{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_17208/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_17208","id":"gutenberg_17208","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17208","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: French Literature","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Children's Picture Books","Children's stories, French -- Translations into English","Fairy tales","Fairy tales -- France"],"text":"Produced by Geetu Melwani, Suzanne Shell and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                         THE\n                TALES OF MOTHER GOOSE\n                AS FIRST COLLECTED BY\n              CHARLES PERRAULT IN 1696\n        _A NEW TRANSLATION BY CHARLES WELSH_\n\n               WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY\n                     M.V. O'SHEA\n  PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN\n\n             ILLUSTRATED BY D.J. MUNRO\n           AFTER DRAWINGS BY GUSTAVE DORE\n\n           D.C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS\n              BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO\n\n\n [Illustration: \"SHE MET WITH GAFFER WOLF.\" p. 80.]\n\n\n\n\n[Transcriber's note: In the story \"Riquet of the Tuft,\"\nthe following symbols are used to represent\nspecial characters:\n [=e] = the letter \"e\" with superior macron\n [=a] = the letter \"a\" with superior macron]\n\n\n\n             CONTENTS\n\n                                           PAGE\n\nINTRODUCTION BY PROFESSOR M.V. O'SHEA       vii\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS                       ix\n\nCINDERELLA, OR THE LITTLE GLASS SLIPPER      1\n\nTHE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOOD             13\n\nLITTLE THUMB                                29\n\nTHE MASTER CAT, OR PUSS IN BOOTS            45\n\nRIQUET OF THE TUFT                          54\n\nBLUE BEARD                                  66\n\nTHE FAIRY                                   75\n\nLITTLE RED RIDING-HOOD                      80\n\nNOTE                                        85\n\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n\"She met with Gaffer Wolf\"      _Frontispiece_\n\n                                      PAGE\n\n\"It went on very easily\"               11\n\n\"Let me see if I can do it\"            15\n\n\"Slipped in under his father's seat\"   30\n\n\"The Marquis of Carabas is drowning!\"  48\n\n\"I am exact in keeping my word\"        63\n\n\"If you open it, there's nothing you\nmay not expect from my anger\"          67\n\n\"With all my heart, Goody\"             75\n\n\"He fell upon the good woman\"          81\n\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nWhat virtues do these stories possess that have kept them alive for so\nlong a time? They have to some degree stimulated and nourished qualities\nof supreme worth in individual and social life. With the young the\nstruggle against greed and falsehood and pride and cowardice is a very\nreal one, and situations in which these homely, fundamental traits are\ninvolved are full of interest and seriousness. Again, to mature people\nthe reward of well-doing and the punishment of evil conduct portrayed in\nthese stories are apt to seem too realistic, too much also on the\ncut-and-dried pattern; but it is far different with children. They have\na very concrete sense of right and wrong, and they demand a clear,\nexplicit, tangible outcome for every sort of action. They must have\nconcrete, living examples, with the appropriate outcome of each, set\nbefore them.\n\nA modest, faithful child will be strengthened in his good qualities;\nwhile one lacking these will have them aroused, to some extent at any\nrate, by following Cinderella in her career. Arrogance and selfishness\ncome to unhappy straits in this fancy world, and they are likely to\nfare the same in the real world; so it would be better to part company\nwith them, and take up with gentleness and kindliness and faithfulness\ninstead. And every one may be of some help to others if he be only of\nthe right mind. The brother who thought himself faring badly with only a\ncat for a legacy learns betimes that even so small and apparently\nhelpless a creature may be of much service when he is rightly disposed.\nA person might think little Thumb could accomplish nothing of value to\nany one, but he again teaches the child that all depends on the\nwillingness to be of assistance, the good-heartedness, the\nfellow-feeling which one has for others.\n\nIn making this version anew the translator has endeavored to retain the\ncharacteristics of the style of the early chap-book versions, while\nevading the pompous, stilted language and Johnsonian phraseology so\nfashionable when they were first translated.\n\n\nM.V. O'SHEA.\n\nUNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Tales of Mother Goose.\n\n\n\n\nCINDERELLA, OR THE LITTLE GLASS SLIPPER.\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a gentleman who married, for his second wife,\nthe proudest and most haughty woman that ever was seen. She had two\ndaughters of her own, who were, indeed, exactly like her in all things.\nThe gentleman had also a young daughter, of rare goodness and sweetness\nof temper, which she took from her mother, who was the best creature in\nthe world.\n\nThe wedding was scarcely over, when the stepmother's bad temper began to\nshow itself. She could not bear the goodness of this young girl, because\nit made her own daughters appear the more odious. The stepmother gave\nher the meanest work in the house to do; she had to scour the dishes,\ntables, etc., and to scrub the floors and clean out the bedrooms. The\npoor girl had to sleep in the garret, upon a wretched straw bed, while\nher sisters lay in fine rooms with inlaid floors, upon beds of the very\nnewest fashion, and where they had looking-glasses so large that they\nmight see themselves at their full length. The poor girl bore all\npatiently, and dared not complain to her father, who would have scolded\nher if she had done so, for his wife governed him entirely.\n\nWhen she had done her work, she used to go into the chimney corner, and\nsit down among the cinders, hence she was called Cinderwench. The\nyounger sister of the two, who was not so rude and uncivil as the elder,\ncalled her Cinderella. However, Cinderella, in spite of her mean\napparel, was a hundred times more handsome than her sisters, though they\nwere always richly dressed.\n\nIt happened that the King's son gave a ball, and invited to it all\npersons of fashion. Our young misses were also invited, for they cut a\nvery grand figure among the people of the country-side. They were highly\ndelighted with the invitation, and wonderfully busy in choosing the\ngowns, petticoats, and head-dresses which might best become them. This\nmade Cinderella's lot still harder, for it was she who ironed her\nsisters' linen and plaited their ruffles. They talked all day long of\nnothing but how they should be dressed.\n\n\"For my part,\" said the elder, \"I will wear my red velvet suit with\nFrench trimmings.\"\n\n\"And I,\" said the younger, \"shall wear my usual skirt; but then, to make\namends for that I will put on my gold-flowered mantle, and my diamond\nstomacher, which is far from being the most ordinary one in the world.\"\nThey sent for the best hairdressers they could get to make up their hair\nin fashionable style, and bought patches for their cheeks. Cinderella\nwas consulted in all these matters, for she had good taste. She advised\nthem always for the best, and even offered her services to dress their\nhair, which they were very willing she should do.\n\nAs she was doing this, they said to her:--\n\n\"Cinderella, would you not be glad to go to the ball?\"\n\n\"Young ladies,\" she said, \"you only jeer at me; it is not for such as I\nam to go there.\"\n\n\"You are right,\" they replied; \"people would laugh to see a Cinderwench\nat a ball.\"\n\nAny one but Cinderella would have dressed their hair awry, but she was\ngood-natured, and arranged it perfectly well. They were almost two days\nwithout eating, so much were they transported with joy. They broke above\na dozen laces in trying to lace themselves tight, that they might have a\nfine, slender shape, and they were continually at their looking-glass.\n\nAt last the happy day came; they went to Court, and Cinderella followed\nthem with her eyes as long as she could, and when she had lost sight of\nthem, she fell a-crying.\n\nHer godmother, who saw her all in tears, asked her what was the matter.\n\n\"I wish I could--I wish I could--\" but she could not finish for sobbing.\n\nHer godmother, who was a fairy, said to her, \"You wish you could go to\nthe ball; is it not so?\"\n\n\"Alas, yes,\" said Cinderella, sighing.\n\n\"Well,\" said her godmother, \"be but a good girl, and I will see that you\ngo.\" Then she took her into her chamber, and said to her, \"Run into the\ngarden, and bring me a pumpkin.\"\n\nCinderella went at once to gather the finest she could get, and brought\nit to her godmother, not being able to imagine how this pumpkin could\nhelp her to go to the ball. Her godmother scooped out all the inside of\nit, leaving nothing but the rind. Then she struck it with her wand, and\nthe pumpkin was instantly turned into a fine gilded coach.\n\nShe then went to look into the mouse-trap, where she found six mice, all\nalive. She ordered Cinderella to lift the trap-door, when, giving each\nmouse, as it went out, a little tap with her wand, it was that moment\nturned into a fine horse, and the six mice made a fine set of six horses\nof a beautiful mouse-colored, dapple gray.\n\nBeing at a loss for a coachman, Cinderella said, \"I will go and see if\nthere is not a rat in the rat-trap--we may make a coachman of him.\"\n\n\"You are right,\" replied her godmother; \"go and look.\"\n\nCinderella brought the rat-trap to her, and in it there were three huge\nrats. The fairy chose the one which had the largest beard, and, having\ntouched him with her wand, he was turned into a fat coachman with the\nfinest mustache and whiskers ever seen.\n\nAfter that, she said to her:--\n\n\"Go into the garden, and you will find six lizards behind the\nwatering-pot; bring them to me.\"\n\nShe had no sooner done so than her godmother turned them into six\nfootmen, who skipped up immediately behind the coach, with their\nliveries all trimmed with gold and silver, and they held on as if they\nhad done nothing else their whole lives.\n\nThe fairy then said to Cinderella, \"Well, you see here a carriage fit to\ngo to the ball in; are you not pleased with it?\"\n\n\"Oh, yes!\" she cried; \"but must I go as I am in these rags?\"\n\nHer godmother simply touched her with her wand, and, at the same moment,\nher clothes were turned into cloth of gold and silver, all decked with\njewels. This done, she gave her a pair of the prettiest glass slippers\nin the whole world. Being thus attired, she got into the carriage, her\ngodmother commanding her, above all things, not to stay till after\nmidnight, and telling her, at the same time, that if she stayed one\nmoment longer, the coach would be a pumpkin again, her horses mice, her\ncoachman a rat, her footmen lizards, and her clothes would become just\nas they were before.\n\nShe promised her godmother she would not fail to leave the ball before\nmidnight. She drove away, scarce able to contain herself for joy. The\nKing's son, who was told that a great princess, whom nobody knew, was\ncome, ran out to receive her. He gave her his hand as she alighted from\nthe coach, and led her into the hall where the company were assembled.\nThere was at once a profound silence; every one left off dancing, and\nthe violins ceased to play, so attracted was every one by the singular\nbeauties of the unknown newcomer. Nothing was then heard but a confused\nsound of voices saying:--\n\n\"Ha! how beautiful she is! Ha! how beautiful she is!\"\n\nThe King himself, old as he was, could not keep his eyes off her, and he\ntold the Queen under his breath that it was a long time since he had\nseen so beautiful and lovely a creature.\n\nAll the ladies were busy studying her clothes and head-dress, so that\nthey might have theirs made next day after the same pattern, provided\nthey could meet with such fine materials and able hands to make them.\n\nThe King's son conducted her to the seat of honor, and afterwards took\nher out to dance with him. She danced so very gracefully that they all\nadmired her more and more. A fine collation was served, but the young\nPrince ate not a morsel, so intently was he occupied with her.\n\nShe went and sat down beside her sisters, showing them a thousand\ncivilities, and giving them among other things part of the oranges and\ncitrons with which the Prince had regaled her. This very much surprised\nthem, for they had not been presented to her.\n\nCinderella heard the clock strike a quarter to twelve. She at once made\nher adieus to the company and hastened away as fast as she could.\n\nAs soon as she got home, she ran to find her godmother, and, after\nhaving thanked her, she said she much wished she might go to the ball\nthe next day, because the King's son had asked her to do so. As she was\neagerly telling her godmother all that happened at the ball, her two\nsisters knocked at the door; Cinderella opened it. \"How long you have\nstayed!\" said she, yawning, rubbing her eyes, and stretching herself as\nif she had been just awakened. She had not, however, had any desire to\nsleep since they went from home.\n\n\"If you had been at the ball,\" said one of her sisters, \"you would not\nhave been tired with it. There came thither the finest princess, the\nmost beautiful ever was seen with mortal eyes. She showed us a thousand\ncivilities, and gave us oranges and citrons.\"\n\nCinderella did not show any pleasure at this. Indeed, she asked them the\nname of the princess; but they told her they did not know it, and that\nthe King's son was very much concerned, and would give all the world to\nknow who she was. At this Cinderella, smiling, replied:--\n\n\"Was she then so very beautiful? How fortunate you have been! Could I\nnot see her? Ah! dear Miss Charlotte, do lend me your yellow suit of\nclothes which you wear every day.\"\n\n\"Ay, to be sure!\" cried Miss Charlotte; \"lend my clothes to such a dirty\nCinderwench as thou art! I should be out of my mind to do so.\"\n\nCinderella, indeed, expected such an answer and was very glad of the\nrefusal; for she would have been sadly troubled if her sister had lent\nher what she jestingly asked for. The next day the two sisters went to\nthe ball, and so did Cinderella, but dressed more magnificently than\nbefore. The King's son was always by her side, and his pretty speeches\nto her never ceased. These by no means annoyed the young lady. Indeed,\nshe quite forgot her godmother's orders to her, so that she heard the\nclock begin to strike twelve when she thought it could not be more than\neleven. She then rose up and fled, as nimble as a deer. The Prince\nfollowed, but could not overtake her. She left behind one of her glass\nslippers, which the Prince took up most carefully. She got home, but\nquite out of breath, without her carriage, and in her old clothes,\nhaving nothing left her of all her finery but one of the little\nslippers, fellow to the one she had dropped. The guards at the palace\ngate were asked if they had not seen a princess go out, and they replied\nthey had seen nobody go out but a young girl, very meanly dressed, and\nwho had more the air of a poor country girl than of a young lady.\n\nWhen the two sisters returned from the ball, Cinderella asked them if\nthey had had a pleasant time, and if the fine lady had been there. They\ntold her, yes; but that she hurried away the moment it struck twelve,\nand with so much haste that she dropped one of her little glass\nslippers, the prettiest in the world, which the King's son had taken up.\nThey said, further, that he had done nothing but look at her all the\ntime, and that most certainly he was very much in love with the\nbeautiful owner of the glass slipper.\n\nWhat they said was true; for a few days after the King's son caused it\nto be proclaimed, by sound of trumpet, that he would marry her whose\nfoot this slipper would fit exactly. They began to try it on the\nprincesses, then on the duchesses, and then on all the ladies of the\nCourt; but in vain. It was brought to the two sisters, who did all they\npossibly could to thrust a foot into the slipper, but they could not\nsucceed. Cinderella, who saw this, and knew her slipper, said to them,\nlaughing:--\n\n\"Let me see if it will not fit me.\"\n\nHer sisters burst out a-laughing, and began to banter her. The gentleman\nwho was sent to try the slipper looked earnestly at Cinderella, and,\nfinding her very handsome, said it was but just that she should try, and\nthat he had orders to let every lady try it on.\n\nHe obliged Cinderella to sit down, and, putting the slipper to her\nlittle foot, he found it went on very easily, and fitted her as if it\nhad been made of wax. The astonishment of her two sisters was great, but\nit was still greater when Cinderella pulled out of her pocket the other\nslipper and put it on her foot. Thereupon, in came her godmother, who,\nhaving touched Cinderella's clothes with her wand, made them more\nmagnificent than those she had worn before.\n\n[Illustration: \"IT WENT ON VERY EASILY.\" p. 10.]\n\nAnd now her two sisters found her to be that beautiful lady they had\nseen at the ball. They threw themselves at her feet to beg pardon for\nall their ill treatment of her. Cinderella took them up, and, as she\nembraced them, said that she forgave them with all her heart, and begged\nthem to love her always.\n\nShe was conducted to the young Prince, dressed as she was. He thought\nher more charming than ever, and, a few days after, married her.\nCinderella, who was as good as she was beautiful, gave her two sisters a\nhome in the palace, and that very same day married them to two great\nlords of the Court.\n\n\n\n\nTHE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOODS.\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a king and a queen, who were very sorry that\nthey had no children,--so sorry that it cannot be told.\n\nAt last, however, the Queen had a daughter. There was a very fine\nchristening; and the Princess had for her godmothers all the fairies\nthey could find in the whole kingdom (there were seven of them), so that\nevery one of them might confer a gift upon her, as was the custom of\nfairies in those days. By this means the Princess had all the\nperfections imaginable.\n\nAfter the christening was over, the company returned to the King's\npalace, where was prepared a great feast for the fairies. There was\nplaced before every one of them a magnificent cover with a case of\nmassive gold, wherein were a spoon, and a knife and fork, all of pure\ngold set with diamonds and rubies. But as they were all sitting down at\ntable they saw a very old fairy come into the hall. She had not been\ninvited, because for more than fifty years she had not been out of a\ncertain tower, and she was believed to be either dead or enchanted.\n\nThe King ordered her a cover, but he could not give her a case of gold\nas the others had, because seven only had been made for the seven\nfairies. The old fairy fancied she was slighted, and muttered threats\nbetween her teeth. One of the young fairies who sat near heard her, and,\njudging that she might give the little Princess some unlucky gift, hid\nherself behind the curtains as soon as they left the table. She hoped\nthat she might speak last and undo as much as she could the evil which\nthe old fairy might do.\n\nIn the meanwhile all the fairies began to give their gifts to the\nPrincess. The youngest gave her for her gift that she should be the most\nbeautiful person in the world; the next, that she should have the wit of\nan angel; the third, that she should be able to do everything she did\ngracefully; the fourth, that she should dance perfectly; the fifth, that\nshe should sing like a nightingale; and the sixth, that she should play\nall kinds of musical instruments to the fullest perfection.\n\nThe old fairy's turn coming next, her head shaking more with spite than\nwith age, she said that the Princess should pierce her hand with a\nspindle and die of the wound. This terrible gift made the whole company\ntremble, and everybody fell a-crying.\n\nAt this very instant the young fairy came from behind the curtains and\nsaid these words in a loud voice:--\n\n\"Assure yourselves, O King and Queen, that your daughter shall not die\nof this disaster. It is true, I have no power to undo entirely what my\nelder has done. The Princess shall indeed pierce her hand with a\nspindle; but, instead of dying, she shall only fall into a deep sleep,\nwhich shall last a hundred years, at the end of which a king's son shall\ncome and awake her.\"\n\nThe King, to avoid the misfortune foretold by the old fairy, issued\norders forbidding any one, on pain of death, to spin with a distaff and\nspindle, or to have a spindle in his house. About fifteen or sixteen\nyears after, the King and Queen being absent at one of their country\nvillas, the young Princess was one day running up and down the palace;\nshe went from room to room, and at last she came into a little garret on\nthe top of the tower, where a good old woman, alone, was spinning with\nher spindle. This good woman had never heard of the King's orders\nagainst spindles.\n\n\"What are you doing there, my good woman?\" said the Princess.\n\n\"I am spinning, my pretty child,\" said the old woman, who did not know\nwho the Princess was.\n\n\"Ha!\" said the Princess, \"this is very pretty; how do you do it? Give it\nto me. Let me see if I can do it.\"\n\nShe had no sooner taken it into her hand than, either because she was\ntoo quick and heedless, or because the decree of the fairy had so\nordained, it ran into her hand, and she fell down in a swoon.\n\nThe good old woman, not knowing what to do, cried out for help. People\ncame in from every quarter; they threw water upon the face of the\nPrincess, unlaced her, struck her on the palms of her hands, and rubbed\nher temples with cologne water; but nothing would bring her to herself.\n\nThen the King, who came up at hearing the noise, remembered what the\nfairies had foretold. He knew very well that this must come to pass,\nsince the fairies had foretold it, and he caused the Princess to be\ncarried into the finest room in his palace, and to be laid upon a bed\nall embroidered with gold and silver. One would have taken her for a\nlittle angel, she was so beautiful; for her swooning had not dimmed the\nbrightness of her complexion: her cheeks were carnation, and her lips\ncoral. It is true her eyes were shut, but she was heard to breathe\nsoftly, which satisfied those about her that she was not dead.\n\n[Illustration: \"LET ME SEE IF I CAN DO IT.\" p. 15.]\n\nThe King gave orders that they should let her sleep quietly till the\ntime came for her to awake. The good fairy who had saved her life by\ncondemning her to sleep a hundred years was in the kingdom of Matakin,\ntwelve thousand leagues off, when this accident befell the Princess;\nbut she was instantly informed of it by a little dwarf, who had\nseven-leagued boots, that is, boots with which he could stride over\nseven leagues of ground at once. The fairy started off at once, and\narrived, about an hour later, in a fiery chariot drawn by dragons.\n\nThe King handed her out of the chariot, and she approved everything he\nhad done; but as she had very great foresight, she thought that when the\nPrincess should awake she might not know what to do with herself, if she\nwas all alone in this old palace. This was what she did: she touched\nwith her wand everything in the palace (except the King and\nQueen),--governesses, maids of honor, ladies of the bedchamber,\ngentlemen, officers, stewards, cooks, undercooks, kitchen maids, guards\nwith their porters, pages, and footmen; she likewise touched all the\nhorses which were in the stables, the cart horses, the hunters and the\nsaddle horses, the grooms, the great dogs in the outward court, and\nlittle Mopsey, too, the Princess's spaniel, which was lying on the bed.\n\nAs soon as she touched them they all fell asleep, not to awake again\nuntil their mistress did, that they might be ready to wait upon her when\nshe wanted them. The very spits at the fire, as full as they could hold\nof partridges and pheasants, fell asleep, and the fire itself as well.\nAll this was done in a moment. Fairies are not long in doing their\nwork.\n\nAnd now the King and Queen, having kissed their dear child without\nwaking her, went out of the palace and sent forth orders that nobody\nshould come near it.\n\nThese orders were not necessary; for in a quarter of an hour's time\nthere grew up all round about the park such a vast number of trees,\ngreat and small, bushes and brambles, twining one within another, that\nneither man nor beast could pass through; so that nothing could be seen\nbut the very top of the towers of the palace; and that, too, only from\nafar off. Every one knew that this also was the work of the fairy in\norder that while the Princess slept she should have nothing to fear from\ncurious people.\n\nAfter a hundred years the son of the King then reigning, who was of\nanother family from that of the sleeping Princess, was a-hunting on that\nside of the country, and he asked what those towers were which he saw in\nthe middle of a great thick wood. Every one answered according as they\nhad heard. Some said that it was an old haunted castle, others that all\nthe witches of the country held their midnight revels there, but the\ncommon opinion was that it was an ogre's dwelling, and that he carried\nto it all the little children he could catch, so as to eat them up at\nhis leisure, without any one being able to follow him, for he alone had\nthe power to make his way through the wood.\n\nThe Prince did not know what to believe, and presently a very aged\ncountryman spake to him thus:--\n\n\"May it please your royal Highness, more than fifty years since I heard\nfrom my father that there was then in this castle the most beautiful\nprincess that was ever seen; that she must sleep there a hundred years,\nand that she should be waked by a king's son, for whom she was\nreserved.\"\n\nThe young Prince on hearing this was all on fire. He thought, without\nweighing the matter, that he could put an end to this rare adventure;\nand, pushed on by love and the desire of glory, resolved at once to look\ninto it.\n\nAs soon as he began to get near to the wood, all the great trees, the\nbushes, and brambles gave way of themselves to let him pass through. He\nwalked up to the castle which he saw at the end of a large avenue; and\nyou can imagine he was a good deal surprised when he saw none of his\npeople following him, because the trees closed again as soon as he had\npassed through them. However, he did not cease from continuing his way;\na young prince in search of glory is ever valiant.\n\nHe came into a spacious outer court, and what he saw was enough to\nfreeze him with horror. A frightful silence reigned over all; the image\nof death was everywhere, and there was nothing to be seen but what\nseemed to be the outstretched bodies of dead men and animals. He,\nhowever, very well knew, by the ruby faces and pimpled noses of the\nporters, that they were only asleep; and their goblets, wherein still\nremained some drops of wine, showed plainly that they had fallen asleep\nwhile drinking their wine.\n\nHe then crossed a court paved with marble, went up the stairs, and came\ninto the guard chamber, where guards were standing in their ranks, with\ntheir muskets upon their shoulders, and snoring with all their might. He\nwent through several rooms full of gentlemen and ladies, some standing\nand others sitting, but all were asleep. He came into a gilded chamber,\nwhere he saw upon a bed, the curtains of which were all open, the most\nbeautiful sight ever beheld--a princess who appeared to be about fifteen\nor sixteen years of age, and whose bright and resplendent beauty had\nsomething divine in it. He approached with trembling and admiration, and\nfell down upon his knees before her.\n\nThen, as the end of the enchantment was come, the Princess awoke, and\nlooking on him with eyes more tender than could have been expected at\nfirst sight, said:--\n\n\"Is it you, my Prince? You have waited a long while.\"\n\nThe Prince, charmed with these words, and much more with the manner in\nwhich they were spoken, knew not how to show his joy and gratitude; he\nassured her that he loved her better than he did himself. Their\ndiscourse was not very connected, but they were the better pleased, for\nwhere there is much love there is little eloquence. He was more at a\nloss than she, and we need not wonder at it; she had had time to think\nof what to say to him; for it is evident (though history says nothing of\nit) that the good fairy, during so long a sleep, had given her very\npleasant dreams. In short, they talked together for four hours, and then\nthey said not half they had to say.\n\nIn the meanwhile all the palace had woke up with the Princess; every one\nthought upon his own business, and as they were not in love, they were\nready to die of hunger. The lady of honor, being as sharp set as the\nother folks, grew very impatient, and told the Princess aloud that the\nmeal was served. The Prince helped the Princess to rise. She was\nentirely and very magnificently dressed; but his royal Highness took\ncare not to tell her that she was dressed like his great-grandmother,\nand had a high collar. She looked not a bit the less charming and\nbeautiful for all that.\n\nThey went into the great mirrored hall, where they supped, and were\nserved by the officers of the Princess's household. The violins and\nhautboys played old tunes, but they were excellent, though they had not\nbeen played for a hundred years; and after supper, without losing any\ntime, the lord almoner married them in the chapel of the castle. They\nhad but very little sleep--the Princess scarcely needed any; and the\nPrince left her next morning to return into the city, where his father\nwas greatly troubled about him.\n\nThe Prince told him that he lost his way in the forest as he was\nhunting, and that he had slept in the cottage of a charcoal-burner, who\ngave him cheese and brown bread.\n\nThe King, his father, who was a good man, believed him; but his mother\ncould not be persuaded that it was true; and seeing that he went almost\nevery day a-hunting, and that he always had some excuse ready for so\ndoing, though he had been out three or four nights together, she began\nto suspect that he was married; for he lived thus with the Princess\nabove two whole years, during which they had two children, the elder, a\ndaughter, was named Dawn, and the younger, a son, they called Day,\nbecause he was a great deal handsomer than his sister.\n\nThe Queen spoke several times to her son, to learn after what manner he\nwas passing his time, and told him that in this he ought in duty to\nsatisfy her. But he never dared to trust her with his secret; he feared\nher, though he loved her, for she was of the race of the Ogres, and the\nKing married her for her vast riches alone. It was even whispered about\nthe Court that she had Ogreish inclinations, and that, whenever she saw\nlittle children passing by, she had all the difficulty in the world to\nprevent herself from falling upon them. And so the Prince would never\ntell her one word.\n\nBut when the King was dead, which happened about two years afterward,\nand he saw himself lord and master, he openly declared his marriage: and\nhe went in great state to conduct his Queen to the palace. They made a\nmagnificent entry into the capital city, she riding between her two\nchildren.\n\nSoon after, the King made war on Emperor Cantalabutte, his neighbor. He\nleft the government of the kingdom to the Queen, his mother, and\nearnestly commended his wife and children to her care. He was obliged to\ncarry on the war all the summer, and as soon as he left, the\nQueen-mother sent her daughter-in-law and her children to a country\nhouse among the woods, that she might with the more ease gratify her\nhorrible longing. Some few days afterward she went thither herself, and\nsaid to her head cook:--\n\n\"I intend to eat little Dawn for my dinner to-morrow.\"\n\n\"O! madam!\" cried the head cook.\n\n\"I will have it so,\" replied the Queen (and this she spoke in the tone\nof an Ogress who had a strong desire to eat fresh meat), \"and will eat\nher with a sharp sauce.\"\n\nThe poor man, knowing very well that he must not play tricks with\nOgresses, took his great knife and went up into little Dawn's chamber.\nShe was then nearly four years old, and came up to him, jumping and\nlaughing, to put her arms round his neck, and ask him for some\nsugar-candy. Upon which he began to weep, the great knife fell out of\nhis hand, and he went into the back yard and killed a little lamb, and\ndressed it with such good sauce that his mistress assured him she had\nnever eaten anything so good in her life. He had at the same time taken\nup little Dawn and carried her to his wife, to conceal her in his\nlodging at the end of the courtyard.\n\nEight days afterwards the wicked Queen said to the chief cook, \"I will\nsup upon little Day.\"\n\nHe answered not a word, being resolved to cheat her again as he had done\nbefore. He went to find little Day, and saw him with a foil in his hand,\nwith which he was fencing with a great monkey: the child was then only\nthree years of age. He took him up in his arms and carried him to his\nwife, that she might conceal him in her chamber along with his sister,\nand instead of little Day he served up a young and very tender kid,\nwhich the Ogress found to be wonderfully good.\n\nAll had gone well up to now; but one evening this wicked Queen said to\nher chief cook:--\n\n\"I will eat the Queen with the same sauce I had with her children.\"\n\nNow the poor chief cook was in despair and could not imagine how to\ndeceive her again. The young Queen was over twenty years old, not\nreckoning the hundred years she had been asleep: and how to find\nsomething to take her place greatly puzzled him. He then decided, to\nsave his own life, to cut the Queen's throat; and going up into her\nchamber, with intent to do it at once, he put himself into as great fury\nas he possibly could, and came into the young Queen's room with his\ndagger in his hand. He would not, however, deceive her, but told her,\nwith a great deal of respect, the orders he had received from the\nQueen-mother.\n\n\"Do it; do it,\" she said, stretching out her neck. \"Carry out your\norders, and then I shall go and see my children, my poor children, whom\nI loved so much and so tenderly.\"\n\nFor she thought them dead, since they had been taken away without her\nknowledge.\n\n\"No, no, madam,\" cried the poor chief cook, all in tears; \"you shall not\ndie, and you shall see your children again at once. But then you must\ngo home with me to my lodgings, where I have concealed them, and I will\ndeceive the Queen once more, by giving her a young hind in your stead.\"\n\nUpon this he forthwith conducted her to his room, where, leaving her to\nembrace her children, and cry along with them, he went and dressed a\nyoung hind, which the Queen had for her supper, and devoured with as\nmuch appetite as if it had been the young Queen. She was now well\nsatisfied with her cruel deeds, and she invented a story to tell the\nKing on his return, of how the Queen his wife and her two children had\nbeen devoured by mad wolves.\n\nOne evening, as she was, according to her custom, rambling round about\nthe courts and yards of the palace to see if she could smell any fresh\nmeat, she heard, in a room on the ground floor, little Day crying, for\nhis mamma was going to whip him, because he had been naughty; and she\nheard, at the same time, little Dawn begging mercy for her brother.\n\nThe Ogress knew the voice of the Queen and her children at once, and\nbeing furious at having been thus deceived, she gave orders (in a most\nhorrible voice which made everybody tremble) that, next morning by break\nof day, they should bring into the middle of the great court a large tub\nfilled with toads, vipers, snakes, and all sorts of serpents, in order\nto have the Queen and her children, the chief cook, his wife and maid,\nthrown into it, all of whom were to be brought thither with their hands\ntied behind them.\n\nThey were brought out accordingly, and the executioners were just going\nto throw them into the tub, when the King, who was not so soon expected,\nentered the court on horseback and asked, with the utmost astonishment,\nwhat was the meaning of that horrible spectacle.\n\nNo one dared to tell him, when the Ogress, all enraged to see what had\nhappened, threw herself head foremost into the tub, and was instantly\ndevoured by the ugly creatures she had ordered to be thrown into it to\nkill the others. The King was of course very sorry, for she was his\nmother; but he soon comforted himself with his beautiful wife and his\npretty children.\n\n\n\n\nLITTLE THUMB.\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a fagot-maker and his wife, who had seven\nchildren, all boys. The eldest was but ten years old, and the youngest\nonly seven.\n\nThey were very poor, and their seven children were a great source of\ntrouble to them because not one of them was able to earn his bread. What\ngave them yet more uneasiness was that the youngest was very delicate,\nand scarce ever spoke a word, which made people take for stupidity that\nwhich was a sign of good sense. He was very little, and when born he was\nno bigger than one's thumb; hence he was called Little Thumb.\n\nThe poor child was the drudge of the household, and was always in the\nwrong. He was, however, the most bright and discreet of all the\nbrothers; and if he spoke little, he heard and thought the more.\n\nThere came a very bad year, and the famine was so great that these poor\npeople resolved to rid themselves of their children. One evening, when\nthey were in bed, and the fagot-maker was sitting with his wife at the\nfire, he said to her, with his heart ready to burst with grief:--\n\n\"You see plainly that we no longer can give our children food, and I\ncannot bear to see them die of hunger before my eyes; I am resolved to\nlose them in the wood to-morrow, which may very easily be done, for,\nwhile they amuse themselves in tying up fagots, we have only to run away\nand leave them without their seeing us.\"\n\n\"Ah!\" cried out his wife, \"could you really take the children and lose\nthem?\"\n\nIn vain did her husband represent to her their great poverty; she would\nnot consent to it. She was poor, but she was their mother.\n\nHowever, having considered what a grief it would be to her to see them\ndie of hunger, she consented, and went weeping to bed.\n\nLittle Thumb heard all they had said; for, hearing that they were\ntalking business, he got up softly and slipped under his father's seat,\nso as to hear without being seen. He went to bed again, but did not\nsleep a wink all the rest of the night, thinking of what he had to do.\nHe got up early in the morning, and went to the brookside, where he\nfilled his pockets full of small white pebbles, and then returned home.\nThey all went out, but Little Thumb never told his brothers a word of\nwhat he knew.\n\n[Illustration: \"SLIPPED UNDER HIS FATHER'S SEAT.\" p. 30.]\n\nThey went into a very thick forest, where they could not see one\nanother at ten paces apart. The fagot-maker began to cut wood, and the\nchildren to gather up sticks to make fagots. Their father and mother,\nseeing them busy at their work, got away from them unbeknown and then\nall at once ran as fast as they could through a winding by-path.\n\nWhen the children found they were alone, they began to cry with all\ntheir might. Little Thumb let them cry on, knowing very well how to get\nhome again; for, as he came, he had dropped the little white pebbles he\nhad in his pockets all along the way. Then he said to them, \"Do not be\nafraid, my brothers,--father and mother have left us here, but I will\nlead you home again; only follow me.\"\n\nThey followed, and he brought them home by the very same way they had\ncome into the forest. They dared not go in at first, but stood outside\nthe door to listen to what their father and mother were saying.\n\nThe very moment the fagot-maker and his wife reached home the lord of\nthe manor sent them ten crowns, which he had long owed them, and which\nthey never hoped to see. This gave them new life, for the poor people\nwere dying of hunger. The fagot-maker sent his wife to the butcher's at\nonce. As it was a long while since they had eaten, she bought thrice as\nmuch meat as was needed for supper for two people. When they had eaten,\nthe woman said:--\n\n\"Alas! where are our poor children now? They would make a good feast of\nwhat we have left here; it was you, William, who wished to lose them. I\ntold you we should repent of it. What are they now doing in the forest?\nAlas! perhaps the wolves have already eaten them up; you are very\ninhuman thus to have lost your children.\"\n\nThe fagot-maker grew at last quite out of patience, for she repeated\ntwenty times that he would repent of it, and that she was in the right.\nHe threatened to beat her if she did not hold her tongue. The\nfagot-maker was, perhaps, more sorry than his wife, but she teased him\nso he could not endure it. She wept bitterly, saying:--\n\n\"Alas! where are my children now, my poor children?\"\n\nShe said this once so very loud that the children, who were at the door,\nheard her and cried out all together:--\n\n\"Here we are! Here we are!\"\n\nShe ran immediately to let them in, and said as she embraced them:--\n\n\"How happy I am to see you again, my dear children; you are very tired\nand very hungry, and, my poor Peter, you are covered with mud. Come in\nand let me clean you.\"\n\nPeter was her eldest son, whom she loved more than all the rest, because\nhe was red haired, as she was herself.\n\nThey sat down to table, and ate with an appetite which pleased both\nfather and mother, to whom they told how frightened they were in the\nforest, nearly all speaking at once. The good folk were delighted to see\ntheir children once more, and this joy continued while the ten crowns\nlasted. But when the money was all spent, they fell again into their\nformer uneasiness, and resolved to lose their children again. And, that\nthey might be the surer of doing it, they determined to take them much\nfarther than before.\n\nThey could not talk of this so secretly but they were overheard by\nLittle Thumb, who laid his plans to get out of the difficulty as he had\ndone before; but, though he got up very early to go and pick up some\nlittle pebbles, he could not, for he found the house-door double-locked.\nHe did not know what to do. Their father had given each of them a piece\nof bread for their breakfast. He reflected that he might make use of the\nbread instead of the pebbles, by throwing crumbs all along the way they\nshould pass, and so he stuffed it in his pocket. Their father and mother\nled them into the thickest and most obscure part of the forest, and\nthen, stealing away into a by-path, left them there. Little Thumb was\nnot very much worried about it, for he thought he could easily find the\nway again by means of his bread, which he had scattered all along as he\ncame; but he was very much surprised when he could not find a single\ncrumb: the birds had come and eaten them all.\n\nThey were now in great trouble; for the more they wandered, the deeper\nthey went into the forest. Night now fell, and there arose a high wind,\nwhich filled them with fear. They fancied they heard on every side the\nhowling of wolves coming to devour them. They scarce dared to speak or\nturn their heads. Then it rained very hard, which wetted them to the\nskin. Their feet slipped at every step, and they fell into the mud,\ncovering their hands with it so that they knew not what to do with them.\n\nLittle Thumb climbed up to the top of a tree, to see if he could\ndiscover anything. Looking on every side, he saw at last a glimmering\nlight, like that of a candle, but a long way beyond the forest. He came\ndown, and, when upon the ground, he could see it no more, which\ngrieved him sadly. However, having walked for some time with his\nbrothers toward that side on which he had seen the light, he discovered\nit again as he came out of the wood.\n\nThey arrived at last at the house where this candle was, not without\nmany frights; for very often they lost sight of it, which happened\nevery time they came into a hollow. They knocked at the door, and a good\nwoman came and opened it.\n\nShe asked them what they wanted. Little Thumb told her they were poor\nchildren who were lost in the forest, and desired to lodge there for\ncharity's sake. The woman, seeing them all so very pretty, began to weep\nand said to them: \"Alas! poor babies, where do you come from? Do you\nknow that this house belongs to a cruel Ogre who eats little children?\"\n\n\"Alas! dear madam,\" answered Little Thumb (who, with his brothers, was\ntrembling in every limb), \"what shall we do? The wolves of the forest\nsurely will devour us to-night if you refuse us shelter in your house;\nand so we would rather the gentleman should eat us. Perhaps he may take\npity upon us if you will be pleased to ask him to do so.\"\n\nThe Ogre's wife, who believed she could hide them from her husband till\nmorning, let them come in, and took them to warm themselves at a very\ngood fire; for there was a whole sheep roasting for the Ogre's supper.\n\nAs they began to warm themselves they heard three or four great raps at\nthe door; this was the Ogre, who was come home. His wife quickly hid\nthem under the bed and went to open the door. The Ogre at once asked if\nsupper was ready and the wine drawn, and then sat himself down to\ntable. The sheep was as yet all raw, but he liked it the better for\nthat. He sniffed about to the right and left, saying:--\n\n\"I smell fresh meat.\"\n\n\"What you smell,\" said his wife, \"must be the calf which I have just now\nkilled and flayed.\"\n\n\"I smell fresh meat, I tell you once more,\" replied the Ogre, looking\ncrossly at his wife, \"and there is something here which I do not\nunderstand.\"\n\nAs he spoke these words he got up from the table and went straight to\nthe bed.\n\n\"Ah!\" said he, \"that is how you would cheat me; I know not why I do not\neat you, too; it is well for you that you are tough. Here is game, which\ncomes very luckily to entertain three Ogres of my acquaintance who are\nto pay me a visit in a day or two.\"\n\nHe dragged them out from under the bed, one by one. The poor children\nfell upon their knees and begged his pardon, but they had to do with one\nof the most cruel of Ogres, who, far from having any pity on them, was\nalready devouring them in his mind, and told his wife they would be\ndelicate eating when she had made a good sauce.\n\nHe then took a great knife, and, coming up to these poor children,\nsharpened it upon a great whetstone which he held in his left hand. He\nhad already taken hold of one of them when his wife said to him:--\n\n\"What need you do it now? Will you not have time enough to-morrow?\"\n\n\"Hold your prating,\" said the Ogre; \"they will eat the tenderer.\"\n\n\"But you have so much meat already,\" replied his wife; \"here are a calf,\ntwo sheep, and half a pig.\"\n\n\"That is true,\" said the Ogre; \"give them a good supper that they may\nnot grow thin, and put them to bed.\"\n\nThe good woman was overjoyed at this, and gave them a good supper; but\nthey were so much afraid that they could not eat. As for the Ogre, he\nsat down again to drink, being highly pleased that he had the\nwherewithal to treat his friends. He drank a dozen glasses more than\nordinary, which got up into his head and obliged him to go to bed.\n\nThe Ogre had seven daughters, who were still little children. These\nyoung Ogresses had all of them very fine complexions; but they all had\nlittle gray eyes, quite round, hooked noses, a very large mouth, and\nvery long, sharp teeth, set far apart. They were not as yet wicked, but\nthey promised well to be, for they had already bitten little children.\n\nThey had been put to bed early, all seven in one bed, with every one a\ncrown of gold upon her head. There was in the same chamber a bed of the\nlike size, and the Ogre's wife put the seven little boys into this bed,\nafter which she went to bed herself.\n\nLittle Thumb, who had observed that the Ogre's daughters had crowns of\ngold upon their heads, and was afraid lest the Ogre should repent his\nnot killing them that evening, got up about midnight, and, taking his\nbrothers' bonnets and his own, went very softly and put them upon the\nheads of the seven little Ogresses, after having taken off their crowns\nof gold, which he put upon his own head and his brothers', so that the\nOgre might take them for his daughters, and his daughters for the little\nboys whom he wanted to kill.\n\nThings turned out just as he had thought; for the Ogre, waking about\nmidnight, regretted that he had deferred till morning to do that which\nhe might have done overnight, and jumped quickly out of bed, taking his\ngreat knife.\n\n\"Let us see,\" said he, \"how our little rogues do, and not make two jobs\nof the matter.\"\n\nHe then went up, groping all the way, into his daughters' chamber; and,\ncoming to the bed where the little boys lay, and who were all fast\nasleep, except Little Thumb, who was terribly afraid when he found the\nOgre fumbling about his head, as he had done about his brothers', he\nfelt the golden crowns, and said:--\n\n\"I should have made a fine piece of work of it, truly; it is clear I\ndrank too much last night.\"\n\nThen he went to the bed where the girls lay, and, having found the boys'\nlittle bonnets:--\n\n\"Ah!\" said he, \"my merry lads, are you there? Let us work boldly.\"\n\nAnd saying these words, without more ado, he cruelly murdered all his\nseven daughters. Well pleased with what he had done, he went to bed\nagain.\n\nSo soon as Little Thumb heard the Ogre snore, he waked his brothers, and\nbade them put on their clothes quickly and follow him. They stole softly\ninto the garden and got over the wall. They ran about, all night,\ntrembling all the while, without knowing which way they went.\n\nThe Ogre, when he woke, said to his wife: \"Go upstairs and dress those\nyoung rascals who came here last night.\" The Ogress was very much\nsurprised at this goodness of her husband, not dreaming after what\nmanner she should dress them; but, thinking that he had ordered her to\ngo up and put on their clothes, she went, and was horrified when she\nperceived her seven daughters all dead.\n\nShe began by fainting away, as was only natural in such a case. The\nOgre, fearing his wife was too long in doing what he had ordered, went\nup himself to help her. He was no less amazed than his wife at this\nfrightful spectacle.\n\n\"Ah! what have I done?\" cried he. \"The wretches shall pay for it, and\nthat instantly.\"\n\nHe threw a pitcher of water upon his wife's face, and having brought her\nto herself, \"Give me quickly,\" cried he, \"my seven-leagued boots, that I\nmay go and catch them.\"\n\nHe went out into the country, and, after running in all directions, he\ncame at last into the very road where the poor children were, and not\nabove a hundred paces from their father's house. They espied the Ogre,\nwho went at one step from mountain to mountain, and over rivers as\neasily as the narrowest brooks. Little Thumb, seeing a hollow rock near\nthe place where they were, hid his brothers in it, and crowded into it\nhimself, watching always what would become of the Ogre.\n\nThe Ogre, who found himself tired with his long and fruitless journey\n(for these boots of seven leagues greatly taxed the wearer), had a great\nmind to rest himself, and, by chance, went to sit down upon the rock in\nwhich the little boys had hidden themselves. As he was worn out with\nfatigue, he fell asleep, and, after reposing himself some time, began to\nsnore so frightfully that the poor children were no less afraid of him\nthan when he held up his great knife and was going to take their lives.\nLittle Thumb was not so much frightened as his brothers, and told them\nthat they should run away at once toward home while the Ogre was asleep\nso soundly, and that they need not be in any trouble about him. They\ntook his advice, and got home quickly.\n\nLittle Thumb then went close to the Ogre, pulled off his boots gently,\nand put them on his own legs. The boots were very long and large, but as\nthey were fairy boots, they had the gift of becoming big or little,\naccording to the legs of those who wore them; so that they fitted his\nfeet and legs as well as if they had been made for him. He went straight\nto the Ogre's house, where he saw his wife crying bitterly for the loss\nof her murdered daughters.\n\n\"Your husband,\" said Little Thumb, \"is in very great danger, for he has\nbeen taken by a gang of thieves, who have sworn to kill him if he does\nnot give them all his gold and silver. At the very moment they held\ntheir daggers at his throat he perceived me and begged me to come and\ntell you the condition he was in, and to say that you should give me all\nhe has of value, without retaining any one thing; for otherwise they\nwill kill him without mercy. As his case is very pressing, he desired me\nto make use of his seven-leagued boots, which you see I have on, so that\nI might make the more haste and that I might show you that I do not\nimpose upon you.\"\n\nThe good woman, being greatly frightened, gave him all she had; for this\nOgre was a very good husband, though he ate up little children. Little\nThumb, having thus got all the Ogre's money, came home to his father's\nhouse, where he was received with abundance of joy.\n\nThere are many people who do not agree in regard to this act of Little\nThumb's, and pretend that he never robbed the Ogre at all, and that he\nonly thought he might very justly take off his seven-leagued boots\nbecause he made no other use of them but to run after little children.\nThese folks affirm that they are very well assured of this, because they\nhave drunk and eaten often at the fagot-maker's house. They declare that\nwhen Little Thumb had taken off the Ogre's boots he went to Court, where\nhe was informed that they were very much in trouble about a certain\narmy, which was two hundred leagues off, and anxious as to the success\nof a battle. He went, they say, to the King and told him that if he\ndesired it, he would bring him news from the army before night.\n\nThe King promised him a great sum of money if he succeeded. Little Thumb\nreturned that very same night with the news; and, this first expedition\ncausing him to be known, he earned as much as he wished, for the King\npaid him very well for carrying his orders to the army. Many ladies\nemployed him also to carry messages, from which he made much money.\nAfter having for some time carried on the business of a messenger and\ngained thereby great wealth, he went home to his father, and it is\nimpossible to express the joy of his family. He placed them all in\ncomfortable circumstances, bought places for his father and brothers,\nand by that means settled them very handsomely in the world, while he\nsuccessfully continued to make his own way.\n\n\n\n\nTHE MASTER CAT, OR PUSS IN BOOTS.\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a miller who left no more riches to the three\nsons he had than his mill, his ass, and his cat. The division was soon\nmade. Neither the lawyer nor the attorney was sent for. They would soon\nhave eaten up all the poor property. The eldest had the mill, the second\nthe ass, and the youngest nothing but the cat.\n\nThe youngest, as we can understand, was quite unhappy at having so poor\na share.\n\n\"My brothers,\" said he, \"may get their living handsomely enough by\njoining their stocks together; but, for my part, when I have eaten up my\ncat, and made me a muff of his skin, I must die of hunger.\"\n\nThe Cat, who heard all this, without appearing to take any notice, said\nto him with a grave and serious air:--\n\n\"Do not thus afflict yourself, my master; you have nothing else to do\nbut to give me a bag, and get a pair of boots made for me, that I may\nscamper through the brambles, and you shall see that you have not so\npoor a portion in me as you think.\"\n\nThough the Cat's master did not think much of what he said, he had seen\nhim play such cunning tricks to catch rats and mice--hanging himself by\nthe heels, or hiding himself in the meal, to make believe he was\ndead--that he did not altogether despair of his helping him in his\nmisery. When the Cat had what he asked for, he booted himself very\ngallantly, and putting his bag about his neck, he held the strings of it\nin his two forepaws, and went into a warren where was a great number of\nrabbits. He put bran and sow-thistle into his bag, and, stretching out\nat length, as if he were dead, he waited for some young rabbits, not yet\nacquainted with the deceits of the world, to come and rummage his bag\nfor what he had put into it.\n\nScarcely was he settled but he had what he wanted. A rash and foolish\nyoung rabbit jumped into his bag, and Monsieur Puss, immediately drawing\nclose the strings, took him and killed him at once. Proud of his prey,\nhe went with it to the palace, and asked to speak with the King. He was\nshown upstairs into his Majesty's apartment, and, making a low bow to\nthe King, he said:--\n\n\"I have brought you, sire, a rabbit which my noble Lord, the Master of\nCarabas\" (for that was the title which Puss was pleased to give his\nmaster) \"has commanded me to present to your Majesty from him.\"\n\n\"Tell thy master,\" said the King, \"that I thank him, and that I am\npleased with his gift.\"\n\nAnother time he went and hid himself among some standing corn, still\nholding his bag open; and when a brace of partridges ran into it, he\ndrew the strings, and so caught them both. He then went and made a\npresent of these to the King, as he had done before of the rabbit which\nhe took in the warren. The King, in like manner, received the partridges\nwith great pleasure, and ordered his servants to reward him.\n\nThe Cat continued for two or three months thus to carry his Majesty,\nfrom time to time, some of his master's game. One day when he knew that\nthe King was to take the air along the riverside, with his daughter, the\nmost beautiful princess in the world, he said to his master:--\n\n\"If you will follow my advice, your fortune is made. You have nothing\nelse to do but go and bathe in the river, just at the spot I shall show\nyou, and leave the rest to me.\"\n\nThe Marquis of Carabas did what the Cat advised him to, without knowing\nwhat could be the use of doing it. While he was bathing, the King passed\nby, and the Cat cried out with all his might:--\n\n\"Help! help! My Lord the Marquis of Carabas is drowning!\"\n\nAt this noise the King put his head out of the coach window, and seeing\nthe Cat who had so often brought him game, he commanded his guards to\nrun immediately to the assistance of his Lordship the Marquis of\nCarabas.\n\nWhile they were drawing the poor Marquis out of the river, the Cat came\nup to the coach and told the King that, while his master was bathing,\nthere came by some rogues, who ran off with his clothes, though he had\ncried out, \"Thieves! thieves!\" several times, as loud as he could. The\ncunning Cat had hidden the clothes under a great stone. The King\nimmediately commanded the officers of his wardrobe to run and fetch one\nof his best suits for the Lord Marquis of Carabas.\n\n[Illustration: \"THE MARQUIS OF CARABAS IS DROWNING!\" p. 48.]\n\nThe King was extremely polite to him, and as the fine clothes he had\ngiven him set off his good looks (for he was well made and handsome),\nthe King's daughter found him very much to her liking, and the Marquis\nof Carabas had no sooner cast two or three respectful and somewhat\ntender glances than she fell in love with him to distraction. The King\nwould have him come into the coach and take part in the airing. The Cat,\noverjoyed to see his plan begin to succeed, marched on before, and,\nmeeting with some countrymen, who were mowing a meadow, he said to\nthem:--\n\n\"Good people, you who are mowing, if you do not tell the King that the\nmeadow you mow belongs to my Lord Marquis of Carabas, you shall be\nchopped as small as herbs for the pot.\"\n\nThe King did not fail to ask the mowers to whom the meadow they were\nmowing belonged.\n\n\"To my Lord Marquis of Carabas,\" answered they all together, for the\nCat's threat had made them afraid.\n\n\"You have a good property there,\" said the King to the Marquis of\nCarabas.\n\n\"You see, sire,\" said the Marquis, \"this is a meadow which never fails\nto yield a plentiful harvest every year.\"\n\nThe Master Cat, who went still on before, met with some reapers, and\nsaid to them:--\n\n\"Good people, you who are reaping, if you do not say that all this corn\nbelongs to the Marquis of Carabas, you shall be chopped as small as\nherbs for the pot.\"\n\nThe King, who passed by a moment after, wished to know to whom belonged\nall that corn, which he then saw.\n\n\"To my Lord Marquis of Carabas,\" replied the reapers, and the King was\nvery well pleased with it, as well as the Marquis, whom he congratulated\nthereupon. The Master Cat, who went always before, said the same thing\nto all he met, and the King was astonished at the vast estates of my\nLord Marquis of Carabas.\n\nMonsieur Puss came at last to a stately castle, the master of which was\nan Ogre, the richest ever known; for all the lands which the King had\nthen passed through belonged to this castle. The Cat, who had taken care\nto inform himself who this Ogre was and what he could do, asked to speak\nwith him, saying he could not pass so near his castle without having the\nhonor of paying his respects to him.\n\nThe Ogre received him as civilly as an Ogre could do, and made him sit\ndown.\n\n\"I have been assured,\" said the Cat, \"that you have the gift of being\nable to change yourself into all sorts of creatures you have a mind to;\nthat you can, for example, transform yourself into a lion, or elephant,\nand the like.\"\n\n\"That is true,\" answered the Ogre, roughly; \"and to convince you, you\nshall see me now become a lion.\"\n\nPuss was so terrified at the sight of a lion so near him that he\nimmediately climbed into the gutter, not without much trouble and\ndanger, because of his boots, which were of no use at all to him for\nwalking upon the tiles. A little while after, when Puss saw that the\nOgre had resumed his natural form, he came down, and owned he had been\nvery much frightened.\n\n\"I have, moreover, been informed,\" said the Cat, \"but I know not how to\nbelieve it, that; you have also the power to take on you the shape of\nthe smallest animals; for example, to change yourself into a rat or a\nmouse, but I must own to you I take this to be impossible.\"\n\n\"Impossible!\" cried the Ogre; \"you shall see.\" And at the same time he\nchanged himself into a mouse, and began to run about the floor. Puss no\nsooner perceived this than he fell upon him and ate him up.\n\nMeanwhile, the King, who saw, as he passed, this fine castle of the\nOgre's, had a mind to go into it. Puss, who heard the noise of his\nMajesty's coach coming over the drawbridge, ran out, and said to the\nKing, \"Your Majesty is welcome to this castle of my Lord Marquis of\nCarabas.\"\n\n\"What! my Lord Marquis,\" cried the King, \"and does this castle also\nbelong to you? There can be nothing finer than this courtyard and all\nthe stately buildings which surround it; let us see the interior, if you\nplease.\"\n\nThe Marquis gave his hand to the young Princess, and followed the King,\nwho went first. They passed into the great hall, where they found a\nmagnificent collation, which the Ogre had prepared for his friends, who\nwere that very day to visit him, but dared not to enter, knowing the\nKing was there. His Majesty, charmed with the good qualities of my Lord\nof Carabas, as was also his daughter, who had fallen violently in love\nwith him, and seeing the vast estate he possessed, said to him:--\n\n\"It will be owing to yourself only, my Lord Marquis, if you are not my\nson-in-law.\"\n\nThe Marquis, with low bows, accepted the honor which his Majesty\nconferred upon him, and forthwith that very same day married the\nPrincess.\n\nPuss became a great lord, and never ran after mice any more except for\nhis diversion.\n\n\n\n\nRIQUET WITH THE TUFT.\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a Queen who had a son so ugly and so\nmisshapen that it was long disputed whether he had human form. A fairy\nwho was at his birth said, however, that he would be very amiable for\nall that, since he would have uncommon good sense. She even added that\nit would be in his power, by virtue of a gift she had just then given\nhim, to bestow as much sense as he pleased on the person he loved the\nbest. All this somewhat comforted the poor Queen. It is true that this\nchild no sooner began to talk than he said a thousand pretty things, and\nin all his actions there was an intelligence that was quite charming. I\nforgot to tell you that he was born with a little tuft of hair upon his\nhead, which made them call him Riquet[1] with the Tuft, for Riquet was\nthe family name.\n\n[Footnote 1: R[=e]k[=a].]\n\nSeven or eight years later the Queen of a neighboring kingdom had two\ndaughters who were twins. The first born of these was more beautiful\nthan the day; whereat the Queen was so very glad that those present were\nafraid that her excess of joy would do her harm. The same fairy who was\npresent at the birth of little Riquet with the Tuft was here also, and,\nto moderate the Queen's gladness, she declared that this little Princess\nshould have no sense at all, but should be as stupid as she was pretty.\nThis mortified the Queen extremely; but afterward she had a far greater\nsorrow, for the second daughter proved to be very ugly.\n\n\"Do not afflict yourself so much, madam,\" said the fairy. \"Your daughter\nshall have her recompense; she shall have so great a portion of sense\nthat the want of beauty will hardly be perceived.\"\n\n\"God grant it,\" replied the Queen; \"but is there no way to make the\neldest, who is so pretty, have any sense?\"\n\n\"I can do nothing for her, madam, as to sense,\" answered the fairy, \"but\neverything as to beauty; and as there is nothing I would not do for your\nsatisfaction, I give her for gift that she shall have power to make\nhandsome the person who shall best please her.\"\n\nAs these princesses grew up, their perfections grew with them. All the\npublic talk was of the beauty of the elder and the rare good sense of\nthe younger. It is true also that their defects increased considerably\nwith their age. The younger visibly grew uglier and uglier, and the\nelder became every day more and more stupid: she either made no answer\nat all to what was asked her, or said something very silly. She was with\nall this so unhandy that she could not place four pieces of china upon\nthe mantelpiece without breaking one of them, nor drink a glass of water\nwithout spilling half of it upon her clothes.\n\nAlthough beauty is a very great advantage in young people, the younger\nsister was always the more preferred in society. People would indeed go\nfirst to the Beauty to look upon and admire her, but turn aside soon\nafter to the Wit to hear a thousand most entertaining and agreeable\nthings; and it was amazing to see, in less than a quarter of an hour's\ntime, the elder with not a soul near her, and the whole company crowding\nabout the younger. The elder, dull as she was, could not fail to notice\nthis; and without the slightest regret would have given all her beauty\nto have half her sister's wit. The Queen, prudent as she was, could not\nhelp reproaching her several times for her stupidity, which almost made\nthe poor Princess die of grief.\n\nOne day, as she had hidden herself in a wood to bewail her misfortune,\nshe saw coming to her a very disagreeable little man, but most\nmagnificently dressed. This was the young Prince Riquet with the Tuft,\nwho having fallen in love with her upon seeing her picture,--many of\nwhich were distributed all the world over,--had left his father's\nkingdom to have the pleasure of seeing and talking with her. Overjoyed\nto find her thus alone, he addressed himself to her with all imaginable\npoliteness and respect. Having observed, after he had paid her the\nordinary compliments, that she was extremely melancholy, he said to\nher:--\n\n\"I cannot comprehend, madam, how a person so beautiful as you are can be\nso sorrowful as you seem to be; for though I can boast of having seen a\ngreat number of exquisitely charming ladies, I can say that I never\nbeheld any one whose beauty approaches yours.\"\n\n\"You are pleased to say so,\" answered the Princess, and here she\nstopped.\n\n\"Beauty,\" replied Riquet with the Tuft, \"is such a great advantage, that\nit ought to take place of all things besides; and since you possess this\ntreasure, I can see nothing that can possibly very much afflict you.\"\n\n\"I had far rather,\" cried the Princess, \"be as ugly as you are, and have\nsense, than have the beauty I possess, and be as stupid as I am.\"\n\n\"There is nothing, madam,\" returned he, \"shows more that we have good\nsense than to believe we have none; and it is the nature of that\nexcellent quality that the more people have of it, the more they believe\nthey want it.\"\n\n\"I do not know that,\" said the Princess; \"but I know very well that I\nam very senseless, and that vexes me mightily.\"\n\n\"If that be all which troubles you, madam, I can very easily put an end\nto your affliction.\"\n\n\"And how will you do that?\" cried the Princess.\n\n\"I have the power, madam,\" replied Riquet with the Tuft, \"to give to\nthat person whom I love best as much good sense as can be had; and as\nyou, madam, are that very person, it will be your fault only if you have\nnot as great a share of it as any one living, provided you will be\npleased to marry me.\"\n\nThe Princess was quite confused, and answered not a word.\n\n\"I see,\" replied Riquet with the Tuft, \"that this proposal does not\nplease you, and I do not wonder at it; but I will give you a whole year\nto consider it.\"\n\nThe Princess had so little sense and, at the same time, so great a\nlonging to have some, that she imagined the end of that year would never\ncome, so she accepted the proposal which was made her.\n\nShe had no sooner promised Riquet with the Tuft that she would marry him\non that day twelvemonth than she found herself quite otherwise than she\nwas before: she had an incredible faculty of speaking whatever she had\nin her mind in a polite, easy, and natural manner.\n\nShe began that moment a very gallant conversation with Riquet with the\nTuft, which she kept up at such a rate that Riquet with the Tuft\nbelieved he had given her more sense than he had reserved for himself.\n\nWhen she returned to the palace, the whole court knew not what to think\nof such a sudden and extraordinary change; for they heard from her now\nas much sensible discourse and as many infinitely witty phrases as they\nhad heard stupid and silly impertinences before. The whole court was\noverjoyed beyond imagination at it. It pleased all but her younger\nsister, because, having no longer the advantage of her in respect of\nwit, she appeared in comparison with her a very disagreeable, homely\ngirl.\n\nThe King governed himself by her advice, and would even sometimes hold a\ncouncil in her apartment. The news of this change in the Princess spread\neverywhere; the young princes of the neighboring kingdoms strove all\nthey could to gain her favor, and almost all of them asked her in\nmarriage; but she found not one of them had sense enough for her. She\ngave them all a hearing, but would not engage herself to any.\n\nHowever, there came one so powerful, so rich, so witty, and so handsome\nthat she could not help feeling a strong inclination toward him. Her\nfather perceived it, and told her that she was her own mistress as to\nthe choice of a husband, and that she might declare her intentions. She\nthanked her father, and desired him to give her time to consider it.\n\nShe went by chance to walk in the same wood where she met Riquet with\nthe Tuft, the more conveniently to think what she ought to do. While she\nwas walking in a profound meditation, she heard a confused noise under\nher feet, as it were of a great many people busily running backward and\nforward. Listening more attentively, she heard one say:--\n\n\"Bring me that pot,\" another, \"Give me that kettle,\" and a third, \"Put\nsome wood upon the fire.\"\n\nThe ground at the same time opened, and she saw under her feet a great\nkitchen full of cooks, kitchen helps, and all sorts of officers\nnecessary for a magnificent entertainment. There came out of it a\ncompany of cooks, to the number of twenty or thirty, who went to plant\nthemselves about a very long table set up in the forest, with their\nlarding pins in their hands and fox tails in their caps, and began to\nwork, keeping time to a very harmonious tune.\n\nThe Princess, all astonished at this sight, asked them for whom they\nworked.\n\n\"For Prince Riquet with the Tuft,\" said the chief of them, \"who is to be\nmarried to-morrow.\"\n\nThe Princess, more surprised than ever, and recollecting all at once\nthat it was now that day twelvemonth on which she had promised to marry\nthe Prince Riquet with the Tuft, was ready to sink into the ground.\n\nWhat made her forget this was that when she made this promise, she was\nvery silly; and having obtained that vast stock of sense which the\nprince had bestowed upon her, she had entirely forgotten the things she\nhad done in the days of her stupidity. She continued her walk, but had\nnot taken thirty steps before Riquet with the Tuft presented himself to\nher, gallant and most magnificently dressed, like a prince who was going\nto be married.\n\n\"You see, madam,\" said he, \"I am exact in keeping my word, and doubt not\nin the least but you are come hither to perform your promise.\"\n\n\"I frankly confess,\" answered the Princess, \"that I have not yet come to\na decision in this matter, and I believe I never shall be able to arrive\nat such a one as you desire.\"\n\n\"You astonish me, madam,\" said Riquet with the Tuft.\n\n\"I can well believe it,\" said the Princess; \"and surely if I had to do\nwith a clown, or a man of no sense, I should find myself very much at a\nloss. 'A princess always keeps her word,' he would say to me, 'and you\nmust marry me, since you promised to do so.' But as he to whom I talk\nis the one man in the world who is master of the greatest sense and\njudgment, I am sure he will hear reason. You know that when I was but a\nfool I could scarcely make up my mind to marry you; why will you have\nme, now I have so much judgment as you gave me, come to such a decision\nwhich I could not then make up my mind to agree to? If you sincerely\nthought to make me your wife, you have been greatly in the wrong to\ndeprive me of my dull simplicity, and make me see things much more\nclearly than I did.\"\n\n\"If a man of no wit and sense,\" replied Riquet with the Tuft, \"would be\nwell received, as you say, in reproaching you for breach of your word,\nwhy will you not let me, madam, have the same usage in a matter wherein\nall the happiness of my life is concerned? Is it reasonable that persons\nof wit and sense should be in a worse condition than those who have\nnone? Can you pretend this, you who have so great a share, and desired\nso earnestly to have it? But let us come to the fact, if you please.\nPutting aside my ugliness and deformity, is there anything in me which\ndispleased you? Are you dissatisfied with my birth, my wit, my humor, or\nmy manners?\"\n\n\"Not at all,\" answered the Princess; \"I love you and respect you in all\nthat you mention.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"I AM EXACT IN KEEPING MY WORD.\" p. 61.]\n\n\"If it be so,\" said Riquet with the Tuft, \"I am happy, since it is in\nyour power to make me the most amiable of men.\"\n\n\"How can that be?\" said the Princess.\n\n\"It is done,\" said Riquet with the Tuft, \"if you love me enough to wish\nit was so; and that you may no ways doubt, madam, of what I say, know\nthat the same fairy who on my birthday gave me for gift the power of\nmaking the person who should please me witty and judicious, has in like\nmanner given you for gift the power of making him whom you love and to\nwhom you would grant the favor, to be extremely handsome.\"\n\n\"If it be so,\" said the Princess, \"I wish with all my heart that you may\nbe the most lovable prince in the world, and I bestow my gift on you as\nmuch as I am able.\"\n\nThe Princess had no sooner pronounced these words than Riquet with the\nTuft appeared to her the finest prince upon earth, the handsomest and\nmost amiable man she ever saw. Some affirm that it was not the fairy's\ncharms, but love alone, which worked the change.\n\nThey say that the Princess, having made due reflection on the\nperseverance of her lover, his discretion, and all the good qualities of\nhis mind, his wit and judgment, saw no longer the deformity of his body,\nnor the ugliness of his face; that his hump seemed to her no more than\nthe grand air of one having a broad back, and that whereas till then\nshe saw him limp horribly, she now found it nothing more than a certain\nsidling air, which charmed her.\n\nThey say further that his eyes, which were squinted very much, seemed to\nher most bright and sparkling, that their irregularity passed in her\njudgment for a mark of the warmth of his affection, and, in short, that\nhis great red nose was, in her opinion, somewhat martial and heroic in\ncharacter.\n\nHowever it was, the Princess promised immediately to marry him, on\ncondition that he obtained the King's consent. The King, knowing that\nhis daughter highly esteemed Riquet with the Tuft, whom he knew also for\na most sage and judicious prince, received him for his son-in-law with\npleasure, and the next morning their nuptials were celebrated, as Riquet\nwith the Tuft had foreseen, and according to the orders he had given a\nlong time before.\n\n\n\n\nBLUE BEARD.\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a man who had fine houses, both in town and\ncountry, a deal of silver and gold plate, carved furniture, and coaches\ngilded all over. But unhappily this man had a blue beard, which made him\nso ugly and so terrible that all the women and girls ran away from him.\n\nOne of his neighbors, a lady of quality, had two daughters who were\nperfect beauties. He asked for one of them in marriage, leaving to her\nthe choice of which she would bestow on him. They would neither of them\nhave him, and they sent him backward and forward from one to the other,\nneither being able to make up her mind to marry a man who had a blue\nbeard. Another thing which made them averse to him was that he had\nalready married several wives, and nobody knew what had become of them.\n\nBlue Beard, to become better acquainted, took them, with their mother\nand three or four of their best friends, with some young people of the\nneighborhood to one of his country seats, where they stayed a whole\nweek.\n\nThere was nothing going on but pleasure parties, hunting, fishing,\ndancing, mirth, and feasting. Nobody went to bed, but all passed the\nnight in playing pranks on each other. In short, everything succeeded so\nwell that the youngest daughter began to think that the beard of the\nmaster of the house was not so very blue, and that he was a very civil\ngentleman. So as soon as they returned home, the marriage was concluded.\n\nAbout a month afterward Blue Beard told his wife that he was obliged to\ntake a country journey for six weeks at least, upon business of great\nimportance. He desired her to amuse herself well in his absence, to send\nfor her friends, to take them into the country, if she pleased, and to\nlive well wherever she was.\n\n\"Here,\" said he, \"are the keys of the two great warehouses wherein I\nhave my best furniture: these are of the room where I keep my silver and\ngold plate, which is not in everyday use; these open my safes, which\nhold my money, both gold and silver; these my caskets of jewels; and\nthis is the master-key to all my apartments. But as for this little key,\nit is the key of the closet at the end of the great gallery on the\nground floor. Open them all; go everywhere; but as for that little\ncloset, I forbid you to enter it, and I promise you surely that, if you\nopen it, there's nothing that you may not expect from my anger.\"\n\nShe promised to obey exactly all his orders; and he, after having\nembraced her, got into his coach and proceeded on his journey.\n\nHer neighbors and good friends did not stay to be sent for by the\nnew-married lady, so great was their impatience to see all the riches of\nher house, not daring to come while her husband was there, because of\nhis blue beard, which frightened them. They at once ran through all the\nrooms, closets, and wardrobes, which were so fine and rich, and each\nseemed to surpass all others. They went up into the warehouses, where\nwas the best and richest furniture; and they could not sufficiently\nadmire the number and beauty of the tapestry, beds, couches, cabinets,\nstands, tables, and looking-glasses, in which you might see yourself\nfrom head to foot. Some of them were framed with glass, others with\nsilver, plain and gilded, the most beautiful and the most magnificent\never seen.\n\n\n[Illustration: \"IF YOU OPEN IT, THERE'S NOTHING YOU MAY NOT EXPECT\nFROM MY ANGER.\" p. 67.]\n\nThey ceased not to praise and envy the happiness of their friend, who,\nin the meantime, was not at all amused by looking upon all these rich\nthings, because of her impatience to go and open the closet on the\nground floor. Her curiosity was so great that, without considering how\nuncivil it was to leave her guests, she went down a little back\nstaircase, with such excessive haste that twice or thrice she came near\nbreaking her neck. Having reached the closet-door, she stood still for\nsome time, thinking of her husband's orders, and considering that\nunhappiness might attend her if she was disobedient; but the temptation\nwas so strong she could not overcome it. She then took the little key,\nand opened the door, trembling. At first she could not see anything\nplainly, because the windows were shut. After some moments she began to\nperceive that several dead women were scattered about the floor. (These\nwere all the wives whom Blue Beard had married and murdered, one after\nthe other, because they did not obey his orders about the closet on the\nground floor.) She thought she surely would die for fear, and the key,\nwhich she pulled out of the lock, fell out of her hand.\n\nAfter having somewhat recovered from the shock, she picked up the key,\nlocked the door, and went upstairs into her chamber to compose herself;\nbut she could not rest, so much was she frightened.\n\nHaving observed that the key of the closet was stained, she tried two or\nthree times to wipe off the stain, but the stain would not come out. In\nvain did she wash it, and even rub it with soap and sand. The stain\nstill remained, for the key was a magic key, and she could never make it\nquite clean; when the stain was gone off from one side, it came again on\nthe other.\n\nBlue Beard returned from his journey that same evening, and said he had\nreceived letters upon the road, informing him that the business which\ncalled him away was ended to his advantage. His wife did all she could\nto convince him she was delighted at his speedy return.\n\nNext morning he asked her for the keys, which she gave him, but with\nsuch a trembling hand that he easily guessed what had happened.\n\n\"How is it,\" said he, \"that the key of my closet is not among the rest?\"\n\n\"I must certainly,\" said she, \"have left it upstairs upon the table.\"\n\n\"Do not fail,\" said Blue Beard, \"to bring it to me presently.\"\n\nAfter having put off doing it several times, she was forced to bring him\nthe key. Blue Beard, having examined it, said to his wife:--\n\n\"How comes this stain upon the key?\"\n\n\"I do not know,\" cried the poor woman, paler than death.\n\n\"You do not know!\" replied Blue Beard. \"I very well know. You wished to\ngo into the cabinet? Very well, madam; you shall go in, and take your\nplace among the ladies you saw there.\"\n\nShe threw herself weeping at her husband's feet, and begged his pardon\nwith all the signs of a true repentance for her disobedience. She would\nhave melted a rock, so beautiful and sorrowful was she; but Blue Beard\nhad a heart harder than any stone.\n\n\"You must die, madam,\" said he, \"and that at once.\"\n\n\"Since I must die,\" answered she, looking upon him with her eyes all\nbathed in tears, \"give me some little time to say my prayers.\"\n\n\"I give you,\" replied Blue Beard, \"half a quarter of an hour, but not\none moment more.\"\n\nWhen she was alone she called out to her sister, and said to her:--\n\n\"Sister Anne,\"--for that was her name,--\"go up, I beg you, to the top of\nthe tower, and look if my brothers are not coming; they promised me they\nwould come to-day, and if you see them, give them a sign to make haste.\"\n\nHer sister Anne went up to the top of the tower, and the poor afflicted\nwife cried out from time to time:--\n\n\"Anne, sister Anne, do you see any one coming?\"\n\nAnd sister Anne said:--\n\n\"I see nothing but the sun, which makes a dust, and the grass, which\nlooks green.\"\n\nIn the meanwhile Blue Beard, holding a great sabre in his hand, cried to\nhis wife as loud as he could:--\n\n\"Come down instantly, or I shall come up to you.\"\n\n\"One moment longer, if you please,\" said his wife; and then she cried\nout very softly, \"Anne, sister Anne, dost thou see anybody coming?\"\n\nAnd sister Anne answered:--\n\n\"I see nothing but the sun, which makes a dust, and the grass, which is\ngreen.\"\n\n\"Come down quickly,\" cried Blue Beard, \"or I will come up to you.\"\n\n\"I am coming,\" answered his wife; and then she cried, \"Anne, sister\nAnne, dost thou not see any one coming?\"\n\n\"I see,\" replied sister Anne, \"a great dust, which comes from this\nside.\"\n\n\"Are they my brothers?\"\n\n\"Alas! no, my sister, I see a flock of sheep.\"\n\n\"Will you not come down?\" cried Blue Beard.\n\n\"One moment longer,\" said his wife, and then she cried out, \"Anne,\nsister Anne, dost thou see nobody coming?\"\n\n\"I see,\" said she, \"two horsemen, but they are yet a great way off.\"\n\n\"God be praised,\" replied the poor wife, joyfully; \"they are my\nbrothers; I will make them a sign, as well as I can, for them to make\nhaste.\"\n\nThen Blue Beard bawled out so loud that he made the whole house tremble.\nThe distressed wife came down and threw herself at his feet, all in\ntears, with her hair about her shoulders.\n\n\"All this is of no help to you,\" says Blue Beard: \"you must die;\" then,\ntaking hold of her hair with one hand, and lifting up his sword in the\nair with the other, he was about to take off her head. The poor lady,\nturning about to him, and looking at him with dying eyes, desired him to\nafford her one little moment to her thoughts.\n\n\"No, no,\" said he, \"commend thyself to God,\" and again lifting his arm--\n\nAt this moment there was such a loud knocking at the gate that Blue\nBeard stopped suddenly. The gate was opened, and presently entered two\nhorsemen, who, with sword in hand, ran directly to Blue Beard. He knew\nthem to be his wife's brothers, one a dragoon, the other a musketeer. He\nran away immediately, but the two brothers pursued him so closely that\nthey overtook him before he could get to the steps of the porch. There\nthey ran their swords through his body, and left him dead. The poor wife\nwas almost as dead as her husband, and had not strength enough to arise\nand welcome her brothers.\n\nBlue Beard had no heirs, and so his wife became mistress of all his\nestate. She made use of one portion of it to marry her sister Anne to a\nyoung gentleman who had loved her a long while; another portion to buy\ncaptains' commissions for her brothers; and the rest to marry herself to\na very worthy gentleman, who made her forget the sorry time she had\npassed with Blue Beard.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FAIRY.\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a widow who had two daughters. The elder was\nso much like her, both in looks and character, that whoever saw the\ndaughter saw the mother. They were both so disagreeable and so proud\nthat there was no living with them. The younger, who was the very\npicture of her father for sweetness of temper and virtue, was withal one\nof the most beautiful girls ever seen. As people naturally love their\nown likeness, this mother doted on her elder daughter, and at the same\ntime had a great aversion for the younger. She made her eat in the\nkitchen and work continually.\n\nAmong other things, this unfortunate child had to go twice a day to draw\nwater more than a mile and a half from the house, and bring home a\npitcherful of it. One day, as she was at this fountain, there came to\nher a poor woman, who begged of her to let her drink.\n\n\"Oh, yes, with all my heart, Goody,\" said this pretty little girl.\nRinsing the pitcher at once, she took some of the clearest water from\nthe fountain, and gave it to her, holding up the pitcher all the while,\nthat she might drink the easier.\n\nThe good woman having drunk, said to her:--\n\n\"You are so pretty, so good and courteous, that I cannot help giving you\na gift.\" For this was a fairy, who had taken the form of a poor\ncountry-woman, to see how far the civility and good manners of this\npretty girl would go. \"I will give you for gift,\" continued the Fairy,\n\"that, at every word you speak, there shall come out of your mouth\neither a flower or a jewel.\"\n\nWhen this pretty girl returned, her mother scolded at her for staying so\nlong at the fountain.\n\n\"I beg your pardon, mamma,\" said the poor girl, \"for not making more\nhaste.\"\n\nAnd in speaking these words there came out of her mouth two roses, two\npearls, and two large diamonds.\n\n\"What is it I see there?\" said her mother, quite astonished. \"I think\npearls and diamonds come out of the girl's mouth! How happens this, my\nchild?\"\n\nThis was the first time she had ever called her \"my child.\"\n\nThe girl told her frankly all the matter, not without dropping out great\nnumbers of diamonds.\n\n\"Truly,\" cried the mother, \"I must send my own dear child thither.\nFanny, look at what comes out of your sister's mouth when she speaks.\nWould you not be glad, my dear, to have the same gift? You have only to\ngo and draw water out of the fountain, and when a poor woman asks you\nto let her drink, to give it to her very civilly.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"WITH ALL MY HEART, GOODY.\" p. 75.]\n\n\"I should like to see myself going to the fountain to draw water,\" said\nthis ill-bred minx.\n\n\"I insist you shall go,\" said the mother, \"and that instantly.\"\n\nShe went, but grumbled all the way, taking with her the best silver\ntankard in the house.\n\nShe no sooner reached the fountain than she saw coming out of the wood,\na magnificently dressed lady, who came up to her, and asked to drink.\nThis was the same fairy who had appeared to her sister, but she had now\ntaken the air and dress of a princess, to see how far this girl's\nrudeness would go.\n\n\"Am I come hither,\" said the proud, ill-bred girl, \"to serve you with\nwater, pray? I suppose this silver tankard was brought purely for your\nladyship, was it? However, you may drink out of it, if you have a\nfancy.\"\n\n\"You are scarcely polite,\" answered the fairy, without anger. \"Well,\nthen, since you are so disobliging, I give you for gift that at every\nword you speak there shall come out of your mouth a snake or a toad.\"\n\nSo soon as her mother saw her coming, she cried out:--\n\n\"Well, daughter?\"\n\n\"Well, mother?\" answered the unhappy girl, throwing out of her mouth a\nviper and a toad.\n\n\"Oh, mercy!\" cried the mother, \"what is it I see? It is her sister who\nhas caused all this, but she shall pay for it,\" and immediately she ran\nto beat her. The poor child fled away from her, and went to hide herself\nin the forest nearby.\n\nThe King's son, who was returning from the chase, met her, and seeing\nher so beautiful, asked her what she did there alone and why she cried.\n\n\"Alas! sir, my mother has turned me out of doors.\"\n\nThe King's son, who saw five or six pearls and as many diamonds come out\nof her mouth, desired her to tell him how that happened. She told him\nthe whole story. The King's son fell in love with her, and, considering\nthat such a gift was worth more than any marriage portion another bride\ncould bring, conducted her to the palace of the King, his father, and\nthere married her.\n\nAs for her sister, she made herself so much hated that her own mother\nturned her out of doors. The miserable girl, after wandering about and\nfinding no one to take her in, went to a corner of the wood, and there\ndied.\n\n\n\n\nLITTLE RED RIDING-HOOD.\n\n\nOnce upon a time there lived in a certain village a little country girl,\nthe prettiest creature that ever was seen. Her mother was very fond of\nher, and her grandmother loved her still more. This good woman made for\nher a little red riding-hood, which became the girl so well that\neverybody called her Little Red Riding-hood.\n\nOne day her mother, having made some custards, said to her:--\n\n\"Go, my dear, and see how your grandmother does, for I hear she has been\nvery ill; carry her a custard and this little pot of butter.\"\n\nLittle Red Riding-hood set out immediately to go to her grandmother's,\nwho lived in another village.\n\nAs she was going through the wood, she met Gaffer Wolf, who had a very\ngreat mind to eat her up; but he dared not, because of some fagot-makers\nhard by in the forest. He asked her whither she was going. The poor\nchild, who did not know that it was dangerous to stay and hear a wolf\ntalk, said to him:--\n\n\"I am going to see my grandmother, and carry her a custard and a little\npot of butter from my mamma.\"\n\n\"Does she live far off?\" said the Wolf.\n\n\"Oh, yes,\" answered Little Red Riding-hood; \"it is beyond that mill you\nsee there, the first house you come to in the village.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said the Wolf, \"and I'll go and see her, too. I'll go this way,\nand you go that, and we shall see who will be there first.\"\n\nThe Wolf began to run as fast as he could, taking the shortest way, and\nthe little girl went by the longest way, amusing herself by gathering\nnuts, running after butterflies, and making nosegays of such little\nflowers as she met with. The Wolf was not long before he reached the old\nwoman's house. He knocked at the door--tap, tap, tap.\n\n\"Who's there?\" called the grandmother.\n\n\"Your grandchild, Little Red Riding-hood,\" replied the Wolf, imitating\nher voice, \"who has brought a custard and a little pot of butter sent to\nyou by mamma.\"\n\nThe good grandmother, who was in bed, because she was somewhat ill,\ncried out:--\n\n\"Pull the bobbin, and the latch will go up.\"\n\nThe Wolf pulled the bobbin, and the door opened. He fell upon the good\nwoman and ate her up in no time, for he had not eaten anything for more\nthan three days. He then shut the door, went into the grandmother's\nbed, and waited for Little Red Riding-hood, who came sometime afterward\nand knocked at the door--tap, tap, tap.\n\n\"Who's there?\" called the Wolf.\n\nLittle Red Riding-hood, hearing the big voice of the Wolf, was at first\nafraid; but thinking her grandmother had a cold, answered:--\n\n\"'Tis your grandchild, Little Red Riding-hood, who has brought you a\ncustard and a little pot of butter sent to you by mamma.\"\n\nThe Wolf cried out to her, softening his voice a little:--\n\n\"Pull the bobbin, and the latch will go up.\"\n\nLittle Red Riding-hood pulled the bobbin, and the door opened.\n\nThe Wolf, seeing her come in, said to her, hiding himself under the\nbedclothes:--\n\n\"Put the custard and the little pot of butter upon the stool, and come\nand lie down with me.\"\n\nLittle Red Riding-hood undressed herself and went into bed, where she\nwas much surprised to see how her grandmother looked in her\nnight-clothes.\n\nShe said to her:--\n\n\"Grandmamma, what great arms you have got!\"\n\n\"That is the better to hug thee, my dear.\"\n\n\"Grandmamma, what great legs you have got!\"\n\n[Illustration: \"HE FELL UPON THE GOOD WOMAN.\" p. 81.]\n\n\n\"That is to run the better, my child.\"\n\n\"Grandmamma, what great ears you have got!\"\n\n\"That is to hear the better, my child.\"\n\n\"Grandmamma, what great eyes you have got!\"\n\n\"It is to see the better, my child.\"\n\n\"Grandmamma, what great teeth you have got!\"\n\n\"That is to eat thee up.\"\n\nAnd, saying these words, this wicked Wolf fell upon Little Red\nRiding-hood, and ate her all up.\n\n\n\n\nNOTE.\n\n\nThe eight stories contained in this volume are first found in print in\nFrench in a magazine entitled, _Receuil de pieces curieuses et nouvelles\ntant en prose qu'en vers_, which was published by Adrian Moetjens at The\nHague in 1696-1697. They were immediately afterward published at Paris\nin a volume entitled, _Histoires ou Contes du Temps Passe, avec des\nMoralites--Contes de ma mere l'Oie_.\n\nThe earliest translation into English has been found in a little book\ncontaining both the English and French, entitled, \"Tales of Passed\nTimes, by Mother Goose. With Morals. Written in French by M. (Charles)\nPerrault, and Englished by R.S. Gent.\"\n\nWho R.S. was and when he made his translation we can only conjecture.\nMr. Andrew Lang, in his \"Perrault's Popular Tales\" (p. xxxiv), writes:\n\"An English version translated by Mr. Samber, printed for J. Pote, was\nadvertised, Mr. Austin Dobson tells me, in the _Monthly Chronicle_,\nMarch, 1729.\"\n\nThese stories which may be said to be as old as the race\nitself--certainly their germs are to be found in the oldest literature\nand among the oldest folk-tales in the world--were orally current in\nFrance and the neighboring countries in nearly the form in which\nPerrault wrote them for very many years; and an interesting account of\nthe various forms in which they are found in the literature and\nfolklore of other nations before Perrault's time is given in _Les Contes\nde ma mere l'Oie avant Perrault_, by Charles Deulin, Paris, E. Dentu,\n1878.\n\nIn this book Mr. Deulin inclines to the view that the stories as first\npublished by Perrault were not really written by him, but by his little\nson of ten or eleven, to whom Perrault told the stories as he had\ngathered them up with the intention of rendering them in verse after the\nmanner of La Fontaine. The lad had an excellent memory, much natural\nwit, and a great gift of expression. He loved the stories his father\ntold him and thoroughly enjoyed the task his father set him of rewriting\nthem from memory, as an exercise. This was so happily done, in such a\nfresh, artless, and engaging style, exactly befitting the subjects of\nthe stories, that the father found the son's version better than the one\nhe had contemplated and gave that to the world instead.\n\nThese stories made their way slowly in England at first, but in the end\nthey nearly eclipsed the native fairy tales and legends, which, owing to\nPuritan influence, had been frowned upon and discouraged until they were\nremembered only in the remoter districts, and told only by the few who\nhad not come under its sway. Indeed, the Puritanical objection to\nnursery lore of all kinds still lingers in some corners of England.\n\nThe stories of Perrault came in just when the severer manifestations of\nPuritanism were beginning to decline, and they have since become as much\na part of English fairy lore as the old English folk and fairy tales\nthemselves. These latter, thanks to Mr. Joseph Jacob, Mr. Andrew Lang,\nMr. E.S. Hartland, and others, have been unearthed and revived, and\nprove to have lost nothing of their power of taking hold upon the minds\nof the little folk.\n\nPerrault says of his collection that it is certain these stories excite\nin the children who read them the desire to resemble those characters\nwho become happy, and at the same time they inspire them with the fear\nof the consequences which happen to those who do ill deeds; and he\nclaims that they all contain a very distinct moral which is more or less\nevident to all who read them.\n\nEmerson says: \"What Nature at one time provides for use, she afterwards\nturns to ornament,\" and Herbert Spencer, following out this idea,\nremarks that \"the fairy lore, which in times past was matter of grave\nbelief and held sway over people's conduct, has since been transformed\ninto ornament for _The Midsummer Night's Dream_, _The Tempest_, _The\nFairy Queen_, and endless small tales and poems; and still affords\nsubjects for children's story books, amuses boys and girls, and becomes\nmatter for jocose allusion.\"\n\nThus, also, Sir Walter Scott, in a note to \"The Lady of the Lake,\" says:\n\"The mythology of one period would appear to pass into the romance of\nthe next, and that into the nursery tales of subsequent ages,\" and Max\nMueller, in his \"Chips from a German Workshop,\" says: \"The gods of\nancient mythology were changed into the demigods and heroes of ancient\nepic poetry, and these demigods again became at a later age the\nprincipal characters of our nursery tales.\"\n\nThese thoughts may help to a better understanding of some of the uses of\nsuch stories and of their proper place in children's reading.\n\nC.W.","title":"The Tales of Mother Goose: As First Collected by Charles Perrault in 1696","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":18444}