{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_29021/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_29021","id":"gutenberg_29021","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29021","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Classics of Literature","Category: French Literature","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Fairy tales"],"text":"Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n      file which includes the original illustrations.\n      See 29021-h.htm or 29021-h.zip:\n      (https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/29021/pg29021-images.html)\n      or\n      (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/29021/29021-h.zip)\n\n\n      Images of the original pages are available through\n      Internet Archive/American Libraries. See\n      http://www.archive.org/details/fairytalesofchar00perr\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE FAIRY TALES OF CHARLES PERRAULT\n\nIllustrated by Harry Clarke\n\nWith an Introduction by Thomas Bodkin\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGeorge G. Harrap & Co. Ltd.\n2 & 3 Portsmouth Street Kingsway\nLondon. W.C.2.\n\nFirst published August 1922\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n                                            PAGE\n\nINTRODUCTION                                  9\n\nLITTLE RED RIDING-HOOD                       21\n\nTHE FAIRY                                    27\n\nBLUE BEARD                                   35\n\nTHE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOOD              47\n\nTHE MASTER CAT; OR, PUSS IN BOOTS            67\n\nCINDERILLA; OR, THE LITTLE GLASS SLIPPER     77\n\nRIQUET WITH THE TUFT                         93\n\nLITTLE THUMB                                109\n\nTHE RIDICULOUS WISHES                       127\n\nDONKEY-SKIN                                 137\n\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n                                                                 PAGE\n\nCINDERILLA AND HER PRINCE                               _Frontispiece_\n\n\"HE ASKED HER WHITHER SHE WAS GOING\"                  _facing_    24\n\n\"'WHAT IS THIS I SEE?' SAID HER MOTHER\"                           28\n\n\"'AM I COME HITHER TO SERVE YOU WITH WATER, PRAY?'\"   _facing_    30\n\n\"'WHAT, IS NOT THE KEY OF MY CLOSET AMONG THE REST?'\"             36\n\n\"THIS MAN HAD THE MISFORTUNE TO HAVE A BLUE BEARD\"    _facing_    38\n\n\"AT THIS VERY INSTANT THE YOUNG FAIRY CAME OUT FROM\nBEHIND THE HANGINGS\"                                              48\n\nTHE PRINCE ENQUIRES OF THE AGED COUNTRYMAN            _facing_    54\n\n\"HE SAW, UPON A BED, THE FINEST SIGHT WAS EVER\nBEHELD\"                                               _facing_    56\n\n\"'I WILL HAVE IT SO,' REPLIED THE QUEEN, 'AND WILL\nEAT HER WITH SAUCE ROBERT'\"                                       59\n\n\"THE MARQUIS GAVE HIS HAND TO THE PRINCESS, AND\nFOLLOWED THE KING, WHO WENT UP FIRST\"                 _facing_    74\n\n\"AWAY SHE DROVE, SCARCE ABLE TO CONTAIN HERSELF FOR JOY\"          78\n\n\"ANY ONE BUT CINDERILLA WOULD HAVE DRESSED THEIR\nHEADS AWRY\"                                           _facing_    80\n\n\"SHE LEFT BEHIND ONE OF HER GLASS SLIPPERS, WHICH THE\nPRINCE TOOK UP MOST CAREFULLY\"                                    87\n\n\"THE PRINCE BELIEVED HE HAD GIVEN HER MORE WITH THAN\nHE HAD RESERVED FOR HIMSELF\"                                      99\n\n\"RIQUET WITH THE TUFT APPEARED TO HER THE FINEST\nPRINCE UPON EARTH\"                                    _facing_   104\n\n\"LITTLE THUMB WAS AS GOOD AS HIS WORD, AND RETURNED\nTHAT SAME NIGHT WITH THE NEWS\"                                   110\n\n\"HE BROUGHT THEM HOME BY THE VERY SAME WAY THEY CAME\" _facing_   112\n\n\"JUPITER APPEARED BEFORE HIM WIELDING HIS MIGHTY\nTHUNDERBOLTS\"                                                    128\n\n\"A LONG BLACK PUDDING CAME WINDING AND WRIGGLING\nTOWARDS HER\"                                          _facing_   130\n\n\"TRUTH TO TELL, THIS NEW ORNAMENT DID NOT SET OFF HER\nBEAUTY\"                                                          133\n\n\"ANOTHER GOWN THE COLOUR OF THE MOON\"                            138\n\n\"HE THOUGHT THE PRINCESS WAS HIS QUEEN\"                          143\n\n\"CURIOSITY MADE HIM PUT HIS EYE TO THE KEYHOLE\"       _facing_   150\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n    \"Avec ardeur il aima les beaux arts.\"\n\n                                   _Griselidis_\n\n\n_Charles Perrault must have been as charming a fellow as a man could\nmeet. He was one of the best-liked personages of his own great age,\nand he has remained ever since a prime favourite of mankind. We are\nfortunate in knowing a great deal about his varied life, deriving our\nknowledge mainly from D'Alembert's history of the French Academy and\nfrom his own memoirs, which were written for his grandchildren, but\nnot published till sixty-six years after his death. We should, I\nthink, be more fortunate still if the memoirs had not ceased in\nmid-career, or if their author had permitted himself to write of his\nfamily affairs without reserve or restraint, in the approved manner of\nmodern autobiography. We should like, for example, to know much more\nthan we do about the wife and the two sons to whom he was so devoted._\n\n_Perrault was born in Paris in 1628, the fifth son of Pierre Perrault,\na prosperous parliamentary lawyer; and, at the age of nine, was sent\nto a day-school--the Coll\u00e8ge de Beauvais. His father helped him with\nhis lessons at home, as he himself, later on, was accustomed to help\nhis own children. He can never have been a model schoolboy, though he\nwas always first in his class, and he ended his school career\nprematurely by quarrelling with his master and bidding him a formal\nfarewell._\n\n_The cause of this quarrel throws a bright light on Perraults\nsubsequent career. He refused to accept his teacher's philosophical\ntenets on the mere ground of their traditional authority. He claimed\nthat novelty was in itself a merit, and on this they parted. He did\nnot go alone. One of his friends, a boy called Beaurain, espoused his\ncause, and for the next three or four years the two read together,\nhaphazard, in the Luxembourg Gardens. This plan of study had almost\ncertainly a bad effect on Beaurain, for we hear no more of him. It\ncertainly prevented Perrault from being a thorough scholar, though it\nmade him a man of taste, a sincere independent, and an undaunted\namateur._\n\n_In 1651 he took his degree at the University of Orl\u00e9ans, where\ndegrees were given with scandalous readiness, payment of fees being\nthe only essential preliminary. In the mean-time he had walked the\nhospitals with some vague notion of following his brother Claude into\nthe profession of medicine, and had played a small part as a\ntheological controversialist in the quarrel then raging, about the\nnature of grace, between the Jesuits and the Jansenists. Having\nabandoned medicine and theology he got called to the Bar, practised\nfor a while with distinct success, and coquetted with a notion of\ncodifying the laws of the realm. The Bar proved too arid a profession\nto engage for long his attention; so he next sought and found a place\nin the office of another brother, Pierre, who was Chief Commissioner\nof Taxes in Paris. Here Perrault had little to do save to read at\nlarge in the excellent library which his brother had formed._\n\n_For want of further occupation he returned to the writing of verse,\none of the chief pleasures of his boyhood. His first sustained\nliterary effort had been a parody of the sixth book of the \"\u00c6neid\";\nwhich, perhaps fortunately for his reputation, was never published and\nhas not survived. Beaurain and his brother Nicholas, a doctor of the\nSorbonne, assisted him in this perpetration, and Claude made the\npen-and-ink sketches with which it was illustrated. In the few years\nthat had elapsed since the writing of this burlesque Perrault had\nacquired more sense and taste, and his new poems--in particular the\n\"Portrait d'Iris\" and the \"Dialogue entre l'Amour et l'Amiti\u00e9\"--were\nfound charming by his contemporaries. They were issued anonymously,\nand Quinault, himself a poet of established reputation, used some of\nthem to forward his suit with a young lady, allowing her to think that\nthey were his own. Perrault, when told of Quinault's pretensions,\ndeemed it necessary to disclose his authorship; but, on hearing of the\nuse to which his work had been put, he gallantly remained in the\nbackground, forgave the fraud, and made a friend of the culprit._\n\n_Architecture next engaged his attention, and in 1657 he designed a\nhouse at Viry for his brother and supervised its construction. Colbert\napproved so much of this performance that he employed him in the\nsuperintendence of the royal buildings and put him in special charge\nof Versailles, which was then in process of erection. Perrault flung\nhimself with ardour into this work, though not to the exclusion of his\nother activities. He wrote odes in honour of the King; he planned\ndesigns for Gobelin tapestries and decorative paintings; he became a\nmember of the select little Academy of Medals and Inscriptions which\nColbert brought into being to devise suitable legends for the royal\npalaces and monuments; he encouraged musicians and fought the cause of\nLulli; he joined with Claude in a successful effort to found the\nAcademy of Science._\n\n_Claude Perrault had something of his brother's versatility and shared\nhis love for architecture, and the two now became deeply interested in\nthe various schemes which were mooted for the completion of the\nLouvre. Bernini was summoned by the King from Rome, and entrusted with\nthe task; but the brothers Perrault intervened. Charles conceived the\nidea of the great east front and communicated it to Claude, who drew\nthe plans and was commissioned to carry them out. The work was\nfinished in 1671, and is still popularly known as Perrault's\nColonnade._\n\n_In the same year Charles was elected to the Academy without any\npersonal canvas on his part for the honour. His inaugural address was\nheard with such approval that he ventured to suggest that the\ninauguration of future members should be a public function. The\nsuggestion was adopted, and these addresses became the most famous\nfeature of the Academy's proceedings and are so to the present day.\nThis was not his only service to the Academy, for he carried a motion\nto the effect that future elections should be by ballot; and invented\nand provided, at his own expense, a ballot-box which, though he does\nnot describe it, was probably the model of those in use in all modern\nclubs and societies._\n\n_The novelty of his views did not always commend them to his brother\n'Immortals.' Those expressed in his poem \"Le Si\u00e8cle de Louis XIV,\"\nwhich he read as an Academician of sixteen years' standing, initiated\none of the most famous and lasting literary quarrels of the era.\nPerrault, in praising the writers of his own age, ventured to\ndisparage some of the great authors of the ancient classics. Boileau\nlashed himself into a fury of opposition and hurled strident insults\nagainst the heretic. Racine, more adroit, pretended to think that the\npoem was a piece of ingenious irony. Most men of letters hastened to\nparticipate in the battle. No doubt Perrault's position was untenable,\nbut he conducted his defence with perfect temper and much wit; and\nBoileau made himself not a little absurd by his violence and his\nobvious longing to display the extent of his learning. Perrault's case\nis finally stated in his four volumes, \"Le Parall\u00e8le des Anciens et\ndes Modernes,\" which were published in 1688-1696. He evidently took\nvastly more pride in this dull and now almost forgotten work than in\nthe matchless stories which have made him famous for ever._\n\n_After twenty years in the service of Colbert, the sun of Perrault's\nfortunes passed its zenith. His brother, the Commissioner of Taxes,\nhad a dispute with the Minister and was disgraced. Then Perrault got\nmarried to a young lady of whom we know nothing except that her\nmarriage was the subject of some opposition from his powerful\nemployer. In a matter of the sort Perrault, though a courtier, could\nbe relied on to consider no wishes save those of his future wife and\nhimself. Colbert's own influence with the King became shaky, and this\naffected his temper. So Perrault, then just fifty-five, slid quietly\nfrom his service in the year 1683._\n\n_Before he went, he succeeded in frustrating a project for closing the\nTuileries Gardens against the people of Paris and their children.\nColbert proposed to reserve them to the royal use, but Perrault\npersuaded him to come there one day for a walk, showed him the\ncitizens taking the air and playing with their children; got the\ngardeners to testify that these privileges were never abused, and\ncarried his point by declaring, finally, that \"the King's pleasaunce\nwas so spacious that there was room for all his children to walk\nthere.\"_\n\n_Sainte-Beuve, seventy years ago, pleaded that this service to the\nchildren of Paris should be commemorated by a statue of Perrault in\nthe centre of the Tuileries. The statue has never been erected; and,\nto the present day, Paris, so plentifully provided with statues and\npictures of the great men of France, has neither the one nor the other\nto show that she appreciates the genius of Perrault. Indeed, there is\nno statue of him in existence; and the only painting of him with which\nI am acquainted is a doubtful one hung far away in an obscure corner\nof the palace of Versailles._\n\n_The close of Perrault's official career marked the beginning of his\nperiod of greatest literary activity. In 1686 he published his long\nnarrative poem \"Saint Paulin Evesque de Nole\" with \"a Christian Epistle\nupon Penitence\" and \"an Ode to the Newly-converted,\" which he dedicated\nto Bossuet. Between the years 1688 and 1696 appeared the \"Parall\u00e8le des\nAnciens et des Modernes\" to which I have already referred. In 1693 he\nbrought out his \"Cabinet des Beaux Arts,\" beautifully illustrated by\nengravings, and containing a poem on painting which even Boileau\ncondescended to admire. In 1694 he published his \"Apologie des Femmes.\"\nHe wrote two comedies--\"L'Oublieux\" in 1691, and \"Les Fontanges.\" These\nwere not printed till 1868. They added nothing to his reputation.\nBetween 1691 and 1697 were composed the immortal \"Histoires ou Contes du\nTemps Pass\u00e9\" and the \"Contes en Vers.\" Toward the end of his life he\nbusied himself with the \"\u00c9loges des Hommes Illustres du Si\u00e8cle de Louis\nXIV.\" The first of these two stately volumes came out in 1696 and the\nsecond in 1700. They were illustrated by a hundred and two excellent\nengravings, including one, by Edelinck, of Perrault himself and another\nof his brother Claude. These biographies are written with kindly\njustice, and form a valuable contribution to the history of the reign of\nthe Roi Soleil. I have not exhausted the list of Perrault's writings,\nbut, to speak frankly, the rest are not worth mentioning._\n\n_He died, aged seventy-five, in 1703, deservedly admired and regretted\nby all who knew him. This was not strange. For he was clever, honest,\ncourteous, and witty. He did his duty to his family, his employer, his\nfriends, and to the public at large. In an age of great men, but also\nof great prejudices, he fought his own way to fame and fortune. He\nserved all the arts, and practised most of them. Painters, writers,\nsculptors, musicians, and men of science all gladly made him free of\ntheir company. As a good Civil Servant he was no politician, and he\nshowed no leaning whatever toward what was regarded in his time as the\ngreatest of all professions--that of arms. These two deficiencies, if\ndeficiencies they be, only endear him the more to us. Every one likes\na man who deserves to enjoy life and does, in fact, enjoy it. Perrault\nwas such a man. He was more. He was the cause of enjoyment to\ncountless of his fellows, and his stories still promise enjoyment to\ncountless others to come._\n\n_It is amazing to remember that Perrault was rather ashamed of his\n\"Histoires ou Contes du Temps Pass\u00e9\"--perhaps better known as \"Les\nContes de ma M\u00e8re l'Oye,\" or \"Mother Goose's Tales,\" from the rough\nprint which was inserted as a frontispiece to the first collected\nedition in 1697. He would not even publish them in his own name. They\nwere declared to be by P. Darmancour, Perrault's young son. In order\nthat the secret might be well kept, Perrault abandoned his usual\npublisher, Coignard, and went to Barbin. The stories had previously\nappeared from time to time, anonymously, in Moetjens' little magazine\nthe \"Recueil,\" which was published from The Hague. \"La Belle au Bois\nDormant\" (\"Sleeping Beauty\") was the first: and in rapid succession\nfollowed \"Le Petit Chaperon Rouge\" (\"Red Riding-Hood\"), \"Le Maistre\nChat, ou le Chat Bott\u00e9\" (\"Puss in Boots\"), \"Les F\u00e9es\" (\"The Fairy\"),\n\"Cendrillon, ou la Petite Pantoufle de Verre\" (\"Cinderella\"), \"Riquet\n\u00e0 la Houppe\" (\"Riquet of the Tuft\"), and \"Le Petit Poucet\" (\"Tom\nThumb\")._\n\n_Perrault was not so shy in admitting the authorship of his three\nverse stories--\"Griselidis,\" \"Les Souhaits Ridicules,\" and \"Peau\nd'Asne.\" The first appeared, anonymously it is true, in 1691; but,\nwhen it came to be reprinted with \"Les Souhaits Ridicules\" and \"Peau\nd'Asne\" in 1695, they were entrusted to the firm of Coignard and\ndescribed as being by \"Mr Perrault, de l'Academie Fran\u00e7oise.\" La\nFontaine had made a fashion of this sort of exercise._\n\n_It would not be fair to assume that P. Darmancour had no connection\nwhatever with the composition of the stories which bore his name. The\nbest of Perrault's critics, Paul de St Victor and Andrew Lang among\nothers, see in the book a marvellous collaboration of crabbed age and\nyouth. The boy, probably, gathered the stories from his nurse and\nbrought them to his father, who touched them up, and toned them down,\nand wrote them out. Paul Lacroix, in his fine edition of 1886, goes as\nfar as to attribute the entire authorship of the prose tales to\nPerrault's son. He deferred, however, to universal usage when he\nentitled his volume \"Les Contes en prose de Charles Perrault.\"_\n\n_\"Les Contes du Temps Pass\u00e9\" had an immediate success. Imitators\nsprung up at once by the dozen, and still persist; but none of them\nhas ever rivalled, much less surpassed, the inimitable originals.\nEvery few years a new and sumptuous edition appears in France. The\nbest are probably those by Paul Lacroix and Andr\u00e9 le F\u00e8vre._\n\n_The stories soon crossed the Channel; and a translation \"by Mr\nSamber, printed for J. Pote\" was advertised in the \"Monthly Chronicle\"\nof 1729. \"Mr Samber\" was presumably one Robert Samber of New Inn, who\ntranslated other tales from the French, for Edmond Curl the\nbookseller, about this time. No copy of the first edition of his\nPerrault is known to exist. Yet it won a wide popularity, as is shown\nby the fact that there was a seventh edition published in 1795, for J.\nRivington, a bookseller, of Pearl Street, New York._\n\n_No English translation of Perrault's fairy tales has attained\nunquestioned literary pre-eminence. So the publishers of the present\nbook have thought it best to use Samber's translation, which has a\nspecial interest of its own in being almost contemporary with the\noriginal. The text has been thoroughly revised and corrected by Mr J.\nE. Mansion, who has purged it of many errors without detracting from\nits old-fashioned quality. To Mr Mansion also is due the credit for\nthe translation of the \"Les Souhaits Ridicules\" and for the adaptation\nof \"Peau d'Asne.\" \"Griselidis\" is excluded from this book for two good\nreasons; firstly, because it is an admitted borrowing by Perrault from\nBoccaccio; secondly, because it is not a 'fairy' tale in the true\nsense of the word._\n\n_It is, perhaps, unnecessary for me to add anything about Mr Clarke's\nillustrations. Many of the readers of this book will be already\nfamiliar with his work. Besides, I always feel that it is an\nimpertinence to describe pictures in their presence. Mr Clarke's speak\nfor themselves. They speak for Perrault too. It is seldom, indeed,\nthat an illustrator enters so thoroughly into the spirit of his text.\nThe grace, delicacy, urbanity, tenderness, and humour which went to\nthe making of Perrault's stories must, it seems, have also gone in\nsomewhat similar proportions to the making of these delightful\ndrawings. I am sure that they would have given pleasure to Perrault\nhimself._\n\n_THOMAS BODKIN_\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n_Little Red Riding-Hood_\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nLittle Red Riding-Hood\n\n\nOnce upon a time, there lived in a certain village, a little country\ngirl, the prettiest creature was ever seen. Her mother was excessively\nfond of her; and her grand-mother doated on her much more. This good\nwoman got made for her a little red riding-hood; which became the girl\nso extremely well, that every body called her Little Red Riding-Hood.\n\nOne day, her mother, having made some girdle-cakes, said to her:\n\n\"Go, my dear, and see how thy grand-mamma does, for I hear she has\nbeen very ill, carry her a girdle-cake, and this little pot of\nbutter.\"\n\nLittle Red Riding-Hood set out immediately to go to her grand-mother,\nwho lived in another village. As she was going thro' the wood, she met\nwith Gaffer Wolf, who had a very great mind to eat her up, but he\ndurst not, because of some faggot-makers hard by in the forest.\n\nHe asked her whither she was going. The poor child, who did not know\nthat it was dangerous to stay and hear a Wolf talk, said to him:\n\n\"I am going to see my grand-mamma, and carry her a girdle-cake, and a\nlittle pot of butter, from my mamma.\"\n\n\"Does she live far off?\" said the Wolf.\n\n\"Oh! ay,\" answered Little Red Riding-Hood, \"it is beyond that mill\nyou see there, at the first house in the village.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said the Wolf, \"and I'll go and see her too: I'll go this way,\nand you go that, and we shall see who will be there soonest.\"\n\nThe Wolf began to run as fast as he could, taking the nearest way; and\nthe little girl went by that farthest about, diverting herself in\ngathering nuts, running after butterflies, and making nosegays of such\nlittle flowers as she met with. The Wolf was not long before he got to\nthe old woman's house: he knocked at the door, _tap, tap_.\n\n\"Who's there?\"\n\n\"Your grand-child, Little Red Riding-Hood,\" replied the Wolf,\ncounterfeiting her voice, \"who has brought you a girdle-cake, and a\nlittle pot of butter, sent you by mamma.\"\n\nThe good grand-mother, who was in bed, because she found herself\nsomewhat ill, cry'd out:\n\n\"Pull the peg, and the bolt will fall.\"\n\nThe Wolf pull'd the peg, and the door opened, and then presently he\nfell upon the good woman, and ate her up in a moment; for it was above\nthree days that he had not touched a bit. He then shut the door, and\nwent into the grand-mother's bed, expecting Little Red Riding-Hood,\nwho came some time afterwards, and knock'd at the door, _tap, tap_.\n\n\"Who's there?\"\n\n[Illustration: \"HE ASKED HER WHITHER SHE WAS GOING\"]\n\nLittle Red Riding-Hood, hearing the big voice of the Wolf, was at\nfirst afraid; but believing her grand-mother had got a cold, and was\nhoarse, answered:\n\n\"'Tis your grand-child, Little Red Riding-Hood, who has brought you a\ngirdle-cake, and a little pot of butter, mamma sends you.\"\n\nThe Wolf cried out to her, softening his voice as much as he could,\n\"Pull the peg, and the bolt will fall.\"\n\nLittle Red Riding-Hood pulled the peg, and the door opened. The Wolf\nseeing her come in, said to her, hiding himself under the bedclothes:\n\n\"Put the cake, and the little pot of butter upon the bread-bin, and\ncome and lye down with me.\"\n\nLittle Red Riding-Hood undressed herself, and went into bed; where,\nbeing greatly amazed to see how her grand-mother looked in her\nnight-cloaths, she said to her:\n\n\"Grand-mamma, what great arms you have got!\"\n\n\"That is the better to hug thee, my dear.\"\n\n\"Grand-mamma, what great legs you have got!\"\n\n\"That is to run the better, my child.\"\n\n\"Grand-mamma, what great ears you have got!\"\n\n\"That is to hear the better, my child.\"\n\n\"Grand-mamma, what great eyes you have got!\"\n\n\"It is to see the better, my child.\"\n\n\"Grand-mamma, what great teeth you have got!\"\n\n\"That is to eat thee up.\"\n\nAnd, saying these words, this wicked Wolf fell upon poor Little Red\nRiding-Hood, and ate her all up.\n\n\n_The Moral_\n\n    _From this short story easy we discern\n    What conduct all young people ought to learn.\n    But above all, young, growing misses fair,\n    Whose orient rosy blooms begin t'appear:\n    Who, beauties in the fragrant spring of age,\n    With pretty airs young hearts are apt t'engage.\n    Ill do they listen to all sorts of tongues,\n    Since some inchant and lure like Syrens' songs.\n    No wonder therefore 'tis, if over-power'd,\n    So many of them has the Wolf devour'd.\n    The Wolf, I say, for Wolves too sure there are\n    Of every sort, and every character.\n    Some of them mild and gentle-humour'd be,\n    Of noise and gall, and rancour wholly free;\n    Who tame, familiar, full of complaisance\n    Ogle and leer, languish, cajole and glance;\n    With luring tongues, and language wond'rous sweet,\n    Follow young ladies as they walk the street,\n    Ev'n to their very houses, nay, bedside,\n    And, artful, tho' their true designs they hide;\n    Yet ah! these simpering Wolves! Who does not see\n    Most dangerous of Wolves indeed they be?_\n\n\n\n\n_The Fairy_\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration: \"'WHAT IS THIS I SEE?' SAID HER MOTHER\"\n(_page 30_)]\n\n\nThe Fairy\n\n\nThere was, once upon a time, a widow, who had two daughters. The\neldest was so much like her in the face and humour, that whoever\nlooked upon the daughter saw the mother. They were both so\ndisagreeable, and so proud, that there was no living with them. The\nyoungest, who was the very picture of her father, for courtesy and\nsweetness of temper, was withal one of the most beautiful girls ever\nseen. As people naturally love their own likeness, this mother even\ndoated on her eldest daughter, and at the same time had a horrible\naversion for the youngest. She made her eat in the kitchen, and work\ncontinually.\n\nAmong other things, this poor child was forced twice a day to draw\nwater above a mile and a half off the house, and bring home a pitcher\nfull of it. One day, as she was at this fountain, there came to her a\npoor woman, who begged of her to let her drink.\n\n\"O ay, with all my heart, Goody,\" said this pretty maid; and rinsing\nimmediately the pitcher, she took up some water from the clearest\nplace of the fountain, and gave it to her, holding up the pitcher all\nthe while, that she might drink the easier.\n\nThe good woman having drank, said to her:\n\n\"You are so very pretty, my dear, so good and so mannerly, that I\ncannot help giving you a gift\" (for this was a Fairy, who had taken\nthe form of a poor country-woman, to see how far the civility and\ngood manners of this pretty girl would go). \"I will give you for\ngift,\" continued the Fairy, \"that at every word you speak, there shall\ncome out of your mouth either a flower, or a jewel.\"\n\nWhen this pretty girl came home, her mother scolded at her for staying\nso long at the fountain.\n\n\"I beg your pardon, mamma,\" said the poor girl, \"for not making more\nhaste,\" and, in speaking these words, there came out of her mouth two\nroses, two pearls, and two diamonds.\n\n\"What is this I see?\" said her mother quite astonished, \"I think I see\npearls and diamonds come out of the girl's mouth! How happens this,\nchild?\" (This was the first time she ever called her child.)\n\nThe poor creature told her frankly all the matter, not without\ndropping out infinite numbers of diamonds.\n\n\"In good faith,\" cried the mother, \"I must send my child thither. Come\nhither, Fanny, look what comes out of thy sister's mouth when she\nspeaks! Would'st not thou be glad, my dear, to have the same gift\ngiven to thee? Thou hast nothing else to do but go and draw water out\nof the fountain, and when a certain poor woman asks thee to let her\ndrink, to give it her very civilly.\"\n\n\"It would be a very fine sight indeed,\" said this ill-bred minx, \"to\nsee me go draw water!\"\n\n\"You shall go, hussey,\" said the mother, \"and this minute.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"'AM I COME HITHER TO SERVE YOU WITH WATER, PRAY?'\"]\n\nSo away she went, but grumbling all the way, taking with her the best\nsilver tankard in the house.\n\nShe was no sooner at the fountain, than she saw coming out of the wood\na lady most gloriously dressed, who came up to her, and asked to\ndrink. This was, you must know, the very Fairy who appeared to her\nsister, but had now taken the air and dress of a princess, to see how\nfar this girl's rudeness would go.\n\n\"Am I come hither,\" said the proud, saucy slut, \"to serve you with\nwater, pray? I suppose the silver tankard was brought purely for your\nladyship, was it? However, you may drink out of it, if you have a\nfancy.\"\n\n\"You are not over and above mannerly,\" answered the Fairy, without\nputting herself in a passion. \"Well then, since you have so little\nbreeding, and are so disobliging, I give you for gift, that at every\nword you speak there shall come out of your mouth a snake or a toad.\"\n\nSo soon as her mother saw her coming, she cried out: \"Well, daughter?\"\n\n\"Well, mother?\" answered the pert hussey, throwing out of her mouth\ntwo vipers and two toads.\n\n\"O mercy!\" cried the mother, \"what is it I see! O, it is that wretch\nher sister who has occasioned all this; but she shall pay for it\"; and\nimmediately she ran to beat her. The poor child fled away from her and\nwent to hide herself in the forest, not far from thence.\n\nThe King's son, then on his return from hunting, met her, and seeing\nher so very pretty, asked her what she did there alone, and why she\ncried.\n\n\"Alas! sir, my mamma has turned me out of doors.\"\n\nThe King's son, who saw five or six pearls, and as many diamonds, come\nout of her mouth, desired her to tell him how that happened. She\nthereupon told him the whole story; and so the King's son fell in love\nwith her; and, considering with himself that such a gift was worth\nmore than any marriage-portion whatsoever in another, conducted her to\nthe palace of the King his father, and there married her.\n\nAs for her sister, she made herself so much hated that her own mother\nturned her off; and the miserable wretch, having wandered about a good\nwhile without finding anybody to take her in, went to a corner in the\nwood and there died.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n_The Moral_\n\n    _Money and jewels still, we find,\n    Stamp strong impressions on the mind.\n    But sweet discourse more potent riches yields;\n    Of higher value is the pow'r it wields._\n\n\n_Another_\n\n      _Civil behaviour costs indeed some pains,\n    Requires of complaisance some little share;\n      But soon or late its due reward it gains,\n    And meets it often when we're not aware._\n\n\n\n\n_Blue Beard_\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration: \"'WHAT, IS NOT THE KEY OF MY CLOSET AMONG\nTHE REST?'\" (_page 40_)]\n\n\nBlue Beard\n\n\nThere was a man who had fine houses, both in town and country, a deal\nof silver and gold plate, embroidered furniture, and coaches gilded\nall over with gold. But this man had the misfortune to have a blue\nbeard, which made him so frightfully ugly, that all the women and\ngirls ran away from him.\n\nOne of his neighbours, a lady of quality, had two daughters who were\nperfect beauties. He desired of her one of them in marriage, leaving\nto her the choice which of the two she would bestow upon him. They\nwould neither of them have him, and each made the other welcome of\nhim, being not able to bear the thought of marrying a man who had a\nblue beard. And what besides gave them disgust and aversion, was his\nhaving already been married to several wives, and nobody ever knew\nwhat became of them.\n\nBlue Beard, to engage their affection, took them, with the lady their\nmother, and three or four ladies of their acquaintance, with other\nyoung people of the neighbourhood, to one of his country seats, where\nthey stayed a whole week. There was nothing then to be seen but\nparties of pleasure, hunting, fishing, dancing, mirth and feasting.\nNobody went to bed, but all passed the night in playing tricks upon\neach other. In short, every thing succeeded so well, that the youngest\ndaughter began to think the master of the house not to have a beard so\nvery blue, and that he was a mighty civil gentleman. As soon as they\nreturned home, the marriage was concluded.\n\nAbout a month afterwards Blue Beard told his wife that he was obliged\nto take a country journey for six weeks at least, about affairs of\nvery great consequence, desiring her to divert herself in his absence,\nto send for her friends and acquaintances, to carry them into the\ncountry, if she pleased, and to make good cheer wherever she was.\n\n\"Here,\" said he, \"are the keys of the two great wardrobes, wherein I\nhave my best furniture; these are of my silver and gold plate, which\nis not every day in use; these open my strong boxes, which hold my\nmoney, both gold and silver; these my caskets of jewels; and this is\nthe master-key to all my apartments. But for this little one here, it\nis the key of the closet at the end of the great gallery on the ground\nfloor. Open them all; go into all and every one of them; except that\nlittle closet which I forbid you, and forbid it in such a manner that,\nif you happen to open it, there will be no bounds to my just anger and\nresentment.\"\n\nShe promised to observe, very exactly, whatever he had ordered; when\nhe, after having embraced her, got into his coach and proceeded on his\njourney.\n\n[Illustration: \"THIS MAN HAD THE MISFORTUNE TO HAVE A BLUE BEARD\"]\n\nHer neighbours and good friends did not stay to be sent for by the\nnewmarried lady, so great was their impatience to see all the rich\nfurniture of her house, not daring to come while her husband was\nthere, because of his blue beard which frightened them. They ran thro'\nall the rooms, closets, and wardrobes, which were all so rich and\nfine, that they seemed to surpass one another.\n\nAfter that, they went up into the two great rooms, where were the best\nand richest furniture; they could not sufficiently admire the number\nand beauty of the tapestry, beds, couches, cabinets, stands, tables,\nand looking-glasses in which you might see yourself from head to foot;\nsome of them were framed with glass, others with silver, plain and\ngilded, the finest and most magnificent which were ever seen. They\nceased not to extol and envy the happiness of their friend, who in the\nmean time no way diverted herself in looking upon all these rich\nthings, because of the impatience she had to go and open the closet of\nthe ground floor. She was so much pressed by her curiosity, that,\nwithout considering that it was very uncivil to leave her company, she\nwent down a little back-stair-case, and with such excessive haste,\nthat she had twice or thrice like to have broken her neck.\n\nBeing come to the closet door, she made a stop for some time, thinking\nupon her husband's orders, and considering what unhappiness might\nattend her if she was disobedient; but the temptation was so strong\nshe could not overcome it. She took then the little key, and opened it\ntrembling; but could not at first see any thing plainly, because the\nwindows were shut. After some moments she began to perceive that the\nfloor was all covered over with clotted blood, in which were reflected\nthe bodies of several dead women ranged against the walls: these were\nall the wives whom Blue Beard had married and murdered one after\nanother. She was like to have died for fear, and the key, which she\npulled out of the lock, fell out of her hand.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAfter having somewhat recovered her senses, she took up the key,\nlocked the door, and went up stairs into her chamber to recover\nherself; but she could not, so much was she frightened. Having\nobserved that the key of the closet was stained with blood, she tried\ntwo or three times to wipe it off, but the blood would not come off;\nin vain did she wash it, and even rub it with soap and sand, the blood\nstill remained, for the key was a Fairy, and she could never make it\nquite clean; when the blood was gone off from one side, it came again\non the other.\n\nBlue Beard returned from his journey the same evening, and said, he\nhad received letters upon the road, informing him that the affair he\nwent about was ended to his advantage. His wife did all she could to\nconvince him she was extremely glad of his speedy return. Next morning\nhe asked her for the keys, which she gave him, but with such a\ntrembling hand, that he easily guessed what had happened.\n\n\"What,\" said he, \"is not the key of my closet among the rest?\"\n\n\"I must certainly,\" answered she, \"have left it above upon the table.\"\n\n\"Fail not,\" said Blue Beard, \"to bring it me presently.\"\n\nAfter putting him off several times, she was forced to bring him the\nkey. Blue Beard, having very attentively considered it, said to his\nwife:\n\n\"How comes this blood upon the key?\"\n\n\"I do not know,\" cried the poor woman, paler than death.\n\n\"You do not know,\" replied Blue Beard; \"I very well know, you were\nresolved to go into the closet, were you not? Mighty well, Madam; you\nshall go in, and take your place among the ladies you saw there.\"\n\nUpon this she threw herself at her husband's feet, and begged his\npardon with all the signs of a true repentance for her disobedience.\nShe would have melted a rock, so beautiful and sorrowful was she; but\nBlue Beard had a heart harder than any rock.\n\n\"You must die, Madam,\" said he, \"and that presently.\"\n\n\"Since I must die,\" answered she, looking upon him with her eyes all\nbathed in tears, \"give me some little time to say my prayers.\"\n\n\"I give you,\" replied Blue Beard, \"half a quarter of an hour, but not\none moment more.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen she was alone, she called out to her sister, and said to her:\n\n\"Sister Anne\" (for that was her name), \"go up I beg you, upon the top\nof the tower, and look if my brothers are not coming; they promised me\nthat they would come to-day, and if you see them, give them a sign to\nmake haste.\"\n\nHer sister Anne went up upon the top of the tower, and the poor\nafflicted wife cried out from time to time, \"Anne, sister Anne, do you\nsee any one coming?\"\n\nAnd sister Anne said:\n\n\"I see nothing but the sun, which makes a dust, and the grass growing\ngreen.\"\n\nIn the mean while Blue Beard, holding a great scimitar in his hand,\ncried out as loud as he could bawl to his wife:\n\n\"Come down instantly, or I shall come up to you.\"\n\n\"One moment longer, if you please,\" said his wife, and then she cried\nout very softly:\n\n\"Anne, sister Anne, dost thou see any body coming?\"\n\nAnd sister Anne answered:\n\n\"I see nothing but the sun, which makes a dust, and the grass growing\ngreen.\"\n\n\"Come down quickly,\" cried Blue Beard, \"or I will come up to you.\"\n\n\"I am coming,\" answered his wife; and then she cried:\n\n\"Anne, sister Anne, dost thou see any one coming?\"\n\n\"I see,\" replied sister Anne, \"a great dust that comes this way.\"\n\n\"Are they my brothers?\"\n\n\"Alas! no, my dear sister, I see a flock of sheep.\"\n\n\"Will you not come down?\" cried Blue Beard.\n\n\"One moment longer,\" said his wife, and then she cried out:\n\n\"Anne, sister Anne, dost thou see nobody coming?\"\n\n\"I see,\" said she, \"two horsemen coming, but they are yet a great way\noff.\"\n\n\"God be praised,\" she cried presently, \"they are my brothers; I am\nbeckoning to them, as well as I can, for them to make haste.\"\n\nThen Blue Beard bawled out so loud, that he made the whole house\ntremble. The distressed wife came down, and threw herself at his feet,\nall in tears, with her hair about her shoulders.\n\n\"Nought will avail,\" said Blue Beard, \"you must die\"; then, taking\nhold of her hair with one hand, and lifting up his scimitar with the\nother, he was going to take off her head.\n\nThe poor lady turning about to him, and looking at him with dying\neyes, desired him to afford her one little moment to recollect\nherself.\n\n\"No, no,\" said he, \"recommend thyself to God,\" and was just ready to\nstrike.\n\nAt this very instant there was such a loud knocking at the gate, that\nBlue Beard made a sudden stop. The gate was opened, and presently\nentered two horsemen, who drawing their swords, ran directly to Blue\nBeard. He knew them to be his wife's brothers, one a dragoon, the\nother a musqueteer; so that he ran away immediately to save himself;\nbut the two brothers pursued so close, that they overtook him before\nhe could get to the steps of the porch, when they ran their swords\nthro' his body and left him dead. The poor wife was almost as dead as\nher husband, and had not strength enough to rise and welcome her\nbrothers.\n\nBlue Beard had no heirs, and so his wife became mistress of all his\nestate. She made use of one part of it to marry her sister Anne to a\nyoung gentleman who had loved her a long while; another part to buy\ncaptains' commissions for her brothers; and the rest to marry herself\nto a very worthy gentleman, who made her forget the ill time she had\npassed with Blue Beard.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n_The Moral_\n\n    _O curiosity, thou mortal bane!\n    Spite of thy charms, thou causest often pain\n    And sore regret, of which we daily find\n    A thousand instances attend mankind:\n    For thou--O may it not displease the fair--\n    A fleeting pleasure art, but lasting care.\n    And always proves, alas! too dear the prize,\n    Which, in the moment of possession, dies._\n\n\n_Another_\n\n    _A very little share of common sense,\n    And knowledge of the world, will soon evince\n    That this a story is of time long pass'd;\n    No husbands now such panic terrors cast;\n    Nor weakly, with a vain despotic hand,\n    Imperious, what's impossible, command:\n    And be they discontented, or the fire\n    Of wicked jealousy their hearts inspire,\n    They softly sing; and of whatever hue\n    Their beards may chance to be, or black, or blue,\n    Grizeld, or russet, it is hard to say\n    Which of the two, the man or wife, bears sway._\n\n\n\n\n_The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood_\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration: \"AT THIS VERY INSTANT THE YOUNG FAIRY CAME OUT FROM\nBEHIND THE HANGINGS\" (_page 50_)]\n\n\nThe Sleeping Beauty in the Wood\n\n\nThere were formerly a King and a Queen, who were so sorry that they\nhad no children, so sorry that it cannot be expressed. They went to\nall the waters in the world; vows, pilgrimages, all ways were tried\nand all to no purpose. At last, however, the Queen proved with child,\nand was brought to bed of a daughter. There was a very fine\nchristening; and the Princess had for her godmothers all the Fairies\nthey could find in the whole kingdom (they found seven), that every\none of them might give her a gift, as was the custom of Fairies in\nthose days, and that by this means the Princess might have all the\nperfections imaginable.\n\nAfter the ceremonies of the christening were over, all the company\nreturned to the King's palace, where was prepared a great feast for\nthe Fairies. There was placed before every one of them a magnificent\ncover with a case of massive gold, wherein were a spoon, knife and\nfork, all of pure gold set with diamonds and rubies. But as they were\nall sitting down at table, they saw come into the hall a very old\nFairy whom they had not invited, because it was above fifty years\nsince she had been out of a certain tower, and she was believed to be\neither dead or inchanted. The King ordered her a cover, but could not\nfurnish her with a case of gold as the others, because they had seven\nonly made for the seven Fairies. The old Fairy fancied she was\nslighted, and muttered some threat between her teeth. One of the young\nFairies, who sat by her, overheard how she grumbled; and judging that\nshe might give the little Princess some unlucky gift, went, as soon as\nthey rose from the table, and hid herself behind the hangings, that\nshe might speak last, and repair, as much as possible she could, the\nevil which the old Fairy might intend.\n\nIn the mean while all the Fairies began to give their gifts to the\nPrincess. The youngest gave her for gift, that she should be the most\nbeautiful person in the world; the next, that she should have the wit\nof an angel; the third, that she should have a wonderful grace in\nevery thing she did; the fourth, that she should dance perfectly well;\nthe fifth, that she should sing like a nightingale; and the sixth,\nthat she should play upon all kinds of music to the utmost perfection.\n\nThe old Fairy's turn coming next, with a head shaking more with spite\nthan age, she said, that the Princess should have her hand pierced\nwith a spindle, and die of the wound. This terrible gift made the\nwhole company tremble, and every body fell a-crying.\n\nAt this very instant the young Fairy came out from behind the\nhangings, and spake these words aloud:\n\n\"Be reassured, O King and Queen; your daughter shall not die of this\ndisaster: it is true, I have no power to undo intirely what my elder\nhas done. The Princess shall indeed pierce her hand with a spindle;\nbut instead of dying, she shall only fall into a profound sleep, which\nshall last a hundred years; at the expiration of which a king's son\nshall come and awake her.\"\n\nThe King, to avoid the misfortune foretold by the old Fairy, caused\nimmediately proclamations to be made, whereby every-body was\nforbidden, on pain of death, to spin with a distaff and spindle or to\nhave so much as any spindle in their houses.\n\nAbout fifteen or sixteen years after, the King and Queen being gone to\none of their houses of pleasure, the young Princess happened one day\nto divert herself running up and down the palace; when going up from\none apartment to another, she came into a little room on the top of a\ntower, where a good old woman, alone, was spinning with her spindle.\nThis good woman had never heard of the King's proclamation against\nspindles.\n\n\"What are you doing there, Goody?\" said the Princess.\n\n\"I am spinning, my pretty child,\" said the old woman, who did not know\nwho she was.\n\n\"Ha!\" said the Princess, \"this is very pretty; how do you do it? Give\nit to me, that I may see if I can do so.\" She had no sooner taken the\nspindle into her hand, than, whether being very hasty at it, somewhat\nunhandy, or that the decree of the Fairy had so ordained it, it ran\ninto her hand, and she fell down in a swoon.\n\nThe good old woman not knowing very well what to do in this affair,\ncried out for help. People came in from every quarter in great\nnumbers; they threw water upon the Princess's face, unlaced her,\nstruck her on the palms of her hands, and rubbed her temples with\nHungary-water; but nothing would bring her to herself.\n\nAnd now the King, who came up at the noise, bethought himself of the\nprediction of the Fairies, and judging very well that this must\nnecessarily come to pass, since the Fairies had said it, caused the\nPrincess to be carried into the finest apartment in his palace, and to\nbe laid upon a bed all embroidered with gold and silver. One would\nhave taken her for an angel, she was so very beautiful; for her\nswooning away had not diminished one bit of her complexion; her cheeks\nwere carnation, and her lips like coral; indeed her eyes were shut,\nbut she was heard to breathe softly, which satisfied those about her\nthat she was not dead. The King commanded that they should not disturb\nher, but let her sleep quietly till her hour of awakening was come.\n\nThe good Fairy, who had saved her life by condemning her to sleep a\nhundred years, was in the kingdom of Matakin, twelve thousand leagues\noff, when this accident befell the Princess; but she was instantly\ninformed of it by a little dwarf, who had boots of seven leagues, that\nis, boots with which he could tread over seven leagues of ground at\none stride. The Fairy came away immediately, and she arrived, about an\nhour after, in a fiery chariot, drawn by dragons. The King handed her\nout of the chariot, and she approved every thing he had done; but, as\nshe had a very great foresight, she thought, when the Princess should\nawake, she might not know what to do with herself, being all alone in\nthis old palace; and this was what she did: She touched with her wand\nevery thing in the palace (except the King and the Queen),\ngovernesses, maids of honour, ladies of the bedchamber, gentlemen,\nofficers, stewards, cooks, under-cooks, scullions, guards, with their\nbeef-eaters, pages, footmen; she likewise touched all the horses which\nwere in the stables, as well as their grooms, the great dogs in the\noutward court, and pretty little Mopsey too, the Princess's little\nspaniel-bitch, which lay by her on the bed.\n\nImmediately upon her touching them, they all fell asleep, that they\nmight not awake before their mistress, and that they might be ready to\nwait upon her when she wanted them. The very spits at the fire, as\nfull as they could hold of partridges and pheasants, did fall asleep,\nand the fire likewise. All this was done in a moment. Fairies are not\nlong in doing their business.\n\nAnd now the King and the Queen, having kissed their dear child without\nwaking her, went out of the palace, and put forth a proclamation, that\nnobody should dare to come near it. This, however, was not necessary;\nfor, in a quarter of an hour's time, there grew up, all round about\nthe park, such a vast number of trees, great and small, bushes and\nbrambles, twining one within another, that neither man nor beast could\npass thro'; so that nothing could be seen but the very top of the\ntowers of the palace; and that too, not unless it was a good way off.\nNobody doubted but the Fairy gave herein a sample of her art, that the\nPrincess, while she continued sleeping, might have nothing to fear\nfrom any curious people.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen a hundred years were gone and past, the son of the King then\nreigning, and who was of another family from that of the sleeping\nPrincess, being gone a-hunting on that side of the country, asked,\nwhat were those towers which he saw in the middle of a great thick\nwood? Every one answered according as they had heard; some said that\nit was a ruinous old castle, haunted by spirits; others, that all the\nsorcerers and witches of the country kept there their sabbath, or\nnights meeting. The common opinion was that an Ogre[1] lived there,\nand that he carried thither all the little children he could catch,\nthat he might eat them up at his leisure, without any-body's being\nable to follow him, as having himself, only, the power to pass thro'\nthe wood.\n\n[Footnote 1: OGRE is a giant, with long teeth and claws, with a raw\nhead and bloody-bones, who runs away with naughty little boys and\ngirls, and eats them up. [Note by the translator.]]\n\nThe Prince was at a stand, not knowing what to believe, when a very\naged countryman spake to him thus: \"May it please your Royal Highness,\nit is now above fifty years since I heard my father, who had heard my\ngrandfather, say that there then was in this castle, a Princess, the\nmost beautiful was ever seen; that she must sleep there a hundred\nyears, and should be awaked by a king's son; for whom she was\nreserved.\" The young Prince was all on fire at these words, believing,\nwithout a moment's doubt, that he could put an end to this rare\nadventure; and pushed on by love and honour resolved that moment to\nlook into it.\n\n[Illustration: \"THE PRINCE ENQUIRES OF THE AGED COUNTRYMAN\"]\n\nScarce had he advanced towards the wood, when all the great trees, the\nbushes and brambles, gave way of themselves to let him pass thro'; he\nwalked up to the castle which he saw at the end of a large avenue\nwhich he went into; and what a little surprised him was, that he saw\nnone of his people could follow him, because the trees closed again,\nas soon as he had pass'd thro' them. However, he did not cease from\ncontinuing his way; a young and amorous Prince is always valiant. He\ncame into a spacious outward court, where everything he saw might have\nfrozen up the most fearless person with horror. There reigned over all\na most frightful silence; the image of death everywhere shewed itself,\nand there was nothing to be seen but stretched out bodies of men and\nanimals, all seeming to be dead. He, however, very well knew, by the\nruby faces and pimpled noses of the beef-eaters, that they were only\nasleep; and their goblets, wherein still remained some drops of wine,\nshewed plainly, that they fell asleep in their cups.\n\nHe then crossed a court paved with marble, went up the stairs, and\ncame into the guard-chamber, where the guards were standing in their\nranks, with their muskets upon their shoulders, and snoring as loud as\nthey could. After that he went through several rooms full of gentlemen\nand ladies, all asleep, some standing, others sitting. At last he came\ninto a chamber all gilded with gold, where he saw, upon a bed, the\ncurtains of which were all open, the finest sight was ever beheld: a\nPrincess, who appeared to be about fifteen or sixteen years of age,\nand whose bright, and in a manner resplendent beauty, had somewhat in\nit divine. He approached with trembling and admiration, and fell down\nbefore her upon his knees.\n\nAnd now, as the inchantment was at an end, the Princess awaked, and\nlooking on him with eyes more tender than the first view might seem to\nadmit of: \"Is it you, my Prince,\" said she to him, \"you have tarried\nlong.\"\n\nThe Prince, charmed with these words, and much more with the manner in\nwhich they were spoken, knew not how to shew his joy and gratitude; he\nassured her, that he loved her better than he did himself; his\ndiscourse was not well connected, but it pleased her all the more;\nlittle eloquence, a great deal of love. He was more at a loss than\nshe, and we need not wonder at it; she had time to think on what to\nsay to him; for it is very probable (though history mentions nothing\nof it) that the good Fairy, during so long a sleep, had entertained\nher with pleasant dreams. In short, when they talked four hours\ntogether, they said not half what they had to say.\n\n[Illustration: \"HE SAW, UPON A BED, THE FINEST SIGHT WAS EVER BEHELD\"]\n\nIn the mean while, all the palace awaked; every one thought upon their\nparticular business; and as all of them were not in love, they were\nready to die for hunger; the chief lady of honour, being as sharp set\nas other folks, grew very impatient, and told the Princess aloud,\nThat supper was served up. The Prince helped the Princess to rise, she\nwas entirely dressed, and very magnificently, but his Royal Highness\ntook care not to tell her that she was dressed like his great\ngrand-mother, and had a point-band peeping over a high collar; she\nlooked not a bit the less beautiful and charming for all that.\n\nThey went into the great hall of looking-glasses, where they supped,\nand were served by the Princess's officers; the violins and hautboys\nplayed old tunes, but very excellent, tho' it was now above a hundred\nyears since they had been played; and after supper, without losing any\ntime, the lord almoner married them in the chapel of the castle, and\nthe chief lady of honour drew the curtains. They had but very little\nsleep; the Princess had no occasion, and the Prince left her next\nmorning to return into the city, where his father must needs have been\nanxious on his account. The Prince told him that he lost his way in\nthe forest, as he was hunting, and that he had lain at the cottage of\na collier, who gave him cheese and brown bread.\n\nThe King his father, who was of an easy disposition, believed him; but\nhis mother could not be persuaded this was true; and seeing that he\nwent almost every day a-hunting, and that he always had some excuse\nready when he had laid out three or four nights together, she no\nlonger doubted he had some little amour, for he lived with the\nPrincess above two whole years, and had by her two children, the\neldest of which, who was a daughter, was named Aurora, and the\nyoungest, who was a son, they called Day, because he was even\nhandsomer and more beautiful than his sister.\n\nThe Queen said more than once to her son, in order to bring him to\nspeak freely to her, that a young man must e'en take his pleasure; but\nhe never dared to trust her with his secret; he feared her, tho' he\nloved her; for she was of the race of the Ogres, and the King would\nnever have married her, had it not been for her vast riches; it was\neven whispered about the court, that she had Ogreish inclinations, and\nthat, whenever she saw little children passing by, she had all the\ndifficulty in the world to refrain from falling upon them. And so the\nPrince would never tell her one word.\n\nBut when the King was dead, which happened about two years afterwards;\nand he saw himself lord and master, he openly declared his marriage;\nand he went in great ceremony to fetch his Queen from the castle. They\nmade a magnificent entry into the capital city, she riding between her\ntwo children.\n\nSome time after, the King went to make war with the Emperor\nCantalabutte, his neighbour. He left the government of the kingdom to\nthe Queen his mother, and earnestly recommended to her care his wife\nand children. He was like to be at war all the summer, and as soon as\nhe departed, the Queen-mother sent her daughter-in-law and her\nchildren to a country-house among the woods, that she might with the\nmore ease gratify her horrible longing.\n\n[Illustration: \"'I WILL HAVE IT SO,' REPLIED THE QUEEN, 'AND WILL EAT\nHER WITH A SAUCE ROBERT'\"]\n\nSome few days afterwards she went thither herself, and said to her\nclerk of the kitchen:\n\n\"I have a mind to eat little Aurora for my dinner to morrow.\"\n\n\"Ah! Madam,\" cried the clerk of the kitchen.\n\n\"I will have it so,\" replied the Queen (and this she spake in the tone\nof an Ogress, who had a strong desire to eat fresh meat), \"and will\neat her with a Sauce Robert.\"[2]\n\n[Footnote 2: This is a French sauce, made with onions shredded and\nboiled tender in butter, to which is added vinegar, mustard, salt,\npepper, and a little wine. [Note by the translator.]]\n\nThe poor man knowing very well that he must not play tricks with\nOgresses, took his great knife and went up into little Aurora's\nchamber. She was then four years old, and came up to him jumping and\nlaughing, to take him about the neck, and ask him for some\nsugar-candy. Upon which he began to weep, the great knife fell out of\nhis hand, and he went into the back-yard, and killed a little lamb,\nand dressed it with such good sauce, that his mistress assured him she\nhad never eaten anything so good in her life. He had at the same time\ntaken up little Aurora, and carried her to his wife, to conceal her in\nthe lodging he had at the end of the court yard.\n\nAbout eight days afterwards, the wicked Queen said to the clerk of the\nkitchen:\n\n\"I will sup upon little Day.\"\n\nHe answered not a word, being resolved to cheat her, as he had done\nbefore. He went to find out little Day, and saw him with a little\nfoil in his hand, with which he was fencing with a great monkey; the\nchild being then only three years of age. He took him up in his arms,\nand carried him to his wife, that she might conceal him in her chamber\nalong with his sister, and in the room of little Day cooked up a young\nkid very tender, which the Ogress found to be wonderfully good.\n\nThis was hitherto all mighty well: but one evening this wicked Queen\nsaid to her clerk of the kitchen:\n\n\"I will eat the Queen with the same sauce I had with her children.\"\n\nIt was now that the poor clerk of the kitchen despaired of being able\nto deceive her. The young Queen was turned of twenty, not reckoning\nthe hundred years she had been asleep: her skin was somewhat tough,\ntho' very fair and white; and how to find in the yard a beast so firm,\nwas what puzzled him. He took then a resolution, that he might save\nhis own life, to cut the Queen's throat; and going up into her\nchamber, with intent to do it at once, he put himself into as great a\nfury as he could possibly, and came into the young Queen's room with\nhis dagger in his hand. He would not, however, surprise her, but told\nher, with a great deal of respect, the orders he had received from the\nQueen-mother.\n\n\"Do it, do it,\" said she stretching out her neck, \"execute your\norders, and then I shall go and see my children, my poor children,\nwhom I so much and so tenderly loved,\" for she thought them dead ever\nsince they had been taken away without her knowledge.\n\n\"No, no, Madam,\" cried the poor clerk of the kitchen, all in tears,\n\"you shall not die, and yet you shall see your children again; but it\nmust be in my lodgings, where I have concealed them, and I shall\ndeceive the Queen once more, by giving her in your stead a young\nhind.\"\n\nUpon this he forthwith conducted her to his chamber; where leaving her\nto embrace her children, and cry along with them, he went and dressed\na hind, which the Queen had for her supper, and devoured it with the\nsame appetite, as if it had been the young Queen. Exceedingly was she\ndelighted with her cruelty, and she had invented a story to tell the\nKing, at his return, how ravenous wolves had eaten up the Queen his\nwife, and her two children.\n\nOne evening, as she was, according to her custom, rambling round about\nthe courts and yards of the palace, to see if she could smell any\nfresh meat, she heard, in a ground-room little Day crying, for his\nmamma was going to whip him, because he had been naughty; and she\nheard, at the same time, little Aurora begging pardon for her brother.\n\nThe Ogress presently knew the voice of the Queen and her children, and\nbeing quite mad that she had been thus deceived, she commanded next\nmorning, by break of day (with a most horrible voice, which made every\nbody tremble) that they should bring into the middle of the great\ncourt a large tub, which she caused to be filled with toads, vipers,\nsnakes, and all sorts of serpents, in order to have thrown into it the\nQueen and her children, the clerk of the kitchen, his wife and maid;\nall whom she had given orders should be brought thither with their\nhands tied behind them.\n\nThey were brought out accordingly, and the executioners were just\ngoing to throw them into the tub, when the King (who was not so soon\nexpected) entered the court on horse-back (for he came post) and\nasked, with the utmost astonishment, what was the meaning of that\nhorrible spectacle? No one dared to tell him; when the Ogress, all\ninraged to see what had happened, threw herself head-foremost into the\ntub, and was instantly devoured by the ugly creatures she had ordered\nto be thrown into it for others. The King could not but be very sorry,\nfor she was his mother; but he soon comforted himself with his\nbeautiful wife, and his pretty children.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n_The Moral_\n\n\n    _To get as prize a husband rich and gay.\n    Of humour sweet, with many years to stay,\n    Is natural enough, 'tis true;\n    To wait for him a hundred years,\n    And all that while asleep, appears\n    A thing entirely new.\n    Now at this time of day,\n    Not one of all the sex we see\n    Doth sleep with such profound tranquillity:\n    But yet this Fable seems to let us know\n    That very often Hymen's blisses sweet,\n    Altho' some tedious obstacles they meet,\n    Are not less happy for approaching slow.\n    'Tis nature's way that ladies fair\n    Should yearn conjugal joys to share;\n    And so I've not the heart to preach\n    A moral that's beyond their reach._\n\n\n\n\n_The Master Cat; or, Puss in Boots_\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nThe Master Cat or Puss in Boots\n\n\nThere was a miller, who left no more estate to the three sons he had,\nthan his Mill, his Ass, and his Cat. The partition was soon made.\nNeither the scrivener nor attorney were sent for. They would soon have\neaten up all the poor patrimony. The eldest had the Mill, the second\nthe Ass, and the youngest nothing but the Cat.\n\nThe poor young fellow was quite comfortless at having so poor a lot.\n\n\"My brothers,\" said he, \"may get their living handsomely enough, by\njoining their stocks together; but for my part, when I have eaten up\nmy Cat, and made me a muff of his skin, I must die with hunger.\"\n\nThe Cat, who heard all this, but made as if he did not, said to him\nwith a grave and serious air:\n\n\"Do not thus afflict yourself, my good master; you have only to give\nme a bag, and get a pair of boots made for me, that I may scamper\nthro' the dirt and the brambles, and you shall see that you have not\nso bad a portion of me as you imagine.\"\n\nTho' the Cat's master did not build very much upon what he said, he\nhad however often seen him play a great many cunning tricks to catch\nrats and mice; as when he used to hang by the heels, or hide himself\nin the meal, and make as if he were dead; so that he did not\naltogether despair of his affording him some help in his miserable\ncondition.\n\nWhen the Cat had what he asked for, he booted himself very gallantly;\nand putting his bag about his neck, he held the strings of it in his\ntwo fore paws, and went into a warren where was great abundance of\nrabbits. He put bran and sow-thistle into his bag, and stretching\nhimself out at length, as if he had been dead, he waited for some\nyoung rabbit, not yet acquainted with the deceits of the world, to\ncome and rummage his bag for what he had put into it.\n\nScarce was he lain down, but he had what he wanted; a rash and foolish\nyoung rabbit jumped into his bag, and Monsieur Puss, immediately\ndrawing close the strings, took and killed him without pity. Proud of\nhis prey, he went with it to the palace, and asked to speak with his\nMajesty. He was shewed up stairs into the King's apartment, and,\nmaking a low reverence, said to him:\n\n\"I have brought you, sir, a rabbit of the warren which my noble lord\nthe Marquis of Carabas\" (for that was the title which Puss was pleased\nto give his master) \"has commanded me to present to your Majesty from\nhim.\"\n\n\"Tell thy master,\" said the King, \"that I thank him, and that he does\nme a great deal of pleasure.\"\n\nAnother time he went and hid himself among some standing corn, holding\nstill his bag open; and when a brace of partridges ran into it, he\ndrew the strings, and so caught them both. He went and made a present\nof these to the King, as he had done before of the rabbit which he\ntook in the warren. The King in like manner received the partridges\nwith great pleasure, and ordered him some money to drink.\n\nThe Cat continued for two or three months, thus to carry his Majesty,\nfrom time to time, game of his master's taking. One day in particular,\nwhen he knew for certain that the King was to take the air, along the\nriver side, with his daughter, the most beautiful Princess in the\nworld, he said to his master:\n\n\"If you will follow my advice, your fortune is made; you have nothing\nelse to do, but go and wash yourself in the river, in that part I\nshall shew you, and leave the rest to me.\"\n\nThe Marquis of Carabas did what the Cat advised him to, without\nknowing why or wherefore.\n\nWhile he was washing, the King passed by, and the Cat began to cry\nout, as loud as he could:\n\n\"Help, help, my lord Marquis of Carabas is drowning.\"\n\nAt this noise the King put his head out of his coach-window, and\nfinding it was the Cat who had so often brought him such good game, he\ncommanded his guards to run immediately to the assistance of his\nlordship the Marquis of Carabas.\n\nWhile they were drawing the poor Marquis out of the river, the Cat\ncame up to the coach, and told the King that while his master was\nwashing, there came by some rogues, who went off with his clothes,\ntho' he had cried out \"Thieves, thieves,\" several times, as loud as he\ncould. This cunning Cat had hidden them under a great stone. The King\nimmediately commanded the officers of his wardrobe to run and fetch\none of his best suits for the lord Marquis of Carabas.\n\nThe King received him with great kindness, and as the fine clothes he\nhad given him extremely set off his good mien (for he was well made,\nand very handsome in his person), the King's daughter took a secret\ninclination to him, and the Marquis of Carabas had no sooner cast two\nor three respectful and somewhat tender glances, but she fell in love\nwith him to distraction. The King would needs have him come into his\ncoach, and take part of the airing. The Cat, quite overjoyed to see\nhis project begin to succeed, marched on before, and meeting with some\ncountrymen, who were mowing a meadow, he said to them:\n\n\"Good people, you who are mowing, if you do not tell the King, that\nthe meadow you mow belongs to my lord Marquis of Carabas, you shall be\nchopped as small as mince-meat.\"\n\nThe King did not fail asking of the mowers, to whom the meadow they\nwere mowing belonged.\n\n\"To my lord Marquis of Carabas,\" answered they all together; for the\nCat's threats had made them terribly afraid.\n\n\"Truly a fine estate,\" said the King to the Marquis of Carabas.\n\n\"You see, sir,\" said the Marquis, \"this is a meadow which never fails\nto yield a plentiful harvest every year.\"\n\nThe Master Cat, who still went on before, met with some reapers, and\nsaid to them:\n\n\"Good people, you who are reaping, if you do not tell the King that\nall this corn belongs to the Marquis of Carabas, you shall be chopped\nas small as mince-meat.\"\n\nThe King, who passed by a moment after, would needs know to whom all\nthat corn, which he then saw, did belong. \"To my lord Marquis of\nCarabas,\" replied the reapers; and the King again congratulated the\nMarquis.\n\nThe Master Cat, who went always before, said the same words to all he\nmet; and the King was astonished at the vast estates of my lord\nMarquis of Carabas.\n\nMonsieur Puss came at last to a stately castle, the master of which\nwas an Ogre, the richest had ever been known; for all the lands which\nthe King had then gone over belonged to this castle. The Cat, who had\ntaken care to inform himself who this Ogre was, and what he could do,\nasked to speak with him, saying, he could not pass so near his castle,\nwithout having the honour of paying his respects to him.\n\nThe Ogre received him as civilly as an Ogre could do, and made him sit\ndown.\n\n\"I have been assured,\" said the Cat, \"that you have the gift of being\nable to change yourself into all sorts of creatures you have a mind\nto; you can, for example, transform yourself into a lion, or elephant,\nand the like.\"\n\n\"This is true,\" answered the Ogre very briskly, \"and to convince you,\nyou shall see me now become a lion.\"\n\nPuss was so sadly terrified at the sight of a lion so near him, that\nhe immediately got into the gutter, not without abundance of trouble\nand danger, because of his boots, which were ill-suited for walking\nupon the tiles. A little while after, when Puss saw that the Ogre had\nresumed his natural form, he came down, and owned he had been very\nmuch frightened.\n\n\"I have been moreover informed,\" said the Cat, \"but I know not how to\nbelieve it, that you have also the power to take on you the shape of\nthe smallest animals; for example, to change yourself into a rat or a\nmouse; but I must own to you, I take this to be impossible.\"\n\n\"Impossible?\" cried the Ogre, \"you shall see that presently,\" and at\nthe same time changed into a mouse, and began to run about the floor.\n\nPuss no sooner perceived this, but he fell upon him, and ate him up.\n\nMeanwhile the King, who saw, as he passed, this fine castle of the\nOgre's, had a mind to go into it. Puss, who heard the noise of his\nMajesty's coach running over the drawbridge, ran out and said to the\nKing:\n\n\"Your Majesty is welcome to this castle of my lord Marquis of\nCarabas.\"\n\n\"What! my lord Marquis?\" cried the King, \"and does this castle also\nbelong to you? There can be nothing finer than this court, and all the\nstately buildings which surround it; let us go into it, if you\nplease.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"THE MARQUIS GAVE HIS HAND TO THE PRINCESS, AND\nFOLLOWED THE KING, WHO WENT UP FIRST\"]\n\nThe Marquis gave his hand to the Princess, and followed the King,\nwho went up first. They passed into a spacious hall, where they found\na magnificent collation which the Ogre had prepared for his friends,\nwho were that very day to visit him, but dared not to enter knowing\nthe King was there. His Majesty was perfectly charmed with the good\nqualities of my lord Marquis of Carabas, as was his daughter who was\nfallen violently in love with him; and seeing the vast estate he\npossessed, said to him, after having drank five or six glasses:\n\n\"It will be owing to yourself only, my lord Marquis, if you are not my\nson-in-law.\"\n\nThe Marquis making several low bows, accepted the honour which his\nMajesty conferred upon him, and forthwith, that very same day, married\nthe Princess.\n\nPuss became a great lord, and never ran after mice any more, but only\nfor his diversion.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n_The Moral_\n\n    _How advantageous it may be,\n    By long descent of pedigree,\n              T'enjoy a great estate,\n    Yet knowledge how to act, we see,\n    Join'd with consummate industry,\n              (Nor wonder ye thereat)\n    Doth often prove a greater boon,\n    As should be to young people known._\n\n\n_Another_\n\n    _If the son of a miller so soon gains the heart\n    Of a beautiful princess, and makes her impart\n    Sweet languishing glances, eyes melting for love,\n    It must be remark'd of fine clothes how they move,\n    And that youth, a good face, a good air, with good mien,\n    Are not always indifferent mediums to win\n    The love of the fair, and gently inspire\n    The flames of sweet passion, and tender desire._\n\n\n\n\n_Cinderilla; or, The Little Glass Slipper_\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration: \"AWAY SHE DROVE, SCARCE ABLE TO CONTAIN HERSELF FOR\nJOY\" (_page_ 84)]\n\n\nCinderilla or The Little Glass Slipper\n\n\nOnce there was a gentleman who married, for his second wife, the\nproudest and most haughty woman that was ever seen. She had, by a\nformer husband, two daughters of her own humour and they were indeed\nexactly like her in all things. He had likewise, by another wife, a\nyoung daughter, but of unparalleled goodness and sweetness of temper,\nwhich she took from her mother, who was the best creature in the\nworld.\n\nNo sooner were the ceremonies of the wedding over, but the stepmother\nbegan to shew herself in her colours. She could not bear the good\nqualities of this pretty girl; and the less, because they made her own\ndaughters appear the more odious. She employed her in the meanest work\nof the house; she scoured the dishes, tables, &c. and rubbed Madam's\nchamber, and those of Misses, her daughters; she lay up in a sorry\ngarret, upon a wretched straw-bed, while her sisters lay in fine\nrooms, with floors all inlaid, upon beds of the very newest fashion,\nand where they had looking-glasses so large, that they might see\nthemselves at their full length, from head to foot.\n\nThe poor girl bore all patiently, and dared not tell her father, who\nwould have rattled her off; for his wife governed him intirely. When\nshe had done her work, she used to go into the chimney-corner, and\nsit down among cinders and ashes, which made her commonly be called\nCinder-breech; but the youngest, who was not so rude and uncivil as\nthe eldest, called her Cinderilla. However, Cinderilla,\nnotwithstanding her mean apparel, was a hundred times handsomer than\nher sisters, tho' they were always dressed very richly.\n\nIt happened that the King's son gave a ball, and invited all persons\nof fashion to it. Our young misses were also invited; for they cut a\nvery grand figure among the quality. They were mightily delighted at\nthis invitation, and wonderfully busy in chusing out such gowns,\npetticoats, and head-clothes as might best become them. This was a new\ntrouble to Cinderilla; for it was she who ironed her sisters' linen,\nand plaited their ruffles; they talked all day long of nothing but how\nthey should be dressed. \"For my part,\" said the eldest, \"I will wear\nmy red velvet suit, with French trimming.\" \"And I,\" said the youngest,\n\"shall only have my usual petticoat; but then, to make amends for\nthat, I will put on my gold-flowered manteau, and my diamond\nstomacher, which is far from being the most ordinary one in the\nworld.\" They sent for the best tire-woman they could get, to make up\ntheir head-dresses, and adjust their double-pinners,[3] and they had\ntheir red brushes, and patches from the fashionable maker.\n\n[Footnote 3: 'Pinners' were coifs with two long side-flaps pinned on.\n'Double-pinners'--with two side-flaps on each side--accurately\ntranslates the French _cornettes \u00e0 deux rangs_.]\n\n[Illustration: \"ANY ONE BUT CINDERILLA WOULD HAVE DRESSED THEIR HEADS\nAWRY\"]\n\nCinderilla was likewise called up to them to be consulted in all these\nmatters, for she had excellent notions, and advised them always for\nthe best, nay and offered her service to dress their heads, which they\nwere very willing she should do. As she was doing this, they said to\nher:\n\n\"Cinderilla, would you not be glad to go to the ball?\"\n\n\"Ah!\" said she, \"you only jeer at me; it is not for such as I am to go\nthither.\"\n\n\"Thou art in the right of it,\" replied they, \"it would make the people\nlaugh to see a Cinder-breech at a ball.\"\n\nAny one but Cinderilla would have dressed their heads awry, but she\nwas very good, and dressed them perfectly well. They were almost two\ndays without eating, so much they were transported with joy; they\nbroke above a dozen of laces in trying to be laced up close, that they\nmight have a fine slender shape, and they were continually at their\nlooking-glass. At last the happy day came; they went to Court, and\nCinderilla followed them with her eyes as long as she could, and when\nshe had lost sight of them she fell a-crying.\n\nHer godmother, who saw her all in tears, asked her what was the\nmatter.\n\n\"I wish I could----, I wish I could--;\" she was not able to speak the\nrest, being interrupted by her tears and sobbing.\n\nThis godmother of hers, who was a Fairy, said to her:\n\n\"Thou wishest thou couldest go to the ball, is it not so?\"\n\n\"Y--es,\" cried Cinderilla, with a great sigh.\n\n\"Well,\" said her godmother, \"be but a good girl, and I will contrive\nthat thou shalt go.\" Then she took her into her chamber, and said to\nher:\n\n\"Run into the garden, and bring me a pumpkin.\"\n\nCinderilla went immediately to gather the finest she could get, and\nbrought it to her godmother, not being able to imagine how this\npumpkin could make her go to the ball. Her godmother scooped out all\nthe inside of it, leaving nothing but the rind; which done, she struck\nit with her wand, and the pumpkin was instantly turned into a fine\ncoach, gilded all over with gold.\n\nShe then went to look into her mouse-trap, where she found six mice\nall alive, and ordered Cinderilla to lift up a little the trap-door,\nwhen giving each mouse, as it went out, a little tap with her wand,\nthe mouse was at that moment turned into a fair horse, which\naltogether made a very fine set of six horses of a beautiful\nmouse-coloured dapple-grey.\n\nBeing at a loss for a coachman, \"I will go and see,\" says Cinderilla,\n\"if there be never a rat in the rat-trap, that we may make a coachman\nof him.\"\n\n\"Thou art in the right,\" replied her godmother; \"go and look.\"\n\nCinderilla brought the trap to her, and in it there were three huge\nrats. The Fairy made choice of one of the three, which had the largest\nbeard, and, having touched him with her wand, he was turned into a fat\njolly coachman, who had the smartest whiskers eyes ever beheld.\n\nAfter that, she said to her:\n\n\"Go again into the garden, and you will find six lizards behind the\nwatering pot; bring them to me.\"\n\nShe had no sooner done so, but her godmother turned them into six\nfootmen, who skipped up immediately behind the coach, with their\nliveries all bedaubed with gold and silver, and clung as close behind\nit, as if they had done nothing else their whole lives. The Fairy then\nsaid to Cinderilla:\n\n\"Well, you see here an equipage fit to go to the ball with; are you\nnot pleased with it?\"\n\n\"O yes,\" cried she, \"but must I go thither as I am, in these poison\nnasty rags?\"\n\nHer godmother only just touched her with her wand, and, at the same\ninstant, her clothes were turned into cloth of gold and silver, all\nbeset with jewels. This done she gave her a pair of glass-slippers,[4]\nthe prettiest in the whole world.\n\n[Footnote 4: In Perrault's tale: _pantoufles de verre_. There is no\ndoubt that in the medieval versions of this ancient tale Cinderilla\nwas given _pantoufles de vair_--_i.e._, of a grey, or grey and white,\nfur, the exact nature of which has been a matter of controversy, but\nwhich was probably a grey squirrel. Long before the seventeenth\ncentury the word _vair_ had passed out of use, except as a heraldic\nterm, and had ceased to convey any meaning to the people. Thus the\n_pantoufles de vair_ of the fairy tale became, in the oral tradition,\nthe homonymous _pantoufles de verre_, or glass slippers, a delightful\nimprovement on the earlier version.]\n\nBeing thus decked out, she got up into her coach; but her godmother,\nabove all things, commanded her not to stay till after midnight,\ntelling her, at the same time, that if she stayed at the ball one\nmoment longer, her coach would be a pumpkin again, her horses mice,\nher coachman a rat, her footmen lizards, and her clothes become just\nas they were before.\n\nShe promised her godmother, she would not fail of leaving the ball\nbefore midnight; and then away she drove, scarce able to contain\nherself for joy. The King's son, who was told that a great Princess,\nwhom nobody knew, was come, ran out to receive her; he gave her his\nhand as she alighted out of the coach, and led her into the hall,\namong all the company. There was immediately a profound silence, they\nleft off dancing, and the violins ceased to play, so attentive was\nevery one to contemplate the singular beauty of this unknown new\ncomer. Nothing was then heard but a confused noise of,\n\n\"Ha! how handsome she is! Ha! how handsome she is!\"\n\nThe King himself, old as he was, could not help ogling her, and\ntelling the Queen softly, \"that it was a long time since he had seen\nso beautiful and lovely a creature.\" All the ladies were busied in\nconsidering her clothes and head-dress, that they might have some made\nnext day after the same pattern, provided they could meet with such\nfine materials, and as able hands to make them.\n\nThe King's son conducted her to the most honourable seat, and\nafterwards took her out to dance with him: she danced so very\ngracefully, that they all more and more admired her. A fine collation\nwas served up, whereof the young Prince ate not a morsel, so intently\nwas he busied in gazing on her. She went and sat down by her sisters,\nshewing them a thousand civilities, giving them part of the oranges\nand citrons which the Prince had presented her with; which very much\nsurprised them, for they did not know her.\n\nWhile Cinderilla was thus amusing her sisters, she heard the clock\nstrike eleven and three quarters, whereupon she immediately made a\ncurtesy to the company, and hasted away as fast as she could.\n\nBeing got home, she ran to seek out her godmother, and after having\nthanked her, she said, \"she could not but heartily wish she might go\nnext day to the ball, because the King's son had desired her.\" As she\nwas eagerly telling her godmother whatever had passed at the ball, her\ntwo sisters knocked at the door which Cinderilla ran and opened.\n\n\"How long you have stayed,\" cried she, gaping, rubbing her eyes, and\nstretching herself as if she had been just awaked out of her sleep;\nshe had not, however, any manner of inclination to sleep since they\nwent from home.\n\n\"If thou hadst been at the ball,\" said one of her sisters, \"thou\nwouldst not have been tired with it; there came thither the finest\nPrincess, the most beautiful ever was seen with mortal eyes; she\nshewed us a thousand civilities, and gave us oranges and citrons.\"\nCinderilla was transported with joy; she asked them the name of that\nPrincess; but they told her they did not know it; and that the King's\nson was very anxious to learn it, and would give all the world to know\nwho she was. At this Cinderilla, smiling, replied:\n\n\"She must then be very beautiful indeed; Lord! how happy have you\nbeen; could not I see her? Ah! dear Miss Charlotte, do lend me your\nyellow suit of cloaths which you wear every day!\"\n\n\"Ay, to be sure!\" cried Miss Charlotte, \"lend my cloaths to such a\ndirty Cinder-breech as thou art; who's the fool then?\"\n\nCinderilla, indeed, expected some such answer, and was very glad of\nthe refusal; for she would have been sadly put to it, if her sister\nhad lent her what she asked for jestingly.\n\nThe next day the two sisters were at the ball, and so was Cinderilla,\nbut dressed more magnificently than before. The King's son was always\nby her, and never ceased his compliments and amorous speeches to her;\nto whom all this was so far from being tiresome, that she quite forgot\nwhat her godmother had recommended to her, so that she, at last,\ncounted the clock striking twelve, when she took it to be no more than\neleven; she then rose up, and fled as nimble as a deer.\n\nThe Prince followed, but could not overtake her. She left behind one\nof her glass slippers, which the Prince took up most carefully. She\ngot home, but quite out of breath, without coach or footmen, and in\nher nasty old cloaths, having nothing left her of all her finery, but\none of the little slippers, fellow to that she dropped. The guards at\nthe palace gate were asked if they had not seen a Princess go out; who\nsaid, they had seen nobody go out, but a young girl, very meanly\ndressed, and who had more the air of a poor country wench, than a\ngentle-woman.\n\n[Illustration: \"SHE LEFT BEHIND ONE OF HER GLASS SLIPPERS, WHICH THE\nPRINCE TOOK UP MOST CAREFULLY\"]\n\nWhen the two sisters returned from the ball, Cinderilla asked them if\nthey had been well diverted, and if the fine lady had been there. They\ntold her, Yes, but that she hurried away immediately when it struck\ntwelve, and with so much haste, that she dropped one of her little\nglass slippers, the prettiest in the world, and which the King's son\nhad taken up; that he had done nothing but look at it during all the\nlatter part of the ball, and that most certainly he was very much in\nlove with the beautiful person who owned the little slipper.\n\nWhat they said was very true; for a few days after, the King's son\ncaused it to be proclaimed by sound of trumpet, that he would marry\nher whose foot this slipper would just fit. They whom he employed\nbegan to try it on upon the Princesses, then the duchesses, and all\nthe Court, but in vain. It was brought to the two sisters, who did all\nthey possibly could to thrust their feet into the slipper, but they\ncould not effect it.\n\nCinderilla, who saw all this, and knew her slipper, said to them\nlaughing:\n\n\"Let me see if it will not fit me?\"\n\nHer sisters burst out a-laughing, and began to banter her. The\ngentleman who was sent to try the slipper, looked earnestly at\nCinderilla, and finding her very handsome, said it was but just that\nshe should try, and that he had orders to let every one make tryal. He\ninvited Cinderilla to sit down, and putting the slipper to her foot,\nhe found it went on very easily, and fitted her, as if it had been\nmade of wax. The astonishment her two sisters were in was excessively\ngreat, but still abundantly greater, when Cinderilla pulled out of her\npocket the other slipper, and put it on her foot. Thereupon, in came\nher godmother, who having touched, with her wand, Cinderilla's\ncloaths, made them richer and more magnificent than any of those she\nhad before.\n\nAnd now her two sisters found her to be that fine beautiful lady whom\nthey had seen at the ball. They threw themselves at her feet, to beg\npardon for all the ill treatment they had made her undergo. Cinderilla\ntook them up, and as she embraced them, cried that she forgave them\nwith all her heart, and desired them always to love her.\n\nShe was conducted to the young Prince, dressed as she was; he thought\nher more charming than ever, and, a few days after, married her.\n\nCinderilla, who was no less good than beautiful, gave her two sisters\nlodgings in the palace, and that very same day matched them with two\ngreat lords of the court.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n_The Moral_\n\n    _Beauty's to the sex a treasure,\n    Still admir'd beyond all measure,\n    And never yet was any known,\n    By still admiring, weary grown.\n    But that rare quality call'd grace,\n    Exceeds, by far, a handsome face;\n    Its lasting charms surpass the other,\n    And this rich gift her kind godmother\n    Bestow'd on Cinderilla fair,\n    Whom she instructed with such care.\n    She gave to her such graceful mien,\n    That she, thereby, became a queen.\n    For thus (may ever truth prevail)\n    We draw our moral from this tale.\n    This quality, fair ladies, know\n    Prevails much more (you'll find it so)\n    T'ingage and captivate a heart,\n    Than a fine head dress'd up with art.\n    The fairies' gift of greatest worth\n    Is grace of bearing, not high birth;\n    Without this gift we'll miss the prize;\n    Possession gives us wings to rise._\n\n\n_Another_\n\n    _A great advantage 'tis, no doubt, to man,\n    To have wit, courage, birth, good sense, and brain,\n    And other such-like qualities, which we\n    Receiv'd from heaven's kind hand, and destiny.\n    But none of these rich graces from above,\n    To your advancement in the world will prove\n    If godmothers and sires you disobey,\n    Or 'gainst their strict advice too long you stay._\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n_Riquet with the Tuft_\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nRiquet with the Tuft\n\n\nThere was, once upon a time, a Queen, who was brought to bed of a son,\nso hideously ugly, that it was long disputed, whether he had human\nform. A Fairy, who was at his birth, affirmed, he would be very\nlovable for all that, since he should be indowed with abundance of\nwit. She even added, that it would be in his power, by virtue of a\ngift she had just then given him, to bestow on the person he most\nloved as much wit as he pleased. All this somewhat comforted the poor\nQueen, who was under a grievous affliction for having brought into the\nworld such an ugly brat. It is true, that this child no sooner began\nto prattle, but he said a thousand pretty things, and that in all his\nactions there was something so taking, that he charmed every-body. I\nforgot to tell you, that he came into the world with a little tuft of\nhair upon his head, which made them call him Riquet with the Tuft, for\nRiquet was the family name.\n\nSeven or eight years after this, the Queen of a neighbouring kingdom\nwas delivered of two daughters at a birth. The first-born of these was\nbeautiful beyond compare, whereat the Queen was so very glad, that\nthose present were afraid that her excess of joy would do her harm.\nThe same Fairy, who had assisted at the birth of little Riquet with\nthe Tuft, was here also; and, to moderate the Queen's gladness, she\ndeclared, that this little Princess should have no wit at all, but be\nas stupid as she was pretty. This mortified the Queen extreamly, but\nsome moments afterwards she had far greater sorrow; for, the second\ndaughter she was delivered of, was very ugly.\n\n\"Do not afflict yourself so much, Madam,\" said the Fairy; \"your\ndaughter shall have so great a portion of wit, that her want of beauty\nwill scarcely be perceived.\"\n\n\"God grant it,\" replied the Queen; \"but is there no way to make the\neldest, who is so pretty, have some little wit?\"\n\n\"I can do nothing for her, Madam, as to wit,\" answered the Fairy, \"but\neverything as to beauty; and as there is nothing but what I would do\nfor your satisfaction, I give her for gift, that she shall have the\npower to make handsome the person who shall best please her.\"\n\nAs these Princesses grew up, their perfections grew up with them; all\nthe public talk was of the beauty of the eldest, and the wit of the\nyoungest. It is true also that their defects increased considerably\nwith their age; the youngest visibly grew uglier and uglier, and the\neldest became every day more and more stupid; she either made no\nanswer at all to what was asked her, or said something very silly; she\nwas with all this so unhandy, that she could not place four pieces of\nchina upon the mantlepiece, without breaking one of them, nor drink a\nglass of water without spilling half of it upon her cloaths. Tho'\nbeauty is a very great advantage in young people, yet here the\nyoungest sister bore away the bell, almost always, in all companies\nfrom the eldest; people would indeed, go first to the Beauty to look\nupon, and admire her, but turn aside soon after to the Wit, to hear a\nthousand most entertaining and agreeable turns, and it was amazing to\nsee, in less than a quarter of an hour's time, the eldest with not a\nsoul with her and the whole company crowding about the youngest. The\neldest, tho' she was unaccountably dull, could not but notice it, and\nwould have given all her beauty to have half the wit of her sister.\nThe Queen, prudent as she was, could not help reproaching her several\ntimes, which had like to have made this poor Princess die for grief.\n\nOne day, as she retired into the wood to bewail her misfortune, she\nsaw, coming to her, a little man, very disagreeable, but most\nmagnificently dressed. This was the young Prince Riquet with the Tuft,\nwho having fallen in love with her, by seeing her picture, many of\nwhich went all the world over, had left his father's kingdom, to have\nthe pleasure of seeing and talking with her.\n\nOverjoyed to find her thus all alone, he addressed himself to her with\nall imaginable politeness and respect. Having observed, after he had\nmade her the ordinary compliments, that she was extremely melancholy,\nhe said to her:\n\n\"I cannot comprehend, Madam, how a person so beautiful as you are, can\nbe so sorrowful as you seem to be; for tho' I can boast of having seen\ninfinite numbers of ladies exquisitely charming, I can say that I\nnever beheld any one whose beauty approaches yours.\"\n\n\"You are pleased to say so,\" answered the Princess, and here she\nstopped.\n\n\"Beauty,\" replied Riquet with the Tuft, \"is such a great advantage,\nthat it ought to take the place of all things; and since you possess\nthis treasure, I see nothing that can possibly very much afflict you.\"\n\n\"I had far rather,\" cried the Princess, \"be as ugly as you are, and\nhave wit, than have the beauty I possess, and be so stupid as I am.\"\n\n\"There is nothing, Madam,\" returned he, \"shews more that we have wit,\nthan to believe we have none; and it is the nature of that excellent\nquality, that the more people have of it, the more they believe they\nwant it.\"\n\n\"I do not know that,\" said the Princess; \"but I know, very well, that\nI am very senseless, and thence proceeds the vexation which almost\nkills me.\"\n\n\"If that be all, Madam, which troubles you, I can very easily put an\nend to your affliction.\"\n\n\"And how will you do that?\" cried the Princess.\n\n\"I have the power, Madam,\" replied Riquet with the Tuft, \"to give to\nthat person whom I shall love best, as much wit as can be had; and as\nyou, Madam, are that very person, it will be your fault only, if you\nhave not as great a share of it as any one living, provided you will\nbe pleased to marry me.\"\n\nThe Princess remained quite astonished, and answered not a word.\n\n[Illustration: \"THE PRINCE BELIEVED HE HAD GIVEN HER MORE WIT THAN HE\nHAD RESERVED FOR HIMSELF\"]\n\n\"I see,\" replied Riquet with the Tuft, \"that this proposal makes you\nvery uneasy, and I do not wonder at it, but I will give you a whole\nyear to consider of it.\"\n\nThe Princess had so little wit, and, at the same time, so great a\nlonging to have some, that she imagined the end of that year would\nnever be; therefore she accepted the proposal which was made her. She\nhad no sooner promised Riquet with the Tuft that she would marry him\non that day twelvemonth, than she found herself quite otherwise than\nshe was before; she had an incredible facility of speaking whatever\nshe pleased, after a polite, easy, and natural manner; she began that\nmoment a very gallant conversation with Riquet with the Tuft, wherein\nshe tattled at such a rate, that Riquet with the Tuft believed he had\ngiven her more wit than he had reserved for himself.\n\nWhen she returned to the palace, the whole Court knew not what to\nthink of such a sudden and extraordinary change; for they heard from\nher now as much sensible discourse, and as many infinitely witty\nturns, as they had stupid and silly impertinences before. The whole\nCourt was overjoyed at it beyond imagination; it pleased all but her\nyounger sister; because having no longer the advantage of her in\nrespect of wit, she appeared, in comparison of her, a very\ndisagreeable, homely puss. The King governed himself by her advice,\nand would even sometimes hold a council in her apartment. The noise of\nthis change spreading every where, all the young Princes of the\nneighbouring kingdoms strove all they could to gain her favour, and\nalmost all of them asked her in marriage; but she found not one of\nthem had wit enough for her, and she gave them all a hearing, but\nwould not engage herself to any.\n\nHowever, there came one so powerful, rich, witty and handsome, that\nshe could not help having a good inclination for him. Her father\nperceived it, and told her that she was her own mistress as to the\nchoice of a husband, and that she might declare her intentions. As the\nmore wit we have, the greater difficulty we find to make a firm\nresolution upon such affairs, this made her desire her father, after\nhaving thanked him, to give her time to consider of it.\n\nShe went accidentally to walk in the same wood where she met Riquet\nwith the Tuft, to think, the more conveniently, what she ought to do.\nWhile she was walking in a profound meditation, she heard a confused\nnoise under her feet, as it were of a great many people who went\nbackwards and forwards, and were very busy. Having listened more\nattentively, she heard one say:\n\n\"Bring me that pot\"; another \"Give me that kettle\"; and a third, \"Put\nsome wood upon the fire.\"\n\nThe ground at the same time opened, and she seemingly saw under her\nfeet, a great kitchen full of cooks, scullions, and all sorts of\nservants necessary for a magnificent entertainment. There came out of\nit a company of roasters, to the number of twenty, or thirty, who went\nto plant themselves in a fine alley of wood, about a very long table,\nwith their larding pins in their hands, and skewers in their caps,\nwho began to work, keeping time, to the tune of a very harmonious\nsong.\n\nThe Princess, all astonished at this sight, asked them who they worked\nfor.\n\n\"For Prince Riquet with the Tuft,\" said the chief of them, \"who is to\nbe married to-morrow.\"\n\nThe Princess was more surprised than ever, and recollecting that it\nwas now that day twelvemonth on which she had promised to marry Riquet\nwith the Tuft, she was like to sink into the ground.\n\nWhat made her forget this was that, when she made this promise, she\nwas very silly, and having obtained that vast stock of wit which the\nPrince had bestowed on her, she had intirely forgot her stupidity. She\ncontinued walking, but had not taken thirty steps before Riquet with\nthe Tuft presented himself to her, bravely and most magnificently\ndressed, like a Prince who was going to be married.\n\n\"You see, Madam,\" said he, \"I am very exact in keeping my word, and\ndoubt not, in the least, but you are come hither to perform yours, and\nto make me, by giving me your hand, the happiest of men.\"\n\n\"I shall freely own to you,\" answered the Princess, \"that I have not\nyet taken any resolution on this affair, and believe I never shall\ntake such a one as you desire.\"\n\n\"You astonish me, Madam,\" said Riquet with the Tuft.\n\n\"I believe it,\" said the Princess, \"and surely if I had to do with a\nclown, or a man of no wit, I should find myself very much at a loss.\n'A Princess always observes her word,' would he say to me, 'and you\nmust marry me, since you promised to do so.' But as he whom I talk to\nis the man of the world who is master of the greatest sense and\njudgment, I am sure he will hear reason. You know, that when I was but\na fool, I could, notwithstanding, never come to a resolution to marry\nyou; why will you have me, now I have so much judgment as you gave me,\nand which makes me a more difficult person than I was at that time, to\ncome to such a resolution, which I could not then determine to agree\nto? If you sincerely thought to make me your wife, you have been\ngreatly in the wrong to deprive me of my dull simplicity, and make me\nsee things much more clearly than I did.\"\n\n\"If a man of no wit and sense,\" replied Riquet with the Tuft, \"would\nbe entitled, as you say, to reproach you for breach of your word, why\nwill you not let me, Madam, do likewise in a matter wherein all the\nhappiness of my life is concerned? Is it reasonable that persons of\nwit and sense should be in a worse condition than those who have none?\nCan you pretend this; you who have so great a share, and desired so\nearnestly to have it? But let us come to fact, if you please. Setting\naside my ugliness and deformity, is there any thing in me which\ndispleases you? Are you dissatisfied with my birth, my wit, humour, or\nmanners?\"\n\n[Illustration: \"RIQUET WITH THE TUFT APPEARED TO HER THE FINEST PRINCE\nUPON EARTH\"]\n\n\"Not at all,\" answered the Princess; \"I love you and respect you in\nall that you mention.\" \"If it be so,\" said Riquet with the Tuft, \"I\nam like to be happy, since it is in your power to make me the most\nlovable of men.\"\n\n\"How can that be?\" said the Princess.\n\n\"It will come about,\" said Riquet with the Tuft; \"if you love me\nenough to wish it to be so; and that you may no ways doubt, Madam, of\nwhat I say, know that the same Fairy, who, on my birth-day, gave me\nfor gift the power of making the person who should please me extremely\nwitty and judicious, has, in like manner, given you for gift the power\nof making him, whom you love, and would grant that favour to,\nextremely handsome.\"\n\n\"If it be so,\" said the Princess, \"I wish, with all my heart, that you\nmay be the most lovable Prince in the world, and I bestow it on you,\nas much as I am able.\"\n\nThe Princess had no sooner pronounced these words, but Riquet with the\nTuft appeared to her the finest Prince upon earth; the handsomest and\nmost amiable man she ever saw. Some affirm that it was not the\nenchantments of the Fairy which worked this change, but that love\nalone caused the metamorphosis. They say, that the Princess, having\nmade due reflection on the perseverance of her lover, his discretion,\nand all the good qualities of his mind, his wit and judgment, saw no\nlonger the deformity of his body, nor the ugliness of his face; that\nhis hump seemed to her no more than the homely air of one who has a\nbroad back; and that whereas till then she saw him limp horribly, she\nfound it nothing more than a certain sidling air, which charmed her.\nThey say farther, that his eyes, which were very squinting, seemed to\nher all the more bright and sparkling; that their irregularity passed\nin her judgment for a mark of a violent excess of love; and, in short,\nthat his great red nose had, in her opinion, somewhat of the martial\nand heroic.\n\nHowsoever it was, the Princess promised immediately to marry him, on\ncondition he obtained her father's consent. The King being acquainted\nthat his daughter had abundance of esteem for Riquet with the Tuft,\nwhom he knew otherwise for a most sage and judicious Prince, received\nhim for his son-in-law with pleasure; and the next morning their\nnuptials were celebrated, as Riquet with the Tuft had foreseen, and\naccording to the orders he had a long time before given.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n_The Moral_\n\n    _What in this little Tale we find,\n    Is less a fable than real truth.\n    In those we love appear rare gifts of mind,\n    And body too: wit, judgment, beauty, youth._\n\n\n_Another_\n\n    _A countenance whereon, by natures hand,\n    Beauty is trac'd, also the lively stain\n    Of such complexion art can ne'er attain,\n    With all these gifts hath not so much command\n    On hearts, as hath one secret charm alone.\n    Love finds that out, to all besides unknown._\n\n\n\n\n_Little Thumb_\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration: \"LITTLE THUMB WAS AS GOOD AS HIS WORD, AND RETURNED\nTHAT SAME NIGHT WITH THE NEWS\" (_page_ 123)]\n\n\nLittle Thumb\n\n\nThere was, once upon a time, a man and his wife, faggot-makers by\ntrade, who had seven children, all boys. The eldest was but ten years\nold, and the youngest only seven. One might wonder how that the\nfaggot-maker could have so many children in so little a time; but it\nwas because his wife went nimbly about her business and never brought\nfewer than two at a birth. They were very poor, and their seven\nchildren incommoded them greatly, because not one of them was able to\nearn his bread. That which gave them yet more uneasiness was, that the\nyoungest was of a very puny constitution, and scarce ever spake a\nword, which made them take that for stupidity which was a sign of good\nsense. He was very little, and, when born, no bigger than one's thumb;\nwhich made him be called Little Thumb.\n\nThe poor child bore the blame of whatsoever was done amiss in the\nhouse, and guilty or not was always in the wrong; he was,\nnotwithstanding, more cunning and had a far greater share of wisdom\nthan all his brothers put together, and if he spake little he heard\nand thought the more.\n\nThere happened now to come a very bad year, and the famine was so\ngreat, that these poor people resolved to rid themselves of their\nchildren. One evening, when they were all in bed and the faggot-maker\nwas sitting with his wife at the fire, he said to her, with his heart\nready to burst with grief:\n\n\"Thou see'st plainly that we are not able to keep our children, and I\ncannot see them starve to death before my face; I am resolved to lose\nthem in the wood to-morrow, which may very easily be done; for while\nthey are busy in tying up the faggots, we may run away, and leave\nthem, without their taking any notice.\"\n\n\"Ah!\" cried out his wife, \"and can'st thou thyself have the heart to\ntake thy children out along with thee on purpose to lose them?\"\n\nIn vain did her husband represent to her their extreme poverty; she\nwould not consent to it; she was, indeed poor, but she was their\nmother. However, having considered what a grief it would be to her to\nsee them perish with hunger, she at last consented and went to bed all\nin tears.\n\nLittle Thumb heard every word that had been spoken; for observing, as\nhe lay in his bed, that they were talking very busily, he had got up\nsoftly and hid himself under his father's stool, that he might hear\nwhat they said, without being seen. He went to bed again, but did not\nsleep a wink all the rest of the night, thinking on what he ought to\ndo. He got up early in the morning, and went to the river side, where\nhe filled his pockets full of small white pebbles, and then returned\nhome. They all went abroad, but Little Thumb never told his brothers\none syllable of what he knew. They went into a very thick forest,\nwhere they could not see one another at ten paces distance. The\nfaggot-maker began to cut wood, and the children to gather up sticks\nto make faggots. Their father and mother seeing them busy at their\nwork, got from them by degrees, and then ran away from them all at\nonce, along a by-way, thro' the winding bushes.\n\n[Illustration: \"HE BROUGHT THEM HOME BY THE VERY SAME WAY THEY CAME\"]\n\nWhen the children saw they were left alone, they began to cry as loud\nas they could. Little Thumb let them cry on, knowing very well how to\ngo home again; for as he came he had taken care to drop all along the\nway the little white pebbles he had in his pockets. Then said he to\nthem:\n\n\"Be not afraid, brothers, father and mother have left us here, but I\nwill lead you home again, only follow me.\" They did so, and he brought\nthem home by the very same way they came into the forest. They dared\nnot to go in, but sat themselves down at the door, listening to what\ntheir father and mother were saying.\n\nThe very moment the faggot-maker and his wife were got home, the lord\nof the manor sent them ten crowns, which he had owed them a long\nwhile, and which they never expected. This gave them new life; for the\npoor people were almost famished. The faggot-maker sent his wife\nimmediately to the butcher's. As it was a long while since they had\neaten a bit, she bought thrice as much meat as would sup two people.\nHaving filled their bellies, the woman said:\n\n\"Alas! where are now our poor children? They would make a good feast\nof what we have left here; but then it was you, William, who had a\nmind to lose them; I told you we should repent of it: what are they\nnow doing in the forest? Alas! dear God, the wolves have, perhaps,\nalready eaten them up: thou art very inhuman thus to have lost thy\nchildren.\"\n\nThe faggot-maker grew at last quite out of patience, for she repeated\nthis above twenty times, that they should repent of it, and she was in\nthe right of it for so saying. He threatened to beat her, if she did\nnot hold her tongue. It was not that the faggot-maker was not,\nperhaps, more vexed than his wife, but that she teized him, and that\nhe was of the humour of a great many others, who love wives who speak\nright, but think those very importunate who are always in the right.\nShe was half drowned in tears, crying out:\n\n\"Alas! where are now my children, my poor children?\"\n\nShe spake this so very loud, that the children who were at the door,\nbegan to cry out all together:\n\n\"Here we are, here we are.\"\n\nShe ran immediately to open the door, and said, hugging them:\n\n\"I am glad to see you, my dear children; you are very hungry and\nweary; and my poor Peter, thou art horribly bemired; come in and let\nme clean thee.\"\n\nNow, you must know, that Peter was her eldest son, whom she loved\nabove all the rest, because he was somewhat carrotty, as she herself\nwas. They sat down to supper, and ate with such a good appetite as\npleased both father and mother, whom they acquainted how frightened\nthey were in the forest; speaking almost always all together. The good\nfolks were extremely glad to see their children once more at home,\nand this joy continued while the ten crowns lasted; but when the money\nwas all gone, they fell again into their former uneasiness, and\nresolved to lose them again; and, that they might be the surer of\ndoing it, to carry them at a much greater distance than before. They\ncould not talk of this so secretly, but they were overheard by Little\nThumb, who made account to get out of this difficulty as well as the\nformer; but though he got up betimes in the morning, to go and pick up\nsome little pebbles, he was disappointed; for he found the house-door\ndouble-locked, and was at a stand what to do. When their father had\ngiven each of them a piece of bread for their breakfast, he fancied he\nmight make use of this bread instead of the pebbles, by throwing it in\nlittle bits all along the way they should pass; and so he put it up\ninto his pocket.\n\nTheir father and mother brought them into the thickest and most\nobscure part of the forest; when, stealing away into a by-path, they\nthere left them. Little Thumb was not very uneasy at it; for he\nthought he could easily find the way again, by means of his bread\nwhich he had scattered all along as he came. But he was very much\nsurprised when he could not find so much as one crumb; the birds had\ncome and eaten it up every bit. They were now in great affliction, for\nthe farther they went, the more they were out of their way, and were\nmore and more bewildered in the forest.\n\nNight now came on, and there arose a terrible high wind, which made\nthem dreadfully afraid. They fancied they heard on every side of them\nthe houling of wolves coming to eat them up; they scarce dared to\nspeak, or turn their heads. After this, it rained very hard, which wet\nthem to the skin; their feet slipped at every step they took, and they\nfell into the mire, whence they got up in a very dirty pickle; their\nhands were in a sorry state.\n\nLittle Thumb climbed up to the top of a tree, to see if he could\ndiscover any thing; and having turned his head about on every side, he\nsaw at last a glimmering light, like that of a candle, but a long way\nfrom the forest. He came down, and, when upon the ground, he could see\nit no more, which grieved him sadly. However, having walked for some\ntime with his brothers towards that side on which he had seen the\nlight, he perceived it again as he came out of the wood.\n\nThey came at last to the house where this candle was, not without\nabundance of fear; for very often they lost sight of it, which\nhappened every time they came into a bottom. They knocked at the door,\nand a good woman came and open'd it; she asked them what they wished.\n\nLittle Thumb told her they were poor children who had been lost in the\nforest, and desired to lodge there for God's sake. The woman seeing\nthem so very pretty, began to weep, and said to them:\n\n\"Alas! poor babies, whither are ye come? Do ye know that this house\nbelongs to a cruel Ogre, who eats up little children?\"\n\n\"Ah! dear Madam,\" answered Little Thumb (who trembled every joint of\nhim, as well as his brothers) \"what shall we do? To be sure, the\nwolves of the forest will devour us to-night, if you refuse us to lie\nhere; and so, we would rather the gentleman should eat us. Perhaps he\nwill take pity on us, especially if you please to beg it of him.\"\n\nThe Ogre's wife, who believed she could conceal them from her husband\ntill morning, let them come in, and brought them to warm themselves at\na very good fire; for there was a whole sheep upon the spit roasting\nfor the Ogre's supper.\n\nAs they began to be a little warm, they heard three or four great raps\nat the door; this was the Ogre, who was come home. Upon this she hid\nthem under the bed, and went to open the door. The Ogre presently\nasked if supper was ready, and the wine drawn; and then he sat himself\ndown to table. The sheep was as yet all raw and bloody; but he liked\nit the better for that. He sniffed about to the right and left,\nsaying, \"I smell fresh meat.\"\n\n\"What you smell so,\" said his wife, \"must be the calf which I have\njust now killed and flayed.\"\n\n\"I smell fresh meat, I tell thee once more,\" replied the Ogre, looking\ncrossly at his wife, \"and there is something here which I do not\nunderstand.\"\n\nAs he spake these words, he got up from the table, and went directly\nto the bed.\n\n\"Ah!\" said he, \"I see how thou would'st cheat me, thou cursed woman; I\nknow not why I do not eat up thee too; but it is well for thee that\nthou art a tough old carrion. Here is good game, which comes very\nluckily to entertain three Ogres of my acquaintance, who are to pay me\na visit in a day or two.\"\n\nWith that he dragged them out from under the bed one by one. The poor\nchildren fell upon their knees, and begged his pardon; but they had to\ndo with one of the most cruel Ogres in the world, who, far from having\nany pity on them, had already devoured them with his eyes; he told his\nwife they would be delicate eating, when tossed up with good savoury\nsauce. He then took a great knife, and coming up to these poor\nchildren, whetted it upon a great whet-stone which he held in his left\nhand. He had already taken hold of one of them, when his wife said to\nhim:\n\n\"What need you do it now? It is time enough to-morrow?\"\n\n\"Hold your prattling,\" said the Ogre, \"they will eat the tenderer.\"\n\n\"But you have so much meat already,\" replied his wife, \"you have no\noccasion. Here is a calf, two sheep, and half a hog.\"\n\n\"That is true,\" said the Ogre, \"give them their belly-full, that they\nmay not fall away, and put them to bed.\"\n\nThe good woman was overjoyed at this, and gave them a good supper; but\nthey were so much afraid, they could not eat a bit. As for the Ogre,\nhe sat down again to drink, being highly pleased that he had got\nwherewithal to treat his friends. He drank a dozen glasses more than\nordinary, which got up into his head, and obliged him to go to bed.\n\nThe Ogre had seven daughters, all little children, and these young\nOgresses had all of them very fine complexions, because they used to\neat fresh meat like their father; but they had little grey eyes, quite\nround, hooked noses, wide mouths, and very long sharp teeth standing\nat a good distance from each other. They were not as yet over and\nabove mischievous; but they promised very fair for it, for they\nalready bit little children, that they might suck their blood. They\nhad been put to bed early, with every one a crown of gold upon her\nhead. There was in the same chamber another bed of the like bigness,\nand it was into this bed the Ogre's wife put the seven little boys;\nafter which she went to bed to her husband.\n\nLittle Thumb, who had observed that the Ogre's daughters had crowns of\ngold upon their heads, and was afraid lest the Ogre should repent his\nnot killing them, got up about midnight; and taking his brothers'\nbonnets and his own, went very softly, put them upon the heads of the\nseven little Ogresses, after having taken off their crowns of gold,\nwhich he put upon his own head and his brothers', that the Ogre might\ntake them for his daughters, and his daughters for the little boys\nwhom he wanted to kill. All this succeeded according to his desire;\nfor the Ogre waking about midnight, and sorry that he deferred to do\nthat till morning which he might have done over-night, threw himself\nhastily out of bed, and taking his great knife:\n\n\"Let us see,\" said he, \"how our little rogues do, and not make two\njobs of the matter.\"\n\nHe then went up, groping all the way, into his daughters' chamber; and\ncame to the bed where the little boys lay, who were every soul of them\nfast asleep; except Little Thumb, who was terribly afraid when he\nfound the Ogre fumbling about his head, as he had done about his\nbrothers'. The Ogre, feeling the golden crowns, said:\n\n\"I should have made a fine piece of work of it truly; I find I guzzled\ntoo much last night.\"\n\nThen he went to the bed where the girls lay; and having found the\nboys' little bonnets: \"Hah!\" said he, \"my merry lads, are you there?\nLet us to work!\"\n\nAnd saying these words, without more ado, he cut the throats of all\nhis seven daughters.\n\nWell pleased with what he had done, he went to bed again to his wife.\nSo soon as Little Thumb heard the Ogre snore, he waked his brothers,\nand bade them put on their clothes presently, and follow him. They\nstole down softly into the garden, and got over the wall. They kept\nrunning almost all night, trembling all the while, without knowing\nwhich way they went.\n\nThe Ogre, when he waked, said to his wife:\n\n\"Go up stairs and dress those young rascals who came here last night.\"\n\nThe Ogress was very much surprised at this goodness of her husband,\nnot dreaming after what manner he intended she should dress them; but\nthinking that he had ordered her to go and put on their cloaths, went\nup, and was strangely astonished when she perceived her seven\ndaughters killed, and weltering in their blood. She fainted away; for\nthis is the first expedient almost all women find in such-like cases.\nThe Ogre, fearing his wife would be too long in doing what he had\nordered, went up himself to help her. He was no less amazed than his\nwife, at this frightful spectacle.\n\n\"Ah! what have I done?\" cried he. \"The cursed wretches shall pay for\nit, and that instantly.\"\n\nHe threw then a pitcher of water upon his wife's face; and having\nbrought her to herself:\n\n\"Give me quickly,\" cried he, \"my boots of seven leagues, that I may go\nand catch them.\"\n\nHe went out; and, having run over a vast deal of ground, both on this\nside and that, he came at last into the very road where the poor\nchildren were, and not above a hundred paces from their father's\nhouse. They espied the Ogre, who went at one step from mountain to\nmountain, and over rivers as easily as the narrowest kennels.[5]\nLittle Thumb, seeing a hollow rock near the place where they were,\nmade his brothers hide themselves in it, and crowded into it himself,\nminding always what would become of the Ogre.\n\n[Footnote 5: That is, 'channels.']\n\nThe Ogre, who found himself much tired with his long and fruitless\njourney (for these boots of seven leagues extremely fatigue the\nwearer), had a great mind to rest himself, and, by chance, went to\nsit down upon the rock where these little boys had hid themselves. As\nhe was worn out, he fell asleep: and, after reposing himself some time\nhe began to snore so frightfully, that the poor children were no less\nafraid of him, than when he held up his great knife, and was going to\ncut their throats. Little Thumb was not so much frightened as his\nbrothers, and told them that they should run away immediately towards\nhome, while the Ogre was asleep so soundly; and that they should not\nbe anxious about him. They took his advice, and got home presently.\nLittle Thumb came up to the Ogre, pulled off his boots gently, and put\nthem on upon his own legs. The boots were very long and large; but as\nthey were Fairies, they had the gift of becoming big and little,\naccording to the legs of those who wore them; so that they fitted his\nfeet and legs as well as if they had been made on purpose for him.\n\nHe went immediately to the Ogre's house, where he saw his wife crying\nbitterly for the loss of her murdered daughters.\n\n\"Your husband,\" said Little Thumb, \"is in very great danger, being\ntaken by a gang of thieves, who have sworn to kill him, if he does not\ngive them all his gold and silver. Just when they held their daggers\nat his throat, he perceived me, and desired me to come and tell you\nthe condition he is in, and that you should give me whatsoever he has\nof value, without retaining any one thing; for otherwise they will\nkill him without mercy; and, as his case is very pressing, he desired\nme to make use (you see I have them on) of his boots, that I might\nmake the more haste, and to shew you that I do not impose upon you.\"\n\nThe good woman, being sadly frightened, gave him all she had: for this\nOgre was a very good husband, tho' he used to eat up little children.\nLittle Thumb, having thus got all the Ogre's money, came home to his\nfather's house, where he was received with abundance of joy.\n\nThere are many people who do not agree in this circumstance, and\npretend that Little Thumb never robbed the Ogre at all, and that he\nonly thought he might very justly, and with safe conscience take off\nhis boots of seven leagues, because he made no other use of them, but\nto run after little children. These folks affirm, that they were very\nwell assured of this, and the more, as having drank and eaten often at\nthe faggot-maker's house. They aver, that, when Little Thumb had taken\noff the Ogre's boots, he went to Court, where he was informed that\nthey were very anxious about a certain army, which was two hundred\nleagues off, and the success of a battle. He went, say they, to the\nKing, and told him that, if he desired it, he would bring him news\nfrom the army before night. The King promised him a great sum of money\nupon that condition. Little Thumb was as good as his word, and\nreturned that very same night with the news; and this first expedition\ncausing him to be known, he got whatever he pleased; for the King paid\nhim very well for carrying his orders to the army, and abundance of\nladies gave him what he would to bring them news from their lovers;\nand that this was his greatest gain. There were some married women,\ntoo, who sent letters by him to their husbands, but they paid him so\nill that it was not worth his while, and turned to such small account,\nthat he scorned ever to reckon what he got that way. After having, for\nsome time, carried on the business of a messenger, and gained thereby\ngreat wealth, he went home to his father, where it was impossible to\nexpress the joy they were all in at his return. He made the whole\nfamily very well-to-do, bought places for his father and brothers; and\nby that means settled them very handsomely in the world, and, in the\nmean time, rose high in the King's favour.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n_The Moral_\n\n    _At many children parents don't repine,\n    If they are handsome; in their judgment shine;\n    Polite in carriage are, in body strong,\n    Graceful in mien, and elegant in tongue.\n    But if perchance an offspring prove but weak,\n    Him they revile, laugh at, defraud and cheat.\n    Such is the wretched world's curs'd way; and yet\n    Sometimes this urchin whom despis'd we see,\n    Through unforeseen events doth honour get,\n    And fortune bring to all his family._\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n_The Ridiculous Wishes_\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration: \"JUPITER APPEARED BEFORE HIM WIELDING HIS MIGHTY\nTHUNDERBOLTS\"]\n\n\nThe Ridiculous Wishes\n\n\nIn days long past there lived a poor woodcutter who found life very\nhard. Indeed, it was his lot to toil for little guerdon, and although\nhe was young and happily married there were moments when he wished\nhimself dead and below ground.\n\nOne day while at his work he was again lamenting his fate.\n\n\"Some men,\" he said, \"have only to make known their desires, and\nstraightway these are granted, and their every wish fulfilled; but it\nhas availed me little to wish for ought, for the gods are deaf to the\nprayers of such as I.\"\n\nAs he spoke these words there was a great noise of thunder, and\nJupiter appeared before him wielding his mighty thunderbolts. Our poor\nman was stricken with fear and threw himself on the ground.\n\n\"My lord,\" he said, \"forget my foolish speech; heed not my wishes, but\ncease thy thundering!\"\n\n\"Have no fear,\" answered Jupiter; \"I have heard thy plaint, and have\ncome hither to show thee how greatly thou dost wrong me. Hark! I, who\nam sovereign lord of this world, promise to grant in full the first\nthree wishes which it will please thee to utter, whatever these may\nbe. Consider well what things can bring thee joy and prosperity, and\nas thy happiness is at stake, be not over-hasty, but revolve the\nmatter in thy mind.\"\n\nHaving thus spoken Jupiter withdrew himself and made his ascent to\nOlympus. As for our woodcutter, he blithely corded his faggot, and\nthrowing it over his shoulder, made for his home. To one so light of\nheart the load also seemed light, and his thoughts were merry as he\nstrode along. Many a wish came into his mind, but he was resolved to\nseek the advice of his wife, who was a young woman of good\nunderstanding.\n\nHe had soon reached his cottage, and casting down his faggot:\n\n\"Behold me, Fanny,\" he said. \"Make up the fire and spread the board,\nand let there be no stint. We are wealthy, Fanny, wealthy for\nevermore; we have only to wish for whatsoever we may desire.\"\n\nThereupon he told her the story of what had befallen that day. Fanny,\nwhose mind was quick and active, immediately conceived many plans for\nthe advancement of their fortune, but she approved her husband's\nresolve to act with prudence and circumspection.\n\n\"'Twere a pity,\" she said, \"to spoil our chances through impatience.\nWe had best take counsel of the night, and wish no wishes until\nto-morrow.\"\n\n\"That is well spoken,\" answered Harry. \"Meanwhile fetch a bottle of\nour best, and we shall drink to our good fortune.\"\n\nFanny brought a bottle from the store behind the faggots, and our man\nenjoyed his ease, leaning back in his chair with his toes to the fire\nand his goblet in his hand.\n\n[Illustration: \"A LONG BLACK PUDDING CAME WINDING AND WRIGGLING\nTOWARDS HER\"]\n\n\"What fine glowing embers!\" he said, \"and what a fine toasting fire! I\nwish we had a black pudding at hand.\"\n\nHardly had he spoken these words when his wife beheld, to her great\nastonishment, a long black pudding which, issuing from a corner of the\nhearth, came winding and wriggling towards her. She uttered a cry of\nfear, and then again exclaimed in dismay, when she perceived that this\nstrange occurrence was due to the wish which her husband had so rashly\nand foolishly spoken. Turning upon him, in her anger and\ndisappointment she called the poor man all the abusive names that she\ncould think of.\n\n\"What!\" she said to him, \"when you can call for a kingdom, for gold,\npearls, rubies, diamonds, for princely garments and wealth untold, is\nthis the time to set your mind upon black puddings!\"\n\n\"Nay!\" answered the man, \"'twas a thoughtless speech, and a sad\nmistake; but I shall now be on my guard, and shall do better next\ntime.\"\n\n\"Who knows that you will?\" returned his wife. \"Once a witless fool,\nalways a witless fool!\" and giving free rein to her vexation and\nill-temper she continued to upbraid her husband until his anger also\nwas stirred, and he had wellnigh made a second bid and wished himself\na widower.\n\n\"Enough! woman,\" he cried at last; \"put a check upon thy froward\ntongue! Who ever heard such impertinence as this! A plague on the\nshrew and on her pudding! Would to heaven it hung at the end of her\nnose!\"\n\nNo sooner had the husband given voice to these words than the wish was\nstraightway granted, and the long coil of black pudding appeared\ngrafted to the angry dame's nose.\n\nOur man paused when he beheld what he had wrought. Fanny was a comely\nyoung woman, and blest with good looks, and truth to tell, this new\nornament did not set off her beauty. Yet it offered one advantage,\nthat as it hung right before her mouth, it would thus effectively curb\nher speech.\n\nSo, having now but one wish left, he had all but resolved to make good\nuse of it without further delay, and, before any other mischance could\nbefall, to wish himself a kingdom of his own. He was about to speak\nthe word, when he was stayed by a sudden thought.\n\n\"It is true,\" he said to himself, \"that there is none so great as a\nKing, but what of the Queen that must share his dignity? With what\ngrace would she sit beside me on the throne with a yard of black\npudding for a nose?\"\n\nIn this dilemma he resolved to put the case to Fanny, and to leave her\nto decide whether she would rather be a Queen, with this most horrible\nappendage marring her good looks, or remain a peasant wife, but with\nher shapely nose relieved of this untoward addition.\n\n[Illustration: \"TRUTH TO TELL, THIS NEW ORNAMENT DID NOT SET OFF HER\nBEAUTY\"]\n\nFanny's mind was soon made up: although she had dreamt of a crown\nand sceptre, yet a woman's first wish is always to please. To this\ngreat desire all else must yield, and Fanny would rather be fair in\ndrugget than be a Queen with an ugly face.\n\nThus our woodcutter did not change his state, did not become a\npotentate, nor fill his purse with golden crowns. He was thankful\nenough to use his remaining wish to a more humble purpose, and\nforthwith relieved his wife of her encumbrance.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n_The Moral_\n\n    _Ah! so it is that miserable man,\n    By nature fickle, blind, unwise, and rash,\n    Oft fails to reap a harvest from great gifts\n    Bestowed upon him by the heav'nly gods._\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n_Donkey-skin_\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration: \"ANOTHER GOWN THE COLOUR OF THE MOON\"\n(_page_ 145)]\n\n\nDonkey-skin\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a King, so great, so beloved by his people,\nand so respected by all his neighbours and allies that one might\nalmost say he was the happiest monarch alive. His good fortune was\nmade even greater by the choice he had made for wife of a Princess as\nbeautiful as she was virtuous, with whom he lived in perfect\nhappiness. Now, of this chaste marriage was born a daughter endowed\nwith so many gifts that they had no regret because other children were\nnot given to them.\n\nMagnificence, good taste, and abundance reigned in the palace; there\nwere wise and clever ministers, virtuous and devoted courtiers,\nfaithful and diligent servants. The spacious stables were filled with\nthe most beautiful horses in the world, and coverts of rich caparison;\nbut what most astonished strangers who came to admire them was to see,\nin the finest stall, a master donkey, with great long ears.\n\nNow, it was not for a whim but for a good reason that the King had\ngiven this donkey a particular and distinguished place. The special\nqualities of this rare animal deserved the distinction, since nature\nhad made it in so extraordinary a way that its litter, instead of\nbeing like that of other donkeys, was covered every morning with an\nabundance of beautiful golden crowns, and golden louis of every kind,\nwhich were collected daily.\n\nSince the vicissitudes of life wait on Kings as much as on their\nsubjects, and good is always mingled with ill, it so befell that the\nQueen was suddenly attacked by a fatal illness, and, in spite of\nscience, and the skill of the doctors, no remedy could be found. There\nwas great mourning throughout the land. The King who, notwithstanding\nthe famous proverb, that marriage is the tomb of love, was deeply\nattached to his wife, was distressed beyond measure and made fervent\nvows to all the temples in his kingdom, and offered to give his life\nfor that of his beloved consort; but he invoked the gods and the\nFairies in vain. The Queen, feeling her last hour approach, said to\nher husband, who was dissolved in tears: \"It is well that I should\nspeak to you of a certain matter before I die: if, perchance, you\nshould desire to marry again....\" At these words the King broke into\npiteous cries, took his wife's hands in his own, and assured her that\nit was useless to speak to him of a second marriage.\n\n\"No, my dear spouse,\" he said at last, \"speak to me rather of how I\nmay follow you.\"\n\n\"The State,\" continued the Queen with a finality which but increased\nthe laments of the King, \"the State demands successors, and since I\nhave only given you a daughter, it will urge you to beget sons who\nresemble you; but I ask you earnestly not to give way to the\npersuasions of your people until you have found a Princess more\nbeautiful and more perfectly fashioned than I. I beg you to swear this\nto me, and then I shall die content.\"\n\nPerchance, the Queen, who did not lack self-esteem, exacted this oath\nfirmly believing that there was not her equal in the world, and so\nfelt assured that the King would never marry again. Be this as it may,\nat length she died, and never did husband make so much lamentation;\nthe King wept and sobbed day and night, and the punctilious fulfilment\nof the rites of widower-hood, even the smallest, was his sole\noccupation.\n\nBut even great griefs do not last for ever. After a time the magnates\nof the State assembled and came to the King, urging him to take\nanother wife. At first this request seemed hard to him and made him\nshed fresh tears. He pleaded the vows he had made to the Queen, and\ndefied his counsellors to find a Princess more beautiful and better\nfashioned than was she, thinking this to be impossible. But the\nCouncil treated the promise as a trifle, and said that it mattered\nlittle about beauty if the Queen were but virtuous and fruitful. For\nthe State needed Princes for its peace and prosperity, and though, in\ntruth, the Princess, his daughter, had all the qualities requisite for\nmaking a great Queen, yet of necessity she must choose an alien for\nher husband, and then the stranger would take her away with him. If,\non the other hand, he remained in her country and shared the throne\nwith her, their children would not be considered to be of pure native\nstock, and so, there being no Prince of his name, neighbouring peoples\nwould stir up wars, and the kingdom would be ruined.\n\nThe King, impressed by these considerations, promised that he would\nthink over the matter. And so search was made among all the\nmarriageable Princesses for one that would suit him. Every day\ncharming portraits were brought him, but none gave promise of the\nbeauty of his late Queen; instead of coming to a decision he brooded\nover his sorrow until in the end his reason left him. In his delusions\nhe imagined himself once more a young man; he thought the Princess his\ndaughter, in her youth and beauty, was his Queen as he had known her\nin the days of their courtship, and living thus in the past he urged\nthe unhappy girl to speedily become his bride.\n\nThe young Princess, who was virtuous and chaste, threw herself at the\nfeet of the King her father and conjured him, with all the eloquence\nshe could command, not to constrain her to consent to his unnatural\ndesire.\n\nThe King, in his madness, could not understand the reason of her\ndesperate reluctance, and asked an old Druid-priest to set the\nconscience of the Princess at rest. Now this Druid, less religious\nthan ambitious, sacrificed the cause of innocence and virtue to the\nfavour of so great a monarch, and instead of trying to restore the\nKing to his right mind, he encouraged him in his delusion.\n\n[Illustration: \"HE THOUGHT THE PRINCESS WAS HIS QUEEN\"]\n\nThe young Princess, beside herself with misery, at last bethought her\nof the Lilac-fairy, her godmother; determined to consult her, she set\nout that same night in a pretty little carriage drawn by a great sheep\nwho knew all the roads. When she arrived the Fairy, who loved the\nPrincess, told her that she knew all she had come to say, but that she\nneed have no fear, for nothing would harm her if only she\nfaithfully fulfilled the Fairy's injunctions. \"For, my dear child,\"\nshe said to her, \"it would be a great sin to submit to your father's\nwishes, but you can avoid the necessity without displeasing him. Tell\nhim that to satisfy a whim you have, he must give you a dress the\ncolour of the weather. Never, in spite of all his love and his power\nwill he be able to give you that.\"\n\nThe Princess thanked her godmother from her heart, and the next\nmorning spoke to the King as the Fairy had counselled her, and\nprotested that no one would win her hand unless he gave her a dress\nthe colour of the weather. The King, overjoyed and hopeful, called\ntogether the most skilful workmen, and demanded this robe of them;\notherwise they should be hanged. But he was saved from resorting to\nthis extreme measure, since, on the second day, they brought the much\ndesired robe. The heavens are not a more beautiful blue, when they are\ngirdled with clouds of gold, than was that lovely dress when it was\nunfolded. The Princess was very sad because of it, and did not know\nwhat to do.\n\nOnce more she went to her Fairy-godmother who, astonished that her\nplan had been foiled, now told her to ask for another gown the colour\nof the moon.\n\nThe King again sought out the most clever workmen and expressly\ncommanded them to make a dress the colour of the moon; and woe betide\nthem if between the giving of the order and the bringing of the dress\nmore than twenty-four hours should elapse.\n\nThe Princess, though pleased with the dress when it was delivered,\ngave way to distress when she was with her women and her nurse. The\nLilac-fairy, who knew all, hastened to comfort her and said: \"Either I\nam greatly deceived or it is certain that if you ask for a dress the\ncolour of the sun we shall at last baffle the King your father, for it\nwould never be possible to make such a gown; in any case we should\ngain time.\"\n\nSo the Princess asked for yet another gown as the Fairy bade her. The\ninfatuated King could refuse his daughter nothing, and he gave without\nregret all the diamonds and rubies in his crown to aid this superb\nwork; nothing was to be spared that could make the dress as beautiful\nas the sun. And, indeed, when the dress appeared, all those who\nunfolded it were obliged to close their eyes, so much were they\ndazzled. And, truth to tell, green spectacles and smoked glasses date\nfrom that time.\n\nWhat was the Princess to do? Never had so beautiful and so artistic a\nrobe been seen. She was dumb-founded, and pretending that its\nbrilliance had hurt her eyes she retired to her chamber, where she\nfound the Fairy awaiting her.\n\nOn seeing the dress like the sun, the Lilac-fairy became red with\nrage. \"Oh! this time, my child,\" she said to the Princess, \"we will\nput the King to terrible proof. In spite of his madness I think he\nwill be a little astonished by the request that I counsel you to make\nof him; it is that he should give you the skin of that ass he loves\nso dearly, and which supplies him so profusely with the means of\npaying all his expenses. Go, and do not fail to tell him that you want\nthis skin.\" The Princess, overjoyed at finding yet another avenue of\nescape; for she thought that her father could never bring himself to\nsacrifice the ass, went to find him, and unfolded to him her latest\ndesire.\n\nAlthough the King was astonished by this whim, he did not hesitate to\nsatisfy it; the poor ass was sacrificed and the skin brought, with due\nceremony, to the Princess, who, seeing no other way of avoiding her\nill-fortune, was desperate.\n\nAt that moment her godmother arrived. \"What are you doing, my child?\"\nshe asked, seeing the Princess tearing her hair, her beautiful cheeks\nstained with tears. \"This is the most happy moment of your life. Wrap\nyourself in this skin, leave the palace, and walk so long as you can\nfind ground to carry you: when one sacrifices everything to virtue the\ngods know how to mete out reward. Go, and I will take care that your\npossessions follow you; in whatever place you rest, your chest with\nyour clothes and your jewels will follow your steps, and here is my\nwand which I will give you: tap the ground with it when you have need\nof the chest, and it will appear before your eyes: but haste to set\nforth, and do not delay.\" The Princess embraced her godmother many\ntimes, and begged her not to forsake her. Then after she had smeared\nherself with soot from the chimney, she wrapped herself up in that\nugly skin and went out from the magnificent palace without being\nrecognised by a single person.\n\nThe absence of the Princess caused a great commotion. The King, who\nhad caused a sumptuous banquet to be prepared, was inconsolable. He\nsent out more than a hundred gendarmes, and more than a thousand\nmusketeers in quest of her; but the Lilac-fairy made her invisible to\nthe cleverest seekers, and thus she escaped their vigilance.\n\nMeanwhile the Princess walked far, far and even farther away; after a\ntime she sought for a resting place, but although out of charity\npeople gave her food, she was so dishevelled and dirty that no one\nwanted to keep her. At length she came to a beautiful town, at the\ngate of which was a small farm. Now the farmer's wife had need of a\nwench to wash the dishes and to attend to the geese and the pigs, and\nseeing so dirty a vagrant offered to engage her. The Princess, who was\nnow much fatigued, accepted joyfully. She was put into a recess in the\nkitchen where for the first days she was subjected to the coarse jokes\nof the men-servants, so dirty and unpleasant did the donkey-skin make\nher appear. At last they tired of their pleasantries; moreover she was\nso attentive to her work that the farmer's wife took her under her\nprotection. She minded the sheep, and penned them up when it was\nnecessary, and she took the geese out to feed with such intelligence\nthat it seemed as if she had never done anything else. Everything that\nher beautiful hands undertook was done well.\n\nOne day she was sitting near a clear fountain where she often repaired\nto bemoan her sad condition, when she thought she would look at\nherself in the water. The horrible donkey-skin which covered her from\nhead to toe revolted her. Ashamed, she washed her face and her hands,\nwhich became whiter than ivory, and once again her lovely complexion\ntook its natural freshness. The joy of finding herself so beautiful\nfilled her with the desire to bathe in the pool, and this she did. But\nshe had to don her unworthy skin again before she returned to the\nfarm.\n\nBy good fortune the next day chanced to be a holiday, and so she had\nleisure to tap for her chest with the fairy's wand, arrange her\ntoilet, powder her beautiful hair and put on the lovely gown which was\nthe colour of the weather; but the room was so small that the train\ncould not be properly spread out. The beautiful Princess looked at\nherself, and with good reason, admired her appearance so much that she\nresolved to wear her magnificent dresses in turn on holidays and\nSundays for her own amusement, and this she regularly did. She\nentwined flowers and diamonds in her lovely hair with admirable art,\nand often she sighed that she had no witness of her beauty save the\nsheep and geese, who loved her just as much in the horrible\ndonkey-skin after which she had been named at the farm.\n\nOne holiday when Donkey-skin had put on her sun-hued dress, the son of\nthe King to whom the farm belonged alighted there to rest on his\nreturn from the hunt. This Prince was young and handsome, beloved of\nhis father and of the Queen his mother, and adored by the people.\nAfter he had partaken of the simple collation which was offered him he\nset out to inspect the farm-yard and all its nooks and corners. In\ngoing thus from place to place, he entered a dark alley at the bottom\nof which was a closed door. Curiosity made him put his eye to the\nkeyhole. Imagine his astonishment at seeing a Princess so beautiful\nand so richly dressed, and withal of so noble and dignified a mien,\nthat he took her to be a divinity. The impetuosity of his feelings at\nthis moment would have made him force the door, had it not been for\nthe respect with which that charming figure filled him.\n\nIt was with difficulty that he withdrew from this gloomy little alley,\nintent on discovering who the inmate of the tiny room might be. He was\ntold that it was a scullion called Donkey-skin because of the skin\nwhich she always wore, and that she was so dirty and unpleasant that\nno one took any notice of her, or even spoke to her; she had just been\ntaken out of pity to look after the geese.\n\n[Illustration: \"CURIOSITY MADE HIM PUT HIS EYE TO THE KEYHOLE\"]\n\nThe Prince, though little satisfied by this information, saw that\nthese dense people knew no more, and that it was useless to question\nthem. So he returned to the palace of the King his father, beyond\nwords in love, having continually before his eyes the beautiful image\nof the goddess whom he had seen through the keyhole. He was full of\nregret that he had not knocked at the door, and promised himself\nthat he would not fail to do so next time. But the fervency of his\nlove caused him such great agitation that the same night he was seized\nby a terrible fever, and was soon at death's door. The Queen, who had\nno other child, was in despair because all remedies proved useless. In\nvain she promised great rewards to the doctors; though they exerted\nall their skill, nothing would cure the Prince. At last they decided\nthat some great sorrow had caused this terrible fever. They told the\nQueen, who, full of tenderness for her son, went to him and begged him\nto tell her his trouble. She declared that even if it was a matter of\ngiving him the crown, his father would yield the throne to him without\nregret; or if he desired some Princess, even though there should be\nwar with the King her father and their subjects should, with reason,\ncomplain, all should be sacrificed to obtain what he wished. She\nimplored him with tears not to die, since their life depended on his.\nThe Queen did not finish this touching discourse without moving the\nPrince to tears.\n\n\"Madam,\" he said at last, in a very feeble voice, \"I am not so base\nthat I desire the crown of my father, rather may Heaven grant him life\nfor many years, and that I may always be the most faithful and the\nmost respectful of his subjects! As to the Princesses that you speak\nof, I have never yet thought of marriage, and you well know that,\nsubject as I am to your wishes, I shall obey you always, even though\nit be painful to me.\"\n\n\"Ah! my son,\" replied the Queen, \"we will spare nothing to save your\nlife. But, my dear child, save mine and that of the King your father\nby telling me what you desire, and be assured that you shall have it.\"\n\n\"Well, Madam,\" he said, \"since you would have me tell you my thought,\nI obey you. It would indeed be a sin to place in danger two lives so\ndear to me. Know, my mother, that I wish Donkey-skin to make me a\ncake, and to have it brought to me when it is ready.\"\n\nThe Queen, astonished at this strange name, asked who Donkey-skin\nmight be.\n\n\"It is, Madam,\" replied one of her officers who had by chance seen\nthis girl, \"It is the most ugly creature imaginable after the wolf, a\nslut who lodges at your farm, and minds your geese.\"\n\n\"It matters not,\" said the Queen; \"my son, on his way home from the\nchase, has perchance eaten of her cakes; it is a whim such as those\nwho are sick do sometimes have. In a word, I wish that Donkey-skin,\nsince Donkey-skin it is, make him presently a cake.\"\n\nA messenger ran to the farm and told Donkey-skin that she was to make\na cake for the Prince as well as she possibly could. Now, some believe\nthat Donkey-skin had been aware of the Prince in her heart at the\nmoment when he had put his eye to the keyhole; and then, looking from\nher little window, she had seen him, so young, so handsome, and so\nshapely, that the remembrance of him had remained, and that often the\nthought of him had cost her some sighs. Be that as it may,\nDonkey-skin, either having seen him, or having heard him spoken of\nwith praise, was overjoyed to think that she might become known to\nhim. She shut herself in her little room, threw off the ugly skin,\nbathed her face and hands, arranged her hair, put on a beautiful\ncorsage of bright silver, and an equally beautiful petticoat, and then\nset herself to make the much desired cake. She took the finest flour,\nand newest eggs and freshest butter, and while she was working them,\nwhether by design or no, a ring which she had on her finger fell into\nthe cake and was mixed in it. When the cooking was done she muffled\nherself in her horrible skin and gave the cake to the messenger,\nasking him for news of the Prince; but the man would not deign to\nreply, and without a word ran quickly back to the palace.\n\nThe Prince took the cake greedily from the man's hands, and ate it\nwith such voracity that the doctors who were present did not fail to\nsay that this haste was not a good sign. Indeed, the Prince came near\nto being choked by the ring, which he nearly swallowed, in one of the\npieces of cake. But he drew it cleverly from his mouth, and his desire\nfor the cake was forgotten as he examined the fine emerald set in a\ngold keeper-ring, a ring so small that he knew it could only be worn\non the prettiest little finger in the world.\n\nHe kissed the ring a thousand times, put it under his pillow, and drew\nit out every moment that he thought himself unobserved. The torment\nthat he gave himself, planning how he might see her to whom the ring\nbelonged, not daring to believe that if he asked for Donkey-skin she\nwould be allowed to come, and not daring to speak of what he had seen\nthrough the keyhole for fear that he would be laughed at for a\ndreamer, brought back the fever with great violence. The doctors, not\nknowing what more to do, declared to the Queen that the Prince's\nmalady was love, whereupon the Queen and the disconsolate King ran to\ntheir son.\n\n\"My son, my dear son,\" cried the affected monarch, \"tell us the name\nof her whom you desire: we swear that we will give her to you. Even\nthough she were the vilest of slaves.\"\n\nThe Queen embracing him, agreed with all that the King had said, and\nthe Prince, moved by their tears and caresses, said to them: \"My\nfather and my mother, I in no way desire to make a marriage which is\ndispleasing to you.\" And drawing the emerald from under his pillow he\nadded: \"To prove the truth of this, I desire to marry her to whom this\nring belongs. It is not likely that she who owns so pretty a ring is a\nrustic or a peasant.\"\n\nThe King and the Queen took the ring, examined it with great\ncuriosity, and agreed with the Prince that it could only belong to the\ndaughter of a good house. Then the King, having embraced his son, and\nentreated him to get well, went out. He ordered the drums and fifes\nand trumpets to be sounded throughout the town, and the heralds to cry\nthat she whose finger a certain ring would fit should marry the heir\nto the throne.\n\nFirst the Princesses arrived, then the duchesses, and the marquises,\nand the baronesses; but though they did all they could to make their\nfingers small, none could put on the ring. So the country girls had to\nbe tried, but pretty though they all were, they all had fingers that\nwere too fat. The Prince, who was feeling better, made the trial\nhimself. At last it was the turn of the chamber-maids; but they\nsucceeded no better. Then, when everyone else had tried, the Prince\nasked for the kitchen-maids, the scullions, and the sheep-girls. They\nwere all brought to the palace, but their coarse red, short, fingers\nwould hardly go through the golden hoop as far as the nail.\n\n\"You have not brought that Donkey-skin, who made me the cake,\" said\nthe Prince.\n\nEveryone laughed and said, \"No,\" so dirty and unpleasant was she.\n\n\"Let someone fetch her at once,\" said the King; \"it shall not be said\nthat I left out the lowliest.\" And the servants ran laughing and\nmocking to find the goose-girl.\n\nThe Princess, who had heard the drums and the cries of the heralds,\nhad no doubt that the ring was the cause of this uproar. Now, she\nloved the Prince, and, as true love is timorous and has no vanity, she\nwas in perpetual fear that some other lady would be found to have a\nfinger as small as hers. Great, then, was her joy when the messengers\ncame and knocked at her door. Since she knew that they were seeking\nthe owner of the right finger on which to set her ring, some impulse\nhad moved her to arrange her hair with great care, and to put on her\nbeautiful silver corsage, and the petticoat full of furbelows and\nsilver lace studded with emeralds. At the first knock she quickly\ncovered her finery with the donkey-skin and opened the door. The\nvisitors, in derision, told her that the King had sent for her in\norder to marry her to his son. Then with loud peals of laughter they\nled her to the Prince, who was astonished at the garb of this girl,\nand dared not believe that it was she whom he had seen so majestic and\nso beautiful. Sad and confounded, he said, \"Is it you who lodge at the\nbottom of that dark alley in the third yard of the farm?\"\n\n\"Yes, your Highness,\" she replied.\n\n\"Show me your hand,\" said the Prince trembling, and heaving a deep\nsigh.\n\nImagine how astonished everyone was! The King and the Queen, the\nchamberlains and all the courtiers were dumb-founded, when from\nbeneath that black and dirty skin came a delicate little white and\nrose-pink hand, and the ring slipped without difficulty on to the\nprettiest little finger in the world. Then, by a little movement which\nthe Princess made, the skin fell from her shoulders and so enchanting\nwas her guise, that the Prince, weak though he was, fell on his knees\nand held her so closely that she blushed. But that was scarcely\nnoticed, for the King and Queen came to embrace her heartily, and to\nask her if she would marry their son. The Princess, confused by all\nthese caresses and by the love of the handsome young Prince, was about\nto thank them when suddenly the ceiling opened, and the Lilac-fairy\ndescended in a chariot made of the branches and flowers from which she\ntook her name, and, with great charm, told the Princess's story. The\nKing and Queen, overjoyed to know that Donkey-skin was a great\nPrincess redoubled their caresses, but the Prince was even more\nsensible of her virtue, and his love increased as the Fairy unfolded\nher tale. His impatience to marry her, indeed, was so great that he\ncould scarcely allow time for the necessary preparations for the grand\nwedding which was their due. The King and Queen, now entirely devoted\nto their daughter-in-law, overwhelmed her with affection. She had\ndeclared that she could not marry the Prince without the consent of\nthe King her father, so, he was the first to whom an invitation to the\nwedding was sent; he was not, however, told the name of the bride. The\nLilac-fairy, who, as was right, presided over all, had recommended\nthis course to prevent trouble. Kings came from all the countries\nround, some in sedan-chairs, others in beautiful carriages; those who\ncame from the most distant countries rode on elephants and tigers and\neagles. But the most magnificent and most glorious of all was the\nfather of the Princess. He had happily recovered his reason, and had\nmarried a Queen who was a widow and very beautiful, but by whom he\nhad no child. The Princess ran to him, and he recognised her at once\nand embraced her with great tenderness before she had time to throw\nherself on her knees. The King and Queen presented their son to him,\nand the happiness of all was complete. The nuptials were celebrated\nwith all imaginable pomp, but the young couple were hardly aware of\nthe ceremony, so wrapped up were they in one another.\n\nIn spite of the protests of the noble-hearted young man, the Prince's\nfather caused his son to be crowned the same day, and kissing his\nhand, placed him on the throne.\n\nThe celebrations of this illustrious marriage lasted nearly three\nmonths, but the love of the two young people would have endured for\nmore than a hundred years, had they out-lived that age, so great was\ntheir affection for one another.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n_The Moral_\n\n    _It scarce may be believed,\n    This tale of Donkey-skin;\n    But laughing children in the home;\n    Yea, mothers, and grandmothers too,\n    Are little moved by facts!\n    By _them_ 'twill be received._\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\n_Uniform with this Volume_\n\nTHE YEAR'S AT THE SPRING\n\n\nAn Anthology of Recent Poetry.\nSelected by L. D'O. WALTERS.\nWith Twelve Plates in Colour\nand Twelve in Black and White\nand many Decorations by HARRY CLARKE.","title":"The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":28262}