an instant longer but fled away, the Prince following.\n\n\"Stay, dear little Fawn,\" he cried, \"I would not hurt you for the\nworld.\" But the wind carried off the words before they reached her\nears. Long he chased the poor creature, till at last worn out the Fawn\nsank down on the ground and the Prince came up to her.\n\n\"Beautiful Fawn,\" said he, \"do not fear me, I shall lead you with\nme everywhere.\" Then he covered her with roses and fed her with the\nchoicest leaves and grasses.\n\nBut as evening drew near the Fawn longed to escape, for what would\nhappen should she suddenly change into a Princess there in the forest.\nPresently the Prince went to fetch some water for her, and while he\nwas gone she ran homewards. The next day for a long time she hid from\nthe Prince, but at last he found her, and as she dashed off he shot an\narrow which wounded her in the leg.\n\nSad that he should have done so cruel a thing, the Prince took herbs\nand laid them upon the wound, and at last he went to fetch Becafigue\nto help him carry her to the house. He tied her to a tree.\n\nAlas! Who would have thought that the most beautiful Princess in the\nworld would be treated thus? While she was straining at the ribbons\ntrying to break them, Giroflee arrived, and was leading her away when\nthe Prince met them and claimed the Fawn as his.\n\n\"Sir,\" politely replied Giroflee, \"the Fawn was mine before it was\nyours,\" and she spoke to the Fawn, and the Fawn obeyed her in such\na way that the Prince could not doubt that what she said was true.\nGiroflee then went on, and, to the surprise of the Prince and\nBecafigue, entered the old woman's house where they themselves lodged.\nThen Becafigue told the Prince that unless he was much mistaken the\nowner of the Fawn had lived with the Princess Desiree when he went\nthere as ambassador.\n\n\"I mean to see her again,\" said Becafigue, \"there is only a partition\nbetween her room and ours.\" And soon he had made a hole large enough\nto peep through, and through it he saw the charming Princess dressed\nin a robe of brocaded silver, with flowers embroidered in gold and\nemeralds, her hair falling in heavy masses on the most beautiful neck\nin the world. Giroflee was on her knees before her, bandaging up\none arm from which the blood was flowing. They both seemed greatly\nconcerned about the wound: \"Let me die,\" the Princess was saying,\n\"death would be better than the life which I lead. To be a Fawn all\nthe day, to hear him speaking, and not to be able to tell him of my\nsad fate.\"\n\nOne can guess the astonishment of Becafigue and of the Prince.\nGuerrier would almost have died of pleasure had he not thought that\nit must be some enchantment, for did he not know that Desiree and her\nLady in Waiting were shut up in the castle.\n\nHe went softly and knocked at the chamber door, which Giroflee opened,\nthinking it was the old woman, for she required help for the wounded\narm.\n\nThe Prince entered, threw himself at Desiree's feet, and found she was\nindeed his Princess.\n\nGreat was their joy thus at last meeting, and while they were talking\nto each other the night passed, and the day dawned, and daylight came,\nand the morning sun shone brightly before Desiree had time to notice\nthat she had not again taken the shape of a Fawn, but was her own\nbeautiful self.\n\nThen it was found that it was the Fairy Tulip in disguise of the old\nwoman who had provided that sheltering cottage in the forest.\n\nThe joy of the King upon once more seeing his son can well be\nimagined, and the marriage of the Prince and Desiree, and Becafigue\nand Giroflee took place on the same day, the Fairies giving their\ndiamond palace as their wedding present to Princess Desiree, and Fairy\nTulip presenting four gold mines in the Indies to Giroflee.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnd, in accordance with the wish of Princess Desiree, Longue Epine and\nher mother, the false Lady in Waiting, were set at liberty.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nHANSEL AND GRETHEL\n\n\nOnce upon a time there dwelt near a large wood a poor wood cutter,\nwith his wife, and two children by his former marriage, a little boy\ncalled Hansel, and a girl named Grethel. He had little enough to break\nor bite; and once, when there was a great famine in the land, he could\nhardly procure even his daily bread; and as he lay thinking in his bed\none night, he sighed, and said to his wife, \"What will become of us?\nHow can we feed our children, when we have no more than we can eat\nourselves?\"\n\n\"Know then, my husband,\" answered she, \"we will lead them away, quite\nearly in the morning, into the thickest part of the wood, and there\nmake them a fire, and give them each a little piece of bread, then we\nwill go to our work, and leave them alone, so they will not find the\nway home again, and we shall be freed from them.\"\n\n\"No, wife,\" replied he, \"that I can never do; how can you bring your\nheart to leave my children all alone in the wood; for the wild beasts\nwill soon come and tear them to pieces?\"\n\n\"Oh, you simpleton!\" said she, \"then we must all four die of hunger;\nyou had better plane the coffins for us.\" But she left him no peace\ntill he consented, saying, \"Ah, but I shall miss the poor children.\"\n\nThe two children, however, had not gone to sleep, for very hunger, and\nso they overheard what the stepmother said to their father. Grethel\nwept bitterly, and said to Hansel, \"What will become of us?\"\n\n\"Be quiet, Grethel,\" said he; \"do not cry--I will help you.\" And as\nsoon as their parents had gone to sleep, he got up, put on his coat,\nand, unbarring the back door, went out. The moon shone brightly, and\nthe white pebbles which lay before the door seemed like silver pieces,\nthey glittered so brightly. Hansel stooped down, and put as many into\nhis pocket as it would hold; and then going back he said to Grethel,\n\"Be of good cheer, dear sister, and sleep in peace; God will not\nforsake us.\" And so saying, he went to bed again.\n\nThe next morning, before the sun arose, the wife went and awoke the\ntwo children. \"Get up, you lazy things; we are going into the forest\nto chop wood.\" Then she gave them each a piece of bread, saying,\n\"There is something for your dinner; do not eat it before the time,\nfor you will get nothing else.\" Grethel took the bread in her apron,\nfor Hansel's pocket was full of pebbles; and so they all set out upon\ntheir way. When they had gone a little distance, Hansel stood still,\nand peeped back at the house; and this he repeated several times, till\nhis father said, \"Hansel, what are you looking at, and why do you lag\nbehind? Take care, and remember your legs.\"\n\n\"Ah, father,\" said Hansel, \"I am looking at my white cat sitting upon\nthe roof of the house, and trying to say good-bye.\"\n\n\"You simpleton!\" said the wife, \"that is not a cat; it is only the sun\nshining on the white chimney.\" But in reality Hansel was not looking\nat a cat; but every time he stopped, he dropped a pebble out of his\npocket upon the path.\n\nWhen they came to the middle of the forest, the father told the\nchildren to collect wood, and he would make them a fire, so that they\nshould not be cold. So Hansel and Grethel gathered together quite a\nlittle mount of twigs. Then they set fire to them; and as the flame\nburnt up high, the wife said, \"Now, you children, lie down near the\nfire, and rest yourselves, whilst we go into the forest and chop more\nwood; when we are ready we will come and call you.\"\n\nHansel and Grethel sat down by the fire, and when it was noon, each\nate the piece of bread; and because they could hear the blows of an\naxe they thought their father was near; but it was not an axe, but a\nbranch which he had bound to an old tree, so as to be blown to and fro\nby the wind. They waited so long, that at last their eyes closed from\nweariness, and they fell fast asleep. When they awoke, it was quite\ndark, and Grethel began to cry. \"How shall we get out of the wood?\"\nBut Hansel tried to comfort her by saying, \"Wait a little while till\nthe moon rises, and then we will quickly find the way.\" The moon shone\nforth, and Hansel, taking his sister's hand, followed the pebbles,\nwhich glittered like new-coined silver pieces, and showed them the\nway. All night long they walked on, and as day broke they came to\ntheir father's house. They knocked at the door, and when the wife\nopened it, and saw Hansel and Grethel, she exclaimed, \"You wicked\nchildren! Why did you sleep so long in the wood? We thought you were\nnever coming home again.\" But their father was extremely glad, for it\nhad grieved his heart to leave them all alone.\n\n[Illustration: \"HANSEL AND GRETHEL SAT DOWN BY THE FIRE.\"]\n\nNot long afterwards there was again great scarcity in every corner of\nthe land; and one night the children overheard their mother saying to\ntheir father, \"Everything is once more consumed; we have only half a\nloaf left, and then the song is ended: the children must be sent away.\nWe will take them deeper into the wood, so that they may not find the\nway out again; it is the only means of escape for us.\"\n\nBut her husband felt heavy at heart, and thought, \"It were better\nto share the last crust with the children.\" His wife, however, would\nlisten to nothing that he said, and scolded and reproached him without\nend.\n\nHe who says A must say B too; and he who consents the first time must\nalso the second.\n\nThe children, however, had heard the conversation as they lay awake,\nand as soon as their parents went to sleep Hansel got up, intending to\npick up some pebbles as before; but the wife had locked the door, so\nthat he could not get out. Nevertheless he comforted Grethel, saying,\n\"Do not weep; sleep in quiet; the good God will not forsake us.\"\n\nEarly in the morning the stepmother came and pulled them out of bed,\nand gave them each a slice of bread, which was still smaller than the\nformer piece. On the way Hansel broke his in his pocket, and stopping\nevery now and then, dropped a crumb upon the path. \"Hansel, why do\nyou stop and look about?\" said the father, \"keep in the path.\" \"I am\nlooking at my little dove,\" answered Hansel, \"nodding a good-bye to\nme.\" \"Simpleton!\" said the wife, \"that is no dove, but only the sun\nshining on the chimney.\" But Hansel kept still dropping crumbs as he\nwent along.\n\nThe mother led the children deep into the wood, where they had never\nbeen before, and there making a gigantic fire, she said to them, \"Sit\ndown here and rest, and when you feel tired you can sleep for a little\nwhile. We are going into the forest to hew wood, and in the evening,\nwhen we are ready, we will come and fetch you again.\"\n\nWhen noon came, Grethel shared her bread with Hansel, who had strewn\nhis on the path. They then went to sleep; but the evening arrived and\nno one came to visit the poor children, and in the dark night they\nawoke, and Hansel comforted his sister by saying, \"Only wait, Grethel,\ntill the moon comes out, then we shall see the crumbs of bread which I\nhave dropped, and they will show us the way home.\" The moon shone and\nthey got up, but they could not see any crumbs, for the thousands of\nbirds which had been flying about in the woods and fields had picked\nthem all up. Hansel kept saying to Grethel, \"We will soon find the\nway;\" but they did not, and they walked the whole night long and the\nnext day, but still they did not come out of the wood; and they got\nvery hungry, for they had nothing to eat but the berries which they\nfound upon the bushes. Soon they were so tired that they could not\ndrag themselves along, then they lay down under a tree and again went\nto sleep.\n\n[Illustration: _Painted by Jennie Harbour_\nHANSEL AND GRETHEL]\n\nIt was now the third morning since they had left their father's house,\nand they still walked on; but they only got deeper, and deeper, and\ndeeper into the wood, and Hansel felt that if help did not come\nvery soon they must die of hunger. As soon as it was noon they saw a\nbeautiful, snow-white bird sitting upon a bough, singing so sweetly\nthat they stood still and listened to it. It soon ceased, and\nspreading its wings flew off; and they followed it until it arrived at\na cottage, upon the roof of which it perched; and when they went close\nup to it they saw that the cottage was made of bread and cakes, and\nthe window-panes were of clear sugar.\n\n\"We will go in here,\" said Hansel, \"and have a glorious feast. I will\neat a piece of the roof, and you can eat the window. Will they not be\nsweet?\" So Hansel reached up and broke a piece off the roof, in order\nto see how it tasted; while Grethel stepped up to the window and\nbegan to bite it. Then a sweet voice called out in the room, \"Tip-tap,\ntip-tap, who knocks at my door?\" and the children answered, \"The\nwind, the wind, the child of heaven;\" and they went on eating without\ninterruption. Hansel thought the roof tasted very nice, and so he tore\noff a great piece; while Grethel broke a large round pane out of the\nwindow, and sat down quite contentedly. Just then the door opened, and\na very old woman, walking upon crutches, came out. Hansel and Grethel\nwere so much frightened that they let fall what they had in their\nhands; but the old woman nodding her head, said, \"Ah, you dear\nchildren, what has brought you here? Come in and stop with me, and no\nharm shall come to you;\" and so saying she took them both by the hand,\nand led them into her cottage. A good meal of milk and pancakes, with\nsugar, apples and nuts, was spread on the table, and in the back\nroom were two nice little beds, covered with white, where Hansel and\nGrethel laid themselves down, and were happy as could be. The old\nwoman behaved very kindly to them, but in reality she was a wicked\nold witch who way-laid children, and built the breadhouse in order to\nentice them in; but as soon as they were in her power she killed them,\ncooked and ate them, and made a great festival of the day. Witches\nhave red eyes, and cannot see very far; but they have a fine sense of\nsmelling, like wild beasts, so that they know when children approach\nthem. When Hansel and Grethel came near the witch's house she laughed\nwickedly, saying, \"Here come two who shall not escape me.\" And early\nin the morning, before they awoke, she went up to them, and saw how\nlovingly they lay sleeping, with their chubby red cheeks; and she\nmumbled to herself, \"That will be a good bite.\" Then she took up\nHansel with her rough hand, and shut him up in a little cage with\na lattice-door; and although he screamed loudly it was of no use.\nGrethel came next, and shaking her till she awoke, she said, \"Get up,\nyou lazy brat, and fetch some water to cook something good for your\nbrother, who must remain in that stall and get fat; and when he is fat\nenough I shall eat him.\" Grethel began to cry, but it was all useless,\nfor the old witch made her do as she wanted. So a nice meal was cooked\nfor Hansel, but Grethel got nothing else but a crab's claw.\n\nEvery morning the old witch came to the cage and said, \"Hansel,\nstretch out your finger that I may feel whether you are getting fat.\"\nBut Hansel used to stretch out a bone, and the old woman, having very\nbad sight, thought it was his finger, and wondered very much why he\ndid not get fat. When four weeks had passed, and Hansel still kept\nquite lean, she lost all her patience, and would not wait any longer.\n\"Grethel,\" she cried in a passion, \"get some water quickly; be Hansel\nfat or lean, this morning I will kill and cook him.\" Oh, how the poor\nlittle sister grieved, as she was forced to fetch the water, and\nfast the tears ran down her cheeks! \"Dear good God, help us now!\" she\nprayed. \"Had we only been eaten by the wild beasts in the wood, then\nwe should have died together.\" But the old witch called out, \"Leave\noff that noise; it will not help you a bit.\"\n\nSo early in the morning Grethel was compelled to go out and fill the\nkettle, and make a fire. \"First, we will bake, however,\" said the old\nwoman; \"I have already heated the oven and kneaded the dough;\" and\nso saying, she pushed poor Grethel up to the oven, out of which the\nflames were burning fiercely. \"Creep in,\" said the witch, \"and see if\nit is hot enough, and then we will put in the bread,\" but she intended\nwhen Grethel got in, to shut up the oven and let her bake, so that she\nmight eat her as well as Hansel. Grethel perceived her wicked thoughts\nand said, \"I do not know how to do it; how shall I get in?\" \"You\nstupid goose,\" said she, \"the opening is big enough. See, I could even\nget in myself!\" and she got up, and put her head into the oven. Then\nGrethel gave her a push, so that she fell right in, and shutting the\niron door bolted it. Oh! how horribly the witch howled; but Grethel\nran away, and left her to burn to ashes.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow she ran to Hansel, and, opening the door, called out, \"Hansel we\nare saved; the old witch is dead?\"\n\nSo he sprang out, like a bird from his cage when the door was opened;\nand they were so glad that they fell upon each other's neck, and\nkissed each other over and over again. And now, as there was nothing\nto fear, they went back to the witch's house, where in every corner\nwere caskets full of pearls and precious stones. \"These are better\nthan pebbles,\" said Hansel, putting as many into his pocket as it\nwould hold; while Grethel thought, \"I will take some home too,\" and\nfilled her apron full.\n\n\"We must be off now,\" said Hansel, \"and get out of this enchanted\nforest;\" but when they had walked for two hours they came to a large\npiece of water.\n\n\"We cannot get over,\" said Hansel; \"I can see no bridge at all.\" \"And\nthere is no boat either,\" said Grethel, \"but there swims a white duck,\nI will ask her to help us over;\" and she sang,\n\n      \"Little Duck, good little Duck,\n      Grethel and Hansel, together we stand;\n      There is neither stile nor bridge,\n      Take us on your back to land.\"\n\nSo the Duck came to them, and Hansel sat himself on, and bade his\nsister sit beside him. \"No,\" replied Grethel, \"that will be too much\nfor the Duck, she shall take us over one at a time.\" This the good\nlittle bird did, and when both were happily arrived on the other side,\nand had gone a little way, they came to a well-known wood, which they\nknew the better every step they went, and at last they perceived their\nfather's house. Then they began to run, and rushing into the house,\nthey fell upon their father's neck. He had not had one happy hour\nsince he had left the children in the forest; and his wife was dead.\nGrethel shook her apron, and the pearls and precious stones rolled out\nupon the floor, and Hansel threw down one handful after the other\nout of his pocket. Then all their sorrows were ended, and they lived\ntogether in great happiness.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nSNOW-WHITE AND ROSE-RED\n\n\nA poor widow once lived in a little cottage. In front of the cottage\nwas a garden, in which were growing two rose trees; one of these bore\nwhite roses, and the other red.\n\nShe had two children, who resembled the rose trees. One was called\nSnow-White, and the other Rose-Red; and they were as religious and\nloving, busy and untiring, as any two children ever were.\n\nSnow-White was more gentle, and quieter than her sister, who liked\nbetter skipping about the fields, seeking flowers, and catching summer\nbirds; while Snow-White stayed at home with her mother, either helping\nher in her work, or, when that was done, reading aloud.\n\nThe two children had the greatest affection the one for the other.\nThey were always seen hand in hand; and should Snow-White say to her\nsister, \"We will never separate,\" the other would reply, \"Not while\nwe live,\" the mother adding, \"That which one has, let her always share\nwith the other.\"\n\nThey constantly ran together in the woods, collecting ripe berries;\nbut not a single animal would have injured them; quite the reverse,\nthey all felt the greatest esteem for the young creatures. The hare\ncame to eat parsley from their hands, the deer grazed by their side,\nthe stag bounded past them unheeding; the birds, likewise, did not\nstir from the bough, but sang in entire security. No mischance befell\nthem; if benighted in the wood, they lay down on the moss to repose\nand sleep till the morning; and their mother was satisfied as to their\nsafety, and felt no fear about them.\n\nOnce, when they had spent the night in the wood, and the bright\nsunrise awoke them, they saw a beautiful child, in a snow-white\nrobe, shining like diamonds, sitting close to the spot where they had\nreposed. She arose when they opened their eyes, and looked kindly at\nthem; but said no word, and passed from their sight into the wood.\nWhen the children looked around they saw they had been sleeping on\nthe edge of a precipice, and would surely have fallen over if they had\ngone forward two steps further in the darkness. Their mother said\nthe beautiful child must have been the angel who watches over good\nchildren.\n\nSnow-White and Rose-Red kept their mother's cottage so clean that it\ngave pleasure only to look in. In summer-time Rose-Red attended to the\nhouse, and every morning, before her mother awoke, placed by her bed\na bouquet which had in it a rose from each of the rose-trees. In\nwinter-time Snow-White set light to the fire, and put on the kettle,\nafter polishing it until it was like gold for brightness. In the\nevening, when snow was falling, her mother would bid her bolt the\ndoor, and then, sitting by the hearth, the good widow would read aloud\nto them from a big book while the little girls were spinning. Close\nby them lay a lamb, and a white pigeon, with its head tucked under its\nwing, was on a perch behind.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOne evening, as they were all sitting cosily together like this, there\nwas a knock at the door, as if someone wished to come in.\n\n\"Make haste, Rose-Red!\" said her mother; \"open the door; it is surely\nsome traveller seeking shelter.\" Rose-Red accordingly pulled back the\nbolt, expecting to see some poor man. But it was nothing of the kind;\nit was a bear, that thrust his big head in at the open door. Rose-Red\ncried out and sprang back, the lamb bleated, the dove fluttered her\nwings and Snow-White hid herself behind her mother's bed. The bear\nbegan speaking, and said, \"Do not be afraid: I will not do you any\nharm; I am half-frozen, and would like to warm myself a little at your\nfire.\"\n\n\"Poor bear!\" the mother replied; \"come in and lie by the fire; only be\ncareful that your hair is not burnt.\" Then she called Snow-White and\nRose-Red, telling them that the bear was kind, and would not harm\nthem. They came, as she bade them, and presently the lamb and the dove\ndrew near also without fear.\n\n\"Children,\" begged the bear; \"knock some of the snow off my coat.\" So\nthey brought the broom and brushed the bear's coat quite clean.\n\nAfter that he stretched himself out in front of the fire, and pleased\nhimself by growling a little, only to show that he was happy and\ncomfortable. Before long they were all quite good friends, and the\nchildren began to play with their unlooked for visitor, pulling his\nthick fur, or placing their feet on his back, or rolling him over and\nover. Then they took a slender hazel twig, using it upon his thick\ncoat, and they laughed when he growled. The bear permitted them to\namuse themselves in this way, only occasionally calling out, when it\nwent a little too far, \"Children, spare me an inch of life!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhen it was night, and all were making ready to go to bed, the widow\ntold the bear, \"You may stay here and lie by the hearth, if you like,\nso that you will be sheltered from the cold and from the bad weather.\"\n\nThe offer was accepted, but when morning came, as the day broke in\nthe east, the two children let him out, and over the snow he went back\ninto the wood.\n\nAfter this, every evening at the same time the bear came, lay by the\nfire, and allowed the children to play with him; so they became quite\nfond of their curious playmate, and the door was not ever bolted in\nthe evening until he had appeared.\n\nWhen springtime came, and all around began to look green and bright,\none morning the bear said to Snow-White, \"Now I must leave you, and\nall the summer long I shall not be able to come back.\"\n\n\"Where, then, are you going, dear bear?\" asked Snow-White. \"I have to\ngo to the woods to protect my treasure from the bad dwarfs. In winter\ntime when the earth is frozen hard, they must remain underground, and\ncannot make their way through; but now that the sunshine has thawed\nthe earth they can come to the surface, and whatever gets into their\nhands, or is brought to their caves, seldom, if ever, again sees\ndaylight.\"\n\nSnow-White was very sad when she said good-bye to the good-natured\nbeast, and unfastened the door, that he might go; but in going out he\nwas caught by a hook in the lintel, and a scrap of his fur being torn,\nSnow-White thought there was something shining like gold through the\nrent; but he went out so quickly that she could not feel certain what\nit was, and soon he was hidden among the trees.\n\nOne day the mother sent her children into the wood to pick up sticks.\nThey found a big tree lying on the ground. It had been felled, and\ntowards the roots they noticed something skipping and springing, which\nthey could not make out, as it was sometimes hidden in the grasses. As\nthey came nearer they could see it was a dwarf, with a shrivelled up\nface and a snow-white beard an ell long. The beard was fixed in a gash\nin the tree trunk, and the tiny fellow was hopping to and fro, like a\ndog at the end of a string, but he could not manage to free himself.\nHe stared at the children, with his red, fiery eyes, and called out,\n\"Why are you standing there? Can't you come and try to help me?\"\n\n\"What were you doing, little fellow?\" enquired Rose-Red.\n\n\"Stupid, inquisitive goose!\" replied the dwarf; \"I meant to split the\ntrunk, so that I could chop it up for kitchen sticks; big logs would\nburn up the small quantity of food we cook, for people like us do\nnot consume great heaps of food, as you heavy, greedy folk do.\nThe bill-hook I had driven in, and soon I should have done what\nI required; but the tool suddenly sprang from the cleft, which so\nquickly shut up again that it caught my handsome white beard; and\nhere I must stop, for I cannot set myself free. You stupid, pale-faced\ncreatures! You laugh, do you?\"\n\nIn spite of the dwarf's bad temper, the girls took all possible pains\nto release the little man, but without avail; the beard could not be\nmoved, it was wedged too tightly.\n\n\"I will run and get someone else,\" said Rose-Red.\n\n\"Idiot!\" cried the dwarf. \"Who would go and get more people? Already\nthere are two too many. Can't you think of something better?\"\n\n\"Don't be so impatient,\" said Snow-White. \"I will try to think.\" She\nclapped her hands as if she had discovered a remedy, took out her\nscissors, and in a moment set the dwarf free by cutting off the end of\nhis beard.\n\nImmediately the dwarf felt that he was free he seized a sackful\nof gold that was hidden among the tree roots, and, lifting it up,\ngrumbled out, \"Clumsy creatures, to cut off a bit of my beautiful\nbeard, of which I am so proud! I leave the cuckoos to pay you for what\nyou did.\" Saying this, he swung the sack across his shoulder and went\noff without even casting a glance at the children.\n\nNot long afterwards the two sisters went to angle in the brook,\nmeaning to catch fish for dinner. As they were drawing near the water\nthey perceived something, looking like a large grasshopper, springing\ntowards the stream, as if it were going in. They hurried up to see\nwhat it might be, and found that it was the dwarf. \"Where are you\ngoing?\" said Rose-Red. \"Surely you will not jump into the water?\"\n\n\"I'm not such a simpleton as that!\" yelled the little man. \"Don't you\nsee that a wretch of a fish is pulling me in?\"\n\nThe dwarf had been sitting angling from the side of the stream when,\nby ill-luck, the wind had entangled his beard in his line, and just\nafterwards a big fish taking the bait, the unamiable little fellow had\nnot sufficient strength to pull it out; so the fish had the advantage,\nand was dragging the dwarf after it. Certainly he caught at every\nstalk and spray near him, but that did not assist him greatly; he was\nforced to follow all the twistings of the fish, and was perpetually in\ndanger of being drawn into the brook.\n\nThe girls arrived just in time. They caught hold of him firmly, and\nendeavoured to untwist his beard from the line, but in vain; it was\ntoo tightly entangled. There was nothing left but again to make use of\nthe scissors; so they were taken out, and the tangled portion was cut\noff.\n\nWhen the dwarf noticed what they were about, he exclaimed, in a great\nrage, \"Is this how you damage my beard? Not content with making it\nshorter before, you are now making it still smaller, and completely\nspoiling it. I shall not ever dare to show my face to my friends.\nI wish you had missed your way before you took this road.\" Then he\nfetched a sack of pearls that lay among the rushes, and saying not\nanother word, hobbled off and disappeared behind a large stone.\n\nSoon after this it chanced that the poor widow sent her children to\nthe town to purchase cotton, needles, ribbon and tape. The way to the\ntown ran over a common on which in every direction large masses\nof rocks were scattered about. The children's attention was soon\nattracted to a big bird that hovered in the air. They remarked that\nafter circling slowly for a time, and gradually getting nearer to\nthe ground, it all of a sudden pounced down amongst a mass of rock.\nInstantly a heart-rending cry reached their ears, and, running quickly\nto the place, they saw, with horror, that the eagle had seized their\nformer acquaintance, the dwarf, and was just about to carry him off.\nThe kind children did not hesitate for an instant. They took a firm\nhold of the little man, they strove so stoutly with the eagle for\npossession of his contemplated prey, that, after much rough treatment\non both sides, the dwarf was left in the hands of his brave little\nfriends, and the eagle took to flight.\n\nAs soon as the little man had in some measure recovered from his\nalarm, his small, squeaky, cracked voice was heard saying, \"Couldn't\nyou have held me more gently? See my little coat; you have rent and\ndamaged it in a fine manner, you clumsy, officious things!\" Then he\npicked up a sack of jewels, and slipped out of sight behind a piece of\nrock.\n\nThe maidens by this time were quite used to his ungrateful, ungracious\nways; so they took no notice of it, but went on their way, made their\npurchases, and then were ready to return to their happy home.\n\n[Illustration: _Painted by Jennie Harbour_\nSNOW-WHITE AND ROSE-RED]\n\nOn their way back, suddenly, once more they ran across their dwarf\nfriend.\n\nUpon a clear space he had turned out his sack of jewels, so that he\ncould count and admire them, for he had not imagined that anybody\nwould at so late an hour be coming across the common. The setting sun\nwas shining upon the brilliant stones, and their changing hues and\nsparkling rays caused the children to pause to admire them also.\n\n\"What are you gazing at?\" cried the dwarf, at the same time becoming\nred with rage; \"and what are you standing there for, making ugly\nfaces?\"\n\nIt is probable that he might have proceeded in the same complimentary\nmanner, but suddenly a great growl was heard near by them, and a big\nbear joined the party. Up jumped the dwarf in extremest terror, but\ncould not get to his hiding-place, the bear was too close to him; so\nhe cried out in very evident anguish--\n\n\"Dear Mr. Bear, forgive me, I pray! I will render to you all my\ntreasure. Just see those precious stones lying there! Grant me my\nlife! What would you do with such an insignificant little fellow?\nYou would not notice me between your teeth. See, though, those\ntwo children, they would be delicate morsels, and are as plump as\npartridges; I beg of you to take them, good Mr. Bear, and let me go.\"\n\nBut the bear would not be moved by his speeches. He gave the\nill-disposed creature a blow with his paw, and he lay lifeless on the\nground. Meanwhile, the maidens were running away, making off for home\nas well as they could; but all of a sudden they were stopped by a\nwell-known voice that called out, \"Snow-White, Rose-Red, stay! Do not\nfear. I will accompany you.\"\n\nThe bear quickly came towards them, but as he reached their side,\nsuddenly the bear-skin slipped to the ground, and there before them\nwas standing a handsome man, completely garmented in gold, who said,\n\"I am a king's son, who was enchanted by the wicked dwarf lying\nover there. He stole my treasure, and compelled me to roam the woods\ntransformed into a big bear until his death should set me free.\nTherefore he has only received a well-deserved punishment.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"THE BEARSKIN SLIPPED TO THE GROUND.\"]\n\nThen Rose-Red and Snow-White and the Prince all went back to the\ncottage, and some time afterwards Snow-White married the Prince, and\nRose-Red, his brother, who shared between them the enormous treasure\nwhich the dwarf had collected in his cave.\n\nThe old mother spent many happy years with her children. The two\nrose-trees she took with her when she left the cottage, and they grew\nin front of her window, where they continued to bear each year the\nmost beautiful roses, red and white.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE SLEEPING BEAUTY\n\n\nOnce upon a time there lived a king and queen who had no children; and\nthis they lamented very much. But one day, as the queen was walking by\nthe side of the river, a little fish lifted its head out of the water,\nand said, \"Your wish shall be fulfilled, and you shall soon have a\ndaughter.\"\n\nWhat the little fish had foretold soon came to pass; and the Queen had\na little girl who was so very beautiful that the king could not cease\nlooking on her for joy, and determined to hold a great feast. So he\ninvited not only his relations, friends, and neighbours, but also all\nthe fairies, that they might be kind and good to his little daughter.\nNow there were thirteen fairies in his kingdom, and he had only twelve\ngolden dishes for them to eat out of, so that he was obliged to leave\none of the fairies without an invitation. The rest came, and after the\nfeast was over they gave all their best gifts to the little princess;\none gave her virtue, another beauty, another riches, and so on till\nshe had all that was excellent in the world. When eleven had done\nblessing her, the thirteenth, who had not been invited, and was very\nangry on that account, came in, and determined to take her revenge.\nSo she cried out, \"The King's daughter shall in her fifteenth year be\nwounded by a spindle, and fall down dead.\" Then the twelfth, who had\nnot yet given her gift, came forward and said that the bad wish\nmust be fulfilled, but that she could soften it, and that the king's\ndaughter should not die, but fall asleep for a hundred years.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut the king hoped to save his dear child from the threatened evil,\nand ordered that all the spindles in the kingdom should be bought up\nand destroyed. All the fairies' gifts were in the meantime fulfilled;\nfor the princess was so beautiful, and well-behaved, and amiable, and\nwise, that everyone who knew her loved her. Now it happened that on\nthe very day she was fifteen years old the king and queen were not\nat home, and she was left alone in the palace. So she roved about by\nherself, and poked at all the rooms and chambers, till at last she\ncame to an old tower, to which there was a narrow staircase ending\nwith a little door. In the door there was a golden key, and when she\nturned it the door sprang open, and there sat an old lady spinning\naway very busily.\n\n\"Why, how now, good mother,\" said the princess, \"what are you doing\nthere?\"\n\n\"Spinning,\" said the old lady, and nodded her head.\n\n\"How prettily that little thing turns round!\" said the princess, and\ntook the spindle and began to spin. But scarcely had she touched it\nbefore the prophecy was fulfilled, and she fell down, as if lifeless,\non the ground.\n\nHowever, she was not dead, but had only fallen into a deep sleep; and\nthe king and queen, who just then came home, and all their court, fell\nasleep too, and the horses slept in the stables, and the dogs in the\ncourt, the pigeons on the house-top, and the flies on the walls. Even\nthe fire on the hearth left off blazing, and went to sleep; and the\nmeat that was roasting stood still; and the cook, who was at that\nmoment pulling the kitchen-boy by the hair to give him a box on the\near for something he had done amiss, let him go, and both fell asleep;\nand so everything stood still, and slept soundly.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA large hedge of thorns soon grew around the palace, and every year it\nbecame higher and thicker, till at last the whole place was surrounded\nand hidden, so that not even the roof or the chimneys could be seen.\nBut there went a report, through all the land, of the beautiful\nsleeping Briar Rose (for so was the king's daughter called) so that\nfrom time to time several kings' sons came, and tried to break through\nthe thicket into the palace. This they could never do; for the thorns\nand bushes laid hold of them as it were with hands, and there they\nstuck fast and died miserably.\n\n[Illustration: \"ALL WAS SO QUIET THAT HE COULD HEAR EVERY BREATH HE\nDREW.\"]\n\nAfter many years came yet another king's son into that land, and\nan old man told him the story of the thicket of thorns, and how a\nbeautiful palace stood behind it, in which was a wondrous princess,\ncalled Briar Rose, asleep with all her court. He told, too, how he had\nheard from his grandfather that many, many princes had come, and had\ntried to break through the thicket, but had stuck fast and died.\n\nThen the young prince said, \"All this shall not frighten me; I will\ngo and see Briar Rose.\" The old man tried to dissuade him, but he\npersisted in going.\n\nNow that very day were the hundred years completed; and as the prince\ncame to the thicket he saw nothing but beautiful flowering shrubs,\nthrough which he passed with ease, and they closed after him, as firm\nas ever. Then he came at last to the palace, and there in the court\nlay the dogs asleep, and the horses in the stables, and on the roof\nsat the pigeons fast asleep with their heads under their wings; and\nwhen he came into the palace, the flies slept on the walls, and the\ncook in the kitchen was still holding up her hand as if she would beat\nthe boy, and the maid with her pail in her hand was going a-milking.\n\nThen he went on still further, and all was so quiet that he could hear\nevery breath he drew; till at last he came to the old tower and opened\nthe door of the little room in which Briar Rose was, and there she lay\nfast asleep, and looked so beautiful that he could not turn his eyes\naway, and he stooped down and gave her a kiss. But the moment he\nkissed her she opened her eyes and awoke, and smiled upon him. For the\nspell was broken.\n\nThen they went out together, and presently the king and queen also\nawoke, and all the court, and they gazed on each other with great\nwonder. And the horses got up and shook themselves, and the dogs\njumped about and barked; the pigeons took their heads from under their\nwings, and looked around and flew into the fields; the flies on the\nwalls buzzed; the fire in the kitchen blazed up and cooked the dinner,\nand the roast meat turned round again; the cook gave the boy the box\non his ear so that he cried out, and the maid went to milk the cows.\nAnd then was the wedding of the prince and Briar Rose celebrated, and\nthey lived happily together all their lives long.\n\n[Illustration: _Painted by Jennie Harbour_\nTHE SLEEPING BEAUTY]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n      More close and close his footsteps wind:\n      The Magic Music in his heart\n      Beats quick and quicker, till he find\n      The quiet chamber far apart.\n                                            Tennyson]\n\n\n\n\n\nPRINCE CHERI\n\n\nThere was once a king who was such an honourable man that his subjects\ncalled him \"The Good King.\"\n\nOne day while he was out hunting, a little rabbit that his dogs were\nabout to kill, threw itself into his arms. The King caressed the\nlittle creature, and said:\n\n\"As you have put yourself under my protection nobody shall harm you,\"\nand he carried the rabbit to his palace, and ordered a pretty little\nhutch to be made for it.\n\nThat night when he was alone in his room, there appeared a lovely\nlady. She wore a robe as white as snow, and a wreath of white roses on\nher head. She addressed him thus:\n\n\"I am the Fairy Candide; I wished to see if you were as good as\neverybody declares you are, and for this reason I changed myself into\nthe little rabbit, and ran to you in my distress, for I know that\nthose who have pity for dumb creatures have still more pity for\nmankind. I have come to thank you for what you did and to say that I\nshall always be your friend, and will grant any request you would now\nlike to make.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Madam,\" replied the King, \"I have one only son whom I love devotedly;\nhe is named Prince Cheri; if you have any good will for me, be a\nfriend to my son.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Willingly,\" responded the Fairy, \"I will make your son the most\nhandsome prince in the world, or the richest, or the most powerful;\nchoose which you will for him.\"\n\n\"I desire none of these things,\" replied the King, \"but I shall be\nvery much obliged if you will make him the best of all princes, for\nwhat good would it do to him to be handsome, rich, or powerful if he\nwere wicked? You know he would be unhappy, for it is only goodness\nwhich brings content.\"\n\n\"You are right,\" answered the Fairy, \"but that I cannot do; Prince\nCheri must himself strive to become good. All that I can promise is\nthat I will give him good advice, and punish him for his faults, if he\nwill not himself correct them.\"\n\nAnd with this the father had to rest content.\n\nNot long afterwards the good King died, and two days later the Fairy\nappeared to Prince Cheri.\n\n\"I promised your father to be your friend,\" she told him; \"here is a\nlittle gold ring, take care of it, for it is worth more than diamonds.\nEvery time that you are about to do any wrong action it will prick\nyou. If, in spite of the pricks, you continue your bad actions, you\nwill lose my friendship and I shall become your enemy.\"\n\nSaying this the Fairy vanished, leaving the Prince very much\nastonished.\n\nFor some time Cheri behaved so well that the ring did not prick\nat all, but one day when he returned from the chase, having caught\nnothing, he felt so ill-humoured, that when his dog Bibi came fawning\nupon him, he kicked the poor, faithful creature from him. At that\nmoment the ring pricked like a pin running into his finger.\n\n\"What is this?\" he exclaimed: \"the Fairy must be mocking me, surely\nI've done no great harm in kicking an animal that annoyed me. What's\nthe use of being ruler of a great empire if I may not treat my dog as\nI will?\"\n\n\"I am not mocking you,\" he heard in reply to his thoughts; \"you have\nbeen bad tempered, and you have behaved unkindly to a poor animal who\ndid not deserve such treatment. I know you are higher than a dog, but\nthe advantage of being ruler of a great empire is not in doing all the\nharm one wishes, but in doing all the good one can.\"\n\nCheri promised to be better, but he did not keep his word, and so the\nring often pricked him, sometimes until his finger bled, and at last,\nin anger, he threw it away.\n\nNow he thought he would be truly happy, and he gave way to any foolish\nfancies and wrong wishes that came into his head, until he really\nbecame very wicked and was disliked by everyone.\n\nOne day when he was out walking he saw a girl named Zelie, who was so\nbeautiful that he resolved to marry her.\n\nBut Zelie was as good as she was beautiful, and said to him:\n\n\"Sir, I am only a shepherdess and have no fortune, but, in spite of\nthat, I will never marry you, for although I should be a Queen, and\nyou are handsome and rich, your evil behaviour would make me hate\nyou.\"\n\nUpon this, Cheri flew into a passion, and ordered his officers to\ncarry Zelie to the Palace, but she was not used unkindly there, for\nthe Prince loved her.\n\nHowever, after a while, urged by his foster-brother, a bad man who\nencouraged Cheri in his wickedness, the young man rushed in a rage to\nthe room in which Zelie was confined, determined that, if she still\nrefused to marry him, the very next day she should be sold as a slave.\n\nGreat was his surprise, on entering the apartment, to find the captive\nhad disappeared, for he carried the key of the door in his pocket.\n\n[Illustration: _Painted by Jennie Harbour_\nZELIE AND THE FAIRY CANDIDE \"PRINCE CHERI\"]\n\nAmongst those at the Royal Court was a Councillor named Suliman, a man\nof a noble mind, who had often dared to tell the Prince of his faults,\nand had at first been thanked for this, but later on Cheri grew angry\nthat anyone should presume to blame him while all others at the Court\nwere full of flattery and praise, but in his heart of hearts the\nPrince respected this good man, and this the wicked flatterers knew\nfull well, and therefore feared lest he should come into the Prince's\nfavour.\n\nSo now they falsely said, that it was Suliman who had helped Zelie\nto escape, and beyond himself with fury, Cheri commanded his\nfoster-brother to send soldiers to bring Suliman to him in chains,\nlike a criminal.\n\nAfter giving these orders Cheri retired to his chamber, but scarcely\nhad he entered, when the earth trembled, there came a great clap of\nthunder, and the Fairy Candide appeared before him.\n\n\"I promised your father,\" said she in a stern voice, \"to give you\ngood advice, and to punish you if you refused to follow it. You\nhave despised my counsels and your crimes have converted you into a\nmonster, the horror of heaven and earth. Now it is time to fulfill my\npromise of punishment. I condemn you to take the resemblance of the\nbeasts you are like in disposition--A lion, because of your fury--a\nwolf, on account of your greediness--a serpent, for destroying him who\nhas been your second father--a bull, by reason of your brutality.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHardly had the Fairy pronounced these words, when Cheri perceived with\nhorror that his body had been transformed.\n\nHe had a lion's head, a bull's horns, the feet of a wolf, and the\ntail of a viper. At the same moment he found himself in a forest, and\nthere, after roaming about miserably for some time, he fell into a\npit dug by hunters. He was captured and led into the capital of his\nKingdom.\n\nOn the way thither instead of acknowledging that he had brought this\nevil plight upon himself, he bit at his chains, and cursed the Fairy.\nAs he was nearing the city great rejoicings were seen on every side,\nand, on the hunters enquiring the reason, they were told that Prince\nCheri, whose only pleasure it was to torment his people, had been\ncrushed to death in his chamber by a thunder-bolt, a just punishment\nfor his offences. Four of his wicked companions had tried to partition\nthe Kingdom between them, but the people would have none such to rule,\nand they had offered the crown to the good and wise Suliman. Cheri\npanted with rage on hearing this, and in the Palace Square he saw\nSuliman on a superb throne, and all the people who shouted with joy,\nand wished him a long life to repair the evil brought about by their\nformer sovereign. \"I accept the throne,\" said Suliman, \"but it is to\npreserve it for Prince Cheri. A fairy has revealed to me that he\nis not dead, and possibly will return to you as virtuous as in his\nearliest years. Alas!\" cried Suliman, bursting into tears, \"his\nflatterers have ruined him, I know that at heart he is good.\" These\nwords moved Cheri to sorrow for his crimes, and he felt that he had\nnot been punished as severely as he deserved, and he now resolved to\namend his faults.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTherefore he obeyed the man who had charge over him, and who\nconstantly cruelly beat him, and one day when this keeper lay asleep,\nand a tiger who had broken loose was about to devour him, Cheri fought\nthe fierce beast, and saved the man's life.\n\nThen a voice was heard saying, \"a good action shall be rewarded!\" and,\nto Cheri's joy he was instantaneously transformed into a pretty little\ndog which the keeper carried to the Queen.\n\nThe Queen was delighted with him, but, for fear he should grow bigger,\nshe gave him only small pieces of bread to eat, so that poor Cheri\nnearly died of hunger.\n\nOne day he carried his little piece of bread into the garden to eat it\nthere, but wandering with it in his mouth, still further on, he saw a\nyoung girl pale and thin, and almost fainting for want of food.\n\n\"I am hungry,\" thought Cheri, \"but if I give my breakfast to this\npoor thing, perhaps I shall save her life.\" He placed his bread in the\ngirl's hand, and she ate it hungrily. Just then he heard loud cries,\nand saw that it was the beautiful Zelie struggling to free herself\nfrom four men who were carrying her into a house near by.\n\nCheri, longing to help her, followed them barking, and although the\nmen kicked him savagely, he would not leave the place. Presently from\na window was thrown a plateful of tempting-looking food. Cheri was\njust about to devour it, when the girl to whom he had given the bread,\nrushed forward and throwing her arms around him cried,\n\n[Illustration: \"COME, MY CHILDREN, I AM GOING TO TRANSPORT YOU TO YOUR\nPALACE.\"]\n\n\"Poor little dog, do not touch that food, it is poisoned.\" Just then\na voice was heard saying, \"You see that a good action meets with\nreward,\" and at the same time Cheri was changed into a pretty white\npigeon. For several days he flew around hoping to catch sight of\nZelie, and at last, seated by a hermit, outside a cave, he found\nher. Fluttering down he alighted upon her shoulder. Zelie stroked his\nfeathers whispering that she now accepted his gift and would love\nhim always, and at that moment Cheri regained his natural figure,\nand Fairy Candide appeared in place of the hermit whose form she had\ntaken. \"Come, my children,\" said she, \"I am going to transport you\nto your Palace, that Cheri may receive his crown of which he has now\nbecome worthy,\" and hardly had she ceased speaking, when they found\nthemselves in Suliman's presence. The worthy Governor was delighted to\nbehold his dear master, and gladly resigned the throne to him. Cheri\nand Zelie reigned long and happily, and we are told that the ring,\nwhich the Prince now wore again, never once severely pricked him.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE WHITE CAT\n\n\nThere was once a King who had three sons, all handsome and brave, but\nit came to his ears that they wished to reign now instead of waiting\nuntil he died, he therefore determined to divert their minds by making\npromises the fulfilment of which he would always be able to evade. So\nhe called them to his room and spoke: \"You must agree with me, my\ndear children, that at my great age I cannot manage the business of\nmy kingdom as I used to do, and as I am intending retiring into the\ncountry, it seems to me that a clever, faithful dog would be very good\ncompany, and I promise you that whichever brings me the most beautiful\nlittle dog at once succeeds to the kingdom.\"\n\nThe Princes were much surprised to hear their father's wish for a\nlittle dog, but agreed with pleasure to go in search of one. They said\ngoodbye to the King, who gave them money and jewels, announcing that\nin a year he should expect them to return, all on the same day and at\nthe same hour, bringing to him their little dogs.\n\n[Illustration: \"ON A CERTAIN NIGHT, DURING A STORM OF THUNDER AND\nRAIN, HE LOST HIS WAY.\"]\n\nThen the Princes set out, each by a different road, agreeing in a\nyear's time to meet at a certain place a short distance from their\nhome.\n\nThe two elder met with many adventures, but it is only the youngest\nthat we shall follow.\n\nThis youngest Prince was very courteous, merry, clever and\naccomplished, he was tall, handsome, and all that a prince should be.\n\nVery seldom a day passed without his buying dogs, little dogs, big\ndogs, sporting dogs, spaniels, hounds, dogs of all sorts. When he\nfound a beautiful one and then came across a still better, he let the\nfirst one go, for being alone--the Princes had declined to take any\nattendants--he could not take charge of thirty or forty thousand dogs.\n\nHe travelled on, keeping to one road, until on a certain night, during\na storm of thunder and rain, he lost his way, and after some wandering\narrived at a most superb castle where nobody was to be seen but about\na dozen hands all holding torches. Other hands pushed him forwards,\nand guided him through one apartment after another, all so rich in\nprecious stones and beautiful paintings, that it was like enchantment.\n\nAfter passing through sixty rooms, the hands stopped him, and here the\nwet garments of the Prince were taken away, and he was clad in raiment\nof the most exquisite description. The hands then conducted him into\na banqueting hall, where entered a little figure, not two feet high,\ncovered with a long black crepe veil, followed by a great procession\nof cats.\n\nThe Prince was too much astonished to move. The little figure\napproached him, raising the veil, and he saw the most beautiful White\nCat he had ever beheld.\n\nAddressing the Prince she said:\n\n\"King's son! welcome! my Feline Majesty sees you with pleasure!\"\n\n\"Madame Cat,\" replied the Prince, \"it is very good of you to receive\nme thus, but you are not an ordinary cat; being able to speak, and\npossessing this superb castle, are proof of that.\"\n\nAfter they had conversed a little while, supper was served to them,\nduring which the Prince entertained the Cat by telling her all sorts\nof news, and he discovered that she was well informed as to what was\ntaking place in the world.\n\nSupper over, various cats came in, dressed in fancy costumes, and\ndanced a ballet, then the White Cat bid her visitor good-night, and\nthe hands which had conducted him before, led him to a bed-chamber.\n\nEarly the next morning the hands awoke him, and dressing him in a\nhandsome hunting costume, led him to the courtyard, where he found the\nWhite Cat upon a splendid monkey, with about five hundred other cats\nassembled, all ready for the chase; and never had the Prince enjoyed\nanything so much, for although mounted only upon a wooden horse, he\nrode at a great pace.\n\nDay after day passed in such delights as made the Prince almost forget\nhis own country.\n\n\"Alas!\" said he to the White Cat again and again, \"how sad I shall be\nto leave you! I love you so dearly! Either become a woman, or change\nme into a cat!\"\n\nA year passes very quickly when one has no care or trouble, and is\nenjoying life. But the White Cat knew when the Prince should return\nhome, and reminded him, saying, \"Don't you know you have only three\ndays to look for the little dog for your father, and that your\nbrothers will have found the most beautiful?\"\n\nThen the Prince came to himself, and cried, \"By what charm have you\nmade me forget what is so important? Where shall I find the dog, and a\nhorse swift enough for such a journey?\" And he was in great distress.\n\nThe White Cat comforted him, however, saying that the wooden horse\nwould take him to his journey's end sufficiently quickly, and that she\nwould herself also provide the little dog; then she handed to him\na walnut, saying, \"Put your ear to this shell and you will hear him\nbarking.\"\n\nSo the Prince met his brothers, and they came into the King's\npresence.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe two elder sons had brought little dogs so delicate and small that\none hardly dared to touch them, and none could decide which should\nhave the kingdom. Then the youngest took from his pocket the nut the\nCat had given to him, and there was seen a little dog so tiny that\nit could go through a ring without touching it; he was also able to\ndance, and play the castanets, while his ears touched the ground.\nThe King was embarassed, for it was impossible to find a flaw in this\nlovely little creature.\n\nHowever as he did not desire to part with his crown, he declared that\nthey had succeeded so well in their first quest that now he should\nlike them to search, by land and sea, for a piece of linen so fine\nthat it would pass through the eye of a very small needle.\n\nThen the three Princes set out once more, but the youngest mounted his\nwooden horse and repaired at once to the White Cat, who was rejoiced\nto see him, and the second year passed by as the first had done.\n\nWhen the day came round appointed by the King for the return of his\nsons, the two elder appeared before him, and, without awaiting the\narrival of their brother, displayed their pieces of linen, which were\nof a fineness quite astonishing. But although they would pass through\nthe eye of a large needle, through the small needle the King had\nselected they would not go.\n\nThere was much murmuring at this, and while the brothers were\ndisputing the King's decision, a charming sound was heard of trumpets\nand other musical instruments.\n\nIt was the youngest Prince who arrived in a chariot with out-riders\nand numerous attendants, all of which had been provided for him by the\nWhite Cat.\n\nAfter respectfully greeting his father and embracing his brothers, he\ntook out of a jewelled box a nut which he broke. On breaking the\nnut he found a cherry stone, the stone was broken and there was the\nkernel, in the kernel was a grain of corn, in the grain of corn a\nmillet seed, and within that a piece of linen so fine that it passed\nsix times through the smallest needle's eye, and moreover on it were\nexquisite paintings of people and places without number.\n\nThe King heaved a deep sigh, and turning to his children said,\n\n\"Nothing pleases me, in my old age, so much as your deference to my\ndesires, and I wish to prove you once more. Travel for a year, and he\nwho at the end of the year brings home the most beautiful girl shall\nmarry her, and be crowned king on his marriage. I promise you that I\nwill not defer this reward any longer.\"\n\nOur Prince saw the injustice of all this; his little dog and piece\nof linen were worth ten kingdoms, not only one; but he was too well\nbrought up to go against his father's wishes, and, mounting into his\nchariot, with his retinue, he returned to the White Cat's Castle.\n\n\"Well! King's son!\" said the White Cat, \"you have returned once more\nwithout your crown?\"\n\n\"Madam,\" answered the Prince, \"your gifts should have gained it for\nme, but I am convinced that the King would have more pain in giving it\nup than I should have pleasure in possessing it!\"\n\n\"Never mind,\" she replied, \"you shall not neglect anything that may\ndeserve it; and if you must conduct a beautiful girl to your father's\ncourt, I will look for one so that you may gain the prize. Meanwhile\nlet us be happy.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIf the Cat had not taken pains to remember the time when he must\nreturn to the court, the Prince would surely have forgotten it. On the\nevening before, she told him that she would bring him to one of the\nmost beautiful Princesses in the world, that at last the hour had\narrived to destroy the fatal work of an evil fairy, and to do this he\nmust make up his mind to cut off her head and tail, which he was at\nonce to throw into the fire.\n\n\"I,\" cried the Prince, \"Blanchette that I love: do you think I should\nbe cruel enough to kill you? No doubt, you wish to prove my heart\nwhich will certainly never forget what I owe to you for your\nkindness.\"\n\n\"No! King's son,\" she continued, \"I don't think you are ungrateful. Do\nthis that I beseech you, and then we shall begin to be happy with one\nanother, by the faith and honour of a cat, believe that I am truly\nyour friend.\"\n\nTears flowed from the Prince's eyes even at the thought, and he said\nall that he could to avoid it, but she urged him so vehemently that\nat last he took his sword and tremblingly cut off the head and tail of\nhis dear friend the Cat.\n\nIn the same moment took place the most marvellous change imaginable.\n\nThe body of the White Cat grew large, and was transformed into that\nof a girl; how, one could not say; one only knew it was so. Her figure\nwas majestic, her manners charming, her whole appearance beautiful\nbeyond words.\n\nThen there entered an immense number of lords and ladies, who carrying\ntheir cats' skins, or with them thrown across their shoulders, came\nand cast themselves at the feet of the Queen, expressing their joy at\nseeing her again in her rightful form.\n\nShe received them all with a kindness which showed the goodness of her\nheart, and then turning to the Prince she told the story of her life,\nand how by a wicked enchantment she had been transformed into a White\nCat.\n\n\"But it is you, my Prince, who have freed me,\" she concluded; \"as soon\nas I saw you I knew my troubles were at an end.\"\n\nThey set out forthwith in a splendid carriage. As they drew near the\ncastle, at the place where the three brothers were to meet, the Queen\nentered into a little crystal rock ornamented with precious stones,\nand this was carried by richly dressed young men.\n\nThe Prince who had remained in the carriage, saw his brothers,\napproaching with wondrously beautiful ladies.\n\nOn being questioned he told them that all he had brought was a little\nWhite Cat.\n\n[Illustration: \"THE BODY OF THE WHITE CAT GREW LARGE AND WAS\nTRANSFORMED INTO THAT OF A GIRL.\"]\n\nThey began to laugh at him, and drove on followed by the young Prince,\nwhile after him was brought the crystal rock.\n\nArrived at the Palace the two elder Princes dismounted with their\nmarvellous Princesses.\n\nThe King received them graciously, and did not know to which to award\nthe prize.\n\nHe looked at his youngest son and said, \"This time, then, you have\ncome alone.\" \"Your Majesty will see in this rock a little White\nCat who mews sweetly and has soft little velvet paws,\" answered the\nPrince.\n\nThe King smiled, and himself went to open the rock. But, as he came\nnear, the Queen, with a touch, made it shatter to pieces, and from out\nof it she appeared like the sun that has been hidden by clouds; her\nfair hair was spread over her shoulders, and fell in waves to her\nfeet, and she was robed in a gown of white and rose-colour.\n\nShe made a deep curtsey to the King who, struck with admiration, could\nnot help exclaiming,\n\n\"Here is one who is matchless, and she deserves my crown.\"\n\n\"Sire,\" she answered, \"I have not come to take away the throne that\nyou fill with such dignity; I was born heir to six kingdoms, allow\nme to offer you one, and one of them I give to each of your sons. In\nreturn all I ask of you is this young Prince for my husband. We shall\nstill have three kingdoms.\"\n\nThe King and all the Court uttered loud cries of joy. The marriage was\nat once celebrated, also that of the other two Princes; and in such a\nmanner that the Court spent several months in fetes of all sorts.\n\nThen each one of them departed to govern his kingdom, the White Cat\nmaking herself ever remembered as much by her kindness and generosity\nas by her rare merit and beauty.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nBLUEBEARD\n\n\nIn the long ago times, in a splendid house, surrounded by fine\ngardens and a park, there lived a man who had riches in abundance, and\neverything to make him popular except one, and that was his beard, for\nhis beard was neither black as a raven's wing, golden as the sunlight,\nnor just an ordinary every-day colour, but it was blue, bright blue.\n\nOf course had blue beards come into fashion his would have been\nconsidered beautiful beyond words, but, as far as we know, blue beards\nhave never as yet been fashionable, nor are they likely to be so.\n\nHowever, in spite of his blue beard this man had married several\ntimes, though what had become of his wives nobody could say.\n\nNow, not far from Bluebeard's house there dwelt a widow with two very\nlovely daughters, and one of these Bluebeard wished to marry, but\nwhich he did not mind, they might settle that between themselves.\n\nNeither of these girls had the least desire to have a husband with a\nblue beard, and also, not knowing the fate of the other wives, they\ndid not like to risk disappearing from the world as those had done,\nbut being very polite young women they would not refuse Bluebeard's\nproposals outright. The younger said, \"I would not for a moment take\naway Sister Anne's chance of marrying such a wealthy man,\" while\nSister Anne declared that, although the elder, she would much prefer\nto give way to her sister. And so it went on for some time.\n\nThen Bluebeard invited the widow and her daughters to spend a week\nwith him, and many of their neighbours he also invited.\n\nMost sumptuous was the entertainment provided for them. Hunting and\nfishing expeditions, picnics and balls went on from morning till\nnight, and all the night through, so that there was not time even to\nthink of sleep, only feasting and pleasure the whole week long.\n\nSo well, indeed, did the younger sister enjoy this, that by the end of\nthe week she had begun to think perhaps after all her host's beard was\nnot so very blue, and that it would be a fine thing to be the mistress\nof such a magnificent mansion, and the wife of such a rich husband.\n\nAnd so, not long afterwards, there was a grand wedding, and the\nwidow's younger daughter became Mrs. Bluebeard.\n\nAbout a month later, Bluebeard told his wife that he must leave her\nfor several weeks, having to travel on business.\n\n\"While I am absent, my dear,\" said he, \"invite your relations and\nfriends and enjoy yourself just as you please in entertaining them.\nSee here are my keys, the keys of the rooms and of the chests where I\nkeep my money, my gold and silver plate, and my jewels. Unlock rooms\nand chests and use freely what you will.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"This small key,\" he added, pointing to quite a little one, \"is the\nkey of the door at the end of the lower landing, you will not need to\nuse this at all. In fact, should you open that door, or even put this\nkey into the lock, I should be dreadfully angry, indeed I should make\nyou suffer for it in a terrible way.\"\n\nThen Bluebeard bid his wife good-bye, and departed.\n\nAs soon as Mrs. Bluebeard's friends and relations knew that her\nhusband was away, they came flocking to visit her, for they longed to\nsee all her splendid possessions, but had feared to come before.\n\nThey could not enough admire the magnificent apartments, and ran from\none to another praising everything they beheld.\n\nBut the young wife heeded nothing they said or did, all she thought\nof was that little key which she must not use, wondering more and more\nwhy she ought not to open that one particular door.\n\nAt last she could bear it no longer, but slipping away from her\nvisitors, she ran along the passages and stairs, nearly falling down\nthem, so great was her haste, until she came to that door at the end\nof the corridor.\n\nNot pausing an instant, she thrust the key into the lock, and the door\nsprang open.\n\nAt first she could distinguish nothing, for the room was dark and\ngloomy, but then, all of a sudden, she knew what had become of\nBluebeard's other wives, for there they lay, in a long, straight row,\nall dead. She stood horrified for a moment or two, gazing at the\npale faces, and long hair spread out around them, then picking up\nthe little key which she had taken from the lock but dropped in her\nfright, she hastily quitted the room, shut and locked the door, and\nran to her own chamber to calm herself before returning to her guests.\nBut she was unable to rest for an instant, so dreadful were her\nfeelings; then with terror she noticed that on the key there was a\nstain. She wiped it with her handkerchief, but alas! it was blood that\nwould not be wiped away. She washed the key and rubbed it, and\nscraped it and polished it, but all to no purpose, if she succeeded\nin cleansing one side, the mark came out on the other. For the key was\nenchanted.\n\n[Illustration: _Painted by Jennie Harbour_\nBLUEBEARD]\n\nThat same evening Bluebeard returned saying he had met the man whom\nhe was wanting to see, and so the long journey was unnecessary, and he\nwas rejoiced to be at home again.\n\nNext morning he called for the keys; his wife brought them to him,\nbut not the little one; that she left behind. Bluebeard noticed this\ndirectly and sent her to fetch it. Trembling, and white as a sheet,\nshe was forced to give it into his hand.\n\n\"Ha! what is this?\" he cried, \"what is this stain that I see!\"\n\nHis poor wife trembled still more, and could not speak.\n\n\"Wretched woman!\" shouted Bluebeard, \"you have used this key, you have\nunlocked the door of that room at the end of the passage. You shall\ndie!!!\"\n\nIn vain did his wife plead with him to spare her, kneeling before him\nwith tears streaming from her eyes. \"You shall die!\" he cried again,\nmore savagely than before.\n\n\"Let me have a few moments alone, to prepare for death,\"\n\n\"Half a quarter of an hour, but not a moment longer,\" he replied, and\nleft her.\n\nThe poor young woman hastened to a room at the foot of the turret\nstairs where was her Sister Anne, and called to her.\n\n\"Sister Anne, Sister Anne, look from the tower window. Can you see no\none coming?\" And Sister Anne, looking out, answered:\n\n\"Alas! No! Nothing but the green grass, and the sun which shines upon\nit.\"\n\nBluebeard shouted from below that the time was almost up.\n\n\"Sister Anne, Sister Anne, look once again, can you see no one\ncoming?\" whispered the young wife wringing her hands. Her brothers,\nshe knew, were to visit her that day--if only they would come in time!\n\n\"Alas, No!\" Sister Anne replied. \"I see a cloud of dust, but it is\nonly a flock of sheep on the road.\"\n\nBut now Bluebeard bawled out so loudly for his wife to come down, that\nthe whole house shook.\n\n\"Sister Anne, Sister Anne, tell me is no one coming?\"\n\n\"I see two horsemen afar off,\" cried Sister Anne. \"I will beckon to\nthem to hasten hither.\"\n\nBut Bluebeard would wait not a moment longer, and nearly dead with\nterror his wife descended, still entreating him to spare her life.\n\nHe would not, however, give heed to her prayers, and was just\nbrandishing his sword, so that it might come down straight and true\nupon her slender neck, when the door burst open and two young army\nofficers came rushing in, whom Bluebeard recognised as the brothers\nof his wife. He swiftly fled, but they speedily followed, and for his\nmany crimes slew him then and there.\n\nAll his wealth now belonged to his widow, and she gratefully rewarded\nher brothers by purchasing them commissions in the army; she settled\na large sum of money upon her sister, and after a while she married\nagain, and with a good husband lived a happy life.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nBEAUTY AND THE BEAST\n\n\nOnce upon a time, a long while ago, there was a Beast.\n\nHe was a Great Beast, and lived in a Great Castle that stood in the\nmiddle of a Great Park, and everybody in the country held the Beast in\ngreat fear. In fact everything about the Beast was great; his roar was\ngreat and terrific and could be heard for miles around the park, and\nwhen he roared the people trembled.\n\nNobody ever saw the Beast, which was by no means remarkable, for the\nBeast never came out of his Park, and no one, I can assure you, ever\nventured on to his estate.\n\nBut matters were not allowed to remain like this for ever, for\nsomething very wonderful happened to the Beast and to somebody else,\nand if that something had not happened this story would never have\nbeen written.\n\nAbout two miles and three quarters from the Castle gates there lived\na rich merchant and his three daughters. The two elder girls were ugly\ndisagreeable things, and although they had all they could wish for to\nmake them happy they were always grumbling; but the youngest daughter,\nwhose name was Beauty, was very pretty, and her nature was happy and\ngood, her presence was sunshine, and she was the joy of her father's\nheart.\n\nWell, one day the two elder sisters had something to grumble about\nwith a vengeance, for a telegram arrived to say that the merchant was\nno longer a rich merchant, for he had lost all his money.\n\nSo the horses and carriages had to be sold, and everything that was\nof value was got rid of, the servants were sent away, and the merchant\nand his daughters had to do their own work.\n\nDear me, it was shocking, the way those two sisters grumbled, but\nBeauty, oh dear no, she was all smiles, for her heart was as sunny as\never, as she rolled up the sleeves of her print frock, and cooked the\ndinner, and scrubbed the floors, and made herself useful, here, there,\nand everywhere.\n\nThings had been going on like this for about three months, when one\nfine morning another telegram boy came with another telegram to say\nthat somebody who owed the merchant a great deal of money was ready to\npay the debt, and all the merchant had to do was to go to the city and\nget it.\n\nOf course, everybody was delighted at this good news, and the merchant\ndidn't waste any time, but started off to the city at once.\n\n\"Mind you bring me something back,\" said the eldest daughter as he was\nstarting.\n\n\"What shall it be?\" asked the merchant.\n\n\"A white satin dress trimmed with lace and pearls,\" said his eldest\ndaughter.\n\n\"And you must bring me something too, please, father,\" said the second\ndaughter.\n\n\"And what do you want,\" asked the merchant.\n\n\"A purse full of gold so that I can buy what I want myself,\" said the\nsecond daughter.\n\n\"I will try and do what you both ask,\" he said, \"and what shall I\nbring for my Beauty?\"\n\n\"I will wait a little for my dresses and things,\" replied the smiling\nBeauty, as she helped her father on with his cloak, \"but I should like\nyou to bring me home a rose, a lovely red rose, if you can.\"\n\nSo her father kissed her, and promised he would bring her the rose,\nand went on his way full of hopes.\n\nWhat a pity it is that our hopes cannot be always realized, and that\nwe are so often doomed to disappointment! When the merchant arrived at\nthe city, to his dismay he found that the man who owed him the money\nwas still unable to pay him, the man had been disappointed himself at\nthe last moment.\n\nSo the unhappy father had to return home without the white satin dress\ntrimmed with lace and pearls, and without the bag of money, and he\ndreaded meeting his two daughters, for he knew they would be terribly\nangry.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow on his way home from the station to his house he had to pass by\npart of the wall that surrounded the Great Park where the Great Beast\nlived in his Great Castle; and as he passed by a corner of the wall\nwhat should he see hanging just over the top, and just within his\nreach if he stood on his toes, but a lovely red rose.\n\n\"At any rate I can take my Beauty what she asked for,\" he said to\nhimself, and, without so much as giving a thought to the wrong he was\ndoing, he stood on his toes and plucked the rose.\n\nHe was sorry he did it.\n\nOf a sudden there was a roar, such a roar that the very ground shook,\nand as to the poor merchant he quivered like a leaf.\n\nEnough to make him quiver indeed, for a gate in the wall suddenly\nopened, and out rushed the _Beast_.\n\nYes, the Beast, if you please, and he seized the merchant by the\nscruff of his neck, and dragged him into the Park, and shut the gate\nafter him.\n\n\"Don't you know it's a sin to steal?\" roared the Beast. \"How dare you\nsteal my roses? I am going to kill you.\"\n\n\"Oh, mercy, Mr. Beast,\" cried the unhappy man, flinging himself on his\nknees before the monster.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I'm going to kill you,\" roared the Beast still more loudly. \"It's\ntaken years to cultivate this sort of rose, and--and I'm going to\nkill you. Unless,\" he added after a pause, \"you send me one of your\ndaughters here instead.\"\n\n\"All right,\" said the merchant and got on his feet again.\n\n\"She must be here to-morrow by breakfast time, and I breakfast early,\"\nsaid the Beast, as he let the merchant out of the gate. \"If she is not\nhere, I shall come for you, and don't you forget it.\"\n\nIt was by no means likely that he would forget it, in fact he could\nthink of nothing else. He hurried home and told his dreadful news, and\nreceived a dreadful scolding from his two elder daughters, who were\nangry at not getting their presents.\n\n\"And it is Beauty's fault that you have got into this trouble,\" they\nsaid. \"Beauty and her stupid rose. Beauty had better get you out of\nthe trouble.\" Beauty said little, but smiled on, with sunshine in her\nheart, and trust in her loving nature, and cooked the dinner.\n\n[Illustration: \"WHEN SHE CAME TO THE GATE IN THE WALL SHE KNOCKED UPON\nIT THREE TIMES\"]\n\nEarly next morning when the dawn was breaking she left her father's\nhouse, leaving a little note behind her begging him not to be anxious\nbut that she had gone to the Beast's castle.\n\nWhen she came to the gate in the wall she knocked upon it three\ntimes and it opened as if by magic, for she could see no one. And she\nstepped into the garden of red roses, and in the distance across the\nPark she saw the Castle, and she thought she had never seen anything\nso beautiful. For it was built of mother-of-pearl, and the red and\nyellow gleams of the rising sun shone upon its glistening walls, and\nlit them up with a thousand radiant lights.\n\nBeauty marvelled at the loveliness and walked on. And when she arrived\nat this beautiful Castle, the huge gates opened as if by magic, and\nthe doors opened as if by magic, for never a soul did she see, nor\nliving thing of any sort.\n\nAnd in the great hall was the breakfast table laid for two. It was\na nice breakfast with steaming hot dishes, and jams, honey, and hot\nrolls, and brightly polished silver, and sweet flowers.\n\nThen the Beast appeared suddenly from behind a curtain; oh, he was\nan awful Beast, and Beauty's heart beat fast! But he seemed a polite\nBeast for all that.\n\nHe handed Beauty a chair, and when she had sat down said:\n\n\"I bid you welcome; which do you take, tea or coffee?\"\n\n\"Tea please,\" answered Beauty.\n\n\"Then pour it out,\" he said, \"and I'll take tea too, please. Eggs, do\nyou like eggs hard or soft?\"\n\n\"I always cook mine three minutes and a half,\" replied Beauty.\n\n\"Half a minute too much, I think. But you shall have just what you\nlike.\"\n\nAnd so she had; not only at the breakfast table but in everything. She\nhad only to express a wish and it was immediately gratified. She\nhad ponies to ride, and dogs and cats, and pet birds, and the most\nbeautiful dresses ever worn by real princesses.\n\nAnd if it had not been that she was away from her father she would\nreally have been happy.\n\n[Illustration: _Painted by Jennie Harbour_\nBEAUTY AND THE BEAST]\n\nThe Beast was most kind and attentive to her, and told her that he\nloved her, and three times a day he asked her to marry him, but Beauty\nshook her head and said, oh no, she couldn't.\n\nWell, Beauty had been at the great Castle some time when she began to\npine to go home and see her father, and she begged the Beast to let\nher go.\n\n\"Very good,\" he said with a great sigh, \"you may go home to-day, but\npromise me that you will be back early to-morrow morning. If you do\nnot come back early I am sure I shall die for I love you so dearly.\"\n\nSo Beauty promised and went home, and she took presents for her father\nand her sisters, and when the sisters heard of all the wonderful\nthings at the great Castle, they were envious and jealous, and made up\ntheir minds to do Beauty and the Beast a great injury.\n\nSo they mixed something in Beauty's supper that made her sleep nearly\nall the next day, and so she did not keep her promise. It was evening\nwhen she arrived at the gate in the wall, instead of early morning.\n\nBut she knocked three times and the gate opened by magic, and she went\nthrough the garden and hurried to the Castle, that shone like fire in\nthe light of the setting sun. And the huge gates opened by magic, and\nthe doors opened by magic, and she stood in the great hall, but there\nwas no Beast there. She searched in all the rooms but he was not\nthere; with fear and anxiety in her heart she ran into the gardens,\nand there she found him at last. Found him lying stretched out on the\ngrass, and she thought he was dead.\n\n\"Oh, dear darling Beast,\" she cried, as she threw herself on her knees\nbeside him, and raised his ugly head, \"dear Beast, do not die, for\nI love you with all my heart, and will marry you to-morrow.\" And she\nkissed him. Then of a sudden he sprang to his feet, but no longer\nthe Beast, no longer a hideous monster, but a beautiful prince most\nbeautifully dressed. \"Dearest,\" he said, \"a wicked fairy turned me\ninto this brute form until a day should come when a good girl like you\nshould tell me that she loved me. And you will marry me to-morrow.\"\n\n\"Oh, yes,\" answered Beauty, \"but the wicked fairy could not change\nyour nature. I would have married you if you had remained just as you\nwere.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnd so they married and lived happy ever afterwards, and they took\ncare of Beauty's father until the end of his days; so he was happy,\nand they forgave the two sisters and gave them fine dresses and\njewels, and the two sisters turned over a new leaf and were less\nselfish, and they were happy, so this is a very happy ending to the\nstory.\n\nWhat a pity all stories can't end the same way!\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTUFTY RIQUET\n\n\nThere was once upon a time a Queen who had the ugliest little baby\nimaginable, so ugly, indeed, that it was almost impossible to believe\nhe was a little boy at all.\n\nA fairy, however, assured his mother that the little baby would be\nvery good and clever, saying that she was also giving him a gift which\nwould enable him to make that person whom he loved the best as clever\nas himself.\n\nThis somewhat consoled the Queen, but still she was very unhappy\nbecause her son was so ugly, though no sooner had he begun to speak\nthan he could talk about all sorts of things, and he had such pretty\nways that people were charmed with him.\n\nI forgot to say, that, when he was quite a baby, he had a funny little\ntuft of hair on his head, so he was called Tufty Riquet, for Riquet\nwas the family name.\n\nWhen Riquet was about seven years old, the Queen of a kingdom near by\nwas given two baby daughters, twins, of which one was so exquisitely\nbeautiful that the Queen nearly died of joy when she saw her, and so\nthe fairy, the same one who had given Riquet his gift of cleverness,\nto keep the Queen from making herself ill with excitement, told her\nthat this little Princess would not be at all clever, indeed she would\nbe as stupid as she was beautiful.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe Queen was very much grieved at this, and felt still more troubled\nwhen she beheld her other daughter, for the second Princess was\nextremely ugly.\n\n\"Do not take it too much to heart, madam,\" remarked the fairy, \"for\nthis second daughter will be so clever that it will scarcely be\nnoticed that she is not beautiful.\"\n\n\"Well, if it must be so, it must,\" remarked the Queen, \"but I should\ncertainly have liked the elder one, who is beautiful, to be just a\nlittle bit clever too.\"\n\n\"I can do nothing as to her mind, madam,\" replied the fairy, \"but for\nher beauty I can, and as there is nothing I would not do to please\nyou, I will give her a gift so that she can make the one who wins her\nheart beautiful too.\"\n\nAs the Princesses grew up, their gifts likewise grew with them, so\nthat everybody spoke about the beauty of the one and the cleverness\nof the other; but also their defects grew, so that it could not but\nbe noticed that the younger was daily uglier, and the elder day by\nday became more stupid, until she either said nothing in reply to a\nquestion, or something quite silly, and so clumsy was she that she\ncould not arrange four china ornaments on the chimney piece without\nbreaking one, or drink a glass of water without spilling half of it on\nher frock.\n\nAlthough it is a great thing to have beauty, yet the younger generally\nreceived more attention in company than her elder sister.\n\nAt first, everybody would gather around the beautiful one admiringly,\nbut before long they would leave her for the clever Princess, to\nlisten to her pleasant conversation; and by the end of a quarter of\nan hour the elder would be left alone, while the other would be the\ncentre of a group.\n\nThis the elder sister noticed, in spite of her stupidity, and she\nwould gladly have given all her beauty for half the cleverness of\nher sister, and sometimes the Queen, although full of kindness, would\nreproach her daughter for her foolishness, which caused the Princess\nalmost to die of grief.\n\nOne day when she had retreated to a wood to brood over her\nunhappiness, she saw a little man coming towards her. He was\nuncommonly ugly and unpleasing in appearance, but was very richly\ndressed.\n\nIt was the young Prince Tufty Riquet, who had fallen in love with the\npictures he had seen of her, and had left his father's kingdom for the\nsake of making her acquaintance.\n\nDelighted to meet her alone in this manner, he accosted her as\ncourteously as possible, but soon, noticing that she was melancholy,\nhe said:\n\n\"I cannot understand how it is that anyone as beautiful as you are,\ncan be as sad as you appear to be; for I must own, that although I\ncan boast of having seen many beauties, not one have I ever met whose\nbeauty equalled yours.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"It pleases you to say so, sir,\" replied the Princess, and relapsed\ninto silence.\n\n\"Beauty,\" went on Riquet, \"is so delightful that one would give\neverything for it, and if anyone is beautiful I can't understand\nanything troubling greatly.\"\n\n\"I would rather be as ugly as you,\" answered the Princess, \"and be\nclever, than as beautiful as I am, and be stupid.\"\n\n\"To think you are stupid is a sure sign that you have a certain amount\nof cleverness, madam,\" replied Riquet.\n\n\"I don't think about that,\" said the Princess, \"but I am quite sure\nthat I am very silly, and the grief of that is killing me.\"\n\n\"If that is all that troubles you, I can soon put an end to your\ngrief,\" said Riquet, \"for I have the power of giving cleverness to the\nperson whom I love the best, and if only you will marry me, you shall\nbecome as clever as you can wish.\"\n\nThe Princess was greatly astonished, but remained silent.\n\n\"I can see,\" continued Riquet, \"that this proposal is not to your\ntaste, and I am not astonished. I will give you a year to think about\nit.\"\n\nSo great was the longing of the Princess to be clever, that she at\nonce promised Riquet to marry him in a year's time, and no sooner had\nshe made the promise than a great change took place in her, and she\nfound she could say all sorts of pleasant things, on all sorts of\nsubjects, in quite an easy manner.\n\nShe at once began a conversation with Riquet, making such brilliant\nremarks, that he could almost think he had given her all his\ncleverness and had kept none for himself.\n\nWhen the Princess returned to the Palace, everybody was astonished\nat the sudden and extraordinary change, for, instead of saying stupid\nthings, or just nothing at all, she was now full of beautiful ideas\nwhich she expressed most charmingly.\n\nThe report of this transformation was soon spread abroad, and all\nthe young Princes of the neighbouring kingdoms asked for her hand in\nmarriage, but not one did she find altogether suitable.\n\nHowever, at last one arrived, who was so powerful, rich, clever and\nhandsome, that she could not help approving of him, and her father,\nnoticing this, told her she was quite free to choose what husband she\nwished.\n\nThe Princess thanked him, and asked for time to consider the matter.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen, to think it over, she went by chance, into the wood where she had\nmet Tufty Riquet.\n\nWhile she was walking, deep in thought, she noticed a loud noise\nbeneath her feet, as of many persons hastening to and fro; then,\nlistening attentively, she heard a voice say, \"Bring me the saucepan,\"\nand another voice cry, \"Put some wood on the fire.\"\n\nAt the same moment the earth opened and she saw a big kitchen full\nof cooks, and all sorts of things necessary for the making of a\nmagnificent banquet, and everybody hard at work.\n\nThe Princess, astonished at this sight, asked the men for whom they\nwere working.\n\n\"For the Prince Tufty Riquet,\" answered the head cook, \"for to-morrow\nis his wedding day.\"\n\nThe Princess, more surprised than ever, all at once recollected that\nit was just a year ago that very day that she had promised to marry\nthe ugly Tufty Riquet.\n\n[Illustration: \"TO THINK IT OVER SHE WENT INTO THE WOOD.\"]\n\nThe reason that she had not remembered her promise before was that she\nwas foolish when she made it, and in becoming clever she had forgotten\nall her former stupidities.\n\nShe had only walked on a few steps further, when Riquet appeared\nbefore her, magnificently clad, as a Prince about to marry.\n\n\"Here you see me, madam,\" said he, \"keeping my word, and I have no\ndoubt that you also came here to keep yours, and by giving me your\nhand to make me the happiest of men.\"\n\n\"I frankly confess,\" replied the Princess, \"that I have not yet made\nup my mind, and I do not think I can ever do as you wish.\"\n\n\"You surprise me, madam,\" said Riquet.\n\n\"I can quite believe that,\" said the Princess, \"and if you were not\na good and clever man, I should not know how to act. But you are well\naware that it was when I was stupid I promised to marry you, but now,\nas you may imagine, I am not so easily pleased.\"\n\n\"Except for my ugliness,\" said Riquet, \"have you anything against me?\nDo you object to my birth, my character, or my manners?\"\n\n\"Not at all,\" replied the Princess, \"I love those things in you.\"\n\n\"If that is so,\" answered Riquet, \"I shall indeed be made happy,\nbecause you can cause me to become the most delightful of men if only\nyou will desire it. For know, madam, the same fairy who at my birth\ngave me the power to impart cleverness to whomsoever I should love,\ngave you a gift also, that of being able to render beautiful the one\nto whom you would grant this favour.\"\n\n\"If that is the case,\" exclaimed the Princess, \"I desire with all my\nheart that you might be the most handsome and pleasing Prince in the\nworld.\"\n\nNo sooner had the Princess uttered these words than her wish was\nfulfilled, though some say that no change really took place in Riquet,\nbut that the Princess loved him now so much that all his ugliness was\nseen as beauty by her eyes.\n\nHowever that may be, she straightway consented to be his bride, and,\nas the preparations had already been made, the wedding took place the\nvery next day.\n\n[Illustration: _Painted by Jennie Harbour_\nTHE BEAUTIFUL PRINCESS--\"TUFTY RIQUET\"]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHUMBLING\n\n\nThere was once a poor woodman sitting by the fire in his cottage and\nhis wife sat by his side spinning. \"How lonely it is,\" said he, \"for\nyou and me to sit here by ourselves without any children to play about\nand amuse us, while other people seem so happy and merry with their\nchildren!\" \"What you say is very true,\" said the wife, sighing, and\nturning her wheel; \"how happy should I be if I had but one child! and\nif it were ever so small, nay, if it were no bigger than my thumb, I\nshould be very happy, and love it dearly.\" Now it came to pass that\nthis good woman's wish was fulfilled just as she desired; for, some\ntime afterwards, she had a little boy, who was quite healthy and\nstrong, but not much bigger than my thumb. So they said, \"Well, we\ncannot say we have not got what we wished for, and, little as he is,\nwe will love him dearly;\" and they called him Thumbling.\n\nThey gave him plenty of food, yet he never grew bigger, but remained\njust the same size as when he was born; still, his eyes were sharp and\nsparkling and he soon showed himself to be a clever little fellow,\nwho always knew well what he was about. One day, as the woodman was\ngetting ready to go into the wood to cut fuel, he said, \"I wish I had\nsome one to bring the cart after me, for I want to make haste.\" \"Oh,\nfather!\" cried Thumbling, \"I will take care of that; the cart shall\nbe in the wood by the time you want it.\" Then the woodman laughed and\nsaid, \"How can that be? You cannot reach up to the horse's bridle.\"\n\"Never mind that, father,\" said Thumbling; \"if my mother will only\nharness the horse, I will get into his ear, and tell him which way to\ngo.\" \"Well,\" said the father, \"we will try for once.\"\n\nWhen the time came, the mother harnessed the horse to the cart, and\nput Thumbling into its ear; and as he sat there, the little man told\nthe beast how to go, crying out, \"Go on,\" and \"Stop,\" as he wanted;\nso the horse went on just as if the woodman had driven it himself into\nthe wood. It happened that, as the horse was going a little too fast,\nand Thumbling was calling out \"Gently, gently!\" two strangers came up.\n\"What an odd thing that is!\" said one, \"there is a cart going along,\nand I heard a carter talking to the horse but can see no one.\" \"That\nis strange,\" said the other; \"let us follow the cart and see where it\ngoes.\" So they went on into the wood, till at last they came to the\nplace where the woodman was. Then Thumbling, seeing his father, cried\nout, \"See, father, here I am, with the cart, all right and safe; now\ntake me down.\" So his father took hold of the horse with one hand, and\nwith the other took his son out of the ear; then he put him down upon\na straw, where he sat as merry as you please. The two strangers were\nall this time looking on, and did not know what to say for wonder. At\nlast one took the other aside and said, \"That little urchin will make\nour fortune if we can get him, and carry him about from town to town\nas a show; we must buy him.\" So they went to the woodman and asked him\nwhat he would take for the little man: \"He will be better off,\" said\nthey, \"with us than with you.\" \"I won't sell him at all,\" said the\nfather, \"my own flesh and blood is dearer to me than all the silver\nand gold in the world.\" But Thumbling, hearing of the bargain they\nwanted to make, crept up his father's coat to his shoulder, and\nwhispered in his ear, \"Take the money, father, and let them have me;\nI'll soon come back to you.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo the woodman at last agreed to sell Thumbling to the strangers for\na large piece of gold. \"Where do you like to sit?\" said one of them.\n\"Oh! put me on the rim of your hat, that will be a nice gallery for\nme; I can walk about there, and see the country as we go along.\"\nSo they did as he wished; and when Thumbling had taken leave of his\nfather, they carried him away with them. They journeyed on till it\nbegan to be dusky, and then the little man said, \"Let me get down,\nI'm tired.\" So the man took off his hat and set him down on a clod of\nearth in a ploughed field by the side of the road, But Thumbling ran\nabout amongst the furrows, and at last slipped into a mouse-hole.\n\"Good-night, masters,\" said he, \"I'm off! mind and look sharp after me\nthe next time.\" They ran directly to the place, and poked the ends\nof their sticks into the mouse-hole, but all in vain; Thumbling only\ncrawled further and further in, and at last it became quite dark, so\nthey were obliged to go their way without their prize, as sulky as you\nplease.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhen Thumbling found they were gone, he came out of his hiding-place.\n\"What dangerous walking it is,\" said he, \"in this ploughed field! If\nI were to fall from one of these great clods, I should certainly break\nmy neck.\" At last, by good chance, he found a large empty snail-shell.\n\"This is lucky,\" said he, \"I can sleep here very well,\" and in he\ncrept. Just as he was falling asleep he heard two men passing, and one\nsaid to the other, \"How shall we manage to steal that rich parson's\nsilver and gold?\" \"I'll tell you,\" cried Thumbling. \"What noise was\nthat?\" said the thief, frightened. \"I am sure I heard some one speak.\"\nThey stood still listening, and Thumbling said, \"Take me with you,\nand I'll soon show you how to get the parson's money.\" \"But where are\nyou?\" said they. \"Look about on the ground,\" answered he, \"and listen\nwhere the sound comes from.\" At last the thieves found him out, and\nlifted him up in their hands. \"You little urchin!\" said they, \"what\ncan you do for us?\" \"Why, I can get between the iron window-bars of\nthe parson's house, and throw you out whatever you want.\" \"That's a\ngood thought,\" said the thieves: \"come along, we shall see what you\ncan do.\"\n\nWhen they came to the parson's house, Thumbling slipped through the\nwindow-bars into the room, and then called out as loudly as he could\nbawl, \"Will you have all that is here?\" At this the thieves were\nfrightened, and said \"Softly, softly, speak low that you may not\nawaken anybody.\" But Thumbling pretended not to understand them, and\nbawled out again, \"How much will you have? Shall I throw it all out?\"\nNow the cook lay in the next room, and hearing a noise she raised\nherself in her bed and listened. Meanwhile the thieves were\nfrightened, and ran off to a little distance; but at last they plucked\nup courage, and said, \"The little urchin is only trying to make fools\nof us.\" So they came back and whispered softly to him, saying, \"Now,\nlet us have no more of your jokes, but throw out some of the money.\"\nThen Thumbling called out as loudly as he could, \"Very well; hold out\nyour hands, here it comes.\" The cook heard this quite plainly, so she\nsprang out of bed and ran to open the door. The thieves rushed off as\nif a wolf were at their heels; and the maid, having groped about\nand found nothing, went away for a light. By the time she returned,\nThumbling had slipped off into the barn; and when the cook had looked\nabout and searched every hole and corner, and found nobody, she went\nto bed, thinking she must have been dreaming with her eyes open. The\nlittle man crawled about in the hay-loft, and at last found a glorious\nplace to finish his night's rest in; so he laid himself down, meaning\nto sleep till daylight, and then find his way home to his father and\nmother. But, alas! how cruelly was he disappointed! what crosses and\nsorrows happen in this world! The cook got up early, before daybreak,\nto feed the cows: she went straight to the hay loft, and carried away\na large bundle of hay with the little man in the middle of it fast\nasleep. He still, however, slept on, and did not wake till he found\nhimself in the mouth of the cow, who had taken him up with a mouthful\nof hay: \"Good lack-a-day!\" said he, \"how did I manage to tumble into\nthe mill?\" But he soon found out where he really was, and was obliged\nto have all his wits about him in order that he might not get between\nthe cow's teeth, and so be crushed to death. At last she swallowed him\ndown. \"It is rather dark here,\" said he; \"they forgot to build windows\nin this room to let the sun in; a candle would be no bad thing.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThough he made the best of his bad luck, he did not like his quarters\nat all; and the worst of it was, that more and more hay was always\ncoming down, and the space in which he was became smaller and smaller.\nAt last he cried out as loudly as he could, \"Don't bring me any more\nhay! Don't bring me any more hay!\" The maid happened to be just then\nmilking the cow, and hearing someone speak and seeing nobody, and\nyet being quite sure it was the same voice that she had heard in the\nnight, she was so much frightened that she fell off her stool and\noverset the milk-pail. She ran off as fast as she could to her master,\nthe parson, and said, \"Sir, sir, the cow is talking!\" But the parson\nsaid, \"Woman, thou art surely mad!\" However, he went with her into the\ncow-house to see what was the matter. Scarcely had they set their feet\non the threshold when Thumbling called out, \"Don't bring me any more\nhay!\" Then the parson himself was frightened; and thinking the cow was\nsurely bewitched, ordered that she should be killed directly. So the\ncow was killed, and the part in which Thumbling lay was thrown away.\n\nThumbling soon set himself to work to get out, which was not a very\neasy task; but at last, just as he had made room to get his head\nthrough, a new misfortune befell him: a hungry wolf passed by\nand swallowed Thumbling and all, at a single gulp, and ran away.\nThumbling, however, was not disheartened; and thinking the wolf would\nnot dislike having some chat with him as he was going along, he called\nout, \"My good friend, I can show you a famous treat.\" \"Where's that?\"\nsaid the wolf. \"In such and such a house,\" said Thumbling, describing\nhis father's house, \"you can crawl through the drain into the kitchen,\nand there you will find cakes, ham, beef, and everything your heart\ncan desire.\" The wolf did not want to be asked twice; so that very\nnight he went to the house and crawled through the drain into the\nkitchen, and ate and drank there to his heart's content. As soon as he\nwas satisfied, he wanted to get away; but he had eaten so much that\nhe could not get out the same way that he came in. This was just what\nThumbling had reckoned upon; and he now began to set up a great shout,\nmaking all the noise he could. \"Will you be quiet?\" said the wolf,\n\"you'll awaken everybody in the house.\" \"What's that to me?\" said the\nlittle man, \"you have had your frolic, now I've a mind to be merry\nmyself;\" and he began again singing and shouting as loudly as he\ncould.\n\n[Illustration: \"THE WOODMAN AND HIS WIFE, BEING AWAKENED BY THE NOISE,\nPEEPED THROUGH A CRACK IN THE DOOR.\"]\n\nThe woodman and his wife, being awakened by the noise, peeped through\na crack in the door; but when they saw that the wolf was there, you\nmay well suppose that they were terribly frightened; and the woodman\nran for his axe, and gave his wife a scythe. \"Now do you stay behind,\"\nsaid the woodman; \"and when I have knocked him on the head, do you\ncut him open with the scythe.\" Thumbling heard all this, and said,\n\"Father, father! I am here; the wolf has swallowed me;\" and his father\nsaid, \"Heaven be praised! we have found our dear child again;\" and\nhe told his wife not to use the scythe, for fear she should hurt\nhim. Then he aimed a great blow, and struck the wolf on the head, and\nkilled him on the spot; and when he was dead they cut open his body\nand set Thumbling free. \"Ah!\" said the father, \"what fears we have had\nfor you!\" \"Yes, father,\" answered he, \"I have travelled all over the\nworld, since we parted, in one way or other; and now I am very glad to\nget fresh air again.\" \"Why, where have you been?\" said the father. \"I\nhave been in a mouse-hole, in a snail-shell, down a cow's throat, and\ninside the wolf; and yet here I am again safe and sound.\" \"Well,\" said\nthey, \"we will not sell you again for all the riches in the world.\" So\nthey hugged and kissed their dear little son, and gave him plenty to\neat and drink, and fetched new clothes for him, for his old ones were\nquite spoiled on his journey.\n\n[Illustration: From \"THE GOOSE GIRL\"]\n\n\n\n\nTHE RAPHAEL HOUSE LIBRARY OF GIFT BOOKS\n\n_FOR BOYS AND GIRLS_\n\nTHIRTY BEAUTIFUL VOLUMES\n\nEdited by CAPTAIN EDRIC VREDENBURG\n\nPictorial Boards, Cloth Back. Cloth, Bevelled Gilt Edges\n\nA charming series of delightful volumes that have certainly taken a\nforemost place amongst the cherished classics for young people. Each\nbook embodies a distinct feature, all are carefully compiled, and\nappeal alike to children and their elders. The tales are told by able\nauthors of to-day and celebrated writers of past years, with lavish\nand excellent illustrations by popular artists. The volumes are bound\nin attractive covers.\n\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM OLD BRITISH LEGENDS\n\nBY M. DOROTHY BELGRAVE AND HILDA HART.\n\nILLUSTRATED BY HARRY G. THEAKER.\n\nThese ancient legends of England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland,\ndelightfully narrated and brilliantly illustrated, constitute a volume\nwhich may well claim to be amongst the most beautiful books of this\nbeautiful series. Printed on rough art paper. 10 full-page colour\nplates, 144 pp. letterpress, 4to.\n\n[Illustration: _From \"Children's Stories from Old British Legends.\"_]\n\n\nMY BOOK OF FAVOURITE FAIRY TALES\n\nSTORIES RE-TOLD BY CAPT. EDRIC VREDENBURG AND OTHERS.\n\nILLUSTRATED BY JENNIE HARBOUR.\n\nThe well-known stories of \"Cinderella,\" \"Beauty and the Beast,\"\n\"Red Riding Hood,\" etc., etc. Popular tales that are ever in demand,\nsumptuously illustrated with exquisitely decorative and highly\noriginal designs. Printed on rough art paper. 12 full-page colour\nplates. 144 pp. letterpress, crown 4to.\n\n\nHANS ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES\n\nILLUSTRATED BY MABEL LUCIE ATTWELL\n\nDainty grace and quaint charm pervade this exquisite edition of a\nselection from the beloved fairy tales. Numerous black and white\ndrawings. Printed on rough art paper. 12 full-page colour plates. 144\npp. letterpress, crown 4to.\n\n\nGRIMM'S FAIRY TALES\n\nILLUSTRATED BY MABEL LUCIE ATTWELL\n\nNew editions of these famous stories are ever acceptable, and in these\nillustrations Mabel Lucie Attwell has excelled herself, so admirably\nhas she depicted the conceptions of the famous writers. Printed on\nrough art paper. 12 full-page colour plates. 144 pp. letterpress,\ncrown 4to.\n\n[Illustration: _From \"My Book of Favourite Fairy Tales.\"_]\n\n\n[Illustration: _From \"Animal Legends from many Lands.\"_]\n\nANIMAL LEGENDS FROM MANY LANDS\n\nBY ROSE YEATMAN WOOLF\n\nILLUSTRATED BY EDWIN NOBLE\n\nTruly splendid stories illustrative of the cunning of the Fox,\nthe greediness of the Wolf, the obstinacy of the Mule, and other\nfancifully descriptive tales of the ways and doings of the inhabitants\nof the Animal Kingdom. These stories, as the title of the volume\nindicates, are collected from the legendary lore of many lands. The\npictures are in the artist's most spirited and powerful style. Printed\non rough art paper. 12 full-page colour plates. 144 pp. letterpress,\ncrown 4to.\n\n\nAESOP'S FABLES\n\nILLUSTRATED BY EDWIN NOBLE\n\nA magnificent edition of these ever-applicable and world-famed Fables,\nstrikingly pictured with excellent coloured and black and white\ndrawings, and forming a most desirable volume alike for young and old,\nand a handsome addition to any library. Printed on rough art paper, 12\nfull-page colour plates. 144 pp. letterpress, crown 4to.\n\n\n[Illustration: _From \"Tales of King Arthur and the Knights of the\nRound Table.\"]\n\nTALES OF KING ARTHUR\n\nAND THE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE\n\nBY DORIS ASHLEY\n\nILLUSTRATED BY ARTHUR A. DIXON.\n\nA particularly apt selection from the marvellous exploits of the\nKnights of the Round Table, related in thrilling language and\nillustrated in an ideal manner with pictures in colour and black\nand white. A perfect present for a boy or girl. Printed on rough art\npaper. 12 full-page colour plates. 144 pp. letterpress, crown 4to.\n\n\nGLORIOUS BATTLES OF ENGLISH HISTORY\n\nBY MAJOR C.H. WYLLY\n\nWITH FOREWORD BY SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE\n\nILLUSTRATED BY HARRY PAYNE\n\nBooks of Battles are ever popular, and this one, with its well-chosen\nincidents, told in an easy and interesting style by an officer of the\nBritish Army, and its inspiring foreword, will take a high rank and\nbe greatly in demand particularly amongst that large section of the\npublic to whom fact appeals so much more strongly than fiction. The\nillustrator has spared no pains in making his pictures worthy of their\nsubject. Printed on rough art paper. 12 full-page colour plates and\nnumerous black and white drawings. 144 pp. letterpress, crown 4to.\n\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM SHAKESPEARE\n\nBY E. NESBIT; AND\n\nWHEN SHAKESPEARE WAS A BOY\n\nBY DR. F.J. FURNIVALL, M.A.\n\nNEW EDITION\n\nThis book brings before the minds of children, in a most attractive\nmanner, many of the great dramatic poet's works, acquainting them\nwith the characters and plots of the plays in a delicate way, and in\na style that is certain to make them long for the time when they\nshall read the whole for themselves. The introductory history by Dr.\nFurnivall is full of charm and instruction. This entirely new edition\nhas full-page colour and black and white drawings by John H. Bacon,\nA.R.A., Arthur Dixon, Howard Davie and Harold Copping. Printed on\nrough art paper. 10 full-page colour plates. 144 pp. letterpress,\ncrown 4to.\n\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM TENNYSON\n\nBY NORA CHESSON\n\nNEW EDITION\n\nThe most popular poems of Tennyson, \"The Lily Maid,\" \"Lady Clare,\"\n\"The Lord of Burleigh,\" \"The Story of King Arthur,\" etc., etc., retold\nin prose, and so introducing to the minds of young people the great\npoet's works, and familiarising them with his celebrated characters.\nThis is a new edition, with additional beautiful illustrations in\ncolour and black and white by John H. Bacon, A.R.A., Gordon Browne,\nR.I., Arthur Dixon and others. Printed on rough art paper. 10\nfull-page colour plates. 144 pp. letterpress, crown 4to.\n\n[Illustration: _From \"Children's Stories from Tennyson.\"_]\n\n\n[Illustration: _From \"Children's Stories from Italian Fairy Tales.\"_]\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM ITALIAN FAIRY TALES AND LEGENDS\n\nBY LILIA ROMANO\n\nILLUSTRATED BY HOWARD DAVIE Their charm enhanced by the numerous\ncharacteristic illustrations, these stories, with their vivid local\ncolouring, gathered from the fairy tales and folk-lore of lovely\nItaly, translated and retold, form a truly magnificent volume. Printed\non rough art paper. 12 full-page colour plates. 144 pp. letterpress,\ncrown 4to.\n\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM JAPANESE FAIRY TALES AND LEGENDS\n\nBY N. KATO\n\nILLUSTRATED BY HARRY G. THEAKER\n\nThe stories most sympathetic to the feelings of the English-reading\njuvenile public have been collected and translated, and the book,\nwith its fascinating illustrations in colour and black and white, has\nproved a valuable addition to the series. Printed on rough art paper.\n10 full-page colour plates. 144 pp. letterpress, crown 4to.\n\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM RUSSIAN FAIRY TALES AND LEGENDS\n\nILLUSTRATED BY A.A. DIXON\n\nTranslated from the original, and adapted by Miss Seraphima Pulman,\nthese stories are truly charming, while they are valuable as giving\nan insight into Russian life and habits. The illustrations possess\nall that delicacy and beauty which is characteristic of the artist.\nPrinted on rough art paper. 12 full-page colour plates. 144 pp.\nletterpress, crown 4to.\n\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM INDIAN LEGENDS\n\nBY M. DOROTHY BELGRAVE AND HILDA HART\n\nILLUSTRATED BY HARRY G. THEAKER\n\nWritten with much feeling and charm, while the artist has delineated\nthe episodes with strikingly beautiful drawings in colour and black\nand white, this book is also popular as furthering the knowledge of a\nland and people so closely bound in the heart of the British Empire.\nPrinted on rough art paper. 12 full-page colour plates. 144 pp.\nletterpress, crown 4to.\n\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM FRENCH FAIRY TALES\n\nBY DORIS ASHLEY\n\nILLUSTRATED BY MABEL LUCIE ATTWELL\n\nTales to be read with breathless interest, so full of incident and\nromance are they, and in dealing with them the writer has shown\nconsummate tact, both in her choice of stories and her manner\nof handling them, and this, combined with the wholly fascinating\nillustrations, in colour and black and white, has resulted in an\naltogether lovely volume. Printed on rough art paper. 12 full-page\ncolour plates. 144 pp. letterpress, crown 4to.\n\n[Illustration: _From \"Children's Stories from French Fairy Tales_\"]\n\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM THE NORTHERN LEGENDS\n\nBY M. DOROTHY BELGRAVE AND HILDA HART\n\nILLUSTRATED BY HARRY G. THEAKER\n\nThose entrancing legends of the Icelandic and Scandinavian poets are\nhere recounted in a cohesive and lucid style suitable for boys and\ngirls, thus in an easy way introducing the famous and fantastic heroes\nand heroines of Norse Mythology. The beautiful colour pictures, with\nthe black and white drawings, are full of poetry and interest. Printed\non rough art paper. 12 full-page colour plates. 144 pp. letterpress,\ncrown 4to.\n\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM LONGFELLOW\n\nBY DORIS ASHLEY\n\n(NEW EDITION)\n\nAn admirable collection of the most famous poems, delightfully\ntranslated into prose, and profusely illustrated with exquisite\npictures in colour and black and white by Harold Copping, A. Dixon, M.\nBowley and others, rendering the readers anxious for, and appreciative\nof, such poems as \"The Golden Legend,\" \"Evangeline,\" and \"Hiawatha,\"\nwhich, with other favourites, are placed before them in this\nattractive guise. To this new edition more pictures have been added.\nPrinted on rough art paper. 10 full-page colour plates. 144 pp.\nletterpress, crown 4to.\n\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY\n\nTOLD BY E. NESBIT AND DORIS ASHLEY\n\nSome of the most noteworthy and interesting historical events\nwoven into entertaining stories, and so of great value in indelibly\nimpressing them upon the mind. The volume is charmingly illustrated\nthroughout by the late John H. Bacon, A.R.A., Howard Davie, M. Bowley,\nand other popular artists. Printed on rough art paper. 9 full-page\ncolour plates. 144 pp. letterpress, crown 4to.\n\n[Illustration: _From \"Alice in Wonderland\"_]\n\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM THE POETS\n\nBY M. DOROTHY BELGRAVE AND HILDA HART\n\nILLUSTRATED BY FRANK ADAMS\n\nCharacters and incidents in the works of Chaucer, Pope, Keats, Milton,\nBrowning, and other great poets, teeming with interest, and with\nwhich all minds should be conversant, are here presented in extremely\nfascinating prose narrative, beautifully illustrated in colour\nand black and white by Frank Adams. Printed on rough art paper. 12\nfull-page colour plates. 144 pp. letterpress, crown 4to.\n\n\nALICE IN WONDERLAND\n\nILLUSTRATED BY MABEL LUCIE ATTWELL\n\nAn exceptionally attractive edition of the popular Fairy Tale by Lewis\nCarroll, characteristically and charmingly illustrated with many black\nand white drawings and full-page colour plates. This story, which will\nhold its own as long as dreams are dreamed, is here presented in a\nworthy setting, and one which will meet with universal approbation.\nPrinted on rough art paper. 12 full-page colour plates. 152 pp.\nletterpress, crown 4to.\n\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM DICKENS\n\nBY MARY ANGELA DICKENS\n\nILLUSTRATED BY HAROLD COPPING\n\nThe child interest from some of Dickens' masterpieces is here\ndepicted afresh, and told in simple and charming language by his\ngrand-daughter, Mary Angela Dickens, and other writers, with an\nintroduction by Percy Fitzgerald, the friend of, and eminent authority\non, Charles Dickens. The stories of Little David Copperfield, Little\nNell, Tiny Tim, Little Paul Dombey, etc., etc., are here narrated, all\nbeing profusely illustrated. Printed on rough art paper 11 full-page\ncoloured plates. 144 pp. letterpress, crown 4to.\n\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM SCOTT\n\nBY DORIS ASHLEY\n\nILLUSTRATED BY HAROLD C. EARNSHAW\n\nThe histories of Sir Walter Scott's most popular characters condensed\ninto short stories, and thus adapted as an interesting introduction to\nthe Scott classics, so worthily considered a part of the education of\nevery up-to-date boy and girl. These tales are admirably illustrated\nwith numerous drawings in colour and black and white. Printed on rough\nart paper. 12 full-page colour plates. 144 pp. letterpress, crown 4to.\n\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM THE ARABIAN NIGHTS\n\nBY ROSE YEATMAN WOOLF\n\nILLUSTRATED BY HARRY G. THEAKER\n\nAn admirable collection of the most popular tales, carefully compiled\nso as to form an entirely delightful and charming volume. The book\nis beautifully illustrated with pictures gorgeous in their Eastern\ncolours, and innumerable black and white drawings. Printed on rough\nart paper. 12 full-page colour plates. 144 pp. letterpress, crown 4to.\n\n[Illustration: _From \"Children's Stories from Dickens\"_]\n\n\n\n\nTHE RAPHAEL HOUSE LIBRARY OF GIFT BOOKS\n\nEdited by CAPTAIN EDRIC VREDENBURG\n\nThirty beautiful Volumes, profusely illustrated in colour and black\nand white. Pictorial Boards, Cloth Back, or Cloth. Bevelled, Gilt\nEdges. Crown 4to.\n\nTALES OF THE ALHAMBRA. By WASHINGTON IRVING. Illustrated by H.M.\nBROCK. 12 full-page colour plates. 144pp.\n\n\"ANIMAL LEGENDS FROM MANY LANDS.\" By ROSE YEATMAN WOOLF. Illustrated\nby EDWIN NOBLE. 12 full-page colour plates. 144 pp.\n\nTALES OF KING ARTHUR AND THE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE. By DORIS\nASHLEY. Illustrated by A.A. DIXON. 12 full-page colour plates. 144 pp.\n\nMY BOOK OF FAVOURITE FAIRY TALES. By CAPT. EDRIC VREDENBURG and\nothers. Illustrated by JENNIE HARBOUR. 12 full-page colour plates.\n144pp.\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM OLD BRITISH LEGENDS. By M. DOROTHY BELGRAVE\nand HILDA HART. Illustrated by HARRY G. THEAKER. 10 full-page colour\nplates. 144 pp.\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM FRENCH FAIRY TALES. By DORIS ASHLEY.\nIllustrated by MABEL LUCIE ATTWELL. 12 full-page colour plates. 144\npp.\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM ITALIAN FAIRY TALES AND LEGENDS. By LILIA\nROMANO. Illustrated by HOWARD DAVIE 12 full-page colour plates. 144pp.\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM INDIAN LEGENDS. By M. DOROTHY BELGRAVE and\nHILDA HART. Illustrated by H.G. THEAKER. 12 full-page colour plates.\n144pp.\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM JAPANESE FAIRY TALES AND LEGENDS. Translated\nand adapted by N. KATO. Illustrated by H.G. THEAKER. 10 full-page\ncolour plates. 144 pp.\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM ROUMANIAN FAIRY TALES AND LEGENDS By Dr. M.\nGASTER, Ph.D., late President of the English Folk-lore Society, &c.\nIllustrated by C.E. BROCK. 12 full-page colour plates. 144 pp.\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM RUSSIAN FAIRY TALES AND LEGENDS. Translated\nand adapted by SERAPHIMA PULMAN. Illustrated by ARTHUR A. DIXON. 12\nfull-page colour plates. 144pp.\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM THE NORTHERN LEGENDS. By M. DOROTHY BELGRAVE\nand HILDA HART. Illustrated by HARRY G. THEAKER. 12 full-page colour\nplates. 152 pp.\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM SCOTT. By DORIS ASHLEY. Illustrated by HAROLD\nC. EARNSHAW. 12 full-page colour plates. 144 pp.\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM THE POETS. By M. DOROTHY BELGRAVE and HILDA\nHART. Illustrated by FRANK ADAMS. 12 full-page colour plates. 152pp.\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. By E. NESBIT and DORIS\nASHLEY. Illustrated by JOHN H. BACON, A.R.A., HOWARD DAVIE, and\nothers. 9 full-page colour plates. 144pp.\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM THE ARABIAN NIGHTS. By ROSE YEATMAN WOOLF.\nIllustrated by H.G. THEAKER 12 full-page colour plates. 144 pp.\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM DICKENS. By MARY ANGELA DICKENS. Illustrated\nby HAROLD COPPING. 11 full-page colour plates. 144 pp.\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM SHAKESPEARE. By E. NESBIT. Illustrated by\nJ.H. BACON, A.R.A., HOWARD DAVIE, and H. COPPING. 10 full-page colour\nplates. 144 pp.\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM TENNYSON. By NORA CHESSON. Illustrated by JOHN\nH. BACON, A.R.A., ARTHUR DIXON, HAROLD COPPING, and other artists. 10\nfull-page colour plates. 144pp.\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES FROM LONGFELLOW. By DORIS ASHLEY. Illustrated by\nA.A. DIXON, H. COPPING, and others. 10 full-page colour plates. 144\npp.\n\nGLORIOUS BATTLES OF ENGLISH HISTORY. By Major C.H. WYLLY. With\nForeword by Sir ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE. Illustrated by HARRY PAYNE. 12\nfull-page colour plates. 144 pp.\n\nTHE WATER BABIES. By CHARLES KINGSLEY. Abridged Edition. Illustrated\nby MABEL LUCIE ATTWELL. 12 full-page colour plates. 144pp.\n\nHANS ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES. Illustrated by MABEL LUCIE ATTWELL. 12\nfull-page colour plates. 144 pp.\n\nGRIMM'S FAIRY TALES. Illustrated by MABEL LUCIE ATTWELL. 12 full-page\ncolour plates. 144 pp.\n\nALICE IN WONDERLAND. By LEWIS CARROLL. Illustrated by MABEL LUCIE\nATTWELL. 12 full-page colour plates. 152pp.\n\nMOTHER GOOSE. Illustrated by MABEL LUCIE ATTWELL. 12 full-page colour\nplates. 144 pp.\n\nAESOP'S FABLES. Illustrated by EDWIN NOBLE. 12 full-page colour plates.\n144pp.\n\nCURLY HEADS AND LONG LEGS. Stories by the Editor, GRACE C. FLOYD, and\nothers. Illustrated by HILDA COWHAM. 12 full-page colour plates. 144\npp.\n\nGOLDEN LOCKS AND PRETTY FROCKS. Stories by NORMAN GALE, GRACE C.\nFLOYD, the Editor, and others. Illustrated by AGNES RICHARDSON. 12\nfull-page colour plates. 144pp.\n\nTINKER, TAILOR. Stories by Captain EDRIC VREDENBURG. Illustrated by\nLouis WAIN. 12 full-page colour plates. 144pp.\n\n\n_Raphael Tuck and Sons, Ltd., London, Paris, New York._\n_Publishers by special appointment to Their Majesties the King and\nQueen_.","title":"My Book of Favourite Fairy Tales","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":35213}