{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_20748/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_20748","id":"gutenberg_20748","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20748","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Children's Myths, Fairy Tales, etc.","Children's Picture Books","Fairy tales"],"text":"Produced by Bruce Albrecht, Jacqueline Jeremy and the\nOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: _Adventures of Tom Thumb_\nIt Shone Down Upon the White Pebbles]\n\n\n\n\nFAVORITE\nFAIRY TALES\n\nARRANGED BY\n\nLOGAN MARSHALL\n\n[Illustration]\n\n_ONE HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS_\n\nTHE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY\nCHICAGO  PHILADELPHIA  TORONTO\n\n\n\n\nCOPYRIGHT, 1917, BY\nL. T. MYERS\nPRINTED IN U. S. A.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n                                   PAGE\n\nLITTLE SNOW WHITE                     5\n\nTHE UGLY DUCKLING                    22\n\nALADDIN AND THE WONDERFUL LAMP       43\n\nTHE SLEEPING BEAUTY                  64\n\nPUSS-IN-BOOTS                        73\n\nADVENTURES OF TOM THUMB              81\n\nTHE THREE BEARS                      95\n\nTHE LITTLE MATCH GIRL               103\n\nBEAUTY AND THE BEAST                109\n\nTHE STORY OF CINDERELLA             122\n\nJACK THE GIANT KILLER               135\n\nJACK AND THE BEANSTALK              155\n\nDICK WHITTINGTON AND HIS CAT        167\n\nTHE STORY OF BLUEBEARD              184\n\nLITTLE RED RIDING-HOOD              195\n\nSINDBAD THE SAILOR                  202\n\nHANSEL AND GRETEL                   230\n\nTHE GOOSE GIRL                      247\n\n\n\n\nLITTLE SNOW-WHITE\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nOnce upon a time in the middle of winter, when the flakes of snow were\nfalling like feathers from the clouds, a Queen sat at her palace window,\nwhich had an ebony black frame, stitching her husband's shirts. While\nshe was thus engaged and looking out at the snow she pricked her finger,\nand three drops of blood fell upon the snow. Now the red looked so well\nupon the white that she thought to herself, \"Oh, that I had a child as\nwhite as this snow, as red as this blood, and as black as the wood of\nthis frame!\" Soon afterwards a little daughter came to her, who was as\nwhite as snow, and with cheeks as red as blood, and with hair as black\nas ebony, and from this she was named \"Snow-White.\" And at the same time\nher mother died.\n\nAbout a year afterwards the King married another wife, who was very\nbeautiful, but so proud and haughty that she could not bear anyone to be\nbetter-looking than herself. She owned a wonderful mirror, and when she\nstepped before it and said:\n\n    \"Mirror, mirror on the wall,\n     Who is the fairest of us all?\"\n\nit replied:\n\n    \"The Queen is the fairest of the day.\"\n\nThen she was pleased, for she knew that the mirror spoke truly.\n\nLittle Snow-White, however, grew up, and became prettier and prettier,\nand when she was seven years old she was as fair as the noonday, and\nmore beautiful than the Queen herself. When the Queen now asked her\nmirror:\n\n    \"Mirror, mirror on the wall,\n     Who is the fairest of us all?\"\n\nit replied:\n\n    \"The Queen was fairest yesterday;\n     Snow-White is the fairest, now, they say.\"\n\nThis answer so angered the Queen that she became quite yellow with envy.\nFrom that hour, whenever she saw Snow-White, her heart was hardened\nagainst her, and she hated the little girl. Her envy and jealousy\nincreased so that she had no rest day or night, and she said to a\nHuntsman, \"Take the child away into the forest. I will never look\nupon her again. You must kill her, and bring me her heart and tongue\nfor a token.\"\n\nThe Huntsman listened and took the maiden away, but when he drew out his\nknife to kill her, she began to cry, saying, \"Ah, dear Huntsman, give me\nmy life! I will run into the wild forest, and never come home again.\"\n\nThis speech softened the Hunter's heart, and her beauty so touched him\nthat he had pity on her and said, \"Well, run away then, poor child.\" But\nhe thought to himself, \"The wild beasts will soon devour you.\" Still he\nfelt as if a stone had been lifted from his heart, because her death was\nnot by his hand. Just at that moment a young boar came roaring along to\nthe spot, and as soon as he clapped eyes upon it the Huntsman caught it,\nand, killing it, took its tongue and heart and carried them to the\nQueen, for a token of his deed.\n\nBut now poor little Snow-White was left motherless and alone, and\novercome with grief, she was bewildered at the sight of so many trees,\nand knew not which way to turn. She ran till her feet refused to go\nfarther, and as it was getting dark, and she saw a little house near,\nshe entered in to rest. In this cottage everything was very small, but\nvery neat and elegant. In the middle stood a little table with a white\ncloth over it, and seven little plates upon it, each plate having a\nspoon and a knife and a fork, and there were also seven little mugs.\nAgainst the wall were seven little beds arranged in a row, each covered\nwith snow-white sheets.\n\nLittle Snow-White, being both hungry and thirsty, ate a little morsel of\nporridge out of each plate, and drank a drop or two of wine out of each\nmug, for she did not wish to take away the whole share of anyone. After\nthat, because she was so tired, she laid herself down on one bed, but it\ndid not suit; she tried another, but that was too long; a fourth was too\nshort, a fifth too hard. But the seventh was just the thing; and\ntucking herself up in it, she went to sleep, first saying her prayers\nas usual.\n\nWhen it became quite dark the owners of the cottage came home, seven\nDwarfs, who dug for gold and silver in the mountains. They first\nlighted seven little lamps, and saw at once--for they lit up the whole\nroom--that somebody had been in, for everything was not in the order in\nwhich they had left it.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe first asked, \"Who has been sitting on my chair?\" The second, \"Who\nhas been eating off my plate?\" The third said, \"Who has been nibbling\nat my bread?\" The fourth, \"Who has been at my porridge?\" The fifth,\n\"Who has been meddling with my fork?\" The sixth grumbled out, \"Who has\nbeen cutting with my knife?\" The seventh said, \"Who has been drinking\nout of my mug?\"\n\nThen the first, looking round, began again, \"Who has been lying on my\nbed?\" he asked, for he saw that the sheets were tumbled. At these words\nthe others came, and looking at their beds cried out too, \"Some one has\nbeen lying in our beds!\" But the seventh little man, running up to his,\nsaw Snow-White sleeping in it; so he called his companions, who shouted\nwith wonder and held up their seven lamps, so that the light fell upon\nthe little girl.\n\n\"Oh, heavens! oh, heavens!\" said they; \"what a beauty she is!\" and they\nwere so much delighted that they would not awaken her, but left her to\nsleep, and the seventh Dwarf, in whose bed she was, slept with each of\nhis fellows one hour, and so passed the night.\n\nAs soon as morning dawned Snow-White awoke, and was quite frightened\nwhen she saw the seven little men; but they were very friendly, and\nasked her what she was called.\n\n\"My name is Snow-White,\" was her reply.\n\n\"Why have you come into our cottage?\" they asked.\n\nThen she told them how her stepmother would have had her killed, but the\nHuntsman had spared her life, and how she had wandered about the Whole\nday until at last she had found their house.\n\nWhen her tale was finished the Dwarfs said, \"Will you look after our\nhousehold--be our cook, make the beds, wash, sew, and knit for us, and\nkeep everything in neat order? If so, we will keep you here, and you\nshall want for nothing.\"\n\nAnd Snow-White answered, \"Yes, with all my heart and will.\" And so she\nremained with them, and kept their house in order.\n\nIn the morning the Dwarfs went into the mountains and searched for\nsilver and gold, and in the evening they came home and found their meals\nready for them. During the day the maiden was left alone, and therefore\nthe good Dwarfs warned her and said, \"Be careful of your stepmother, who\nwill soon know of your being here. So let nobody enter the cottage.\"\n\nThe Queen meanwhile, supposing that she had eaten the heart and tongue\nof her stepdaughter, believed that she was now above all the most\nbeautiful woman in the world. One day she stepped before her mirror,\nand said:\n\n    \"Mirror, mirror on the wall,\n     Who is the fairest of us all?\"\n\nand it replied:\n\n    \"The Queen was fairest yesterday;\n     Snow-White is fairest now, they say.\n     The Dwarfs protect her from thy sway\n     Amid the forest, far away.\"\n\nThis reply surprised her, but she knew that the mirror spoke the truth.\nShe knew, therefore, that the Huntsman had deceived her, and that\nSnow-White was still alive. So she dyed her face and clothed herself as\na pedler woman, so that no one could recognize her, and in this disguise\nshe went over the seven hills to the house of the seven Dwarfs. She\nknocked at the door of the hut, and called out, \"Fine goods for sale!\nbeautiful goods for sale!\"\n\nSnow-White peeped out of the window and said, \"Good day, my good woman;\nwhat have you to sell?\"\n\n\"Fine goods, beautiful goods!\" she replied. \"Stays of all colors.\" And\nshe held up a pair which were made of many-colored silks.\n\n\"I may let in this honest woman,\" thought Snow-White; and she unbolted\nthe door and bargained for one pair of stays.\n\n\"You can't think, my dear, how they become you!\" exclaimed the old\nwoman. \"Come, let me lace them up for you.\"\n\nSnow-White suspected nothing, and let her do as she wished, but the old\nwoman laced her up so quickly and so tightly that all her breath went,\nand she fell down like one dead. \"Now,\" thought the old woman to\nherself, hastening away, \"now am I once more the most beautiful of all!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAt eventide, not long after she had left, the seven Dwarfs came home,\nand were much frightened at seeing their dear little maid lying on the\nground, and neither moving nor breathing, as if she were dead. They\nraised her up, and when they saw that she was laced too tight they cut\nthe stays to pieces, and presently she began to breathe again, and\nlittle by little she revived. When the Dwarfs now heard what had taken\nplace, they said, \"The old pedler woman was no other than your wicked\nstepmother. Take more care of yourself, and let no one enter when we are\nnot with you.\"\n\nMeanwhile, the Queen had reached home, and, going before her mirror, she\nrepeated her usual words:\n\n    \"Mirror, mirror on the wall,\n     Who is the fairest of us all?\"\n\nand it replied as before:\n\n    \"The Queen was fairest yesterday;\n     Snow-White is fairest now, they say.\n     The Dwarfs protect her from thy sway\n     Amid the forest, far away.\"\n\nAs soon as it had finished, all her blood rushed to her heart, for\nshe was so angry to hear that Snow-White was yet living. \"But now,\"\nthought she to herself, \"will I make something which shall destroy her\ncompletely.\" Thus saying, she made a poisoned comb by arts which she\nunderstood, and then, disguising herself, she took the form of an old\nwidow. She went over the seven hills to the house of the seven Dwarfs,\nand knocking at the door, called out, \"Good wares to sell to-day!\"\n\nSnow-White peeped out and said, \"You must go farther, for I dare not\nlet you in.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"But still you may look,\" said the old woman, drawing out her poisoned\ncomb and holding it up. The sight of this pleased the maiden so much\nthat she allowed herself to be persuaded, and opened the door. As soon\nas she had bought something the old woman said, \"Now let me for once\ncomb your hair properly,\" and Snow-White consented. But scarcely was\nthe comb drawn through the hair when the poison began to work, and the\nmaiden fell down senseless.\n\n\"You pattern of beauty,\" cried the wicked Queen, \"it is now all over\nwith you.\" And so saying, she departed.\n\nFortunately, evening soon came, and the seven Dwarfs returned, and as\nsoon as they saw Snow-White lying, like dead, upon the ground, they\nsuspected the Queen, and discovering the poisoned comb, they immediately\ndrew it out. Then the maiden very soon revived and told them all that\nhad happened. So again they warned her against the wicked stepmother,\nand bade her open the door to nobody.\n\nMeanwhile the Queen, on her arrival home, had again consulted her\nmirror, and received the same answer as twice before. This made her\ntremble and foam with rage and jealousy, and she swore that Snow-White\nshould die if it cost her her own life. Thereupon she went into an inner\nsecret chamber where no one could enter, and made an apple of the most\ndeep and subtle poison. Outwardly it looked nice enough, and had rosy\ncheeks which would make the mouth of everyone who looked at it water;\nbut whoever ate the smallest piece of it would surely die. As soon as\nthe apple was ready the Queen again dyed her face, and clothed herself\nlike a peasant's wife, and then over the seven mountains to the house of\nthe seven Dwarfs she made her way.\n\nShe knocked at the door, and Snow-White stretched out her head and said,\n\"I dare not let anyone enter; the seven Dwarfs have forbidden me.\"\n\n\"That is hard on me,\" said the old woman, \"for I must take back my\napples; but there is one which I will give you.\"\n\n\"No,\" answered Snow-White; \"no, I dare not take it.\"\n\n\"What! are you afraid of it?\" cried the old woman. \"There, see--I will\ncut the apple in halves; do you eat the red cheeks, and I will eat the\ncore.\" (The apple was so artfully made that the red cheeks alone were\npoisoned.) Snow-White very much wished for the beautiful apple, and\nwhen she saw the woman eating the core she could no longer resist, but,\nstretching out her hand, took the poisoned part. Scarcely had she placed\na piece in her mouth when she fell down dead upon the ground. Then the\nQueen, looking at her with glittering eyes, and laughing bitterly,\nexclaimed, \"White as snow, red as blood, black as ebony! This time\nthe Dwarfs cannot reawaken you.\"\n\nWhen she reached home and consulted her mirror--\n\n    \"Mirror, mirror on the wall,\n     Who is the fairest of us all?\"\n\nit answered:\n\n    \"The Queen is fairest of the day.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen her envious heart was at rest, as peacefully as an envious heart\ncan rest.\n\nWhen the little Dwarfs returned home in the evening they found\nSnow-White lying on the ground, and there appeared to be no life in\nher body; she seemed to be quite dead. They raised her up, and tried\nif they could find anything poisonous. They unlaced her, and even\nuncombed her hair, and washed her with water and with wine. But\nnothing availed: the dear child was really and truly dead.\n\nThen they laid her upon a bier, and all seven placed themselves around\nit, and wept and wept for three days without ceasing. Then they prepared\nto bury her. But she looked still fresh and life-like, and even her red\ncheeks had not deserted her, so they said to one another, \"We cannot\nbury her in the black ground.\" Then they ordered a case to be made of\nglass. In this they could see the body on all sides, and the Dwarfs\nwrote her name with golden letters upon the glass, saying that she was\na King's daughter. Now they placed the glass case upon the ledge on a\nrock, and one of them always remained by it watching. Even the birds\nbewailed the loss of Snow-White; first came an owl, then a raven, and\nlast of all a dove.\n\nFor a long time Snow-White lay peacefully in her case, and changed not,\nbut looked as if she were only asleep, for she was still white as snow,\nred as blood, and black-haired as ebony. By and by it happened that a\nKing's son was traveling in the forest, and came to the Dwarfs' house\nto pass the night. He soon saw the glass case upon the rock, and the\nbeautiful maiden lying within, and he read also the golden inscription.\n\nWhen he had examined it, he said to the Dwarfs, \"Let me have this case,\nand I will pay what you like for it.\"\n\nBut the Dwarfs replied, \"We will not sell it for all the gold in the\nworld.\"\n\n\"Then give it to me,\" said the Prince; \"for I cannot live without\nSnow-White. I will honor and protect her as long as I live.\"\n\nWhen the Dwarfs saw that he was so much in earnest, they pitied him,\nand at last gave him the case, and the Prince ordered it to be carried\naway on the shoulders of his attendants. Presently it happened that\nthey stumbled over a rut, and with the shock the piece of poisoned\napple which lay in Snow-White's mouth fell out. Very soon she opened\nher eyes, and raising the lid of the glass case, she rose up and asked,\n\"Where am I?\"\n\nFull of joy, the Prince answered, \"You are safe with me.\" And he told\nto her what she had suffered, and how he would rather have her than any\nother for his wife, and he asked her to accompany him home to the castle\nof the King his father. Snow-White consented, and when they arrived\nthere they were married with great splendor and magnificence.\n\nSnow-White's stepmother was also invited to the wedding, and when she\nwas dressed in all her finery to go, she first stepped in front of her\nmirror and asked:\n\n    \"Mirror, mirror on the wall,\n     Who is the fairest of us all?\"\n\nand it replied:\n\n    \"The Queen was fairest yesterday;\n     The Prince's bride is now, they say.\"\n\nAt these words the Queen was in a fury, and was so terribly mortified\nthat she knew not what to do with herself. At first she resolved not\nto go to the wedding, but she could not resist the wish to see the\nPrincess. So she went; but as soon as she saw the bride she recognized\nSnow-White, and was so terrified with rage and astonishment that she\nrushed out of the castle and was never heard of again.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE UGLY DUCKLING\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nIt was beautiful in the country. It was summertime. The wheat was\nyellow, the oats were green, the hay was stacked up in the green\nmeadows, and the stork paraded about on his long red legs, talking\nin Egyptian, which language he had learnt from his mother.\n\nThe fields and meadows were skirted by thick woods, and a deep lake lay\nin the midst of the woods. Yes; it was indeed beautiful in the country!\nThe sunshine fell warmly on an old mansion, surrounded by deep canals,\nand from the walls down to the water's edge there grew large burdock\nleaves, so high that children could stand upright among them without\nbeing seen.\n\nThis place was as wild as the thickest part of the wood, and on that\naccount a Duck had chosen to make her nest there. She was sitting on\nher eggs; but the pleasure she had felt at first was now almost gone,\nbecause she had been there so long, and had so few visitors, for the\nother Ducks preferred swimming on the canals to sitting among the\nburdock leaves gossiping with her.\n\nAt last the eggs cracked one after another, \"Chick, chick!\" All the eggs\nwere alive, and one little head after another peered forth. \"Quack,\nquack!\" said the Duck, and all got up as well as they could. They peeped\nabout from under the green leaves; and as green is good for the eyes,\ntheir mother let them look as long as they pleased.\n\n\"How large the world is!\" said the little ones, for they found their new\nabode very different from their former narrow one in the egg-shells.\n\n\"Do you imagine this to be the whole of the world?\" said the mother.\n\"It extends far beyond the other side of the garden in the pastor's\nfield; but I have never been there. Are you all here?\" And then she got\nup. \"No, not all, for the largest egg is still here. How long will this\nlast? I am so weary of it!\" And then she sat down again.\n\n\"Well, and how are you getting on?\" asked an old Duck, who had come to\npay her a visit.\n\n\"This one egg keeps me so long,\" said the mother. \"It will not break.\nBut you should see the others! They are the prettiest little Ducklings\nI have seen in all my days. They are all like their father--the\ngood-for-nothing fellow, he has not been to visit me once!\"\n\n\"Let me see the egg that will not break,\" said the old Duck. \"Depend\nupon it, it is a turkey's egg. I was cheated in the same way once\nmyself, and I had such trouble with the young ones; for they were afraid\nof the water, and I could not get them there. I called and scolded, but\nit was all of no use. But let me see the egg--ah, yes! to be sure, that\nis a turkey's egg. Leave it, and teach the other little ones to swim.\"\n\n[Illustration: _The Ugly Duckling_\n\"What is the Matter?\" asked the Old Woman]\n\n\"I will sit on it a little longer,\" said the Duck. \"I have been sitting\nso long, that I may as well spend the harvest here.\"\n\n\"It is no business of mine,\" said the old Duck, and away she waddled.\n\nThe great egg burst at last. \"Chick! chick!\" said the little one, and\nout it tumbled--but, oh! how large and ugly it was! The Duck looked at\nit. \"That is a great, strong creature,\" said she. \"None of the others\nare at all like it. Can it be a young turkey-cock? Well, we shall soon\nfind out. It must go into the water, though I push it in myself.\"\n\nThe next day there was delightful weather, and the sun shone warmly upon\nthe green leaves when Mother Duck with all her family went down to the\ncanal. Plump she went into the water. \"Quack! quack!\" cried she, and one\nduckling after another jumped in. The water closed over their heads, but\nall came up again, and swam together quite easily. Their legs moved\nwithout effort. All were there, even the ugly grey one.\n\n\"No; it is not a turkey,\" said the old Duck; \"only see how prettily it\nmoves its legs, how upright it holds itself! It is my own child. It is\nalso really very pretty, when you look more closely at it. Quack! quack!\nnow come with me, I will take you into the world and introduce you in\nthe duck-yards. But keep close to me, or someone may tread on you; and\nbeware of the Cat.\"\n\nSo they came into the duck-yard. There was a horrid noise; two families\nwere quarreling about the head of an eel, which in the end was carried\noff by the Cat.\n\n\"See, my children, such is the way of the world,\" said the Mother Duck,\nwiping her beak, for she, too, was fond of eels. \"Now use your legs,\"\nsaid she, \"keep together, and bow to the old Duck you see yonder. She\nis the most distinguished of all the fowls present, and is of Spanish\nblood, which accounts for her dignified appearance and manners. And\nlook, she has a red rag on her leg! That is considered extremely\nhandsome, and is the greatest honor a Duck can have. Don't turn your\nfeet inwards; a well-educated Duckling always keeps his legs far apart,\nlike his father and mother, just so--look! Now bow your necks, and say,\n'Quack.'\"\n\nAnd they did as they were told. But the other Ducks, who were in the\nyard, looked at them and said aloud, \"Just see! Now we have another\nbrood, as if there were not enough of us already. And fie! how ugly\nthat one is. We will not endure it.\" And immediately one of the Ducks\nflew at him, and bit him in the neck.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Leave him alone,\" said the mother. \"He is doing no one any harm.\"\n\n\"Yes, but he is so large and so strange-looking, and therefore he shall\nbe teased,\" said the others.\n\n\"Those are fine children that our good mother has,\" said the old Duck\nwith the red rag on her leg. \"All are pretty except one, and that has\nnot turned out well; I almost wish it could be hatched over again.\"\n\n\"That cannot be, please your Highness,\" said the mother. \"Certainly he\nis not handsome, but he is a very good child, and swims as well as the\nothers, indeed, rather better. I think he will grow like the others all\nin good time, and perhaps will look smaller. He stayed so long in the\negg-shell, that is the cause of the difference.\" And she scratched the\nDuckling's neck, and stroked his whole body. \"Besides,\" added she, \"he\nis a Drake. I think he will be very strong, so it does not matter so\nmuch. He will fight his way through.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"The other Ducks are very pretty,\" said the old Duck. \"Pray make\nyourselves at home, and if you find an eel's head you can bring it\nto me.\"\n\nSo they made themselves at home.\n\nBut the poor little Duckling, who had come last out of its egg-shell,\nand who was so ugly, was bitten, pecked, and teased by both Ducks and\nHens. \"It is so large!\" said they all. And the Turkey-cock, who had come\ninto the world with spurs on, and therefore fancied he was an emperor,\npuffed himself up like a ship in full sail, and marched up to the\nDuckling quite red with passion. The poor little thing scarcely knew\nwhat to do. He was quite distressed, because he was so ugly, and\nbecause he was the jest of the poultry-yard.\n\nSo passed the first day, and afterwards matters grew worse and\nworse--the poor Duckling was scorned by all. Even his brothers and\nsisters behaved unkindly, and were constantly saying, \"May the Cat take\nyou, you nasty creature!\" The mother said, \"Ah, if you were only far\naway!\" The Ducks bit him, the Hens pecked him, and the girl who fed the\npoultry kicked him.\n\nHe ran through the hedge, and the little birds in the bushes were\nterrified. \"That is because I am so ugly,\" thought the Duckling,\nshutting his eyes, but he ran on. At last he came to a wide moor,\nwhere lived some Wild Ducks; here he lay the whole night, very tired\nand comfortless. In the morning the Wild Ducks flew up, and saw their\nnew companion. \"Pray who are you?\" asked they; and our little Duckling\nturned himself in all directions, and greeted them as politely as\npossible.\n\n\"You are really uncommonly ugly!\" said the Wild Ducks. \"However, that\ndoes not matter to us, provided you do not marry into our families.\"\nPoor thing! he had never thought of marrying; he only begged permission\nto lie among the reeds, and drink the water of the moor.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThere he lay for two whole days. On the third day there came two Wild\nGeese, or rather Ganders, who had not been long out of their egg-shells,\nwhich accounts for their impertinence.\n\n\"Hark ye,\" said they; \"you are so ugly that we like you very well. Will\nyou come with us and be a bird of passage? On another moor, not far\nfrom this, are some dear, sweet Wild Geese, as lovely creatures as have\never said 'Hiss, hiss.' You are truly in the way to make your fortune,\nugly as you are.\"\n\nBang! a gun went off all at once, and both Wild Geese were stretched\ndead among the reeds; the water became red with blood. Bang! a gun went\noff again. Whole flocks of Wild Geese flew up from among the reeds, and\nanother report followed.\n\nThere was a grand hunting party. The hunters lay in ambush all around;\nsome were even sitting in the trees, whose huge branches stretched far\nover the moor. The blue smoke rose through the thick trees like a mist,\nand was dispersed as it fell over the water. The hounds splashed about\nin the mud, the reeds and rushes bent in all directions.\n\nHow frightened the poor little Duck was! He turned his head, thinking\nto hide it under his wings, and in a moment a most formidable-looking\nDog stood close to him, his tongue hanging out of his mouth, his eyes\nsparkling fearfully. He opened wide his jaws at the sight of our\nDuckling, showing him his sharp white teeth, and, splash, splash!\nhe was gone--gone without hurting him.\n\n\"Well! let me be thankful,\" sighed he. \"I am so ugly that even the Dog\nwill not eat me.\"\n\nAnd now he lay still, though the shooting continued among the reeds,\nshot following shot.\n\nThe noise did not cease till late in the day, and even then the poor\nlittle thing dared not stir. He waited several hours before he looked\naround him, and then hurried away from the moor as fast as he could.\nHe ran over fields and meadows, though the wind was so high that he\nhad some difficulty in moving.\n\nTowards evening he reached a wretched little hut, so wretched that it\nknew not on which side to fall, and therefore remained standing. The\nwind blew violently, so that our poor little Duckling was obliged to\nsupport himself on his tail, in order to stand against it; but it\nbecame worse and worse. He then noticed that the door had lost one\nof its hinges, and hung so much awry that he could creep through the\ncrack into the room. So he went in.\n\nIn this room lived an old woman, with her Tom-cat and her Hen. The Cat,\nwhom she called her little son, knew how to set up his back and purr;\nindeed, he could even throw out sparks when stroked the wrong way. The\nHen had very short legs, and was therefore called \"Chickie Short-legs.\"\nShe laid very good eggs, and the old woman loved her as her own child.\n\nThe next morning the new guest was discovered, and the Cat began to mew\nand the Hen to cackle.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"What is the matter?\" asked the old woman, looking round. But her eyes\nwere not good, so she took the young Duckling to be a fat Duck who had\nlost her way. \"This is a capital catch,\" said she, \"I shall now have\nDuck's eggs, if it be not a Drake. We shall see.\"\n\nAnd so the Duckling was kept on trial for three weeks, but no eggs made\ntheir appearance. Now the Cat was the master of the house, and the Hen\nwas the mistress, and always used to say, \"We and the world,\" for they\nimagined themselves to be not only the half of the world, but also by\nfar the better half. The Duckling thought it was possible to be of a\ndifferent opinion, but that the Hen would not allow.\n\n\"Can you lay eggs?\" asked she.\n\n\"No.\"\n\n\"Well, then, hold your tongue.\"\n\nAnd the Cat said, \"Can you set up your back? Can you purr?\"\n\n\"No.\"\n\n\"Well, then, you should have no opinion when reasonable people are\nspeaking.\"\n\nSo the Duckling sat alone in a corner, and felt very miserable. However,\nhe happened to think of the fresh air and bright sunshine, and these\nthoughts gave him such a strong desire to swim again, that he could not\nhelp telling it to the Hen.\n\n\"What ails you?\" said the Hen. \"You have nothing to do, and therefore\nbrood over these fancies. Either lay eggs or purr, then you will forget\nthem.\"\n\n\"But it is so delicious to swim!\" said the Duckling. \"So delicious when\nthe waters close over your head, and you plunge to the bottom!\"\n\n\"Well, that is a queer sort of pleasure,\" said the Hen. \"I think you\nmust be crazy. Not to speak of myself, ask the Cat--he is the most\nsensible animal I know--whether he would like to swim, or to plunge to\nthe bottom of the water. Ask our mistress, the old woman--there is no\none in the world wiser than she. Do you think she would take pleasure\nin swimming and in the waters closing over her head?\"\n\n\"You do not understand me,\" said the Duckling.\n\n\"What! we do not understand you? So you think yourself wiser than the\nCat and the old woman, not to speak of myself? Do not fancy any such\nthing, child; but be thankful for all the kindness that has been shown\nyou. Are you not lodged in a warm room, and have you not the advantage\nof society from which you can learn something? But you are a simpleton,\nand it is wearisome to have anything to do with you. Believe me, I wish\nyou well. I tell you unpleasant truths, but it is thus that real\nfriendship is shown. Come, for once give yourself the trouble to\nlearn to purr, or to lay eggs.\"\n\n\"I think I will go out into the wide world again,\" said the Duckling.\n\n\"Well, go,\" answered the Hen.\n\nSo the Duckling went. He swam on the surface of the water, he plunged\nbeneath, but all animals passed him by, on account of his ugliness. And\nthe autumn came, the leaves turned yellow and brown, the wind caught\nthem and danced them about, the air was very cold, the clouds were heavy\nwith hail or snow, and the Raven sat on the hedge and croaked. The poor\nDuckling was certainly not very comfortable.\n\nOne evening, just as the sun was setting with unusual brilliancy, a\nflock of large, beautiful birds rose from out of the brushwood. The\nDuckling had never seen anything so beautiful before; their plumage was\nof a dazzling white, and they had long, slender necks. They were Swans.\nThey uttered a singular cry, spread out their long splendid wings, and\nflew away from these cold regions to warmer countries, across the open\nsea. They flew so high, so very high! And the little Ugly Duckling's\nfeelings were so strange. He turned round and round in the water like a\nmill-wheel, strained his neck to look after them, and sent forth such a\nloud and strange cry that it almost frightened himself. Ah! he could not\nforget them, those noble birds, those happy birds! When he could see\nthem no longer he plunged to the bottom of the water, and when he rose\nagain was almost beside himself. The Duckling knew not what the birds\nwere called, knew not whither they were flying; yet he loved them as he\nhad never before loved anything. He envied them not; it would never have\noccurred to him to wish such beauty for himself. He would have been\nquite contented if the Ducks in the duck-yard had but endured his\ncompany--the poor, ugly creature.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnd the winter was so cold, so cold, the Duckling was obliged to swim\nround and round in the water to keep it from freezing. But every night\nthe opening in which he swam became smaller and smaller. It froze so\nthat the crust of ice crackled and the Duckling was obliged to make good\nuse of his legs to prevent the water from freezing entirely. At last,\nwearied out, he lay stiff and cold in the ice.\n\nEarly in the morning there passed by a peasant who saw him, broke the\nice in pieces with his wooden shoe, and brought him home to his wife.\n\nThe poor Duckling soon revived. The children would have played with him,\nbut he thought they wished to tease him, and in his terror jumped into\nthe milk-pail, so that the milk was spilled about the room. The good\nwoman screamed and clapped her hands. He flew from there into the pan\nwhere the butter was kept, and thence into the meal-barrel, and out\nagain, and then how strange he looked!\n\nThe woman screamed, and struck at him with the tongs, the children ran\nraces with each other trying to catch him, and laughed and screamed\nlikewise. It was well for him that the door stood open. He jumped out\namong the bushes into the new-fallen snow, and there he lay as in a\ndream.\n\nBut it would be too sad to tell all the trouble and misery that he had\nto suffer from the frost, and snow and storms of the winter. He was\nlying on a moor among the reeds, when the sun began to shine warmly\nagain; the larks sang, and beautiful spring had returned.\n\nOnce more he shook his wings. They were stronger than formerly and bore\nhim forward quickly, and before he was well aware of it he was in a\nlarge garden where the apple-trees stood in full bloom, where the\nsyringas sent forth their fragrance and hung their long green branches\ndown into the winding canal. Oh! everything was so lovely, so full of\nthe freshness of spring! And out of the thicket came three beautiful\nwhite Swans. They displayed their feathers so proudly and swam so\nlightly, so lightly! The Duckling knew the glorious creatures, and was\nseized with a strange sadness.\n\n\"I will fly to them, those kingly birds!\" said he. \"They will kill me,\nbecause I, ugly as I am, have dared to approach them. But it matters\nnot. Better to be killed by them than to be bitten by the Ducks, pecked\nby the Hens, kicked by the girl who feeds the poultry, and to have so\nmuch to suffer during the winter!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe flew into the water and swam towards the beautiful creatures. They\nsaw him and shot forward to meet him. \"Only kill me,\" said the poor\ncreature, and he bowed his head low, expecting death. But what did he\nsee in the water? He saw beneath him his own form, no longer that of a\nplump, ugly grey bird--it was that of a Swan.\n\nIt matters not to have been born in a duck-yard, if one has been hatched\nfrom a Swan's egg. And now the Swan began to see the good of all the\ntrouble he had been through. He would never have known how happy he was\nif he had not first had all his sorrow and unhappiness to bear.\n\nThe larger Swans swam round him, and stroked him with their beaks. Some\nlittle children were running about in the garden; they threw grain and\nbread into the water, and the youngest exclaimed: \"There is a new one!\"\nThe others also cried out: \"Yes, a new Swan has come!\" and they clapped\ntheir hands, and danced around.\n\nThey ran to their father and mother, bread and cake were thrown into\nthe water, and every one said: \"The new one is best, so young and so\nbeautiful!\" And the old Swans bowed before him. The young Swan felt\nquite ashamed, and hid his head under his wings. He scarcely knew what\nto do. He was too happy, but still not proud, for a good heart is never\nproud.\n\nHe remembered how he had been persecuted and laughed at, and he now\nheard everyone say that he was the most beautiful of all beautiful\nbirds. The syringas bent down their branches toward him low into the\nwater, and the sun shone warmly and brightly. He shook his feathers,\nstretched his slender neck, and in the joy of his heart said: \"How\nlittle did I dream of so much happiness when I was the despised Ugly\nDuckling!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nALADDIN AND THE WONDERFUL LAMP\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nAladdin was the only son of a poor widow who lived in China; but instead\nof helping his mother to earn their living, he let her do all the hard\nwork, while he himself only thought of idling and amusement.\n\nOne day, as he was playing in the streets, a stranger came up to him,\nsaying that he was his father's brother, and claiming him as his\nlong-lost nephew. Aladdin had never heard that his father had had a\nbrother; but as the stranger gave him money and promised to buy him\nfine clothes and set him up in business, he was quite ready to believe\nall that he told him. The man was a magician, who wanted to use Aladdin\nfor his own purposes.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe next day the stranger came again, brought Aladdin a beautiful suit\nof clothes, gave him many good things to eat, and took him for a long\nwalk, telling him stories all the while to amuse him. After they had\nwalked a long way, they came to a narrow valley, bounded on either side\nby tall, gloomy-looking mountains. Aladdin was beginning to feel tired,\nand he did not like the look of this place at all. He wanted to turn\nback; but the stranger would not let him. He made Aladdin follow him\nstill farther, until at length they reached the place where he intended\nto carry out his evil design. Then he made Aladdin gather sticks to make\na fire, and when they were in a blaze he threw into them some powder,\nat the same time saying some mystical words, which Aladdin could not\nunderstand.\n\nImmediately they were surrounded with a thick cloud of smoke. The earth\ntrembled, and burst open at their feet--disclosing a large flat stone\nwith a brass ring fixed in it. Aladdin was so terribly frightened that\nhe was about to run away; but the Magician gave him such a blow on the\near that he fell to the ground.\n\nPoor Aladdin rose to his feet with eyes full of tears, and said,\nreproachfully--\n\n\"Uncle, what have I done that you should treat me so?\"\n\n\"You should not have tried to run away from me,\" said the Magician,\n\"when I have brought you here only for your own advantage. Under this\nstone there is hidden a treasure which will make you richer than the\nrichest monarch in the world. You alone may touch it. If I assist you\nin any way the spell will be broken, but if you obey me faithfully, we\nshall both be rich for the rest of our lives. Come, take hold of the\nbrass ring and lift the stone.\"\n\nAladdin forgot his fears in the hope of gaining this wonderful treasure,\nand took hold of the brass ring. It yielded at once to his touch, and he\nwas able to lift the great stone quite easily and move it away, which\ndisclosed a flight of steps, leading down into the ground.\n\n\"Go down these steps,\" commanded the Magician, \"and at the bottom you\nwill find a great cavern, divided into three halls, full of vessels of\ngold and silver; but take care you do not meddle with these. If you\ntouch anything in the halls you will meet with instant death. The third\nhall will bring you into a garden, planted with fine fruit trees. When\nyou have crossed the garden, you will come to a terrace, where you will\nfind a niche, and in the niche a lighted lamp. Take the lamp down, and\nwhen you have put out the light and poured away the oil, bring it to me.\nIf you would like to gather any of the fruit of the garden you may do\nso, provided you do not linger.\"\n\nThen the Magician put a ring on Aladdin's finger, which he told him was\nto preserve him from evil, and sent him down into the cavern.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAladdin found everything just as the Magician had said. He passed\nthrough the three halls, crossed the garden, took down the lamp from\nthe niche, poured out the oil, put the lamp into his bosom, and turned\nto go back.\n\nAs he came down from the terrace, he stopped to look at the trees of the\ngarden, which were laden with wonderful fruits. To Aladdin's eyes it\nappeared as if these fruits were only bits of colored glass, but in\nreality they were jewels of the rarest quality. Aladdin filled his\npockets full of the dazzling things, for though he had no idea of their\nreal value, yet he was attracted by their dazzling brilliance. He had\nso loaded himself with these treasures that when at last he came to the\nsteps he was unable to climb them without assistance.\n\n\"Pray, Uncle,\" he said, \"give me your hand to help me out.\"\n\n\"Give me the lamp first,\" replied the Magician.\n\n\"Really, Uncle, I cannot do so until I am out of this place,\" answered\nAladdin, whose hands were, indeed, so full that he could not get at the\nlamp.\n\nBut the Magician refused to help Aladdin up the steps until he had\nhanded over the lamp. Aladdin was equally determined not to give it up\nuntil he was out of the cavern, and, at last, the Magician fell into a\nfurious rage. Throwing some more of the powder into the fire, he again\nsaid the magic words. No sooner had he done so than there was a\ntremendous thunder-clap, the stone rolled back into its place, and\nAladdin was a prisoner in the cavern. The poor boy cried aloud to his\nsupposed uncle to help him; but it was all in vain, his cries could not\nbe heard. The doors in the garden were closed by the same enchantment,\nand Aladdin sat down on the steps in despair, knowing that there was\nlittle hope of his ever seeing his Mother again.\n\nFor two terrible days he lay in the cavern waiting for death. On the\nthird day, realizing that it could not now be far off, he clasped his\nhands in anguish, thinking of his Mother's sorrow; and in so doing he\naccidently rubbed the ring which the Magician had put upon his finger.\n\nImmediately a genie of enormous size rose out of the earth, and, as\nAladdin started back in fright and horror, said to him:\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"What wouldst thou have of me?\"\n\n\"Who are you?\" gasped Aladdin.\n\n\"I am the slave of the ring. I am ready to obey thy commands,\" came the\nanswer.\n\nAladdin was still trembling; but the danger he was in already made him\nanswer without hesitation:\n\n\"Then, if you are able, deliver me, I beseech you, from this place.\"\n\nScarcely had he spoken, when he found himself lying on the ground at the\nplace to which the Magician had first brought him.\n\nHe hastened home to his Mother, who had mourned him as dead. As soon as\nhe had told her all his adventures, he begged her to get him some food,\nfor he had now been three days without eating.\n\n\"Alas, child!\" replied his Mother, \"I have not a bit of bread to give\nyou.\"\n\n\"Never mind, Mother,\" said Aladdin, \"I will go and sell the old lamp\nwhich I brought home with me. Doubtless I shall get a little money for\nit.\"\n\nHis Mother reached down the lamp; but seeing how dirty it was, she\nthought it would sell better if she cleaned it. But no sooner had she\nbegun to rub it than a hideous genie appeared before her, and said in\na voice like thunder:\n\n\"What wouldst thou have of me? I am ready to obey thy commands, I and\nall the other slaves of the lamp.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAladdin's Mother fainted away at the sight of this creature; but\nAladdin, having seen the genie of the ring, was not so frightened,\nand said boldly:\n\n\"I am hungry, bring me something to eat.\"\n\nThe genie disappeared, but returned in an instant with twelve silver\ndishes, filled with different kinds of savory meats, six large white\nloaves, two bottles of wine, and two silver drinking cups. He placed\nthese things on the table and then vanished.\n\nAladdin fetched water, and sprinkling some on his Mother's face soon\nbrought her back to life again.\n\nWhen she opened her eyes and saw all the good things the genie had\nprovided, she was overcome with astonishment.\n\n\"To whom are we indebted for this feast?\" she cried. \"Has the Sultan\nheard of our poverty and sent us these fine things from his own table?\"\n\n\"Never mind now how they came here,\" said Aladdin. \"Let us first eat,\nthen I will tell you.\"\n\nMother and son made a hearty meal, and then Aladdin told his Mother that\nit was the genie of the lamp who had brought them the food. His Mother\nwas greatly alarmed, and begged him to have nothing further to do with\ngenies, advising him to sell the lamp at once. But Aladdin would not\npart with such a wonderful possession, and resolved to keep both the\nring and the lamp safely, in case he should ever need them again. He\nshowed his Mother the fruits which he had gathered in the garden, and\nhis Mother admired their bright colors and dazzling radiance, though\nshe had no idea of their real value.\n\nNot many days after this, Aladdin was walking in the streets of the\ncity, when he heard a fanfare of trumpets announcing the passing of the\nPrincess Badroulboudour, the Sultan's only daughter. Aladdin stopped to\nsee her go by, and was so struck by her great beauty that he fell in\nlove with her on the spot and made up his mind to win her for his bride.\n\n\"Mother,\" he said, \"I cannot live without the Princess Badroulboudour.\nYou must go to the Sultan and demand her hand in marriage for me.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAladdin's Mother burst out laughing at the idea of her son wishing to be\nthe son-in-law of the Sultan, and told him to put such thoughts out of\nhis head at once. But Aladdin was not to be laughed out of his fancy. He\nknew by this time that the fruits which he had gathered from the magic\ngarden were jewels of great value, and he insisted upon his Mother\ntaking them to the Sultan for a present, and asking the hand of the\nPrincess in marriage for her son.\n\nThe poor woman was terribly frightened, fearing lest the Sultan should\npunish her for her impudence; but Aladdin would hear of no excuses, and\nat last she set forth in fear and trembling, bearing the jewels on a\nchina dish covered with a napkin.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhen she came before the Sultan, she told him, with many apologies and\npleas for forgiveness, of her son's mad love for the Princess\nBadroulboudour. The Sultan smiled at the idea of the son of a poor old\nwoman asking for the hand of his daughter, and asked her what she had\nunder the napkin. But when the woman uncovered the jewels, he started up\nfrom his throne in amazement, for he had never before seen so many large\nand magnificent jewels collected together. He thought Aladdin must be a\nvery unusual and extraordinary person to be able to make him such a\nvaluable present, and he began to wonder whether it might not be worth\nwhile to bestow the Princess's hand upon him. However, he thought he\nwould ask for some further proof of his wealth and power; so, turning\nto the woman, he said:\n\n\"Good Mother, tell your son he shall have the Princess Badroulboudour\nfor his wife as soon as he sends me forty basins of gold, filled with\njewels as valuable as these, and borne by forty black and forty white\nslaves. Hasten now and carry him my message. I will await your return.\"\n\nAladdin's Mother was dismayed at this request.\n\n\"Where can Aladdin get such basins and jewels and slaves?\" she thought,\nas she hurried home to him. But Aladdin only smiled when his Mother gave\nhim the Sultan's message. He rubbed the lamp, and at once the genie\nstood before him, asking him what was his pleasure.\n\n\"Go,\" said Aladdin, \"fetch me forty basins all of massive gold, full of\njewels, borne by forty black and forty white slaves.\"\n\nThe genie brought these things at once, and Aladdin then sent his Mother\nwith them to the Sultan.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe Sultan was amazed at this wonderful show of wealth and at the\nquickness with which it had been brought, and he sent for Aladdin to\ncome to the Court.\n\nAladdin first summoned the genie to bring him fine clothes and a\nsplendid horse, and a retinue fit for the future son-in-law of the\nSultan; and then, with a train of slaves bearing magnificent presents\nfor the Princess, he set out for the Palace.\n\nThe Sultan would have married him to his daughter at once; but Aladdin\nasked him to wait until the next morning, when he hoped to have a Palace\nworthy to receive his wife.\n\nOnce again he summoned the genie to his aid, and commanded him to build\na Palace that in beauty and magnificence should surpass any that had\never been built on the earth before.\n\nThe next morning when the Sultan awoke and looked out of his window, he\nsaw, opposite to his own, the most wonderful Palace he had ever seen.\nThe walls were built of gold and silver, and encrusted with diamonds,\nrubies and emeralds, and other rare and precious stones. The stables\nwere filled with the finest horses; beautiful gardens surrounded the\nbuilding, and everywhere were hundreds of slaves and servants to wait\non the Princess.\n\nThe Sultan was so overcome with all this magnificence, that he insisted\nupon marrying his daughter to Aladdin that very day, and the young\ncouple took up their residence in the Palace the genie had built.\n\nFor a time they lived very happily, but the Magician, who had gone to\nAfrica after he had left Aladdin to perish in the cavern, at length\nhappened to hear of Aladdin's fame and riches; and guessing at once the\nsource of all this wealth, he returned once more to China, determined to\ngain possession of the magic lamp.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe bought a number of new and beautiful lamps, disguised himself as an\nold beggar-man, and then, waiting until Aladdin was out hunting, he came\nto the windows of the Palace, crying out:\n\n\"New lamps for old; new lamps for old.\"\n\nWhen the Princess heard this strange cry she was very much amused.\n\n\"Let us see,\" she said to her ladies, \"whether this foolish fellow means\nwhat he says; there is an ugly old lamp in Aladdin's room,\" and taking\nthe precious lamp, which Aladdin always kept by his bedside, she sent it\nout to the old man by one of the slaves, saying--\n\n\"Give me a new lamp for this!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe Magician was overjoyed. He saw at once that it was the very lamp he\nwanted, and giving the Princess the best of the new ones in exchange, he\nhurried away with his treasure. As soon as he found himself alone, he\nsummoned the slave of the lamp, and told him to carry himself, the\nPalace, and the Princess Badroulboudour to the farthest corner of\nAfrica. This order the genie at once obeyed.\n\nWhen Aladdin returned from hunting and found that his wife and his\nPalace had vanished, he was overcome with anguish, guessing that his\nenemy, the Magician, had by some means got possession of the lamp. The\nSultan, whose grief and anger at the loss of his daughter were terrible,\nordered him to leave the Court at once, and told him that unless he\nreturned in forty days with the Princess safe and well, he would have\nhim beheaded.\n\nAladdin went out from the Sultan's presence, not knowing what to do or\nwhere to turn. But after he had wandered about for some time in despair,\nhe remembered the ring which he still wore on his finger. He rubbed it,\nand in a moment the genie stood before him. But when Aladdin commanded\nhim to bring back the Palace and the Princess, the genie answered--\n\n\"What you command is not in my power. You must ask the slave of the\nlamp. I am only the slave of the ring.\"\n\n\"Then,\" said Aladdin, \"if you cannot bring my Palace to me, I command\nyou to take me to my Palace.\" No sooner were the words out of his mouth\nthan he found himself standing in Africa, close to the missing Palace.\n\nThe Princess Badroulboudour, who, since the moment when the Magician had\nhad her in his power, had not ceased to weep and lament for her\nfoolishness in exchanging the lamp, happened to be looking out of the\nwindow; and when she saw Aladdin she nearly fainted with joy, and sent\na slave to bring him secretly into the Palace.\n\nThen she and Aladdin made a plan to get the better of the Magician and\nto recover the lost lamp. Aladdin summoned the genie of the ring, who\nprocured for him a very powerful sleeping-powder, which he gave to the\nPrincess. Then Aladdin hid himself behind some curtains in the room,\nand the Princess sent a message to the Magician asking him to take\nsupper with her.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe Magician was delighted at the Princess's invitation, and accepted\nit joyfully, never dreaming that Aladdin had found his way to Africa.\n\nAs they were eating and drinking together, the Princess put the\nsleeping-powder into the Magician's cup of wine--and no sooner had he\ntasted it than he fell down in a deep sleep as if dead.\n\nThis was Aladdin's chance. Hastily coming out from behind the curtains,\nhe snatched the lamp from the Magician's bosom, and called the genie to\ncome to his assistance.\n\nThe genie, having first thrown out the Magician, then carried the Palace\nwith the Princess and Aladdin back to the spot from which it had been\ntaken.\n\nGreat was the Sultan's joy at receiving back his daughter. The whole\ncity was given over to rejoicings, and for ten days nothing was heard\nbut the sound of drums and trumpets and cymbals, and nothing was seen\nbut illuminations and gorgeous entertainments in honor of Aladdin's safe\nreturn.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAladdin and the Princess ascended the throne after the Sultan died and\nthey lived long and happily and had many beautiful children.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE SLEEPING BEAUTY\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nOnce upon a time there lived a King and Queen who had no children. They\nlonged very much for a child; and when at last they had a little\ndaughter they were both delighted, and great rejoicings took place.\n\nWhen the time came for the little Princess to be christened, the King\nmade a grand feast and invited all but one of the fairies in his kingdom\nto be godmothers. There happened to be thirteen fairies in the kingdom;\nbut as the King had only twelve gold plates, he had to leave one of\nthem out.\n\nThe twelve fairies that were invited came to the christening, and\npresented the little Princess with the best gifts in their possession.\nOne gave her beauty, one gave her wisdom, another grace, another\ngoodness, until all but one had presented their offerings. Just as the\nlast fairy was about to step forward and offer her gift, there came a\ntremendous knocking at the door, and before anybody could get there to\nopen it, it was burst open, and in came the thirteenth fairy, in a\nfurious rage at not having been invited to the feast.\n\nWhen she saw all the gifts which the other fairies had presented the\nchild, she laughed and exclaimed:\n\n\"A lot of good all this beauty and virtue and wealth will do to you, my\npretty Princess! You shall pay for the slight your Royal Father has put\nupon me!\" Then, turning to the terrified King and Queen, she said, in a\nloud voice:\n\n\"When the Princess is fifteen years old she shall prick her finger with\na spindle and die!\" Having said this she flew away as noisily as she\ncame.\n\nThe King and Queen were in despair, and the courtiers stood aghast at\nthe terrible disaster; while the little Princess began to cry piteously,\nas if she knew the fate in store for her. Then the twelfth fairy stepped\nforward.\n\n\"Do not be afraid,\" she said, \"I have not yet given my gift. I cannot\nundo the wicked spell, but I can soften the evil. The Princess, on her\nfifteenth birthday, shall prick her finger with a spindle, but she shall\nnot die. Instead, she shall fall asleep for a hundred years.\"\n\n\"Alas!\" cried the Queen, \"what comfort will that be to us? Long before\nthe hundred years are past we shall be dead, and our darling child will\nbe as lost to us as if she were indeed to die!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I can make that right,\" said the fairy. \"When the Princess falls\nasleep, you shall sleep, too; and awaken with her when the hundred\nyears are passed.\"\n\nBut the King still hoped to save his daughter from such a terrible\nmisfortune. So he ordered all the spinning-wheels in his kingdom to be\nburnt or destroyed, and made a law that no one was to use one on pain of\ninstant death. But all his care was useless. On her fifteenth birthday\nthe Princess slipped away from her attendants, and wandered all through\nthe Palace. At last she came to a tower which she had never seen before,\nand, wondering what it contained, she climbed the stairs. From a room at\nthe top came a curious humming noise, and the Princess, wondering what\nit could be, pushed open the door and stepped inside.\n\nThere sat an old woman, bent with age, working at a strangely shaped\nwheel. The Princess was full of curiosity.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"What is that funny-looking thing?\" she asked.\n\n\"It is a spinning-wheel, Princess,\" answered the old woman, who was no\nother than the wicked fairy in disguise.\n\n\"A spinning-wheel--what is that? I have never heard of such a thing,\"\nsaid the Princess. She stood watching for a few minutes, then she added:\n\n\"It looks quite easy. May I try to do it?\"\n\n\"Certainly, gracious lady,\" said the wicked fairy, and the Princess sat\ndown and tried to turn the wheel. But no sooner did she lay her hand\nupon it than the spindle, which was enchanted, pricked her finger, and\nthe Princess fell back against a silk-covered couch--fast asleep.\n\nIn a moment a deep silence fell upon all who were in the castle. The\nKing fell asleep in the midst of his councillors, the Queen with her\nladies-in-waiting. The horses in the stable, the pigeons on the roof,\nthe flies upon the walls, even the very fire upon the hearth fell\nasleep, too. The meat which was cooking in the kitchen ceased to\nfrizzle; and the cook, who was just about to box the kitchen boy's\nears, fell asleep with her hand outstretched, and began to snore\naloud. The butler who was tasting the ale, fell asleep with the\njug at his lips.\n\nA great hedge sprang up around the castle, which, as the years passed\non, grew and grew until it formed an impenetrable barrier around the\nsleeping Palace. The old people of the country died, and their children\ngrew up and died also, and their children, and their children, and the\nstory of the sleeping Princess became a legend, handed down from one\ngeneration to another; and a cloud of mystery, as thick and impenetrable\nas the hedge of thorns, lay over the old castle. Many brave and gallant\nPrinces tried to force their way through the magic hedge, in order to\nsolve the mystery and to see for themselves the beautiful maiden who lay\nin an enchanted sleep behind that thorny barrier. But the thorns caught\nthem, and held them from going forward or back, and the gallant youths\nperished miserably in the thickets.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter many, many years there came a King's son into that country, who\nheard the story of the Princess and the hedge of briers; and he made up\nhis mind to try and force his way to the castle to awake the sleeping\nPrincess. People told him of the fate of the other Princes, who had also\nattempted this difficult task; but the Prince would not be warned.\n\n\"I have made up my mind to see this maiden of whose beauty I have heard\nso many wonderful tales,\" he cried. \"I will force a way through the\nhedge of thorns and awake this Sleeping Beauty, or die in the attempt!\"\n\nNow, it happened that this day was the last day of the hundred years;\nand when the Prince came to the thicket that surrounded the castle and\nbegan to push his way through, he found that the briers yielded readily\nto his touch. The thorns had all blossomed into roses that scented the\nair with fragrance as he went by. Primroses sprang up before his feet\nand made a pathway to lead him straight to the castle gates; and the\nbirds suddenly broke forth into singing, as if to tell the world that\nthe hundred years of enchantment were over, and the Princess about to\nbe awakened from her long sleep.\n\nThe Prince passed through the council chamber, where the King and his\ncouncillors were sleeping; through the room where the Queen and her\nladies slept. He passed on from hall to hall, climbed from stair to\nstair, until at last he reached the tower chamber where the sleeping\nPrincess lay. For a moment he stood and gazed in wonder at her lovely\nface; then he sank on his knees beside her, and kissed her as she lay\nasleep.\n\nInstantly the spell was broken. The King and Queen awoke, and all the\ncourtiers with them; the horses neighed in the stables, and shook their\nglossy manes; the pigeons cooed upon the roof; the flies on the wall\nmoved again; the fire burnt up brightly; and the meat in the kitchen\nbegan to frizzle once more as the spit turned round. The cook gave the\nkitchen boy the tremendous box on the ear that she had started to give\nhim a hundred years ago, and everything and everybody went on just as\nusual, as if nothing at all out of the common had occurred.\n\nAnd up in the tower chamber the Princess opened her eyes to meet the\ngaze of the Prince, who had dared to risk his life for her sake. What\nthey said to each other nobody quite knows, for nobody was there to\nhear or see. But whatever it was, it must have been something very\nsatisfactory; for very soon after they were married, and lived happily\never afterwards.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nPUSS-IN-BOOTS\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nThere was once a Miller, who, at his death, had nothing to leave to his\nthree sons except his mill, his ass, and his cat. The eldest son took\nthe mill, the second took the ass--and as for the youngest, all that\nremained for him was the cat.\n\nThe youngest son grumbled at this. \"My brothers,\" said he, \"will be able\nto earn an honest living; but when I have eaten my cat and sold his skin\nI shall die of hunger.\"\n\nThe Cat, who was sitting beside him, overheard this.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Nay, Master,\" he said, \"don't take such a gloomy view of things. If you\nwill get me a pair of boots made so that I can walk through the brambles\nwithout hurting my feet, and give me a bag, you shall soon see what I am\nworth.\"\n\nThe Cat's master was so surprised to hear his Cat talking, that he at\nonce got him what he wanted. The Cat drew on the boots and slung the\nbag round his neck and set off for a rabbit warren. When he got there\nhe filled his bag with bran and lettuces, and stretching himself out\nbeside it as if dead, waited until some young rabbit should be tempted\ninto the bag. This happened very soon. A fat, thoughtless rabbit went\nin headlong, and the Cat at once jumped up, pulled the strings and\nkilled him.\n\nPuss was very proud of his success, and, going to the King's palace, he\nasked to speak to the King. When he was shown into the King's presence\nhe bowed respectfully, and, laying the rabbit down before the throne,\nhe said--\n\n\"Sire, here is a rabbit, which my master, the Marquis of Carabas,\ndesires me to present to your Majesty.\"\n\n\"Tell your master,\" said the King, \"that I accept his present, and am\nvery much obliged to him.\"\n\nA few days later, the Cat went and hid himself in a cornfield and laid\nhis bag open as before. This time two splendid partridges were lured\ninto the trap, and these also he took to the Palace and presented to the\nKing from the Marquis of Carabas. The King was very pleased with this\ngift, and ordered the messenger of the Marquis of Carabas to be\nhandsomely rewarded.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nFor two or three months the Cat went on in this way, carrying game every\nday to the Palace, and saying it was sent by the Marquis of Carabas.\n\nAt last the Cat happened to hear that the King was going to take a drive\non the banks of the river, with his daughter, the most beautiful\nPrincess in the world. He at once went to his master.\n\n\"Master,\" said he, \"if you follow my advice, your fortune will be made.\nGo and bathe in the river at a place I shall show you, and I will do the\nrest.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" said the Miller's son, and he did as the Cat told him. When\nhe was in the water, the Cat took away his clothes and hid them, and\nthen ran to the road, just as the King's coach went by, calling out as\nloudly as he could--\n\n\"Help, help! The Marquis of Carabas will be drowned.\"\n\nThe King looked out of the carriage window, and when he saw the Cat who\nhad brought him so many fine rabbits and partridges, he ordered his\nbodyguards to fly at once to the rescue of the Marquis of Carabas.\n\nThen the Cat came up to the carriage and told the King that while his\nmaster was bathing some robbers had stolen all his clothes. The King\nimmediately ordered one of his own magnificent suits of clothes to be\ntaken to the Marquis; so when the Miller's son appeared before the\nmonarch and his daughter, he looked so handsome, and was so splendidly\nattired, that the Princess fell in love with him on the spot.\n\nThe King was so struck with his appearance that he insisted upon his\ngetting into the carriage to take a drive with them.\n\nThe Cat, delighted with the way his plans were turning out, ran on\nbefore. He reached a meadow where some peasants were making hay.\n\n\"Good people,\" said he, \"if you do not tell the King, when he comes this\nway, that the meadow you are mowing belongs to the Marquis of Carabas,\nyou shall all be chopped up into little pieces.\"\n\nWhen the King came by, he stopped to ask the haymakers to whom the\nmeadow belonged.\n\n\"To the Marquis of Carabas, if it please Your Majesty,\" answered they,\ntrembling, for the Cat's threat had frightened them terribly.\n\nThe Cat, who continued to run before the carriage, now came to some\nreapers.\n\n\"Good people,\" said he, \"if you do not tell the King that all this corn\nbelongs to the Marquis of Carabas, you shall all be chopped up into\nlittle pieces.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe King again stopped to ask to whom the land belonged, and the\nreapers, obedient to the Cat's command, answered--\n\n\"To the Marquis of Carabas, please Your Majesty.\"\n\nAnd all the way the Cat kept running on before the carriage, repeating\nthe same instructions to all the laborers he came to; so that the King\nbecame very astonished at the vast possessions of the Marquis of\nCarabas.\n\nAt last the Cat arrived at a great castle, where an Ogre lived who was\nvery rich, for all the lands through which the King had been riding were\npart of his estate. The Cat knocked at the castle door, and asked to see\nthe Ogre.\n\nThe Ogre received him very civilly, and asked him what he wanted.\n\n\"If you please, sir,\" said the Cat, \"I have heard that you have the\npower of changing yourself into any sort of animal you please--and I\ncame to see if it could possibly be true.\"\n\n\"So I have,\" replied the Ogre, and in a moment he turned himself into a\nlion. This gave the Cat a great fright, and he scrambled up the curtains\nto the ceiling.\n\n\"Indeed, sir,\" he said, \"I am now quite convinced of your power to turn\nyourself into such a huge animal as a lion; but I do not suppose you can\nchange yourself into a small one--such as a mouse, for instance?\"\n\n\"Indeed, I can,\" cried the Ogre, indignantly; and in a moment the lion\nhad vanished, while a little brown mouse frisked about the floor.\n\nIn less than half a second the Cat sprang down from the curtains and,\npouncing upon the mouse, ate him all up before the Ogre had time to\nreturn to any other shape.\n\nAnd when the King arrived at the castle gates, there stood the Cat upon\nthe doorstep, bowing and saying--\n\n\"Welcome to the castle of the Marquis of Carabas!\"\n\nThe Marquis helped the King and the Princess to alight, and the Cat led\nthem into a great hall, where a feast had been spread for the Ogre.\n\nThe King was so delighted with the good looks, the charming manners, and\nthe great wealth of the Marquis of Carabas, that he said the Marquis\nmust marry his daughter.\n\nThe Marquis, of course, replied that he should be only too happy; and\nthe very next day he and the Princess were married.\n\nAs for the Cat, he was given the title of Puss-in-Boots, and ever after\nonly caught mice for his own amusement.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nADVENTURES OF TOM THUMB\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nA long time ago, a woodcutter lived with his wife in a small cottage not\nfar from a great forest. They had seven children--all boys; and the\nyoungest was the smallest little fellow ever seen. He was called Tom\nThumb. But though he was so small, he was far cleverer than any of his\nbrothers, and he heard a great deal more than anybody ever imagined.\n\nIt happened that just at this time there was a famine in the land, and\nthe woodcutter and his wife became so poor that they could no longer\ngive their boys enough to eat.\n\nOne night--after the boys had gone to bed--the husband sighing deeply,\nsaid--\n\n\"We cannot feed our children any longer, and to see them starve before\nour eyes is more than I can bear. To-morrow morning, therefore, we will\ntake them into the forest and leave them in the thickest part of it, so\nthat they will not be able to find their way back.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHis wife wept bitterly at the thought of leaving their children to\nperish in the forest; but she, too, thought it better than to see them\ndie before her eyes. So she consented to her husband's plan.\n\nBut all this time Tom Thumb had been awake, and he had overheard all\nthe conversation. He lay awake a long while thinking what to do. Then,\nslipping quietly out of bed, he ran down to the river and filled his\npocket with small white pebbles from the river's brink.\n\nIn the morning the parents called the children, and, after giving them a\ncrust of bread, they all set out for the wood. Tom Thumb did not say a\nword to his brothers of what he had overheard; but, lingering behind, he\ndropped the pebbles from his pocket one by one, as they walked, so that\nhe should be able to find his way home. When they reached a very thick\npart of the forest, the father and mother told the children to wait\nwhile they went a little farther to cut wood, but as soon as they were\nout of sight they turned and went home by another way.\n\nWhen darkness fell, the children began to realize that they were\ndeserted, and they began to cry loudly. Tom Thumb, however, did not cry.\n\n\"Do not weep, my brothers,\" he said encouragingly. \"Only wait until the\nmoon rises, and we shall soon be able to find our way home.\"\n\nWhen at length the moon rose, it shone down upon the white pebbles\nwhich Tom Thumb had scattered; and, following this path, the children\nsoon reached their father's house.\n\nBut at first they were afraid to go in, and waited outside the door to\nhear what their parents were talking about.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow, it happened that when the father and mother reached home, they\nfound a rich gentleman had sent them ten crowns, in payment for work\nwhich had been done long before. The wife went out at once and bought\nbread and meat, and she and her husband sat down to make a hearty meal.\nBut the mother could not forget her little ones; and at last she cried\nto her husband:\n\n\"Alas! where are our poor children? How they would have enjoyed this\ngood feast!\"\n\nThe children, listening at the door, heard this and cried out, \"Here we\nare, mother; here we are!\" and, overjoyed, the mother flew to let them\nin and kissed them all round.\n\nTheir parents were delighted to have their little ones with them again;\nbut soon the ten crowns were spent, and they found themselves as badly\noff as before. Once more they agreed to leave the children in the\nforest, and once again Tom Thumb overheard them. This time he did not\ntrouble himself very much; he thought it would be easy for him to do as\nhe had done before. He got up very early the next morning to go and get\nthe pebbles; but, to his dismay, he found the house door securely\nlocked. Then, indeed, he did not know what to do, and for a little while\nhe was in great distress. However, at breakfast the mother gave each of\nthe children a slice of bread, and Tom Thumb thought he would manage to\nmake his piece of bread do as well as the pebbles, by breaking it up and\ndropping the crumbs as he went.\n\nThis time the father and mother took the children still deeper and\nfarther into the wood, and then, slipping away, left them alone.\n\nTom Thumb consoled his brothers as before; but when he came to look for\nthe crumbs of bread, not one of them was left. The birds had eaten them\nall up, and the poor children were lost in the forest, with no possible\nmeans of finding their way home.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTom Thumb did not lose courage. He climbed to the top of a high tree and\nlooked round to see if there was any way of getting help. In the\ndistance he saw a light burning, and, coming down from the tree, he led\nhis brothers toward the house from which it came.\n\nWhen they knocked at the door, it was opened by a pleasant-looking\nwoman, and Tom Thumb told her they were poor children who had lost their\nroad, and begged her to give them a night's shelter.\n\n\"Alas, my poor children!\" said the woman, \"you do not know where you\nhave come to. This is the house of an ogre who eats up little boys and\ngirls.\"\n\n\"But, madam,\" replied Tom Thumb, \"what shall we do? If we go back to the\nforest we are certain to be torn to pieces by the wolves. We had better,\nI think, stay and be eaten by the ogre.\"\n\nThe ogre's wife had pity on the little things, and she thought she would\nbe able to hide them from her husband for one night. She took them in,\ngave them food, and let them warm themselves by the fire.\n\nVery soon there came a loud knocking at the door. It was the ogre come\nhome. His wife hid the children under the bed, and then hurried to let\nher husband in.\n\nNo sooner had the ogre entered than he began to sniff this way and\nthat. \"I smell flesh,\" he said, looking round the room.\n\n\"It must be the calf which has just been killed,\" said his wife.\n\n\"I smell child's flesh, I tell you!\" cried the ogre, and he suddenly\nmade a dive under the bed, and drew out the children one by one.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Oh, ho, madam!\" said he; \"so you thought to cheat me, did you? But,\nreally, this is very lucky! I have invited three ogres to dinner\nto-morrow; these brats will make a nice dish.\"\n\nHe fetched a huge knife and began sharpening it, while the poor boys\nfell on their knees and begged for mercy. But their prayers and\nentreaties were useless. The ogre seized one of the children and was\njust about to kill him, when his wife said--\n\n\"What in the world makes you take the trouble of killing them to-night?\nWhy don't you leave them till the morning? There will be plenty of time,\nand they will be much fresher.\"\n\n\"That is very true,\" said the ogre, throwing down the knife. \"Give them\na good supper, so that they may not get lean, and send them to bed.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow, the ogre had seven young daughters, who were all about the same age\nas Tom Thumb and his brothers. These young ogresses all slept together\nin one large bed, and every one of them had a crown of gold on her head.\nThere was another bed of the same size in the room, and in this the\nogre's wife, having provided them all with nightcaps, put the seven\nlittle boys.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut Tom Thumb was afraid that the ogre might change his mind in the\nnight, and kill him and his brothers while they were asleep. So he crept\nsoftly out of bed, took off his brothers' nightcaps and his own, and\nstole over to the bed where the young ogresses lay. He drew off their\ncrowns very gently, and put the nightcaps on their heads instead. Then\nhe put the crowns on his brothers' heads and his own, and got into bed\nagain.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIn the middle of the night the ogre woke up, and began to be sorry that\nhe had put off killing the boys until the morning.\n\n\"Never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day,\" he said; and,\njumping out of bed, he got his knife and walked stealthily to the room\nwhere the boys were. He walked up to the bed, and they were all asleep\nexcept Tom Thumb, who, however, kept his eyes fast shut, and did not\nshow that he was awake. The ogre touched their heads, one after another,\nand feeling the crowns of gold, he said to himself:\n\n\"What a mistake I was going to make!\" He then went to bed where his own\ndaughters were sleeping, and, feeling the nightcaps, he said:\n\n\"Oh, ho, here you are, my lads!\" and in a moment he had killed them all.\nHe then went back to his own room to sleep till morning.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs soon as Tom Thumb heard him snoring, he roused his brothers, and told\nthem to dress quickly and follow him. He led them downstairs and out of\nthe house; and then, stealing on tiptoe through the garden, they jumped\ndown from the wall into the road and ran swiftly away.\n\nIn the morning, when the ogre found what a dreadful thing he had done,\nhe was terribly shocked.\n\n\"Fetch me my seven-league boots,\" he cried to his wife. \"I will go and\ncatch those young vipers. They shall pay for this piece of work!\" And,\ndrawing on the magic boots, the ogre set out.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe went striding over the country, stepping from mountain to mountain,\nand crossing rivers as if they had been streams. The poor children\nwatched him coming in fear and trembling. They had found the way to\ntheir father's home, and had very nearly reached it when they saw the\nogre racing after them.\n\nTom Thumb thought for a moment what was to be done. Then he saw a hollow\nplace under a large rock.\n\n\"Get in there,\" he said to his brothers.\n\nWhen they were all in he crept in himself, but kept his eyes fixed on\nthe ogre, to see what he would do.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe ogre, seeing nothing of the children, sat down to rest himself on\nthe very rock under which the poor boys were hiding. He was tired with\nhis journey, and soon fell fast asleep, and began to snore so loudly\nthat the little fellows were terrified. Tom Thumb told his brothers to\ncreep out softly and run home; which they did. Then he crept up to the\nogre, pulled off the seven-league boots very gently and put them on his\nown feet, for being fairy boots they could fit themselves to any foot,\nhowever small.\n\nAs soon as Tom Thumb had put on the ogre's seven-league boots, he took\nten steps to the Palace, which was seventy miles off, and asked to see\nthe King. He offered to carry news to the King's army, which was then a\nlong way off; and so useful was he with his magic boots, that in a short\ntime he had made money enough to keep himself, his father, his mother\nand his six brothers without the trouble of working for the rest of\ntheir lives.\n\nAnd now let us see what has become of the wicked ogre, whom we left\nsleeping on the rock.\n\nWhen he awoke he missed his seven-league boots, and set off for home\nvery angry.\n\nOn his way he had to cross a bog; and, forgetting that he was no longer\nwearing his magic boots, he tried to cross it with one stride. But,\ninstead, he put his foot down in the middle and began to sink. As fast\nas he tried to pull out one foot, the other sank deeper, until at last\nhe was swallowed up in the black slime--and that was the end of him.\n\n\n\n\nTHE THREE BEARS\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nThere were once three bears who lived together in a little house in the\nmiddle of a wood. One of them was a Little, Small, Wee Bear; one was a\nMiddle-Sized Bear; and the other was a Great, Huge Bear.\n\nAnd they each had a pot to eat their porridge from: a little pot for the\nLittle, Small, Wee Bear; a middle-sized pot for the Middle-Sized Bear;\nand a great big pot for the Great, Huge Bear.\n\nAnd they each had a chair to sit on: a little chair for the Little,\nSmall, Wee Bear; a middle-sized chair for the Middle-Sized Bear; and a\ngreat big chair for the Great, Huge Bear.\n\nAnd they each had a bed to sleep in: a little bed for the Little, Small,\nWee Bear; a middle-sized bed for the Middle-Sized Bear; and a great big\nbed for the Great, Huge Bear.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOne day they made the porridge for their breakfast, and poured it into\ntheir porridge-pots, and then went out in the wood for a walk while the\nporridge for their breakfast was cooling. And while they were out\nwalking, a little Old Woman came to the house in the wood and peeped\ninside.\n\nFirst she peeped through the keyhole; then she peeped through the\nwindow. Then she lifted the latch and peeped through the doorway; and,\nseeing nobody in the house, she walked in. And when she saw the porridge\ncooling on the table she was very pleased, for she had walked a long\nway, and was getting hungry.\n\nSo first she tasted the porridge of the Great, Huge Bear, but that was\ntoo hot. Then she tasted the porridge of the Middle-Sized Bear, but that\nwas too cold. And then she tasted the porridge of the Little, Small, Wee\nBear, and that was neither too hot nor too cold, but just right. And\nshe liked it so much that she ate it all up!\n\nThen the little Old Woman sat down in the chair of the Great, Huge\nBear, but that was too hard. Then she sat down in the chair of the\nMiddle-Sized Bear, but that was too soft. Then she sat down in the\nchair of the Little, Small, Wee Bear, and that was neither too hard\nnor too soft, but just right. And she liked it so much that she sat\nin it until suddenly the bottom came out, and she fell down plump\nupon the ground.\n\nThen the little Old Woman went upstairs into the bedroom, where the\nthree Bears slept. And first she lay down on the bed of the Great, Huge\nBear, but that was too high at the head for her. Then she lay down on\nthe bed of the Middle-Sized Bear, but that was too high at the foot for\nher. So then she lay down on the bed of the Little, Small, Wee Bear, and\nthat was neither too high at the head nor too high at the foot, but just\nright. And she liked it so much that she covered herself up and lay\nthere till she fell fast asleep!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBy and by the three Bears came home to breakfast. Now, the little Old\nWoman had left the spoon of the Great, Huge Bear standing in his\nporridge pot.\n\n    \"=Somebody has been at my porridge!=\"\n\nsaid the Great, Huge Bear, in his great, rough, gruff voice.\n\nAnd when the Middle-Sized Bear looked, she saw that the spoon was\nstanding in her porridge-pot too.\n\n    \"=Somebody has been at my porridge!=\"\n\nsaid the Middle-Sized Bear in her middle-sized voice.\n\nThen the Little, Small, Wee Bear looked, and there was the spoon in\nhis porridge-pot; but the porridge was all gone.\n\n    \"=Somebody has been at my porridge and has eaten it all up!=\"\n\nsaid the Little, Small, Wee Bear, in his little, small, wee voice.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen the three Bears began to look about them. Now, the little Old Woman\nhad not put the hard cushion straight after she had sat in the chair of\nthe Great, Huge Bear.\n\n    \"=Somebody has been sitting in my chair!=\"\n\nsaid the Great, Huge Bear, in his great, rough, gruff voice.\n\nAnd the little Old Woman had squashed the soft cushion of the\nMiddle-Sized Bear.\n\n    \"=Somebody has been sitting in my chair!=\"\n\nsaid the Middle-Sized Bear, in her middle-sized voice.\n\nAnd you know what the little Old Woman had done to the third chair.\n\n    \"=Somebody has been sitting in my chair and has sat the bottom out!=\"\n\nsaid the Little, Small, Wee Bear, in his little, small, wee voice.\n\nThen the three Bears went upstairs into their bedroom. Now, the little\nOld Woman had pulled the pillow of the Great, Huge Bear out of its\nplace.\n\n    \"=Somebody has been lying in my bed!=\"\n\nsaid the Great, Huge Bear, in his great, rough, gruff voice.\n\nAnd the little Old Woman had pulled the bolster of the Middle-Sized Bear\nout of its place.\n\n    \"=Somebody has been lying in my bed!=\"\n\nsaid the Middle-Sized Bear, in her middle-sized voice.\n\nAnd when the Little, Small, Wee Bear came to look at his bed, there was\nthe bolster in its place, and the pillow in its place upon the bolster;\nand upon the pillow was the little Old Woman's head, which was not in\nits place, for she had no business there at all.\n\n    \"=Somebody has been lying in my bed--and here she is!=\"\n\ncried the Little, Small, Wee Bear, in his little, small, wee voice.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe little Old Woman had heard in her sleep the great, rough, gruff\nvoice of the Great, Huge Bear, but she was so fast asleep that it seemed\nto her no more than the roaring of the wind, or the rumbling of thunder.\nAnd she had heard the middle-sized voice of the Middle-Sized Bear, but\nit was only as if she had heard some one speaking in a dream. But when\nshe heard the little, small, wee voice of the Little, Small, Wee Bear,\nit was so sharp and shrill that it woke her up at once. Up she started,\nand when she saw the three Bears, on one side of the bed, she tumbled\nout at the other, jumped out of the window and ran away through the wood\nto her own home. And the three Bears never saw anything more of her.\n\n\n\n\nTHE LITTLE MATCH GIRL\n\n\nIt was dreadfully cold, it was snowing fast, and almost dark; the\nevening--the last evening of the Old Year--was drawing in. But cold and\ndark as it was, a poor little girl, with bare head and feet, was still\nwandering about the streets. When she left her home she had slippers on,\nbut they were much too large for her--indeed, really, they belonged to\nher mother--and had dropped off her feet while she was running very fast\nacross the road, to get out of the way of two carriages. One of the\nslippers was not to be found; the other had been snatched up by a little\nboy, who ran off with it thinking it might serve him as a doll's cradle.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo the little girl now walked on, her bare feet quite red and blue with\nthe cold. She carried a small bundle of matches in her hand, and a good\nmany more in her tattered apron. No one had bought any of them the\nlivelong day--no one had given her a single penny. Trembling with cold\nand hunger she crept on, the picture of sorrow; poor little child!\n\nThe snowflakes fell on her long fair hair, which curled in such pretty\nringlets over her shoulders; but she thought not of her own beauty, nor\nof the cold. Lights were glimmering through every window, and the savor\nof roast goose reached her from several houses. It was New Year's Eve,\nand it was of this that she thought.\n\nIn a corner formed by two houses, one of which projected beyond the\nother, she sat down, drawing her little feet close under her, but in\nvain--she could not warm them. She dared not go home, she had sold no\nmatches, earned not a single penny, and perhaps her father would beat\nher. Besides her home was almost as cold as the street--it was an attic;\nand although the larger of the many chinks in the roof were stopped up\nwith straw and rags, the wind and snow often came through.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHer hands were nearly dead with cold; one little match from her bundle\nwould warm them, perhaps, if she dare light it. She drew one out, and\nstruck it against the wall. Bravo! it was a bright, warm flame, and she\nheld her hands over it. It was quite an illumination for that poor\nlittle girl--nay, call it rather a magic taper--for it seemed to her as\nthough she were sitting before a large iron stove with brass ornaments,\nso beautifully blazed the fire within! The child stretched out her feet\nto warm them also. Alas! in an instant the flame had died away, the\nstove vanished, the little girl sat cold and comfortless, with the\nburnt match in her hand.\n\nA second match was struck against the wall. It kindled and blazed, and\nwherever its light fell the wall became transparent as a veil--the\nlittle girl could see into the room within. She saw the table spread\nwith a snow-white damask cloth, whereon were ranged shining china\ndishes; the roast goose, stuffed with apples and dried plums, stood at\none end, smoking hot, and--which was pleasantest of all to see-the\ngoose, with knife and fork still in her breast, jumped down from the\ndish, and waddled along the floor right up to the poor child. Then the\nmatch went out, and only the thick, hard wall was beside her.\n\nShe kindled a third match. Again up shot the flame. And now she was\nsitting under a most beautiful Christmas tree, far larger, and far more\nprettily decked out, than the one she had seen last Christmas Eve\nthrough the glass doors of the rich merchant's house. Hundreds of wax\ntapers lighted up the green branches, and tiny painted figures, such as\nshe had seen in the shop windows, looked down from the tree upon her.\nThe child stretched out her hands towards them in delight, and in that\nmoment the light of the match was quenched. Still, however, the\nChristmas candles burned higher and higher--she beheld them beaming\nlike stars in heaven. One of them fell, the lights streaming behind\nit like a long, fiery tail.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Now someone is dying,\" said the little girl softly, for she had been\ntold by her old grandmother--the only person who had ever been kind to\nher, and who was now dead--that whenever a star falls an immortal spirit\nreturns to God who gave it.\n\nShe struck yet another match against the wall. It flamed up, and,\nsurrounded by its light, appeared before her that same dear grandmother,\ngentle and loving as always, but bright and happy as she had never\nlooked during her lifetime.\n\n\"Grandmother!\" exclaimed the child, \"Oh, take me with you! I know you\nwill leave me as soon as the match goes out. You will vanish like the\nwarm fire in the stove, like the splendid New Year's feast, like the\nbeautiful large Christmas tree!\" And she hastily lighted all the\nremaining matches in the bundle, lest her grandmother should disappear.\nAnd the matches burned with such a blaze of splendor, that noonday could\nscarcely have been brighter. Never had the good old grandmother looked\nso tall and stately, so beautiful and kind. She took the little girl in\nher arms, and they both flew together--joyfully and gloriously they\nflew--higher and higher, till they were in that place where neither\ncold, nor hunger, nor pain is ever known--they were in Paradise.\n\nBut in the cold morning hour, crouching in the corner of the wall, the\npoor little girl was found--her cheeks glowing, her lips smiling--frozen\nto death on the last night of the Old Year. The New Year's sun shone on\nthe lifeless child. Motionless she sat there with the matches in her\nlap, one bundle of them quite burnt out.\n\n\"She has been trying to warm herself, poor thing!\" the people said; but\nno one knew of the sweet visions she had beheld, or how gloriously she\nand her grandmother were celebrating their New Year's festival.\n\n\n\n\nBEAUTY AND THE BEAST\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nThere was once a Merchant who had three daughters, the youngest of whom\nwas so beautiful that everybody called her Beauty. This made the two\neldest very jealous; and, as they were spiteful and bad-tempered by\nnature, instead of loving their younger sister they felt nothing but\nenvy and hatred towards her.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter some years there came a terrible storm at sea, and most of the\nMerchant's ships were sunk, and he became very poor. He and his family\nwere obliged to live in a very small house and do without the servants\nand fine clothes to which they had been used. The two eldest sisters did\nnothing but weep and lament for their lost fortune, but Beauty did her\nbest to keep the house bright and cheerful, so that her father might not\nmiss too much all the comfort and luxury to which he was used.\n\nOne day the Merchant told his daughters that he was going to take a\njourney into foreign lands in the hope of recovering some of his\nproperty. Then he asked them what they would like him to bring them\nhome in case he should be successful. The eldest daughter asked for\nfine gowns and beautiful clothing; the second for jewels and gold\nand silver trinkets.\n\n\"And Beauty--what would Beauty like?\" asked the father.\n\nBeauty was so happy and contented always that there was scarcely\nanything for which she longed. She thought for a moment, then she said:\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I should like best of all a red rose!\" The other sisters burst out\nlaughing and scoffed at Beauty's simple request; but her father promised\nto bring her what she wanted. Then he said good-bye to his children and\nset out on his travels.\n\nHe was away for nearly a year, and was so fortunate as to win back a\ngreat part of his lost wealth. When the time came for his return, he\nwas easily able to buy the things his eldest daughters wished for; but\nnowhere could he find a red rose to take home to Beauty, and at last he\nwas obliged to set off without one.\n\nWhen he was within a few miles journey of his home, he lost himself in\na thick wood. Darkness came on, and he began to be afraid that he would\nhave to pass the night under a tree, when suddenly he saw a bright light\nshining in the distance. He went towards it, and on his approach found\nit came from a great castle that was set right in the heart of the\nforest.\n\nThe Merchant made up his mind to ask if he might spend the night there;\nbut to his surprise, when he reached the door he found it set wide open,\nand nobody about. After awhile, finding that no one came in answer to\nhis repeated knocking, he walked inside. There he found a table laid\nwith every delicacy, and, being very hungry, he sat down and made a\ngood repast. After he had finished his supper he laid himself down\non a luxurious couch, and in a few minutes was fast asleep.\n\nIn the morning, after eating a hearty breakfast, which he found prepared\nfor him, he left the mysterious castle, without having set eyes on a\nsingle person. As he was passing through the garden he found himself in\nan avenue of rose-trees, all covered with beautiful red roses.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Here are such thousands of flowers,\" he said to himself, \"that, surely,\none bud will not be missed;\" and, thinking of Beauty, he broke off a\nrose from one of the bushes.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nScarcely had he done so when he heard a terrible noise, and, turning\nround, he saw coming towards him a hideous Beast, who exclaimed in an\nawful tone:\n\n\"Ungrateful wretch! You have partaken of my hospitality, have eaten of\nmy food, have slept in my house, and in return you try to rob me of my\nroses. For this theft you shall die!\"\n\nThe Merchant fell on his knees and begged for pardon, but the Beast\nwould not listen to him.\n\n\"Either you must die now, or else you must swear to send me in your\nstead the first living thing that meets you on your return home,\" he\nsaid; and the Merchant, overcome with terror, and thinking that one of\nhis dogs would be sure to be the first creature to greet him, gave his\npromise.\n\nBut to his horror and dismay, it was his youngest daughter, Beauty, who\nfirst ran out to greet him on his return. She had seen him coming from\nafar, and hastened to welcome him home.\n\nShe did not at first understand her father's grief at seeing her; but\nwhen he told her the story of the Beast and his promise she did her\nbest to comfort him.\n\n\"Do not fear, dear father,\" she said, \"perhaps the Beast will not prove\nso terrible as he looks. He spared your life; he may spare mine, since I\nhave done him no harm.\"\n\nHer father shook his head mournfully; but there was no help for it. He\nhad promised to send the Beast the first living creature that met him\non his return, so he was obliged to send Beauty herself in his place.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhen he left Beauty at the palace of the Beast she found everything\nprepared for her comfort and convenience. A beautiful bedchamber was\nready for her use; the rooms were filled with everything that she could\npossibly want, and in the great hall of the castle a table was set with\nevery delicacy. And everywhere there were bowls full of red roses. No\nservants were visible; but there was no lack of service, for invisible\nhands waited upon her and attended to her every want. She had but to\nwish, and whatever she wanted was at once placed before her.\n\nBeauty was filled with astonishment at all this luxury and magnificence.\n\n\"Surely the Beast does not wish to harm me,\" she thought, \"or he would\nnever have so ordered everything for my comfort.\" And she waited with a\ngood courage for the coming of the Lord of the Castle.\n\nIn the evening the beast appeared. He was certainly very terrible to\nlook at, and Beauty trembled at the sight of the hideous monster. But\nshe forced herself to appear brave, and, indeed, there was no cause for\nher alarm. The Beast was kindness itself, and so gentle and respectful\nin his attentions to her that Beauty soon lost all fear. She soon became\nvery fond of him, and would have been quite happy had it not been for\nthe thought of her father and sisters, and the grief which she knew her\nfather would be suffering on her account. The thought of his sorrow made\nher sorrowful too; and one night, when the Beast came to visit her at\nhis usual hour, she was so sad that he asked her what was the matter.\n\nThen Beauty begged him to let her go and visit her father. The Beast was\nvery unwilling to grant her request.\n\n\"If I let you go, I am afraid you will never come back to me,\" he said,\n\"and then I shall die of grief.\"\n\nBeauty promised most earnestly to come back to him if he would only\nallow her to spend a few days with her family; and at last the Beast\nyielded to her entreaties.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe gave her a ring, saying:\n\n\"Put this on your little finger when you go to bed to-night, and wish;\nand in the morning you will find yourself at home in your father's\nhouse. But if you do not return to me at the end of a week, I shall\ndie of sorrow.\"\n\nBeauty's father was almost overcome with joy at seeing his daughter\nagain, and he was delighted to hear of her happiness and good fortune.\nBut her two sisters--who in the meantime had married--were more jealous\nthan ever of their beautiful sister. They were not very happy with their\nhusbands, who were poor and not over-lovable; and they were very envious\nof Beauty's clothes and of all the luxuries with which she told them she\nwas surrounded. They tried to think of a plan by which they could\nprevent their sister from enjoying her good fortune.\n\n\"Let us keep her beyond the week that the Beast has allowed her,\" they\nsaid; \"then, doubtless, he will be so angry that he will kill her.\"\n\nSo they pretended to be very fond of Beauty, and when the time came for\nher return, they overwhelmed her with tears and caresses, begging her\nnot to leave them, and to stay at least one more day with them. Beauty\nwas distressed at their grief, and at last she consented to stay just\none more day; though her heart misgave her sorely when she thought of\nthe poor Beast.\n\nThat night, as she lay in bed, she had a dream. She dreamt that she saw\nthe Beast dying of sorrow at her forgetfulness; and so real did it seem\nthat she woke up in an agony of dismay.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"How could I have been so cruel and ungrateful,\" she cried. \"I promised\nfaithfully that I would return at the end of the week. What will he\nthink of me for breaking my promise!\"\n\nHastily rising from bed, she searched for the ring the Beast had given\nher. Then putting it on her little finger she wished to be at the Palace\nof the Beast again. In a moment she found herself there; and quickly\nputting on her clothes she hurried out to look for the Beast. She\nsearched through room after room; but nowhere could she find him. At\nlast she ran out into the garden; and there, on a plot of grass, where\nhe and she had often sat together, she found him lying as if dead upon\nthe ground.\n\nWith a bitter cry she sank on her knees beside the poor Beast.\n\n\"Oh, Beast; my dear, dear Beast!\" she cried. \"How could I have been so\ncruel and wicked and unkind? He has died of sorrow as he said he would!\"\nAnd the tears fell down from her eyes as she spoke. Overcome with grief\nand remorse, she stooped down and tenderly kissed the ugly Beast.\n\nIn a moment there was a sudden noise, and Beauty was startled to find\nthat the ugly Beast had vanished. The Beast was a beast no longer, but a\nhandsome Prince, who knelt at her feet, thanking her for having broken\nhis enchantment.\n\n\"A wicked fairy,\" he said, \"condemned me to keep the form of a beast\nuntil a beautiful maiden should forget my ugliness and kiss me. You, by\nyour love and tenderness, have broken the spell and released me from my\nhorrible disguise. Now, thanks to you, I can take my proper form again.\"\nAnd then he begged Beauty to become his bride.\n\nSo Beauty married the Prince who had been a Beast, and they lived\ntogether in the castle and ruled over the Prince's country, and were\nhappy ever after.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF CINDERELLA\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nThere was once a rich man, whose wife died, leaving him with one little\ngirl. After some years, hoping to give his child a mother's love and\ncare, he married again, this time a widow, with two grown-up daughters.\nBut his second wife was haughty and proud, and her two daughters were\neven worse than their mother; and the poor little girl had a very\nunhappy time with her new relations. Her stepsisters were jealous of\nher, for she was very beautiful, and they themselves were plain and\nugly. They did all they could to make her miserable; and, at length,\nthrough their wicked spite and envy, her life became a burden to her.\nThe poor child was sent to live in the kitchen, where she had to do all\nthe rough and dirty work; and because she was always dressed in rags,\nand sat beside the cinders in the grate, they called her Cinderella.\n\nIt happened that the King of the country had an only son. He was very\nanxious that the Prince should be married; so he gave a great ball, and\ninvited all the grand ladies in the country to come to it. It was to be\na very splendid affair, lasting for three nights, and people were very\neager to be invited to it, for it was known that the Prince would choose\nhis bride from among the ladies present.\n\nCinderella's sisters received invitations; and from the day they arrived\nthey talked of nothing but of what they should wear, for each of them\nsecretly hoped that she would be chosen as the Prince's bride.\n\nWhen the great day came at last, they began to dress for the ball\ndirectly after breakfast. Cinderella had to help them; and they kept\nher busy all day doing their hair, and running messages, and helping\nthem to lace up their fine dresses.\n\nWhen Cinderella saw their beautiful clothes she wished that she could\ngo to the ball as well; but when she timidly asked if she might, they\nlaughed in mocking scorn.\n\n\"You go to the ball!\" they cried. \"What would you do at the ball, with\nyour rags and tatters and your dirty face? No, no, Cinderella, go back\nto your seat amongst the ashes--that is the place for a little kitchen\ngirl like you!\"\n\nSo the two sisters and their mother drove away in a carriage and pair to\nthe King's palace, and Cinderella was left behind. She sat down on the\nhearth before the kitchen fire and began to cry softly to herself,\nbecause she felt so very lonely and miserable.\n\nAs she sat there in the dusk, with the firelight dancing over her, and\nher face buried in her hands, she heard a voice calling:\n\n\"Cinderella, Cinderella!\" and with a start she looked up to see who it\ncould be.\n\nThere on the hearth in front of her stood an old woman, leaning upon a\nstick. She was dressed in a long red cloak, and she wore high-heeled\nshoes and a tall black hat.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhere she had come from Cinderella could not imagine. She certainly had\nnot come in through the door, nor yet through the window for both were\nshut.\n\nCinderella was so surprised to see her that she stopped crying, and\nstared at her in astonishment.\n\n\"What are you crying for?\" asked the old woman.\n\n\"Because my mother and sisters have gone to the ball, and I am left here\nall alone,\" said Cinderella.\n\n\"Do you want to go to the ball, too!\" said the old lady.\n\n\"Yes, but it is no good; I have nothing but rags to wear,\" sobbed poor\nCinderella.\n\n\"Well, well, be a good child and don't cry any more,\" said the old\nwoman, briskly. \"I am your Fairy Godmother, and if you do what I tell\nyou, perhaps you shall go after all. Run out into the garden and bring\nme in a pumpkin!\"\n\nCinderella ran out into the garden and brought in the biggest pumpkin\nthat she could find.\n\n\"Now go and fetch the mouse-trap out of the cellar,\" said her Godmother,\nand Cinderella hurried to get it. There were six mice in the trap, and\nthe old woman harnessed them to the pumpkin, put a rat on the top to\ndrive them, and two lizards behind, and then waved her wand over them.\nImmediately the pumpkin turned into a gorgeous coach, the mice into six\nbeautiful horses, the rat into a stately coachman, and the lizards into\ntall footmen, with powdered hair and silk stockings. \"There,\" said the\nold woman; \"there's a carriage to take you to the ball.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Alas,\" said Cinderella, \"how can I go to the ball? I have nothing to\nwear but this!\" and she touched her ragged frock.\n\n\"Is that all?\" said the Fairy Godmother. Once more she waved her wand,\nand Cinderella's rags turned into the most beautiful dress in the world,\nall shining with gold and silver threads and covered with costly gems.\nIn her hair was a circlet of pearls, and her feet were shod with the\nprettiest and daintiest pair of glass slippers that ever were seen.\n\n\"Now,\" said the Fairy Godmother, \"now you can go to the ball. But mind\nyou come away before the clock strikes twelve, for should you linger\nbeyond that hour, all your splendor will vanish, and your dress will\nturn into rags again.\"\n\nCinderella promised to obey her Godmother's instructions. Then she got\ninto the beautiful coach. The footman shut the door, the coachman\nwhipped up the horses, and away she went to the ball.\n\nWhen she arrived there was a great stir in the Palace. So lovely a face\nand so costly and rich a dress had never before been seen, and everybody\nthought it must be some great Princess arrived from foreign lands.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAll the courtiers and other guests stood back to let her pass, and when\nthe Prince caught sight of her he fell in love with her on the spot. He\ndanced with her the whole of the evening, and people thought there was\nno doubt as to whom he would choose for his bride.\n\nAt a quarter to twelve, Cinderella, remembering her Godmother's\ninstructions, said good-bye to the Prince and came away.\n\nShe arrived home just as the clock struck twelve. At once the coachman\nand footmen turned back into rats and mice, and the coach into a\npumpkin; and when the sisters came home a little later, there was\nCinderella, dressed in her old shabby frock, sitting in her usual place\namongst the cinders.\n\nThe two ugly sisters were full of the strange Princess who had come to\nthe ball. They talked about her all the next day, little dreaming that\nall the while the beautiful lady was their despised sister Cinderella.\n\nIn the evening after they had gone again to the ball, the Fairy\nGodmother made her appearance. Once more Cinderella drove to the Palace\nin her coach and six; this time arrayed in a still more gorgeous and\nbeautiful dress; and once more the Prince danced with her all the\nevening.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut when the third night came Cinderella was enjoying herself so much\nthat she quite forgot what her Fairy Godmother had said, until suddenly\nshe heard the clock begin to strike twelve. She remembered that as soon\nas it finished striking, all her fine clothes would turn to rags again;\nand, jumping up in alarm, she ran out of the room. The Prince ran after\nher, trying to overtake her; and Cinderella in her fright ran so fast\nthat she left one of her little glass slippers on the floor behind her.\n\nThe Prince stopped to pick it up, and this gave Cinderella time to\nescape; but she was only just in time. Just as she was crossing the\nPalace yard, the clock finished striking, and immediately all her finery\nvanished; and there she was, dressed in her old ragged frock again.\n\nWhen the Prince came out upon the Palace steps, he could see no sign of\nthe lovely Princess. The guards at the gate told him that nobody at all\nhad passed that way, except a little ragged kitchenmaid; and the Prince\nhad to go back to the ball with only a little glass slipper to remind\nhim of the beautiful lady with whom he was so desperately in love.\n\nThe next day the King sent out all his heralds and trumpeters with a\nProclamation, saying that the Prince would marry the lady whose foot\nthe slipper fitted. But though all the ladies in the land tried on the\nslipper it would fit none of them--their feet were all too big!\n\nAt last the heralds came to the house where Cinderella lived. The eldest\nstepsister tried the slipper on first, but it was quite impossible for\nher to get her foot into it, for her great toe was too big. Then her\nmother, who was watching eagerly, fetched a carving-knife.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Be quick, cut the toe off,\" she said; \"what does it matter if you are\nlame--if you are the Prince's bride you will always ride in a carriage!\"\n\nSo the eldest sister cut off her big toe, but it was no use, the slipper\nwould not fit, and at last she was obliged to hand it to her sister.\n\nBut the other sister had no better luck. She did, indeed, get her toes\ninside, but her foot was much too long, and her heel stuck out behind.\nThe mother urged her to cut it off.\n\n\"What does it matter?\" she said. \"If you are the Prince's bride you will\nnever need to walk any more.\"\n\nBut although she cut her heel off, the slipper was still too small; and\nat length she, too, had to give up the attempt to force her foot into\nit.\n\nThen Cinderella came shyly out from behind the door where she had been\nstanding out of sight, and asked if she might try on the slipper. Her\nstepmother and sisters were very angry, and were about to drive her away\nwith blows, but the herald stopped them.\n\n\"The Prince wishes every woman in the land to try on this slipper,\" he\nsaid; and asking Cinderella to sit on a chair, he knelt down and tried\nthe slipper on her foot.\n\nAnd it fitted her exactly!\n\nWhile everyone stood and stared in astonishment, Cinderella drew from\nher pocket the other slipper and put it on. No sooner had she done so\nthan her ragged frock changed into the beautiful ball dress again, and\nshe stood up before them all--the beautiful lady with whom the Prince\nhad fallen in love at the ball.\n\nThe Prince was overjoyed to find her again; and they were married at\nonce with much pomp amid great rejoicings.\n\nAs for the wicked sisters they were so jealous that they both turned\ngreen with envy. They grew uglier and uglier every day, until at last\nthey grew so dreadfully ugly that nobody could bear to look at them any\nlonger. But Cinderella became more and more beautiful, and lived happily\nwith the Prince for ever afterwards.\n\n\n\n\nJACK THE GIANT KILLER\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nIn the reign of King Arthur there lived in the County of Cornwall a\nworthy farmer, who had an only son, named Jack. Jack was strong and\nbrave and very daring, and was never backward when danger was in the\nway.\n\nNow, in those days there lived a huge giant in a gloomy cavern on St.\nMichael's Mount, which rises out of the sea near the shores of Cornwall.\nThe Cornish people had suffered greatly from his thefts and pillaging;\nfor he used to wade through the sea to the mainland, and carry off half\na dozen or more of their oxen at a time.\n\nAt last Jack made up his mind to destroy this monster. He took a horn,\na shovel, a pickaxe, and a dark lantern, and one winter's evening swam\nover the sea to the Mount. Then he set to work, and before morning had\ndug a great pit. He covered it carefully over with sticks and straw,\nand strewed some earth on the top to make it look like solid ground.\nAnd then he blew his horn so loudly that the Giant awoke, and came\nout roaring like thunder:\n\n\"You impudent villain--you shall pay dearly for disturbing my rest. I\nwill broil you for my breakfast!\"\n\nBut almost as he spoke, he tumbled headlong into the pit.\n\n\"Oh, ho, Mr. Giant!\" said Jack. \"How is your appetite now! Will nothing\nserve you for breakfast but broiling poor Jack?\" Then he struck the\ngiant such a blow on the head with a pickaxe that he killed him.\n\nWhen the Justices of Cornwall heard of this valiant deed, they sent\nfor Jack, and declared that he should always be called Jack the Giant\nKiller; and they gave him a sword, and a belt upon which was written,\nin letters of gold:\n\n    \"This is the valiant Cornishman\n     Who slew the giant Cormoran.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThere was another giant in England called Blunderbore, who vowed to take\nrevenge on Jack for this exploit. One day, as Jack was passing through a\nwood on a journey to Wales, he fell asleep by the side of a fountain.\nThe Giant, coming along, found him there; and, seeing by the writing on\nthe belt who Jack was, he lifted him on his shoulder and carried him off\nto his castle.\n\nWhen Jack awoke and found himself in the clutches of Blunderbore he was\nterribly frightened. The giant carried him into a room and locked him\nup, while he went to fetch another giant who lived close by to help him\neat Jack for dinner. While he was gone, Jack heard dreadful shrieks and\ngroans from different parts of the castle, and soon after he heard a\nmournful voice saying:\n\n    \"Haste, valiant stranger, haste away,\n     Lest you become the giant's prey.\n     On his return he'll bring another,\n     Still more savage than his brother;\n     A horrid, cruel monster, who\n     Before he kills will torture you!\"\n\nPoor Jack looked out of the window, which was just over the gate of the\ncastle, and saw two giants coming along arm in arm.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Now,\" thought he, \"death or freedom is at hand.\" There happened to\nbe two strong cords in the room, and Jack made a large noose with a\nslip-knot in each of them. Then, just as the giants were coming through\nthe gate he threw the ropes over their heads, and, fastening the other\nends to a beam in the ceiling, he pulled the ropes with all his might\nuntil he had nearly strangled the giants. Then he drew his sword and\nslipped down the ropes and killed them both.\n\nNext Jack took the keys from Giant Blunderbore and searched through the\ncastle. In one of the rooms he found three ladies who told him that\ntheir husbands had been killed by the giant, who had afterwards\ncondemned them to be starved to death.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nJack gave them the castle and all the riches it contained to make some\namends for the dreadful pains they had suffered, and then went on his\nway.\n\nAfter traveling some days, he lost himself in a lonely valley; but, when\nhe had wandered about some while, he at length succeeded in finding a\nlarge house. He went up to it and knocked loudly at the gate, when, to\nhis great horror, a monstrous giant with two heads came forth. He spoke\nvery civilly, however, and took Jack into the house, leading him to a\nroom where there was a good bed, in which he could pass the night.\n\nJack took off his clothes; but, though he was very tired, he could not\ngo to sleep. Presently he heard the giant walking about in the\nbedchamber, which was the next room, saying to himself:\n\n    \"Though here you lodge with me this night;\n     You shall not see the morning light;\n     My club shall dash your brains out quite.\"\n\nWhen he heard this, Jack got out of bed, and, taking a large, thick\npiece of wood, he laid it in his own place in the bed, and hid himself\nin a dark corner of the room.\n\nIn the middle of the night, the giant came with his great club, and\nstruck several heavy blows upon the bed. Then he went off, thinking he\nhad broken all Jack's bones.\n\nEarly next morning Jack walked into the giant's room and thanked him\nfor the night's lodging. The giant was terribly startled to see him,\nand stammered out:\n\n\"Oh, dear me! Is it you? Pray, how did you sleep last night? Did you\nhear or see anything to disturb you?\"\n\n\"Nothing worth speaking of, thank you,\" answered Jack, carelessly. \"A\nrat, I believe, gave me three or four slaps with his tail; but that was\nall.\"\n\nThe giant said nothing; but went and fetched two bowls of hasty pudding\nfor their breakfast.\n\nJack did not wish the giant to think that he could not eat as much as\nhimself, so he contrived to fasten a leathern bag inside his coat. He\nthen managed to slip the pudding into this bag, while pretending to eat\nit. When breakfast was done, he said to the giant:\n\n\"Now I will show you a fine trick. I can cure all wounds with a touch.\nYou shall see an example.\" He then took a knife, ripped up the leathern\nbag, and all the hasty pudding tumbled out upon the floor.\n\n\"Ods splutter hur nails!\" cried the giant, who was ashamed to be outdone\nby such a little fellow. \"Hur can do that hurself!\" and, snatching up\nthe knife, he plunged it into his stomach and fell down dead.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter this, Jack went farther on his journey. In a few days he met King\nArthur's only son, who was traveling into Wales to deliver a beautiful\nlady from the power of a wicked magician. Jack attached himself to the\nPrince, and they traveled on together.\n\nThe Prince was very generous, and soon gave away all the money he\npossessed.\n\nAfter having parted with his last penny to an old beggar-woman, he was\nvery uneasy as to where they were to pass the night.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Sir,\" said Jack, \"two miles farther on there lives a giant with three\nheads, who can fight five hundred men at once and make them fly. I will\ngo on and visit him--do you wait here until I return.\"\n\nJack rode on to the gates of the castle, and gave a loud knock. The\ngiant, with a voice like thunder, roared out:\n\n\"Who is there?\"\n\n\"No one but your poor Cousin Jack.\"\n\n\"Well, what news, Cousin Jack?\"\n\n\"Dear Uncle, I have bad news for you. Here is the King's son coming\nwith two thousand men to kill you!\"\n\n\"Cousin Jack, this is bad news indeed! But I have a large cellar\nunderground, where I shall hide myself, and you shall lock, bolt\nand bar me in until the King's son is gone.\"\n\nSo Jack locked, bolted and barred the giant in the cellar, and then\nwent back and fetched the Prince, and they feasted and made merry,\nand spent the night very comfortably in the castle.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIn the morning Jack gave the Prince gold and silver from the giant's\ntreasury. Then the Prince set forth on his journey, while Jack let\nthe giant out of the cellar.\n\nThe giant thanked Jack very much for saving him, and asked what he\nshould give him as a reward?\n\n\"Why, good Uncle,\" said Jack, \"I desire nothing but the coat and cap,\nwith the rusty sword and the slippers which are hanging beside the\nbed.\"\n\n\"Take them,\" said the giant, \"and keep them for my sake. They will be\nvery useful to you. The coat will make you invisible; the cap will give\nyou knowledge; the sword will cut through anything, no matter what it\nmay be, and the shoes are of vast swiftness.\"\n\nJack took the gifts, thanked the giant, and then quickly caught up with\nthe Prince.\n\nAfter a few day's further journey they reached the dwelling of the\nbeautiful lady whom the Prince had come to rescue.\n\nShe received the Prince very graciously and made a feast for him. When\nit was ended she rose, and, taking her handkerchief, said:\n\n\"My lord; to-morrow morning I command you to tell me on whom I have\nbestowed this handkerchief--or else lose your head.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe Prince went to bed very mournfully; but Jack put on the cap of\nknowledge, which told him that the lady was forced by the power of\nenchantment to meet the wicked magician every night in the forest.\n\nHe, therefore, put on his coat of darkness, and his shoes of swiftness,\nand was there before her. When the lady came, she gave the handkerchief\nto the magician. Jack with his sword of sharpness cut off his head with\none blow; and the enchantment was ended in a minute.\n\nThe next day the lady was married to the Prince, and soon after went\nwith her husband to the Court of King Arthur, where Jack was made one\nof the Knights of the Round Table for his heroism.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nVery soon Jack set off in search of new adventures. On the third day of\nhis travel he came to a wide forest. Hardly had he entered it when he\nheard dreadful shrieks and cries, and soon he saw a monstrous giant\ndragging along by the hair of their heads a handsome knight and a\nbeautiful lady. Their tears and cries melted Jack's heart. He alighted\nfrom his horse, and put on his invisible coat, and immediately attacked\nthe giant. He could not reach up to the giant's body; so, taking a\nmighty blow, he cut off both the monster's legs just below the garter,\nso that he fell full length upon the ground. Then Jack set his foot upon\nhis neck and plunged his sword into the giant's body.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe knight and the lady, overjoyed, begged Jack to come to their house\nto refresh himself after this fight; but Jack, hearing that the giant\nhad a brother who was more cruel and wicked even than himself, would\nnot rest until he had also destroyed him.\n\nSoon he came in sight of the cavern where the giants lived. There was\nthe other giant sitting on a huge block of timber, with a knotted iron\nclub lying by his side. Jack, in his coat of darkness, was quite\ninvisible. He drew close up to the giant and struck a blow at his head\nwith his sword of sharpness; but he missed his aim and only cut off his\nnose. The giant roared with pain, and his roars were like claps of\nthunder. He took up his iron club and began to lay about him, but not\nbeing able to see Jack, he could not hit him; for Jack slipped nimbly\nbehind, and jumping upon the block of wood, stabbed the giant in the\nback; and after a few howls, the monster dropped down dead.\n\nHaving thus killed the two monsters Jack entered the cave to search for\nthe treasure. One room contained a great boiling cauldron and a dining\ntable, where the giants feasted. Another part of the cave was barred\nwith iron and was full of miserable men and women whom the giants had\nimprisoned. Jack set them all free and divided the treasure among them.\n\nJack cut off the giant's head, and sent it with the head of his brother\nto the Court of King Arthur; then he returned to the house of the knight\nand his lady.\n\nHe was received with the greatest joy; and the knight gave a grand feast\nin his honor. When all the company was gathered together, the knight\npresented Jack with a ring, on which was engraved the picture of the\ngiant dragging the knight and the lady by the hair, with this motto\nround it--\n\n    \"Behold, in dire distress were we,\n       Under a giant's fierce command,\n     But gained our lives and liberty\n       From valiant Jack's victorious hand.\"\n\nBut while the merriment was at its height, a herald rushed into the room\nand told the company that Thundel, a savage giant with two heads, had\nheard of the death of his two kinsmen, and was come to take his revenge\non Jack. The guests trembled with terror and fright; but Jack only drew\nhis sword and said, \"Let him come!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe knight's house was surrounded by a moat over which there was a\ndrawbridge. Jack set men to work to cut the bridge on both sides, nearly\nto the middle, and then, dressed in his magic coat, went out to meet the\ngiant. As the giant came along, although he could not see Jack, yet he\ncould tell that someone was near for he cried out:\n\n    \"Fa, fe, fi, fo, fum,\n     I smell the blood of an Englishman\n     Be he alive, or be he dead,\n     I'll grind his bones to make my bread.\"\n\n\"Say you so, my friend,\" cried Jack. \"You are indeed a monstrous\nmiller!\"\n\n\"Ah!\" cried the giant; \"you are the villain that killed my kinsmen! I\nwill tear you with my teeth, and grind your bones to powder!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"You must catch me first!\" said Jack. Then he threw off his coat and put\non his shoes of swiftness, and began to run, the giant following him\nlike a walking castle. Jack led him round and round the house, and then\nhe ran over the drawbridge, while the giant rushed after him with his\nclub. But when he came to the middle of the bridge, where it had been\ncut on both sides, his great weight broke it, and he tumbled into the\nwater.\n\nJack now got a cart rope and flung it over his two heads, and then, by\nthe help of a team of horses, drew him to the edge of the moat, where\nhe cut off his heads.\n\nOnce again, Jack set out in search of new adventures. He went over\nfields and dales without meeting with any, until he came to the foot of\na high mountain. Here was a little, lonely house; and when he knocked at\nthe door it was opened by an old man with a beard as white as snow. This\nold man was a good hermit, and when Jack had eaten well, he said:\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"My son, I know that you are the famous conqueror of giants. I know, at\nthe top of this mountain there is an enchanted castle, kept by a giant\nnamed Galligantes, who, by the help of a magician, gets many knights\ninto his power--whom he changes into beasts. Above all, I lament the\nhard fate of a duke's daughter, whom they have changed into a deer. Many\nknights have tried to destroy the enchantment, yet none have been able\nto do so, because of two fiery griffins who guard the gates of the\ncastle. But as you, my son, have an invisible coat, you may pass them by\nwithout being seen. On the gates of the castle you will find engraved\nthe means by which the enchantment may be broken.\"\n\nJack promised that in the morning he would risk his life in an endeavor\nto break the enchantment; and, after a sound sleep, he arose early and\nset out on his attempt.\n\nHe passed by the fiery griffins without the least fear of danger; for\nthey could not see him, because of his invisible coat.\n\nOn the castle gate he found a golden trumpet hanging, under which were\nwritten these words--\n\n    \"Whoever can this trumpet blow,\n     Shall cause the giant's overthrow.\"\n\nJack seized the golden trumpet and blew a mighty blast, which made the\ngates fly open and shook the castle to its foundations. The giant and\nthe magician, knowing that their end was now near, stood biting their\nthumbs and shaking with terror. Jack, with his magic sword, soon killed\nthe giant, and the magician was carried off by a whirlwind. The castle\nvanished away like smoke, and the duke's daughter and all the knights\nand lovely ladies who had been turned into birds and beasts returned to\ntheir proper shape.\n\nJack's fame rang through the whole country, and the King gave him a\nlarge estate to reward him for all his brave and knightly deeds. And\nJack married the duke's daughter, and lived in joy and contentment for\nthe rest of his days.\n\n\n\n\nJACK AND THE BEANSTALK\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nJack was an idle, lazy boy who would do no work to support his widowed\nmother; and at last they both came to such poverty that the poor woman\nhad to sell her cow to buy food to keep them from starving. She sent\nJack to market with the cow, telling him to be sure and sell it for a\ngood price.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs Jack was going along the road to market he met a butcher. The butcher\noffered to buy the cow in exchange for a hatful of colored beans. Jack\nthought the beans looked very pretty, and he was glad to be saved the\nlong hot walk to market; so he struck the bargain on the spot and went\nback to his mother with the beans, while the butcher went off with the\ncow.\n\nBut the poor widow was very disappointed. She scolded her son for an\nidle, lazy, good-for-nothing boy, and flung the beans out of the window\nin a passion.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow the beans were magic beans, and the next morning, when Jack awoke,\nhe found some of them had taken root in the night and had grown so tall,\nthat they reached right up into the sky.\n\nJack was full of wonder and curiosity; and, being fond of adventure and\nexcitement, he set out at once to climb the beanstalk, to see what was\nup at the top of it.\n\nAnd he climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed, and he\nclimbed, and he climbed, and he climbed--until at last he climbed right\nup to the very tiptop of the beanstalk.\n\nThen he found himself standing in a strange country. In the distance\nhe could see a big castle; and, as he was hot and tired with his long\nclimb, he thought he would go and ask for something to eat and drink.\n\nHe had not gone very far before he met a fairy, who told him that the\ncastle belonged to a wicked ogre, who had killed and eaten a great\nnumber of people.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"It was he who killed your father,\" she said. \"And it is your duty to do\nyour utmost to destroy the wicked monster. Go now, and see what you can\ndo. If you can carry off any of his treasures you are at liberty to do\nso--for none of them really belongs to him. He has taken them all by\nforce from the people whom he has robbed and killed.\"\n\nJack was delighted at the idea of this adventure, and set off in high\nspirits towards the castle.\n\nThe castle was farther off than he had thought, and by the time he\nreached the gates, it was so late that he made up his mind to ask\nfor a night's lodging. There was a woman standing in the doorway;\nbut when Jack made his request, she was very frightened, and said--\n\n\"Indeed, I dare not take you in and give you food and lodging. My\nhusband is an ogre who lives on human flesh. If he were to find you\nhere, he would think nothing of eating you up in three mouthfuls. I\nadvise you to go away at once, before he comes home.\"\n\nBut when she saw how tired and hungry Jack really was, she took him into\nthe house and gave him plenty to eat and drink. While Jack was eating\nhis food in the kitchen there came a loud knocking at the door. The\nogre's wife, in a great flurry, hid Jack in the oven, and then hurried\nto let her husband in. Jack peeped through the oven door, and saw a\nterrible-looking ogre, who came stamping into the kitchen, and said in\na voice like thunder--\n\n\"Wife, I smell fresh meat!\"\n\n\"It is only the people you are fattening in the dungeon,\" said the wife.\n\nSo the ogre sat down and ate his supper. After supper, he commanded his\nwife to bring him his money-bags. He then began to count his\nmoney--thousands and thousands of pieces of gold and silver.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nJack wished he could take some of this money home to his mother; and,\npresently, when the ogre fell asleep, he crept out of his hiding-place,\nand hoisting the bags upon his shoulder, slipped quietly away with them.\nThe ogre was snoring so loudly that it sounded like the wind in the\nchimney on a stormy night. So he never heard the little noise Jack\nmade, and Jack got safely away and escaped down the beanstalk.\n\nHis mother was overjoyed to see him, for she had been very anxious about\nhim when he did not come home the night before; and she was delighted\nwith the bags of money, which were enough to keep them in comfort and\nluxury for some time.\n\nFor many months Jack and his mother lived happily together; but after a\nwhile the money came to an end, and Jack made up his mind to climb the\nbeanstalk again, and carry off some more of the ogre's treasures. So one\nmorning he got up early, put on a different suit of clothes, so that the\nogre's wife should not recognize him, and set out to climb the\nbeanstalk.\n\n[Illustration: _Jack and the Beanstalk_\nDown Came the Beanstalk, Down Came the Ogre]\n\nAnd he climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed, and he\nclimbed, and he climbed, and he climbed--until at last he climbed to the\nvery top and found himself in the ogre's country again.\n\nWhen he reached the castle the ogre's wife was again standing in the\ndoorway. But when Jack asked for a night's lodging, she said she dared\nnot give him one, for only a few months before she had taken in a poor\nboy who seemed half dead with fatigue and hunger, and in return for her\nkindness, he had stolen some of her husband's money and run away in the\nnight.\n\nBut Jack begged so hard that at last she relented. She gave him a good\nsupper and hid him in a closet before her husband came home.\n\nPresently there was a great noise outside and heavy footsteps that shook\nthe castle to its foundations. It was the ogre come home. As soon as he\nentered the kitchen, he sniffed suspiciously, and said:\n\n\"I smell fresh meat!\"\n\n\"It is only the crows on the housetops,\" said his wife. \"They have\nbrought home a piece of carrion for their young.\"\n\nAfter supper, the ogre told his wife to fetch his hen. This hen was a\nvery wonderful bird. Whenever the ogre said \"Lay\" she laid an egg of\nsolid gold. Jack thought that if he could only get this wonderful hen\nto take home to his mother, they would never want any more. So when\nthe ogre fell asleep--as he did after a little while--he came out of\nthe closet, and, seizing the hen in his arms, made off with her. The\nhen squawked, but the ogre's snoring was like the roaring of the sea\nwhen the tide is coming in, and Jack got safely down the beanstalk.\n\nThe hen laid so many golden eggs that Jack and his mother became quite\nrich and prosperous; and there was really no need for Jack to go again\nto the ogre's country. But he liked the danger and excitement, and he\nremembered that the fairy had told him to take as many of the ogre's\ntreasures as he could; and at last, without saying a word to anybody,\nhe started off once more to climb the magic beanstalk.\n\nAnd he climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed, and he\nclimbed, and he climbed, and he climbed--until at last he reached the\nvery tiptop, and stood in the ogre's country.\n\nThis time when he reached the castle he began to be afraid that the\nogre's wife really would not let him in.\n\n\"Indeed and indeed, I dare not,\" she said. \"Twice lately have I\ngiven shelter to a wayfaring youth, and each time he stole some of\nmy husband's treasures, and made off with them. Now my husband has\nforbidden me, on pain of instant death, to give food or lodging\nto any traveler.\"\n\nBut Jack pleaded and pleaded, and at last the good-natured woman, moved\nto pity by his travel-stained appearance, gave way and let him into the\ncastle.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhen the ogre came home, the wife hid Jack in the copper. As usual, the\nogre's first words were:\n\n\"Wife, wife, I smell fresh meat!\" And, in spite of all his wife could\nsay, he insisted upon searching all round the room. Jack was in a\nterrible fright whilst he was hunting: but fortunately, he forgot to\nlook in the copper, and after a time he sat down to his supper.\n\nWhen supper was over, the ogre told his wife to fetch his harp. Jack\npeeped out of the copper and saw the harp brought in and set down\nbefore the ogre. It was marvelously made; and when the ogre said \"Play!\"\nit played the finest music without being touched. Jack was enchanted,\nfor he had never before heard such wonderful music, and he felt that he\nmust have the harp for his own.\n\nThe ogre was soon lulled to sleep by the sweet sound of the harp; and\nwhen he was snoring heavily, Jack crept out of the copper, and taking up\nthe harp was about to make off with it. But the harp was a fairy harp,\nand it called out loudly: \"Master, master, master;\" and, although the\nogre was snoring so noisily that it was like the sound of a hundred\ndragons roaring at once, yet to Jack's dismay and horror he heard the\nvoice of his harp, and, starting to his feet with a bellow of anger,\nrushed after the daring thief.\n\nJack ran faster than he had ever run in his life before--still carrying\nthe precious harp--while the ogre ran after him, shouting and roaring\nand making such a noise that it sounded like a thousand thunder storms\nall going at once. If he had not drunk so much wine for supper, the ogre\nmust very soon have caught Jack; but as it was, the wine had got into\nhis head, and so he could not run nearly so fast as usual, and Jack\nreached the beanstalk just in front of him.\n\nIt was a very close shave. Jack slid down the beanstalk at his top\nspeed, calling at the top of his voice for his mother to fetch him an\naxe. The ogre came tumbling down the beanstalk after him; but Jack\nseized the axe and chopped the beanstalk off close to the root. Down\ncame the beanstalk, down came the ogre, and falling headlong into the\ngarden he was killed on the spot.\n\nAfter this, Jack quite gave up his lazy, idle ways, and he and his\nmother, with the magic hen and the wonderful harp, lived in happiness\nand prosperity the rest of their lives.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nDICK WHITTINGTON AND HIS CAT\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nIn the reign of King Edward the Third there was a poor orphan boy, named\nDick Whittington, living in a country village a long way from London. He\nwas a sharp little lad, and the stories that he heard of London being\npaved with gold made him long to visit that city.\n\nOne day, a large wagon and eight horses, with bells at their heads,\ndrove through the village. Dick thought it must be going to London, so\nhe asked the driver to let him walk by the side of the wagon. As soon as\nthe driver heard that poor Dick had neither father nor mother, and saw\nby his ragged clothes that he could not be worse off than he was, he\ntold him he might go if he would; so they set off together.\n\nDick got safely to London, and was in such a hurry to see the fine\nstreets paved with gold, that he ran through many of them, thinking\nevery moment to come to those that were paved with gold; for Dick had\nseen a guinea three times in his own little village, and remembered what\na lot of money it brought in change; so he thought he had nothing to do\nbut to take up some little bits of pavement, and he would then have as\nmuch money as he could wish for. Poor Dick ran till he was tired, and\nhad quite forgotten his friend the driver. At last, finding it grow\ndark, and that every way he turned he saw nothing but dirt instead of\ngold, he sat down in a dark corner, and cried himself to sleep. Next\nmorning, being very hungry, he got up and walked about, and asked\neverybody he met to give him a halfpenny to keep him from starving.\nAt last, a good-natured-looking gentleman saw how hungry he looked.\n\n\"Why don't you go to work, my lad?\" said he.\n\n\"I would,\" answered Dick, \"but I do not know how to get any.\"\n\n\"If you are willing,\" said the gentleman, \"come with me;\" and so\nsaying, he took him to a hayfield, where Dick worked briskly, and lived\nmerrily till the hay was all made. After this, he found himself as badly\noff as before; and being almost starved again, he laid himself down at\nthe door of Mr. Fitzwarren, a rich merchant. Here the cook, an\nill-tempered woman, called out to poor Dick:\n\n\"What business have you there, you lazy rogue? If you do not take\nyourself away, we will see how you like a sousing of some dish-water I\nhave here, that is hot enough to make you jump.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAt this time Mr. Fitzwarren himself came home to dinner; and when he saw\na dirty ragged boy lying at the door, he said, in a kind and gentle\nvoice:\n\n\"Why do you lie there, my lad? you seem old enough to work; I am afraid\nyou are lazy.\"\n\n\"No, sir,\" said Dick to him. \"I would work with all my heart; but I do\nnot know anybody, and I am sick for want of food.\"\n\n\"Poor fellow!\" answered Mr. Fitzwarren; \"get up, and let me see what\nails you.\"\n\nDick tried to rise, but was too weak to stand, for he had not eaten\nanything for three days. So the kind merchant ordered him to be taken\ninto the house, and have a good dinner given to him; and to be kept to\ndo what dirty work he could for the cook.\n\nDick would have lived happily in this good family, if it had not been\nfor the ill-natured cook, who was finding fault and scolding him from\nmorning till night; and, besides, she was so fond of basting, that,\nwhen she had no roast meat to baste, she would be basting poor Dick.\n\nBut though the cook was so ill-tempered, the footman was quite\ndifferent. He had lived in the family many years, and was an elderly\nman, and very kind-hearted. He had once a little son of his own, who\ndied when about the age of Dick; so he could not help feeling pity for\nthe poor boy, and sometimes gave him a halfpenny to buy gingerbread or\na top. The footman was fond of reading, and used often in the evening to\nentertain the other servants with some amusing book. Little Dick took\npleasure in hearing this good man, which made him wish very much to\nlearn to read too; so the next time the footman gave him a halfpenny,\nhe bought a little book with it; and with the footman's help, Dick soon\nlearnt his letters, and afterwards to read.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAbout this time, Miss Alice, Mr. Fitzwarren's daughter, was going out\none morning for a walk, and Dick was told to put on a suit of good\nclothes that Mr. Fitzwarren gave him, and walk behind her. As they went,\nMiss Alice saw a poor woman with one child in her arms and another on\nher back. She pulled out her purse and gave the woman some money; but as\nshe was putting it into her pocket again, she dropped it on the ground\nand walked on. It was lucky that Dick was behind, and saw what she had\ndone, for he picked up the purse and gave it to her again. Another time,\nwhen Miss Alice was sitting with the window open and amusing herself\nwith a favorite parrot, it suddenly flew away to the branch of a high\ntree, where all the servants were afraid to venture after it. As soon as\nDick heard of this, he pulled off his coat, and climbed up the tree as\nnimbly as a squirrel; and, after a great deal of trouble, caught her and\nbrought her down safely to his mistress. Miss Alice thanked him, and\nliked him ever after for this.\n\nThe ill-humored cook was now a little kinder; but, besides this, Dick\nhad another hardship to get over. His bed stood in a garret, where there\nwere so many holes in the floor and the walls, that every night he was\nwaked in his sleep by the rats and mice, which ran over his face, and\nmade such a noise that he sometimes thought the walls were tumbling down\nabout him. One day, a gentleman who came to see Mr. Fitzwarren wanted\nhis shoes polished; Dick took great pains to make them shine, and the\ngentleman gave him a penny. With this he thought he would buy a cat; so\nthe next day, seeing a little girl with a cat under her arm, he went up\nto her, and asked if she would let him have it for a penny. The girl\nsaid she would, and that it was a very good mouser. Dick hid the cat in\nthe garret, and always took care to carry a part of his dinner to her;\nand in a short time he had no more trouble from the rats and mice.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSoon after, his master had a ship ready to sail; and as he thought it\nright all his servants should have some chance for good fortune as well\nas himself, he called them into the parlor, and asked them if they\nwanted to take a share in the trading trip. They all had some money that\nthey were willing to venture, except poor Dick, who had neither money\nnor goods. For this reason he did not come into the parlor with the\nrest; but Miss Alice guessed what was the matter, and ordered him to be\ncalled in. She then said she would put in money for him from her own\npurse; but her father told her this would not do, for Dick must send\nsomething of his own. When poor Dick heard this, he said he had nothing\nbut a cat.\n\n\"Fetch your cat then, my good boy,\" said Mr. Fitzwarren, \"and let her\ngo.\"\n\nDick went upstairs and brought down poor puss, and gave her to the\ncaptain with tears in his eyes. All the company laughed at Dick's odd\nventure; and Miss Alice, who felt pity for the poor boy, gave him some\nhalfpence to buy another cat.\n\nThis, and other marks of kindness shown him by Miss Alice, made the\nill-tempered cook jealous of poor Dick; and she began to use him more\ncruelly than ever, and always made fun of him for sending his cat to\nsea. She asked him if he thought his cat would sell for as much money as\nwould buy a stick to beat him. At last, poor Dick could not bear this\nany longer, and thought he would run away from his place; so he packed\nup his few things, and set out very early in the morning on the first\nof November. He walked as far as Highgate, and there sat down on a\nstone, which to this day is called Whittington's stone, and began to\nthink which road he should take farther. While he was thinking what he\nshould do, the bells of Bow Church began to ring, and he fancied their\nsounds seemed to say:\n\n    \"Turn again, Whittington,\n     Lord Mayor of London.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Lord Mayor of London!\" said he to himself. \"Why, to be sure I would put\nup with almost anything, now, to be Lord Mayor of London, and ride in a\nfine coach, when I grow to be a man! I will go back and think nothing of\nthe cuffing and scolding of the old cook, if I am to be Lord Mayor of\nLondon at last.\"\n\nDick went back, and was lucky enough to get into the house and set about\nhis work before the cook came down.\n\nThe ship, with the cat on board, was a long time at sea; and was at last\ndriven by the winds on a part of the coast of Barbary. The people came\nin great numbers to see the sailors, and treated them very civilly; and,\nwhen they became better acquainted, were eager to buy the fine things\nwith which the ship was laden. When the captain saw this, he sent\npatterns of the best things he had to the King of the country; who was\nso much pleased with them, that he sent for the captain and the chief\nmate to the palace. Here they were placed, as is the custom of the\ncountry, on rich carpets, marked with gold and silver flowers. The King\nand Queen were seated at the upper end of the room; and a number of\ndishes, of the greatest rarities, were brought in for dinner; but,\nbefore they had been on the table a minute, a vast number of rats and\nmice rushed in, and helped themselves from every dish. The captain\nwondered at this, and asked if these vermin were not very unpleasant.\n\n\"Oh, yes!\" they said, \"and the King would give half of his riches to get\nrid of them; for they not only waste his dinner, as you see, but disturb\nhim in his bedroom, so that he is obliged to be watched while he is\nasleep.\"\n\nThe captain was ready to jump for joy when he heard of this. He thought\nof poor Dick's cat, and told the King he had a creature on board his\nship that would kill all the rats and mice. The King was still more\nglad than the captain.\n\n\"Bring this creature to me,\" said he, \"and if it can do what you say, I\nwill give you your ship full of gold for her.\"\n\nThe captain, to make quite sure of his good luck, answered, that she was\nsuch a clever cat for catching rats and mice, that he could hardly bear\nto part with her; but that to oblige His Majesty he would fetch her.\n\n\"Run, run!\" said the Queen, \"for I long to see the creature that will\ndo such service.\" Away went the captain to the ship while another dinner\nwas got ready. He came back to the palace soon enough to see the table\nfull of rats and mice again, and the second dinner likely to be lost in\nthe same way as the first. The cat did not wait for bidding, but jumped\nout of the captain's arm, and in a few moments laid almost all the rats\nand mice dead at her feet. The rest, in a fright, scampered away to\ntheir holes.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe King and Queen were delighted to get rid of such a plague so easily.\nThey desired that the creature might be brought for them to look at. On\nthis, the captain called out: \"Puss, puss!\" and the cat ran and jumped\nupon his knee. He then held her out to the Queen, who was afraid to\ntouch an animal that was able to kill so many rats and mice; but when\nshe saw how gentle the cat seemed, and how glad she was at being stroked\nby the captain, she ventured to touch her too, saying all the time:\n\"Poot, poot,\" for she could not speak English. At last the Queen took\npuss on her lap, and by degrees became quite free with her, till puss\npurred herself to sleep. When the King had seen the actions of mistress\npuss, and was told that she would soon have young ones, which might in\ntime kill all the rats and mice in his country, he bought the captain's\nwhole ship's cargo; and afterwards gave him a great deal of gold\nbesides, which was worth still more, for the cat. The captain then took\nleave, and set sail with a fair wind, and arrived safe at London.\n\nOne morning, when Mr. Fitzwarren had come into the counting house, and\nseated himself at the desk, somebody came tap, tap, tap, at the door.\n\n\"Who is there?\" asked Mr. Fitzwarren.\n\n\"A friend,\" answered someone; and who should it be but the captain,\nfollowed by several men carrying vast lumps of gold, that had been paid\nhim by the King of Barbary for the ship's cargo. They then told the\nstory of the cat, and showed the rich present that the King had sent to\nDick for her; upon which the merchantman called out to his servants:\n\n    \"Go fetch him, we will tell him of the same;\n     Pray call him Mr. Whittington by name.\"\n\nMr. Fitzwarren now showed himself a really good man, for while some of\nhis clerks said so great a treasure was too much for such a boy as\nDick, he answered:\n\n\"I will not keep the value of a single penny from him! It is all his\nown, and he shall have every farthing's worth of it.\"\n\nHe sent for Dick, who happened to be scouring the cook's kettles, and\nwas quite dirty; so that he wanted to excuse himself from going to his\nmaster. Mr. Fitzwarren, however, made him come in, and ordered a chair\nto be set for him, so that poor Dick thought they were making fun of\nhim, and began to beg his master not to play tricks with a poor boy,\nbut to let him go again to his work.\n\n\"Indeed, Mr. Whittington,\" said the merchant, \"we are all in earnest\nwith you; and I heartily rejoice in the news these gentlemen have\nbrought you; for the captain has sold your cat to the King of Barbary,\nand brought you, in return for her, more riches than I possess; and I\nwish you may long enjoy them!\"\n\nMr. Fitzwarren then told the men to open the great treasure they had\nbrought with them, and said, \"Mr. Whittington has now nothing to do\nbut to put it in some place of safety.\"\n\nPoor Dick hardly knew how to behave himself for joy. He begged his\nmaster to take what part of it he pleased, since he owed it all to\nhis kindness.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"No, no,\" answered Mr. Fitzwarren, \"this is all your own; and I have no\ndoubt you will use it well.\"\n\nDick next asked his mistress, and then Miss Alice, to accept a part of\nhis good fortune; but they would not, and at the same time told him that\nhis success afforded them great pleasure. But the poor fellow was too\nkind-hearted to keep it all to himself; so he made a handsome present to\nthe captain, the mate, and every one of the sailors, and afterwards to\nhis good friend the footman, and the rest of Mr. Fitzwarren's servants;\nand even to the ill-natured cook. After this, Mr. Fitzwarren advised\nhim to get himself dressed like a gentleman; and told him he was welcome\nto live in his house till he could provide himself with a better.\n\nWhen Whittington's face was washed, his hair curled, his hat cocked,\nand he was dressed in a nice suit of clothes, he was as handsome as any\nyoung man who visited at Mr. Fitzwarren's; so that Miss Alice, who had\nbeen so kind to him, and thought of him with pity, now looked upon him\nas fit to be her sweetheart; and the more so, no doubt, because\nWhittington was now always thinking what he could do to oblige her,\nand making her the prettiest presents that could be. Mr. Fitzwarren\nsoon saw their love for each other, and proposed to join them in\nmarriage; and to this they both readily agreed. A day for the wedding\nwas soon fixed; and they were attended to church by the Lord Mayor,\nthe Court of Aldermen, the Sheriffs, and a great number of the richest\nmerchants in London, whom they afterwards treated with a fine feast.\n\nHistory tells us that Mr. Whittington and his lady lived in great\nsplendor, and were very happy. They had several children. He was Sheriff\nof London in the year 1360, and several times afterwards Lord Mayor;\nthe last time, he entertained King Henry the Fifth, on his Majesty's\nreturn from the famous Battle of Agincourt. In this company, the King,\non account of Whittington's gallantry, said:\n\n\"Never had prince such a subject;\" and when Whittington was told this at\nthe table, he answered:\n\n\"Never had subject such a king.\"\n\nGoing with an address from the city, on one of the King's victories, he\nreceived the honor of knighthood. Sir Richard Whittington supported many\npoor; he built a church, and also a college, with a yearly allowance to\npoor scholars, and near it raised a hospital. The figure of Sir Richard\nWhittington, with his cat in his arms, carved in stone, was to be seen\ntill the year 1780, over the archway of the old prison of Newgate, that\nstood across Newgate Street.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF BLUE BEARD\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nMany years ago there was a rich man who had a singular blue beard, which\nmade him very ugly. Being left a widower, he wished to marry one of the\ntwo beautiful daughters of a neighboring lady, and at last the younger\nof these girls consented to be his wife.\n\nAbout a month after the marriage, Blue Beard told his bride that he must\nleave her for a time, as he had some business to attend to at a\ndistance. He gave her his keys, and told her to make free of everything\nand entertain her friends while he was absent, but ending by drawing\none key from the bunch and saying:\n\n\"This small key belongs to the room at the end of the long gallery--and\nthat, my dear, is the one room you must not enter, nor even put the key\ninto the lock. Should you disobey, your punishment would be dreadful.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBlue Beard set out on his journey, and for a time his wife found\npleasure in showing her friends all her magnificence; but again and\nagain she wondered what could be the reason why she was not to visit the\nroom at the end of the long gallery. At last her curiosity became such\nthat she could not resist the temptation to take just one peep within\nthe forbidden door. When she reached the door she stopped for a few\nmoments to think of her husband's warning, that he would not fail to\nkeep his word should she disobey him. But she was so very curious to\nknow what was inside, that she determined to venture in spite of\neverything.\n\nSo, with a trembling hand, she put the key into the lock, and the door\nimmediately opened. The window shutters being closed, she at first saw\nnothing; but in a short time she noticed that the floor was covered with\nclotted blood, on which the bodies of several dead women were lying.\n(These were all the wives whom Blue Beard had married, and murdered one\nafter another!) She was ready to sink with fear, and the key of the\ndoor, which she held in her hand, fell on the floor. When she had\nsomewhat recovered from her fright, she took it up, locked the door\nand hurried to her own room, terrified by what she had seen.\n\nAs she observed that the key had got stained with blood in falling on\nthe floor, she wiped it two or three times to clean it; but the blood\nstill remained; she next washed it; but the blood did not go; she then\nscoured it with brickdust, and afterwards with sand. But notwithstanding\nall she could do, the blood was still there, for the key was a fairy,\nwho was Blue Beard's friend, so that as fast as she got the stain off\none side it appeared again on the other. Early in the evening Blue\nBeard returned, saying he had not proceeded far before he was met by a\nmessenger, who told him that the business was concluded without his\npresence being necessary. His wife said everything she could think of\nto make him believe that she was delighted at his unexpected return.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe next morning, he asked for the keys. She gave them, but, as she\ncould not help showing her fright, Blue Beard easily guessed what had\nhappened.\n\n\"How is it,\" said he, \"that the key of the closet upon the ground floor\nis not here.\"\n\n\"Is it not?\" said the wife. \"I must have left it on my dressing table.\"\n\n\"Be sure you give it me by and by,\" replied Blue Beard.\n\nAfter going several times backwards and forwards, pretending to look for\nthe key, she was at last obliged to give it to Blue Beard. He looked at\nit attentively, and then said:\n\n\"How came this blood upon the key?\"\n\n\"I am sure I do not know,\" replied the lady, turning as pale as death.\n\n\"You do not know?\" said Blue Beard sternly. \"But I know well enough. You\nhave been in the closet on the ground floor. Very well, madam; since you\nare so mightily fond of this closet, you shall certainly take your place\namong the ladies you saw there.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHis wife, almost dead with fear, fell upon her knees, asked his pardon\na thousand times for her disobedience, and begged him to forgive her,\nlooking all the time so sorrowful and lovely that she would have melted\nany heart that was not harder than a rock.\n\nBut Blue Beard answered:\n\n\"No, no, madam; you shall die this very minute.\"\n\n\"Alas,\" said the poor creature, \"if I must die, allow me, at least, a\nlittle time to say my prayers!\"\n\n\"I give you,\" replied the cruel Blue Beard, \"half a quarter of an\nhour--not one moment longer.\"\n\nWhen Bluebeard had left her to herself, she called her sister; and,\nafter telling her that she had but half a quarter of an hour to live:\n\n\"Please,\" said she, \"Sister Ann\" (this was her sister's name), \"run up\nto the tower, and see if my brothers are in sight; they promised to come\nand visit me to-day; and if you see them, make a sign for them to gallop\non as fast as possible.\"\n\nHer sister instantly did as she was desired, and the terrified lady\nevery minute called out:\n\n\"Sister Ann, do you see anyone coming?\"\n\nAnd her sister answered:\n\n\"I see nothing but the sun, which makes a dust, and the grass, which\nlooks green.\"\n\nIn the meanwhile, Blue Beard, with a great simitar in his hand, bawled\nas loud as he could:\n\n\"Come down instantly, or I will fetch you.\"\n\n\"One moment longer, I beseech you,\" replied she, and again called softly\nto her sister:\n\n\"Sister Ann, do you see anyone coming?\"\n\nTo which she answered:\n\n\"I see nothing but the sun, which makes a dust, and the grass, which\nlooks green.\"\n\nBlue Beard again bawled out:\n\n\"Come down, I say, this very moment, or I shall come and fetch you.\"\n\n\"I am coming; indeed I will come in one minute,\" sobbed his unhappy\nwife. Then she once more cried out:\n\n\"Sister Ann, do you see anyone coming?\"\n\n\"I see,\" said her sister, \"a cloud of dust a little to the left.\"\n\n\"Do you think it is my brothers?\" continued the wife.\n\n\"Alas, no, dear sister,\" replied she, \"it is only a flock of sheep!\"\n\n\"Will you come down or not, madam?\" said Blue Beard, in the greatest\nrage imaginable.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Only one moment more,\" answered she. And then she called out for the\nlast time:\n\n\"Sister Ann! do you see no one coming?\"\n\n\"I see,\" replied her sister, \"two men on horseback coming to the house;\nbut they are still at a great distance.\"\n\n\"God be praised!\" cried she; \"it is my brothers. Give them a sign to\nmake what haste they can.\"\n\nAt the same moment Blue Beard cried out so loud for her to come down,\nthat his voice shook the whole house. The poor lady, with her hair\nloose and her eyes swimming in tears, came down, and fell on her knees\nbefore Blue Beard, and was going to beg him to spare her life, but he\ninterrupted her, saying: \"All this is of no use, for you shall die;\"\nthen, seizing her with one hand by the hair, and raising the simitar he\nheld in the other, he was going with one blow to strike off her head.\n\nThe unfortunate woman, turning toward him, desired to have a single\nmoment allowed her to compose herself.\n\n\"No, no,\" said Blue Beard; \"I will give you no more time, I am\ndetermined. You have had too much already.\"\n\nAgain he raised his arm. Just at this instant a loud knocking was\nheard at the gates, which made Blue Beard wait for a moment to see\nwho it was. The gates were opened, and two officers entered with\ntheir swords in their hands. Blue Beard, seeing they were his wife's\nbrothers, endeavored to escape, but they pursued and seized him\nbefore he had got twenty steps, and, plunging their swords into\nhis body, laid him dead at their feet.\n\nThe poor wife, who was almost as dead as her husband, was unable at\nfirst to rise and embrace her brothers, but she soon recovered.\n\nAs Blue Beard had no heirs, she found herself the possessor of his great\nriches. She used part of her vast fortune in giving a marriage dowry to\nher sister Ann, who soon after was married. With another part she bought\ncaptains' commissions for her two brothers; and the rest she presented\nto a most worthy gentleman whom she married soon after, and whose kind\ntreatment soon made her forget Blue Beard's cruelty.\n\n\n\n\nLITTLE RED RIDING-HOOD\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nOnce upon a time there lived a little girl, who was so sweet and pretty\nand good that everybody loved her. Her old grandmother, who was very\nfond of her, made her a little red cloak and hood, which suited her so\nwell that everyone called her \"Little Red Riding-Hood.\"\n\nOne day, Little Red Riding-Hood's mother told her to take a basket with\nsome butter and eggs and fresh-baked cake to her grandmother, who was\nill. The little girl, who was always willing and obliging, ran at once\nto fetch her red cloak, and, taking her basket, set out on her journey.\n\nOn her way she met a wolf, who wished very much to eat her up; but who\ndared not do so because some wood-cutters were working close by. So he\nonly said:\n\n\"Good-morning, Little Red Riding-Hood; where are you off to so early?\"\n\nLittle Red Riding-Hood, who did not know how dangerous it was to talk to\na wolf, replied:\n\n\"I am going to see my grandmother, who is ill in bed, to take her some\nbutter and eggs and a fresh-baked cake that my mother has made for her!\"\n\n\"Where does your grandmother live?\" asked the wolf.\n\n\"In the little white cottage at the other side of the wood,\" answered\nRed Riding-Hood.\n\n\"Well,\" said the wolf, \"I am going that way, too. If you will let me, I\nwill walk part of the way with you.\" So Little Red Riding-Hood, who\nsuspected no harm, set off with the wolf for her companion.\n\nPresently Red Riding-Hood stopped to gather a nosegay of wild flowers\nfor her grandmother, and the wolf, who had thought of a plan to get the\nlittle girl for his dinner, said \"Good morning,\" and trotted away.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs soon as he was out of sight, he began to run as fast as he could. In\na short time he reached the grandmother's cottage and knocked at the\ndoor.\n\n\"Who is there?\" asked the old grandmother, as she lay in bed.\n\n\"It is Little Red Riding-Hood,\" answered the wolf. \"I have brought you\nsome butter and eggs and a fresh-baked cake which mother has made for\nyou.\"\n\n\"Pull the bobbin and the latch will go up,\" said the old grandmother. So\nthe wolf pulled the bobbin and opened the door, and sprang upon the poor\nold grandmother and ate her all up in a twinkling.\n\nThen he put on her night-cap and got into bed, and lay down to wait for\nRed Riding-Hood.\n\nVery soon there came a little soft tap at the door.\n\n\"Who is there?\" called out the wolf.\n\n\"It is Little Red Riding-Hood, grandmother dear. I have brought you some\nbutter and eggs and a fresh-baked cake which mother has made for you.\"\n\nThen the wolf called out, disguising his voice as much as he could:\n\n\"Pull the bobbin and the latch will go up.\" So Little Red Riding-Hood\npulled the bobbin and went inside.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Good morning, dear grandmother,\" she said. \"How are you feeling today?\"\n\n\"Very bad indeed, my dear,\" answered the wolf, trying to hide himself\nunder the bedclothes.\n\n\"How strange and hoarse your voice sounds, grandmother,\" said the little\ngirl.\n\n\"I have got a bad cold, my dear,\" said the wicked wolf.\n\n\"Grandmother, what very bright eyes you have!\" went on Red Riding-Hood,\nsurprised to see how strange her grandmother looked in her nightclothes.\n\n\"The better to see you with, my dear,\" said the wolf.\n\n\"Grandmother, what very big ears you have!\"\n\n\"The better to hear you with, my child.\"\n\n\"Grandmother, what very long arms you have!\"\n\n\"The better to hug you with, my dear.\"\n\n\"But, grandmother, what great big teeth you have,\" said Red Riding-Hood,\nwho was beginning to get frightened.\n\n\"The better to eat you with,\" roared the wolf, suddenly jumping out of\nbed. He seized hold of poor Little Red Riding-Hood, and was just about\nto eat her up, when there was a great noise outside, and the door burst\nopen and in rushed the wood-cutters, who had seen the wolf talking to\nthe little girl in the wood, and came to see what mischief he was up to.\n\nThey killed the wicked wolf quite dead; and so Little Red Riding-Hood\nwas saved, and ran home to tell her mother all about her terrible\nadventure.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nSINDBAD THE SAILOR\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nSindbad the sailor, after all his adventures and wanderings, settled\ndown in happiness and prosperity in Bagdad. Here are the stories which\nhe told to his friends of his seven marvelous voyages.\n\n\nTHE FIRST VOYAGE\n\nMy father died while I was young and left me a fortune. Having no one to\nrestrain me, I fell into bad ways, by which I not only wasted my time,\nbut injured my health, and destroyed my property.\n\nWhen I recovered, I collected together what was left of my fortune, and\nbought merchandise, which I loaded on board a vessel for the port of\nBalsora.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nDuring the voyage we touched at several islands, where we sold or\nexchanged our goods. We were one day becalmed near a small island. As\nits appearance was inviting, we determined to dine upon it. But while we\nwere laughing and preparing for dinner, the island began to move, and at\nthe same moment the people in the ship called out that we were on the\nback of a monstrous whale. Some jumped into the boat, and others swam to\nthe ship; but before I could get off the animal dived into the sea, and\nI had only time to catch hold of a piece of wood that had been brought\nfrom the ship to serve as a table. Upon this piece of timber I was\ncarried away by the current. The others reached the vessel, but a gale\nsprang up and the ship sailed without me. I floated during that and the\nnext night, but the following morning was thrown on a small island.\n\nI found fresh water and fruit. I looked about for some house, but found\nnone. There were a number of colts grazing together, but no traces of\nother animals. When evening approached I took some more fruit and\nclimbed in a tree to sleep. About midnight the sound of trumpets and\ndrums seemed to pass around the island, which continued until morning,\nwhen again it seemed to be uninhabited. On the next day I found that the\nisland was small, and that no other land was in sight. I therefore gave\nmyself up as lost. Nor were my fears lessened when I found that the\nshore abounded with enormous serpents and other sea monsters. I found,\nhowever, that they were timid, and that the rattling of sticks would\nmake them dive into the water.\n\n[Illustration: _Sindbad the Sailor_\nWe Rowed as Fast as we Could]\n\nI climbed the tree next night, and the drums and trumpets returned as\nbefore. On the third day, I had the satisfaction of seeing a body of\nmen, who, on landing, were astonished to see me there. Having related\nto them how I came hither, they told me they were grooms of King\nMihrage; that the island belonged to genii, who visited it every night\nwith drums and trumpets; that the genii had allowed their sovereign to\ntrain his colts upon the island; and that they, being sent every six\nmonths to select some, had arrived for that purpose.\n\nThe grooms carried me to King Mihrage, who allowed me apartments in his\npalace.\n\nOne day I saw men unloading a ship in the harbor, and saw that some of\nthe bales were those which I had sent to Balsora. Going up to the\ncaptain, I said:\n\n\"Captain, I am Sindbad.\"\n\n\"Surely,\" said he, \"I and the passengers saw Sindbad swallowed in the\nwaves many hundred miles away.\"\n\nSome others, however, coming up, I was recognized; and the captain then\nrestored me the bales, with many congratulations. I made a valuable\npresent to King Mihrage, who bestowed a rich gift on me in return; and,\nhaving made some advantageous purchases, I arrived at Balsora, where,\nafter I had sold my goods, I found myself possessed of a hundred\nthousand sequins.\n\n\nTHE SECOND VOYAGE\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBecoming weary of a quiet life in Balsora, and having bought trading\ngoods, I again went to sea with some merchants. After touching at\nseveral places, we landed at an uninhabited island. We amused ourselves\nin different ways, but I, having taken my wine and provisions, sat down\nand fell asleep. When I awoke, I found that my companions were gone, and\nthat the ship had sailed. I climbed to the top of a very high tree, and\nperceived at a distance an object that was very large and white. I\ndescended to the ground, and ran toward this strange-looking object.\nWhen I approached it I found it was about fifty paces in circumference,\nquite round, and as smooth as ivory, but had no sort of opening. It was\nnow almost sunset, and suddenly the sky became darkened. I looked up and\nbeheld a bird of enormous size, moving like a prodigious cloud toward\nme. I recollected that I had heard of a bird called the roc, so large\nthat it could carry away young elephants, and I therefore conjectured\nthat the large object I had been looking at was the egg of this bird.\n\nAs the bird approached I crept close to the egg, so that I had one of\nthe legs of this winged animal before me when it alighted. This limb\nbeing as large as the trunk of a tree, I tied myself firmly to it with\nmy turban.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe next morning the bird flew away, and carried me from this desert\nisland. I was borne so high that I could not see the earth, and then\ncarried downward so swiftly that I lost my senses. When I recovered, I\nwas on the ground. I quickly untied the cloth that bound me, and\nscarcely was I free when the bird, having taken up a large serpent,\nagain flew away. I found myself in a deep valley, the sides of which\nwere too steep to be climbed. As I walked up and down in despair I\nnoticed that the valley was covered with diamonds of enormous size. But\nI soon saw other objects of much less agreeable appearance. Immense\nserpents were peeping out of holes on every side. When night came, I\ntook shelter in a cave, the entrance of which I guarded with the largest\nstones I could find, but the hissing of the serpents entirely deprived\nme of sleep. When day returned, the serpents retired to their holes; and\nI came out of my cave, but with extreme fear. I walked heedless of the\nserpents until I became weary, and then sat down and fell asleep. I was\nawakened by something which fell near me. It was a large piece of fresh\nmeat, and presently I saw several other pieces.\n\nI was now convinced that I must be in the famous valley of diamonds, and\nthat the pieces of meat were thrown in by merchants, who expected eagles\nto pounce upon the flesh, to which diamonds were almost sure to\nadhere. I hastened to pick up some of the largest diamonds I could find,\nwhich I put into a little bag, and fastened it to my girdle. I then\nselected the largest piece of flesh in the valley, which I tied to my\nwaist with the cloth of my turban, and then lay down upon my face to\nwait for the eagles. Very soon one of the strongest pounced upon the\nmeat on my back, and flew with me to its nest on the top of the\nmountain. The merchants began shouting to frighten the eagles, and when\nthey had forced the birds to quit their prey, one of them came to the\nnest where I was. At first the man was frightened when he saw me there,\nbut after recovering himself, asked me how I got there. I told him and\nthe rest of the merchants my story. I then opened my bag, and they\ndeclared that they had never seen diamonds of equal luster and size with\nmine. The merchants having gathered their diamonds together, we left the\nplace the next morning, and crossed the mountains until we reached a\nport. We there took ship and proceeded to the island of Roha. At that\nplace I exchanged some of my diamonds for other merchandise, and we went\non to Balsora. From Balsora I reached my native city, Bagdad, in which I\nlived easily upon the vast riches I had won.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nTHE THIRD VOYAGE\n\nI soon resolved upon a third voyage, and once more took ship at Balsora.\nAfter we had been at sea a few weeks, we were overtaken by a dreadful\nstorm, and were obliged to cast anchor near an island which the captain\nhad endeavored to avoid; for he assured us that it was inhabited by\npigmy savages, covered with hair, who would speedily attack us in great\nnumbers. Soon an innumerable multitude of frightful savages, about two\nfeet high, boarded the ship. Resistance was useless. They took down our\nsails, cut our cable, towed the ship to land, and made us all go on\nshore. We went towards the interior of the island and discovered a large\nbuilding. It was a lofty palace, having a gate of ebony, which we pushed\nopen, and soon discovered a room in which were human bones and roasting\nspits. Presently there appeared a hideous black man, who was as tall as\na palm tree. He had but one eye, his teeth were long and sharp, and his\nnails like the talons of a bird. He took me up as I would a kitten, but\nfinding I was little better than skin and bone, put me down with\ncontempt. The captain, being the fattest of the party, was sacrificed\nto his appetite. When the monster had finished his meal he stretched\nhimself upon a great stone bench in the portico, and fell asleep,\nsnoring louder than thunder. In this manner he slept till morning. In\nthe morning he went out. I said to my companions:\n\n\"Do not waste time in useless sorrow; let us hurry to look for timber\nto make rafts.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWe found some timber on the seashore, and labored hard; but having no\ntools, it was evening before we had finished; and while we were on the\npoint of pushing the raft off the beach, our hideous tyrant returned\nand drove us to his palace, as if we had been a flock of sheep. We saw\nanother of our companions sacrificed, and the giant lay down to sleep as\nbefore. Our desperate condition gave us courage; nine of us got up very\nsoftly, and held the points of the roasting spits in the fire until we\nmade them red-hot; we then thrust them at once into the monster's eye.\nHe uttered a frightful scream, and having tried in vain to find us,\nopened the ebony gate and left the palace. We did not stay long behind\nhim, but ran to the seashore, got our rafts ready, and waited for\ndaylight to embark. But at dawn we beheld our monstrous enemy, led by\ntwo giants of equal size, and followed by many others. We jumped upon\nour rafts, and pushed them from the shore, the tide helping us. The\ngiants seeing us likely to escape, tore great pieces of rock, and wading\nin the water up to their waists, hurled them at us with all their might.\nThey sank every one of the rafts but that on which I was; thus all my\ncompanions, except two, were drowned. We rowed as fast as we could, and\ngot out of the reach of these monsters. We were at sea two days, but at\nlast found a pleasant island. After eating some fruit, we lay down to\nsleep, but were soon awakened by the hissing of an enormous serpent. One\nof my comrades was instantly devoured by this terrific creature. I\nclimbed up a tree as fast as I could, and reached the topmost branches;\nmy remaining companion was following me, but the dreadful reptile\nentwined itself round the tree and caught him. The serpent then went\ndown and glided away. I waited until late the next day before I ventured\nto descend. Evening again approached, and I gathered together a great\nquantity of small wood, brambles, and thorns. Having made them into\nfagots, I formed a circle round the tree, and fastened the uppermost to\nthe branches of the tree. I then climbed up to the highest branches. At\nnight the serpent came again, but could not reach the tree; and crawling\nvainly round and round my little fortification until daylight, he went\naway. The next day I spied a ship in full sail a long way off. With the\nlinen of my turban I made a signal, which was perceived. I was taken on\nboard the ship and there told my adventures. The captain was very kind\nto me. He said that he had some bales of goods which had belonged to a\nmerchant who had unintentionally left him some time ago on an\nuninhabited island. As this man was undoubtedly dead, he intended to\nsell the goods for the benefit of his relatives, and I should have the\nprofit of selling them. I now recollected this was the captain with whom\nI sailed on my second voyage. I soon convinced him that I was really\nSindbad, whom he supposed to have been lost. He was delighted at the\ndiscovery, and eagerly acknowledged that the property was mine. I\ncontinued my voyage, sold my goods to great advantage, and returned\nto Bagdad.\n\n\nMY FOURTH VOYAGE\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMy desire of seeing foreign countries rendered my pleasures at home\nunsatisfactory. I therefore arranged my affairs, commenced a voyage to\nPersia, and having bought a large stock of goods loaded a ship and again\nembarked. The ship struck upon a rock, and the cargo was lost. A few\nothers and myself were borne by the current to an island, on which we\nwere surrounded by black savages, and carried to their huts. The savages\noffered us herbs; my companions eagerly took them, for they were hungry.\nGrief would not allow me to eat; and presently I saw that the herbs had\nmade my comrades senseless. Rice, mixed with oil of cocoanuts, was then\noffered to us, which my companions ate greedily and grew fat. My unhappy\nfriends were then devoured one after another, having become appetizing\nto the cannibals. But I languished so much that they did not think me\nfit to eat. They left me to the care of an old man, from whom I managed\nto escape; and taking care to go a contrary way from that which the\nsavages had taken I never stopped till night. At the end of seven days,\non the seashore I found a number of white persons gathering pepper. They\nasked me in Arabic who I was, and whence I came; and I gave them an\naccount of the shipwreck, and of my escape. They treated me kindly and\npresented me to their King, who treated me with great liberality. During\nmy stay with them, I observed that when the King and his nobles went\nhunting, they rode their horses without bridle or saddle. With the\nassistance of some workmen I made a bridle and saddle, and having put\nthem upon one of the King's horses, presented the animal, thus\nequipped, to His Majesty. He was so delighted that he instantly mounted\nand rode about the grounds almost the whole day. All the ministers of\nstate and the nobility induced me to make saddles and bridles for them,\nfor which they made me such magnificent presents that I soon became very\nrich. The King at last requested that I would marry, and become one of\nhis nation. From a variety of circumstances I could not refuse, and he\ntherefore gave me one of the ladies of his Court, who was young, rich,\nbeautiful, and virtuous. We lived in the greatest harmony in a palace\nbelonging to my wife. I had made a good friend of a very worthy man who\nlived in this place. Hearing one day that his wife had just died, I went\nto condole with him on this unexpected calamity. We were alone together,\nand he appeared to be in the deepest grief. After I had talked with him\nsome time on the uselessness of so much sorrow, he told me that it was\nan established law that the living husband should be buried with the\ndeceased wife, and that within an hour he must submit. I shuddered at\nthe dreadful custom. In a short time the woman was attired in her most\ncostly dress and jewels, and placed in an open coffin. The procession\nthen began, the husband following the corpse. They ascended to the top\nof an exceedingly high mountain, and a great stone was removed, which\ncovered the mouth of a deep pit. The corpse was let down, and the\nhusband, having taken leave of his friends, was put into another open\ncoffin, with a pot of water and seven small loaves, and he was let down.\nThe stone was replaced and they all returned. The horror of this was\nstill fresh upon my mind, when my wife fell sick and died. The King and\nthe whole Court, out of respect to me, instantly prepared to assist at a\nsimilar ceremony with me. I restrained the feeling of despair until we\narrived at the top of the mountain, when I fell at the feet of the King\nand begged him to spare my life. All I said was ineffectual, and after\nmy wife was let down, I also was put into the deep pit, everyone being\ntotally indifferent to my cries and lamentations. I made the cave echo\nwith my vain complaints. I lived some days on the bread and water which\nhad been put into my coffin, but this supply was at length exhausted. I\nthen wandered to a remote part of this frightful cave and lay down to\nprepare for death. I was thus wishing only for a speedy termination of\nmy misery, when I heard something walking and panting. I started up,\nupon which the thing panted still more, and then ran away. I pursued it,\nand sometimes it seemed to stop, but on my approach continued to go on\nbefore me. I pursued it, until at last I saw a glimmering light like a\nstar. This redoubled my eagerness, until at last I discovered a hole\nlarge enough to allow my escape. I crept through the aperture, and found\nmyself on the seashore, and discovered that the creature was a sea\nmonster which had been accustomed to enter at that hole to feed upon the\ndead bodies. Having eaten some shellfish, I returned to the cave, where\nI collected all the jewels I could find in the dark. These I carried to\nthe seashore, and tied them up very neatly into bales with the cords\nthat let down the coffins. I laid them on the beach, waiting till some\nship should pass. In two days a ship came out of the harbor, and passed\nby that part of the coast. I made a signal, and a boat took me on board.\nI was obliged to say that I had been wrecked; for, had they known my\nreal story, I should have been carried back, as the captain was a\nnative of this country. We touched at several islands, and at the port\nof Kela, where I found a ship ready to sail for Balsora; and having\npresented some jewels to the captain who had brought me to Kela, I\nsailed, and at last arrived at Bagdad.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nTHE FIFTH VOYAGE\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHaving forgotten my former perils, I built a ship at my own expense,\nloaded it with a rich cargo, and, taking with me other merchants, once\nmore set sail. We were much driven about by a storm, and at length\nlanded upon a desert island to search for fresh water. There we found a\nroc's egg, equal in size to the one I had seen before. The merchants and\nsailors gathered round it, and though I advised them not to meddle with\nit, they nevertheless made a hole in it with their hatchets, and picked\nout the young roc, piece after piece, and roasted it. They had scarcely\nfinished when two of the old birds appeared in the air. We hurried on\nboard ship and set sail, but had not gone far before we saw the immense\nbirds approaching us, and soon after they hovered over the ship. One of\nthem let fall an enormous fragment of stone, which fell into the sea\nclose beside the ship, but the other let fall a piece which split our\nship. I caught hold of a bit of the wreck, on which I was borne by the\nwind and tide to an island, the shore of which was very steep. I reached\nthe dry land, and found the most delicious fruits and excellent water,\nwhich refreshed me. Farther in the island I saw a feeble old man sitting\nnear a rivulet. When I enquired of him how he came there, he only\nanswered by signs for me to carry him over the rivulet, that he might\neat some fruit. I took him on my back, and crossed the brook, but\ninstead of getting down, he clasped his legs so firmly round my throat\nthat I thought he would strangle me. I soon fainted with pain and\nfright. When I recovered, the old fellow was still sitting on my neck,\nand he quickly made me rise up and walk under the trees, while he\ngathered the fruit at his ease. This lasted a long time. One day, while\ncarrying him about, I picked up a large gourd called a calabash, and,\nhaving cleared out the inside, I pressed into it the juice of grapes.\nHaving filled it, I left it for several days, and at length found that\nit became excellent wine. I drank of this, and for a while forgot my\nsorrows, so that I began to sing with cheerfulness. The old man made me\ngive him the calabash, and liking the flavor of the wine, he drank it\noff, soon became intoxicated, fell from my shoulders, and, died in\nconvulsions. I hastened to the seaside, and presently found the crew of\na ship. They told me I had fallen into the hands of the Old Man of the\nSea, and was the first person that had ever escaped. I sailed with them,\nand the captain, when we landed, took me to some persons whose\nemployment was to gather cocoanuts. We all took up stones and pelted the\nmonkeys that were at the very top of the cocoanut trees, and these\nanimals in return pelted us with cocoanuts. When we had obtained as\nmany as we could carry, we returned to the town. I soon obtained a\nconsiderable sum by the cocoanuts I thus gathered, and at length sailed\nfor my native land.\n\n\nTHE SIXTH VOYAGE\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAt the expiration of another year, I prepared for a sixth voyage. This\nproved very long and unfortunate, for the pilot lost his course and knew\nnot where to steer. At length he told us we must inevitably be dashed to\npieces against a rock, which we were fast approaching. In a few moments\nthe vessel was a complete wreck. We saved our lives, our provisions, and\nour goods.\n\nThe shore on which we were cast was at the foot of a mountain which it\nwas impossible to climb, so that I shortly beheld my companions die one\nafter another. There was a frightful cavern in the rock, through which\nflowed a river. To this, in a fit of desperation, I resolved to trust\nmyself. I went to work and made a long raft. I loaded it with bales of\nrich stuffs, and large pieces of rock crystal, of which the mountain was\nin a great measure formed. I went on board the raft, and the current\ncarried me along. I was carried in darkness during many days, and at\nlast fell asleep. When I awoke, I found myself in a pleasant country.\nMy raft was tied up and some blacks, who were near me, said that they\nhad found me floating in the river which waters their land. They took me\nto their King, and carefully conducted my cargo with me. When we came to\nthe city of Serindib, I related my story to the monarch, who ordered it\nto be written in letters of gold. I presented the King with some of the\nmost beautiful pieces of rock crystal, and entreated him to let me\nreturn to my own country, which he readily agreed to, and even gave me\na letter and a present to my sovereign, the Caliph Haroun Alrashid. The\npresent consisted of a ruby made into a cup, and decorated with pearls;\nthe skin of a serpent, which appeared like burnished gold, and which\ncould repel disease; some aloe-wood, camphire, and a beautiful female\nslave. I returned to my native country, delivered the present to the\nCaliph, and received his thanks, with a reward.\n\n\nTHE SEVENTH AND LAST VOYAGE\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe Caliph Haroun Alrashid one day sent for me, and told me I must bear\na present to the King of Serindib. I ventured to protest on account of\nmy age, but I could not persuade him to give up his plan. I arrived at\nSerindib, and prayed an audience with the King. I was conducted to the\npalace with great respect, and delivered to the monarch the Caliph's\nletter and present. The present consisted of the most ingenious and\nvaluable works of art, with which the King was exceedingly delighted,\nand he was also pleased to acknowledge how much he esteemed my services.\nWhen I departed, the monarch bestowed on me some rich gifts; but the\nship had not long been at sea, before it was attacked by pirates, who\nseized the vessel, and carried us away as slaves. I was sold to a\nmerchant. When my master found that I could use the bow and arrow with\nskill, he took me upon an elephant, and carried me to a vast forest in\nthe country. My master ordered me to climb a high tree, and wait there\nuntil I saw a troop of elephants pass by. I was then to shoot at them,\nand if one of them fell, I was to go to the city and give the merchant\nnotice. Having given me these directions, and a bag of provisions, he\nleft me. On the morning of the second day, I saw a great number of\nelephants. I succeeded in shooting one of them, upon which the others\nwent away, and I returned to the city and told my employer, who praised\nmy work. We went back to the forest and dug a hole, in which the\nelephant was to remain until it decayed and left the teeth free. I\ncontinued this trade nearly two months, and killed an elephant almost\nevery day. One morning all the elephants came up to the tree in which I\nwas and trumpeted dreadfully. One of them fastened his trunk round the\ntree and tore it up by the roots. I fell with the tree; the animal took\nme up with his trunk, and placed me on his back, and then, at the head\nof his troop, he brought me to a place where he gently laid me on the\nground, and they all went away. I discovered that I was upon a large\nbroad hill, covered all over with the bones and teeth of elephants, and\nwas soon convinced that this was their burying-place. I reached the city\nonce more; my master thought I was lost, for he had seen the torn tree,\nand found my bow and arrows. I told him what had happened, and led him\nto the hill. We loaded the elephant on which we had come, and thus\ncollected more teeth than a man could have obtained in his whole life.\nThe merchant told me that not only he himself, but the whole city, was\nindebted to me, and that I should return to my own country with\nsufficient wealth to make me happy. My patron loaded a ship with ivory,\nand the other merchants made me valuable presents. I reached Balsora\nand landed my ivory, which I found to be more valuable than I had\nexpected. I set out with caravans to travel overland, and at last\nreached Bagdad, where I presented myself to the Caliph, and gave an\naccount of my embassy. He was so astonished at my adventure with the\nelephants that he ordered the narrative of it to be written in letters\nof gold and to be deposited in his treasury.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nHANSEL AND GRETEL\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nOnce upon a time there dwelt near a large wood a poor wood-cutter, with\nhis wife and two children by his former marriage, a little boy called\nHansel and a girl named Gretel. He had little enough to eat; and once,\nwhen there was a great famine in the land, he could not get even his\ndaily bread. As he lay thinking in his bed one evening, rolling about\nfor trouble, he sighed, and said to his wife, \"What will become of us?\nHow can we feed our children, when we have no more than we can eat\nourselves?\"\n\n\"Well, then, my husband,\" answered she, \"we will lead them away, quite\nearly in the morning, into the thickest part of the wood, and there make\nthem a fire, and give them each a little piece of bread. Then we will go\nto our work and leave them alone, so they will not find the way home\nagain, and we shall be freed from them.\"\n\n\"No, wife,\" replied he; \"that I can never do. How can you bring your\nheart to leave my children all alone in the wood; for the wild beasts\nwill soon come and tear them to pieces?\"\n\n\"Oh, you simpleton!\" said she. \"Then we must all four die of hunger.\"\n\nBut she gave him no peace until he consented, saying, \"Ah, but I shall\nregret the poor children.\"\n\nThe two children, however, had not gone to sleep for very hunger, and so\nthey overheard what the stepmother said to their father. Gretel wept\nbitterly, and said to Hansel, \"What will become of us?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Be quiet, Gretel,\" said he. \"Do not cry--I will soon help you.\" And as\nsoon as their parents had fallen asleep he got up, put on his coat,\nand, unbarring the back door, slipped out. The moon shone brightly, and\nthe white pebbles which lay before the door seemed like silver pieces,\nthey glittered so brightly. Hansel stooped down, and put as many into\nhis pocket as it would hold; and then, going back, he said to Gretel,\n\"Be comforted, dear sister, and sleep in peace; God will not forsake\nus.\" And so saying, he went to bed again.\n\nThe next morning, before the sun arose, the wife went and awoke the two\nchildren. \"Get up, you lazy things; we are going into the forest to chop\nwood.\" Then she gave them each a piece of bread, saying, \"There is\nsomething for your dinner; do not eat it before the time, for you will\nget nothing else.\"\n\nGretel took the bread in her apron, for Hansel's pocket was full of\npebbles; and so they all set out upon their way. When they had gone a\nlittle distance, Hansel stood still, and peeped back at the house; and\nthis he repeated several times, till his father said, \"Hansel, what are\nyou peeping at, and why do you lag behind? Take care, and remember\nyour legs.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Ah, father,\" said Hansel, \"I am looking at my white cat sitting upon\nthe roof of the house, and trying to say good-bye.\"\n\n\"You simpleton!\" said the wife, \"that is not a cat; it is only the sun\nshining on the white chimney.\"\n\nBut in reality Hansel was not looking at a cat; but every time he\nstopped he dropped a pebble out of his pocket upon the path.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhen they came to the middle of the wood the father told the children to\ncollect wood, and he would make them a fire, so that they should not be\ncold. So Hansel and Gretel gathered together quite a little mountain of\ntwigs. Then they set fire to them; and as the flame burnt up high, the\nwife said, \"Now, you children, lie down near the fire, and rest\nyourselves, while we go into the forest and chop wood. When we are\nready I will come and call you.\"\n\nHansel and Gretel sat down by the fire, and when it was noon each ate\nthe piece of bread; and because they could hear the blows of an axe,\nthey thought their father was near; but it was not an axe, but a branch\nwhich he had bound to a withered tree, so as to be blown to and fro by\nthe wind.\n\nThey waited so long, that at last their eyes closed from weariness, and\nthey fell fast asleep. When they awoke it was quite dark, and Gretel\nbegan to cry, \"How shall we get out of the wood?\" But Hansel tried to\ncomfort her, saying, \"Wait a little while till the moon rises, and then\nwe will quickly find the way.\"\n\nThe moon soon shone forth, and Hansel, taking his sister's hand,\nfollowed the pebbles, which glittered like new-coined silver pieces, and\nshowed them the path. All night long they walked on, and as day broke\nthey came to their father's house. They knocked at the door, and when\nthe wife opened it and saw Hansel and Gretel, she exclaimed, \"You wicked\nchildren! why did you sleep so long in the wood? We thought you were\nnever coming home again.\" But their father was very glad, for it had\ngrieved his heart to leave them all alone.\n\nNot long afterwards there was again great scarcity in every corner of\nthe land; and one night the children overheard their mother saying to\ntheir father, \"Everything is again eaten. We have only half a loaf left,\nand then we must starve. The children must be sent away. We will take\nthem deeper into the wood, so that they may not find the way out again;\nit is the only means of escape for us.\"\n\nBut her husband felt heavy at heart, and thought. \"It were better to\nshare the last crust with the children.\" His wife, however, would listen\nto nothing that he said, and scolded and reproached him without end.\n\nNow the children had heard what had been said as they lay awake, and as\nsoon as the old people went to sleep Hansel got up, intending to pick up\nsome pebbles as before; but the wife had locked the door, so that he\ncould not get out. Nevertheless he comforted Gretel, saying, \"Do not\ncry; sleep in peace; the good God will not forsake us.\"\n\nEarly in the morning the stepmother came and pulled them out of bed, and\ngave them each a slice of bread, which was still smaller than the one\nthey had last time. On the way Hansel broke his in his pocket, and,\nstooping every now and then, dropped a crumb upon the path.\n\n\"Hansel, why do you stop and look about?\" said the father. \"Keep in the\npath.\"\n\n\"I am looking at my little dove,\" answered Hansel, \"nodding a good-bye\nto me.\"\n\n\"Simpleton!\" said the wife, \"that is no dove, but only the sun shining\non the chimney.\"\n\nBut Hansel kept still dropping crumbs as he went along.\n\nThe mother led the children deep into the wood, where they had never\nbeen before, and there, making an immense fire, she said to them, \"Sit\ndown here and rest, and when you feel tired you can sleep for a little\nwhile. We are going into the forest to hew wood, and in the evening,\nwhen we are ready, we will come and fetch you.\"\n\nWhen noon came Gretel shared her bread with Hansel, who had strewn his\non the path. They then went to sleep; but the evening arrived and no one\ncame to visit the poor children, and in the dark night they awoke, and\nHansel comforted his sister by saying, \"Only wait, Gretel, till the moon\ncomes out, then we shall see the crumbs of bread which I have dropped,\nand they will show us the way home.\"\n\nWhen the moon shone they got up, but they could not see any crumbs, for\nthe thousands of birds which had been flying about in the woods and\nfields had picked them all up. Hansel kept saying to Gretel, \"We will\nsoon find the way.\" But they did not. They walked the whole night long\nand the next day, but still they did not come out of the wood; and they\ngot very hungry, for they had nothing to eat but the berries which they\nfound upon the bushes. Soon they got so tired that they could not drag\nthemselves along, so they lay down under a tree and went to sleep.\n\nIt was now the third morning since they had left their father's house,\nand they still walked on; but they only got deeper and deeper into the\nwood, and Hansel saw that if help did not come very soon they would die\nof hunger. About the middle of the day they saw a beautiful snow-white\nbird sitting on a bough, which sang so sweetly that they stood still and\nlistened to it. It soon left off and, spreading its wings, flew away.\nThey followed it until it arrived at a cottage, upon the roof of which\nit perched; and when they went close up to it they saw that the cottage\nwas made of bread and cakes, and the window-panes were of clear sugar.\n\n\"We will go in there,\" said Hansel, \"and have a glorious feast. I will\neat a piece of the roof, and you can eat the window. Will they not be\nsweet?\"\n\nSo Hansel reached up and broke a piece off the roof, in order to see how\nit tasted; while Gretel stepped up to the window and began to bite it.\nThen a sweet voice called out in the room, \"Tip-tap, tip-tap, who raps\nat my door?\" and the children answered, \"The wind, the wind, the child\nof heaven;\" and they went on eating.\n\nHansel thought the roof tasted very nice, and so he tore off a great\npiece; while Gretel broke a large round pane out of the window and sat\ndown quite contentedly. Just then the door opened, and a very old\nwoman, walking upon crutches, came out. Hansel and Gretel were so\nfrightened that they let fall what they had in their hands; but the\nold woman, nodding her head, said, \"Ah, you dear children, what has\nbrought you here? Come in and stay with me, and no harm shall befall\nyou.\" And so saying, she took them both by the hand and led them into\nher cottage.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA good meal of milk and pancakes, with sugar, apples and nuts, was\nspread on the table, and in the back room were two nice little beds,\ncovered with white, where Hansel and Gretel laid themselves down, and\nrested happily after all their hardships. The old woman was very kind\nto them, but in reality she was a wicked witch who waylaid children,\nand built the bread-house in order to entice them in; then as soon as\nthey were in her power she killed them, cooked and ate them, and made\na great festival of the day.\n\nWitches have red eyes and cannot see very far; but they have a fine\nsense of smell, like wild beasts, so that they know when children\napproach them. When Hansel and Gretel came near the witch's house she\nlaughed wickedly, saying, \"Here come two who shall not escape me.\" And\nearly in the morning, before they awoke, she went up to them, and saw\nhow lovingly they lay sleeping, with their chubby red cheeks; and she\nmumbled to herself, \"That will be a good bite.\" Then she took up\nHansel with her rough hand, and shut him up in a little cage with a\nlattice-door; and although he screamed loudly it was of no use. Gretel\ncame next, and, shaking her till she awoke, she said, \"Get up, you lazy\nthing, and fetch some water to cook something good for your brother, who\nmust remain in that stall and get fat; when he is fat enough I shall eat\nhim.\"\n\nGretel began to cry, but it was all useless, for the old witch made her\ndo as she wished. So a nice meal was cooked for Hansel, but Gretel got\nnothing but a crab's claw.\n\nEvery morning the old witch came to the cage and said, \"Hansel, stretch\nout your finger that I may feel whether you are getting fat.\" But Hansel\nused to stretch out a bone, and the old woman, having very bad sight,\nthought that it was his finger, and wondered very much that he did not\nget fatter.\n\nWhen four weeks had passed, and Hansel was still quite lean, she lost\nall her patience, and would not wait any longer. \"Gretel,\" she called\nout in a passion, \"get some water quickly; be Hansel fat or lean, this\nmorning I will kill and cook him.\"\n\nOh, how the poor little sister grieved, as she was forced to fetch the\nwater, and fast the tears ran down her cheeks! \"Dear good God, help us\nnow!\" she exclaimed. \"Had we only been eaten by the wild beasts in the\nwood, then we should have died together.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut the old witch called out, \"Stop that noise; it will not help you a\nbit.\"\n\nSo, early in the morning, Gretel was forced to go out and fill the\nkettle, and make a fire.\n\n\"First, we will bake, however,\" said the old woman; \"I have already\nheated the oven and kneaded the dough;\" and so saying, she pushed poor\nGretel up to the oven, out of which the flames were burning fiercely.\n\"Creep in,\" said the witch, \"and see if it is hot enough, and then we\nwill put in the bread.\" But she intended when Gretel got in to shut up\nthe oven and let her bake, so that she might eat her as well as Hansel.\n\nGretel saw what her thoughts were and said, \"I do not know how to do it;\nhow shall I get in?\"\n\n\"You stupid goose,\" said she, \"the opening is big enough. See, I could\neven get in myself!\" And she got up, and put her head into the oven.\n\nThen Gretel gave her a push, so that she fell right in, and then,\nshutting the iron door, she bolted it. Oh! how horribly she howled; but\nGretel ran away, and left the wicked witch to burn to ashes.\n\nNow she ran to Hansel, and, opening his door, called out, \"Hansel we are\nsaved; the old witch is dead!\" So he sprang out, like a bird out of his\ncage when the door is opened; and they were so glad that they fell upon\neach other's neck, and kissed each other over and over again.\n\nAnd now, as there was nothing to fear, they went into the witch's house,\nwhere, in every corner, were caskets full of pearls and precious stones.\n\"These are better than pebbles,\" said Hansel, putting as many into his\npocket as it would hold; while Gretel thought, \"I will take some home\ntoo,\" and filled her apron full. \"We must be off now,\" said Hansel, \"and\nget out of this enchanted forest.\"\n\nWhen they had walked for two hours they came to a large piece of water.\n\"We cannot get over,\" said Hansel. \"I can see no bridge at all.\"\n\n\"And there is no boat, either,\" said Gretel; \"but there swims a white\nduck--I will ask her to help us over,\" and she sang:\n\n    \"Little Duck so blithe and merry,\n       Hansel, Gretel, here we stand;\n     There is neither bridge nor ferry,\n       Row us on your back to land.\"\n\nSo the Duck came to them, and Hansel sat himself on her back, and bade\nhis sister sit behind him.\n\n\"No,\" answered Gretel, \"that will be too much for the Duck; she shall\ntake us over one at a time.\"\n\nThis the good little bird did, and when both were happily arrived on the\nother side, and had gone a little way, they came to a wood, which they\nknew the better every step they went, and at last they saw their\nfather's house. Then they began to run, and, bursting into the house,\nthey fell on their father's neck.\n\nHe had not had one happy hour since he had left the children in the\nforest; and his wife was dead. Gretel shook her apron, and the pearls\nand precious stones rolled out on the floor, and Hansel threw down one\nhandful after another out of his pocket. Then all their sorrows were\nended, and they lived together in great happiness.\n\n\n\n\nTHE GOOSE GIRL\n\n\nOnce upon a time there lived an old Queen, whose husband had been dead\nsome years, and left her with one child, a beautiful daughter. When this\ndaughter grew up she was to be married to a King's son, who lived far\naway.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow when the time came for her to leave, the mother gave her daughter a\nlock of hair, saying, \"Dear child, preserve this well, and it will help\nyou out of trouble.\"\n\nAfterwards the mother and daughter took a sorrowful leave of each other,\nand the princess placed the lock of hair in her bosom, mounted her horse\nFalada, and rode away to her intended bridegroom. Now this horse could\nspeak. After she had ridden for about an hour she became very thirsty,\nand said to her servant, \"Dismount, and bring me some water from yonder\nstream in the cup which you carry with you, for I am very thirsty.\"\n\n\"If you are thirsty,\" replied the servant, \"dismount yourself, and stoop\ndown to drink the water, for I will not be your maid!\"\n\nThe Princess, on account of her great thirst, did as she was bid, and\nbending over the brook she drank of its water without daring to use her\ngolden cup. While she did so the lock of hair said, \"Ah! if thy mother\nknew this, her heart would break.\"\n\nAs she leaned over the water, the lock of hair fell out of her bosom and\nfloated down the stream without her noticing it, because of her great\nanguish. But her servant had seen what happened, and she was glad, for\nnow she had power over her mistress, because with the loss of the lock\nof hair, she became weak and helpless. When, then, the Princess was\ngoing to mount her horse again, the maid said, \"No, Falada belongs to\nme; you must get upon this horse:\" and she was forced to yield. Then\nthe servant bade her take off her royal clothes, and put on her common\nones instead; and, lastly, she made the Princess promise and swear by\nthe open sky that she would say nought of what had passed at the King's\npalace; for if she had not sworn she would have been murdered. But\nFalada, the horse, observed all that passed with great attention.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen the servant mounted upon Falada, and the rightful Princess upon\na sorry hack; and in that way they traveled on till they came to the\nKing's palace. On their arrival there were great rejoicings, and the\nyoung Prince, running towards them, lifted the servant off her horse,\nsupposing that she was the true bride; and she was led up the steps in\nstate, while the real Princess had to stop below. Just then the old King\nchanced to look out of his window and saw her standing in the court,\nand he remarked how delicate and beautiful she was; and, going to the\nroyal apartments, he inquired there of the bride who it was she had\nbrought with her and left below in the courtyard.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Only a girl whom I brought with me for company,\" said the bride. \"Give\nthe wench some work to do, that she may not grow idle.\"\n\nThe old King, however, had no work for her, and knew of nothing; until\nat last he said, \"Ah! there is a boy who keeps the geese: she can help\nhim.\" This youth was called Conrad, and the true bride was set to keep\ngeese with him.\n\nSoon after this, the false bride said to her betrothed, \"Dearest, will\nyou grant me a favor?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said he; \"with the greatest pleasure.\"\n\n\"Then let the butcher be summoned, that he may cut off the head of the\nhorse on which I rode hither, for it has angered me on the way.\" In\nreality she feared lest the horse might tell how she had used the\nrightful Princess, and she was glad when it was decided that Falada\nshould die.\n\nThis came to the ears of the Princess, and she promised secretly to the\nbutcher to give him a piece of gold if he would show her a kindness,\nwhich was, that he would nail the head of Falada over a certain large\nand gloomy arch, through which she had to pass daily with the geese, so\nthat then she might still see her old steed as she had been accustomed.\nThe butcher promised, and, after killing the horse, nailed the head in\nthe place which the Princess pointed out, over the door of the arch.\n\nEarly in the morning, when she and Conrad drove the geese through the\narch, she said in passing:\n\n    \"Ah, Falada, that you\n     hang so high!\"\n\nand the head replied:\n\n    \"Ah Princess, that you go humbly by!\n     Thy mother's heart would surely break\n     Were she to know of your heart-ache!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen she drove on through the town to a field. When they arrived in the\nmeadow, she sat down and unloosened her hair, which was of pure gold.\nIts shining appearance so charmed Conrad that he tried to pull out a\ncouple of locks. So she sang:\n\n    \"Blow, blow, thou wind,\n     Blow Conrad's hat away.\"\n\nImmediately there came a strong wind, which snatched Conrad's hat off\nhis head, and led him a rare chase; and when he returned what with\ncombing and curling, the Princess had rearranged her hair, so that he\ncould not catch a loose lock. This made Conrad very angry, and he would\nnot speak to her; so all day long they tended their geese in silence.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter they returned home Conrad went to the old King and declared he\nwould no longer keep geese with the servant.\n\n\"Why not?\" asked the old King.\n\n\"Oh! she vexes me the whole day long,\" said Conrad; and then the King\nbade him tell all that had happened. So Conrad did, and told how, in\nthe morning, when they passed through a certain archway, she spoke to\na horse's head, which was nailed up over the door, and said:\n\n    \"Ah, Falada, that you hang so high!\"\n\nand it replied:\n\n    \"Ah, Princess, that you go humbly by!\n     Thy mother's heart would surely break\n     Were she to know of your heart-ache!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnd, further, he told how when they arrived in the meadow, she caused\nthe wind to blow his hat off, so that he had to run after it ever so\nfar. When he had finished his tale, the old King ordered him to drive\nthe geese out again the next morning; and he himself, when morning came,\nstationed himself behind the gloomy archway, and heard the servant talk\nto the head of Falada. Then he followed them also into the fields. There\nhe saw with his own eyes the Goose Girl and boy drive in the geese; and\nafter a while she sat down and, unloosening her hair, which shone like\ngold, began to sing the old rhyme:\n\n    \"Blow, blow, thou wind,\n     Blow Conrad's hat away.\"\n\nThen the King felt a breeze come, which took off Conrad's hat, so that\nhe had to run a long way after it; while the Goose Girl combed out her\nhair and put it back in proper trim before his return. All this the King\nobserved, and then went home unnoticed; and when the Goose Girl returned\nat evening, he called her aside, and asked her what it all meant.\n\n\"That I dare not tell you, nor any other man,\" replied she; \"for I have\nsworn by the free sky not to speak of my griefs, else lose my life.\"\n\nThe King pressed her to say what it was, and left her no peace about it;\nbut still she refused. So at last he said, \"If you will not tell me,\ntell your griefs to this fireplace;\" and he went away.\n\nThen she crept into the fireplace and began to weep and groan; and soon\nshe relieved her heart by telling her tale. \"Here sit I,\" she said\n\"forsaken by all the world, and yet I am a King's daughter; and a false\nservant has exercised some charm over me, whereby I was compelled to lay\naside my royal clothes; and she has also taken my place at the\nbridegroom's side, and I am forced to perform the common duties of a\nGoose Girl. Oh, if my mother knew this, her heart would break with\ngrief!\"\n\nThe old King, meanwhile, stood outside by the chimney and listened to\nwhat she said; and when she had finished he came in, and called her away\nfrom the fireplace. Then her royal clothes were put on, and the old\nKing, calling his son, showed him that he had taken a false bride, who\nwas only a servant-girl, and that the true bride stood there as a Goose\nGirl.\n\nThe prince was glad indeed at heart when he saw her beauty and virtue.\nThen there was a great feast, at which the bridegroom sat, with the\nPrincess on one side and the servant-girl on the other. But the latter\nwas dazzled, and recognized her mistress no longer in her shining dress.\n\nWhen they had finished their feasting, and were beginning to be gay, the\nold King set a riddle to the real servant-girl: What such an one were\nworthy of who had, in such and such a manner, deceived her masters; and\nhe related all that had happened to the true bride. The servant-girl\nreplied, \"Such an one deserves nothing better than to be put into a\ncask, lined with sharp nails, and then to be dragged by two horses\nthrough the streets till the wretch be killed.\"\n\n\"You are the woman then!\" exclaimed the King; \"You have proclaimed your\nown punishment, and it shall be strictly fulfilled.\"\n\nThe sentence was at once carried out, and afterwards the Prince married\nhis rightful bride, and they lived long in peace and happiness.\n\n\n\n\nFAVORITE FAIRY TALES\n\nThis is a collection of the fairy tales that children love best, told in\nsimple language and lavishly illustrated. They are written by various\nauthors, a selection of the best and most popular fairy stories, culled\nfrom many sources and here collected and presented in most attractive\nform, printed in large clear type, with many pictures, some of them\ncolored.\n\n\nTHE CHILDREN'S BOOKSHELF\n\nBOOKS EVERY CHILD SHOULD OWN\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWonder Book of Myths and Legends\nThe Wonder Book of Bible Stories\nMother Goose Nursery Rhymes\nDickens' Stories About Children\nKing Arthur and His Knights\nThe Man Without a Country\nThe Boy's Story of Lindbergh\nFolk Tales from the Far East\nFairy Tales of Many Lands\nThe Wings of the Morning\nTales From Shakespeare\nThe Story of a Bad Boy\nSwiss Family Robinson\nAn Old-Fashioned Girl\nAndersen's Fairy Tales\nAlice in Wonderland\nFavorite Fairy Tales\nGrimm's Fairy Tales\nRobinson Crusoe\nTreasure Island\nArabian Nights\nHans Brinker\nWater Babies\nLittle Women\nBlack Beauty\nRobin Hood\nLittle Men\nKidnapped\nPinocchio\nHeidi\n\nEach volume is bound in cloth, with colored inlay on front cover, also\nwith an attractive jacket in full colors. This Children's Bookshelf\nseries is made up of titles taken from the most popular children's\nbooks. Each volume contains 262 to 320 pages. Size, 6-3/4 x 8-3/4\ninches. 1-1/4 inches thick.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nPRICE $1.25\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTHE JOHN C. WINSTON CO.\n\n_Publishers_ PHILADELPHIA\n\n\n+----------------------------------------------+\n|Transcriber's Notes:                          |\n|                                              |\n|Variations between stories in the spelling of |\n|today and to-day, woodcutter and wood-cutter, |\n|and toward and towards, have been retained.   |\n+----------------------------------------------+","title":"Favorite Fairy Tales","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":39944}