{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_31431/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_31431","id":"gutenberg_31431","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31431","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Classics of Literature","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Children's stories, French -- Translations into English","Fairy tales","Fairy tales -- France"],"text":"Produced by Chris Curnow, Iris Gehring and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This\nfile was produced from images generously made available\nby The Internet Archive)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Decoration]\n\nOLD-TIME STORIES\n\n[Illustration: \"THEY REACHED THE HOUSE WHERE THE LIGHT WAS BURNING.\"]\n\n\n\n\nOLD-TIME STORIES\n\n  _told by_\n\nMASTER CHARLES PERRAULT\n\n  _translated from\n  the French by\n  A.E.Johnson\n  with illustrations\n  by_\n\nW.HEATH ROBINSON\n\n[Illustration: Decoration]\n\n  NEW YORK\n  DODD, MEAD & COMPANY\n\n\n\n\n\n_First Published, 1921_\n\n_Printed in Great Britain_\n\n\n\n\n\nPREFATORY NOTE\n\n\nOf the eleven tales which the present volume comprises, the first eight\nare from the master-hand of Charles Perrault. Charles Perrault\n(1628-1703) enjoyed much distinction in his day, and is familiar to\nstudents of French literature for the prominent part that he played in\nthe famous _Quarrel of the Ancients and Moderns_, which so keenly\noccupied French men of letters in the latter part of the seventeenth\ncentury. But his fame to-day rests upon his authorship of the\ntraditional _Tales of Mother Goose; or Stories of Olden Times_, and so\nlong as there are children to listen spellbound to the adventures of\nCinderella, Red Riding Hood, and that arch rogue Puss in Boots, his\nmemory will endure.\n\nTo the eight tales of Perrault three others have been added here.\n'Beauty and the Beast,' by Mme Leprince de Beaumont (1711-1781), has a\ncelebrity which warrants its inclusion, however inferior it may seem, as\nan example of the story-teller's art, to the masterpieces of Perrault.\n'Princess Rosette' and 'The Friendly Frog' are from the prolific pen of\nMme d'Aulnoy (1650-1705), a contemporary of Perrault, whom she could\nsometimes rival in invention, if never in dramatic power.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Decoration]\n\n\n\n\n  CONTENTS\n\n\n                                                                   PAGE\n\n  THE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOOD                                     1\n\n  PUSS IN BOOTS                                                      21\n\n  LITTLE TOM THUMB                                                   34\n\n  THE FAIRIES                                                        55\n\n  RICKY OF THE TUFT                                                  61\n\n  CINDERELLA                                                         75\n\n  LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD                                             92\n\n  BLUE BEARD                                                         99\n\n  BEAUTY AND THE BEAST                                              113\n\n  THE FRIENDLY FROG                                                 138\n\n  PRINCESS ROSETTE                                                  174\n\n\n\n\n  LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n  COLOURED PLATES\n\n  'They reached the house where the light was burning'\n        (see page 41)                                     _Frontispiece_\n\n                                                            FACING PAGE\n\n  'The most beautiful sight he had ever seen'                        16\n\n  'All that remained for the youngest was the cat'                   21\n\n  '\"You must die, madam,\" he said'                                   99\n\n  'Every evening the Beast paid her a visit'                        130\n\n  '\"Could your father but see you, my poor child\"'                  152\n\n\n  BLACK-AND-WHITE ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n                                                                   PAGE\n\n  'The king ... at once published an edict'                           3\n\n  'A little dwarf who had a pair of seven-league boots'               7\n\n  'The king's son chanced to go a-hunting'                           10\n\n  'All asleep'                                                       12\n\n  'They all fell asleep'                                             13\n\n  'As though he were dead'                                           23\n\n  'The cat went on ahead'                                            26\n\n  Puss in Boots                                                      27\n\n  'Puss became a personage of great importance'                      31\n\n  'A good dame opened the door'                                      37\n\n  'He could smell fresh flesh'                                       43\n\n  'He set off over the countryside'                                  47\n\n  'Laden with all the ogre's wealth'                                 51\n\n  'Lifting up the jug so that she might drink the more easily'       57\n\n  'She could not set four china vases on the mantelpiece without\n     breaking one of them'                                           63\n\n  'Graceful and easy conversation'                                   65\n\n  Ricky of the Tuft                                                  71\n\n  'The haughtiest, proudest woman that had ever been seen'           77\n\n  'Her godmother found her in tears'                                 81\n\n  'Away she went'                                                    83\n\n  'She rose and fled as nimbly as a fawn'                            85\n\n  'They tried it first on the princesses'                            89\n\n  Little Red Riding Hood                                             93\n\n  'She met old Father Wolf'                                          95\n\n  'Making nosegays of the wild flowers'                              96\n\n  'Come up on the bed with me'                                       97\n\n  Blue Beard                                                        101\n\n  'She washed it well'                                              104\n\n  Sister Anne                                                       105\n\n  'Brandishing the cutlass aloft'                                   109\n\n  'At first she found it very hard'                                 115\n\n  '\"Look at our little sister\"'                                     117\n\n  'It was snowing horribly'                                         119\n\n  The Beast                                                         122\n\n  '\"Your doom is to become statues\"'                                135\n\n  'The approach to it was by ten thousand steps'                    143\n\n  The Friendly Frog                                                 146\n\n  'The journey lasted seven years'                                  155\n\n  Princess Rosette                                                  179\n\n  The wicked nurse                                                  186\n\n  'She was an ugly little fright'                                   189\n\n  'She floated hither and thither'                                  194\n\n  'A kindly old man'                                                195\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Decoration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOOD\n\n\nOnce upon a time there lived a king and queen who were grieved, more\ngrieved than words can tell, because they had no children. They tried\nthe waters of every country, made vows and pilgrimages, and did\neverything that could be done, but without result. At last, however, the\nqueen found that her wishes were fulfilled, and in due course she gave\nbirth to a daughter.\n\nA grand christening was held, and all the fairies that could be found in\nthe realm (they numbered seven in all) were invited to be godmothers to\nthe little princess. This was done so that by means of the gifts which\neach in turn would bestow upon her (in accordance with the fairy custom\nof those days) the princess might be endowed with every imaginable\nperfection.\n\nWhen the christening ceremony was over, all the company returned to the\nking's palace, where a great banquet was held in honour of the fairies.\nPlaces were laid for them in magnificent style, and before each was\nplaced a solid gold casket containing a spoon, fork, and knife of fine\ngold, set with diamonds and rubies. But just as all were sitting down to\ntable an aged fairy was seen to enter, whom no one had thought to\ninvite--the reason being that for more than fifty years she had never\nquitted the tower in which she lived, and people had supposed her to be\ndead or bewitched.\n\nBy the king's orders a place was laid for her, but it was impossible to\ngive her a golden casket like the others, for only seven had been made\nfor the seven fairies. The old creature believed that she was\nintentionally slighted, and muttered threats between her teeth.\n\nShe was overheard by one of the young fairies, who was seated near by.\nThe latter, guessing that some mischievous gift might be bestowed upon\nthe little princess, hid behind the tapestry as soon as the company left\nthe table. Her intention was to be the last to speak, and so to have the\npower of counteracting, as far as possible, any evil which the old fairy\nmight do.\n\nPresently the fairies began to bestow their gifts upon the princess. The\nyoungest ordained that she should be the most beautiful person in the\nworld; the next, that she should have the temper of an angel; the third,\nthat she should do everything with wonderful grace; the fourth, that she\nshould dance to perfection; the fifth, that she should sing like a\nnightingale; and the sixth, that she should play every kind of music\nwith the utmost skill.\n\nIt was now the turn of the aged fairy. Shaking her head, in token of\nspite rather than of infirmity, she declared that the princess should\nprick her hand with a spindle, and die of it. A shudder ran through the\ncompany at this terrible gift. All eyes were filled with tears.\n\nBut at this moment the young fairy stepped forth from behind the\ntapestry.\n\n'Take comfort, your Majesties,' she cried in a loud voice; 'your\ndaughter shall not die. My power, it is true, is not enough to undo all\nthat my aged kinswoman has decreed: the princess will indeed prick her\nhand with a spindle. But instead of dying she shall merely fall into\na profound slumber that will last a hundred years. At the end of that\ntime a king's son shall come to awaken her.'\n\n[Illustration: '_The king ... at once published an edict_']\n\nThe king, in an attempt to avert the unhappy doom pronounced by the old\nfairy, at once published an edict forbidding all persons, under pain of\ndeath, to use a spinning-wheel or keep a spindle in the house.\n\nAt the end of fifteen or sixteen years the king and queen happened one\nday to be away, on pleasure bent. The princess was running about the\ncastle, and going upstairs from room to room she came at length to a\ngarret at the top of a tower, where an old serving-woman sat alone with\nher distaff, spinning. This good woman had never heard speak of the\nking's proclamation forbidding the use of spinning-wheels.\n\n'What are you doing, my good woman?' asked the princess.\n\n'I am spinning, my pretty child,' replied the dame, not knowing who she\nwas.\n\n'Oh, what fun!' rejoined the princess; 'how do you do it? Let me try and\nsee if I can do it equally well.'\n\nPartly because she was too hasty, partly because she was a little\nheedless, but also because the fairy decree had ordained it, no sooner\nhad she seized the spindle than she pricked her hand and fell down in a\nswoon.\n\nIn great alarm the good dame cried out for help. People came running\nfrom every quarter to the princess. They threw water on her face, chafed\nher with their hands, and rubbed her temples with the royal essence of\nHungary. But nothing would restore her.\n\nThen the king, who had been brought upstairs by the commotion,\nremembered the fairy prophecy. Feeling certain that what had happened\nwas inevitable, since the fairies had decreed it, he gave orders that\nthe princess should be placed in the finest apartment in the palace,\nupon a bed embroidered in gold and silver.\n\nYou would have thought her an angel, so fair was she to behold. The\ntrance had not taken away the lovely colour of her complexion. Her\ncheeks were delicately flushed, her lips like coral. Her eyes, indeed,\nwere closed, but her gentle breathing could be heard, and it was\ntherefore plain that she was not dead. The king commanded that she\nshould be left to sleep in peace until the hour of her awakening should\ncome.\n\nWhen the accident happened to the princess, the good fairy who had saved\nher life by condemning her to sleep a hundred years was in the kingdom\nof Mataquin, twelve thousand leagues away. She was instantly warned of\nit, however, by a little dwarf who had a pair of seven-league boots,\nwhich are boots that enable one to cover seven leagues at a single step.\nThe fairy set off at once, and within an hour her chariot of fire, drawn\nby dragons, was seen approaching.\n\nThe king handed her down from her chariot, and she approved of all that\nhe had done. But being gifted with great powers of foresight, she\nbethought herself that when the princess came to be awakened, she would\nbe much distressed to find herself all alone in the old castle. And this\nis what she did.\n\n[Illustration: '_A little dwarf who had a pair of seven-league boots_']\n\nShe touched with her wand everybody (except the king and queen) who was\nin the castle--governesses, maids of honour, ladies-in-waiting,\ngentlemen, officers, stewards, cooks, scullions, errand boys, guards,\nporters, pages, footmen. She touched likewise all the horses in the\nstables, with their grooms, the big mastiffs in the courtyard, and\nlittle Puff, the pet dog of the princess, who was lying on the bed\nbeside his mistress. The moment she had touched them they all fell\nasleep, to awaken only at the same moment as their mistress. Thus they\nwould always be ready with their service whenever she should require it.\nThe very spits before the fire, loaded with partridges and pheasants,\nsubsided into slumber, and the fire as well. All was done in a moment,\nfor the fairies do not take long over their work.\n\nThen the king and queen kissed their dear child, without waking her, and\nleft the castle. Proclamations were issued, forbidding any approach to\nit, but these warnings were not needed, for within a quarter of an hour\nthere grew up all round the park so vast a quantity of trees big and\nsmall, with interlacing brambles and thorns, that neither man nor beast\ncould penetrate them. The tops alone of the castle towers could be seen,\nand these only from a distance. Thus did the fairy's magic contrive that\nthe princess, during all the time of her slumber, should have nought\nwhatever to fear from prying eyes.\n\nAt the end of a hundred years the throne had passed to another family\nfrom that of the sleeping princess. One day the king's son chanced to go\na-hunting that way, and seeing in the distance some towers in the midst\nof a large and dense forest, he asked what they were. His attendants\ntold him in reply the various stories which they had heard. Some said\nthere was an old castle haunted by ghosts, others that all the witches\nof the neighbourhood held their revels there. The favourite tale was\nthat in the castle lived an ogre, who carried thither all the children\nwhom he could catch. There he devoured them at his leisure, and since he\nwas the only person who could force a passage through the wood nobody\nhad been able to pursue him.\n\n[Illustration: '_The king's son chanced to go a-hunting_']\n\nWhile the prince was wondering what to believe, an old peasant took up\nthe tale.\n\n'Your Highness,' said he, 'more than fifty years ago I heard my father\nsay that in this castle lies a princess, the most beautiful that has\never been seen. It is her doom to sleep there for a hundred years, and\nthen to be awakened by a king's son, for whose coming she waits.'\n\nThis story fired the young prince. He jumped immediately to the\nconclusion that it was for him to see so gay an adventure through, and\nimpelled alike by the wish for love and glory, he resolved to set about\nit on the spot.\n\nHardly had he taken a step towards the wood when the tall trees, the\nbrambles and the thorns, separated of themselves and made a path for\nhim. He turned in the direction of the castle, and espied it at the end\nof a long avenue. This avenue he entered, and was surprised to notice\nthat the trees closed up again as soon as he had passed, so that none of\nhis retinue were able to follow him. A young and gallant prince is\nalways brave, however; so he continued on his way, and presently reached\na large fore-court.\n\nThe sight that now met his gaze was enough to fill him with an icy fear.\nThe silence of the place was dreadful, and death seemed all about him.\nThe recumbent figures of men and animals had all the appearance of being\nlifeless, until he perceived by the pimply noses and ruddy faces of the\nporters that they merely slept. It was plain, too, from their glasses,\nin which were still some dregs of wine, that they had fallen asleep\nwhile drinking.\n\nThe prince made his way into a great courtyard, paved with marble, and\nmounting the staircase entered the guardroom. Here the guards were lined\nup on either side in two ranks, their muskets on their shoulders,\nsnoring their hardest. Through several apartments crowded with ladies\nand gentlemen in waiting, some seated, some standing, but all asleep, he\npushed on, and so came at last to a chamber which was decked all over\nwith gold. There he encountered the most beautiful sight he had ever\nseen. Reclining upon a bed, the curtains of which on every side were\ndrawn back, was a princess of seemingly some fifteen or sixteen summers,\nwhose radiant beauty had an almost unearthly lustre.\n\n[Illustration: '_All asleep_']\n\nTrembling in his admiration he drew near and went on his knees beside\nher. At the same moment, the hour of disenchantment having come, the\nprincess awoke, and bestowed upon him a look more tender than a first\nglance might seem to warrant.\n\n'Is it you, dear prince?' she said; 'you have been long in coming!'\n\nCharmed by these words, and especially by the manner in which they were\nsaid, the prince scarcely knew how to express his delight and\ngratification. He declared that he loved her better than he loved\nhimself. His words were faltering, but they pleased the more for that.\nThe less there is of eloquence, the more there is of love.\n\nHer embarrassment was less than his, and that is not to be wondered at,\nsince she had had time to think of what she would say to him. It seems\n(although the story says nothing about it) that the good fairy had\nbeguiled her long slumber with pleasant dreams. To be brief, after four\nhours of talking they had not succeeded in uttering one half of the\nthings they had to say to each other.\n\n[Illustration: '_They all fell asleep_']\n\nNow the whole palace had awakened with the princess. Every one went\nabout his business, and since they were not all in love they presently\nbegan to feel mortally hungry. The lady-in-waiting, who was suffering\nlike the rest, at length lost patience, and in a loud voice called out\nto the princess that supper was served.\n\nThe princess was already fully dressed, and in most magnificent style.\nAs he helped her to rise, the prince refrained from telling her that her\nclothes, with the straight collar which she wore, were like those to\nwhich his grandmother had been accustomed. And in truth, they in no way\ndetracted from her beauty.\n\nThey passed into an apartment hung with mirrors, and were there served\nwith supper by the stewards of the household, while the fiddles and\noboes played some old music--and played it remarkably well, considering\nthey had not played at all for just upon a hundred years. A little\nlater, when supper was over, the chaplain married them in the castle\nchapel, and in due course, attended by the courtiers in waiting, they\nretired to rest.\n\nThey slept but little, however. The princess, indeed, had not much need\nof sleep, and as soon as morning came the prince took his leave of her.\nHe returned to the city, and told his father, who was awaiting him with\nsome anxiety, that he had lost himself while hunting in the forest, but\nhad obtained some black bread and cheese from a charcoal-burner, in\nwhose hovel he had passed the night. His royal father, being of an\neasy-going nature, believed the tale, but his mother was not so easily\nhoodwinked. She noticed that he now went hunting every day, and that he\nalways had an excuse handy when he had slept two or three nights from\nhome. She felt certain, therefore, that he had some love affair.\n\nTwo whole years passed since the marriage of the prince and princess,\nand during that time they had two children. The first, a daughter, was\ncalled 'Dawn,' while the second, a boy, was named 'Day,' because he\nseemed even more beautiful than his sister.\n\nMany a time the queen told her son that he ought to settle down in life.\nShe tried in this way to make him confide in her, but he did not dare to\ntrust her with his secret. Despite the affection which he bore her, he\nwas afraid of his mother, for she came of a race of ogres, and the king\nhad only married her for her wealth.\n\nIt was whispered at the Court that she had ogrish instincts, and that\nwhen little children were near her she had the greatest difficulty in\nthe world to keep herself from pouncing on them.\n\nNo wonder the prince was reluctant to say a word.\n\nBut at the end of two years the king died, and the prince found himself\non the throne. He then made public announcement of his marriage, and\nwent in state to fetch his royal consort from her castle. With her two\nchildren beside her she made a triumphal entry into the capital of her\nhusband's realm.\n\nSome time afterwards the king declared war on his neighbour, the Emperor\nCantalabutte. He appointed the queen-mother as regent in his absence,\nand entrusted his wife and children to her care.\n\n[Illustration: \"THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SIGHT HE HAD EVER SEEN.\"]\n\nHe expected to be away at the war for the whole of the summer, and as\nsoon as he was gone the queen-mother sent her daughter-in-law and the\ntwo children to a country mansion in the forest. This she did that\nshe might be able the more easily to gratify her horrible longings. A\nfew days later she went there herself, and in the evening summoned the\nchief steward.\n\n'For my dinner to-morrow,' she told him, 'I will eat little Dawn.'\n\n'Oh, Madam!' exclaimed the steward.\n\n'That is my will,' said the queen; and she spoke in the tones of an ogre\nwho longs for raw meat.\n\n'You will serve her with piquant sauce,' she added.\n\nThe poor man, seeing plainly that it was useless to trifle with an\nogress, took his big knife and went up to little Dawn's chamber. She was\nat that time four years old, and when she came running with a smile to\ngreet him, flinging her arms round his neck and coaxing him to give her\nsome sweets, he burst into tears, and let the knife fall from his hand.\n\nPresently he went down to the yard behind the house, and slaughtered a\nyoung lamb. For this he made so delicious a sauce that his mistress\ndeclared she had never eaten anything so good.\n\nAt the same time the steward carried little Dawn to his wife, and bade\nthe latter hide her in the quarters which they had below the yard.\n\nEight days later the wicked queen summoned her steward again.\n\n'For my supper,' she announced, 'I will eat little Day.'\n\nThe steward made no answer, being determined to trick her as he had done\npreviously. He went in search of little Day, whom he found with a tiny\nfoil in his hand, making brave passes--though he was but three years\nold--at a big monkey. He carried him off to his wife, who stowed him\naway in hiding with little Dawn. To the ogress the steward served up, in\nplace of Day, a young kid so tender that she found it surpassingly\ndelicious.\n\nSo far, so good. But there came an evening when this evil queen again\naddressed the steward.\n\n'I have a mind,' she said, 'to eat the queen with the same sauce as you\nserved with her children.'\n\nThis time the poor steward despaired of being able to practise another\ndeception. The young queen was twenty years old, without counting the\nhundred years she had been asleep. Her skin, though white and beautiful,\nhad become a little tough, and what animal could he possibly find that\nwould correspond to her? He made up his mind that if he would save his\nown life he must kill the queen, and went upstairs to her apartment\ndetermined to do the deed once and for all. Goading himself into a rage\nhe drew his knife and entered the young queen's chamber, but a\nreluctance to give her no moment of grace made him repeat respectfully\nthe command which he had received from the queen-mother.\n\n'Do it! do it!' she cried, baring her neck to him; 'carry out the order\nyou have been given! Then once more I shall see my children, my poor\nchildren that I loved so much!'\n\nNothing had been said to her when the children were stolen away, and she\nbelieved them to be dead.\n\nThe poor steward was overcome by compassion. 'No, no, Madam,' he\ndeclared; 'you shall not die, but you shall certainly see your children\nagain. That will be in my quarters, where I have hidden them. I shall\nmake the queen eat a young hind in place of you, and thus trick her\nonce more.'\n\nWithout more ado he led her to his quarters, and leaving her there to\nembrace and weep over her children, proceeded to cook a hind with such\nart that the queen-mother ate it for her supper with as much appetite as\nif it had indeed been the young queen.\n\nThe queen-mother felt well satisfied with her cruel deeds, and planned\nto tell the king, on his return, that savage wolves had devoured his\nconsort and his children. It was her habit, however, to prowl often\nabout the courts and alleys of the mansion, in the hope of scenting raw\nmeat, and one evening she heard the little boy Day crying in a basement\ncellar. The child was weeping because his mother had threatened to whip\nhim for some naughtiness, and she heard at the same time the voice of\nDawn begging forgiveness for her brother.\n\nThe ogress recognised the voices of the queen and her children, and was\nenraged to find she had been tricked. The next morning, in tones so\naffrighting that all trembled, she ordered a huge vat to be brought into\nthe middle of the courtyard. This she filled with vipers and toads, with\nsnakes and serpents of every kind, intending to cast into it the queen\nand her children, and the steward with his wife and serving-girl. By her\ncommand these were brought forward, with their hands tied behind their\nbacks.\n\nThere they were, and her minions were making ready to cast them into the\nvat, when into the courtyard rode the king! Nobody had expected him so\nsoon, but he had travelled post-haste. Filled with amazement, he\ndemanded to know what this horrible spectacle meant. None dared tell\nhim, and at that moment the ogress, enraged at what confronted her,\nthrew herself head foremost into the vat, and was devoured on the\ninstant by the hideous creatures she had placed in it.\n\nThe king could not but be sorry, for after all she was his mother; but\nit was not long before he found ample consolation in his beautiful wife\nand children.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: \"ALL THAT REMAINED FOR THE YOUNGEST WAS THE CAT.\"]\n\nPUSS IN BOOTS\n\n\nA certain miller had three sons, and when he died the sole worldly goods\nwhich he bequeathed to them were his mill, his ass, and his cat. This\nlittle legacy was very quickly divided up, and you may be quite sure\nthat neither notary nor attorney were called in to help, for they would\nspeedily have grabbed it all for themselves.\n\nThe eldest son took the mill, and the second son took the ass.\nConsequently all that remained for the youngest son was the cat, and he\nwas not a little disappointed at receiving such a miserable portion.\n\n'My brothers,' said he, 'will be able to get a decent living by joining\nforces, but for my part, as soon as I have eaten my cat and made a muff\nout of his skin, I am bound to die of hunger.'\n\nThese remarks were overheard by Puss, who pretended not to have been\nlistening, and said very soberly and seriously:\n\n'There is not the least need for you to worry, Master. All you have to\ndo is to give me a pouch, and get a pair of boots made for me so that I\ncan walk in the woods. You will find then that your share is not so bad\nafter all.'\n\nNow this cat had often shown himself capable of performing cunning\ntricks. When catching rats and mice, for example, he would hide himself\namongst the meal and hang downwards by the feet as though he were dead.\nHis master, therefore, though he did not build too much on what the cat\nhad said, felt some hope of being assisted in his miserable plight.\n\nOn receiving the boots which he had asked for, Puss gaily pulled them\non. Then he hung the pouch round his neck, and holding the cords which\ntied it in front of him with his paws, he sallied forth to a warren\nwhere rabbits abounded. Placing some bran and lettuce in the pouch, he\nstretched himself out and lay as if dead. His plan was to wait until\nsome young rabbit, unlearned in worldly wisdom, should come and rummage\nin the pouch for the eatables which he had placed there.\n\nHardly had he laid himself down when things fell out as he wished. A\nstupid young rabbit went into the pouch, and Master Puss, pulling the\ncords tight, killed him on the instant.\n\nWell satisfied with his capture, Puss departed to the king's palace.\nThere he demanded an audience, and was ushered upstairs. He entered the\nroyal apartment, and bowed profoundly to the king.\n\n'I bring you, Sire,' said he, 'a rabbit from the warren of the marquis\nof Carabas (such was the title he invented for his master), which I am\nbidden to present to you on his behalf.'\n\n'Tell your master,' replied the king, 'that I thank him, and am pleased\nby his attention.'\n\n[Illustration: '_As though he were dead_']\n\nAnother time the cat hid himself in a wheatfield, keeping the mouth of\nhis bag wide open. Two partridges ventured in, and by pulling the cords\ntight he captured both of them. Off he went and presented them to the\nking, just as he had done with the rabbit from the warren. His\nMajesty was not less gratified by the brace of partridges, and handed\nthe cat a present for himself.\n\nFor two or three months Puss went on in this way, every now and again\ntaking to the king, as a present from his master, some game which he had\ncaught. There came a day when he learned that the king intended to take\nhis daughter, who was the most beautiful princess in the world, for an\nexcursion along the river bank.\n\n'If you will do as I tell you,' said Puss to his master, 'your fortune\nis made. You have only to go and bathe in the river at the spot which I\nshall point out to you. Leave the rest to me.'\n\nThe marquis of Carabas had no idea what plan was afoot, but did as the\ncat had directed.\n\nWhile he was bathing the king drew near, and Puss at once began to cry\nout at the top of his voice:\n\n'Help! help! the marquis of Carabas is drowning!'\n\nAt these shouts the king put his head out of the carriage window. He\nrecognised the cat who had so often brought him game, and bade his\nescort go speedily to the help of the marquis of Carabas.\n\nWhile they were pulling the poor marquis out of the river, Puss\napproached the carriage and explained to the king that while his master\nwas bathing robbers had come and taken away his clothes, though he had\ncried 'Stop, thief!' at the top of his voice. As a matter of fact, the\nrascal had hidden them under a big stone. The king at once commanded the\nkeepers of his wardrobe to go and select a suit of his finest clothes\nfor the marquis of Carabas.\n\nThe king received the marquis with many compliments, and as the fine\nclothes which the latter had just put on set off his good looks (for he\nwas handsome and comely in appearance), the king's daughter found him\nvery much to her liking. Indeed, the marquis of Carabas had not bestowed\nmore than two or three respectful but sentimental glances upon her when\nshe fell madly in love with him. The king invited him to enter the coach\nand join the party.\n\n[Illustration: '_The cat went on ahead_']\n\nDelighted to see his plan so successfully launched, the cat went on\nahead, and presently came upon some peasants who were mowing a field.\n\n'Listen, my good fellows,' said he; 'if you do not tell the king that\nthe field which you are mowing belongs to the marquis of Carabas, you\nwill all be chopped up into little pieces like mince-meat.'\n\n[Illustration: _Puss in Boots_]\n\nIn due course the king asked the mowers to whom the field on which they\nwere at work belonged.\n\n'It is the property of the marquis of Carabas,' they all cried with one\nvoice, for the threat from Puss had frightened them.\n\n'You have inherited a fine estate,' the king remarked to Carabas.\n\n'As you see for yourself, Sire,' replied the marquis; 'this is a meadow\nwhich never fails to yield an abundant crop each year.'\n\nStill travelling ahead, the cat came upon some harvesters.\n\n'Listen, my good fellows,' said he; 'if you do not declare that every\none of these fields belongs to the marquis of Carabas, you will all be\nchopped up into little bits like mince-meat.'\n\nThe king came by a moment later, and wished to know who was the owner of\nthe fields in sight.\n\n'It is the marquis of Carabas,' cried the harvesters.\n\nAt this the king was more pleased than ever with the marquis.\n\nPreceding the coach on its journey, the cat made the same threat to all\nwhom he met, and the king grew astonished at the great wealth of the\nmarquis of Carabas.\n\nFinally Master Puss reached a splendid castle, which belonged to an\nogre. He was the richest ogre that had ever been known, for all the\nlands through which the king had passed were part of the castle domain.\n\nThe cat had taken care to find out who this ogre was, and what powers he\npossessed. He now asked for an interview, declaring that he was\nunwilling to pass so close to the castle without having the honour of\npaying his respects to the owner.\n\nThe ogre received him as civilly as an ogre can, and bade him sit down.\n\n'I have been told,' said Puss, 'that you have the power to change\nyourself into any kind of animal--for example, that you can transform\nyourself into a lion or an elephant.'\n\n'That is perfectly true,' said the ogre, curtly; 'and just to prove it\nyou shall see me turn into a lion.'\n\nPuss was so frightened on seeing a lion before him that he sprang on to\nthe roof--not without difficulty and danger, for his boots were not\nmeant for walking on the tiles.\n\nPerceiving presently that the ogre had abandoned his transformation,\nPuss descended, and owned to having been thoroughly frightened.\n\n'I have also been told,' he added, 'but I can scarcely believe it, that\nyou have the further power to take the shape of the smallest\nanimals--for example, that you can change yourself into a rat or a\nmouse. I confess that to me it seems quite impossible.'\n\n'Impossible?' cried the ogre; 'you shall see!' And in the same moment he\nchanged himself into a mouse, which began to run about the floor. No\nsooner did Puss see it than he pounced on it and ate it.\n\nPresently the king came along, and noticing the ogre's beautiful mansion\ndesired to visit it. The cat heard the rumble of the coach as it crossed\nthe castle drawbridge, and running out to the courtyard cried to the\nking:\n\n'Welcome, your Majesty, to the castle of the marquis of Carabas!'\n\n[Illustration: '_Puss became a personage of great importance_']\n\n'What's that?' cried the king. 'Is this castle also yours, marquis?\nNothing could be finer than this courtyard and the buildings which I see\nall about. With your permission we will go inside and look round.'\n\nThe marquis gave his hand to the young princess, and followed the king\nas he led the way up the staircase. Entering a great hall they found\nthere a magnificent collation. This had been prepared by the ogre for\nsome friends who were to pay him a visit that very day. The latter had\nnot dared to enter when they learned that the king was there.\n\nThe king was now quite as charmed with the excellent qualities of the\nmarquis of Carabas as his daughter. The latter was completely captivated\nby him. Noting the great wealth of which the marquis was evidently\npossessed, and having quaffed several cups of wine, he turned to his\nhost, saying:\n\n'It rests with you, marquis, whether you will be my son-in-law.'\n\nThe marquis, bowing very low, accepted the honour which the king\nbestowed upon him. The very same day he married the princess.\n\nPuss became a personage of great importance, and gave up hunting mice,\nexcept for amusement.\n\n[Illustration: Decoration]\n\n\n\n\nLITTLE TOM THUMB\n\n\nOnce upon a time there lived a wood-cutter and his wife, who had seven\nchildren, all boys. The eldest was only ten years old, and the youngest\nwas seven. People were astonished that the wood-cutter had had so many\nchildren in so short a time, but the reason was that his wife delighted\nin children, and never had less than two at a time.\n\nThey were very poor, and their seven children were a great tax on them,\nfor none of them was yet able to earn his own living. And they were\ntroubled also because the youngest was very delicate and could not speak\na word. They mistook for stupidity what was in reality a mark of good\nsense.\n\nThis youngest boy was very little. At his birth he was scarcely bigger\nthan a man's thumb, and he was called in consequence 'Little Tom Thumb.'\nThe poor child was the scapegoat of the family, and got the blame for\neverything. All the same, he was the sharpest and shrewdest of the\nbrothers, and if he spoke but little he listened much.\n\nThere came a very bad year, when the famine was so great that these poor\npeople resolved to get rid of their family. One evening, after the\nchildren had gone to bed, the wood-cutter was sitting in the\nchimney-corner with his wife. His heart was heavy with sorrow as he said\nto her:\n\n'It must be plain enough to you that we can no longer feed our\nchildren. I cannot see them die of hunger before my eyes, and I have\nmade up my mind to take them to-morrow to the forest and lose them\nthere. It will be easy enough to manage, for while they are amusing\nthemselves by collecting faggots we have only to disappear without their\nseeing us.'\n\n'Ah!' cried the wood-cutter's wife, 'do you mean to say you are capable\nof letting your own children be lost?'\n\nIn vain did her husband remind her of their terrible poverty; she could\nnot agree. She was poor, but she was their mother. In the end, however,\nreflecting what a grief it would be to see them die of hunger, she\nconsented to the plan, and went weeping to bed.\n\nLittle Tom Thumb had heard all that was said. Having discovered, when in\nbed, that serious talk was going on, he had got up softly, and had\nslipped under his father's stool in order to listen without being seen.\nHe went back to bed, but did not sleep a wink for the rest of the night,\nthinking over what he had better do. In the morning he rose very early\nand went to the edge of a brook. There he filled his pockets with little\nwhite pebbles and came quickly home again.\n\nThey all set out, and little Tom Thumb said not a word to his brothers\nof what he knew.\n\nThey went into a forest which was so dense that when only ten paces\napart they could not see each other. The wood-cutter set about his work,\nand the children began to collect twigs to make faggots. Presently the\nfather and mother, seeing them busy at their task, edged gradually away,\nand then hurried off in haste along a little narrow footpath.\n\nWhen the children found they were alone they began to cry and call out\nwith all their might. Little Tom Thumb let them cry, being confident\nthat they would get back home again. For on the way he had dropped the\nlittle white stones which he carried in his pocket all along the path.\n\n'Don't be afraid, brothers,' he said presently; 'our parents have left\nus here, but I will take you home again. Just follow me.'\n\nThey fell in behind him, and he led them straight to their house by the\nsame path which they had taken to the forest. At first they dared not go\nin, but placed themselves against the door, where they could hear\neverything their father and mother were saying.\n\nNow the wood-cutter and his wife had no sooner reached home than the\nlord of the manor sent them a sum of ten crowns which had been owing\nfrom him for a long time, and of which they had given up hope. This put\nnew life into them, for the poor creatures were dying of hunger.\n\nThe wood-cutter sent his wife off to the butcher at once, and as it was\nsuch a long time since they had had anything to eat, she bought three\ntimes as much meat as a supper for two required.\n\nWhen they found themselves once more at table, the wood-cutter's wife\nbegan to lament.\n\n'Alas! where are our poor children now?' she said; 'they could make a\ngood meal off what we have over. Mind you, William, it was you who\nwished to lose them: I declared over and over again that we should\nrepent it. What are they doing now in that forest? Merciful heavens,\nperhaps the wolves have already eaten them! A monster you must be to\nlose your children in this way!'\n\n[Illustration: '_A good dame opened the door_']\n\nAt last the wood-cutter lost patience, for she repeated more than twenty\ntimes that he would repent it, and that she had told him so. He\nthreatened to beat her if she did not hold her tongue.\n\nIt was not that the wood-cutter was less grieved than his wife, but she\nbrowbeat him, and he was of the same opinion as many other people, who\nlike a woman to have the knack of saying the right thing, but not the\ntrick of being always in the right.\n\n'Alas!' cried the wood-cutter's wife, bursting into tears, 'where are\nnow my children, my poor children?'\n\nShe said it once so loud that the children at the door heard it plainly.\nTogether they all called out:\n\n'Here we are! Here we are!'\n\nShe rushed to open the door for them, and exclaimed, as she embraced\nthem:\n\n'How glad I am to see you again, dear children! You must be very tired\nand very hungry. And you, Peterkin, how muddy you are--come and let me\nwash you!'\n\nThis Peterkin was her eldest son. She loved him more than all the others\nbecause he was inclined to be red-headed, and she herself was rather\nred.\n\nThey sat down at the table and ate with an appetite which it did their\nparents good to see. They all talked at once, as they recounted the\nfears they had felt in the forest.\n\nThe good souls were delighted to have their children with them again,\nand the pleasure continued as long as the ten crowns lasted. But when\nthe money was all spent they relapsed into their former sadness. They\nagain resolved to lose the children, and to lead them much further away\nthan they had done the first time, so as to do the job thoroughly. But\nthough they were careful not to speak openly about it, their\nconversation did not escape little Tom Thumb, who made up his mind to\nget out of the situation as he had done on the former occasion.\n\nBut though he got up early to go and collect his little stones, he found\nthe door of the house doubly locked, and he could not carry out his\nplan.\n\nHe could not think what to do until the wood-cutter's wife gave them\neach a piece of bread for breakfast. Then it occurred to him to use the\nbread in place of the stones, by throwing crumbs along the path which\nthey took, and he tucked it tight in his pocket.\n\nTheir parents led them into the thickest and darkest part of the forest,\nand as soon as they were there slipped away by a side-path and left\nthem. This did not much trouble little Tom Thumb, for he believed he\ncould easily find the way back by means of the bread which he had\nscattered wherever he walked. But to his dismay he could not discover a\nsingle crumb. The birds had come along and eaten it all.\n\nThey were in sore trouble now, for with every step they strayed further,\nand became more and more entangled in the forest. Night came on and a\nterrific wind arose, which filled them with dreadful alarm. On every\nside they seemed to hear nothing but the howling of wolves which were\ncoming to eat them up. They dared not speak or move.\n\nIn addition it began to rain so heavily that they were soaked to the\nskin. At every step they tripped and fell on the wet ground, getting up\nagain covered with mud, not knowing what to do with their hands.\n\nLittle Tom Thumb climbed to the top of a tree, in an endeavour to see\nsomething. Looking all about him he espied, far away on the other side\nof the forest, a little light like that of a candle. He got down from\nthe tree, and was terribly disappointed to find that when he was on the\nground he could see nothing at all.\n\nAfter they had walked some distance in the direction of the light,\nhowever, he caught a glimpse of it again as they were nearing the edge\nof the forest. At last they reached the house where the light was\nburning, but not without much anxiety, for every time they had to go\ndown into a hollow they lost sight of it.\n\nThey knocked at the door, and a good dame opened to them. She asked them\nwhat they wanted.\n\nLittle Tom Thumb explained that they were poor children who had lost\ntheir way in the forest, and begged her, for pity's sake, to give them a\nnight's lodging.\n\nNoticing what bonny children they all were, the woman began to cry.\n\n'Alas, my poor little dears!' she said; 'you do not know the place you\nhave come to! Have you not heard that this is the house of an ogre who\neats little children?'\n\n'Alas, madam!' answered little Tom Thumb, trembling like all the rest of\nhis brothers, 'what shall we do? One thing is very certain: if you do\nnot take us in, the wolves of the forest will devour us this very night,\nand that being so we should prefer to be eaten by your husband. Perhaps\nhe may take pity on us, if you will plead for us.'\n\nThe ogre's wife, thinking she might be able to hide them from her\nhusband till the next morning, allowed them to come in, and put them to\nwarm near a huge fire, where a whole sheep was cooking on the spit for\nthe ogre's supper.\n\nJust as they were beginning to get warm they heard two or three great\nbangs at the door. The ogre had returned. His wife hid them quickly\nunder the bed and ran to open the door.\n\nThe first thing the ogre did was to ask whether supper was ready and the\nwine opened. Then without ado he sat down to table. Blood was still\ndripping from the sheep, but it seemed all the better to him for that.\nHe sniffed to right and left, declaring that he could smell fresh flesh.\n\n'Indeed!' said his wife. 'It must be the calf which I have just dressed\nthat you smell.'\n\n'_I smell fresh flesh_, I tell you,' shouted the ogre, eyeing his wife\naskance; 'and there is something going on here which I do not\nunderstand.'\n\nWith these words he got up from the table and went straight to the bed.\n\n'Aha!' said he; 'so this is the way you deceive me, wicked woman that\nyou are! I have a very great mind to eat you too! It's lucky for you\nthat you are old and tough! I am expecting three ogre friends of mine to\npay me a visit in the next few days, and here is a tasty dish which will\njust come in nicely for them!'\n\nOne after another he dragged the children out from under the bed.\n\n[Illustration: '_He could smell fresh flesh_']\n\nThe poor things threw themselves on their knees, imploring mercy; but\nthey had to deal with the most cruel of all ogres. Far from pitying\nthem, he was already devouring them with his eyes, and repeating to\nhis wife that when cooked with a good sauce they would make most dainty\nmorsels.\n\nOff he went to get a large knife, which he sharpened, as he drew near\nthe poor children, on a long stone in his left hand.\n\nHe had already seized one of them when his wife called out to him. 'What\ndo you want to do it now for?' she said; 'will it not be time enough\nto-morrow?'\n\n'Hold your tongue,' replied the ogre; 'they will be all the more\ntender.'\n\n'But you have such a lot of meat,' rejoined his wife; 'look, there are a\ncalf, two sheep, and half a pig.'\n\n'You are right,' said the ogre; 'give them a good supper to fatten them\nup, and take them to bed.'\n\nThe good woman was overjoyed and brought them a splendid supper; but the\npoor little wretches were so cowed with fright that they could not eat.\n\nAs for the ogre, he went back to his drinking, very pleased to have such\ngood entertainment for his friends. He drank a dozen cups more than\nusual, and was obliged to go off to bed early, for the wine had gone\nsomewhat to his head.\n\nNow the ogre had seven daughters who as yet were only children. These\nlittle ogresses all had the most lovely complexions, for, like their\nfather, they ate fresh meat. But they had little round grey eyes,\ncrooked noses, and very large mouths, with long and exceedingly sharp\nteeth, set far apart. They were not so very wicked at present, but they\nshowed great promise, for already they were in the habit of killing\nlittle children to suck their blood.\n\nThey had gone to bed early, and were all seven in a great bed, each with\na crown of gold upon her head.\n\nIn the same room there was another bed, equally large. Into this the\nogre's wife put the seven little boys, and then went to sleep herself\nbeside her husband.\n\nLittle Tom Thumb was fearful lest the ogre should suddenly regret that\nhe had not cut the throats of himself and his brothers the evening\nbefore. Having noticed that the ogre's daughters all had golden crowns\nupon their heads, he got up in the middle of the night and softly placed\nhis own cap and those of his brothers on their heads. Before doing so,\nhe carefully removed the crowns of gold, putting them on his own and his\nbrothers' heads. In this way, if the ogre were to feel like slaughtering\nthem that night he would mistake the girls for the boys, and _vice\nversa_.\n\nThings fell out just as he had anticipated. The ogre, waking up at\nmidnight, regretted that he had postponed till the morrow what he could\nhave done overnight. Jumping briskly out of bed, he seized his knife,\ncrying: 'Now then, let's see how the little rascals are; we won't make\nthe same mistake twice!'\n\nHe groped his way up to his daughters' room, and approached the bed in\nwhich were the seven little boys. All were sleeping, with the exception\nof little Tom Thumb, who was numb with fear when he felt the ogre's\nhand, as it touched the head of each brother in turn, reach his own.\n\n'Upon my word,' said the ogre, as he felt the golden crowns; 'a nice job\nI was going to make of it! It is very evident that I drank a little too\nmuch last night!'\n\nForthwith he went to the bed where his daughters were, and here he felt\nthe little boys' caps.\n\n'Aha, here are the little scamps!' he cried; 'now for a smart bit of\nwork!'\n\n[Illustration: '_He set off over the countryside_']\n\nWith these words, and without a moment's hesitation, he cut the throats\nof his seven daughters, and well satisfied with his work went back to\nbed beside his wife.\n\nNo sooner did little Tom Thumb hear him snoring than he woke up his\nbrothers, bidding them dress quickly and follow him. They crept quietly\ndown to the garden, and jumped from the wall. All through the night they\nran in haste and terror, without the least idea of where they were\ngoing.\n\nWhen the ogre woke up he said to his wife:\n\n'Go upstairs and dress those little rascals who were here last night.'\n\nThe ogre's wife was astonished at her husband's kindness, never doubting\nthat he meant her to go and put on their clothes. She went upstairs, and\nwas horrified to discover her seven daughters bathed in blood, with\ntheir throats cut.\n\nShe fell at once into a swoon, which is the way of most women in similar\ncircumstances.\n\nThe ogre, thinking his wife was very long in carrying out his orders,\nwent up to help her, and was no less astounded than his wife at the\nterrible spectacle which confronted him.\n\n'What's this I have done?' he exclaimed. 'I will be revenged on the\nwretches, and quickly, too!'\n\nHe threw a jugful of water over his wife's face, and having brought her\nround ordered her to fetch his seven-league boots, so that he might\novertake the children.\n\nHe set off over the countryside, and strode far and wide until he came\nto the road along which the poor children were travelling. They were not\nmore than a few yards from their home when they saw the ogre striding\nfrom hill-top to hill-top, and stepping over rivers as though they were\nmerely tiny streams.\n\nLittle Tom Thumb espied near at hand a cave in some rocks. In this he\nhid his brothers, and himself followed them in, while continuing to keep\na watchful eye upon the movements of the ogre.\n\nNow the ogre was feeling very tired after so much fruitless marching\n(for seven-league boots are very fatiguing to their wearer), and felt\nlike taking a little rest. As it happened, he went and sat down on the\nvery rock beneath which the little boys were hiding. Overcome with\nweariness, he had not sat there long before he fell asleep and began to\nsnore so terribly that the poor children were as frightened as when he\nhad held his great knife to their throats.\n\nLittle Tom Thumb was not so alarmed. He told his brothers to flee at\nonce to their home while the ogre was still sleeping soundly, and not to\nworry about him. They took his advice and ran quickly home.\n\nLittle Tom Thumb now approached the ogre and gently pulled off his\nboots, which he at once donned himself. The boots were very heavy and\nvery large, but being enchanted boots they had the faculty of growing\nlarger or smaller according to the leg they had to suit. Consequently\nthey always fitted as though they had been made for the wearer.\n\nHe went straight to the ogre's house, where he found the ogre's wife\nweeping over her murdered daughters.\n\n[Illustration: '_Laden with all the ogre's wealth_']\n\n'Your husband,' said little Tom Thumb, 'is in great danger, for he has\nbeen captured by a gang of thieves, and the latter have sworn to kill\nhim if he does not hand over all his gold and silver. Just as they had\nthe dagger at his throat, he caught sight of me and begged me to come to\nyou and thus rescue him from his terrible plight. You are to give me\neverything of value which he possesses, without keeping back a thing,\notherwise he will be slain without mercy. As the matter is urgent he\nwished me to wear his seven-league boots, to save time, and also to\nprove to you that I am no impostor.'\n\nThe ogre's wife, in great alarm, gave him immediately all that she had,\nfor although this was an ogre who devoured little children, he was by no\nmeans a bad husband.\n\nLittle Tom Thumb, laden with all the ogre's wealth, forthwith repaired\nto his father's house, where he was received with great joy.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nMany people do not agree about this last adventure, and pretend that\nlittle Tom Thumb never committed this theft from the ogre, and only took\nthe seven-league boots, about which he had no compunction, since they\nwere only used by the ogre for catching little children. These folks\nassert that they are in a position to know, having been guests at the\nwood-cutter's cottage. They further say that when little Tom Thumb had\nput on the ogre's boots, he went off to the Court, where he knew there\nwas great anxiety concerning the result of a battle which was being\nfought by an army two hundred leagues away.\n\nThey say that he went to the king and undertook, if desired, to bring\nnews of the army before the day was out; and that the king promised him\na large sum of money if he could carry out his project.\n\nLittle Tom Thumb brought news that very night, and this first errand\nhaving brought him into notice, he made as much money as he wished. For\nnot only did the king pay him handsomely to carry orders to the army,\nbut many ladies at the court gave him anything he asked to get them news\nof their lovers, and this was his greatest source of income. He was\noccasionally entrusted by wives with letters to their husbands, but they\npaid him so badly, and this branch of the business brought him in so\nlittle, that he did not even bother to reckon what he made from it.\n\nAfter acting as courier for some time, and amassing great wealth\nthereby, little Tom Thumb returned to his father's house, and was there\ngreeted with the greatest joy imaginable. He made all his family\ncomfortable, buying newly-created positions for his father and brothers.\nIn this way he set them all up, not forgetting at the same time to look\nwell after himself.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FAIRIES\n\n\nOnce upon a time there lived a widow with two daughters. The elder was\noften mistaken for her mother, so like her was she both in nature and in\nlooks; parent and child being so disagreeable and arrogant that no one\ncould live with them.\n\nThe younger girl, who took after her father in the gentleness and\nsweetness of her disposition, was also one of the prettiest girls\nimaginable. The mother doted on the elder daughter--naturally enough,\nsince she resembled her so closely--and disliked the younger one as\nintensely. She made the latter live in the kitchen and work hard from\nmorning till night.\n\nOne of the poor child's many duties was to go twice a day and draw water\nfrom a spring a good half-mile away, bringing it back in a large\npitcher. One day when she was at the spring an old woman came up and\nbegged for a drink.\n\n'Why, certainly, good mother,' the pretty lass replied. Rinsing her\npitcher, she drew some water from the cleanest part of the spring and\nhanded it to the dame, lifting up the jug so that she might drink the\nmore easily.\n\nNow this old woman was a fairy, who had taken the form of a poor village\ndame to see just how far the girl's good nature would go. 'You are so\npretty,' she said, when she had finished drinking, 'and so polite, that\nI am determined to bestow a gift upon you. This is the boon I grant\nyou: with every word that you utter there shall fall from your mouth\neither a flower or a precious stone.'\n\nWhen the girl reached home she was scolded by her mother for being so\nlong in coming back from the spring.\n\n'I am sorry to have been so long, mother,' said the poor child.\n\nAs she spoke these words there fell from her mouth three roses, three\npearls, and three diamonds.\n\n'What's this?' cried her mother; 'did I see pearls and diamonds dropping\nout of your mouth? What does this mean, dear daughter?' (This was the\nfirst time she had ever addressed her daughter affectionately.)\n\nThe poor child told a simple tale of what had happened, and in speaking\nscattered diamonds right and left.\n\n'Really,' said her mother, 'I must send my own child there. Come here,\nFanchon; look what comes out of your sister's mouth whenever she speaks!\nWouldn't you like to be able to do the same? All you have to do is to go\nand draw some water at the spring, and when a poor woman asks you for a\ndrink, give it her very nicely.'\n\n'Oh, indeed!' replied the ill-mannered girl; 'don't you wish you may see\nme going there!'\n\n'I tell you that you are to go,' said her mother, 'and to go this\ninstant.'\n\n[Illustration: '_Lifting up the jug so that she might drink the more\neasily_']\n\nVery sulkily the girl went off, taking with her the best silver flagon\nin the house. No sooner had she reached the spring than she saw a lady,\nmagnificently attired, who came towards her from the forest, and asked\nfor a drink. This was the same fairy who had appeared to her sister,\nmasquerading now as a princess in order to see how far this girl's\nill-nature would carry her.\n\n'Do you think I have come here just to get you a drink?' said the\nloutish damsel, arrogantly. 'I suppose you think I brought a silver\nflagon here specially for that purpose--it's so likely, isn't it? Drink\nfrom the spring, if you want to!'\n\n'You are not very polite,' said the fairy, displaying no sign of anger.\n'Well, in return for your lack of courtesy I decree that for every word\nyou utter a snake or a toad shall drop out of your mouth.'\n\nThe moment her mother caught sight of her coming back she cried out,\n'Well, daughter?'\n\n'Well, mother?' replied the rude girl. As she spoke a viper and a toad\nwere spat out of her mouth.\n\n'Gracious heavens!' cried her mother; 'what do I see? Her sister is the\ncause of this, and I will make her pay for it!'\n\nOff she ran to thrash the poor child, but the latter fled away and hid\nin the forest near by. The king's son met her on his way home from\nhunting, and noticing how pretty she was inquired what she was doing all\nalone, and what she was weeping about.\n\n'Alas, sir,' she cried; 'my mother has driven me from home!'\n\nAs she spoke the prince saw four or five pearls and as many diamonds\nfall from her mouth. He begged her to tell him how this came about, and\nshe told him the whole story.\n\nThe king's son fell in love with her, and reflecting that such a gift as\nhad been bestowed upon her was worth more than any dowry which another\nmaiden might bring him, he took her to the palace of his royal father,\nand there married her.\n\nAs for the sister, she made herself so hateful that even her mother\ndrove her out of the house. Nowhere could the wretched girl find any one\nwho would take her in, and at last she lay down in the forest and died.\n\n\n\n\nRICKY OF THE TUFT\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a queen who bore a son so ugly and misshapen\nthat for some time it was doubtful if he would have human form at all.\nBut a fairy who was present at his birth promised that he should have\nplenty of brains, and added that by virtue of the gift which she had\njust bestowed upon him he would be able to impart to the person whom he\nshould love best the same degree of intelligence which he possessed\nhimself.\n\nThis somewhat consoled the poor queen, who was greatly disappointed at\nhaving brought into the world such a hideous brat. And indeed, no sooner\ndid the child begin to speak than his sayings proved to be full of\nshrewdness, while all that he did was somehow so clever that he charmed\nevery one.\n\nI forgot to mention that when he was born he had a little tuft of hair\nupon his head. For this reason he was called Ricky of the Tuft, Ricky\nbeing his family name.\n\nSome seven or eight years later the queen of a neighbouring kingdom gave\nbirth to twin daughters. The first one to come into the world was more\nbeautiful than the dawn, and the queen was so overjoyed that it was\nfeared her great excitement might do her some harm. The same fairy who\nhad assisted at the birth of Ricky of the Tuft was present, and, in\norder to moderate the transports of the queen she declared that this\nlittle princess would have no sense at all, and would be as stupid as\nshe was beautiful.\n\nThe queen was deeply mortified, and a moment or two later her chagrin\nbecame greater still, for the second daughter proved to be extremely\nugly.\n\n'Do not be distressed, Madam,' said the fairy; 'your daughter shall be\nrecompensed in another way. She shall have so much good sense that her\nlack of beauty will scarcely be noticed.'\n\n'May Heaven grant it!' said the queen; 'but is there no means by which\nthe elder, who is so beautiful, can be endowed with some intelligence?'\n\n'In the matter of brains I can do nothing for her, Madam,' said the\nfairy, 'but as regards beauty I can do a great deal. As there is nothing\nI would not do to please you, I will bestow upon her the power of making\nbeautiful any person who shall greatly please her.'\n\nAs the two princesses grew up their perfections increased, and\neverywhere the beauty of the elder and the wit of the younger were the\nsubject of common talk.\n\nIt is equally true that their defects also increased as they became\nolder. The younger grew uglier every minute, and the elder daily became\nmore stupid. Either she answered nothing at all when spoken to, or\nreplied with some idiotic remark. At the same time she was so awkward\nthat she could not set four china vases on the mantelpiece without\nbreaking one of them, nor drink a glass of water without spilling half\nof it over her clothes.\n\n[Illustration: '_She could not set four china vases on the mantelpiece\nwithout breaking one of them_']\n\nNow although the elder girl possessed the great advantage which beauty\nalways confers upon youth, she was nevertheless outshone in almost all\ncompany by her younger sister. At first every one gathered round the\nbeauty to see and admire her, but very soon they were all attracted by\nthe graceful and easy conversation of the clever one. In a very short\ntime the elder girl would be left entirely alone, while everybody\nclustered round her sister.\n\n[Illustration: '_Graceful and easy conversation_']\n\nThe elder princess was not so stupid that she was not aware of this, and\nshe would willingly have surrendered all her beauty for half her\nsister's cleverness. Sometimes she was ready to die of grief, for the\nqueen, though a sensible woman, could not refrain from occasionally\nreproaching her with her stupidity.\n\nThe princess had retired one day to a wood to bemoan her misfortune,\nwhen she saw approaching her an ugly little man, of very disagreeable\nappearance, but clad in magnificent attire.\n\nThis was the young prince Ricky of the Tuft. He had fallen in love with\nher portrait, which was everywhere to be seen, and had left his father's\nkingdom in order to have the pleasure of seeing and talking to her.\n\nDelighted to meet her thus alone, he approached with every mark of\nrespect and politeness. But while he paid her the usual compliments he\nnoticed that she was plunged in melancholy.\n\n'I cannot understand, madam,' he said, 'how any one with your beauty can\nbe so sad as you appear. I can boast of having seen many fair ladies,\nand I declare that none of them could compare in beauty with you.'\n\n'It is very kind of you to say so, sir,' answered the princess; and\nstopped there, at a loss what to say further.\n\n'Beauty,' said Ricky, 'is of such great advantage that everything else\ncan be disregarded; and I do not see that the possessor of it can have\nanything much to grieve about.'\n\nTo this the princess replied:\n\n'I would rather be as plain as you are and have some sense, than be as\nbeautiful as I am and at the same time stupid.'\n\n'Nothing more clearly displays good sense, madam, than a belief that one\nis not possessed of it. It follows, therefore, that the more one has,\nthe more one fears it to be wanting.'\n\n'I am not sure about that,' said the princess; 'but I know only too well\nthat I am very stupid, and this is the reason of the misery which is\nnearly killing me.'\n\n'If that is all that troubles you, madam, I can easily put an end to\nyour suffering.'\n\n'How will you manage that?' said the princess.\n\n'I am able, madam,' said Ricky of the Tuft, 'to bestow as much good\nsense as it is possible to possess on the person whom I love the most.\nYou are that person, and it therefore rests with you to decide whether\nyou will acquire so much intelligence. The only condition is that you\nshall consent to marry me.'\n\nThe princess was dumbfounded, and remained silent.\n\n'I can see,' pursued Ricky, 'that this suggestion perplexes you, and I\nam not surprised. But I will give you a whole year to make up your mind\nto it.'\n\nThe princess had so little sense, and at the same time desired it so\nardently, that she persuaded herself the end of this year would never\ncome. So she accepted the offer which had been made to her. No sooner\nhad she given her word to Ricky that she would marry him within one year\nfrom that very day, than she felt a complete change come over her. She\nfound herself able to say all that she wished with the greatest ease,\nand to say it in an elegant, finished, and natural manner. She at once\nengaged Ricky in a brilliant and lengthy conversation, holding her own\nso well that Ricky feared he had given her a larger share of sense than\nhe had retained for himself.\n\nOn her return to the palace amazement reigned throughout the Court at\nsuch a sudden and extraordinary change. Whereas formerly they had been\naccustomed to hear her give vent to silly, pert remarks, they now heard\nher express herself sensibly and very wittily.\n\nThe entire Court was overjoyed. The only person not too pleased was the\nyounger sister, for now that she had no longer the advantage over the\nelder in wit, she seemed nothing but a little fright in comparison.\n\nThe king himself often took her advice, and several times held his\ncouncils in her apartment.\n\nThe news of this change spread abroad, and the princes of the\nneighbouring kingdoms made many attempts to captivate her. Almost all\nasked her in marriage. But she found none with enough sense, and so she\nlistened to all without promising herself to any.\n\nAt last came one who was so powerful, so rich, so witty, and so\nhandsome, that she could not help being somewhat attracted by him. Her\nfather noticed this, and told her she could make her own choice of a\nhusband: she had only to declare herself.\n\nNow the more sense one has, the more difficult it is to make up one's\nmind in an affair of this kind. After thanking her father, therefore,\nshe asked for a little time to think it over.\n\nIn order to ponder quietly what she had better do she went to walk in a\nwood--the very one, as it happened, where she encountered Ricky of the\nTuft.\n\nWhile she walked, deep in thought, she heard beneath her feet a thudding\nsound, as though many people were running busily to and fro. Listening\nmore attentively she heard voices. 'Bring me that boiler,' said one;\nthen another--'Put some wood on that fire!'\n\nAt that moment the ground opened, and she saw below what appeared to be\na large kitchen full of cooks and scullions, and all the train of\nattendants which the preparation of a great banquet involves. A gang of\nsome twenty or thirty spit-turners emerged and took up their positions\nround a very long table in a path in the wood. They all wore their\ncook's caps on one side, and with their basting implements in their\nhands they kept time together as they worked, to the lilt of a melodious\nsong.\n\nThe princess was astonished by this spectacle, and asked for whom their\nwork was being done.\n\n'For Prince Ricky of the Tuft, madam,' said the foreman of the gang;\n'his wedding is to-morrow.'\n\nAt this the princess was more surprised than ever. In a flash she\nremembered that it was a year to the very day since she had promised to\nmarry Prince Ricky of the Tuft, and was taken aback by the recollection.\nThe reason she had forgotten was that when she made the promise she was\nstill without sense, and with the acquisition of that intelligence which\nthe prince had bestowed upon her, all memory of her former stupidities\nhad been blotted out.\n\nShe had not gone another thirty paces when Ricky of the Tuft appeared\nbefore her, gallant and resplendent, like a prince upon his wedding day.\n\n'As you see, madam,' he said, 'I keep my word to the minute. I do not\ndoubt that you have come to keep yours, and by giving me your hand to\nmake me the happiest of men.'\n\n'I will be frank with you,' replied the princess. 'I have not yet made\nup my mind on the point, and I am afraid I shall never be able to take\nthe decision you desire.'\n\n'You astonish me, madam,' said Ricky of the Tuft.\n\n'I can well believe it,' said the princess, 'and undoubtedly, if I had\nto deal with a clown, or a man who lacked good sense, I should feel\nmyself very awkwardly situated. \"A princess must keep her word,\" he\nwould say, \"and you must marry me because you promised to!\" But I am\nspeaking to a man of the world, of the greatest good sense, and I am\nsure that he will listen to reason. As you are aware, I could not make\nup my mind to marry you even when I was entirely without sense; how can\nyou expect that to-day, possessing the intelligence you bestowed on me,\nwhich makes me still more difficult to please than formerly, I should\ntake a decision which I could not take then? If you wished so much to\nmarry me, you were very wrong to relieve me of my stupidity, and to let\nme see more clearly than I did.'\n\n'If a man who lacked good sense,' replied Ricky of the Tuft, 'would be\njustified, as you have just said, in reproaching you for breaking your\nword, why do you expect, madam, that I should act differently where the\nhappiness of my whole life is at stake? Is it reasonable that people who\nhave sense should be treated worse than those who have none? Would you\nmaintain that for a moment--you, who so markedly have sense, and desired\nso ardently to have it? But, pardon me, let us get to the facts. With\nthe exception of my ugliness, is there anything about me which\ndispleases you? Are you dissatisfied with my breeding, my brains, my\ndisposition, or my manners?'\n\n'In no way,' replied the princess; 'I like exceedingly all that you have\ndisplayed of the qualities you mention.'\n\n'In that case,' said Ricky of the Tuft, 'happiness will be mine, for it\nlies in your power to make me the most attractive of men.'\n\n'How can that be done?' asked the princess.\n\n[Illustration: _Ricky of the Tuft_]\n\n'It will happen of itself,' replied Ricky of the Tuft, 'if you love me\nwell enough to wish that it be so. To remove your doubts, madam, let me\ntell you that the same fairy who on the day of my birth bestowed upon\nme the power of endowing with intelligence the woman of my choice, gave\nto you also the power of endowing with beauty the man whom you should\nlove, and on whom you should wish to confer this favour.'\n\n'If that is so,' said the princess, 'I wish with all my heart that you\nmay become the handsomest and most attractive prince in the world, and I\ngive you without reserve the boon which it is mine to bestow.'\n\nNo sooner had the princess uttered these words than Ricky of the Tuft\nappeared before her eyes as the handsomest, most graceful and attractive\nman that she had ever set eyes on.\n\nSome people assert that this was not the work of fairy enchantment, but\nthat love alone brought about the transformation. They say that the\nprincess, as she mused upon her lover's constancy, upon his good sense,\nand his many admirable qualities of heart and head, grew blind to the\ndeformity of his body and the ugliness of his face; that his hump back\nseemed no more than was natural in a man who could make the courtliest\nof bows, and that the dreadful limp which had formerly distressed her\nnow betokened nothing more than a certain diffidence and charming\ndeference of manner. They say further that she found his eyes shine all\nthe brighter for their squint, and that this defect in them was to her\nbut a sign of passionate love; while his great red nose she found nought\nbut martial and heroic.\n\nHowever that may be, the princess promised to marry him on the spot,\nprovided only that he could obtain the consent of her royal father.\n\nThe king knew Ricky of the Tuft to be a prince both wise and witty, and\non learning of his daughter's regard for him, he accepted him with\npleasure as a son-in-law.\n\nThe wedding took place upon the morrow, just as Ricky of the Tuft had\nforeseen, and in accordance with the arrangements he had long ago put in\ntrain.\n\n\n\n\nCINDERELLA\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a worthy man who married for his second wife\nthe haughtiest, proudest woman that had ever been seen. She had two\ndaughters, who possessed their mother's temper and resembled her in\neverything. Her husband, on the other hand, had a young daughter, who\nwas of an exceptionally sweet and gentle nature. She got this from her\nmother, who had been the nicest person in the world.\n\nThe wedding was no sooner over than the stepmother began to display her\nbad temper. She could not endure the excellent qualities of this young\ngirl, for they made her own daughters appear more hateful than ever. She\nthrust upon her all the meanest tasks about the house. It was she who\nhad to clean the plates and the stairs, and sweep out the rooms of the\nmistress of the house and her daughters. She slept on a wretched\nmattress in a garret at the top of the house, while the sisters had\nrooms with parquet flooring, and beds of the most fashionable style,\nwith mirrors in which they could see themselves from top to toe.\n\nThe poor girl endured everything patiently, not daring to complain to\nher father. The latter would have scolded her, because he was entirely\nruled by his wife. When she had finished her work she used to sit\namongst the cinders in the corner of the chimney, and it was from this\nhabit that she came to be commonly known as Cinder-slut. The younger of\nthe two sisters, who was not quite so spiteful as the elder, called her\nCinderella. But her wretched clothes did not prevent Cinderella from\nbeing a hundred times more beautiful than her sisters, for all their\nresplendent garments.\n\nIt happened that the king's son gave a ball, and he invited all persons\nof high degree. The two young ladies were invited amongst others, for\nthey cut a considerable figure in the country. Not a little pleased were\nthey, and the question of what clothes and what mode of dressing the\nhair would become them best took up all their time. And all this meant\nfresh trouble for Cinderella, for it was she who went over her sisters'\nlinen and ironed their ruffles. They could talk of nothing else but the\nfashions in clothes.\n\n'For my part,' said the elder, 'I shall wear my dress of red velvet,\nwith the Honiton lace.'\n\n'I have only my everyday petticoat,' said the younger, 'but to make up\nfor it I shall wear my cloak with the golden flowers and my necklace of\ndiamonds, which are not so bad.'\n\nThey sent for a good hairdresser to arrange their double-frilled caps,\nand bought patches at the best shop.\n\nThey summoned Cinderella and asked her advice, for she had good taste.\nCinderella gave them the best possible suggestions, and even offered to\ndress their hair, to which they gladly agreed.\n\nWhile she was thus occupied they said:\n\n'Cinderella, would you not like to go to the ball?'\n\n'Ah, but you fine young ladies are laughing at me. It would be no place\nfor me.'\n\n[Illustration: '_The haughtiest, proudest woman that had ever been\nseen_']\n\n'That is very true, people would laugh to see a cinder-slut in the\nballroom.'\n\nAny one else but Cinderella would have done their hair amiss, but she\nwas good-natured, and she finished them off to perfection. They were so\nexcited in their glee that for nearly two days they ate nothing. They\nbroke more than a dozen laces through drawing their stays tight in order\nto make their waists more slender, and they were perpetually in front of\na mirror.\n\nAt last the happy day arrived. Away they went, Cinderella watching them\nas long as she could keep them in sight. When she could no longer see\nthem she began to cry. Her godmother found her in tears, and asked what\nwas troubling her.\n\n'I should like--I should like----'\n\nShe was crying so bitterly that she could not finish the sentence.\n\nSaid her godmother, who was a fairy:\n\n'You would like to go to the ball, would you not?'\n\n'Ah, yes,' said Cinderella, sighing.\n\n'Well, well,' said her godmother, 'promise to be a good girl and I will\narrange for you to go.'\n\nShe took Cinderella into her room and said:\n\n'Go into the garden and bring me a pumpkin.'\n\nCinderella went at once and gathered the finest that she could find.\nThis she brought to her godmother, wondering how a pumpkin could help in\ntaking her to the ball.\n\nHer godmother scooped it out, and when only the rind was left, struck it\nwith her wand. Instantly the pumpkin was changed into a beautiful coach,\ngilded all over.\n\nThen she went and looked in the mouse-trap, where she found six mice\nall alive. She told Cinderella to lift the door of the mouse-trap a\nlittle, and as each mouse came out she gave it a tap with her wand,\nwhereupon it was transformed into a fine horse. So that here was a fine\nteam of six dappled mouse-grey horses.\n\nBut she was puzzled to know how to provide a coachman.\n\n'I will go and see,' said Cinderella, 'if there is not a rat in the\nrat-trap. We could make a coachman of him.'\n\n'Quite right,' said her godmother, 'go and see.'\n\nCinderella brought in the rat-trap, which contained three big rats. The\nfairy chose one specially on account of his elegant whiskers.\n\nAs soon as she had touched him he turned into a fat coachman with the\nfinest moustachios that ever were seen.\n\n'Now go into the garden and bring me the six lizards which you will find\nbehind the water-butt.'\n\nNo sooner had they been brought than the godmother turned them into six\nlackeys, who at once climbed up behind the coach in their braided\nliveries, and hung on there as if they had never done anything else all\ntheir lives.\n\nThen said the fairy godmother:\n\n'Well, there you have the means of going to the ball. Are you\nsatisfied?'\n\n'Oh, yes, but am I to go like this in my ugly clothes?'\n\nHer godmother merely touched her with her wand, and on the instant her\nclothes were changed into garments of gold and silver cloth, bedecked\nwith jewels. After that her godmother gave her a pair of glass slippers,\nthe prettiest in the world.\n\n[Illustration: '_Her godmother found her in tears_']\n\nThus altered, she entered the coach. Her godmother bade her not to stay\nbeyond midnight whatever happened, warning her that if she remained\nat the ball a moment longer, her coach would again become a pumpkin, her\nhorses mice, and her lackeys lizards, while her old clothes would\nreappear upon her once more.\n\nShe promised her godmother that she would not fail to leave the ball\nbefore midnight, and away she went, beside herself with delight.\n\n[Illustration: '_Away she went_']\n\nThe king's son, when he was told of the arrival of a great princess whom\nnobody knew, went forth to receive her. He handed her down from the\ncoach, and led her into the hall where the company was assembled. At\nonce there fell a great silence. The dancers stopped, the violins played\nno more, so rapt was the attention which everybody bestowed upon the\nsuperb beauty of the unknown guest. Everywhere could be heard in\nconfused whispers:\n\n'Oh, how beautiful she is!'\n\nThe king, old man as he was, could not take his eyes off her, and\nwhispered to the queen that it was many a long day since he had seen any\none so beautiful and charming.\n\nAll the ladies were eager to scrutinise her clothes and the dressing of\nher hair, being determined to copy them on the morrow, provided they\ncould find materials so fine, and tailors so clever.\n\nThe king's son placed her in the seat of honour, and at once begged the\nprivilege of being her partner in a dance. Such was the grace with which\nshe danced that the admiration of all was increased.\n\nA magnificent supper was served, but the young prince could eat nothing,\nso taken up was he with watching her. She went and sat beside her\nsisters, and bestowed numberless attentions upon them. She made them\nshare with her the oranges and lemons which the king had given\nher--greatly to their astonishment, for they did not recognise her.\n\nWhile they were talking, Cinderella heard the clock strike a quarter to\ntwelve. She at once made a profound curtsey to the company, and departed\nas quickly as she could.\n\nAs soon as she was home again she sought out her godmother, and having\nthanked her, declared that she wished to go upon the morrow once more to\nthe ball, because the king's son had invited her.\n\nWhile she was busy telling her godmother all that had happened at the\nball, her two sisters knocked at the door. Cinderella let them in.\n\n'What a long time you have been in coming!' she declared, rubbing her\neyes and stretching herself as if she had only just awakened. In real\ntruth she had not for a moment wished to sleep since they had left.\n\n[Illustration: '_She rose and fled as nimbly as a fawn_']\n\n'If you had been at the ball,' said one of the sisters, 'you would not\nbe feeling weary. There came a most beautiful princess, the most\nbeautiful that has ever been seen, and she bestowed numberless\nattentions upon us, and gave us her oranges and lemons.'\n\nCinderella was overjoyed. She asked them the name of the princess, but\nthey replied that no one knew it, and that the king's son was so\ndistressed that he would give anything in the world to know who she was.\n\nCinderella smiled, and said she must have been beautiful indeed.\n\n'Oh, how lucky you are. Could I not manage to see her? Oh, please,\nJavotte, lend me the yellow dress which you wear every day.'\n\n'Indeed!' said Javotte, 'that is a fine idea. Lend my dress to a grubby\ncinder-slut like you--you must think me mad!'\n\nCinderella had expected this refusal. She was in no way upset, for she\nwould have been very greatly embarrassed had her sister been willing to\nlend the dress.\n\nThe next day the two sisters went to the ball, and so did Cinderella,\neven more splendidly attired than the first time.\n\nThe king's son was always at her elbow, and paid her endless\ncompliments.\n\nThe young girl enjoyed herself so much that she forgot her godmother's\nbidding completely, and when the first stroke of midnight fell upon her\nears, she thought it was no more than eleven o'clock.\n\nShe rose and fled as nimbly as a fawn. The prince followed her, but\ncould not catch her. She let fall one of her glass slippers, however,\nand this the prince picked up with tender care.\n\nWhen Cinderella reached home she was out of breath, without coach,\nwithout lackeys, and in her shabby clothes. Nothing remained of all her\nsplendid clothes save one of the little slippers, the fellow to the one\nwhich she had let fall.\n\nInquiries were made of the palace doorkeepers as to whether they had\nseen a princess go out, but they declared they had seen no one leave\nexcept a young girl, very ill-clad, who looked more like a peasant than\na young lady.\n\nWhen her two sisters returned from the ball, Cinderella asked them if\nthey had again enjoyed themselves, and if the beautiful lady had been\nthere. They told her that she was present, but had fled away when\nmidnight sounded, and in such haste that she had let fall one of her\nlittle glass slippers, the prettiest thing in the world. They added that\nthe king's son, who picked it up, had done nothing but gaze at it for\nthe rest of the ball, from which it was plain that he was deeply in love\nwith its beautiful owner.\n\nThey spoke the truth. A few days later, the king's son caused a\nproclamation to be made by trumpeters, that he would take for wife the\nowner of the foot which the slipper would fit.\n\nThey tried it first on the princesses, then on the duchesses and the\nwhole of the Court, but in vain. Presently they brought it to the home\nof the two sisters, who did all they could to squeeze a foot into the\nslipper. This, however, they could not manage.\n\nCinderella was looking on and recognised her slipper:\n\n'Let me see,' she cried, laughingly, 'if it will not fit me.'\n\n[Illustration: '_They tried it first on the princesses_']\n\nHer sisters burst out laughing, and began to gibe at her, but the\nequerry who was trying on the slipper looked closely at Cinderella.\nObserving that she was very beautiful he declared that the claim was\nquite a fair one, and that his orders were to try the slipper on every\nmaiden. He bade Cinderella sit down, and on putting the slipper to her\nlittle foot he perceived that the latter slid in without trouble, and\nwas moulded to its shape like wax.\n\nGreat was the astonishment of the two sisters at this, and greater still\nwhen Cinderella drew from her pocket the other little slipper. This she\nlikewise drew on.\n\nAt that very moment her godmother appeared on the scene. She gave a tap\nwith her wand to Cinderella's clothes, and transformed them into a dress\neven more magnificent than her previous ones.\n\nThe two sisters recognised her for the beautiful person whom they had\nseen at the ball, and threw themselves at her feet, begging her pardon\nfor all the ill-treatment she had suffered at their hands.\n\nCinderella raised them, and declaring as she embraced them that she\npardoned them with all her heart, bade them to love her well in future.\n\nShe was taken to the palace of the young prince in all her new array. He\nfound her more beautiful than ever, and was married to her a few days\nafterwards.\n\nCinderella was as good as she was beautiful. She set aside apartments in\nthe palace for her two sisters, and married them the very same day to\ntwo gentlemen of high rank about the Court.\n\n\n\n\nLITTLE RED RIDING HOOD\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a little village girl, the prettiest that had\never been seen. Her mother doted on her. Her grandmother was even\nfonder, and made her a little red hood, which became her so well that\neverywhere she went by the name of Little Red Riding Hood.\n\nOne day her mother, who had just made and baked some cakes, said to her:\n\n'Go and see how your grandmother is, for I have been told that she is\nill. Take her a cake and this little pot of butter.'\n\nLittle Red Riding Hood set off at once for the house of her grandmother,\nwho lived in another village.\n\nOn her way through a wood she met old Father Wolf. He would have very\nmuch liked to eat her, but dared not do so on account of some\nwood-cutters who were in the forest. He asked her where she was going.\nThe poor child, not knowing that it was dangerous to stop and listen to\na wolf, said:\n\n'I am going to see my grandmother, and am taking her a cake and a pot of\nbutter which my mother has sent to her.'\n\n'Does she live far away?' asked the Wolf.\n\n'Oh yes,' replied Little Red Riding Hood; 'it is yonder by the mill\nwhich you can see right below there, and it is the first house in the\nvillage.'\n\n[Illustration: _Little Red Riding Hood_]\n\n'Well now,' said the Wolf, 'I think I shall go and see her too. I will\ngo by this path, and you by that path, and we will see who gets there\nfirst.'\n\n[Illustration: '_She met old Father Wolf_']\n\nThe Wolf set off running with all his might by the shorter road, and the\nlittle girl continued on her way by the longer road. As she went she\namused herself by gathering nuts, running after the butterflies, and\nmaking nosegays of the wild flowers which she found.\n\nThe Wolf was not long in reaching the grandmother's house.\n\nHe knocked. _Toc Toc._\n\n'Who is there?'\n\n'It is your little daughter, Red Riding Hood,' said the Wolf, disguising\nhis voice, 'and I bring you a cake and a little pot of butter as a\npresent from my mother.'\n\n[Illustration: '_Making nosegays of the wild flowers_']\n\nThe worthy grandmother was in bed, not being very well, and cried out to\nhim:\n\n'Pull out the peg and the latch will fall.'\n\nThe Wolf drew out the peg and the door flew open. Then he sprang upon\nthe poor old lady and ate her up in less than no time, for he had been\nmore than three days without food.\n\nAfter that he shut the door, lay down in the grandmother's bed, and\nwaited for Little Red Riding Hood.\n\nPresently she came and knocked. _Toc Toc._\n\n'Who is there?'\n\nNow Little Red Riding Hood on hearing the Wolf's gruff voice was at\nfirst frightened, but thinking that her grandmother had a bad cold, she\nreplied:\n\n'It is your little daughter, Red Riding Hood, and I bring you a cake and\na little pot of butter from my mother.'\n\n[Illustration: '_Come up on the bed with me_']\n\nSoftening his voice, the Wolf called out to her:\n\n'Pull out the peg and the latch will fall.'\n\nLittle Red Riding Hood drew out the peg and the door flew open.\n\nWhen he saw her enter, the Wolf hid himself in the bed beneath the\ncounterpane.\n\n'Put the cake and the little pot of butter on the bin,' he said, 'and\ncome up on the bed with me.'\n\nLittle Red Riding Hood took off her clothes, but when she climbed up on\nthe bed she was astonished to see how her grandmother looked in her\nnightgown.\n\n'Grandmother dear!' she exclaimed, 'what big arms you have!'\n\n'The better to embrace you, my child!'\n\n'Grandmother dear, what big legs you have!'\n\n'The better to run with, my child!'\n\n'Grandmother dear, what big ears you have!'\n\n'The better to hear with, my child!'\n\n'Grandmother dear, what big eyes you have!'\n\n'The better to see with, my child!'\n\n'Grandmother dear, what big teeth you have!'\n\n'The better to eat you with!'\n\nWith these words the wicked Wolf leapt upon Little Red Riding Hood and\ngobbled her up.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: \"'YOU MUST DIE, MADAM,' HE SAID.\"]\n\nBLUE BEARD\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a man who owned splendid town and country\nhouses, gold and silver plate, tapestries and coaches gilt all over. But\nthe poor fellow had a blue beard, and this made him so ugly and\nfrightful that there was not a woman or girl who did not run away at\nsight of him.\n\nAmongst his neighbours was a lady of high degree who had two\nsurpassingly beautiful daughters. He asked for the hand of one of these\nin marriage, leaving it to their mother to choose which should be\nbestowed upon him. Both girls, however, raised objections, and his offer\nwas bandied from one to the other, neither being able to bring herself\nto accept a man with a blue beard. Another reason for their distaste was\nthe fact that he had already married several wives, and no one knew what\nhad become of them.\n\nIn order that they might become better acquainted, Blue Beard invited\nthe two girls, with their mother and three or four of their best\nfriends, to meet a party of young men from the neighbourhood at one of\nhis country houses. Here they spent eight whole days, and throughout\ntheir stay there was a constant round of picnics, hunting and fishing\nexpeditions, dances, dinners, and luncheons; and they never slept at\nall, through spending all the night in playing merry pranks upon each\nother. In short, everything went so gaily that the younger daughter\nbegan to think the master of the house had not so very blue a beard\nafter all, and that he was an exceedingly agreeable man. As soon as the\nparty returned to town their marriage took place.\n\nAt the end of a month Blue Beard informed his wife that important\nbusiness obliged him to make a journey into a distant part of the\ncountry, which would occupy at least six weeks. He begged her to amuse\nherself well during his absence, and suggested that she should invite\nsome of her friends and take them, if she liked, to the country. He was\nparticularly anxious that she should enjoy herself thoroughly.\n\n'Here,' he said, 'are the keys of the two large storerooms, and here is\nthe one that locks up the gold and silver plate which is not in everyday\nuse. This key belongs to the strong-boxes where my gold and silver is\nkept, this to the caskets containing my jewels; while here you have the\nmaster-key which gives admittance to all the apartments. As regards this\nlittle key, it is the key of the small room at the end of the long\npassage on the lower floor. You may open everything, you may go\neverywhere, but I forbid you to enter this little room. And I forbid you\nso seriously that if you were indeed to open the door, I should be so\nangry that I might do anything.'\n\nShe promised to follow out these instructions exactly, and after\nembracing her, Blue Beard steps into his coach and is off upon his\njourney.\n\n[Illustration: _Blue Beard_]\n\nHer neighbours and friends did not wait to be invited before coming to\ncall upon the young bride, so great was their eagerness to see the\nsplendours of her house. They had not dared to venture while her\nhusband was there, for his blue beard frightened them. But in less than\nno time there they were, running in and out of the rooms, the closets,\nand the wardrobes, each of which was finer than the last. Presently they\nwent upstairs to the storerooms, and there they could not admire enough\nthe profusion and magnificence of the tapestries, beds, sofas, cabinets,\ntables, and stands. There were mirrors in which they could view\nthemselves from top to toe, some with frames of plate glass, others with\nframes of silver and gilt lacquer, that were the most superb and\nbeautiful things that had ever been seen. They were loud and persistent\nin their envy of their friend's good fortune. She, on the other hand,\nderived little amusement from the sight of all these riches, the reason\nbeing that she was impatient to go and inspect the little room on the\nlower floor.\n\nSo overcome with curiosity was she that, without reflecting upon the\ndiscourtesy of leaving her guests, she ran down a private staircase, so\nprecipitately that twice or thrice she nearly broke her neck, and so\nreached the door of the little room. There she paused for a while,\nthinking of the prohibition which her husband had made, and reflecting\nthat harm might come to her as a result of disobedience. But the\ntemptation was so great that she could not conquer it. Taking the little\nkey, with a trembling hand she opened the door of the room.\n\nAt first she saw nothing, for the windows were closed, but after a few\nmoments she perceived dimly that the floor was entirely covered with\nclotted blood, and that in this were reflected the dead bodies of\nseveral women that hung along the walls. These were all the wives of\nBlue Beard, whose throats he had cut, one after another.\n\nShe thought to die of terror, and the key of the room, which she had\njust withdrawn from the lock, fell from her hand.\n\nWhen she had somewhat regained her senses, she picked up the key, closed\nthe door, and went up to her chamber to compose herself a little. But\nthis she could not do, for her nerves were too shaken. Noticing that the\nkey of the little room was stained with blood, she wiped it two or three\ntimes. But the blood did not go. She washed it well, and even rubbed it\nwith sand and grit. Always the blood remained. For the key was\nbewitched, and there was no means of cleaning it completely. When the\nblood was removed from one side, it reappeared on the other.\n\n[Illustration: '_She washed it well_']\n\nBlue Beard returned from his journey that very evening. He had received\nsome letters on the way, he said, from which he learned that the\nbusiness upon which he had set forth had just been concluded to his\nsatisfaction. His wife did everything she could to make it appear\nthat she was delighted by his speedy return.\n\n[Illustration: _Sister Anne_]\n\nOn the morrow he demanded the keys. She gave them to him, but with so\ntrembling a hand that he guessed at once what had happened.\n\n'How comes it,' he said to her, 'that the key of the little room is not\nwith the others?'\n\n'I must have left it upstairs upon my table,' she said.\n\n'Do not fail to bring it to me presently,' said Blue Beard.\n\nAfter several delays the key had to be brought. Blue Beard examined it,\nand addressed his wife.\n\n'Why is there blood on this key?'\n\n'I do not know at all,' replied the poor woman, paler than death.\n\n'You do not know at all?' exclaimed Blue Beard; 'I know well enough. You\nwanted to enter the little room! Well, madam, enter it you shall--you\nshall go and take your place among the ladies you have seen there.'\n\nShe threw herself at her husband's feet, asking his pardon with tears,\nand with all the signs of a true repentance for her disobedience. She\nwould have softened a rock, in her beauty and distress, but Blue Beard\nhad a heart harder than any stone.\n\n'You must die, madam,' he said; 'and at once.'\n\n'Since I must die,' she replied, gazing at him with eyes that were wet\nwith tears, 'give me a little time to say my prayers.'\n\n'I give you one quarter of an hour,' replied Blue Beard, 'but not a\nmoment longer.'\n\nWhen the poor girl was alone, she called her sister to her and said:\n\n'Sister Anne'--for that was her name--'go up, I implore you, to the top\nof the tower, and see if my brothers are not approaching. They promised\nthat they would come and visit me to-day. If you see them, make signs to\nthem to hasten.'\n\nSister Anne went up to the top of the tower, and the poor unhappy girl\ncried out to her from time to time:\n\n'Anne, Sister Anne, do you see nothing coming?'\n\nAnd Sister Anne replied:\n\n'I see nought but dust in the sun and the green grass growing.'\n\nPresently Blue Beard, grasping a great cutlass, cried out at the top of\nhis voice:\n\n'Come down quickly, or I shall come upstairs myself.'\n\n'Oh please, one moment more,' called out his wife.\n\nAnd at the same moment she cried in a whisper:\n\n'Anne, Sister Anne, do you see nothing coming?'\n\n'I see nought but dust in the sun and the green grass growing.'\n\n'Come down at once, I say,' shouted Blue Beard, 'or I will come upstairs\nmyself.'\n\n'I am coming,' replied his wife.\n\nThen she called:\n\n'Anne, Sister Anne, do you see nothing coming?'\n\n'I see,' replied Sister Anne, 'a great cloud of dust which comes this\nway.'\n\n'Is it my brothers?'\n\n'Alas, sister, no; it is but a flock of sheep.'\n\n'Do you refuse to come down?' roared Blue Beard.\n\n[Illustration: '_Brandishing the cutlass aloft_']\n\n'One little moment more,' exclaimed his wife.\n\nOnce more she cried:\n\n'Anne, Sister Anne, do you see nothing coming?'\n\n'I see,' replied her sister, 'two horsemen who come this way, but they\nare as yet a long way off.... Heaven be praised,' she exclaimed a moment\nlater, 'they are my brothers.... I am signalling to them all I can to\nhasten.'\n\nBlue Beard let forth so mighty a shout that the whole house shook. The\npoor wife went down and cast herself at his feet, all dishevelled and in\ntears.\n\n'That avails you nothing,' said Blue Beard; 'you must die.'\n\nSeizing her by the hair with one hand, and with the other brandishing\nthe cutlass aloft, he made as if to cut off her head.\n\nThe poor woman, turning towards him and fixing a dying gaze upon him,\nbegged for a brief moment in which to collect her thoughts.\n\n'No! no!' he cried; 'commend your soul to Heaven.' And raising his\narm----\n\nAt this very moment there came so loud a knocking at the gate that Blue\nBeard stopped short. The gate was opened, and two horsemen dashed in,\nwho drew their swords and rode straight at Blue Beard. The latter\nrecognised them as the brothers of his wife--one of them a dragoon, and\nthe other a musketeer--and fled instantly in an effort to escape. But\nthe two brothers were so close upon him that they caught him ere he\ncould gain the first flight of steps. They plunged their swords through\nhis body and left him dead. The poor woman was nearly as dead as her\nhusband, and had not the strength to rise and embrace her brothers.\n\nIt was found that Blue Beard had no heirs, and that consequently his\nwife became mistress of all his wealth. She devoted a portion to\narranging a marriage between her sister Anne and a young gentleman with\nwhom the latter had been for some time in love, while another portion\npurchased a captain's commission for each of her brothers. The rest\nformed a dowry for her own marriage with a very worthy man, who banished\nfrom her mind all memory of the evil days she had spent with Blue\nBeard.\n\n\n\n\nBEAUTY AND THE BEAST\n\n\nOnce upon a time there lived a merchant who was exceedingly rich. He had\nsix children--three boys and three girls--and being a sensible man he\nspared no expense upon their education, but engaged tutors of every kind\nfor them. All his daughters were pretty, but the youngest especially was\nadmired by everybody. When she was small she was known simply as 'the\nlittle beauty,' and this name stuck to her, causing a great deal of\njealousy on the part of her sisters.\n\nThis youngest girl was not only prettier than her sisters, but very much\nnicer. The two elder girls were very arrogant as a result of their\nwealth; they pretended to be great ladies, declining to receive the\ndaughters of other merchants, and associating only with people of\nquality. Every day they went off to balls and theatres, and for walks in\nthe park, with many a gibe at their little sister, who spent much of her\ntime in reading good books.\n\nNow these girls were known to be very rich, and in consequence were\nsought in marriage by many prominent merchants. The two eldest said they\nwould never marry unless they could find a duke, or at least a count.\nBut Beauty--this, as I have mentioned, was the name by which the\nyoungest was known--very politely thanked all who proposed marriage to\nher, and said that she was too young at present, and that she wished to\nkeep her father company for several years yet.\n\nSuddenly the merchant lost his fortune, the sole property which remained\nto him being a small house in the country, a long way from the capital.\nWith tears he broke it to his children that they would have to move to\nthis house, where by working like peasants they might just be able to\nlive.\n\nThe two elder girls replied that they did not wish to leave the town,\nand that they had several admirers who would be only too happy to marry\nthem, notwithstanding their loss of fortune. But the simple maidens were\nmistaken: their admirers would no longer look at them, now that they\nwere poor. Everybody disliked them on account of their arrogance, and\nfolks declared that they did not deserve pity: in fact, that it was a\ngood thing their pride had had a fall--a turn at minding sheep would\nteach them how to play the fine lady! 'But we are very sorry for\nBeauty's misfortune,' everybody added; 'she is such a dear girl, and was\nalways so considerate to poor people: so gentle, and with such charming\nmanners!'\n\nThere were even several worthy men who would have married her, despite\nthe fact that she was now penniless; but she told them she could not\nmake up her mind to leave her poor father in his misfortune, and that\nshe intended to go with him to the country, to comfort him and help him\nto work. Poor Beauty had been very grieved at first over the loss of her\nfortune, but she said to herself:\n\n'However much I cry, I shall not recover my wealth, so I must try to be\nhappy without it.'\n\nWhen they were established in the country the merchant and his family\nstarted working on the land. Beauty used to rise at four o'clock in the\nmorning, and was busy all day looking after the house, and preparing\ndinner for the family. At first she found it very hard, for she was not\naccustomed to work like a servant, but at the end of a couple of months\nshe grew stronger, and her health was improved by the work. When she had\nleisure she read, or played the harpsichord, or sang at her\nspinning-wheel.\n\n[Illustration: '_At first she found it very hard_']\n\nHer two sisters, on the other hand, were bored to death; they did not\nget up till ten o'clock in the morning, and they idled about all day.\nTheir only diversion was to bemoan the beautiful clothes they used to\nwear and the company they used to keep. 'Look at our little sister,'\nthey would say to each other; 'her tastes are so low and her mind so\nstupid that she is quite content with this miserable state of affairs.'\n\nThe good merchant did not share the opinion of his two daughters, for he\nknew that Beauty was more fitted to shine in company than her sisters.\nHe was greatly impressed by the girl's good qualities, and especially by\nher patience--for her sisters, not content with leaving her all the work\nof the house, never missed an opportunity of insulting her.\n\nThey had been living for a year in this seclusion when the merchant\nreceived a letter informing him that a ship on which he had some\nmerchandise had just come safely home. The news nearly turned the heads\nof the two elder girls, for they thought that at last they would be able\nto quit their dull life in the country. When they saw their father ready\nto set out they begged him to bring them back dresses, furs, caps, and\nfinery of every kind. Beauty asked for nothing, thinking to herself that\nall the money which the merchandise might yield would not be enough to\nsatisfy her sisters' demands.\n\n'You have not asked me for anything,' said her father.\n\n'As you are so kind as to think of me,' she replied, 'please bring me a\nrose, for there are none here.'\n\nBeauty had no real craving for a rose, but she was anxious not to seem\nto disparage the conduct of her sisters. The latter would have declared\nthat she purposely asked for nothing in order to be different from them.\n\n[Illustration: '\"_Look at our little sister_\"']\n\nThe merchant duly set forth; but when he reached his destination\nthere was a law-suit over his merchandise, and after much trouble he\nreturned poorer than he had been before. With only thirty miles to go\nbefore reaching home, he was already looking forward to the pleasure of\nseeing his children again, when he found he had to pass through a large\nwood. Here he lost himself. It was snowing horribly; the wind was so\nstrong that twice he was thrown from his horse, and when night came on\nhe made up his mind he must either die of hunger and cold or be eaten by\nthe wolves that he could hear howling all about him.\n\n[Illustration: '_It was snowing horribly_']\n\nSuddenly he saw, at the end of a long avenue of trees, a strong light.\nIt seemed to be some distance away, but he walked towards it, and\npresently discovered that it came from a large palace, which was all lit\nup.\n\nThe merchant thanked heaven for sending him this help, and hastened to\nthe castle. To his surprise, however, he found no one about in the\ncourtyards. His horse, which had followed him, saw a large stable open\nand went in; and on finding hay and oats in readiness the poor animal,\nwhich was dying of hunger, set to with a will. The merchant tied him up\nin the stable, and approached the house, where he found not a soul. He\nentered a large room; here there was a good fire, and a table laden with\nfood, but with a place laid for one only. The rain and snow had soaked\nhim to the skin, so he drew near the fire to dry himself. 'I am sure,'\nhe remarked to himself, 'that the master of this house or his servants\nwill forgive the liberty I am taking; doubtless they will be here soon.'\n\nHe waited some considerable time; but eleven o'clock struck and still he\nhad seen nobody. Being no longer able to resist his hunger he took a\nchicken and devoured it in two mouthfuls, trembling. Then he drank\nseveral glasses of wine, and becoming bolder ventured out of the room.\nHe went through several magnificently furnished apartments, and finally\nfound a room with a very good bed. It was now past midnight, and as he\nwas very tired he decided to shut the door and go to bed.\n\nIt was ten o'clock the next morning when he rose, and he was greatly\nastonished to find a new suit in place of his own, which had been\nspoilt. 'This palace,' he said to himself, 'must surely belong to some\ngood fairy, who has taken pity on my plight.'\n\nHe looked out of the window. The snow had vanished, and his eyes rested\ninstead upon arbours of flowers--a charming spectacle. He went back to\nthe room where he had supped the night before, and found there a little\ntable with a cup of chocolate on it. 'I thank you, Madam Fairy,' he said\naloud, 'for being so kind as to think of my breakfast.'\n\nHaving drunk his chocolate the good man went forth to look for his\nhorse. As he passed under a bower of roses he remembered that Beauty had\nasked for one, and he plucked a spray from a mass of blooms. The very\nsame moment he heard a terrible noise, and saw a beast coming towards\nhim which was so hideous that he came near to fainting.\n\n'Ungrateful wretch!' said the Beast, in a dreadful voice; 'I have saved\nyour life by receiving you into my castle, and in return for my trouble\nyou steal that which I love better than anything in the world--my roses.\nYou shall pay for this with your life! I give you fifteen minutes to\nmake your peace with Heaven.'\n\nThe merchant threw himself on his knees and wrung his hands. 'Pardon, my\nlord!' he cried; 'one of my daughters had asked for a rose, and I did\nnot dream I should be giving offence by picking one.'\n\n'I am not called \"my lord,\"' answered the monster, 'but \"The Beast.\" I\nhave no liking for compliments, but prefer people to say what they\nthink. Do not hope therefore to soften me by flattery. You have\ndaughters, you say; well, I am willing to pardon you if one of your\ndaughters will come, of her own choice, to die in your place. Do not\nargue with me--go! And swear that if your daughters refuse to die in\nyour place you will come back again in three months.'\n\n[Illustration: _The Beast_]\n\nThe good man had no intention of sacrificing one of his daughters to\nthis hideous monster, but he thought that at least he might have the\npleasure of kissing them once again. He therefore swore to return, and\nthe Beast told him he could go when he wished. 'I do not wish you to go\nempty-handed,' he added; 'return to the room where you slept; you will\nfind there a large empty box. Fill it with what you will; I will have it\nsent home for you.'\n\nWith these words the Beast withdrew, leaving the merchant to reflect\nthat if he must indeed die, at all events he would have the consolation\nof providing for his poor children.\n\nHe went back to the room where he had slept. He found there a large\nnumber of gold pieces, and with these he filled the box the Beast had\nmentioned. Having closed the latter, he took his horse, which was still\nin the stable, and set forth from the palace, as melancholy now as he\nhad been joyous when he entered it.\n\nThe horse of its own accord took one of the forest roads, and in a few\nhours the good man reached his own little house. His children crowded\nround him, but at sight of them, instead of welcoming their caresses, he\nburst into tears. In his hand was the bunch of roses which he had\nbrought for Beauty, and he gave it to her with these words:\n\n'Take these roses, Beauty; it is dearly that your poor father will have\nto pay for them.'\n\nThereupon he told his family of the dire adventure which had befallen\nhim. On hearing the tale the two elder girls were in a great commotion,\nand began to upbraid Beauty for not weeping as they did. 'See to what\nher smugness has brought this young chit,' they said; 'surely she might\nstrive to find some way out of this trouble, as we do! But oh, dear me,\nno; her ladyship is so determined to be different that she can speak of\nher father's death without a tear!'\n\n'It would be quite useless to weep,' said Beauty. 'Why should I lament\nmy father's death? He is not going to die. Since the monster agrees to\naccept a daughter instead, I intend to offer myself to appease his fury.\nIt will be a happiness to do so, for in dying I shall have the joy of\nsaving my father, and of proving to him my devotion.'\n\n'No, sister,' said her three brothers; 'you shall not die; we will go in\nquest of this monster, and will perish under his blows if we cannot kill\nhim.'\n\n'Do not entertain any such hopes, my children,' said the merchant; 'the\npower of this Beast is so great that I have not the slightest\nexpectation of escaping him. I am touched by the goodness of Beauty's\nheart, but I will not expose her to death. I am old and have not much\nlonger to live; and I shall merely lose a few years that will be\nregretted only on account of you, my dear children.'\n\n'I can assure you, father,' said Beauty, 'that you will not go to this\npalace without me. You cannot prevent me from following you. Although I\nam young I am not so very deeply in love with life, and I would rather\nbe devoured by this monster than die of the grief which your loss would\ncause me.' Words were useless. Beauty was quite determined to go to this\nwonderful palace, and her sisters were not sorry, for they regarded her\ngood qualities with deep jealousy.\n\nThe merchant was so taken up with the sorrow of losing his daughter that\nhe forgot all about the box which he had filled with gold. To his\nastonishment, when he had shut the door of his room and was about to\nretire for the night, there it was at the side of his bed! He decided\nnot to tell his children that he had become so rich, for his elder\ndaughters would have wanted to go back to town, and he had resolved to\ndie in the country. He did confide his secret to Beauty, however, and\nthe latter told him that during his absence they had entertained some\nvisitors, amongst whom were two admirers of her sisters. She begged her\nfather to let them marry; for she was of such a sweet nature that she\nloved them, and forgave them with all her heart the evil they had done\nher.\n\nWhen Beauty set off with her father the two heartless girls rubbed their\neyes with an onion, so as to seem tearful; but her brothers wept in\nreality, as did also the merchant. Beauty alone did not cry, because she\ndid not want to add to their sorrow.\n\nThe horse took the road to the palace, and by evening they espied it,\nall lit up as before. An empty stable awaited the nag, and when the good\nmerchant and his daughter entered the great hall, they found there a\ntable magnificently laid for two people. The merchant had not the heart\nto eat, but Beauty, forcing herself to appear calm, sat down and served\nhim. Since the Beast had provided such splendid fare, she thought to\nherself, he must presumably be anxious to fatten her up before eating\nher.\n\nWhen they had finished supper they heard a terrible noise. With tears\nthe merchant bade farewell to his daughter, for he knew it was the\nBeast. Beauty herself could not help trembling at the awful apparition,\nbut she did her best to compose herself. The Beast asked her if she had\ncome of her own free will, and she timidly answered that such was the\ncase.\n\n'You are indeed kind,' said the Beast, 'and I am much obliged to you.\nYou, my good man, will depart to-morrow morning, and you must not think\nof coming back again. Good-bye, Beauty!'\n\n'Good-bye, Beast!' she answered.\n\nThereupon the monster suddenly disappeared.\n\n'Daughter,' said the merchant, embracing Beauty, 'I am nearly dead with\nfright. Let me be the one to stay here!'\n\n'No, father,' said Beauty, firmly, 'you must go to-morrow morning, and\nleave me to the mercy of Heaven. Perhaps pity will be taken on me.'\n\nThey retired to rest, thinking they would not sleep at all during the\nnight, but they were hardly in bed before their eyes were closed in\nsleep. In her dreams there appeared to Beauty a lady, who said to her:\n\n'Your virtuous character pleases me, Beauty. In thus undertaking to give\nyour life to save your father you have performed an act of goodness\nwhich shall not go unrewarded.'\n\nWhen she woke up Beauty related this dream to her father. He was\nsomewhat consoled by it, but could not refrain from loudly giving vent\nto his grief when the time came to tear himself away from his beloved\nchild.\n\nAs soon as he had gone Beauty sat down in the great hall and began to\ncry. But she had plenty of courage, and after imploring divine\nprotection she determined to grieve no more during the short time she\nhad yet to live.\n\nShe was convinced that the Beast would devour her that night, but made\nup her mind that in the interval she would walk about and have a look at\nthis beautiful castle, the splendour of which she could not but admire.\n\nImagine her surprise when she came upon a door on which were the words\n'Beauty's Room'! She quickly opened this door, and was dazzled by the\nmagnificence of the appointments within. 'They are evidently anxious\nthat I should not be dull,' she murmured, as she caught sight of a\nlarge bookcase, a harpsichord, and several volumes of music. A moment\nlater another thought crossed her mind. 'If I had only a day to spend\nhere,' she reflected, 'such provision would surely not have been made\nfor me.'\n\nThis notion gave her fresh courage. She opened the bookcase, and found a\nbook in which was written, in letters of gold:\n\n'Ask for anything you wish: you are mistress of all here.'\n\n'Alas!' she said with a sigh, 'my only wish is to see my poor father,\nand to know what he is doing.'\n\nAs she said this to herself she glanced at a large mirror. Imagine her\nastonishment when she perceived her home reflected in it, and saw her\nfather just approaching. Sorrow was written on his face; but when her\nsisters came to meet him it was impossible not to detect, despite the\ngrimaces with which they tried to simulate grief, the satisfaction they\nfelt at the loss of their sister. In a moment the vision faded away, yet\nBeauty could not but think that the Beast was very kind, and that she\nhad nothing much to fear from him.\n\nAt midday she found the table laid, and during her meal she enjoyed an\nexcellent concert, though the performers were invisible. But in the\nevening, as she was about to sit down at the table, she heard the noise\nmade by the Beast, and quaked in spite of herself.\n\n'Beauty,' said the monster to her, 'may I watch you have your supper?'\n\n'You are master here,' said the trembling Beauty.\n\n'Not so,' replied the Beast; 'it is you who are mistress; you have only\nto tell me to go, if my presence annoys you, and I will go immediately.\nTell me, now, do you not consider me very ugly?'\n\n'I do,' said Beauty, 'since I must speak the truth; but I think you are\nalso very kind.'\n\n'It is as you say,' said the monster; 'and in addition to being ugly, I\nlack intelligence. As I am well aware, I am a mere beast.'\n\n'It is not the way with stupid people,' answered Beauty, 'to admit a\nlack of intelligence. Fools never realise it.'\n\n'Sup well, Beauty,' said the monster, 'and try to banish dulness from\nyour home--for all about you is yours, and I should be sorry to think\nyou were not happy.'\n\n'You are indeed kind,' said Beauty. 'With one thing, I must own, I am\nwell pleased, and that is your kind heart. When I think of that you no\nlonger seem to be ugly.'\n\n'Oh yes,' answered the Beast, 'I have a good heart, right enough, but I\nam a monster.'\n\n'There are many men,' said Beauty, 'who make worse monsters than you,\nand I prefer you, notwithstanding your looks, to those who under the\nsemblance of men hide false, corrupt, and ungrateful hearts.'\n\nThe Beast replied that if only he had a grain of wit he would compliment\nher in the grand style by way of thanks; but that being so stupid he\ncould only say he was much obliged.\n\nBeauty ate with a good appetite, for she now had scarcely any fear of\nthe Beast. But she nearly died of fright when he put this question to\nher:\n\n'Beauty, will you be my wife?'\n\nFor some time she did not answer, fearing lest she might anger the\nmonster by her refusal. She summoned up courage at last to say, rather\nfearfully, 'No, Beast!'\n\nThe poor monster gave forth so terrible a sigh that the noise of it went\nwhistling through the whole palace. But to Beauty's speedy relief the\nBeast sadly took his leave and left the room, turning several times as\nhe did so to look once more at her. Left alone, Beauty was moved by\ngreat compassion for this poor Beast. 'What a pity he is so ugly,' she\nsaid, 'for he is so good.'\n\nBeauty passed three months in the palace quietly enough. Every evening\nthe Beast paid her a visit, and entertained her at supper by a display\nof much good sense, if not with what the world calls wit. And every day\nBeauty was made aware of fresh kindnesses on the part of the monster.\nThrough seeing him often she had become accustomed to his ugliness, and\nfar from dreading the moment of his visit, she frequently looked at her\nwatch to see if it was nine o'clock, the hour when the Beast always\nappeared.\n\nOne thing alone troubled Beauty; every evening, before retiring to bed,\nthe monster asked her if she would be his wife, and seemed overwhelmed\nwith grief when she refused. One day she said to him:\n\n'You distress me, Beast. I wish I could marry you, but I cannot deceive\nyou by allowing you to believe that that can ever be. I will always be\nyour friend--be content with that.'\n\n'Needs must,' said the Beast. 'But let me make the position plain. I\nknow I am very terrible, but I love you very much, and I shall be very\nhappy if you will only remain here. Promise that you will never leave\nme.'\n\nBeauty blushed at these words. She had seen in her mirror that her\nfather was stricken down by the sorrow of having lost her, and she\nwished very much to see him again. 'I would willingly promise to remain\nwith you always,' she said to the Beast, 'but I have so great a desire\nto see my father again that I shall die of grief if you refuse me this\nboon.'\n\n'I would rather die myself than cause you grief,' said the monster. 'I\nwill send you back to your father. You shall stay with him, and your\nBeast shall die of sorrow at your departure.'\n\n'No, no,' said Beauty, crying; 'I like you too much to wish to cause\nyour death. I promise you I will return in eight days. You have shown me\nthat my sisters are married, and that my brothers have joined the army.\nMy father is all alone; let me stay with him one week.'\n\n'You shall be with him to-morrow morning,' said the Beast. 'But remember\nyour promise. All you have to do when you want to return is to put your\nring on a table when you are going to bed. Good-bye, Beauty!'\n\nAs usual, the Beast sighed when he said these last words, and Beauty\nwent to bed quite down-hearted at having grieved him.\n\n[Illustration: \"EVERY EVENING THE BEAST PAID HER A VISIT.\"]\n\nWhen she woke the next morning she found she was in her father's house.\nShe rang a little bell which stood by the side of her bed, and it was\nanswered by their servant, who gave a great cry at sight of her. The\ngood man came running at the noise, and was overwhelmed with joy at the\nsight of his dear daughter. Their embraces lasted for more than a\nquarter of an hour. When their transports had subsided, it occurred to\nBeauty that she had no clothes to put on; but the servant told her that\nshe had just discovered in the next room a chest full of dresses trimmed\nwith gold and studded with diamonds. Beauty felt grateful to the\nBeast for this attention, and having selected the simplest of the gowns\nshe bade the servant pack up the others, as she wished to send them as\npresents to her sisters. The words were hardly out of her mouth when the\nchest disappeared. Her father expressed the opinion that the Beast\nwished her to keep them all for herself, and in a trice dresses and\nchest were back again where they were before.\n\nWhen Beauty had dressed she learned that her sisters, with their\nhusbands, had arrived. Both were very unhappy. The eldest had wedded an\nexceedingly handsome man, but the latter was so taken up with his own\nlooks that he studied them from morning to night, and despised his\nwife's beauty. The second had married a man with plenty of brains, but\nhe only used them to pay insults to everybody--his wife first and\nforemost.\n\nThe sisters were greatly mortified when they saw Beauty dressed like a\nprincess, and more beautiful than the dawn. Her caresses were ignored,\nand the jealousy which they could not stifle only grew worse when she\ntold them how happy she was. Out into the garden went the envious pair,\nthere to vent their spleen to the full.\n\n'Why should this chit be happier than we are?' each demanded of the\nother; 'are we not much nicer than she is?'\n\n'Sister,' said the elder, 'I have an idea. Let us try to persuade her to\nstay here longer than the eight days. Her stupid Beast will fly into a\nrage when he finds she has broken her word, and will very likely devour\nher.'\n\n'You are right, sister,' said the other; 'but we must make a great fuss\nof her if we are to make the plan successful.'\n\nWith this plot decided upon they went upstairs again, and paid such\nattention to their little sister that Beauty wept for joy. When the\neight days had passed the two sisters tore their hair, and showed such\ngrief over her departure that she promised to remain another eight days.\n\nBeauty reproached herself, nevertheless, with the grief she was causing\nto the poor Beast; moreover, she greatly missed not seeing him. On the\ntenth night of her stay in her father's house she dreamed that she was\nin the palace garden, where she saw the Beast lying on the grass nearly\ndead, and that he upbraided her for her ingratitude. Beauty woke up with\na start, and burst into tears.\n\n'I am indeed very wicked,' she said, 'to cause so much grief to a Beast\nwho has shown me nothing but kindness. Is it his fault that he is so\nugly, and has so few wits? He is good, and that makes up for all the\nrest. Why did I not wish to marry him? I should have been a good deal\nhappier with him than my sisters are with their husbands. It is neither\ngood looks nor brains in a husband that make a woman happy; it is beauty\nof character, virtue, kindness. All these qualities the Beast has. I\nadmit I have no love for him, but he has my esteem, friendship, and\ngratitude. At all events I must not make him miserable, or I shall\nreproach myself all my life.'\n\nWith these words Beauty rose and placed her ring on the table.\n\nHardly had she returned to her bed than she was asleep, and when she\nwoke the next morning she saw with joy that she was in the Beast's\npalace. She dressed in her very best on purpose to please him, and\nnearly died of impatience all day, waiting for nine o'clock in the\nevening. But the clock struck in vain: no Beast appeared. Beauty now\nthought she must have caused his death, and rushed about the palace with\nloud despairing cries. She looked everywhere, and at last, recalling her\ndream, dashed into the garden by the canal, where she had seen him in\nher sleep. There she found the poor Beast lying unconscious, and thought\nhe must be dead. She threw herself on his body, all her horror of his\nlooks forgotten, and, feeling his heart still beat, fetched water from\nthe canal and threw it on his face.\n\nThe Beast opened his eyes and said to Beauty:\n\n'You forgot your promise. The grief I felt at having lost you made me\nresolve to die of hunger; but I die content since I have the pleasure of\nseeing you once more.'\n\n'Dear Beast, you shall not die,' said Beauty; 'you shall live and become\nmy husband. Here and now I offer you my hand, and swear that I will\nmarry none but you. Alas, I fancied I felt only friendship for you, but\nthe sorrow I have experienced clearly proves to me that I cannot live\nwithout you.'\n\nBeauty had scarce uttered these words when the castle became ablaze with\nlights before her eyes: fireworks, music--all proclaimed a feast. But\nthese splendours were lost on her: she turned to her dear Beast, still\ntrembling for his danger.\n\nJudge of her surprise now! At her feet she saw no longer the Beast, who\nhad disappeared, but a prince, more beautiful than Love himself, who\nthanked her for having put an end to his enchantment. With good reason\nwere her eyes riveted upon the prince, but she asked him nevertheless\nwhere the Beast had gone.\n\n'You see him at your feet,' answered the prince. 'A wicked fairy\ncondemned me to retain that form until some beautiful girl should\nconsent to marry me, and she forbade me to betray any sign of\nintelligence. You alone in all the world could show yourself susceptible\nto the kindness of my character, and in offering you my crown I do but\ndischarge the obligation that I owe you.'\n\nIn agreeable surprise Beauty offered her hand to the handsome prince,\nand assisted him to rise. Together they repaired to the castle, and\nBeauty was overcome with joy to find, assembled in the hall, her father\nand her entire family. The lady who had appeared to her in her dream had\nhad them transported to the castle.\n\n[Illustration: '\"_Your doom is to become statues_\"']\n\n'Beauty,' said this lady (who was a celebrated fairy), 'come and receive\nthe reward of your noble choice. You preferred merit to either beauty or\nwit, and you certainly deserve to find these qualities combined in one\nperson. It is your destiny to become a great queen, but I hope that the\npomp of royalty will not destroy your virtues. As for you, ladies,' she\ncontinued, turning to Beauty's two sisters, 'I know your hearts and the\nmalice they harbour. Your doom is to become statues, and under the stone\nthat wraps you round to retain all your feelings. You will stand at the\ndoor of your sister's palace, and I can visit no greater punishment upon\nyou than that you shall be witnesses of her happiness. Only when you\nrecognise your faults can you return to your present shape, and I am\nvery much afraid that you will be statues for ever. Pride, ill-temper,\ngreed, and laziness can all be corrected, but nothing short of a\nmiracle will turn a wicked and envious heart.'\n\nIn a trice, with a tap of her hand, the fairy transported them all to\nthe prince's realm, where his subjects were delighted to see him again.\nHe married Beauty, and they lived together for a long time in happiness\nthe more perfect because it was founded on virtue.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FRIENDLY FROG\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a king who had been at war for a long time\nwith his neighbours. After many battles had been fought his capital was\nbesieged by the enemy. Fearing for the safety of the queen, the king\nimplored her to take refuge in a stronghold to which he himself had\nnever been but once. The queen besought him with tears to let her remain\nat his side, and share his fate, and lamented loudly when the king\nplaced her in the carriage which was to take her away under escort.\n\nThe king promised to slip away whenever possible and pay her a visit,\nseeking thus to comfort her, although he knew that there was small\nchance of the hope being fulfilled. For the castle was a long way off,\nin the midst of a dense forest, and only those with a thorough knowledge\nof the roads could possibly reach it.\n\nThe queen was broken-hearted at having to leave her husband exposed to\nthe perils of war, and though she made her journey by easy stages, lest\nthe fatigue of so much travelling should make her ill, she was downcast\nand miserable when at length she reached the castle. She made excursions\ninto the country round about, when sufficiently recovered, but found\nnothing to amuse or distract her. On all sides wide barren spaces met\nher eye, melancholy rather than pleasant to look upon.\n\n'How different from my old home!' she exclaimed, as she gloomily\nsurveyed the scene; 'if I stay here long I shall die. To whom can I talk\nin this solitude? To whom can I unburden my grief? What have I done that\nthe king should exile me? He must wish me, I suppose, to feel the\nbitterness of separation to the utmost, since he banishes me to this\nhateful castle.'\n\nShe grieved long and deeply, and though the king wrote every day to her\nwith good news of the way the siege was going, she became more and more\nunhappy. At last she determined that she would go back to him, but\nknowing that her attendants had been forbidden to let her return, except\nunder special orders from the king, she kept her intention to herself.\nOn the pretext of wishing sometimes to join the hunt, she ordered a\nsmall chariot, capable of accommodating one person only, to be built for\nher. This she drove herself, and used to keep up with the hounds so\nclosely that she would leave the rest of the hunt behind. The chariot\nbeing in her sole control, this gave her the opportunity to escape\nwhenever she liked, and the only obstacle was her lack of familiarity\nwith the roads through the forest. She trusted, however, to the favour\nof Providence to bring her safely through it.\n\nShe now gave orders for a great hunt to be held, and intimated her wish\nthat every one should attend. She herself was to be present in her\nchariot, and she proposed that every follower of the chase should choose\na different line, and so close every avenue of escape to the quarry. The\narrangements were carried out according to the queen's plan. Confident\nthat she would soon see her husband again, she donned her most becoming\nattire. Her hat was trimmed with feathers of different colours, the\nfront of her dress with a number of precious stones. Thus adorned, she\nlooked in her beauty (which was of no ordinary stamp) like a second\nDiana.\n\nWhen the excitement of the chase was at its height she gave rein to her\nhorses, urging them on with voice and whip, until their pace quickened\nto a gallop. But then, getting their bits between their teeth, the team\nsped onwards so fast that presently the chariot seemed to be borne upon\nthe wind, and to be travelling faster than the eye could follow. Too\nlate the poor queen repented of her rashness. 'What possessed me,' she\ncried, 'to think that I could manage such wild and fiery steeds? Alack!\nWhat will become of me! What would the king do if he knew of my great\nperil? He only sent me away because he loves me dearly, and wished me to\nbe in greater safety--and this is the way I repay his tender care!'\n\nHer piteous cries rang out upon the air, but though she called on Heaven\nand invoked the fairies to her aid, it seemed that all the unseen powers\nhad forsaken her.\n\nOver went the chariot. She lacked the strength to jump clear quickly\nenough, and her foot was caught between the wheel and the axle-tree. It\nwas only by a miracle that she was not killed, and she lay stretched on\nthe ground at the foot of a tree, with her heart scarcely beating and\nher face covered with blood, unable to speak.\n\nFor a long time she lay thus. At last she opened her eyes and saw,\nstanding beside her, a woman of gigantic stature. The latter wore nought\nbut a lion's skin; her arms and legs were bare, and her hair was tied up\nwith a dried snake's skin, the head of which dangled over her shoulder.\nIn her hand she carried, for walking-stick, a stone club, and a quiver\nfull of arrows hung at her side.\n\nThis extraordinary apparition convinced the queen that she was dead, and\nindeed it seemed impossible that she could have survived so terrible a\ndisaster. 'No wonder death needs resolution,' she murmured, 'since\nsights so terrible await one in the other world.'\n\nThe giantess overheard these words, and laughed to find the queen\nthought herself dead.\n\n'Courage,' she said; 'you are still in the land of the living, though\nyour lot is not improved. I am the Lion-Witch. My dwelling is near by;\nyou must come and live with me.'\n\n'If you will have the kindness, good Lion-Witch, to take me back to my\ncastle, the king, who loves me dearly, will not refuse you any ransom\nyou demand, though it were the half of his kingdom.'\n\n'I will not do that,' replied the giantess, 'for I have wealth enough\nalready. Moreover, I am tired of living alone, and as you have your wits\nabout you it is possible you may be able to amuse me.'\n\nWith these words she assumed the shape of a lioness, and taking the\nqueen on her back, bore her off into the depths of a cavern. There she\nanointed the queen's wounds with an essence which quickly healed them.\n\nBut imagine the wonder and despair of the queen to find herself in this\ndismal lair! The approach to it was by ten thousand steps, which led\ndownward to the centre of the earth, and the only light was that which\ncame from a number of lofty lamps, reflected in a lake of quicksilver.\nThis lake teemed with monsters, each of which was hideous enough to\nhave terrified one far less timid than the queen. Ravens, screech-owls,\nand many another bird of evil omen filled the air with harsh cries. Far\noff could be espied a mountain, from the slopes of which there flowed\nthe tears of all hapless lovers. Its sluggish stream was fed by every\nill-starred love. The trees had neither leaves nor fruit, and the ground\nwas cumbered with briars, nettles, and rank weeds. The food, too, was\nsuch as might be expected in such a horrid clime. A few dried roots,\nhorse-chestnuts, and thorn-apples--this was all the fare with which the\nLion-Witch appeased the hunger of those who fell into her clutches.\n\nWhen the queen was well enough to be set to work, the Witch told her she\nmight build herself a hut, since she was fated to remain in her company\nfor the rest of her life. On hearing this the queen burst into tears.\n'Alas!' she cried, 'what have I done that you should keep me here? If my\ndeath, which I feel to be nigh, will cause you any pleasure, then I\nimplore you to kill me: I dare not hope for any other kindness from you.\nBut do not condemn me to the sadness of a life-long separation from my\nhusband.'\n\nBut the Lion-Witch merely laughed at her, bidding her dry her tears, if\nshe would be wise, and do her part to please her. Otherwise, she\ndeclared, her lot would be the most miserable in the world.\n\n'And what must I do to soften your heart?' replied the queen.\n\n'I have a liking for fly-pasties,' said the Lion-Witch; 'and you must\ncontrive to catch flies enough to make me a large and tasty one.'\n\n[Illustration: '_The approach to it was by ten thousand steps_']\n\n'But there are no flies here,' rejoined the queen; 'and even if there\nwere there is not enough light to catch them by. Moreover, supposing I\ncaught some, I have never in my life made pastry. You are therefore\ngiving me orders which I cannot possibly carry out.'\n\n'No matter,' said the pitiless Lion-Witch; 'what I want I will have!'\n\nThe queen made no reply, but reflected that, no matter how cruel the\nWitch might be, she had only one life to lose, and in her present plight\nwhat terror could death hold for her? She did not attempt to look for\nflies, therefore, but sat down beneath a yew tree, and gave way to tears\nand lamentations. 'Alas, dear husband,' she cried, 'how grieved you will\nbe when you go to fetch me from the castle, and find me gone! You will\nsuppose me to be dead or faithless; how I hope that you will mourn the\nloss of my life, not the loss of my love! Perhaps the remains of my\nchariot will be found in the wood, with all the ornaments I had put on\nto please you: at sight of these you will not doubt any more that I am\ndead. But then, how do I know that you will not bestow on some one else\nthe heartfelt love which once belonged to me? At all events I shall be\nspared the sorrow of that knowledge, since I am never to return to the\nworld.'\n\nThese thoughts would have filled her mind for a long time, but she was\ninterrupted by the dismal croaking of a raven overhead. Lifting her\neyes, she saw in the dim light a large raven on the point of swallowing\na frog which it held in its beak. 'Though I have no hope of help for\nmyself,' she said, 'I will not let this unfortunate frog die, if I can\nsave it; though our lots are so different, its sufferings are quite as\ngreat as mine.' She picked up the first stick which came to hand, and\nmade the raven let go its prey. The frog fell to the ground and lay for\na time half stunned; but as soon as it could think, in its froggish way,\nit began to speak. 'Beautiful queen,' it said, 'you are the first\nfriendly soul that I have seen since my curiosity brought me here.'\n\n[Illustration: _The Friendly Frog_]\n\n'By what magic are you endowed with speech, little Frog?' replied the\nqueen; 'and what people are they whom you see here? I have seen none at\nall as yet.'\n\n'All the monsters with which the lake is teeming,' replied the little\nFrog, 'were once upon a time in the world. Some sat on thrones, some\nheld high positions at Court; there are even some royal ladies here who\nwere the cause of strife and bloodshed. It is these latter whom you see\nin the shape of leeches, and they are condemned to remain here for a\ncertain time. But of those who come here none ever returns to the world\nbetter or wiser.'\n\n'I can quite understand,' said the queen, 'that wicked people are not\nimproved by merely being thrown together. But how is it that you are\nhere, my friendly little Frog?'\n\n'I came here out of curiosity,' she replied. 'I am part fairy, and\nthough, in certain directions, my powers are limited, in others they are\nfar-reaching. The Lion-Witch would kill me if she knew that I was in her\ndomain.'\n\n'Whatever your fairy powers,' said the queen, 'I cannot understand how\nyou could have fallen into the raven's clutches and come so near to\nbeing devoured.'\n\n'That is easily explained,' said the Frog. 'I have nought to fear when\nmy little cap of roses is on my head, for that is the source of my\npower. Unluckily I had left it in the marsh when that ugly raven pounced\nupon me, and but for you, Madam, I should not now be here. Since you\nhave saved my life, you have only to command me and I will do everything\nin my power to lessen the misfortunes of your lot.'\n\n'Alas, dear Frog,' said the queen, 'the wicked fairy who holds me\ncaptive desires that I should make her a fly-pasty. But there are no\nflies here, and if there were I could not see to catch them in the dim\nlight. I am like, therefore, to get a beating which will kill me.'\n\n'Leave that to me,' said the Frog, 'I will quickly get you some.'\n\nThereupon the Frog smeared sugar all over herself, and the same was done\nby more than six thousand of her froggy friends. They then made for a\nplace where the fairy had a large store of flies, which she used to\ntorment some of her luckless victims. No sooner did the flies smell the\nsugar than they flew to it, and found themselves sticking to the frogs.\nAway, then, went the latter at a gallop, to bring their friendly aid to\nthe queen. Never was there such a catching of flies before, nor a better\npasty than the one the queen made for the fairy. The surprise of the\nWitch was great when the queen handed it to her, for she was baffled to\nthink how the flies could have been so cleverly caught.\n\nThe queen suffered so much from want of protection against the poisonous\nair that she cut down some cypress branches and began to build herself a\nhut. The Frog kindly offered her services. She summoned round her all\nthose who had helped in the fly hunt, and they assisted the queen to\nbuild as pretty a little place to live in as you could find anywhere in\nthe world.\n\nBut no sooner had she lain down to rest than the monsters of the lake,\nenvious of her repose, gathered round the hut. They set up the most\nhideous noise that had ever been heard, and drove her so nearly mad that\nshe got up and fled in fear and trembling from the house. This was just\nwhat the monsters were after, and a dragon, who had once upon a time\nruled tyrannously over one of the greatest countries of the world,\nimmediately took possession of it.\n\nThe poor queen tried to protest against this ill-treatment. But no one\nwould listen to her: the monsters laughed and jeered at her, and the\nLion-Witch said that if she came and dinned lamentations into her ears\nagain she would give her a sound thrashing.\n\nThe queen was therefore obliged to hold her tongue. She sought out the\nFrog, who was the most sympathetic creature in the world, and they wept\ntogether; for the moment she put on her cap of roses the Frog became\nable to laugh or weep like anybody else.\n\n'I am so fond of you,' said the Frog to the queen, 'that I will build\nyour house again, though every monster in the lake should be filled with\nenvy.'\n\nForthwith she cut some wood, and a little country mansion for the queen\nsprang up so quickly that she was able to sleep in it that very night.\nNothing that could make for the queen's comfort was forgotten by the\nFrog, and there was even a bed of wild thyme.\n\nWhen the wicked fairy learnt that the queen was not sleeping on the\nground, she sent for her and asked:\n\n'What power is it, human or divine, that protects you? This land drinks\nonly a rain of burning sulphur, and has never produced so much as a\nsage-leaf: yet they tell me fragrant herbs spring up beneath your feet.'\n\n'I cannot explain it, madam,' said the queen, 'unless it is due to the\nchild I am expecting. Perhaps for her a less unhappy fate than mine is\nin store.'\n\n'I have a craving just now,' said the Witch, 'for a posy of rare\nflowers. See if this happiness which you expect will enable you to get\nthem. If you do not succeed, such a thrashing as I know well how to give\nis surely in store for you.'\n\nThe queen began to weep, for threats like these distressed her, and she\ndespaired as she thought of the impossibility of finding flowers. But\nwhen she returned to her little house, the friendly Frog met her.\n\n'How unhappy you look!' she said.\n\n'Alas, dear friend,' said the queen, 'who would not be so? The Witch has\ndemanded a posy of the most beautiful flowers. Where am I to find them?\nYou see what sort of flowers grow here! Yet my life is forfeit if I do\nnot procure them.'\n\n'Dear queen,' said the Frog tenderly, 'we must do our best to extricate\nyou from this dilemma. Hereabouts there lives a bat of my\nacquaintance--a kindly soul. She moves about more quickly than I do, so\nI will give her my cap of roses, and with the aid of this she will be\nable to find you flowers.'\n\nThe queen curtseyed low, it being quite impossible to embrace the Frog,\nand the latter went off at once to speak to the bat. In a few hours the\nbat came back with some exquisite flowers tucked under her wings. Off\nwent the queen with them to the Witch, who was more astonished than\never, being quite unable to understand in what marvellous way the queen\nhad been assisted.\n\nThe queen never ceased to plot some means of escape, and told the Frog\nof her longings. 'Madam,' said the latter, 'allow me first to take\ncounsel with my little cap, and we will make plans according to what it\nadvises.' Having placed her cap upon some straw, she burnt in front of\nit a few juniper twigs, some capers, and a couple of green peas. She\nthen croaked five times. This completed the rites, and having donned her\ncap again, she began to speak like an oracle.\n\n'Fate, the all-powerful, decrees that you must not leave this place.\nYou will have a little princess more beautiful than Venus herself. Let\nnothing fret you; time alone can heal.'\n\nThe queen bowed her head and shed tears, but she determined to have\nfaith in the friend she had found. 'Whatever happens,' she said, 'do not\nleave me here alone, and befriend me when my little one is born.' The\nFrog promised to remain with her, and did her best to comfort her.\n\nIt is now time to return to the king. So long as the enemy kept him\nconfined within his capital he could not regularly send messengers to\nthe queen. But at length, after many sorties, he forced the enemy to\nraise the siege. This success gave him pleasure not so much on his own\naccount, as for the sake of the queen, who could now be brought home in\nsafety. He knew nothing of the disaster which had befallen her, for none\nof his retinue had dared to tell him of it. They had found in the forest\nthe remains of the chariot, the runaway horses, and the apparel in which\nshe had driven forth to find her husband, and being convinced that she\nwas killed or devoured by wild beasts, their one idea was to make the\nking believe that she had died suddenly.\n\nIt seemed as if the king could not survive this mournful news. He tore\nhis hair, wept bitterly, and lamented his loss with all manner of\nsorrowful cries and sobs and sighs. For several days he would see\nnobody, and hid himself from view. Later, he returned to his capital and\nentered upon a long period of mourning, to the sincerity of which his\nheartfelt sorrow bore even plainer testimony than his sombre garb of\nwoe. His royal neighbours all sent ambassadors with messages of\ncondolence, and when the ceremonies proper to these occasions were at\nlength over, he proclaimed a period of peace. He released his subjects\nfrom military service, and devoted himself to giving them every\nassistance in the development of commerce.\n\nOf all this the queen knew nothing. A little princess had been born to\nher in the meantime, and her beauty did not belie the Frog's prediction.\nThey gave her the name of Moufette, but the queen had great difficulty\nin persuading the Witch to let her bring up the child, for her ferocity\nwas such that she would have liked to eat it.\n\nAt the age of six months Moufette was a marvel of beauty, and often, as\nshe gazed upon her with mingled tenderness and pity, the queen would\nsay:\n\n'Could your father but see you, my poor child, how delighted he would\nbe, and how dear you would be to him! But perhaps even now he has begun\nto forget me: doubtless he believes that death has robbed him of us, and\nit may be that another now fills the place I had in his affections.'\n\nMany were the tears she shed over these sad thoughts, and the Frog,\nwhose love for her was sincere, was moved one day by the sight of her\ngrief to say to her:\n\n'If you like, Madam, I will go and seek your royal husband. It is a long\njourney, and I am but a tardy traveller, but sooner or later I have no\ndoubt I shall get there.'\n\n[Illustration: \"COULD YOUR FATHER BUT SEE YOU, MY POOR CHILD.\"]\n\nNo suggestion could have been more warmly approved, the queen clasping\nher hands, and bidding little Moufette do the same, in token of the\ngratitude she felt towards the good Frog for offering to make the\nexpedition. Nor would the king, she declared, be less grateful. 'Of what\nadvantage, however,' she went on, 'will it be to him to learn that I\nam in this dire abode, since it will be impossible for him to rescue me\nfrom it?'\n\n'That we must leave to Providence, Madam,' said the Frog; 'we can but\nmake those efforts of which we are capable.'\n\nThey took farewell of each other, and the queen sent a message to the\nking. This was written with her blood on a piece of rag, for she had\nneither ink nor paper. The good Frog was bringing him news of herself,\nshe wrote, and she implored him to give heed to all that she might tell\nhim, and to believe everything she had to say.\n\nIt took the Frog a year and four days to climb the ten thousand steps\nwhich led from the gloomy realm in which she had left the queen, up into\nthe world. Another year was spent in preparing her equipage, for she was\ntoo proud to consent to appear at Court like a poor and humble frog from\nthe marshes. A little sedan-chair was made for her, large enough to hold\na couple of eggs comfortably, and this was covered outside with\ntortoise-shell and lined with lizard-skin. From the little green frogs\nthat hop about the meadows she selected fifty to act as maids of honour,\nand each of these was mounted on a snail. They had dainty saddles, and\nrode in dashing style with the leg thrown over the saddle-bow. A\nnumerous bodyguard of rats, dressed like pages, ran before the\nsnails--in short, nothing so captivating had ever been seen before. To\ncrown all, the cap of roses, which never faded but was always in full\nbloom, most admirably became her. Being something of a coquette, too,\nshe could not refrain from a touch of rouge and a patch or two; indeed,\nsome said she was painted like a great many other ladies of the land,\nbut it has been proved by inquiry that this report had its origin with\nher enemies.\n\nThe journey lasted seven years, and during all that time the poor queen\nendured unutterable pain and suffering. Had it not been for the solace\nof the beautiful Moufette she must have died a hundred times. Every word\nthat the dear little creature uttered filled her with delight; indeed,\nwith the exception of the Lion-Witch, there was nobody who was not\ncharmed by her.\n\nThere came at length a day, after the queen had lived for six years in\nthis dismal region, when the Witch told her that she could go hunting\nwith her, on condition that she yielded up everything which she killed.\nThe queen's joy when she once more saw the sun may be imagined; though\nat first she thought she would be blinded, so unaccustomed to its light\nhad she become. So quick and lively was Moufette, even at five or six\nyears of age, that she never failed in her aim, and mother and daughter\ntogether were thus able to appease somewhat the fierce instincts of the\nWitch.\n\nMeanwhile the Frog was travelling over hills and valleys. Day or night,\nshe never stopped, and at last she came nigh to the capital, where the\nking was now in residence. To her astonishment signs of festivity met\nher eye at every turn; on all sides there was merriment, song and\ndancing, and the nearer she came to the city the more festive seemed the\nmood of the people. All flocked with amazement to see her rustic\nretinue, and by the time she reached the city the crowd had become so\nlarge that it was with difficulty she made her way to the palace.\n\n[Illustration: '_The journey lasted seven years_']\n\nAt the palace all was splendour, for the king, who had been deprived\nof his wife's society for nine years, had at last yielded to the\npetitions of his subjects, and was about to wed a princess who possessed\nmany amiable qualities, though she lacked, admittedly, the beauty of his\nwife.\n\nThe good Frog descended from her sedan-chair, and with her attendants in\nher train entered the royal presence. To request an audience was\nunnecessary, for the king and his intended bride and all the princes\nwere much too curious to learn why she had come to think of interrupting\nher.\n\n'Sire,' said the Frog, 'I am in doubt whether the news I bring will\ncause you joy or sorrow. I can only conclude, from the marriage which\nyou are proposing to celebrate, that you are no longer faithful to your\nqueen.'\n\nTears fell from the king's eyes. 'Her memory is as dear to me as ever,'\nhe declared; 'but you must know, good Frog, that monarchs cannot always\nfollow their own wishes. For nine years now my subjects have been urging\nme to take a wife, and indeed it is due to them that there should be an\nheir to the throne. Hence my choice of this young princess, whose charms\nare apparent.'\n\n'I warn you not to marry her,' rejoined the Frog; 'the queen is not\ndead, and I am the bearer of a letter from her, writ in her own blood.\nThere has been born to you a little daughter, Moufette, who is more\nbeautiful than the very heavens.'\n\nThe king took the rag on which the short message from the queen was\nwritten. He kissed it and moistened it with his tears; and declared,\nholding it up for all to see, that he recognised the handwriting of his\nwife. Then he plied the Frog with endless questions, to all of which she\nreplied with lively intelligence.\n\nThe princess who was to have been queen, and the envoys who were\nattending the marriage ceremony, were somewhat out of countenance.\n'Sire,' said one of the most distinguished guests, turning to the king,\n'can you contemplate the breaking of your solemn pledge upon the word of\na toad like that? This scum of the marshes has the audacity to come and\nlie to the entire Court, just for the gratification of being listened\nto!'\n\n'I would have you know, your Excellency,' replied the Frog, 'that I am\nno scum of the marshes. Since you force me to display my powers--hither,\nfairies all!'\n\nAt these words the frogs, the rats, the snails, and the lizards all\nsuddenly ranged themselves behind the Frog. But in place of their\nfamiliar natural forms, they appeared now as tall, majestic figures,\nhandsome of mien, and with eyes that outshone the stars. Each wore a\ncrown of jewels on his head, while over his shoulders hung a royal\nmantle of velvet, lined with ermine, the train of which was borne by\ndwarfs. Simultaneously the sound of trumpets, drums, and hautboys filled\nthe air with martial melody, and all the fairies began to dance a\nballet, with step so light that the least spring lifted them to the\nvaulted ceiling of the chamber.\n\nThe astonishment of the king and his future bride was in no way\ndiminished when the fairy dancers suddenly changed before their eyes\ninto flowers--jasmine, jonquils, violets, roses, and carnations--which\ncarried on the dance just as though they were possessed of legs and\nfeet. It was as though a flower-bed had come to life, every movement of\nwhich gave pleasure alike to eye and nostril. A moment later the flowers\nvanished, and in their place were fountains of leaping water that fell\nin a cascade and formed a lake beneath the castle walls. On the surface\nof the lake were little boats, painted and gilt, so pretty and dainty\nthat the princess challenged the ambassadors to a voyage. None hesitated\nto do so, for they thought it was all a gay pastime, and a merry prelude\nto the marriage festivities. But no sooner had they embarked than boats,\nfountains, and lake vanished, and the frogs were frogs once more.\n\n'Sire,' said the Frog, when the king asked what had become of the\nprincess, 'your wife alone is your queen. Were my affection for her less\nthan it is, I should not interfere; but she deserves so well, and your\ndaughter Moufette is so charming, that you ought not to lose one moment\nin setting out to their rescue.'\n\n'I do assure you, Madam Frog,' replied the king, 'that if I could\nbelieve my wife to be alive, I would shrink from nothing in the world\nfor sight of her again.'\n\n'Surely,' said the Frog, 'after the marvels I have shown you, there\nought not to be doubt in your mind of the truth of what I say. Leave\nyour realm in the hands of those whom you can trust, and set forth\nwithout delay. Take this ring--it will provide you with the means of\nseeing the queen, and of speaking with the Lion-Witch, notwithstanding\nthat she is the most formidable creature in the world.'\n\nThe king refused to let any one accompany him, and after bestowing\nhandsome gifts upon the Frog, he set forth. 'Do not lose heart,' she\nsaid to him; 'you will encounter terrible difficulties, but I am\nconvinced that your desires will meet with success.' He plucked up\ncourage at these words, and started upon the quest of his dear wife,\nthough he had only the ring to guide him.\n\nNow Moufette's beauty became more and more perfect as she grew older,\nand all the monsters of the lake of quicksilver were enamoured of her.\nHideous and terrifying to behold, they came and lay at her feet.\nAlthough Moufette had seen them ever since she was born, her lovely eyes\ncould never grow accustomed to them, and she would run away and hide in\nher mother's arms. 'Shall we remain here long?' she would ask; 'are we\nnever to escape from misery?'\n\nThe queen would answer hopefully, so as to keep up the spirits of the\nchild, but in her heart hope had died. The absence of the Frog and the\nlack of any news from her, together with the long time that had passed\nsince she had heard anything of the king, filled her with grief and\ndespair.\n\nBy now it had become a regular thing for them to go hunting with the\nLion-Witch. The latter liked good things, and enjoyed the game which\nthey killed for her. The head or the feet of the quarry was all the\nshare they got, but there was compensation in being allowed to look\nagain upon the daylight. The Witch would take the shape of a lioness,\nand the queen and her daughter would seat themselves on her back. In\nthis fashion they ranged the forests a-hunting.\n\nOne day, when the king was resting in a forest to which his ring had\nguided him, he saw them shoot by like an arrow from the bow. They did\nnot perceive him, and when he tried to follow them he lost sight of them\ncompletely. The queen was still as beautiful as of old, despite all that\nshe had suffered, and she seemed to her husband more attractive than\never, so that he longed to have her with him again. He felt certain that\nthe young princess with her was his dear little Moufette, and he\nresolved to face death a thousand times rather than abandon his\nintention of rescuing her.\n\nWith the assistance of his ring he penetrated to the gloomy region in\nwhich the queen had been for so many years. His astonishment was great\nto find himself descending to the centre of the earth, but with every\nnew thing that met his eyes his amazement grew greater.\n\nThe Lion-Witch, from whom nothing was hid, knew well the day and hour of\nhis destined arrival. Much did she wish that the powers in league with\nher could have ordered things otherwise, but she resolved to pit her\nstrength against his to the full.\n\nShe built a palace of crystal which floated in the midst of the lake of\nquicksilver, rising and falling on its waves. Therein she imprisoned the\nqueen and her daughter, and assembling the monsters, who were all\nadmirers of Moufette, she gave them this warning:\n\n'You will lose this beautiful princess if you do not help me to keep her\nfrom a gallant who has come to bear her away.'\n\nThe monsters vowed that they would do everything in their power, and\nforthwith they surrounded the palace of crystal. The less heavy\nstationed themselves upon the roofs and walls, others mounted guard at\nthe doors, while the remainder filled the lake.\n\nFollowing the dictates of his faithful ring, the king went first to the\nWitch's cavern. She was waiting for him in the form of a lioness, and\nthe moment he appeared she sprang upon him. But she was not prepared for\nhis valiant swordsmanship, and as she put forth a paw to fell him to\nthe ground, he cut it off at the elbow-joint. She yelped loudly and\nfell over, whereupon he went up to her and set his foot upon her throat,\nswearing that he would kill her. Notwithstanding her uncontrollable\nrage, and the fact that she had nothing to fear from wounds, she felt\ncowed by him.\n\n'What do you seek to do to me?' she asked; 'what do you want of me?'\n\n'I intend to punish you,' replied the king with dignity, 'for having\ncarried away my wife. Deliver her up to me, or I will strangle you on\nthe spot.'\n\n'Turn your eyes to the lake,' she answered, 'and see if it lies in my\npower to do so.'\n\nThe king followed the direction she indicated, and saw the queen and her\ndaughter in the palace of crystal, where it floated like a boat without\noars or rudder on the lake of quicksilver. He was like to die of mingled\njoy and sorrow. He shouted to them at the top of his voice, and they\nheard him. But how was he to reach them?\n\nWhile he pondered a plan for the accomplishment of this, the Lion-Witch\nvanished. He ran round and round the lake, but no sooner did the palace\ndraw near enough, at one point or another, to let him make a spring for\nit, than it suddenly receded with menacing speed. As often as his hopes\nwere raised they were dashed to the ground.\n\nFearing that he would presently tire, the queen cried to him that he\nmust not lose courage, for the Lion-Witch sought to wear him down, but\nthat true love could brave all obstacles. She stretched out imploring\nhands, and so did Moufette. At sight of this the king felt his courage\nrenewed within him. Lifting his voice, he declared that he would rather\nlive the rest of his life in this dismal region than go away without\nthem.\n\nPatience he certainly needed, for no monarch in the world ever spent\nsuch a miserable time. There was only the ground, cumbered with briars\nand thorns, for bed, and for food he had only wild fruit more bitter\nthan gall. In addition, he was under the perpetual necessity of\ndefending himself from the monsters of the lake.\n\nThree years went by in this fashion, and the king could not pretend that\nhe had gained the least advantage. He was almost in despair, and many a\ntime was tempted to cast himself into the lake. He would have done so\nwithout hesitation had there been any hope that thereby the sufferings\nof the queen and the princess could be alleviated.\n\nOne day as he was running, after his custom, from one side of the lake\nto the other, he was hailed by one of the ugliest of the dragons. 'Swear\nby your crown and sceptre, by your kingly robe, by your wife and child,'\nsaid the monster, 'to give me a certain tit-bit to eat for which I have\na fancy, whenever I shall ask for it, and I will take you on my back:\nnone of the monsters in this lake which are guarding the palace will\nprevent us from carrying away the queen and Princess Moufette.'\n\n'Best of dragons!' cried the king; 'I swear to you, and to all of dragon\nblood, that you shall have your fill of whatsoever you desire, and I\nwill be for ever your devoted servant.'\n\n'Promise nothing which you do not mean to fulfil,' replied the dragon;\n'for otherwise life-long misfortunes may overwhelm you.'\n\nThe king repeated his assurances, for he was dying of impatience to\nregain his beloved queen, and mounted the dragon just as though he were\nthe most dashing of steeds. But now the other monsters rushed to bar the\nway. The combat was joined, and nought was audible save the hissing of\nthe serpents, nought visible save the brimstone, fire and sulphur, which\nwere belched forth in every direction.\n\nThe king reached the palace at last, but there fresh efforts were\nrequired of him, for the entrances were defended by bats and owls and\nravens. But even the boldest of these was torn to pieces by the dragon,\nwho attacked them tooth and nail. The queen, too, who was a spectator of\nthis savage fight, kicked down chunks of the wall, and armed with these\nhelped her dear husband in the fray. Victory at length rested with them,\nand as they flew to one another's arms, the enchantment was brought to\nan end by a thunderbolt which plunged into the lake and dried it up.\n\nThe friendly dragon vanished, along with all the other monsters, and the\nking found himself (by what means he had not the least idea) home again\nin his own city, and seated, with his queen and Moufette beside him, in\na splendid dining-hall before a table laid with the richest fare. Never\nbefore was there such amazement and delight as theirs. The populace came\nrunning for a sight of the queen and princess, and to add to the wonder\nof it all, the latter was seen to be attired in apparel of such\nmagnificence that the gaze was almost dazzled by her jewels.\n\nYou can easily imagine what festivities now took place at the palace.\nThere were masquerades, and tournaments with tilting at the ring which\nattracted the highest princes from all over the world; even more were\nthese drawn by the bright eyes of Moufette.\n\nAmongst the handsomest and most accomplished in skill-at-arms, there was\nnone anywhere who could outshine Prince Moufy. He won the applause and\nadmiration of all, and Moufette, who had hitherto known only dragons and\nserpents, was not backward in according him her share of praise. Prince\nMoufy was deeply in love with her, and not a day passed but he showed\nher some fresh attention in the hope of gaining her favour. In due\ncourse he offered himself as a suitor, informing the king and queen that\nhis realm was of a richness and extent that might well claim their\nfavourable consideration.\n\nThe king replied that Moufette should make her own choice of husband,\nfor his only wish was to please her and make her happy. With this answer\nthe prince was well satisfied, for he was already aware that the\nprincess was not indifferent to him. He offered her his hand, and she\ndeclared that if he were not to be her husband, then no other man should\nbe. Prince Moufy threw himself in rapture at her feet, and exacted,\nlover-like, a promise that she would keep her word with him.\n\nThe prince and princess were betrothed, and Prince Moufy then returned\nto his own realm, in order to make preparations for the marriage.\nMoufette wept much at his going, for she was oppressed by an\ninexplicable presentiment of evil. The prince likewise was much\ndowncast, and the queen, noticing this, gave him a portrait of her\ndaughter with an injunction to curtail the splendour of his preparations\nrather than allow his return to be delayed. The prince was nothing loth\nto obey her behest, and promised to adopt a course which so well\nconsulted his own happiness.\n\nThe princess amused herself with music during his absence, for in a few\nmonths she had learned to play exceedingly well.\n\nOne day, when she was in the queen's apartment, the king rushed in.\nTears were streaming down his face as he took his daughter in his arms\nand cried aloud: 'Alas, my child! O wretched father! O miserable king!'\nSobs choked his utterance, and he could say no more.\n\nGreatly alarmed, the queen and princess asked him what had happened, and\nat last he got out that there had just arrived an enormously tall giant,\nwho professed to be an envoy of the dragon of the lake; and that in\npursuance of the promise which the king had given in exchange for\nassistance in fighting the monsters, the dragon demanded that he should\ngive up the princess, as he desired to make her into a pie for dinner.\nThe king added that he had bound himself by solemn oaths to give the\ndragon what he asked--and in the days of which we are telling no one\never broke his word.\n\nThe queen received this dire news with piercing shrieks, and clasped her\nchild to her bosom. 'My life shall be forfeit,' she cried, 'ere my\ndaughter is delivered up to this monster. Let him rather take our\nkingdom and all that we have. Unnatural father! Is it possible you can\nconsent to such cruelty? What! My child to be made into a pie! The bare\nnotion is intolerable! Send this grim envoy to me; it may be the\nspectacle of my anguish will soften his heart.'\n\nThe king said nothing, but went in quest of the giant. He brought him to\nthe queen, who flung herself at his feet with her daughter. She begged\nhim to have mercy, and to persuade the dragon to take all that they\npossessed, but to spare Moufette's life. The giant replied, however,\nthat the matter did not rest with him. The dragon, he said, was so\nobstinate, and so addicted to the pleasures of the table, that no power\non earth would restrain him from eating what he had a mind to make a\nmeal of. Furthermore, he counselled them, as a friend, to yield with a\ngood grace lest greater ills should be in store. At these words the\nqueen fainted, and the princess would have been in similar case, if she\nhad not been obliged to go to the assistance of her mother.\n\nNo sooner was the dreadful news known throughout the palace than it\nspread all over the city. On all sides there was weeping and wailing,\nfor Moufette was greatly beloved.\n\nThe king could not bring himself to give her up to the giant, and the\nlatter, after waiting several days, grew restive and began to utter\nterrible threats. But the king and queen, taking counsel together, were\nagreed. 'What is there worse that could happen to us?' they said; 'if\nthe dragon of the lake were to come and eat us all up, we could not\nsuffer more, for if Moufette is put into a pie that will be the end of\nus.'\n\nPresently the giant informed them that he had received a message from\nthe dragon, to the effect that if the princess would agree to marry one\nof his nephews, he would spare her life. This nephew was not only young\nand handsome, but a prince to boot; and there was no doubt of her being\nable to live very happily with him.\n\nThis proposal somewhat assuaged their grief, but when the queen\nmentioned it to the princess, she found her more ready to face death\nthan entertain this marriage. 'I cannot break faith just to save my\nlife,' said Moufette; 'you promised me to Prince Moufy, and I will marry\nnone else. Let me perish, for my death will enable you to live in\npeace.' The king in his turn tried, with many endearments, to persuade\nher, but she could not be moved. Finally, therefore, it was arranged\nthat she should be conducted to a mountain-top, there to await the\ndragon.\n\nEverything was made ready for the great sacrificial rite, and nothing so\nmournful had ever been seen before. Black garments and pale, distraught\nfaces were encountered at every turn. Four hundred maidens of the\nnoblest birth, clad in long white robes and wearing crowns of cypress,\naccompanied the princess. The latter was borne in an open litter of\nblack velvet, that all men might behold the wondrous miracle of her\nbeauty. Her tresses, tied with crape, hung over her shoulders, and she\nwore a crown of jasmine and marigolds. The only thing that seemed to\naffect her was the grief of the king and queen, who walked behind her,\noverwhelmed with the burden of their sorrow. Beside the litter strode\nthe giant, armed from top to toe, and looking hungrily at the princess,\nas though already he savoured his share of the dish she was to make. The\nair was filled with sighs and sobs, and the tears of the spectators made\nrivulets along the road.\n\n'O Frog, dear Frog,' cried the queen; 'you have indeed forsaken me! Why\ngive me help in that dismal place and refuse it to me here? Had I but\ndied then, I should not now be mourning the end of all my hopes, and I\nshould have been spared the agony of waiting to see my darling Moufette\ndevoured.'\n\nSlowly the procession made its way to the summit of the fatal mountain.\nOn arrival there the cries and lamentations broke out with renewed\nforce, and a more pitiful noise was never heard before. The giant then\ndirected that all farewells must be said, and a general withdrawal made,\nand his order was obeyed. Folks in those days were docile and obedient,\nand never thought of combating ill-fortune.\n\nThe king and queen, with all the Court, now climbed another hill-top,\nfrom which they could obtain a view of all that happened to the\nprincess. They had not long to wait, for they quickly espied a dragon,\nhalf a league long, sailing through the sky. He flew laboriously, for\nhis bulk was so great that even six large wings could hardly support it.\nHis body was covered all over with immense blue scales and tongues of\npoison flame, his twisted tail had fifty coils and another half coil\nbeyond that, while his claws were each as big as a windmill. His jaws\nwere agape, and inside could be seen three rows of teeth as long as an\nelephant's tusks.\n\nNow while the dragon was slowly wending his way to the mountain-top, the\ngood and faithful Frog, mounted on a hawk's back, was flying at full\nspeed to Prince Moufy. She was wearing her cap of roses, and though he\nwas locked in his privy chamber she needed no key to enter.\n\n'Hapless lover!' she cried; 'what are you doing here? This very moment,\nwhile you sit dreaming about her beauty, Moufette is in direst peril!\nSee, here is a rose-leaf; I have but to blow upon it and it will become\na mettlesome steed.'\n\nAs she spoke there suddenly appeared a green horse. It had twelve hoofs\nand three heads, and from the latter it could spit forth fire,\nbomb-shells, and cannon-balls respectively. The Frog then gave the\nprince a sword, eight yards long and no heavier than a feather, and a\ngarment fashioned out of a single diamond. This he slipped on like a\ncoat, and though it was hard as rock it was so pliant that his movements\nwere in no way impeded.\n\n'Now fly to the rescue of your love,' said the Frog; 'the green horse\nwill carry you to her. Do not omit to let her know, when you have\ndelivered her, of what my part has been.'\n\n'Great-hearted fairy!' cried the prince, 'this is no moment to return\nyou thanks, but from henceforth I am your faithful servant.'\n\nOff went the horse with the three heads, galloping on its twelve hoofs\nthree times as fast, and more, than the best of ordinary steeds; and in\na very short time the prince had reached the mountain, where he found\nhis dear princess all alone.\n\nAs the dragon slowly drew near, the green horse began to throw out fire,\nbomb-shells, and cannon-balls, which greatly disconcerted the monster.\nTwenty balls lodged in his throat, his scaly armour was dinted, and the\nbomb-shells put out one of his eyes. This enraged him, and he tried to\nhurl himself upon the prince. But the latter's long sword was so finely\ntempered that he could do what he liked with it, and now he plunged it\nin up to the hilt, now cut with it as though it had been a whip. The\nprince would have suffered, however, from the dragon's claws had it not\nbeen for his diamond coat, which was impenetrable.\n\nMoufette had recognised her lover from afar, for the gleaming diamond\nwhich covered him was transparent; and she was like to die of terror at\nthe risk he ran. The king and queen, however, felt hope revive within\nthem. They had little thought to see arriving so opportunely a horse\nwith three heads and twelve hoofs that breathed forth fire and flame,\nnor yet a prince, in diamond mail, and armed with so redoubtable a\nsword, who performed such prodigies of valour. The king put his hat on\nthe end of his stick, the queen tied a handkerchief to hers, and with\nall the Court following suit, there was no lack of signals of\nencouragement to the prince. Not that such were necessary, for his own\nstout heart and the peril in which he saw Moufette were enough to keep\nhis courage up.\n\nHeavens, how he fought! Barbs, talons, horns, wings, and scales fell\nfrom the dragon till the ground was covered with them, and the soil was\ndyed blue and green with the mingled blood of dragon and horse. Five\ntimes the prince was unhorsed, but each time he picked himself up and\ncomposedly mounted his steed again. Then would follow such cannonades,\nbombardments, and flame-throwing as had never been seen or heard of\nbefore.\n\nAt length, its strength exhausted, the dragon fell, and the prince\ndelivered a finishing stroke. None could believe their eyes when from\nthe gaping wound so made there stepped forth a handsome and elegant\nprince, clad in a coat of blue and gold velvet, embroidered with pearls,\nand wearing on his head a little Grecian helmet with a crest of white\nfeathers. With outstretched hands this new-comer ran to Prince Moufy and\nembraced him.\n\n'How can I ever repay you, my gallant deliverer?' he cried. 'Never was\nmonarch confined in a more dreadful prison than the one from which you\nhave freed me. It is sixteen years since the Lion-Witch condemned me to\nit, and I have languished there ever since. Moreover, such is her power\nthat she would have obliged me, against my will, to devour that sweet\nprincess. I beg you to let me pay my respects to her, and explain my\nhapless plight!'\n\nAstonished and delighted by the remarkable way in which his adventure\nhad ended, Prince Moufy lavished courtesies upon the newly-discovered\nprince. Together they went to Moufette, who rendered thanks a thousand\ntimes to Providence for her unexpected happiness. Already the king and\nqueen and all the Court had joined her, and everybody spoke at once, and\nnobody listened to anybody, while nearly as many tears were shed for joy\nas a little time ago had been shed for grief. And finally, to set the\ncrown on their rejoicing, the good Frog was espied flying through the\nair on her hawk. The latter had little golden bells upon its feet, and\nwhen the faint tinkling of these caused every one to look up, there was\nthe Frog, beautiful as the dawn, with her cap of roses shining like the\nsun.\n\nThe queen ran to her and took her by one of her little paws. At that\ninstant the wise Frog was transformed into a majestic royal lady of\ngracious mien. 'I come,' she cried, 'to crown the faithful Moufette, who\npreferred to face death rather than break her word to Prince Moufy.'\nWith these words she placed two myrtle wreaths upon the lovers' heads;\nand at a signal of three taps from her wand the dragon's bones rose up\nand formed a triumphal arch to commemorate the auspicious occasion.\n\nBack to the city went all the company, singing wedding songs as gladly\nas they had previously with sorrow bewailed the sacrifice of the\nprincess. On the morrow the marriage took place, and with what\nfestivities it was solemnised may be left to the imagination.\n\n\n\n\nPRINCESS ROSETTE\n\n\nOnce upon a time there lived a king and queen who had two handsome boys,\nand so well looked after were the latter that they grew apace, like the\ndaylight.\n\nThe queen never had a child without summoning the fairies to be present\nat the birth, and she always begged them to tell what its future was to\nbe. When in due course she had a beautiful little daughter--so pretty\nthat one could not set eyes on her without loving her--all the fairies\ncame to visit her, and were hospitably entertained. As they were making\nready to go, the queen said to them:\n\n'Do not forget your friendly custom, but tell me what fortune awaits\nRosette.' Such was the name which had been given to the little princess.\n\nThe fairies replied that they had left their magic books at home, but\nwould come and see her some other time.\n\n'Ah,' said the queen, 'that bodes ill. You are anxious not to distress\nme by an unhappy prophecy. But tell me all, I implore you, and hide\nnothing from me.'\n\nThe fairies did their utmost to excuse themselves. But the queen became\nmore and more eager to learn everything, and at last the chief of them\nmade a declaration.\n\n'We fear, Madam,' she said, 'that Rosette will bring disaster on her\nbrothers, and that in some fashion she will be the cause of their death.\nThis much and no more can we foretell of the pretty child, and we are\ngrieved that we should have no better news to give you.'\n\nThen the fairies went away, and the queen was left grieving.\n\nSo deep was her grief that the king saw it in her face, and asked what\nailed her. She had gone too near the fire, she told him, and had burnt\nall the flax that was on her distaff.\n\n'Is that all?' said the king, and going up to his storeroom he brought\nher more flax than she could have spun in a hundred years.\n\nBut the queen continued sad, and again the king asked what ailed her.\nShe declared that in walking by the river she had let her green satin\nslipper fall into the water.\n\n'Is that all?' said the king, and summoning all the shoemakers in the\nkingdom he brought her ten thousand green satin slippers.\n\nStill she grieved, and once more he asked what ailed her. She told him\nthat in eating with rather too vigorous an appetite she had swallowed\nher wedding-ring, which had been on her finger. The king knew at once\nthat she was not telling the truth, for he had put away this ring\nhimself.\n\n'My dear wife,' he said, 'you lie; I put away your ring in my\npurse--here it is!'\n\nShe was not a little confused at being caught telling a lie (for there\nis nothing in the world so ugly), and she saw that the king was\ndispleased. She told him, therefore, what the fairies had prophesied of\nlittle Rosette, and implored him to say if he could think of any good\nremedy.\n\nThe king was plunged in the deepest melancholy, so much so that he\nremarked on one occasion to the queen: 'I see no other means of saving\nour two sons but to bring about the death of our little child while she\nis still in long clothes.' But the queen exclaimed that she would rather\nsuffer death herself. She would never consent, she declared, to such a\ncruel course, and he must think of something else.\n\nThe royal pair were at their wits' end when the queen was told that in a\nforest near the city there lived an aged hermit. His habitation was a\nhollow tree, and folks were wont to seek his advice upon all manner of\nthings. 'I too must go there,' said the queen; 'the fairies have warned\nme of the evil, but they have forgotten to tell me of the remedy.'\n\nShe rose betimes and mounted a dainty little white mule that was shod\nwith gold, and took with her two of her ladies, each riding a bonny\nhorse. When they had entered the wood they dismounted, as a sign of\ndeference, and presented themselves at the tree where the hermit lived.\nThe latter had an aversion from the sight of women, but on recognising\nthe queen he addressed her.\n\n'You are welcome,' he said; 'what do you want of me?'\n\nShe told him what the fairies had said of Rosette, and begged for\nadvice. His reply was that the princess must be placed in a tower and\nnever be allowed to leave it. The queen tendered her thanks, and having\nbestowed liberal alms upon him, returned to tell everything to the king.\n\nWhen the king had heard her news he gave orders at once for a great\ntower to be built. In this the princess was shut up, and to keep her\namused the king and queen and her two brothers went every day to see\nher. The elder boy was known as the Big Prince, and the younger as the\nLittle Prince. Both were passionately attached to their sister, for she\nhad such beauty and charm as had never been seen before. For the\nlightest of looks from her many would have paid a hundred gold pieces\nand more.\n\nWhen the princess was fifteen years old the Big Prince spoke of her to\nhis father. 'My sister is old enough now to marry, Sire,' he said;\n'shall we not soon be celebrating her wedding?' The Little Prince said\nthe same thing to his mother. But their royal parents turned the\nconversation and made no answer on the subject of the marriage.\n\nOne day the king and queen were stricken by a grievous malady, and died\nalmost within twenty-four hours. Throughout the realm there was\nmourning; every one wore black, and on all sides the tolling of bells\nwas heard. Rosette was grieved beyond consolation by the death of her\ndear mother.\n\nBut when the royal dead had been interred, the noblemen of the realm set\nthe Big Prince upon a throne of gold and diamonds, robed him in purple\nvelvet embroidered with suns and moons, and placed a splendid crown upon\nhis head. Then all the Court cried aloud three times: 'Long live the\nKing!' and there followed universal festivities and rejoicings.\n\n'Now that we are in power,' said the king and his brother as soon as\nthey could converse in private, 'we must release our sister from the\ntower in which she has languished so long.' They had only to cross the\ngarden to reach the tower, which was built in a corner. It had been\nreared as high as possible, for it had been the intention of the late\nking and queen that their daughter should remain in it for life.\n\nRosette was busy with embroidery when her brothers entered, but on\ncatching sight of them she rose and left the frame at which she was\nworking. Taking the king's hand, she said: 'Good-morrow, Sire; you are\nking to-day, and I am your humble servant. I implore you to release me\nfrom the tower in which I have been languishing so long.' And with these\nwords she burst into tears.\n\nThe king embraced her and told her not to weep, for he had come to take\nher from the tower and establish her in a beautiful castle. The prince,\nwho had brought a pocketful of sweets to give to Rosette, added his\nword. 'Come,' he said, 'let us leave this hateful tower, and do not be\nunhappy any longer. Very soon the king will find a husband for you.'\n\nWhen Rosette saw the beautiful garden, with all its flowers and fruit\nand its many fountains, she was overcome with amazement and could not\nspeak a word. She had never before seen anything of the kind. She looked\nabout her on all sides, and then ran hither and thither, picking the\nfruit from the trees and the flowers from the beds, while her little dog\nFrillikin (who was as green as a parrot, had only one ear, and could\ndance deliciously) capered in front of her, yapping his loudest, and\namusing everybody present by his absurd gambols.\n\n[Illustration: _Princess Rosette_]\n\nPresently Frillikin dashed into a little copse, and the princess\nfollowed. Never was any one so struck with wonder as she, to behold\nthere a great peacock with tail outspread. So beautiful, so exquisitely\nand perfectly beautiful did it seem to her that she could not take away\nher eyes. When the king and the prince joined her they asked what it\nwas that had so taken her fancy. She pointed to the peacock and asked\nwhat it was, to which they replied that it was a bird that was sometimes\nserved at table.\n\n'What?' she cried; 'a bird so beautiful as that to be killed and eaten?\nI tell you, I will marry no one but the King of the Peacocks, and when I\nam queen no one shall ever eat such a dish again!'\n\nNo words can express the astonishment of the king. 'My dear sister,' he\nsaid, 'where do you suppose that we are to find the King of the\nPeacocks?'\n\n'Wherever you please, Sire,' was the answer; 'but I will marry none but\nhim!'\n\nAfter having announced this decision she allowed her brothers to escort\nher to their castle. But so great was the fancy she had taken to the\npeacock that she insisted on its being brought and placed in her\napartment.\n\nAll the ladies of the Court, by whom Rosette had never yet been seen,\nnow hastened to pay their dutiful respects. Gifts of every kind were\nproffered to her--sweetmeats and sugar, gay ribbons, and dresses of\ncloth-of-gold, dolls, slippers richly embroidered, with many pearls and\ndiamonds. All did their best to show her attention, and she displayed\nsuch charming manners, kissing hands and curtseying so graciously when\nany gift was offered to her, that not a gentleman or lady of the Court\nbut left her presence loud in her praise.\n\nWhile the princess was being thus entertained, the king and the prince\nwere taking counsel as to how they could find the King of the Peacocks,\nsupposing such a person did really exist. In pursuit of the plan which\nthey formed a portrait was painted of the Princess Rosette, and so\ncunningly wrought was this picture that only speech seemed wanting to\nmake it live. Then they said to their sister:\n\n'Since you will marry none but the King of the Peacocks, we are setting\nforth together in quest of him through the wide world. If we find him we\nshall be well rewarded. Wait for our return, and take care of our\nkingdom while we are away.'\n\nRosette thanked them for the trouble they were taking, and promised to\ngovern the kingdom well. She declared that while they were away her only\npleasures would be to admire the beautiful peacock and make Frillikin\ndance. Their adieux were said with many tears.\n\nBehold, then, the royal pair upon their travels, asking of all whom they\nmet: 'Do you know the King of the Peacocks?' The reply from all was 'No,\nwe do not.' Then the travellers would pass on and go further, journeying\nin this way so far, far away that no one had ever been so far before.\n\nAt last they reached the kingdom of the Cockchafers, and the latter in\ntheir myriads made so loud a buzzing that the king thought he would go\ndeaf. He asked one who seemed more intelligent than the rest if he knew\nwhereabouts the King of the Peacocks was to be found.\n\n'Sire,' said the cockchafer, 'his kingdom is thirty thousand leagues\naway; you have taken the longest road to get there.'\n\n'How do you know that?' asked the king.\n\n'Because we know you well,' replied the cockchafer; 'every year we spend\ntwo or three months in your garden!'\n\nThe king and his brother embraced the cockchafer warmly, and struck up\na great friendship. Arm in arm they all went off to dinner, over which\nthe visitors expressed their astonishment at the remarkable features of\nthis country, where the smallest leaf from a tree was worth a gold\npiece. Presently they set off for their destination, and as they now\nknew the road they were not long in reaching it. They observed that all\nthe trees were full of peacocks; indeed the place held so many of them\nthat their screaming as they talked could be heard two leagues away.\n\n'If the King of the Peacocks is himself a peacock,' said the king to his\nbrother, 'how can our sister dream of marrying him? It would be folly to\nsanction it. A nice set of relatives she would present to us--a lot of\nlittle peacocks for nephews!' The prince was equally uneasy in his mind.\n'It was an unfortunate notion to come into her head,' he declared; 'I\ncannot imagine how she ever came to think that such a person as the King\nof the Peacocks existed.'\n\nWhen they reached the city they found it peopled with men and women, but\nthe latter all wore garments fashioned out of peacocks' feathers; and\nfrom the profusion in which these objects were everywhere to be seen it\nwas plain that they were regarded with an intense admiration. They\nencountered the King of the Peacocks, who was out for a drive in a\nsplendid little chariot of gold, studded with diamonds, drawn by a dozen\ngalloping peacocks.\n\nThe King of the Peacocks, fair of complexion, with a crown of peacocks'\nfeathers surmounting his long and curly yellow locks, was so extremely\nhandsome that the king and prince were delighted with his appearance. He\nguessed from their clothes, so different from those of the natives,\nthat they were strangers; but to make sure he caused his carriage to\nstop and summoned them to him.\n\nThe king and the prince advanced to meet him, and bowed low. 'We have\ncome from far away, Sire,' they said, 'in order to show you a portrait.'\nWith these words they drew from the pack which they carried the\nmagnificent portrait of Rosette.\n\n'I do not believe,' said the King of the Peacocks, when he had looked\nlong and well at it, 'that the world holds so beautiful a maiden.'\n\n'She is a hundred times more beautiful than that,' said the king.\n\n'You are joking,' said the King of the Peacocks.\n\n'Sire,' said the prince, 'this is my brother, who is a monarch like\nyourself: men call him King. For myself, I am known as Prince. This\nportrait shows our sister, the Princess Rosette. We are here to ask if\nyou are willing to marry her. She has good sense as well as good looks,\nand we will give her for dowry a bushel of golden crowns.'\n\n'Why, certainly,' said the King of the Peacocks, 'I will marry her with\nall my heart. I promise she shall want for nothing, and I will love her\ntruly. But I would have you know that she must be as beautiful as her\npicture, and that if she falls short of it by the least little bit, I\nwill put you to death.'\n\n'We accept the conditions,' said Rosette's two brothers.\n\n'You accept?' said the King of the Peacocks. 'Then you must bide in\nprison until the princess has arrived.'\n\nThe royal brothers raised no objection to this, for they knew well that\nRosette was more beautiful than her portrait. The King of the Peacocks\nsaw to it that his captives were well looked after, and went often to\nvisit them. The portrait of Rosette was placed in his palace, and he was\nso taken up with it that, night or day, he could scarcely sleep.\n\nFrom prison the king and the prince sent a letter to the princess\ntelling her to pack at once all she might require and come as quickly as\npossible, for the King of the Peacocks awaited her. They did not dare to\nmention that they were in prison, lest she should be too uneasy.\n\nWhen the princess received this letter her transports of delight were\nenough to kill her. She announced to every one that the King of the\nPeacocks had been found, and desired to wed her. Bonfires were lit, guns\nfired, and sugar and sweetmeats eaten in abundance; while for three days\nevery one who came to see the princess was treated to bread and butter\nwith jam, and cakes and ale.\n\nHaving dispensed hospitality in this liberal fashion, the princess gave\nall her beautiful dolls to her dearest friends, and entrusted her\nbrother's realm to the wisest elders of the city. She bade them take\ncare of everything, spend as little as possible, and save money until\nthe king should return. At the same time she begged them to look after\nher peacock.\n\nTaking with her only her nurse and foster-sister, and her little green\ndog Frillikin, she embarked on a vessel and put out to sea. They had\nwith them the bushel of golden crowns, and clothes enough to last for\nten years, with a change of dress twice a day; and they did nothing but\nlaugh and sing on the voyage.\n\nPresently the nurse said to the boatman:\n\n'Tell me, tell me, are we near the Land of Peacocks?'\n\n'Not yet, not yet,' replied the boatman.\n\nA little later she asked again:\n\n'Tell me, tell me, are we near it now?'\n\n'Presently, presently,' replied the boatman.\n\nOnce more she asked:\n\n'Tell me, tell me, are we near it now?'\n\n[Illustration: _The wicked nurse_]\n\n'Very near, very near,' said the boatman.\n\nWhen he answered thus the nurse sat down beside him in the stern of the\nboat. 'If you like, you can be rich for ever,' she said to him.\n\n'I should like that well,' replied the boatman.\n\n'If you like,' she went on, 'you can gain good money.'\n\n'I ask nothing better,' said he.\n\n'Very well, then,' said the nurse; 'to-night, when the princess is\nasleep, you must help me to throw her into the sea. When she is drowned\nI will dress up my daughter in her fine clothes, and we will take her to\nthe King of the Peacocks, who will be delighted to marry her. You shall\nhave your fill of diamonds as reward.'\n\nThe boatman was taken aback by this suggestion from the nurse. He\ndeclared it was a pity to drown so beautiful a princess, and that he had\ncompassion for her. But the nurse fetched a bottle of wine, and plied\nhim with drink until he no longer had wits enough left to refuse.\n\nWhen night fell the princess went to sleep, according to her usual\npractice, with little Frillikin comfortably curled up at the foot of the\nbed, stirring not a paw. When Rosette was fast asleep the wicked nurse,\nwho had remained awake, went to find the boatman. She took him to the\ncabin where the princess lay, and with the help of the foster-sister\nthey lifted her up--feather-bed, mattress, sheets, blankets, and\nall--without disturbing her, and threw her into the sea just as she was.\nSo soundly did the princess slumber that she never woke up.\n\nNow luckily her bed was made of feathers from the phoenix, which are\nvery rare and have this peculiar virtue that they never sink in water.\nConsequently the princess went floating along in her bed, just as though\nshe were in a boat.\n\nPresently, however, the water began little by little to lap first\nagainst the sides of the feather-bed, then against the mattress, until\nRosette began to feel uncomfortable. She turned over restlessly, and\nFrillikin woke up. He had a very keen nose, and when he scented the\nsoles and the cod-fish so near at hand he began yapping. He barked so\nloudly that he woke up all the other fish, and they began to swim round\nand about. Some of the big fish bumped their heads against the bed, and\nthere being nothing to steady the latter it spun round and round like a\ntop.\n\nYou may imagine how astonished the princess was! 'Is our vessel doing a\ndance upon the water?' she exclaimed; 'I do not remember ever to have\nbeen so uncomfortable as I am to-night.' And all the time Frillikin was\nbarking as though he had taken leave of his senses.\n\nThe wicked nurse and the boatman heard him from afar. 'Do you hear\nthat?' they exclaimed; 'it is that funny little dog drinking our very\ngood health with his mistress! Let us make haste and get ashore.' By\nthis time, you must understand, they were lying off the capital of the\nKing of the Peacocks.\n\nA hundred carriages had been sent to the water's edge by the king. These\nwere drawn by animals of every kind--lions, bears, stags, wolves,\nhorses, oxen, asses, eagles, and peacocks. The carriage in which\nPrincess Rosette was to be borne was drawn by six blue monkeys which\ncould leap and dance upon the tight-rope and perform endless amusing\nantics; these had trappings of crimson velvet, studded with gold plates.\n\nSixty young girls awaited the coming of the princess. They had been\nselected by the king to be her maids of honour, and their attire, of\nevery colour of the rainbow, shone with ornaments of which gold and\nsilver were the least precious.\n\nThe nurse had taken great pains over the toilette of her daughter. She\nhad decked her out in Rosette's most beautiful gown, and placed her\ndiamonds on her head. But nothing could disguise the fact that she was\nan ugly little fright. Her hair was black and greasy, she was cross-eyed\nand bow-legged, and in the middle of her back she had a big hump.\nMoreover she was ill-tempered and sulky, and was for ever grumbling.\n\n[Illustration: '_She was an ugly little fright_']\n\nWhen the people of Peacock Land saw her disembark they were so\ncompletely taken aback that none could say a word.\n\n'What's the matter with you all?' she demanded; 'have you all gone to\nsleep? Bring me something to eat at once, do you hear? I'll have the\nlot of you hanged, precious riff-raff that you are!'\n\n'What a horrible creature!' murmured the citizens amongst themselves,\nwhen they heard these threats; 'as ill-tempered as she is ugly! A nice\nbride for our king, or I am much mistaken! It was hardly worth the\ntrouble to bring her all the way across the world.' The girl meantime\ncontinued to behave in most domineering fashion, giving slaps and blows\nto every one without the slightest provocation.\n\nThe procession, being very large, was obliged to move slowly, and as the\ncarriage bore her along she comported herself as though she were a\nqueen. But all the peacocks, who had perched upon the trees to greet her\nas she passed, and had arranged to call out 'Long live the beautiful\nQueen Rosette!' cried out when they saw how horrible she was: 'Fie! fie!\nhow ugly she is!' This enraged her, and she called out to her escort:\n'Kill those impudent peacocks: they are insulting me!' But the peacocks\nflew nimbly away, and laughed at her.\n\nThe rascally boatman was witness of all that occurred, and whispered to\nthe nurse: 'Things are not going well for us, my good woman: your\ndaughter should have been prettier.'\n\n'Hold your tongue, stupid!' she replied; 'or you will get us into\ntrouble.'\n\nWord was brought to the king that the princess was approaching. 'Well,'\nsaid he; 'did her brothers speak the truth? Is she more beautiful than\nher portrait?'\n\n'Sire,' said the courtiers, 'if she is only as beautiful, that should be\nenough.'\n\n'Very true!' exclaimed the king. 'I shall be content with that. Let us\ngo and see her.'\n\nHe could tell from the din which arose from the courtyard that the\nprincess had arrived, but the only words he could hear plainly amidst\nthe hubbub were cries of 'Fie! fie! how ugly she is!' He supposed people\nmust be referring to some dwarf or pet creature which she had perhaps\nbrought with her, for it never entered his head that it could be the\nprincess herself who was meant.\n\nThe portrait of Rosette, uncovered, was hoisted on the end of a long\npole, and carried in front of the king, who walked in state with his\nbarons and peacocks, and the ambassadors from neighbouring kingdoms in\nhis train. Great was the impatience of the King of the Peacocks to\nbehold his dear Rosette; but when at length he did set eyes on\nher--gracious heavens, it was a wonder the shock did not kill him on the\nspot! He flew into a most terrible rage, rending his clothes, and\nrefusing to go near her. Indeed, she frightened him.\n\n'What!' he cried; 'have those two dastardly prisoners the impudence to\nmock me thus, and propose that I should wed such a loathsome creature as\nthat? They shall die for it! Away with that hussy and her nurse, and the\nfellow who brought them here; cast them into the dungeon of my keep!'\n\nNow the king and his brother, who had heard in prison that their sister\nwas expected, had attired themselves handsomely to receive her. But\ninstead of the prison being opened and their liberty restored, as they\nhad anticipated, there came the gaoler with a squad of soldiers, and\nmade them descend into a black dungeon, swarming with vile creatures,\nwhere the water was up to their necks. Never were two people more\nastounded or more distressed. 'Alas!' they cried to each other; 'this is\na doleful wedding feast for us! What has brought this unhappy fate upon\nus?' They did not know what in the world to think, except that it was\ndesired to compass their death, and this reflection filled them with\nmelancholy.\n\nThree days passed and they heard not a word of anything. At the end of\nthe third day the King of the Peacocks came and hurled insults at them\nthrough a hole in the wall.\n\n'You called yourselves King and Prince to trap me,' he shouted to them,\n'and sought thus to make me promise to wed your sister. But you are\nnought but a couple of beggars, not worth the water you drink. You shall\nbe sent for trial, and the judges will make short work of your case--the\nrope to hang you with is being plaited already!'\n\n'Not so fast, King of the Peacocks,' replied the captive monarch,\nangrily, 'or you will have cause to repent it! I am a king like\nyourself: I rule over a fair land, I have robes and crowns and treasure\nin plenty. I pledge my all to the truth of what I say. You must be\njoking to talk of hanging us--of what have we robbed you?'\n\nThe King of the Peacocks hardly knew what to make of this bold and\nconfident challenge. He was almost of a mind to spare their lives and\nlet them take their sister away. But his Chancellor, an arrant\nflatterer, egged him on, whispering that if he did not avenge himself,\nhe would be the laughing-stock of the whole world, and would be looked\nupon as a mere twopenny-halfpenny monarch. Thus influenced, he vowed he\nwould not pardon them, and ordered their trial to take place.\n\nThis did not take long, for it was only necessary to compare side by\nside the portrait of the true Princess Rosette with the actual person\nwho had come in her place and claimed identity with her. The prisoners\nwere forthwith condemned to have their heads cut off as a penalty for\nlying, in that they brought the king an ugly little peasant girl after\npromising a beautiful princess.\n\nThe sentence was read with great ceremony at the prison, but the victims\nprotested that they had spoken the truth, that their sister was indeed a\nprincess, and that there was something at the back of all this which\nthey did not understand. They asked for a respite of seven days, that\nthey might have an opportunity of establishing their innocence; and\nthough the King of the Peacock's wrath was such that he had great\ndifficulty in granting this concession, he agreed to it at length.\n\nSomething must now be told of what was happening to poor Princess\nRosette while all these events were taking place at the Court.\n\nGreat was her astonishment, and Frillikin's also, to find herself, when\nday came, in mid-ocean without boat or any means of assistance. She fell\nto weeping, and cried so long and bitterly that all the fishes were\nmoved to compassion. She knew not what to do, nor what would become of\nher.\n\n'There is no doubt,' she said, 'that I have been thrown into the sea by\norder of the King of the Peacocks. He has regretted his promise to marry\nme, and to be rid of me without fuss he has had me drowned. A strange\nway for a man to behave! And I should have loved him so much, and we\nshould have been so happy together!'\n\nThese thoughts made her weep the more, for she could not dispel her\nfancy for him.\n\n[Illustration: '_She floated hither and thither_']\n\nFor two days she floated hither and thither over the sea, soaked to the\nskin, nigh dead with cold, and so nearly benumbed that but for little\nFrillikin, who snuggled to her bosom, and kept a little warmth in her,\nshe must have perished a hundred times. She was famished with hunger,\nbut on seeing some oysters in their shells she took and ate as many as\nwould appease her. Frillikin did the same, but only to keep himself\nalive, for he did not like them.\n\nWhen night fell Rosette was filled with terror. 'Bark, Frillikin,' she\nsaid to her dog; 'keep on barking, or the soles will come and eat us!'\nSo Frillikin barked all night.\n\n[Illustration: '_A kindly old man_']\n\nWhen morning came the bed was not far off the shore. Hereabouts there\nlived, all alone, a kindly old man. His home was a little hut where no\none ever came, and as he had no desire for worldly goods he was very\npoor. He was astonished when he heard the barking of Frillikin, for no\ndogs ever came that way; and supposing that some travellers must have\nmissed their road, he went out with the good-natured intention of\nputting them right. Suddenly he saw the princess and Frillikin floating\nout at sea. The princess caught sight of him, and stretching out her\narms to him, cried:\n\n'Save me, kind old man, or I shall perish; two whole days have I been\nfloating thus.'\n\nHe was filled with pity when he heard her speak thus dolefully, and went\nto his house to fetch a big crook. He waded out till the water was up to\nhis neck, and after being nearly drowned two or three times he\nsucceeded in grappling the bed and drawing it to the shore.\n\nRosette and Frillikin were delighted to find themselves once more on\nland. Rosette thanked the good man warmly. She accepted the offer of his\ncloak, and having wrapped herself in it walked barefoot to his hut.\nThere he lit a little fire of dry straw, and took from a chest his dead\nwife's best dress, with a pair of stockings and shoes, which the\nprincess put on. Clad thus in peasant's attire, with Frillikin\ngambolling round her to amuse her, she looked as beautiful as ever.\n\nThe old man saw plainly that Rosette was a great lady, for the coverlets\nof her bed were of gold and silver, and her mattress of satin. He begged\nher to tell him her story, promising not to repeat a word if she so\ndesired. She related everything from beginning to end--not without\ntears, for she still believed that the King of the Peacocks had meant\nher to be drowned.\n\n'What are we to do, my child?' said the old man. 'A great lady like you\nis accustomed to live on dainties, and I have only black bread and\nradishes--very poor fare for you. But I will go, if you will let me, and\ntell the King of the Peacocks that you are here. There is not the least\ndoubt he will marry you, once he has seen you.'\n\n'He is a bad man,' said Rosette; 'he wanted me to die. If only you can\nsupply me with a small basket to fasten on my dog's neck, it will be\nexceedingly bad luck if he does not bring us back something to eat.'\n\nThe old man handed a basket to the princess, and she hung it round\nFrillikin's neck with these words: 'Find the best stew-pot in the town,\nand bring me back whatever is inside it.' Off went Frillikin to the\ntown, and as he could think of no better stew-pot than the king's, he\nmade his way into the royal kitchen. Having found the stew-pot, he\ncleverly extricated its contents and returned to the house.\n\n'Now go back to the larder,' said Rosette, 'and bring the best that you\ncan find there.'\n\nAway went Frillikin to the larder and took some white bread, some choice\nwine, and an assortment of fruit and sweets. In fact, he took as much as\nhe could carry.\n\nWhen the King of the Peacocks should have dined there was nothing in the\nstew-pot and nothing in the larder. Everybody gazed blankly at everybody\nelse, and the king flew into a terrible rage. 'Oh, very good,' said he;\n'it seems I am to have no dinner! Well, put the spits to the fire, and\nsee to it that some good roast joints are ready for me this evening!'\n\nWhen evening came the princess said to Frillikin: 'Find the best kitchen\nin the town and bring me a nice roast joint.' Off went Frillikin to\ncarry out this order from his mistress. Thinking there could be no\nbetter kitchen than the king's, he slipped in quietly when the cooks'\nbacks were turned, and took off the spit a roast joint, which looked so\ngood that the mere sight of it gave one an appetite. His basket was full\nwhen he brought it back to the princess, but she sent him off again to\nthe larder, and from there he carried away all the king's sweetmeats and\ndessert.\n\nThe king was exceedingly hungry, having had no dinner, and ordered\nsupper betimes. But there was nothing to eat, and he went to bed in a\nfrightful temper. Next day at dinner and supper it was just the same.\nFor three days the king had nothing to eat or drink, for every time he\nsat down at table it was found that everything had been stolen.\n\nThe Chancellor, being very much afraid that the king would die, went and\nhid in a corner of the kitchen, whence he could keep the stew-pot on the\nfire constantly in view. To his astonishment he saw a little green dog,\nwith only one ear, creep in stealthily, take the lid off the pot, and\ntransfer the meat to his basket. He followed it in order to find out\nwhere it went, and saw it leave the town. Still pursuing, he came to the\nhouse of the good old man. He went immediately to the king and told him\nthat it was to a poor peasant's house that every morning and evening his\ndinner and supper vanished.\n\nThe king was mightily astonished, and ordered investigations to be made.\nThe Chancellor, to curry favour, volunteered to go himself, and took\nwith him a posse of archers. They found the old man at dinner with the\nprincess, and the pair of them eating the king's provisions. They seized\nand bound them with strong ropes, not forgetting to deal in like manner\nwith Frillikin.\n\n'To-morrow,' said the king, when he was told that the prisoners had\narrived, 'the seven days' grace expires which I granted to those\nmiscreants who insulted me. They shall go to execution with the stealers\nof my dinner.'\n\nWhen the King of the Peacocks entered the court of justice the old man\nflung himself on his knees, and declared that he would narrate all that\nhad happened. As he told his story the king eyed the beautiful princess,\nand was touched by her weeping. When presently the good man declared\nthat her name was the Princess Rosette, and that she had been thrown\ninto the sea, he bounded three times into the air, despite the weak\nstate in which he was after going so long without food, and ran to\nembrace her. As he undid the cords which bound her he cried out that he\nloved her with all his heart.\n\n[Illustration: Decoration]\n\nA guard had been sent for the princes, who approached just then. They\ncame sadly with bowed heads, for they believed the hour of their\nexecution had come. The nurse and her daughter were brought in at the\nsame moment. Recognition was instant on all sides. Rosette flung herself\ninto her brothers' arms, while the nurse and her daughter, with the\nboatman, fell on their knees and prayed for clemency. So joyous was the\noccasion that the king and the princess pardoned them. The good old man\nwas handsomely rewarded, and given quarters at the palace for the rest\nof his life.\n\nFinally, the King of the Peacocks made all amends in his power to the\nroyal brothers, expressing his deep regret at having ill-treated them.\nThe nurse delivered up to Rosette her beautiful dresses and the bushel\nof golden crowns, and the wedding festivities lasted for fifteen days.\nEvery one was happy, not excepting Frillikin, who ate nothing but\npartridge wings for the rest of his life.\n\n[Illustration: Decoration]\n\n\n                        THE END\n\n\n     Edinburgh: Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE LTD.\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Notes:\n\nPassages in italics are indicated by _underscore_.\n\nOther than the corrections listed below, printer's inconsistencies in\nspelling, punctuation, hyphenation, and ligature usage have been\nretained.\n\nThe following misprints have been corrected:\n\n  changed \"book-case\" into bookcase page 127\n  added ' before I am sure,' page 120\n  added ' after there are no flies here, page 145\n  added ' after possibly carry out. page 145\n\nIllustrations have been moved from the middle of a paragraph to the\nclosest paragraph break.","title":"Old-Time Stories","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":39380}