{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_67776/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_67776","id":"gutenberg_67776","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67776","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Fairy tales"],"text":"THE OPEN ROAD LIBRARY\n                         OF JUVENILE LITERATURE\n\n\n                              FAIRY TALES\n\n\n                         COMPILED AND EDITED BY\n                      MARION FLORENCE LANSING M.A.\n\n                                 VOL. I\n\n                             ILLUSTRATED BY\n                            CHARLES COPELAND\n\n\n                            GINN AND COMPANY\n                           BOSTON \u00b7 NEW YORK\n                            CHICAGO \u00b7 LONDON\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nFairy Tales, of which this is the first volume, follows without break\nan earlier book, Rhymes and Stories, and is made up chiefly of M\u00e4rchen,\nor nursery tales, with a few drolls, or comic anecdotes. The term\n\u201cfairy tale\u201d has been used in its popular sense as including \u201ctales in\nwhich occurs something \u2018fairy,\u2019 something extraordinary,\u2014giants,\nfairies, dwarfs, speaking animals. It must also be taken to cover tales\nin which what is extraordinary is the stupidity of the actors.\u201d\n\nThe tales are usually romantic, with a definite plot, but without\nemphasis on the point of their being fact or fiction. They do not\nlocate the hero in history or require a definite time or place, but\nbegin with \u201cOnce upon a time, in a certain town or village,\u201d or with\nsome equally indefinite introduction. They deal with the supernatural,\nand always end well for the hero or heroine. They have usually been\nretold from their original traditional form by some skilled\nstory-teller. Very few are distinctly English, though those from other\nlands have been adopted by English-speaking peoples.\n\nSagas, of which \u201cJack the Giant Killer\u201d is an example, differ from the\nother classes in having definite localities and dates assigned to them.\nThey have been reserved for Tales of Old England, which immediately\nfollows in the series. We have been compelled to omit from these\nvolumes many tales which are worthy favorites, but with at least as\nmany fairy stories as are here collected every child should be\nfamiliar. The aim has been to give a proportionate representation to\neach of the great story-tellers, and to each kind of story, and to\nintroduce the best examples of the leading motifs of folklore. The\noriginal sources have been sought out in every case,\u2014in English\nchapbooks, in collections of 1696 and 1795, in German and Old\nFrench,\u2014and these versions have been carefully and minutely compared\nwith the best versions of later times and of the present. Besides the\nscholarly interest attaching to such research, the practical effect has\nbeen to simplify the stories by dropping off the fanciful additions\nmade by successive editors and returning to the beautiful simplicity\nand the clear, forceful language of these wonderful products of the\nstory-teller\u2019s art.\n\n\nM. F. LANSING\n\nCambridge, Massachusetts\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                            Page\n\n        Rumpelstiltskin                        1\n        Doll-in-the-Grass                      9\n        How to tell a Real Princess           14\n        The Frog Prince                       17\n        Cinderella                            26\n        Hans in Luck                          42\n        Diamonds and Toads                    56\n        Puss in Boots                         62\n        Rapunzel                              75\n        Beauty and the Beast                  86\n        The Steadfast Tin Soldier            108\n        Hop-o\u2019-my-Thumb                      118\n        \u201cAinsel\u201d                             139\n        Peronella                            141\n        Fair Goldilocks                      149\n\n        NOTES                                177\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFAIRY TALES\n\n\nRUMPELSTILTSKIN\n\n\nThere was once a miller who was very poor, but he had a beautiful\ndaughter. Now it happened that he had occasion to speak with the King,\nand in order to appear a person of some consequence he told him that he\nhad a daughter who could spin straw into gold.\n\n\u201cNow that is an art worth having,\u201d said the King to the miller; \u201cif\nyour daughter is as skillful as you say, bring her to-morrow to my\npalace and I will put her to the test.\u201d\n\nWhen the girl was brought to him he led her into a room which was full\nof straw, and giving her a spinning wheel and spindle he said, \u201cNow set\nto work, and if by to-morrow morning early you have not spun this straw\ninto gold, you shall die.\u201d\n\nThen he locked the door himself, and left her alone in the room.\n\nThe poor miller\u2019s daughter sat there, and for the life of her could not\nthink what to do. She had not the least idea how to turn straw into\ngold, and she became more and more unhappy, till at last she began to\ncry. Then all at once the door opened, and in came a tiny little man\nand said to her, \u201cGood evening, Mistress Miller; why are you crying so\nbitterly?\u201d\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d answered the girl, \u201cI have to spin straw into gold, and I do\nnot know how to do it.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat will you give me,\u201d said the little man, \u201cif I spin it for you?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy necklace,\u201d said the girl.\n\nThe little man took the necklace, seated himself before the spinning\nwheel, and whirr, whirr, whirr, the wheel went round three times, and\nthe reel was full of gold. Then he put on more straw, and whirr, whirr,\nwhirr, the wheel went round three turns, and the reel was full a second\ntime. And so it went on till morning, when all the straw was spun and\nthe reels were full of gold.\n\nAt sunrise the King came to the room, and when he saw the gold he was\nastonished and delighted, but his heart was only greedy for more. He\nhad the miller\u2019s daughter taken into a still larger room full of straw,\nand commanded her to spin that, too, in one night, if she valued her\nlife. The girl did not know what to do, and began to cry; then the door\nopened as before, and the little man appeared and said, \u201cWhat will you\ngive me if I spin the straw into gold for you?\u201d\n\n\u201cI will give you the ring from my finger,\u201d answered the girl.\n\nThe little man took the ring, began to turn the wheel round with a\nwhirr again, and by morning had spun all the straw into glittering\ngold.\n\nThe King was pleased beyond measure at the sight, but still he had not\ngold enough. He had the miller\u2019s daughter taken into a still larger\nroom filled with straw, and said, \u201cYou must spin this, too, in the\ncourse of the night; but if all this straw is spun into gold by\nmorning, you shall be my wife.\u201d\n\n\u201cEven though she is only a miller\u2019s daughter,\u201d he thought to himself,\n\u201cI could not find a richer wife anywhere in the whole world.\u201d\n\nWhen the girl was alone the little man came for the third time, and\nsaid, \u201cWhat will you give me if I spin the straw for you this once\nmore?\u201d\n\n\u201cI have nothing more that I can give,\u201d answered the girl.\n\n\u201cThen promise me when you are queen to give me your first child.\u201d\n\n\u201cWho knows what may happen before that?\u201d thought the miller\u2019s daughter;\nand, besides, she knew no way to help herself out of this difficulty.\nSo she promised the little man what he asked, and for that he soon spun\nthe straw into gold once more.\n\nWhen the King came in the morning and found everything as he had\nwished, he took her in marriage, and the miller\u2019s beautiful daughter\nbecame a queen.\n\nA year later she had a beautiful child, and she never gave a thought to\nthe little man; but all of a sudden one day he walked into her room and\nsaid, \u201cNow give me what you promised.\u201d\n\nThe Queen was terrified, and offered the little man all the treasures\nof the kingdom if he would only leave her her child.\n\nBut the little man said, \u201cNo, something living is dearer to me than all\nthe treasures in the world.\u201d\n\nThen the Queen began to mourn and weep so bitterly that the little man\nwas sorry for her, and said, \u201cI will give you three days, and if in\nthat time you can guess my name, you shall keep your child.\u201d\n\nThen the Queen lay awake till morning, thinking over all the names she\nhad ever heard of, and she sent a messenger over the country to inquire\nfar and near any other names there might be. When the little man came\nthe next day she began with Caspar, Melchior, Balthazar, and repeated\nall the names she knew; but at each one the little man said, \u201cNo,\nthat\u2019s not my name.\u201d\n\nThe next day she sent to inquire the names of all the people in the\nneighborhood, and had a long list of the most uncommon and\nextraordinary names for the little man when he came.\n\n\u201cIs your name Shortribs, perhaps, or Sheepshanks, or Spindleleg?\u201d\n\nBut he always replied, \u201cNo, that is not my name.\u201d\n\nThe third day the messenger returned and reported: \u201cI have not been\nable to find any more new names, but on my way home, as I came to a\nhigh mountain on the edge of the forest, I saw there a little house,\nand before the house a fire was burning, and round the fire a\nridiculous little man was hopping and dancing on one leg and crying:\n\n\n        \u201c\u2018To-day I brew, to-morrow I bake,\n        Next morning I shall the Queen\u2019s child take;\n        How glad I am that no one can dream\n        That Rumpelstiltskin is my name!\u2019\u201d\n\n\nYou can imagine how delighted the Queen was when she heard the name.\nAnd when the little man came in a little later and asked, \u201cNow, Lady\nQueen, what is my name?\u201d she asked first, \u201cIs your name Conrad?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs your name Henry?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs your name, perhaps, Rumpelstiltskin?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe bad fairies told you that! the bad fairies told you that!\u201d\nscreamed the little man, and in his rage he stamped his right foot so\ndeep into the ground that his whole leg went in; then, in a passion, he\nseized his left foot with both hands and tore himself in two.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDOLL-IN-THE-GRASS\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a King who had twelve sons. When they were\ngrown big he told them they must go out into the world to win\nthemselves wives, but these wives must each be able to spin and weave\nand sew a shirt in one day, else he would not have them for\ndaughters-in-law.\n\nTo each he gave a horse and a new suit of clothes, and they went out\ninto the world to look for their brides. When they had gone a little\nway together they said they would not have Boots, their youngest\nbrother, with them, for he was stupid.\n\nSo Boots had to stay behind, and he did not know what to do or where to\nturn. He became very downcast, and got off his horse and sat down in\nthe tall grass to weep. But when he had sat a while, one of the tufts\nin the grass began to stir and move, and out of it came a little white\nthing. When it came nearer, Boots saw it was a charming little lassie,\n\u201csuch a tiny bit of a thing.\u201d The lassie went up to him and asked if he\nwould come down below and see \u201cDoll-in-the-Grass.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I\u2019d be very happy,\u201d he said, and went.\n\nWhen he got down, there sat Doll-in-the-Grass on a chair. She was the\ntiniest little lassie you can imagine, and very, very lovely. She asked\nBoots where he was going, and what was his business. So he told her how\nthere were twelve brothers of them, and how the King had told them each\none must go out into the world and find himself a wife who could spin\nand weave and sew a shirt in one day.\n\n\u201cBut if you will only say at once that you will be my wife,\u201d said Boots\nto Doll-in-the-Grass, \u201cI\u2019ll not go a step farther.\u201d\n\nShe was willing, and so she made haste and spun and wove and sewed the\nshirt, but it was very, very tiny. It wasn\u2019t more than two inches long.\n\nBoots went off home with it, but when he brought it out he was almost\nashamed of it, it was so small. But the King was pleased with it, and\nsaid he should have her. So Boots set off, glad and happy, to fetch his\nlittle sweetheart.\n\nWhen he came to Doll-in-the-Grass he wished to take her up before him\non his horse. But she would not have that, for she said she would sit\nand drive along in a silver spoon, and that she had two small white\nhorses to draw her. So off they set, he on his horse and she in her\nsilver spoon, and the two horses that drew her were two tiny white\nmice; but Boots always kept the other side of the road, for he was\nafraid lest he should ride over her, she was so little.\n\nWhen they had gone a little way they came to a great piece of water.\nHere Boots\u2019s horse got frightened, and shied across the road and upset\nthe spoon, and Doll-in-the-Grass tumbled into the water. Then Boots was\nin great distress, for he did not know how to get her out again; but in\na little while up came a merman with her, and now she was as tall and\nwell grown as other men and women, and far lovelier than she had been\nbefore. So he took her up before him on his horse, and rode home.\n\nAll Boots\u2019s brothers had come back with their sweethearts, but none had\nwoven so dainty a little shirt as Doll-in-the-Grass, and none were half\nso lovely. When the brothers saw her they were as jealous as jealous\ncould be of their brother; but the King was so delighted with her that\nhe gave them a fine wedding feast, and had them live with him in his\npalace, and he gave out word that they should follow him on the throne.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHOW TO TELL A REAL PRINCESS\n\n\nThere was once a prince who wanted to marry a princess. But she must be\na real princess, mind you. So he traveled all around the world to find\none, but everywhere there was always something in the way. Not that\nthere was any lack of princesses, but whether they were real princesses\nhe could not seem to make out; there was always something that did not\nseem quite right. So home he came, quite out of spirits, for he did\nwish so much to have a real princess.\n\nOne evening a terrible storm came on. It thundered and lightened, and\nthe rain poured down in torrents; indeed, it was a fearful night. In\nthe midst of it there came a knocking at the palace gate, and the old\nking went out to open it.\n\nIt was a princess who stood outside. But, oh, dear! what a state she\nwas in from the rain and storm! The water was streaming from her hair\nand clothes; it ran in at the tips of her shoes and out at the heels;\nyet she insisted she was a real princess.\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d thought the old queen; \u201cthat we shall presently see.\u201d She\nsaid nothing, but she went into the bedroom and took off all the\nbedding, and then laid a pea on the framework of the bedstead. Having\ndone this, she took twenty mattresses and laid them upon the pea, and\ntwenty eider-down quilts on top of the mattresses.\n\nThe princess lay upon this bed all night. In the morning she was asked\nhow she had slept.\n\n\u201cOh, miserably!\u201d said the princess. \u201cI scarcely closed my eyes the\nwhole night through. I\u2019m sure I don\u2019t know what was in the bed. I lay\nupon something so hard that I am black and blue all over from it. It is\ndreadful!\u201d\n\nNow they knew at once that she was a real princess, since through\ntwenty mattresses and through twenty eider-down quilts she had felt the\npea. None but a real princess could be so sensitive.\n\nSo the prince took her for his wife, for he knew that at last in her he\nhad found a real princess. And the pea was put in the Royal Museum,\nwhere it is still to be seen unless some one has stolen it.\n\nAnd this, mind you, is a true story.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE FROG PRINCE\n\n\nIn olden times there lived a King whose daughters were all beautiful,\nbut the youngest was so lovely that the sun himself wondered at her\nbeauty every time he looked into her face.\n\nNear to the King\u2019s castle lay a dark, gloomy forest; and in the forest,\nunder an old linden tree, was a fountain. When the day was very hot the\nKing\u2019s daughter used to go into the wood and sit down by the side of\nthe cool fountain. Her favorite amusement, as she sat there, was to\ntoss a golden ball up into the air and catch it again. Once she threw\nit so high that, instead of falling into the hand that she stretched\nout for it, it dropped upon the ground and rolled straight into the\nwater.\n\nThe King\u2019s daughter followed it with her eyes as long as she could, but\nit disappeared, for the well was so deep that she could not see the\nbottom. Then she began to cry bitterly for her ball.\n\nAs she sat weeping she heard a voice calling: \u201cWhat is the matter,\nKing\u2019s daughter? Your tears would touch the heart of a stone.\u201d\n\nShe looked round towards the spot whence the voice came and saw a frog\nstretching his thick, ugly head out of the water.\n\n\u201cOh, it is you, is it, old water-paddler!\u201d she said. \u201cWell, then, I am\ncrying for the loss of my golden ball which has fallen into the\nfountain.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen do not cry any more,\u201d answered the frog; \u201cI can get it for you.\nBut what will you give me if I bring back your plaything to you?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, anything you like, dear frog!\u201d she said. \u201cMy dresses, my pearls\nand jewels, even the golden crown I wear.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d answered the frog, \u201cyour clothes, your pearls and jewels, or even\nyour golden crown are nothing to me; but if you will love me and let me\nbe your companion and playfellow, sit by you at table, eat from your\nlittle golden plate, drink out of your cup, and sleep in your little\nbed,\u2014if you will promise me all this, then I will bring you back your\ngolden ball from the bottom of the fountain.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, yes,\u201d she replied, \u201cI promise you anything if you will only bring\nme back my ball!\u201d\n\nShe was thinking to herself all this while: \u201cWhat nonsense the silly\nfrog does talk! He lives in the water with other frogs, and croaks, and\ncannot be anybody\u2019s playfellow.\u201d\n\nBut the frog, as soon as he had received the promise, ducked his head\nunder the water and sank down to the bottom. In a little while he came\nup again with the ball in his mouth, and threw it on the grass. The\nKing\u2019s daughter was full of joy when she saw her pretty plaything\nagain, and, catching it up, ran off with it.\n\n\u201cWait! wait!\u201d cried the frog. \u201cTake me with you; I cannot run as fast\nas you.\u201d\n\nBut the young Princess would not listen to the frog\u2019s croaking, but ran\nhome and soon forgot the poor frog, who had to go back to his fountain\nagain.\n\nThe next day, when the Princess was sitting at table with the King and\nhis courtiers and eating out of her little golden plate, there came a\nsound of something creeping up the marble staircase, splish, splash,\nsplish, splash, and presently there came a knock at the door, and a\nvoice crying, \u201cYoungest King\u2019s daughter, open to me.\u201d\n\nShe ran to see who was outside; but when she opened the door and saw\nthe frog she shut it again in great haste and sat down at the table\nlooking very much frightened. The King, seeing that his daughter was\nalarmed, said to her: \u201cMy child, what is the matter? Is there a giant\noutside at the door, wanting to carry you off?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, no!\u201d she replied; \u201cit is no giant,\u2014only a great ugly frog.\u201d\n\n\u201cA frog! What can he want with you, my daughter?\u201d\n\n\u201cYesterday when I was playing with my golden ball by the fountain in\nthe forest it fell into the water, and because I cried the frog brought\nit out for me, and he made me promise that he should come here and be\nmy companion; but I never thought he could get out of the water to\ncome. And now he is outside there, and wants to come in to me.\u201d\n\nJust then he knocked at the door a second time, and called:\n\n\n            \u201cYoungest King\u2019s daughter,\n              Open to me.\n            Do you not know\n              What you promised me,\n            Yesterday\n              Under the linden tree?\n            Youngest King\u2019s daughter,\n              Open to me.\u201d\n\n\nThen the King said: \u201cMy daughter, what you have promised, you must do.\nGo and open the door for him.\u201d\n\nShe went and opened the door, and the frog hopped after her, close to\nher feet, and quite up to her chair. There he sat and cried, \u201cLift me\nup beside you.\u201d\n\nShe hesitated, till the King commanded her to do it.\n\nWhen the frog was on the table he said, \u201cNow push your little plate\nnearer to me, and we will eat together.\u201d\n\nShe did it, but it was easy to see that she did not do it willingly.\nThe frog seemed to enjoy his dinner very much, but every mouthful she\nate choked her. At last he said, \u201cI have eaten enough, and am tired;\nnow carry me to your little room, and make your silken bed ready, that\nwe may sleep together.\u201d\n\nThe King\u2019s daughter began to cry, for she was afraid of the cold frog.\nShe did not like to touch him, and now he wanted to sleep in her\nbeautiful, neat little bed.\n\nBut the King was displeased at her tears, and said, \u201cHe who helped you\nwhen you were in trouble must not be despised now.\u201d\n\nSo she took up the frog with two fingers, carried him upstairs, and put\nhim in a corner of her room.\n\nWhen she got into bed he crept up to her and said: \u201cI am tired, and I\nwant to go to sleep too. Lift me up, or I will tell your father.\u201d\n\nThen she was very angry, and picked him up and threw him with all her\nstrength against the wall, saying, \u201cNow will you be quiet, you ugly\nfrog?\u201d\n\nBut as he fell, how surprised she was to see the frog change into a\nhandsome young Prince with beautiful, friendly eyes! He told her how he\nhad been bewitched by a wicked fairy, and how no one could have\nreleased him from the spell but herself. He now became, by her father\u2019s\nwill, her dear companion and her husband.\n\nThe young Prince wanted to take her to his own kingdom. So on the\nwedding day a splendid carriage drawn by eight white horses with white\nplumes on their heads and golden harness drove up to the door. Behind\nit stood the servant of the young Prince, the faithful Henry. This\nfaithful Henry had been so unhappy when his master was changed into a\nfrog that he had bound three iron bands round his heart to keep it from\nbreaking with grief and sorrow.\n\nThe carriage with the Prince and his bride soon drove away, with Henry\nbehind. They had only gone a little way when the Prince heard a loud\ncrack behind him, as if something had broken. He turned round, and\ncried, \u201cHenry, the carriage is breaking!\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, sir,\u201d he replied, \u201cit is not the carriage, but only the iron bands\nwhich I bound round my heart for fear it should break with sorrow while\nyou were a frog confined in the fountain. They are breaking now because\nof my happiness.\u201d\n\nThe Prince and Princess never forgot faithful Henry, who had loved his\nmaster so well while he was in trouble.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCINDERELLA\n\n\nThere was once a gentleman who took for his second wife the proudest\nand most haughty lady that was ever seen. She had two daughters who\nwere exactly like her in character, as in everything else. The\ngentleman had likewise a young daughter, but of uncommon sweetness and\ngentleness of disposition, which she took from her mother, who was the\nbest person in the world.\n\nThe wedding was hardly over when the stepmother began to give full vent\nto her bad temper. She could not bear this young girl, whose good\nqualities made her own daughters appear even more hateful in contrast.\nShe gave her the meanest work in the house to do: it was she who washed\nthe dishes and tables, and scrubbed the stairs, and cleaned the\nchambers of madam and her young lady daughters. She slept at the top of\nthe house in a garret, on a miserable straw bed, while her sisters were\nin rooms with inlaid floors, where they had beds of the newest fashion,\nand mirrors in which they could see themselves from head to foot.\n\nAll this the poor girl bore patiently. She dared not complain to her\nfather, who would only have reproved her, for his wife governed him\nentirely. When she had done her work she used to go into the chimney\ncorner and sit among the cinders; so they commonly called her\n\u201cCinder-wench.\u201d The younger sister, who was not so rude and uncivil as\nthe elder, called her \u201cCinderella.\u201d But Cinderella, for all her mean\ndress, was still a hundred times more beautiful than her sisters,\nalthough they were always dressed magnificently.\n\nIt happened that the King\u2019s son gave a ball, to which he invited all\npersons of fashion. Our two young ladies were invited, for they were\npeople of distinction in the country. They were much delighted and were\nabsorbed in selecting the gowns and headdresses which would best become\nthem. Here was fresh trial for Cinderella, for it was she who ironed\nher sisters\u2019 linen and starched their ruffles. All day long they talked\nof nothing but how they should be dressed.\n\n\u201cFor my part,\u201d said the elder, \u201cI will wear my red velvet dress with\nFrench trimmings.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd I,\u201d said the younger, \u201cshall have only my ordinary skirt; but to\nmake amends for that I shall wear my gold-flowered mantle and my\ndiamond necklace, which are very far from being ordinary.\u201d\n\nThey sent for the best hairdresser to arrange their hair in the most\nstylish way, and bought patches for their cheeks from the most\nfashionable maker. They called in Cinderella to consult with them, for\nshe had good taste. She gave them the best advice she could, and even\noffered to arrange their headdresses, a proposal which they were very\nready to accept.\n\nWhile she was doing this they said to her, \u201cCinderella, should you not\nlike to go to the ball?\u201d\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d replied Cinderella, \u201cyou mock me! It is not for me to go to\nballs.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are right,\u201d said they; \u201cpeople might well laugh to see a\ncinder-wench at a ball.\u201d Any one but Cinderella might have left their\nhair awry, but she was good-humored and did it to perfection.\n\nFor almost two days they scarcely ate anything, so transported were\nthey with joy. They broke a dozen or more laces by drawing them too\ntight in their efforts to make themselves look as slender as possible,\nand they spent all their time before the mirror.\n\nAt last the happy day came; they departed, and Cinderella followed them\nwith her eyes as long as she could. When she could see them no longer\nshe began to cry.\n\nHer godmother, seeing her in tears, asked her what was the matter.\n\n\u201cI wish\u2014I w-i-s-h\u201d\u2014but she could not finish for weeping.\n\nHer godmother, who was a fairy, said to her, \u201cYou wish you could go to\nthe ball, do you not?\u201d\n\n\u201cAlas, yes!\u201d said Cinderella, sighing.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said her godmother, \u201cbe a good girl, and I will see to it that\nyou go.\u201d\n\nShe led her into her chamber, and said to her, \u201cRun into the garden, my\nchild, and fetch me a pumpkin.\u201d\n\nCinderella went at once to pick the finest she could find, although she\ncould not imagine how this pumpkin could help her to go to the ball.\n\nHer godmother scooped out the inside, leaving nothing but the rind;\nthen she struck it with her wand, and the pumpkin immediately became a\nbeautiful gilded coach.\n\nShe then went to look into the mouse trap, where she found six mice,\nall alive. She told Cinderella to lift the door of the trap, and as\neach mouse passed out the godmother gave it a little tap with her wand\nand it was turned into a fine horse. The six made a splendid team of\nsix horses of a fine dapple-gray mouse color.\n\nWhile she was wondering what she should do for a coachman, Cinderella\nsaid, \u201cI will run and see if there is not a rat in the rat trap; we\nwill turn him into a coachman.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are right,\u201d said her godmother; \u201cgo and look.\u201d\n\nCinderella brought the trap to her, and in it there were three huge\nrats. The fairy chose the one which had the largest beard, and,\ntouching him with her wand, turned him into an imposing coachman with\nthe finest mustache and whiskers ever seen.\n\nThen she said to Cinderella, \u201cGo into the garden and you will find six\nlizards behind the watering pot; bring them to me.\u201d\n\nShe had no sooner done this than her godmother changed them into six\nfootmen, who jumped up at once behind the coach in their laced\nliveries, and held on as if they had done nothing else all their lives.\n\nThe fairy then said to Cinderella, \u201cWell, here is something in which to\ngo to the ball; are you not pleased with it?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes; but am I to go like this,\u2014in these miserable rags?\u201d\n\nHer godmother simply touched her with her wand, and in the same instant\nher clothes were changed into apparel of cloth of gold and silver, all\ndecked with jewels. Then she gave her a pair of the prettiest glass\nslippers in the world. Thus attired, she got into the carriage. Her\ngodmother charged her on no account to stay beyond midnight, and warned\nher that, if she stayed one moment longer, her coach would become a\npumpkin again, her horses mice, her footmen lizards, and her clothes\njust as they were before. She promised her godmother that she would not\nfail to leave the ball before midnight, and set off, almost beside\nherself with joy.\n\nThe King\u2019s son, when he was told that a great Princess, whom nobody\nknew, had arrived, ran out to receive her; he gave her his hand as she\nalighted from the coach and conducted her to the hall where the company\nwas assembled. A deep silence at once fell upon every one; they stopped\ndancing and the violins ceased to play, so taken up was every one with\ngazing at the marvelous beauty of this unknown arrival. Nothing was\nheard but the confused murmur of voices saying, \u201cAh! how beautiful she\nis!\u201d\n\nThe King himself, old as he was, could not keep his eyes off her, and\nwhispered to the Queen that it was a long time since he had seen so\nbeautiful and so lovely a creature.\n\nAll the ladies were taken up with studying her headdress and her\ncostume, in order to have some made for themselves after the same\npattern the next day,\u2014provided they could find materials which would be\nfine enough and work-people clever enough to make them.\n\nThe King\u2019s son conducted her to the seat of honor, and soon took her\nout to dance with him. She danced with such grace that every one\nadmired her still more. A fine collation was served, but the young\nPrince was so absorbed in gazing at her that he did not touch a morsel.\n\nShe seated herself beside her sisters and showed them a thousand\ncourtesies, sharing with them, among other things, the oranges and\ncitrons which the Prince had presented to her. This astonished them\nvery much, for they did not know her.\n\nWhile they were conversing together Cinderella heard the clock strike a\nquarter to twelve. She rose at once, courtesied to the company, and\nhastened away as fast as she could.\n\nAs soon as she got home she ran to find her godmother, and, after\nhaving thanked her, told her how much she wished to go to the ball the\nnext day, because the King\u2019s son had begged her to come. While she was\ntelling her godmother all that had happened at the ball her two sisters\nknocked at the door.\n\nCinderella opened it. \u201cHow long you have stayed!\u201d she said, yawning,\nrubbing her eyes, and stretching herself as if she had just been\nawakened. (She had not, however, had any great desire for sleep since\nthey left her.)\n\n\u201cIf you had been at the ball,\u201d said one of her sisters, \u201cyou would not\nhave been sleepy or bored. There came thither the most beautiful\nPrincess, the very loveliest ever seen; she paid us a thousand\nattentions, and gave us oranges and citrons.\u201d\n\nCinderella asked the name of this Princess, but they replied that no\none knew it; that the King\u2019s son was very much disturbed by this, and\nwould give anything in the world to know who she was.\n\nCinderella smiled and said: \u201cHow very beautiful she must be! How\nfortunate you are! Could I not see her? Ah, dear Miss Charlotte, do\nlend me the yellow gown that you wear every day!\u201d\n\n\u201cIndeed!\u201d said Charlotte, \u201cI should think so! Lend my dress to a dirty\ncinder-wench like you! I must be out of my mind indeed if I would do\nthat.\u201d\n\nCinderella expected this refusal and was very glad of it, for she would\nhave been greatly embarrassed if her sister had been willing to lend\nher the gown.\n\nThe next day the two sisters went to the ball, and so did Cinderella,\nbut dressed much more magnificently than before. The King\u2019s son was\nalways by her side, and made all manner of pretty speeches to her. The\nyoung lady was far from being wearied by them, and completely forgot\nher godmother\u2019s commands, so that she heard the clock begin to strike\ntwelve when she had no idea that it was even eleven o\u2019clock yet. She\nrose at once, and fled as nimbly as a deer. The Prince followed, but\ncould not overtake her; but she dropped one of her glass slippers,\nwhich he picked up very carefully.\n\nCinderella reached home quite out of breath, without either coach or\nfootmen, and in her old clothes, having nothing left of all her finery\nbut one of her little glass slippers, the mate of the one which she had\ndropped. The guards at the palace gates were questioned as to whether\nthey had not seen a princess go out, and they replied that they had\nseen no one go out but a little ragged girl who looked more like a\npeasant than a princess.\n\nWhen her two sisters returned from the ball Cinderella asked them if\nthey had had a good time, and if the beautiful lady was there. They\ntold her Yes, but that she had hurried away as the clock struck twelve,\nand in such great haste that she had dropped one of her little glass\nslippers, the prettiest in the world. They told, too, how the Prince\nhad picked it up, and how he had done nothing but look at it all the\nrest of the evening, and agreed that he was undoubtedly very much in\nlove with the beautiful owner of the little slipper.\n\nThey spoke truly, for a few days after, the Prince had it proclaimed,\nat the sound of the trumpet, that he would marry her whose foot this\nslipper fitted exactly. They began to try it on the princesses, then on\nthe duchesses, and then on all the ladies of the court, but to no\npurpose. They brought it to the two sisters, and each one did all she\npossibly could to squeeze a foot into the slipper; but neither could\nmanage to do it. Cinderella, who was watching them and recognized her\nslipper, said laughingly, \u201cLet me see if it will not fit me!\u201d\n\nHer sisters burst out laughing, and made fun of her. The gentleman who\nwas trying on the slipper looked at her earnestly, and finding her very\nbeautiful, said that it was but fair she should try, and that he had\norders to let every young lady try it on. He made Cinderella sit down,\nand putting the slipper to her little foot, he saw that it slipped on\neasily and fitted like wax.\n\nThe astonishment of the two sisters was great, but it was even greater\nwhen Cinderella pulled from her pocket the other little slipper and put\nit on her foot. Thereupon in came her godmother, who, touching\nCinderella\u2019s clothes with her wand, made them become more magnificent\nthan those which she had worn before.\n\nNow her sisters recognized her as the beautiful stranger whom they had\nseen at the ball. They threw themselves at her feet and asked her\nforgiveness for all the ill treatment she had received from them.\nCinderella raised them up and, embracing them, said that she forgave\nthem with all her heart, and begged them to love her always.\n\nShe was conducted to the young Prince, dressed as she was. He found her\nmore beautiful than ever, and a few days later married her. Cinderella,\nwho was as good as she was beautiful, gave her two sisters apartments\nin the palace, and married them that same day to two great lords of the\ncourt.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHANS IN LUCK\n\n\nHans had served his master seven years, and at the end of that time he\nsaid to him, \u201cMaster, my time is up; now I should like to go home to my\nmother, so give me my wages, if you please.\u201d\n\nHis master answered, \u201cYou have served me faithfully and well, and as\nthe service has been, so shall the wages be\u201d; and he gave him a lump of\ngold as big as his head.\n\nHans pulled his handkerchief out of his pocket, wrapped the lump in it,\nslung it over his shoulder, and set out on the way home.\n\nAs he was trudging painstakingly and laboriously along the road a\nhorseman came in sight, trotting gayly and briskly along on a spirited\nhorse.\n\n\u201cAh,\u201d said Hans aloud, \u201cwhat a fine thing riding is! There you sit as\ncomfortable as in a chair; you stumble over no stones, you save your\nshoes, and you get over the ground you hardly know how.\u201d\n\nThe horseman, overhearing him, stopped and said, \u201cHalloo, Hans! Why do\nyou go on foot then?\u201d\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t help it,\u201d answered Hans, \u201cfor I have this bundle to carry\nhome. It is gold, to be sure, but I cannot hold my head straight for\nit, and it hurts my shoulder, too.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will tell you what,\u201d said the horseman, \u201cwe will exchange. I will\ngive you my horse, and you shall give me your lump.\u201d\n\n\u201cWith all my heart,\u201d said Hans; \u201cbut I tell you beforehand that you are\ntaking a good heavy load on yourself.\u201d\n\nThe horseman got down, took the gold, and helped Hans up, putting the\nbridle into his hands, and said, \u201cNow, when you want to go at a really\ngood pace, you must click your tongue and cry, \u2018Gee up! gee up!\u2019\u201d\n\nHans was delighted when he found himself sitting on a horse and riding\nalong so freely and easily. After a while it occurred to him that he\nmight go still faster, and he began to click with his tongue and cry,\n\u201cGee up! gee up!\u201d The horse broke into a gallop, and before Hans knew\nwhat he was about he was thrown off and was lying in a ditch which\nseparated the fields from the highroad. The horse would have run away\nif it had not been stopped by a peasant who was coming along the road\nand driving a cow before him. Hans felt himself all over, and picked\nhimself up; but he was vexed, and said to the peasant: \u201cThis riding on\nhorseback is no joke, I can tell you, especially when a man gets on a\nmare like mine, that kicks and throws one off, so that it is a wonder\none\u2019s neck is not broken. Never again will I ride that animal! Now I\nlike your cow; you can walk quietly along behind her, and you have her\nmilk, butter, and cheese, every day, into the bargain. What would I not\ngive for such a cow!\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, now,\u201d said the peasant, \u201cif it would give you as much pleasure\nas all that, I don\u2019t mind exchanging the cow for the horse.\u201d\n\nHans agreed to this with the greatest delight, and the peasant,\nswinging himself upon the horse, rode off in a hurry.\n\nHans drove his cow peacefully before him, and thought over his lucky\nbargain. \u201cIf I only have a bit of bread\u2014and I ought never to be without\nthat\u2014I can have butter and cheese with it as often as I like; if I am\nthirsty, I have only to milk the cow and I have milk to drink. What\nmore could heart desire?\u201d\n\nWhen he came to an inn he made a halt, and ate with great satisfaction\nall the bread he had brought with him for dinner and supper, and spent\nhis last two farthings for a glass of beer to drink with it. Then he\ndrove his cow along in the direction of his mother\u2019s village. The heat\ngrew more and more oppressive as the middle of the day drew near, and\nHans found himself on a wide heath which it would take about an hour to\ncross. He was very hot and thirsty.\n\n\u201cThis is easily remedied,\u201d thought Hans; \u201cI will milk the cow and\nrefresh myself with the milk.\u201d\n\nHe tied her to a tree, and as he had no pail he put his leather cap\nunderneath her; but try as hard as he could, not a drop of milk came.\nHe had put himself in a very awkward position, too, and at last the\nimpatient beast gave him such a kick on the head that he tumbled over\non the ground and was so dazed that for a long time he could not think\nwhere he was.\n\nFortunately a butcher came along soon, trundling a wheelbarrow in which\nlay a young pig.\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s the matter here?\u201d he cried, as he helped Hans up.\n\nHans told him what had happened. The butcher handed him his flask and\nsaid: \u201cThere, take a drink; it will do you good. That cow might well\ngive no milk; she is an old beast, and only fit at best for the plow or\nfor the butcher.\u201d\n\n\u201cDear, dear!\u201d said Hans, running his fingers through his hair, \u201cwho\nwould have thought it! It is an idea to kill the beast and have the\nmeat. But I do not care much for beef,\u2014it is not juicy enough. Now a\nyoung pig like yours,\u2014that is what would taste good; and then there are\nthe sausages!\u201d\n\n\u201cTake heed, Hans,\u201d said the butcher; \u201cout of love for you I will\nexchange and let you have the pig for the cow.\u201d\n\n\u201cMay Heaven reward you for your kindness!\u201d cried Hans, handing over the\ncow as the butcher untied the pig from the barrow and put into his hand\nthe string with which it was tied.\n\nHans went on again, thinking how everything was turning out just as he\nwished; if he did meet with any mishap, it was immediately set right.\nPresently a lad overtook him who was carrying a fine white goose under\nhis arm. They said \u201cGood morning\u201d to each other, and then Hans began at\nonce to tell of his good luck and how he always made such good\nbargains. The lad told him that he was taking the goose to a\nchristening feast.\n\n\u201cJust lift it,\u201d said he to Hans, holding it up by the wings, \u201cand feel\nhow heavy it is; it has been fattened up for the last eight weeks.\nWhoever gets a taste of it when it is roasted will get a rare bit.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said Hans, weighing it in one hand, \u201cit is a good weight, but my\npig is no trifle either.\u201d\n\nMeanwhile the lad kept looking suspiciously from one side to the other\nand shook his head.\n\n\u201cLook here,\u201d he began, \u201cI\u2019m not so sure it\u2019s all right with your pig.\nIn the village through which I passed, the mayor himself had just had\none stolen from his sty. I fear\u2014I fear you have got hold of it there in\nyour hand. They have sent out people to look for it, and it would be a\nbad business for you if you were found with it; at the very least, you\nwould be shut up in the dark hole.\u201d\n\nHonest Hans was very much frightened.\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d he said, \u201chelp me out of this trouble! You are more at home in\nthese parts than I; take my pig and let me have your goose.\u201d\n\n\u201cI shall run some risk if I do,\u201d answered the lad, \u201cbut I will not be\nthe cause of your getting into trouble.\u201d\n\nSo he took the cord in his hand and drove the pig quickly away by a\nside path.\n\nHonest Hans, relieved of his anxiety, plodded along towards home with\nthe goose under his arm. \u201cWhen I really come to think it over,\u201d he said\nto himself, \u201cI have even gained by this exchange: first, there is the\ngood roast; then the quantity of fat that will drip out of it in\nroasting and will keep us in goose fat to eat on our bread for a\nquarter of a year; and last of all there are the fine white feathers,\nwith which I will stuff my pillow, and then I warrant I shall sleep\nlike a top. How delighted my mother will be!\u201d\n\nAs he was going through the last village he came to a knife grinder\nwith his cart, singing, as his wheel whirred busily around,\n\n\n        \u201cScissors and knives I quickly grind,\n        While my coat flies out in the wind behind.\u201d\n\n\nHans stopped to watch him; at last he spoke to him and said, \u201cYou\nappear to have a good business, if I may judge by your merry song.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d answered the knife grinder, \u201cthis business has a golden bottom.\nA good grinder finds money in his pocket whenever he puts his hand in\nit. But where did you buy that fine goose?\u201d\n\n\u201cI did not buy it, but took it in exchange for my pig.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd the pig?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat I got for a cow.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd the cow?\u201d\n\n\u201cI took that for a horse.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd the horse?\u201d\n\n\u201cFor that I gave a lump of gold as big as my head.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd the gold?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, that was my wages for seven years\u2019 service!\u201d\n\n\u201cYou have certainly known how to look after yourself each time,\u201d said\nthe grinder. \u201cIf you can only get on so far as to hear the money jingle\nin your pockets whenever you stand up, you will indeed have made your\nfortune.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow shall I manage that?\u201d said Hans.\n\n\u201cYou must become a grinder, like me; nothing in particular is needed\nfor it but a grindstone,\u2014everything else will come of itself. I have\none of those here; to be sure it is a little worn, but you need not\ngive me anything for it but your goose. Will you do it?\u201d\n\n\u201cHow can you ask?\u201d said Hans. \u201cWhy, I shall be the luckiest man in the\nworld. If I have money every time I put my hand into my pocket, what\nmore can I have to trouble about?\u201d\n\nSo he handed him the goose and took the grindstone in exchange.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said the grinder, picking up an ordinary big stone that lay by\nthe road, \u201chere is another good stone into the bargain. You can hammer\nout all your old nails on it and straighten them. Take it with you and\nkeep it carefully.\u201d\n\nHans shouldered the stones and walked on with a light heart, his eyes\nshining with joy. \u201cI must have been born under a lucky star,\u201d he\nexclaimed; \u201ceverything happens to me just as I want it.\u201d\n\nMeanwhile, as he had been on his legs since daybreak, he began to feel\ntired. He was hungry, too, for in his joy at the bargain by which he\ngot his cow he had eaten up all his store of food at once, and had had\nnone since. At last he felt quite unable to go farther, and was forced\nto rest every minute or two. Besides, the stones weighed him down\ndreadfully. He could not help thinking how nice it would be if he did\nnot have to carry them any farther.\n\nHe dragged himself slowly over to a well in the field, meaning to rest\nand refresh himself with a draft of cool water. To keep the stones from\nhurting him while he knelt to drink, he laid them carefully on the edge\nof the well. Then he sat down, and was about to stoop and drink, but\nmade a slip which gave the stones a little push, and both of them\nrolled off into the water. When Hans saw them sinking to the bottom he\njumped for joy, and knelt down and thanked God, with tears in his eyes,\nfor having shown him this further favor, and relieved him of the heavy\nstones (which were the only things that troubled him) without his\nhaving anything to reproach himself with.\n\n\u201cThere is no man under the sun so lucky as I,\u201d he cried out. Then with\na light heart, and free from every burden, he ran on until he reached\nhis mother\u2019s home.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDIAMONDS AND TOADS\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a widow who had two daughters. The elder was\nso much like her, both in looks and in character, that whoever saw the\ndaughter saw the mother. They were both so disagreeable and so proud\nthat there was no living with them. The younger, who was the image of\nher father in courtesy and sweetness of temper, was one of the most\nbeautiful girls ever seen. As people naturally love those who are like\nthem, this mother doted upon her elder daughter, and at the same time\nconceived a great aversion to the younger. She made her eat in the\nkitchen and work continually.\n\nAmong other things, the poor child had to go twice a day to draw water\nmore than a mile and a half from the house, and bring home a large\npitcherful of it. One day when she was at the fountain a poor woman\ncame to her and asked her to let her drink.\n\n\u201cOh, yes! with all my heart, Goody,\u201d said the pretty little girl.\nRinsing the pitcher at once, she filled it at the clearest part of the\nfountain and gave it to her, holding up the pitcher all the while, that\nshe might drink the more easily.\n\nThen the good woman said to her, \u201cYou are so pretty, so good, and so\ncourteous, that I cannot help giving you a gift.\u201d\n\nFor this was a fairy, who had taken the form of a poor countrywoman to\nsee how far the civility and good manners of this young girl would go.\n\n\u201cI will give you for a gift,\u201d continued the fairy, \u201cthat at every word\nyou speak there shall come out of your mouth either a flower or a\njewel.\u201d\n\nWhen this pretty girl got home, her mother scolded her for staying so\nlong at the fountain.\n\n\u201cI ask your pardon, mamma,\u201d said the poor girl, \u201cfor not making more\nhaste\u201d; and as she spoke these words there fell from her lips three\nroses, three pearls, and four diamonds.\n\n\u201cWhat do I see here?\u201d said the mother, quite astonished. \u201cI think I see\npearls and diamonds come out of the girl\u2019s mouth. How happens this, my\nchild?\u201d\n\nThis was the first time she had ever called her \u201cmy child.\u201d\n\nThe girl told her frankly all that had happened to her, dropping from\nher mouth great numbers of diamonds as she spoke.\n\n\u201cReally,\u201d cried the mother, \u201cI must send my own dear daughter thither.\nFanny! Fanny! look! see what comes out of your sister\u2019s mouth when she\nspeaks! Would you not like, my dear, to have the same gift? You have\nonly to go and draw water at the fountain, and when a poor woman asks\nyou to let her drink, to give it to her very civilly.\u201d\n\n\u201cI should like to see myself going to the fountain to draw water,\u201d said\nthis ill-bred minx.\n\n\u201cI insist that you go,\u201d said the mother, \u201cand that at once.\u201d\n\nSo away she went, taking with her the best silver tankard in the house,\nbut grumbling all the way.\n\nShe no sooner reached the fountain than she saw coming out of the wood\na lady, magnificently dressed, who came up to her and asked for a\ndrink.\n\nThis was the same fairy who had appeared to her sister, but she had now\ntaken the air and the dress of a princess, to see how far this girl\u2019s\nrudeness would go.\n\n\u201cAm I come here,\u201d said the ill-bred, saucy girl, \u201cto serve you with\nwater, pray? I suppose this silver tankard was brought wholly on\npurpose for your ladyship, was it? I should think so! You must drink\nout of the fountain, if you want any.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are hardly polite,\u201d answered the fairy, without putting herself in\na passion. \u201cWell, then, since you are so disobliging, I give you for a\ngift, that at every word you speak there shall come out of your mouth a\nsnake or a toad.\u201d\n\nAs soon as her mother saw her coming, she cried out, \u201cWell, daughter?\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, mother,\u201d answered the rude girl, throwing out of her mouth a\nviper and a toad.\n\n\u201cOh, mercy!\u201d cried the mother, \u201cwhat is this I see? It is her sister\nwho is the cause of all this, but she shall pay for it\u201d; and\nimmediately she ran to beat her.\n\nThe poor child fled away from her and went to hide herself in the\nforest near by. The King\u2019s son, as he was returning from hunting, met\nher, and seeing how beautiful she was, asked her what she was doing\nthere all alone, and why she was crying.\n\n\u201cAlas, sir, my mother has turned me out of doors!\u201d\n\nThe King\u2019s son, seeing five or six pearls and as many diamonds fall\nfrom her mouth, desired her to tell him how that happened. Then she\ntold him the whole story.\n\nThe King\u2019s son fell in love with her, and, considering that such a gift\nwas worth more than any marriage portion any one else could bring,\nconducted her to the palace of the King, his father, and there married\nher.\n\nAs for her sister, she made herself so much hated that her own mother\nturned her out of doors. The miserable girl, after wandering about\nwithout finding any one who would take her in, went away to a corner of\nthe wood and there died.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPUSS IN BOOTS\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a miller who, when he died, had nothing to\nleave to his three sons but his mill, his ass, and his cat. The\ndivision was soon made. Neither the notary nor the attorney were sent\nfor; they would soon have eaten up all the poor patrimony. The eldest\nhad the mill, the second the ass, and the youngest nothing but the cat.\n\nThe youngest was quite downcast at having so poor a share.\n\n\u201cMy brothers,\u201d said he, \u201cmay get their living handsomely enough by\njoining their portions together; but as for me, when I have eaten my\ncat and made me a muff of his skin, I must die of hunger.\u201d\n\nThe cat, who heard all this without appearing to do so, came up to him\nand said with a grave and serious air, \u201cDo not thus afflict yourself,\nmy good master; you have only to give me a bag, and get a pair of boots\nmade for me,\u2014that I may scamper through the dirt and the brambles,\u2014and\nyou shall see that you have not so poor a portion in me as you\nimagine.\u201d\n\nThough the cat\u2019s master did not build great hopes on what he said, yet\nhe had seen him play such cunning tricks to catch rats and mice,\u2014such\nas hanging himself by his heels, or hiding himself in the meal to make\nbelieve he was dead,\u2014that he did not altogether despair of his helping\nhim in his misery. When the cat had what he asked for, he booted\nhimself very gallantly, and putting his bag about his neck, he took\nhold of the two strings with his fore paws, and went into a warren\nwhere there were a great many rabbits. He put bran and parsley into his\nbag, and stretching himself out at full length as if he were dead, he\nwaited for some young rabbits, not yet acquainted with the snares and\ntricks of this world, to come and rummage his bag for what he had put\ninto it.\n\nScarcely had he lain down before his wish was fulfilled. A rash and\nfoolish young rabbit jumped headlong into his bag, and Master Puss\nimmediately drew close the strings, and killed him without mercy. Proud\nof his prey, he went with it to the palace and asked to speak with the\nKing. He was shown upstairs into the King\u2019s apartment, and making a low\nbow, said to him: \u201cI have brought you, sire, a rabbit from the warren\nof my Lord the Marquis of Carabas [for that was the title which he was\npleased to give his master], which he has commanded me to present to\nyour Majesty with the assurance of his respect.\u201d\n\n\u201cTell your master,\u201d said the King, \u201cthat I thank him, and that he has\ngiven me great pleasure.\u201d\n\nAnother time he went and hid himself among some standing corn, holding\nhis bag open as before, and when a brace of partridges ran into it, he\ndrew the strings, and so caught them both. He then went and presented\nthese to the King, as he had previously done with the rabbit which he\ntook in the warren. The King in like manner received the partridges\nwith great pleasure, and ordered his servants to reward him.\n\nIn this way the cat continued for two or three months to carry to his\nMajesty from time to time game of his master\u2019s taking. One day when he\nknew that the King was intending to take the air along the riverside\nwith his daughter, who was the most beautiful Princess in the world, he\nwent to his master and said: \u201cIf you will follow my advice, your\nfortune is made. You have only to go and bathe in the river, just in\nthe place I shall show you, and leave the rest to me.\u201d\n\nThe Marquis of Carabas did what the cat advised, without knowing what\nwould be the good of doing so. While he was bathing, the King passed\nby, and the cat began to cry out with all his might: \u201cHelp! help! my\nLord Marquis of Carabas is drowning!\u201d\n\nAt this noise the King put his head out of the coach window, and,\nseeing it was the cat who had so often brought him presents of game,\ncommanded his guards to run immediately to the assistance of his\nlordship the Marquis of Carabas.\n\nWhile they were drawing the poor marquis out of the river the cat came\nup to the coach and told the King that while his master was bathing\nthere had come by some rogues who ran off with his clothes, though he\nhad cried out \u201cThieves! thieves!\u201d several times as loud as he could.\n\nThe cunning cat had hidden them under a great stone.\n\nThe King immediately commanded the officers of his wardrobe to run and\nfetch one of his best suits for the Lord Marquis of Carabas.\n\nThe King loaded the marquis with a thousand attentions, and as the fine\nclothes he had given him set off his good looks (for he was well made\nand comely), the King\u2019s daughter found him very much to her liking, and\nthe Marquis of Carabas had no sooner cast two or three respectful and\nsomewhat tender glances in her direction than she fell in love with him\nto distraction. The King insisted on his getting into the coach and\ntaking the ride with them. The cat, overjoyed at seeing how well his\nplan was beginning to succeed, ran on before, and coming upon some\ncountrymen who were mowing a meadow, he said to them, \u201cGood people, if\nyou do not tell the King, who will presently pass this way, that the\nmeadow which you are mowing belongs to my Lord Marquis of Carabas, you\nshall be chopped as small as herbs for the pot.\u201d\n\nThe King did not fail to ask the mowers to whom the meadow they were\nmowing belonged.\n\n\u201cTo my Lord Marquis of Carabas,\u201d they answered all together, for the\ncat\u2019s threat had frightened them.\n\n\u201cYou have here a very fine piece of land, my Lord Marquis,\u201d said the\nKing.\n\n\u201cYes, sire,\u201d replied the marquis, \u201cthis is a meadow which never fails\nto yield a plentiful harvest every year.\u201d\n\nThe cat, who still went on before, met some reapers, and said to them,\n\u201cGood people, if you do not say to the King, who will presently pass\nthis way, that all this corn belongs to the Marquis of Carabas, you\nshall be chopped as small as herbs for the pot.\u201d\n\nThe King, who passed by a moment after, wished to know to whom all that\ncorn before him belonged.\n\n\u201cTo my Lord Marquis of Carabas,\u201d replied the reapers; and the King was\nagain very well pleased with the marquis.\n\nThe cat continued to go before the carriage and say the same words to\nevery one he met, and the King was astonished at the vast estates of my\nLord Marquis of Carabas.\n\nThe cat came at last to a stately castle, the master of which was an\nogre, the richest ever known; for all the lands the King had been\npassing through belonged to this castle. The cat, who had taken care to\ninform himself who this ogre was, and what he could do, asked to speak\nwith him, saying he could not pass so near his castle without having\nthe honor of paying his respects to him.\n\nThe ogre received him as civilly as an ogre could, and made him sit\ndown.\n\n\u201cI have been assured,\u201d said the cat, \u201cthat you have the gift of being\nable to change yourself into all sorts of animals, if you have a mind\nto; that you can, for example, transform yourself into a lion or an\nelephant.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is true,\u201d answered the ogre roughly; \u201cand to convince you, you\nshall see me now become a lion.\u201d\n\nThe cat was so terrified at the sight of a lion so near him that he\nsprang away, and climbed up on the roof, but not without much\ndifficulty and danger, as his boots were of no use at all for walking\nupon tiles. A little while after, when he saw that the ogre had quitted\nthe form of a lion, he came down, and owned that he had been a good\ndeal frightened.\n\n\u201cI have been further informed (but I know not how to believe it),\u201d said\nthe cat, \u201cthat you have also the power of taking the form of the\nsmallest animals,\u2014for example, that you can change yourself into a rat\nor a mouse; but I must own that I hold this to be impossible.\u201d\n\n\u201cImpossible!\u201d cried the ogre; \u201cyou shall see.\u201d And at the same instant\nhe changed himself into a mouse and began to run about the floor.\n\nThe moment the cat saw the ogre in this form he sprang upon him and ate\nhim up.\n\nMeanwhile the King, who saw, as he passed, this fine castle of the\nogre\u2019s, had a mind to go into it. Master Puss, hearing the noise of his\nMajesty\u2019s coach crossing the drawbridge, ran out, and said to the King,\n\u201cYour Majesty is welcome to the castle of my Lord Marquis of Carabas.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat! my Lord Marquis,\u201d cried the King, \u201cand is this castle yours\nalso? There can be nothing finer than this court, and all the stately\nbuildings that surround it; let us see the interior, if you please.\u201d\n\nThe marquis gave his hand to the young Princess, and followed the King\nwho went before. They entered a spacious hall, where they found a\nsplendid collation which the ogre had prepared for some friends who\nwere to visit him that very day, but who dared not enter, hearing that\nthe King was there. The King was so charmed with the good qualities of\nmy Lord the Marquis of Carabas, and his daughter had fallen so\nviolently in love with him, that, seeing the vast estate he possessed,\nhe said to him at the end of the collation, \u201cIt depends only on you, my\nLord Marquis, if you are not my son-in-law.\u201d\n\nThe marquis, with low bows, accepted the honor which his Majesty\nconferred upon him, and forthwith that very same day married the\nPrincess.\n\nPuss in Boots became a great lord, and never ran after mice any more\nexcept for his amusement.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRAPUNZEL\n\n\nOnce upon a time there lived a man and his wife who were very sad\nbecause they had no children. These people had a little window at the\nback of their house which overlooked a beautiful garden full of fine\nflowers and herbs. There was a high wall around this garden, and no one\ndared to go into it, because it belonged to a witch of great power, who\nwas feared by everybody.\n\nOne day the woman stood at this window, looking into the garden, and\nsaw a bed full of the finest rampion. It looked so fresh and green that\nshe longed to eat some of it. This desire grew every day, and as she\nknew that she could not possibly have any of it, she pined away and\nlooked pale and miserable. Then her husband was alarmed, and said,\n\u201cWhat ails you, dear wife?\u201d\n\n\u201cAh,\u201d she replied sadly, \u201cif I cannot get some of that nice rampion to\neat out of the garden behind our house, I know that I shall die!\u201d\n\nHer husband, who loved her dearly, thought to himself, \u201cRather than let\nmy wife die, I must bring her some rampion, let the cost be what it\nmay.\u201d So at dusk he climbed over the wall into the witch\u2019s garden,\nhastily picked a handful of rampion leaves, and took them back to his\nwife.\n\nShe made them into a salad, which she ate with great relish. Indeed,\nshe liked it so very much that the next day she longed for it three\ntimes as much as before. She could have no peace until her husband\ndescended into the garden and fetched her some more. So as soon as it\nwas dusk he let himself down again into the garden; but when he had\nclambered down and was on the other side of the wall, he was terribly\nfrightened, for there, standing before him, was the old witch with a\nfrightful scowl on her face.\n\n\u201cHow dare you climb into my garden like a thief and steal my rampion?\u201d\nshe said, with angry looks. \u201cYou shall suffer for it.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh,\u201d he replied, \u201cbe merciful to me this time, I pray you! I am only\nhere from necessity. My wife saw your rampion from her window, and had\nsuch a desire for it that she would have died if she had not had some\nof it to eat.\u201d\n\nThen the witch\u2019s anger cooled a little, and she answered: \u201cIf that is\nthe case, I will let you take away as much rampion as you like, but on\none condition,\u2014that you give me the child that your wife will shortly\nbring into the world. All shall go well with it, and I will care for it\nlike a mother.\u201d\n\nIn his anxiety to get away the man agreed to what she asked, and as\nsoon as the child was born the witch appeared, and having given it the\nname of Rapunzel,\u2014which is another name for rampion,\u2014she took it away\nwith her.\n\nRapunzel was the most beautiful child under the sun. When she was\ntwelve years old the witch shut her up in a tower which lay in the\nmiddle of a great forest. This tower had neither stairs nor door,\u2014only\na little window high up at the very top of the wall. When the witch\nwanted to enter the tower she stood beneath this window and called:\n\n\n        \u201cRapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair,\n        That I may climb without a stair.\u201d\n\n\nRapunzel had wonderful hair, long, and as fine as spun gold. When she\nheard the voice of the witch she unfastened her braided tresses, wound\nthem round one of the hooks of the little window, and let them hang\nloose. They fell down about twenty yards, so that the witch could\neasily climb up by them.\n\nAfter things had gone on in this way for a year or two, it happened one\nday that the King\u2019s son was riding through that part of the forest and\npassed by the tower. He heard some one singing so beautifully that he\nstood spellbound, listening. It was Rapunzel, who in her solitude and\nloneliness was trying to while away the long hours by singing. The\nPrince longed to see the sweet singer and climb up to her, but he\nsearched in vain for a door into the tower. None was to be found. He\nrode home, but the song had made such a deep impression on him that he\nwent every day to the wood and listened. One day, when he was standing\nthus behind a tree, he saw the old witch approach and heard her call:\n\n\n        \u201cRapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair,\n        That I may climb without a stair.\u201d\n\n\nThen Rapunzel let down her braids, and the witch climbed up to her.\n\n\u201cSo that is the ladder by which one mounts, is it?\u201d said the Prince.\n\u201cThen I, too, will climb it and try my luck.\u201d\n\nThe next night, when it began to grow dark, he went to the foot of the\ntower and cried:\n\n\n        \u201cRapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair,\n        That I may climb without a stair.\u201d\n\n\nThe hair fell down at once, and the Prince climbed up by it.\n\nAt first Rapunzel was terribly frightened when a man came in, for she\nhad never seen one before; but the Prince spoke to her very kindly, and\ntold her that his heart had been so touched by her singing that he\ncould have no peace until he had seen her. So Rapunzel lost her fear,\nand when he asked her to marry him she thought, \u201cHe is young and\nhandsome, and he will certainly love me far more than old Dame Gothel\ndoes\u201d; so she said \u201cYes,\u201d and put her hand in his.\n\n\u201cI will gladly go with you,\u201d she continued, \u201cbut I do not see how I am\nto get down out of this tower. When you come, bring with you a skein of\nsilk each time, and I will weave a ladder out of them; when it is\nfinished, I will climb down by it, and you shall take me away on your\nhorse.\u201d\n\nThey arranged that until the ladder was ready he should come and see\nher every evening, bringing skeins of silk, for the witch came in the\ndaytime.\n\nThe witch knew nothing of all this till one day Rapunzel, not thinking\nwhat she was saying, made this remark: \u201cTell me, Dame Gothel, how is it\nthat you are so much harder to pull up than the young Prince? He is\nalways with me in a moment.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, you wicked, wicked child!\u201d cried the witch. \u201cWhat is this I hear?\nI thought I had separated you from the whole world, and yet you have\ndeceived me.\u201d\n\nIn her rage she seized Rapunzel\u2019s beautiful hair, twisted it round and\nround her left hand, snatched up a pair of scissors with her right, and\nsnip, snap, she cut it all off; and the beautiful tresses lay on the\nground. Then she was so hard-hearted that she took poor Rapunzel to a\nlonely desert place and there left her to live in utter loneliness and\nmisery.\n\nBut on the evening of the day on which she had carried Rapunzel away\nshe fastened the braids which she had cut off to a hook by the window,\nand when the Prince came and called:\n\n\n        \u201cRapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair,\n        That I may climb without a stair,\u201d\n\n\nshe let the hair down. The Prince climbed up, but instead of his\nbeloved Rapunzel he found the old witch, who looked at him with angry,\nwicked eyes, and cried mockingly, \u201cAha! you thought to fetch your\nladylove, but the pretty bird has flown, and the song is still; the cat\ncaught it, and will scratch out your eyes too. Rapunzel is lost to\nyou\u2014you will never see her again.\u201d\n\nThe Prince was beside himself with grief, and in his despair he jumped\nright down from the tower. He escaped with his life, but the thorns\ninto which he fell pierced his eyes out. Then he wandered, blind, about\nthe forest, eating nothing but roots and berries, and constantly\nlamenting and weeping for the loss of his lovely bride. For some years\nhe wandered about in great misery, and at last he came to the desert\nplace where Rapunzel was living. Suddenly he heard a voice which seemed\nfamiliar to him. He walked eagerly toward it, and as he came near,\nRapunzel recognized him and fell on his neck and wept. Two of her tears\nfell upon his eyes, and they became clear again, so that he could see\nas well as ever.\n\nThen he led her to his kingdom, where they were welcomed with great\njoy, and they lived happily ever after.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBEAUTY AND THE BEAST\n\n\nThere was once a very rich merchant who had three sons and three\ndaughters. These children had everything money could buy them. The\ndaughters were all pretty, but the youngest was so very beautiful that\nfrom her childhood she was always called \u201cBeauty.\u201d This made her\nsisters very jealous; but they were proud of their wealth and of their\nposition in society, and took pains to be haughty with any people who\nwere not as rich as they.\n\nOne day the merchant suddenly lost all his fortune. All that he had\nleft of his vast property was a little house in the country, a long\ndistance from the town. He told his children that they must go there\nnow and work for a living. The two eldest replied that they need not\nleave town, for they had several lovers who would be glad to marry\nthem. In this they found they were mistaken; their lovers would not\nlook at them now. Because of their pride they had not made real\nfriends, and nobody was very sorry to see them humbled. But every one\npitied Beauty, who had always been kind and friendly to every one.\nIndeed, several gentlemen offered to marry her, though they knew she\nhad not a penny; but she told them she could not think of leaving her\nfather in his trouble.\n\nWhen they were settled in the country the merchant and his three sons\nset to work to till the fields. Beauty took care of the house. She rose\nat four o\u2019clock in the morning, lighted the fires, swept and dusted the\nhouse, and got breakfast for the family. At first she found all this\nvery hard, for she was not used to it; but she soon grew stronger and\nhealthier, and prettier than ever. When her work was over she would\nread, or play on the harpsichord, or sing as she sat at her spinning\nwheel.\n\nHer two sisters did not know what to do with themselves. They would get\nup at ten, and idle away the whole day, fretting for the loss of their\nfine clothes and gay parties. \u201cDo but see that girl!\u201d they would say to\none another. \u201cWhat stupid, low tastes she has to be contented with this\nkind of life!\u201d But their father thought differently, and loved his\nyoungest daughter more than ever.\n\nAfter two years, when they were all beginning to get accustomed to this\nnew life, something happened to disturb them again. The merchant\nreceived the news that one of his ships, which he had believed to be\nlost, had come safely into port with a rich cargo. All the sons and\ndaughters were much excited at this news, and believed that their\npoverty was at an end. The two eldest daughters were wild with joy, and\nwanted to set out for town at once. When their father was ready to\nstart, they begged him to bring them jewels and rings and rich dresses.\nBeauty was the only one of the children who had any doubt that this one\nship would bring back their fortune; so, not wishing to trouble her\nfather, she asked for nothing. But her father noticed her silence, and\ninquired, \u201cWhat shall I bring you, Beauty?\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, dear father,\u201d she said, \u201csince you ask me, I should like to have\nyou bring me a rose. They do not grow about here, and I am very fond of\nthem.\u201d\n\nBeauty did not particularly desire a rose, but she did not wish to seem\nto blame her sisters by saying she did not want anything.\n\nThe merchant set off on his journey, but when he reached the port he\nwas obliged to go to law about the cargo, and it ended in his returning\nhome as poor as he came. He was within thirty miles of home when, in\nthe middle of a large forest, he was overtaken by a heavy snowstorm. He\nlost his way, and was beginning to fear he should die of hunger and\ncold, when all of a sudden he saw a light at the end of a long avenue\nof trees. As he came nearer he found it came from a splendid palace,\nthe windows of which were blazing with light. He entered the courtyard,\nbut, to his surprise, did not meet any one. His horse followed him, and\nseeing a stable door open, he walked in. The manger was filled with hay\nand oats, and the poor beast, who was almost famished, fell to eating\nheartily. His master walked toward the palace, and passed through\nseveral splendidly furnished rooms, but still saw nobody. He came to\nthe dining room, where he found a good fire, and a table plentifully\nspread, and set for one person. As he was wet to the skin, he drew near\nthe fire to dry his clothes, saying to himself, \u201cI hope the master of\nthe house or his servants will excuse the liberty I am taking; I\nsuppose it will not be long before some of them appear.\u201d\n\nHe waited for some time, and still no one came; at last the clock\nstruck eleven, and as he was so hungry he could not wait any longer, he\nhelped himself to some chicken, and drank a little wine. Then he opened\na door at the end of the hall, and found himself in a room with a very\ngood bed in it. As he was very tired, he closed the door and went to\nbed.\n\nIt was ten o\u2019clock in the morning before the merchant awoke. As he was\ngetting up, he was surprised to find a new suit of clothes in place of\nhis own which were torn and spoiled.\n\n\u201cThis palace,\u201d said he to himself, \u201ccertainly belongs to some good\nfairy who has seen and pitied my misfortunes.\u201d\n\nHe looked out of the window, but instead of snowy woods he saw the most\ndelightful arbors, filled with beautiful blooming flowers.\n\nHe returned to the great hall where he had had supper the night before,\nand found breakfast ready on a little table. He drank his chocolate,\nand then went out to look for his horse. As he was passing under an\narbor of roses, he remembered Beauty\u2019s request to him, and gathered a\nbranch on which were several roses. Immediately he heard a loud roar,\nand saw stalking towards him so frightful a beast that he was ready to\nfaint with fear.\n\n\u201cYou are most ungrateful,\u201d said the beast in a terrible voice. \u201cI saved\nyour life by admitting you to my palace, and in return you steal my\nroses, which I value more than anything in the world. But your\ninsolence shall not go unpunished; you shall die for it.\u201d\n\nThe poor merchant threw himself on his knees before the beast, and\ncried: \u201cPardon me, my lord. I had no intention of offending you by\ngathering a rose for one of my daughters, who desired me to bring her\none.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am not a lord, but a beast,\u201d replied the monster. \u201cI hate flattery\nand compliments; so do not fancy you can move me by your fine speeches.\nYou say you have daughters; now I will spare you if you will give me\none of your daughters. If not, promise that you will yourself return in\nthree months.\u201d\n\nThe merchant had no intention of sacrificing one of his daughters, but\nhe knew that if he agreed to come back he should see his children once\nmore. So he promised to return, and the beast told him he might set out\nwhen he pleased; \u201cbut,\u201d he added, \u201cyou need not go empty-handed. Go\nback to the room in which you slept, and you will see a great empty\nchest; fill it with whatever you like best, and I will have it taken to\nyour house for you.\u201d Then the beast left him.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the good man to himself, \u201cif I must die, I shall at least\nhave the comfort of leaving my children provided for.\u201d\n\nHe returned to the room, and found there heaps of gold pieces. With\nthese he filled the chest. Then he went to the stable, took his horse,\nand left the palace in a far sadder mood than that in which he had\nentered it.\n\nIn a few hours he reached home, and his children came running out to\nmeet him. Instead of embracing them with joy, he gazed at them sadly\nand, holding out the branch of roses he had in his hand, said, \u201cHere,\nBeauty, take them; you little know how much they have cost your poor\nfather.\u201d\n\nThen he told them all that had happened to him. The two eldest sisters\nbegan to lament loudly, and to reproach Beauty, saying that it was all\nher fault.\n\n\u201cSee,\u201d they said, \u201cwhat comes from her pride. She would not ask for\nsuch things as we did, but wanted to seem wiser than we; so now she\nwill be the death of our poor father, and yet she does not so much as\nshed a tear.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy should I?\u201d said Beauty. \u201cIt would be useless, for my father shall\nnot suffer on my account. As the beast will accept one of the\ndaughters, I will gladly give myself up in his stead.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, indeed!\u201d said her three brothers; \u201cthat shall not be. We will go\nand find the monster, and either kill him or perish in the attempt.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo not imagine you can do any such thing,\u201d said the merchant. \u201cI have\nseen him and know that his power is too great. But I will not consent\nto Beauty\u2019s offer. I am old, and have not long to live, so I can lose\nonly a few years. I am only sorry for you, my children.\u201d\n\nBut Beauty insisted, saying, \u201cIndeed, father, you shall not go to the\npalace without me; you cannot hinder me from following you.\u201d\n\nThe merchant was so distressed at the thought of losing his daughter\nthat he quite forgot the chest filled with gold; but at night, when he\nretired to his room, he found, to his great surprise, the chest\nstanding by his bedside. He decided to say nothing of his riches to his\neldest daughters, for he knew they would want to return to town at\nonce; but he told Beauty his secret, and she then told him that while\nhe was away two gentlemen came and courted her sisters. She begged her\nfather to consent to their marriage, and give them their portions, for\nshe was so sweet-tempered that she wished them to be happy.\n\nWhen the day came Beauty got ready to set out with her father for the\nhome of the beast. The horse took the direct road to the palace, and\nthey arrived there all too soon. As they approached they found the\nwindows brilliantly lighted as before. The horse went at once to the\nstable of his own accord, and the merchant and his daughter went into\nthe great hall, where they found a table loaded with every dainty and\nset with two plates. The merchant had no heart to eat, but Beauty,\ntrying to appear cheerful, sat down and served both him and herself.\nAfter supper they heard a great noise, and the merchant began to bid\nhis child a sad farewell. In a moment the beast entered. Beauty was\nterrified at the frightful form, but she tried not to show her fear.\n\n\u201cGood evening, Beauty,\u201d said the beast. \u201cHave you come here willingly?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d she faltered.\n\n\u201cYou are very good, and I am greatly obliged to you,\u201d he growled; and\nturning to the father, he added: \u201cAs for you, old man, you are to go\nyour way to-morrow morning, and never to return here again. Good night,\nmerchant. Good night, Beauty.\u201d\n\n\u201cGood night, Beast,\u201d she answered, and the monster withdrew.\n\nAgain the merchant tried to persuade Beauty to go back without him, but\nshe would not hear to it. They went to bed, thinking they should not\nclose their eyes all night; but as soon as they lay down they fell fast\nasleep. Beauty dreamed that a stately and beautiful lady came to her,\nand said: \u201cI am very much pleased, dear Beauty, with the goodness you\nhave shown in giving yourself to save your father. Do not be afraid;\nyou shall be rewarded. Only do not trust to appearances.\u201d\n\nBeauty told this dream to her father in the morning; but though it\ncomforted him a little, he wept bitterly when he took leave of his dear\nchild, for he feared he might never see her again.\n\nWhen her father was out of sight poor Beauty could not help crying, but\nshe had made up her mind to be brave, and she proceeded to explore the\nvarious rooms of the palace. What was her surprise when she came to a\ndoor over which was written, \u201cBEAUTY\u2019S ROOM.\u201d She opened it in haste,\nand found a magnificently furnished room; but what delighted her most\nwas a large library, a harpsichord, and several music books. She\nconcluded that all this would not be provided for her if she had only a\nday to live, and she took courage. Her surprise increased when she\nopened one of the books and found on the first page, in letters of\ngold, these words:\n\n\n        \u201cWelcome, Beauty! banish fear!\n        You are queen and mistress here;\n        Speak your wishes, speak your will,\u2014\n        You will find them granted still.\u201d\n\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d said she, sighing, \u201cthere is nothing I wish so much as to see\nmy father and know what he is doing.\u201d\n\nShe happened to turn towards a large mirror that was hanging near her,\nand there she saw her father arriving sadly at home. Her sisters came\nout to meet him, and in spite of their efforts to look sorrowful, it\nwas plain that in their hearts they were very glad to see him return\nalone. The picture disappeared, and Beauty felt very grateful to the\nbeast for thus giving her her wish.\n\nAt noon she found dinner ready, and was entertained at table with\nmusic, though she could see no player. After dinner she found she was\nvery sleepy, and went to lie down in her room. She fell asleep\ninstantly, and dreamed that a handsome young Prince came to her, and\nsaid: \u201cBeauty, you need not be so unhappy here as you expect. All your\nwishes will be granted. Only try to find me out, and love me as I love\nyou, and above all do not trust to appearances.\u201d\n\nIn the evening, as she was going to sit down to supper, the beast came\nand asked leave to sit with her at table. She was frightened, but tried\nnot to show it, saying, \u201cThat is as you please.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d replied the beast, \u201cyou alone are mistress here. You need only\ntell me to go, if my presence troubles you, and I will withdraw at\nonce. Everything here is yours, and I should be much distressed if you\nwere not happy.\u201d\n\nPresently he inquired if she did not think him very ugly.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said Beauty, \u201cbut I think you are very kind, too.\u201d\n\nThey talked for some time, and Beauty found her fear of him almost\ngone, when suddenly, just as they were leaving the table, the beast\nsaid, \u201cBeauty, will you marry me?\u201d\n\nBeauty was so startled that she could hardly speak, but she faltered\nout, \u201cOh, no! Beast.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen good night, Beauty,\u201d said the beast, very sadly, and left the\nroom.\n\nBeauty felt very sorry for him, but she soon went to bed and dreamed of\nthe unknown prince who had been in her mind all day. This time she\nthought he came and said to her: \u201cAh, Beauty! why are you so unkind to\nme? Must I be unhappy always?\u201d\n\nShe could not understand it, but when she woke she thought that he must\nbe in some way in the power of the beast, and began to wonder how she\ncould help him.\n\nThe days passed quickly enough in the lovely palace. Every evening the\nbeast came to her, and they had entertaining talks together. Beauty\nbegan to look forward to his visits, for she had become accustomed to\nhis ugliness, and found him very kind and interesting. But one thing\ngave her great concern: every night, before he left her, the beast\nasked her to become his wife. One night she said to him: \u201cBeast, you\nmake me unhappy, for I can only offer you friendship. I cannot love\nyou.\u201d\n\nHe begged her at least to promise never to leave him; but Beauty had\nseen in the glass that day that her father was sick with grief at the\nloss of her. Her sisters were married and her brothers had gone into\nthe army, so he was all alone. She had so great a longing to see him\nthat she told the beast that she should die if he refused her leave.\n\n\u201cIndeed, I had rather die of grief for your absence,\u201d replied the\nbeast, \u201cthan that you should be unhappy. You shall be there to-morrow\nmorning.\u201d\n\nBeauty promised to return in a week, and the beast told her that she\nhad only to lay her ring on the table before she went to bed, when she\nwanted to come back, and she would find herself in the palace.\n\nWhen she woke the next morning she found herself in her father\u2019s\ncottage, and his delight at seeing her soon made him well again. He\nsent for her sisters, who came with their husbands. They were both\nunhappily married, one to a man who was so vain of his good looks that\nhe cared nothing for his wife, the other to a man who was so sarcastic\nthat he tired everybody out with his speeches, and teased his poor wife\nmost of all. The sisters were so jealous at seeing Beauty so\nmagnificently dressed, and hearing how kind the beast was to her, that\nthey laid a plan to detain her longer than the week she had intended to\nstay, in hopes that this might make the beast angry, so that he would\ndevour her. Accordingly, when the week was over, they affected such\ngrief at her departure that Beauty was touched by their affection and\nagreed to stay longer. She could not help reproaching herself for\nstaying, but she could not make up her mind to wish herself back when\nthey urged her so strongly.\n\nBut on the night of the tenth day she dreamed that she saw the beast\nlying half-dead on the grass in the palace garden. Waking in tears, she\nreproached herself bitterly for her ingratitude, and rose, put her ring\non the table, and then went back to bed, where she fell asleep again.\nWhen she woke the next morning she was overjoyed to find herself back\nat the palace. She put on one of her richest dresses to please him, and\nwaited impatiently till evening; but nine o\u2019clock struck, and still no\nbeast appeared. Then Beauty remembered her dream and ran to the garden\nto search for him. At last she found the path she had seen in her\ndream, and there lay the poor beast senseless on the grass. Forgetting\nhis ugliness, she threw herself on him in despair, and felt that his\nheart was still beating. Then she ran to fetch some water from the\nspring, and weeping, poured it on his head. The beast opened his eyes,\nand said faintly: \u201cYou forgot your promise, and I did not care to live\nwithout you, so I determined to starve myself; but since you are come,\nI shall die happy.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, you shall not die, dear Beast!\u201d cried Beauty; \u201cfor I love you, and\nwant you to be my husband.\u201d\n\nShe had scarcely spoken these words when a blaze of light streamed from\nthe palace windows, fireworks were displayed, and triumphant strains of\nmusic sounded. Beauty turned to the beast to inquire what had happened,\nbut he had disappeared, and in his place stood the Prince of her\ndreams, whom she had loved so long. He thanked her for having broken\nhis enchantment.\n\n\u201cBut where is my poor beast?\u201d asked Beauty, anxiously.\n\n\u201cI am he,\u201d replied the Prince. \u201cA wicked fairy condemned me to remain\nin that form till some beautiful maiden should love me and consent to\nmarry me in spite of my ugliness.\u201d\n\nThe Prince conducted Beauty to the palace, where they were welcomed by\nthe stately lady of her dream, who was the mother of the Prince, and\nwho thanked her for restoring her son to his proper form. She found her\nfather there, too. The young couple were married the very next day, and\nthe Prince and his beautiful bride were heartily welcomed by his\nsubjects, who had long mourned his absence. Beauty and the Prince\nreigned happily for many, many, long years.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE STEADFAST TIN SOLDIER\n\n\nThere were once five and twenty tin soldiers. They were brothers, for\nthey had all been made out of the same old tin spoon. They all\nshouldered their muskets and looked straight before them. Their\nuniforms were very smart\u2014red and blue\u2014and very splendid. The first\nthing they heard in the world, when the lid was taken off the box in\nwhich they lay, was the words, \u201cTin soldiers!\u201d These words were spoken\nby a little boy, who clapped his hands for joy. The soldiers had been\ngiven him because it was his birthday, and now he was setting them out\non the table.\n\nEach was exactly like the rest, except one, who had but one leg. He had\nbeen cast last of all, and there had not been quite enough tin to\nfinish him; but he stood as firmly on his one leg as the others on\ntheir two, and it was he whose fortunes became so remarkable.\n\nOn the table on which the tin soldiers were being set out were many\nother toys, but the nicest of all was a pretty little castle made of\ncardboard. Through its tiny windows one could see right into the rooms.\nIn front of the castle stood little trees, clustering round a small\nmirror which was meant to represent a transparent lake. Waxen swans\nswam on its surface, and it reflected their images.\n\nAll this was very pretty, but prettiest of all was a little lady who\nstood at the open door of the castle. She, too, was cut out of\ncardboard; but she had on a dress of the finest gauze, with a narrow\nblue ribbon over her shoulders like a scarf, fastened in the middle\nwith a shining tinsel rose. The little lady was stretching out both her\narms (for she was a dancer), and was lifting one leg so high that the\nsoldier could see nothing of it. He thought that, like himself, she had\nbut one leg.\n\n\u201cThat would be just the wife for me,\u201d thought he, \u201cif she were not so\ngrand; but she lives in a castle, while I have only a box, and there\nare five and twenty of us in that. It would be no place for her. Still,\nI must try to make her acquaintance.\u201d\n\nAnd so he lay down at full length behind a snuffbox on the table, where\nhe could easily watch the dainty little lady, who continued to stand on\none leg without losing her balance.\n\nWhen the evening came, all the other tin soldiers were put away in\ntheir box, and the people of the house went to bed. Now the playthings\nbegan to play in their turn. They visited, fought battles, and gave\nballs. The tin soldiers rattled in their box, for they wanted to join\nthe rest; but they could not lift the lid. The nutcrackers turned\nsomersaults, and the slate-pencil ran about on the slate. There was\nsuch a din that the canary woke and began to speak, and in verse, too.\nThe only ones who did not stir from their places were the Tin Soldier\nand the Lady Dancer. She still stood on tiptoe with outstretched arms,\nand he was just as persevering on his one leg; he never once turned his\neyes away from her.\n\nTwelve o\u2019clock struck\u2014crash! up sprang the lid of the snuffbox. There\nwas no snuff in it, but a little black goblin. You see it was not a\nreal snuffbox but a Jack-in-the-box.\n\n\u201cTin soldier,\u201d said the Goblin, \u201ckeep thine eyes to thyself. Don\u2019t\nstare at what does not concern thee!\u201d\n\nBut the Tin Soldier pretended not to hear.\n\n\u201cVery well, you just wait till to-morrow,\u201d said the Goblin.\n\nNext morning, when the children got up, the Tin Soldier was placed on\nthe window-ledge. Whether it was the Goblin or the wind that did it,\nall at once the window flew open, and the Tin Soldier fell head\nforemost from the third story to the street below. It was a tremendous\nfall. Over and over he turned in the air, till he landed at last on his\nhead, with his bayonet sticking fast between two paving-stones, while\nhis one leg stood upright in the air.\n\nThe maidservant and the little boy ran down to look for him; but though\nthey nearly trod on him, they could not find him. If the Soldier had\nonly called out \u201cHere I am!\u201d they might easily enough have found him;\nbut he did not think it becoming to cry out for help, because he was in\nuniform.\n\nNow it began to rain. Faster and faster came the drops, till it became\na regular downpour. When it was over, two street boys came by.\n\n\u201cLook here!\u201d said one, \u201chere lies a tin soldier. He shall have a sail\nin a boat.\u201d\n\nSo they made a boat out of an old newspaper, and put the Tin Soldier in\nthe middle of it, and away he sailed down the gutter, while the two\nboys ran along by his side, clapping their hands.\n\nGoodness! how the waves rocked that paper boat, and how swift the\ncurrent was! The Tin Soldier became quite giddy, the boat veered round\nso quickly; still he moved not a muscle, but looked straight before\nhim, and held his bayonet firmly.\n\nAll at once the boat passed into a drain, and it became as dark as his\nown old home in the box.\n\n\u201cWhere am I going now?\u201d thought he. \u201cYes, to be sure, it must be all\nthat Goblin\u2019s doing. Ah, if the little lady were but sailing with me in\nthe boat, I would not care if it were twice as dark!\u201d\n\nJust then a great water-rat, that lived under the drain, came out.\n\n\u201cHave you a passport?\u201d asked the rat. \u201cWhere is your passport?\u201d\n\nBut the Tin Soldier kept silence, and only held his bayonet tighter\nthan ever. The boat sailed on, but the rat followed. Whew! how he\ngnashed his teeth, and shouted to the sticks and straws, \u201cStop him!\nstop him! He hasn\u2019t paid toll! he hasn\u2019t shown his passport!\u201d\n\nBut the current became swifter and swifter. Already the Tin Soldier\ncould see the daylight at the point where the tunnel ended; but at the\nsame time he heard a rushing, roaring noise, at which a bolder man\nmight well have trembled. Think! where the tunnel ended, the drain\nwidened into a great canal. It was as dangerous for the Soldier as\nsailing down a mighty waterfall would be for us.\n\nHe was now so near it that he could not stop. The boat dashed on, and\nthe Tin Soldier held himself so stiff and straight that no one might\nsay of him that he so much as winked an eye. Three or four times the\nboat whirled round and round; it was full of water to the brim, and\nmust certainly sink.\n\nThe Tin Soldier stood up to his neck in water. Deeper and deeper sank\nthe boat, and softer and softer grew the paper; and now the water\nclosed over the Soldier\u2019s head. He thought of the pretty little dancer\nwhom he should never see again, and in his ears rang the words of the\nsong,\n\n\n        Fare thee well, thou valiant stranger;\n        Thou goest into mortal danger.\n\n\nThe paper boat parted in the middle, and the Tin Soldier fell down,\ndown\u2014but at that moment he was swallowed by a great fish.\n\nOh, how dark it was inside the fish! darker even than it had been in\nthe drain, and so narrow! But the Tin Soldier retained his courage; he\nlay at full length, shouldering his bayonet as before.\n\nTo and fro swam the fish; then he made the strangest movements and\nbecame quite still.\n\nSomething like a flash of lightning passed through him, and a voice\nsaid, \u201cTin Soldier!\u201d\n\nThe fish had been caught, taken to market, sold, and bought, and taken\nto the kitchen, where the cook had cut it open with a large knife. She\nseized the Tin Soldier between her finger and thumb and carried him\ninto the room where the family sat, and where all were eager to see the\nwonderful man who had traveled about in the stomach of a fish; but the\nTin Soldier remained unmoved. He was not at all proud.\n\nThey set him upon a table there. But how could so curious a thing\nhappen,\u2014the Soldier was in the very same room in which he had been\nbefore? He saw the same children; the same toys stood upon the table,\nand among them was the castle with the pretty little dancing maiden.\nShe was still balancing herself on one leg. She, too, was steadfast.\nThat touched the Tin Soldier\u2019s heart. He could have wept tin tears, but\nthat would not have been proper. He looked at her, and she looked at\nhim, but neither spoke a word.\n\nAnd now one of the little boys took the Tin Soldier and threw him into\nthe stove. He gave no reason for doing so, but no doubt the Goblin in\nthe snuffbox had something to do with it.\n\nThe Tin Soldier stood now in a blaze of red light. The heat he felt was\nterrible: but whether it proceeded from the fire, or from the love in\nhis heart, he did not know. He saw that the colors were quite gone from\nhis uniform; but whether that happened on his journey, or had been\ncaused by grief, no one could say. He looked at the little Lady, she\nlooked at him, and he felt himself melting; still he stood firm, with\nhis bayonet on his shoulder. Then suddenly a door flew open, the draft\ncaught the Dancer, and she flew straight into the stove to the Tin\nSoldier, flashed up in a flame, and was gone! Then the Tin Soldier\nmelted down into a little lump, and in the ashes the maid found him\nnext day, in the shape of a little tin heart; while of the Dancer\nnothing remained save the tinsel rose, and that was burned as black as\na coal.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHOP-O\u2019-MY-THUMB\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a fagot-maker and his wife who had seven\nchildren, all boys. The eldest was but ten years old, the youngest only\nseven.\n\nThey were very poor, and their seven children were a great burden to\nthem, because not one of them was able to earn his own living. What\nworried them still more was that the youngest was a delicate little\nfellow, who hardly ever spoke a word. They took for stupidity this\nsilence, which was really a sign of good sense. He was tiny, too; when\nhe was born he was no bigger than a man\u2019s thumb, so they called him\nHop-o\u2019-my-Thumb.\n\nThe poor child was the drudge of the whole household, and always bore\nthe blame for everything that went wrong. However, he was really the\ncleverest and brightest of all the brothers, and if he spoke little, he\nheard and thought the more.\n\nThere came now a very bad year, and the famine was so great that these\npoor people felt obliged to get rid of their children. One evening,\nwhen the children had gone to bed and the fagot-maker was sitting with\nhis wife at the fire, he said to her, with his heart ready to burst\nwith grief: \u201cYou see plainly that we can no longer give our children\nfood, and I cannot bear to see them die of hunger before my eyes. I am\nresolved to lose them in the forest to-morrow. This may very easily be\ndone, for while they are amusing themselves in tying up fagots we have\nonly to slip away and leave them without their taking any notice.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d cried out his wife; \u201cdo you think you could really take out your\nchildren and lose them?\u201d\n\nIn vain did her husband remind her of their extreme poverty, she would\nnot consent to it; she was poor, but she was their mother. At last,\nwhen she reflected what a grief it would be to her to see them die of\nhunger, she consented, and went weeping to bed.\n\nHop-o\u2019-my-Thumb heard all they had said; for when he heard, as he lay\nin bed, that they were talking of their affairs, he got up softly and\nslipped under his father\u2019s stool, to hear without being seen. He went\nto bed again, but did not sleep a wink all the rest of the night,\nthinking of what he should do. He got up early in the morning, and went\nto the bank of a brook, where he filled his pockets full of small white\npebbles, and then went back home.\n\nThey all set out, but Hop-o\u2019-my-Thumb did not say a word to any of his\nbrothers about what he had heard.\n\nThey went into a very thick forest, where they could not see one\nanother ten paces apart. The fagot-maker began to cut wood, and the\nchildren to gather up the sticks to make fagots. When their father and\nmother saw them busy at their work, they slipped away from them little\nby little, and then made their escape all at once by a winding bypath.\n\nWhen the children found that they were alone they began to cry\nbitterly. Hop-o\u2019-my-Thumb let them cry on, knowing very well how he\ncould get home again; for, as he came, he had dropped the little white\npebbles he had in his pockets all along the way. Then he said to them,\n\u201cDo not be afraid, my brothers; father and mother have left us here,\nbut I will lead you home again,\u2014only follow me.\u201d\n\nThey followed him, and he brought them home through the forest by the\nvery same way by which they had come. At first they dared not go in,\nbut stood outside the door to listen to what their father and mother\nwere saying.\n\nJust as the fagot-maker and his wife reached home, the lord of the\nmanor sent them ten crowns, which he had owed them for a long time, and\nwhich they had never expected to get. This gave them new life, for the\npoor people were almost famished with hunger. As it was a long while\nsince they had eaten, the woman bought as much meat as would satisfy\nsix or eight persons. When they had satisfied their hunger she said:\n\u201cAlas! where are our poor children now? they would make a good feast of\nwhat we have left here. It was you, William, who wished to lose them; I\ntold you we should repent of it. What are they doing now in the forest?\nAlas! perhaps the wolves have already eaten them up! You are very cruel\nto have lost your children in this way.\u201d\n\nThe fagot-maker grew very impatient at last, for she repeated more than\ntwenty times that they should repent of it, and that she had told him\nso. He threatened to beat her if she did not hold her tongue. The\nfagot-maker was, perhaps, even more sorry than his wife, but she teased\nhim, and he could not endure her telling him that she was in the right\nall the time. She wept bitterly, saying, \u201cAlas! where are my children\nnow,\u2014my poor children?\u201d\n\nShe said this once so very loud that the children, who were at the\ndoor, heard her and cried out all together, \u201cHere we are! here we are!\u201d\n\nShe ran quickly to let them in, and said, as she embraced them: \u201cHow\nhappy I am to see you again, my dear children! You must be very tired\nand very hungry. And you, little Peter, you are dirt all over! Come in\nand let me get you clean again.\u201d\n\nPeter was her eldest boy, whom she loved more than all the rest,\nbecause he had red hair like her own.\n\nThey sat down to table, and ate with an appetite which pleased both\nfather and mother, to whom they told\u2014speaking all at once\u2014how\nfrightened they had been in the forest. The good people were delighted\nto see their children once more, and this joy continued while the ten\ncrowns lasted; but when the money was all gone they fell back again\ninto their former anxiety, and resolved to lose their children\nagain,\u2014and that they might be the surer of doing it, they decided to\ntake them much farther off than before.\n\nThey could not talk of this so secretly but that they were overheard by\nHop-o\u2019-my-Thumb, who counted on getting out of the difficulty as he had\ndone before; but though he got up very early the next morning to go and\npick up some little pebbles, he could not carry out his plan, for he\nfound the house-door double-locked. He did not know what to do; but a\nlittle later, when his father had given each of them a piece of bread\nfor their breakfast, it came into his head that he could make his bread\ndo instead of pebbles, by dropping crumbs all along the way as they\nwent, so he put it into his pocket.\n\nTheir father and mother led them into the thickest and gloomiest part\nof the forest, and then, stealing away into a bypath, left them there.\nHop-o\u2019-my-Thumb did not worry himself very much at this, for he thought\nhe could easily find the way back by means of his bread that he had\nscattered all along as he came; but he was very much surprised when he\ncould not find a single crumb,\u2014the birds had come and eaten them all.\n\nThey were now in great trouble, for the farther they went the more they\nwent wrong and the deeper they got into the forest. Night came on, and\nwith it a high wind which frightened them desperately. They fancied\nthey heard on every side the howling of wolves coming to eat them up.\nThey hardly dared to speak or turn their heads. Then there came a heavy\nrain, which wetted them to the very skin. Their feet slipped at every\nstep, and they fell into the mud, getting themselves so covered with\ndirt that they could not even get it off their hands.\n\nHop-o\u2019-my-Thumb climbed to the top of a tree to see if he could\ndiscover anything. Searching on every side, he saw at last a glimmering\nlight, like that of a candle, but a long way off, and beyond the\nforest. He came down, but when he was upon the ground he could not see\nit. This discouraged him very much; but finally, when he had been\nwalking for some time with his brothers towards that side on which he\nhad seen the light, he caught sight of it again as he came out of the\nwood.\n\nThey came at last to the house where this candle was, although not\nwithout many frights, for they lost sight of it every time they came\ninto a hollow\u2014which was very often. They knocked at the door and a kind\nwoman came to open it. She asked them what they wanted, and\nHop-o\u2019-my-Thumb told her they had lost their way in the forest, and\nbegged to stay and sleep there for charity\u2019s sake. When the woman saw\nhow pretty they were she began to weep, and said to them: \u201cAlas, poor\nchildren, you do not know what kind of a place you have come to! Do you\nknow that this house belongs to a cruel ogre who eats up little\nchildren?\u201d\n\n\u201cAlas! dear madam,\u201d answered Hop-o\u2019-my-Thumb, who was trembling in\nevery limb, as were his brothers, too, \u201cwhat shall we do? The wolves of\nthe forest will surely devour us if you refuse us shelter here, and so\nwe would rather the gentleman should eat us. Perhaps he will have pity\non us if you are so kind as to entreat him for us.\u201d\n\nThe ogre\u2019s wife, who believed that she could hide them from her husband\ntill morning, let them come in, and had them warm themselves at a very\ngood fire, before which a whole sheep was being roasted for the ogre\u2019s\nsupper.\n\nAs they were beginning to get warm, they heard three or four great raps\nat the door: this was the ogre, who was coming home. His wife hurried\nthe children under the bed to hide them, and then went to open the\ndoor. The ogre at once asked if supper was ready and the wine drawn,\nand sat down at the table. The sheep was raw still, but he liked it all\nthe better for that. But in a minute or two he sniffed about to the\nright and to the left, saying, \u201cI smell fresh meat, I smell fresh\nmeat.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat you smell,\u201d said his wife, \u201cmust be the calf which I have just\nkilled and dressed.\u201d\n\n\u201cI smell fresh meat, I tell you once more,\u201d said the ogre, looking\ncrossly at his wife, \u201cand there is something here which I do not\nunderstand.\u201d\n\nAs he spoke these words, he got up from the table, and went straight to\nthe bed.\n\n\u201cAh,\u201d said he, \u201cthat is how you thought to cheat me! Wretch! I do not\nknow why I do not eat you up too; it is well for you that you are old\nand tough. Here is game which comes just in season to entertain three\nogres, friends of mine, who are to pay me a visit in a day or two.\u201d\n\nWith that he dragged them out from under the bed one by one. The poor\nchildren fell upon their knees and begged for pardon; but they had to\ndeal with the most cruel of ogres, who, far from having any pity for\nthem, had already devoured them with his eyes, and now told his wife\nthey would be dainty morsels when she served them up with a good sauce.\n\nHe then fetched a great knife and began to sharpen it on a great\nwhetstone which he held in his left hand; and all the while he came\nnearer and nearer to the poor children. He had already taken hold of\none of them when his wife said to him: \u201cWhy do you need to do it at\nthis time of night? Is not to-morrow time enough?\u201d\n\n\u201cHold your prating!\u201d said the ogre; \u201cthey will grow more tender if they\nare kept a little while after they are killed.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut you have so much meat already,\u201d replied his wife; \u201chere are a\ncalf, two sheep, and half a pig.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are right,\u201d said the ogre. \u201cGive them all a good supper, that they\nmay not get thin, and put them to bed.\u201d\n\nThe good woman was overjoyed at this, and gave them a good supper; but\nthey were so afraid that they could not eat a bit. As for the ogre, he\nsat down again to drink, well pleased that he had such a feast with\nwhich to treat his friends. He drank a dozen glasses more than usual,\nwhich went to his head and soon obliged him to go to bed.\n\nThe ogre had seven daughters, who were still little children. These\nyoung ogresses had all of them very fine complexions, because they ate\nraw meat like their father; but they had small gray eyes, quite round,\nhooked noses, wide mouths, and very long, sharp teeth, set very far\napart from each other. They were not very wicked yet, but they gave\npromise of becoming so, for they had already bitten little children.\n\nThey had been put to bed early, all seven in one great bed, each with a\ncrown of gold upon her head. There was another bed of the same size in\nthe room, and in this the ogre\u2019s wife put the seven little boys, and\nthen went to bed herself along with her husband.\n\nHop-o\u2019-my-Thumb took notice that the ogre\u2019s daughters all had crowns of\ngold on their heads, and he was so afraid lest the ogre should repent\nhis not killing them, that he got up about midnight, and, taking his\nbrothers\u2019 caps and his own, went very softly and put them on the heads\nof the seven little ogresses. But he first took off their crowns of\ngold, and put them on his own head and his brothers\u2019, so that the ogre\nmight take them for his daughters, and his daughters for the little\nboys whom he wanted to kill.\n\nEverything turned out just as he had thought; for the ogre, waking\nabout midnight, began to feel sorry that he had put off killing the\nboys till morning, when he might have done it overnight, so he jumped\nup quickly out of bed, taking his great knife.\n\n\u201cLet us see,\u201d said he, \u201chow our little rogues are getting on, and do\nthe job up at once!\u201d\n\nHe groped his way up to his daughters\u2019 room, and went to the bed where\nthe little boys lay, all fast asleep except Hop-o\u2019-my-Thumb, who was\nterribly afraid when he found the ogre fumbling about his head, as he\nhad done about his brothers\u2019. When he felt the golden crowns, he said,\n\u201cTruly, I should have done a pretty piece of work last night; it is\nperfectly evident that I drank too much wine then.\u201d\n\nNext he went to the bed where the girls lay, and when he felt the boys\u2019\ncaps, he said, \u201cAh, my merry lads, here you are! let us get to work.\u201d\n\nAnd saying these words, without more ado he cut the throats of all his\nseven daughters. Well pleased with what he had done, he went back to\nbed again.\n\nAs soon as Hop-o\u2019-my-Thumb heard the ogre snore, he waked his brothers\nand told them to put on their clothes quickly and follow him. They\nstole down softly into the garden and got over the wall. They ran\nalmost all night, trembling all the while, and without knowing where\nthey were going.\n\nThe ogre, when he woke, said to his wife, \u201cGo up and dress those young\nrascals who came here last night.\u201d\n\nThe ogress was very much surprised at this goodness of her husband, not\ndreaming of the manner in which she was to dress them; but, thinking he\nhad ordered her to go up and put on their clothes, she went up, and was\nhorrified when she saw her daughters all dead. She fell in a faint.\n\nThe ogre, fearing that his wife would be too long in doing what he had\nordered, went up himself to help her. He was no less amazed than his\nwife at this frightful spectacle.\n\n\u201cAh! what have I done?\u201d he cried. \u201cBut the wretches shall pay for it,\nand that instantly.\u201d\n\nHe threw a pitcher of water upon his wife\u2019s face, and as soon as she\ncame to herself he said, \u201cBring me quickly my seven-league boots, that\nI may go and catch them.\u201d\n\nHe went out into the country, and after running in all directions he\nturned at last into the very road where the poor children were, not\nmore than a hundred paces from their father\u2019s house, to which they were\nrunning. They espied the ogre, who went at one step from mountain to\nmountain, and over rivers as easily as the narrowest brooks.\nHop-o\u2019-my-Thumb, seeing a hollow rock near the place where they were,\nmade his brothers hide in it, and crowded into it himself, watching\nalways to see what would become of the ogre.\n\nThe ogre, who found himself very tired with his long and fruitless\njourney (for seven-league boots are very tiring to wear), had a great\nmind to rest himself, and happened to sit down upon the very rock where\nthe little boys had hidden themselves. As he was completely worn out,\nhe fell asleep, and began to snore so frightfully that the poor\nchildren were no less afraid of him than when he held up his great\nknife and was going to cut their throats. Hop-o\u2019-my-Thumb was not so\nmuch frightened as his brothers. He told them to run quickly home,\nwhile the ogre was sleeping, and not to worry about him. They took his\nadvice and soon got home safely.\n\nHop-o\u2019-my-Thumb then went up to the ogre, pulled off his boots gently,\nand put them on his own legs. They were very long and large, but as\nthey were fairy boots they had the gift of becoming big or little\naccording to the legs of those who wore them; so they fitted his feet\nand legs as well as if they had been made on purpose for him.\n\nAs soon as Hop-o\u2019-my-Thumb had made sure of the ogre\u2019s seven-league\nboots, he went to the palace and offered his services to carry orders\nfrom the King to his army,\u2014which was a great way off,\u2014and to bring back\nthe quickest accounts of the battle they were just at that time\nfighting with the enemy. He thought he could be of more use to the King\nthan all his mail coaches, and so might make his fortune in this\nmanner. He succeeded so well that in a short time he had made money\nenough to keep himself, his father and mother, and his six brothers\n(without their having to tire themselves out with working), for all the\nrest of their lives. He then went home to his father\u2019s house, where he\nwas welcomed with great joy. As the great fame of his boots had been\ntalked of at court by this time, the King sent for him, and employed\nhim on the greatest affairs of state; so that he became one of the\nrichest men in the kingdom.\n\nAnd now let us see what became of the ogre. He slept so soundly that he\nnever knew that his boots were gone; but he fell from the corner of the\nrock where Hop-o\u2019-my-Thumb and his brothers had left him, and bruised\nhimself so badly from head to foot that he could not stir. So he was\nforced to stretch himself out at full length and wait for some one to\ncome and help him.\n\nNow a good many fagot-makers passed near the place where the ogre lay,\nand when they heard him groan they went up to ask him what was the\nmatter. But the ogre had eaten so many children in his lifetime that he\nhad grown so very big and fat, that these men could not have carried\neven one of his legs; so they were forced to leave him there. At last\nnight came on, and then a large serpent came out of a wood near by and\nstung him, so that he died in great pain.\n\nAs soon as Hop-o\u2019-my-Thumb heard of the ogre\u2019s death, he told the\nKing\u2014whose great favorite he had become\u2014all that the good-natured\nogress had done to save the lives of himself and his brothers. The King\nwas so much pleased at what he heard that he asked Hop-o\u2019-my-Thumb what\nfavor he could bestow on her. Hop-o\u2019-my-Thumb thanked his Majesty, and\ndesired that the ogress might have the noble title of Duchess of\nDraggletail given to her, which was no sooner asked than granted. The\nogress then came to court, and lived happily for many years, enjoying\nthe vast fortune she found in the ogre\u2019s chests. As for\nHop-o\u2019-my-Thumb, he grew more witty and brave every day till at last\nthe King made him the greatest lord in the kingdom, and set him over\nall his affairs.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u201cAINSEL\u201d\n\n\nMistress Lindsay, a widow, and her son Alan, who was a little boy then,\nlived in a cottage near Rothley. One winter\u2019s night Alan refused to go\nto bed with his mother, saying, \u201cI wish to sit up for a little while\nlonger, for I am not a bit sleepy.\u201d\n\nHis mother told him that if he sat up by himself the old fairy wife\nwould most certainly come and take him away. But the boy laughed at\nthis, and his mother went to bed, leaving him sitting by the fire.\n\nHe had not been there long, watching the fire and enjoying its cheerful\nwarmth, when a bonny little figure, about the size of a child\u2019s doll,\nhopped down the chimney and alighted on the hearth. The little fellow\nwas somewhat startled at first, but the fairy\u2019s smile as it danced to\nand fro before him soon overcame his fears. At last he inquired, \u201cWhat\ndo they call thee?\u201d\n\n\u201cAinsel,\u201d [1] replied the little thing, tossing its wee head.\n\nAfter a bit it turned to Alan with the same question, \u201cAnd what do they\ncall thee?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy Ainsel,\u201d answered Alan.\n\nSo they began playing together like any two children. Their gambols\nwent on till the fire began to grow dim. But when Alan took up the\npoker to stir it, a hot cinder fell accidentally upon the foot of his\nplaymate. Her tiny voice was instantly raised to a most terrific yell,\nand Alan had scarcely time to crouch into the box bed behind his mother\nbefore the voice of the old fairy wife was heard shouting: \u201cWho\u2019s done\nit? Who\u2019s done it?\u201d\n\n\u201cHoots! it was \u2018my Ainsel\u2019!\u201d answered the tiny fairy.\n\n\u201cWhy, then,\u201d said her mother, as she kicked her up the chimney, \u201cwhat\u2019s\nall this noise for? There\u2019s no one to blame but thine Ainsel.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPERONELLA\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a Queen so old and ugly, so bent down under\nthe weight of years and infirmities, that she grew weary of life,\nunless her youth could be renewed to her. A fairy who had been present\nat her birth now paid the Queen a visit, and told her that if she could\nfind a young girl willing to change places with her Majesty,\u2014to give\nher bloom and youth in exchange for the Queen\u2019s old age and\nscepter,\u2014then the fairy by one wave of her wand would fulfill their\ndesire.\n\nThe Queen was delighted, for she would much rather be poor, young, and\nhealthy, than a rich queen who was too old and infirm to enjoy life.\nShe therefore ordered the strictest search to be made throughout her\ndominions for a young girl who would be willing to give her youth in\nexchange for age, infirmities, and riches. It was not long before\nseveral discontented and ambitious girls came to accept the offer; but\nwhen they saw how feeble and helpless the old Queen was, how she could\neat nothing but gruels and soups, how wrinkled and withered she was,\nhow many times she said over the same thing, and how she tottered about\nbent double over her cane, they said they preferred their own\nconditions, poor and humble as they were, to the riches and the hundred\nyears of her Majesty.\n\nAfterwards there came some persons of a still more ambitious nature; to\nthese the Queen promised grand titles and high honors. At first they\nwere very willing; but when they had stayed a short time with her\nMajesty, they left the room, shaking their heads and saying, \u201cOf what\nuse would all the Queen possesses be to us, since we should then be so\ndisfigured and so ugly that we should be ashamed to show ourselves to\nany one?\u201d\n\nAt length a young maiden from a country village presented herself. She\nwas exceedingly beautiful, and declared herself willing to accept the\ncrown in exchange for her youth. Her name was Peronella. At first the\nQueen was very angry at her presumption, for the girl was very poor;\nbut, after all, what did that matter when the Queen\u2019s purpose was to\ngrow young again? She proposed to Peronella to divide the kingdom with\nher.\n\n\u201cYou shall have one half, and I the other,\u201d said she. \u201cSurely that is\nenough for you, who are but a poor country girl.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d replied Peronella, \u201cthat will not satisfy me at all; I will have\nthe whole, or I will remain a country girl, strong and beautiful and\nactive, while you keep your wrinkles and your hundred years.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d said the Queen, \u201cwhat shall I do if I give away my whole\nkingdom?\u201d\n\n\u201cDo?\u201d said Peronella. \u201cYour Majesty will laugh and dance and sing as I\ndo\u201d; and she laughed and danced and sung before her.\n\nThe Queen, who could do nothing like this, asked Peronella how she\nwould amuse herself if she were Queen, for she knew nothing of all the\ninfirmities of age.\n\n\u201cI really cannot be quite sure what I would do,\u201d answered Peronella,\n\u201cbut I have a great mind to try the experiment, for every one says it\nis such a fine thing to be a queen.\u201d\n\nWhile the Queen and Peronella were coming to an agreement, the fairy\nentered the room, and said to the country girl, \u201cAre you willing to\nmake the trial, and see what it is like to be a queen, extremely rich,\nand a hundred years old?\u201d\n\n\u201cI have no objection,\u201d said Peronella.\n\nIn a single instant her skin became wrinkled, her hair turned gray, her\nteeth dropped out, her back was bent double, and she felt herself\nbecome helpless, and crippled, and ill-natured; she was already a\nhundred years old. The fairy touched a bell, and a crowd of officers\nand courtiers trooped in, all richly dressed, to do homage to the Queen\nand fulfill her will. A sumptuous repast was set before her, but she\nhad not the least appetite, and, besides, she could eat nothing but\nsoups and gruels; she did not know what to say, or how to behave, and\nwas ashamed of the figure she must be making, especially as she sat\nwhere she could see herself in a looking-glass, and know all the time\nhow very ugly she was.\n\nIn the meanwhile the real Queen stood in a corner, smiling all the time\nto see how fresh and comely she had become. Her hair was beautiful, her\nskin was soft and rosy, her teeth were white and firm, and her figure\nwas strong and tall. She could skip about as nimbly as a deer; but she\nwas dressed in a coarse, rough, short petticoat, and her cap and apron\nwere poor and torn. She scarcely dared move in such clothes as these,\nand the guards, who never allowed such countrified, ragged-looking\npeople within the palace gates, pushed her about with the greatest\nrudeness. Peronella, who was watching her, now said: \u201cI see it is quite\ndreadful to you not to be queen, and it is still more so to me to be\none. Pray, take your crown again, and give me my ragged petticoat.\u201d\n\nThe change was immediately made: the Queen grew old again, and\nPeronella was as young and blooming as she had been before. Hardly had\nthis taken place when each began to repent of her haste and to wish she\nhad tried a little longer. But it was now too late; the fairy required\nthem to remain forever in their own conditions. The Queen cried all day\nlong over her aches and pains, saying: \u201cAlas, if I were but Peronella!\nI should, it is true, sleep in a poor cottage and live on potatoes, but\nI should dance with the shepherds under a shady elm to the music of a\nflute. Of what use is a bed of down to me, since it gains me neither\nsleep nor ease; or so many attendants, since they cannot make me\ncomfortable?\u201d\n\nSo the Queen\u2019s fretfulness increased her pain; nor could the twelve\nphysicians, who constantly attended her, be of the least service. She\ndied about two months later.\n\nPeronella was dancing with her companions on the fresh grass by the\nside of a flowing stream when the news of the Queen\u2019s death reached\nher. She said to them, \u201cHow fortunate I was in preferring my own humble\nlot to that of the Queen!\u201d\n\nShortly after, Peronella was wooed by three suitors, who wanted to\nmarry her. One was an old man, peevish and cross, a man of high\ndistinction but so jealous that he would never let her out of his\nsight. The second was handsome and of good family, but improvident and\nwasteful; he would be careless of his wife\u2019s comfort. The third was a\nyoung shepherd of her own rank, who loved her dearly and could give her\na good, simple home in her own pretty village. Peronella was tempted by\nthe riches of the first and the good looks and promises of the second,\nbut she remembered how miserable she had been as queen. She married the\nshepherd, and they lived a simple, happy life for many, many long\nyears.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFAIR GOLDILOCKS\n\n\nThere was once a King\u2019s daughter who was so beautiful that nothing in\nthe world could be compared with her. And because she was so beautiful,\nand because her hair was finer than spun gold and fell in waves to her\nfeet, she was called Princess Goldilocks. She always wore a crown of\nflowers; her dresses were embroidered with diamonds and pearls; and\nevery one who saw her loved her.\n\nIn a neighboring country there lived a young King who was not married,\nand who was very handsome and very rich. When he heard all that was\nsaid about fair Goldilocks, before he had ever seen her, he fell so\ndeeply in love with her that he could neither eat nor drink for\nthinking of her. He determined to send an ambassador to ask for her\nhand in marriage. He had a splendid coach made for his ambassador, and\ngiving him more than a hundred horses and a hundred servants, he\ncharged him well to bring the Princess back with him.\n\nAfter the ambassador had departed nothing else was talked of at the\ncourt but his mission. The King felt so sure of Goldilocks\u2019s consent\nthat he set his people to making beautiful dresses for her, and\nsplendid furniture for her suite of rooms. Meanwhile the ambassador\nreached her court and delivered his message. But either the Princess\ndid not happen to be in a good humor that day, or the offer did not\nsuit her fancy, for she told the ambassador that she thanked the King,\nbut she had no desire to marry. The ambassador left the Princess\u2019s\ncourt feeling very much cast down at his failure. He was bringing back\nall the gifts that the King had sent her, for the Princess was too well\nbrought up to accept the pearls and diamonds when she was refusing the\nKing; but, in order not to give offense, she kept a little package of\nEnglish pins.\n\nWhen the ambassador reached the King\u2019s capital, where the King was\nwaiting impatiently, every one was in great distress because he had not\nbrought fair Goldilocks back with him. The King wept like a child, and\nno one could console him.\n\nNow there was at the court a young man who was handsomer and more\ngifted than any one else in the kingdom. Because of his grace and his\nready wit he was called Charming. Every one liked him except a few\npeople who were jealous of him because the King showed him favor and\nmade him his confidant. One day Charming was with some people who were\ntalking about the ambassador\u2019s return and were saying that his visit\ndid not seem to have done much good. Without thinking very much what he\nwas saying, Charming remarked, \u201cIf the King had sent me to Princess\nGoldilocks I am sure she would have come back with me.\u201d\n\nThen these telltales ran straight to the King and said: \u201cYour Majesty,\nwhat do you think Charming has been saying? That if he had been sent to\nPrincess Goldilocks he would have brought her back with him. Did you\never hear of such impudence? He thinks he is handsomer than you, and\nthat she would have fallen so deeply in love with him that she would\nhave followed him anywhere.\u201d\n\nThe King was beside himself with anger.\n\n\u201cHa, ha!\u201d said he; \u201cso this spoiled youngster laughs at my misfortune,\ndoes he, and thinks himself better than his King? Go and put him in my\ngreat tower, and let him die of hunger.\u201d\n\nThe King\u2019s guards went to fetch Charming, who had quite forgotten his\nidle speech, and dragged him off to prison with all kinds of violence.\nThe poor boy had only a little straw for his bed, and he would have\ndied had it not been for a little stream which flowed through the\ntower, at which he could get water to cool his parched tongue. One day\nwhen he was in despair he cried aloud: \u201cWhat can I have done to offend\nthe King? He has not a more faithful subject than I. I have never done\na thing to harm him.\u201d\n\nThe King happened to be passing near the tower and heard the voice of\nhis former favorite. He stopped to listen, in spite of the efforts of\nCharming\u2019s enemies, who tried to persuade him to have nothing to do\nwith the traitor. But the King said: \u201cLet me alone. I want to hear what\nhe is saying.\u201d\n\nAt the sound of Charming\u2019s laments, tears filled the King\u2019s eyes, and\nhe opened the tower door and called to him. Charming came forward in a\npitiable state, and, throwing himself at the King\u2019s feet, said, \u201cWhat\nhave I done, sire, to deserve this cruel treatment?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou mocked me and my ambassador,\u201d said the King. \u201cYou said that if you\nhad been sent for Princess Goldilocks you would have brought her back.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is true, your Majesty,\u201d replied Charming. \u201cI should have told her\nso much about you and your good qualities that she would not have been\nable to refuse you. But I cannot see what there is in that to displease\nyou.\u201d\n\nWhen the King considered it from this point of view he could not see\nanything in it to make him angry, and began to frown fiercely on those\nwho had made him believe ill of his favorite. He took the boy away with\nhim, repenting deeply the wrong he had done him. When he had seen to it\nthat Charming had a good supper, he called him to his private room and\nsaid: \u201cCharming, I am as much in love as ever with fair Goldilocks; her\nrefusal has made no difference in my feelings. But I do not know how to\ngain her consent. I should like to send you to see if you could\nsucceed.\u201d\n\nCharming replied that he was ready to fulfill his King\u2019s least wish,\nand would set out the next morning.\n\n\u201cBut wait,\u201d said the King; \u201cI want to provide you with a fine escort.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere is no need of that,\u201d answered Charming. \u201cI want only a good\nhorse, and letters from you.\u201d\n\nThe King was delighted at his willingness to start so soon, and\nprovided him with what he needed. It was on a Monday morning that he\nstarted out alone, thinking always, as he went, how he should persuade\nPrincess Goldilocks to marry the King. In his pocket he carried a\nwriting tablet, and whenever a happy thought occurred to him he\ndismounted from his horse and sat down under the trees to write it, so\nthat he might be sure not to forget anything which might be of use in\nhis speech to the Princess.\n\nOne morning, when he had started early, as he was crossing a great\nmeadow he had a capital idea. So he sprang from his horse and sat down\nunder a willow tree by a little stream. When he had written it down he\nbegan to look about him and admire the pretty place where he had\nstopped. Then he saw a great golden carp panting and gasping on the\ngrass. In leaping after little flies, it had jumped too far, and was\nlying on the bank, almost dead. Charming was sorry for it, and though\nhe might have carried it away for his dinner, he picked it up gently\nand put it back into the stream. It sank to the bottom, drinking in the\ncool, refreshing water, and then, swimming gayly up to the bank, it\nsaid: \u201cCharming, I thank you for the kindness you have shown me. But\nfor you I should have died. By this act you have saved my life; one day\nI will repay you.\u201d\n\nWith these words it plunged into the water again, leaving Charming\ngreatly surprised at its politeness.\n\nAnother day, as he was going on his way, he saw a raven in great\ndistress. The poor bird was being pursued by a great eagle. It would\nsoon have been caught and eaten up, had not Charming quickly taken his\nbow and arrow and shot the eagle dead. The raven perched joyfully on a\ntree.\n\n\u201cCharming,\u201d said he, \u201cit was very generous of you to come to the aid of\na poor raven. I shall not be ungrateful. Some day I will repay you.\u201d\n\nCharming thought this was very kind of the raven, and went on his way.\n\nBefore sunrise one morning, when it was so dark that he could hardly\nsee his way, he heard an owl crying out as though it were in distress.\n\n\u201cHark!\u201d he said; \u201cthat owl seems to be in great trouble. It must be\ncaught in a snare.\u201d\n\nSo he began to hunt about, and soon found a great net spread by some\nfowlers.\n\n\u201cWhat a pity it is that men do nothing but torment and persecute poor\ncreatures that never do them any harm!\u201d he said; and taking out his\nknife he cut the cords. The owl flitted away, but came back quickly and\nsaid: \u201cCharming, I need not tell you what a great service you have done\nme. At daybreak the fowlers would have come and caught me. Without your\nhelp I should have been killed. I am grateful, and one day I will repay\nyou.\u201d\n\nThese were the three chief adventures that happened to Charming on his\njourney. He made all possible speed to reach the palace of fair\nGoldilocks. When he arrived there he dressed himself with the greatest\ncare in a suit of rich brocade, and put on a hat with scarlet and white\nplumes. Over his shoulder he threw an embroidered scarf. He carried on\nhis arm a little basket in which was a pretty little dog that he had\nbought on the way. He looked so handsome and gay when he presented\nhimself at the palace gate that the guards paid him great respect, and\nsent in haste to announce to Princess Goldilocks that Charming,\nambassador of her neighbor the King, desired to see her.\n\n\u201cCharming,\u201d repeated the Princess; \u201cthe name promises well. I am sure\nthat he is handsome, and that every one likes him.\u201d\n\n\u201cIndeed, that is true,\u201d said all her maids of honor at once; \u201cwe saw\nhim from the window of the garret where we were spinning flax, and we\ncould do nothing but look at him as long as he was in sight.\u201d\n\n\u201cSo that\u2019s the way you spend your time, is it,\u201d replied the\nPrincess,\u2014\u201cgazing out of the window at handsome strangers? Go quickly,\nand get me my blue satin embroidered dress. Let one of you comb my\nhair, and another make me fresh garlands of flowers. Get me my\nhigh-heeled shoes and my fan, and tell them to sweep my hall and my\nthrone. I want him to find me in truth \u2018Fair Goldilocks.\u2019\u201d\n\nAll the maidens rushed this way and that to make the Princess ready.\nThey were in such a hurry that they ran into and hindered one another.\nHowever, at last the Princess passed into her gallery of mirrors to\nmake sure that everything was as it should be. Then she mounted her\nthrone of gold and ebony and ivory, and told her ladies to take their\nguitars, and to play and sing softly.\n\nCharming was led into the audience room, and stood so dazzled with\nadmiration that at first he could not speak. Presently he took courage,\nand delivered his speech, eloquently pleading with the Princess to\nspare him the unhappiness of returning without her.\n\n\u201cSir Charming,\u201d answered she, \u201call the reasons which you have given me\nare very good, and I assure you I should take more pleasure in obliging\nyou than in obliging any one else; but you must know that a month ago,\nas I was walking by the river with my ladies, I took off my glove, and\nas I did so a ring slipped from my finger and rolled into the river.\nThis ring was more precious to me than my kingdom, and you may imagine\nhow distressed I was to lose it. I vowed then never to listen to any\nproposal of marriage unless the ambassador first brought me back my\nring. So now you see what you have before you; for if you talked to me\nfor fifteen days and fifteen nights you could not make me change my\nmind.\u201d\n\nCharming was very much surprised by this answer, but he bowed low to\nthe Princess and begged her to accept the embroidered scarf and the\nlittle dog he had brought with him. But she said she did not wish any\npresents, and bade him think of what she had just told him.\n\nWhen he got back to his room he went to bed without eating any supper,\nand his little dog, who was called Frolic, would not eat any either,\nbut came and lay down beside him. All night long Charming tossed back\nand forth sighing.\n\n\u201cHow am I to find a ring that fell into the river a month ago?\u201d he\nsaid. \u201cIt is useless to try. She has chosen to set me a task which she\nknows will be impossible.\u201d And he sighed again.\n\nFrolic heard him and said: \u201cMy dear master, do not despair; you are\nalways lucky, you know, and, besides, you are too good not to be happy.\nLet us go down to the river as soon as it is day.\u201d\n\nCharming only petted the dog a little and said nothing, but after a\nwhile he fell asleep.\n\nAt dawn Frolic began to jump about, and awoke his master. They went\ndown to the river together, and wandered up and down. Charming was\nthinking sadly of starting for home when he heard some one calling,\n\u201cCharming! Charming!\u201d\n\nHe looked all about, and thought he must be dreaming, for he could not\nsee anybody. He walked on, and again the voice called, \u201cCharming!\nCharming!\u201d\n\n\u201cWho is calling me?\u201d he said.\n\nFrolic, who was running along close to the water\u2019s edge, cried out,\n\u201cAll that I can see is a golden carp.\u201d\n\nAnd there, to be sure, was the great carp, and it spoke to Charming,\nsaying: \u201cYou saved my life in the meadow by the willow tree, and I\npromised to repay you. See, dear Charming, here is Princess\nGoldilocks\u2019s ring.\u201d\n\nCharming stooped down and took the ring from the carp\u2019s mouth, thanking\nit over and over again. Then he and little Frolic went straight to the\npalace. Some one told the Princess that he was asking to see her.\n\n\u201cAh, poor boy!\u201d she said; \u201che has come to say good-by. He has doubtless\ndecided that it is impossible to do what I asked.\u201d\n\nBut in came Charming, and presented the ring to her, saying: \u201cPrincess,\nI have done your bidding. Will it please you to accept the King, my\nmaster, as your husband?\u201d\n\nWhen the Princess saw her ring brought back to her unhurt, she was so\nastonished that she thought she must be dreaming.\n\n\u201cSurely, Sir Charming,\u201d she said, \u201cyou must be the favorite of some\nfairy, or you could never have found it.\u201d\n\n\u201cMadam,\u201d he replied, \u201cI know no fairy, but I had a great desire to obey\nyour wishes.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen, since you are so willing,\u201d said she, \u201cyou must do me another\nservice; otherwise I will never marry. Not far from here there is a\nPrince called Galifron, who is determined to marry me. When I refused\nhe uttered most terrible threats that he would lay waste my kingdom.\nBut how could I accept him? He is a giant, taller than a tower, and\nthinks no more of eating a man than a monkey does of eating chestnuts.\nHe talks so loud that those who are near him become deaf. I told him I\ndid not wish to marry, but he has never ceased to persecute me and to\nkill my subjects. So, before I listen to your proposal, you must kill\nhim and bring me his head.\u201d\n\nCharming was somewhat startled by this proposal, but he answered: \u201cVery\nwell, Princess Goldilocks, I will fight this Galifron. I believe I\nshall be beaten, but I will die a brave man.\u201d\n\nThe Princess was frightened at this. She told Charming everything she\ncould think of to prevent him from undertaking the adventure, but it\nwas all in vain. He withdrew to arm himself properly, and then, taking\nlittle Frolic with him, he mounted his horse and set out for Galifron\u2019s\ncountry. Every one he met told him what a terrible giant Galifron was,\nand how nobody dared to go near him. The more he heard about him the\nmore frightened he became. Frolic tried to encourage him by saying:\n\u201cDear master, while you are fighting the giant, I will go at him and\nbite his legs. Then when he stoops down to drive me off, you can kill\nhim.\u201d\n\nCharming admired the little dog\u2019s spirit, but knew his help would not\namount to much.\n\nAt last he drew near to the giant\u2019s castle. All roads leading to it\nwere covered with bones of men the giant had killed. Before long he saw\nGalifron coming through the wood. His head was higher than the tallest\ntrees, and he was striding along, singing in a terrible voice:\n\n\n        \u201cBring out children for me to eat;\n        They are the nicest kind of meat.\n        The more you bring, the better \u2019twill be,\n        For all in the world would not satisfy me.\u201d\n\n\nThen Charming began to sing to the same tune:\n\n\n        \u201cCome and look upon bold Charming;\n        He does not think you very alarming.\n        Although he is not as big as you,\n        He\u2019s come a giant to subdue.\u201d\n\n\nWhen Galifron heard these words he looked all around and soon caught\nsight of Charming, standing sword in hand. He flew into a terrible\nrage, and aimed a blow at Charming with his heavy iron club, which\nwould certainly have killed him if it had hit him; but at that moment a\nraven perched on the giant\u2019s head and pecked out both his eyes. The\ngiant struck out blindly in every direction, but Charming easily\navoided his blows, and wounded him so severely with his sword that he\nfell to the ground. Then he cut off the giant\u2019s head, while the raven,\nwho was perched on a tree near by, said: \u201cYou see I have not forgotten\nthe service you did me in killing the eagle. To-day I think I have\nfulfilled my promise to repay you.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is I who am the debtor to you for your timely help,\u201d replied\nCharming, \u201cand I am very grateful to you.\u201d\n\nThen he mounted his horse and rode off with the head of Galifron.\n\nWhen he came to the town every one ran after him, crying: \u201cHere comes\nbrave Charming! He has killed the giant!\u201d\n\nThe Princess heard the shouts, but she did not dare to ask what had\nhappened for fear she should be told that Charming had been killed. But\nsoon Charming came in with the giant\u2019s head, the very sight of which\nfrightened her, although she knew that Galifron would never trouble her\nagain.\n\n\u201cPrincess,\u201d said Charming, \u201cI have killed your enemy. I hope you will\nno longer refuse the King my master.\u201d\n\n\u201cI must,\u201d said fair Goldilocks, \u201cunless you can bring me some water\nfrom the Grotto of Darkness. This is a very deep cavern, about six\nleagues long. The entrance is guarded by two dragons with fire coming\nout of their eyes and mouths. When you get inside the gate you go down\ninto an immense hole, full of toads and adders and snakes. At the\nbottom of this hole is a little cave, in which rises the Fountain of\nBeauty and Health. It is some of this water that I must have; it has\nwonderful power for those who bathe in it. If you are beautiful, you\nwill always remain so; if you are ugly, you become fair. If you are\nyoung, you never grow old, and if you are old, you become young. You\nsee, Charming, that I really could not leave my kingdom without\ncarrying some of this water with me.\u201d\n\n\u201cPrincess,\u201d he said, \u201cyou are so beautiful that you can never have any\nneed of this water; but I am an unhappy ambassador whose death you\ndesire. I will go in search of what you wish, though I know I shall\nnever return.\u201d\n\nThe Princess showed no sign of taking back her request, so Charming set\nout with his little dog, Frolic, for the Grotto of Darkness. Every one\nhe met on the way said: \u201cWhat a pity to see so handsome a youth\nthrowing away his life so recklessly! He is going to the grotto alone;\nbut if he had a hundred men with him he could never succeed. Why does\nthe Princess demand such impossible things?\u201d\n\nHe seemed to pay no attention to them, and went right along, but he was\nvery sad at heart. At last he came to the top of a mountain from which\nhe had been told one could see the Grotto of Darkness, and he looked\nabout to find it. He saw a hideous rock, black as ink, out of which a\nthick smoke was coming. In a moment one of the fiery dragons appeared.\nIts body was yellow and green; it had great claws, and a long tail that\nlay in a hundred coils. Fire was shooting out from its mouth and eyes.\nWhen Frolic saw the dragon he was so frightened that he did not know\nwhere to hide. Charming, who was resolved to die in the attempt if need\nbe, drew his sword, and took out the flask which Princess Goldilocks\nhad given him to fill with the water of beauty. As he started for the\ncavern he said to Frolic: \u201cI feel sure that I shall die in the attempt\nto get this water. When I do not come back to you, go and tell the\nPrincess that I have died in the effort to fulfill her wishes. Then go\nto the King my master and tell him of my adventures.\u201d\n\nAs he was speaking he heard a voice calling, \u201cCharming! Charming!\u201d\n\n\u201cWho calls me?\u201d he said.\n\nThen he noticed an owl sitting in a hollow tree, who said to him: \u201cYou\nsaved my life when I was in the net, and I promised to repay you. Now I\ncan do it. Give me your flask. I know all the paths through the Grotto\nof Darkness, and I will fetch the water of beauty for you.\u201d\n\nCharming was delighted to give him the flask, and the owl flew into the\ncavern without any difficulty, and in less than a quarter of an hour\nreturned with the flask full to the brim. Charming thanked him with all\nhis heart, and joyfully set out for the town.\n\nHe went straight to the palace and presented the flask to Princess\nGoldilocks, who had nothing more to say. She thanked Charming, and\nordered that preparations should be made for her departure, and they\nsoon set out together. The Princess found Charming so delightful a\ncompanion that she sometimes said to him: \u201cWhy did we ever leave my\nkingdom? I could have made you King, and we should have been happy\ntogether.\u201d\n\nBut Charming answered: \u201cI could not have done anything so displeasing\nto my master for all the kingdoms of the earth, though I think you\nlovelier than the sun.\u201d\n\nAt last they reached the King\u2019s chief city, and he came out to meet\nPrincess Goldilocks, bringing magnificent presents. The marriage was\ncelebrated with great rejoicings. But Goldilocks was so fond of\nCharming that she could not be happy unless he was near her, and his\npraises were always on her lips.\n\n\u201cIf it had not been for Charming,\u201d she would say to the King, \u201cI should\nnever have been here. You ought to be very grateful to him, for he did\nmost impossible things to win me. Besides, he got me water from the\nFountain of Beauty, so that I can never grow old, but shall be\nbeautiful always.\u201d\n\nThen Charming\u2019s enemies, who envied him his good fortune, said to the\nKing: \u201cYou don\u2019t seem to be jealous, but you have good reason to be.\nThe Queen seems to talk and think of no one but Charming, and how much\nhe did to gain her. As if anybody you had sent could not have done just\nas much!\u201d\n\n\u201cNow I come to think of it, I believe you are right,\u201d said the King.\n\u201cLet him be chained hand and foot and thrown into the tower.\u201d\n\nSo they took Charming, and as a reward for having served the King so\nwell he was shut up in the tower, where he saw no one but the jailer\nwho brought him black bread and water once a day. But little Frolic\nstayed to comfort him, and brought him all the news.\n\nWhen Goldilocks heard of Charming\u2019s disgrace she threw herself at the\nKing\u2019s feet and begged him to set Charming free; but the more she wept\nand pleaded the more angry the King became, thinking that she loved\nCharming. At last she saw that it was of no use to plead any more; but\nshe was very sad.\n\nThe King took it into his head that perhaps she did not think him\nhandsome enough. So he thought he would bathe his face with the water\nfrom the Fountain of Beauty, which was in a flask on a shelf in the\nQueen\u2019s room. She had put it there so that she might look at it often.\nNow it happened that one of the housemaids in chasing a spider had\nknocked the flask off the shelf. It had broken and all the water had\nbeen spilled. She swept up the pieces in great haste, and was at her\nwits\u2019 end what to do, when she remembered that she had seen in the\nKing\u2019s room a flask just like this, filled with clear water. Without\nsaying a word to any one, she fetched that and placed it on the Queen\u2019s\nshelf.\n\nNow the liquid in the King\u2019s flask was what was used in the kingdom for\ngetting rid of unruly nobles. Instead of having their heads cut off,\nthese nobles had their faces bathed with this water, and they fell\nasleep and never woke up. So one evening the King, thinking to make\nhimself handsome, took the flask and bathed his face in the water. Then\nhe fell asleep and never woke up again.\n\nLittle Frolic was the first to find out what had happened, and he ran\nto tell Charming, who told him to go to Princess Goldilocks and beg her\nnot to forget the poor prisoner. All the court was in great confusion\nbecause of the King\u2019s death, but Frolic made his way through the crowd\nand said to the Queen, \u201cMadam, do not forget poor Charming.\u201d\n\nShe remembered all he had done and suffered for her, and without saying\na word to any one she went straight to the tower, and with her own\nhands took off Charming\u2019s chains. Then, placing a crown upon his head\nand the royal mantle on his shoulders, she said, \u201cCome, dear Charming,\nI make you King, and take you for my husband.\u201d\n\nCharming threw himself at her feet and thanked her.\n\nEvery one was delighted that he should be King. The wedding, which took\nplace at once, was the prettiest ever seen, and Prince Charming and\nPrincess Goldilocks lived happily ever after.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNOTES\n\n\nIn his critical edition of \u201cPerrault\u2019s Popular Tales,\u201d Andrew Lang has\nsaid that \u201call the incidents of popular tales, like the bits of glass\nin a kaleidoscope, may be shaken into a practically limitless number of\ncombinations.\u201d All that can be done in a book of this size is to choose\nthe best of these combinations. The notes below indicate parallels\nwhere the resemblance between tales is close and where a version\noriginally foreign has practically superseded the early English\nrendering.\n\nPage 1. Rumpelstiltskin. Source: \u201cKinder- und Hausm\u00e4rchen,\u201d by Jacob\nGrimm (1785\u20131863) and Wilhelm Grimm (1786\u20131859). These German brothers\nmade a large and valuable collection of fairy tales, gathering them\nfrom oral tradition and retelling them. English Parallel: \u201cTom Tit\nTot.\u201d This is the best of a group of stories involving the task of\nguessing a name, with which is here combined the demand by a\nsupernatural being for a human child.\n\nPage 9. Doll-in-the-Grass. Source: \u201cPopular Tales from the Norse,\u201d by\nGeorge W. Dasent (Edinburgh, 1859), who translated it from the Norse\ncollection of Peter Christen Asbj\u00f6rnsen and J\u00f6rgen Moe. Parallels:\nGrimm\u2019s \u201cThe Three Feathers,\u201d and Madame D\u2019Aulnoy\u2019s \u201cThe White Cat\u201d\n(Fairy Tales, Vol. II). In each of these stories sons are sent out to\nseek their fortune and return at last with wives.\n\nPage 14. How to tell a Real Princess. Source: \u201cStories and Tales,\u201d by\nHans Christian Andersen (1805\u20131875), a collection of tales by one of\nthe greatest story-tellers in the world. He originated many plots, and\nretold even familiar tales in a style that made them distinctly his\nown.\n\nPage 17. The Frog Prince. Source: Grimm. English Parallel: \u201cThe Well at\nthe World\u2019s End.\u201d One of the oldest stories in Germany. Sometimes\ncalled \u201cIron Henry.\u201d\n\nPage 26. Cinderella. Source: \u201cContes de Ma M\u00e8re l\u2019Oye,\u201d by Charles\nPerrault (1628\u20131703), published in France in 1697. The best English\ntranslation was printed in 1795 under the title, \u201cTales of Passed\nTimes, by Mother Goose.... Written in French by M. Perrault, and\nEnglished by R. S. Gent.\u201d Our versions follow as closely as is\nconsistent with modern English the quaint language of this book.\nAppearing as they did at a time when French society was reacting\nagainst its own extravagances, these simple, fresh stories became\ninstantly popular. They were published under the name of Perrault\u2019s\nlittle boy, and many critics think that \u201cthe na\u00efvet\u00e9 and popular\ntraditional manner of telling\u201d are due to him, while they recognize the\npolish of style and skill of selection of his literary father.\nParallels: Many; but, as Mr. Lang says, \u201chere we can distinctly see how\nthe taste and judgment of Perrault altered an old and barbarous\ndetail,\u201d by substituting the fairy godmother for the friendly beast of\nearlier tales, and also by beautifying the stepmother incident.\n\nPage 42. Hans in Luck. Source: Grimm.\n\nPage 56. Diamonds and Toads. Source: Perrault, under the title of \u201cLes\nF\u00e9es.\u201d Parallel: A universal tale with many variants, both in the motif\nof politeness rewarded, and in the incident of the adventures of the\ngood and bad sisters or brothers.\n\nPage 62. Puss in Boots. Source: Perrault. Mr. Lang sums up the plot as\nthat of \u201ca young man brought from poverty to the throne by the aid of a\nmatchmaking and ingenious beast,\u201d and remarks that \u201cPuss is a perfectly\nunscrupulous adventurer for no reason but the fun of the thing.\u201d\n\nPage 75. Rapunzel. Source: Grimm.\n\nPage 86. Beauty and the Beast. Source: The original tale, as told by\nMadame Villeneuve (died in 1755), occupies two hundred pages of the\n\u201cCabinet des F\u00e9es,\u201d Vol. 26 (1787). The framework and much of the text\nof our abridged version are taken from a chapbook, published in Glasgow\nby Francis Orr & Sons, which is in the Harvard Library.\n\nPage 108. The Steadfast Tin Soldier. Source: Hans Andersen\u2019s \u201cWonder\nStories Told for Children.\u201d\n\nPage 118. Hop-o\u2019-my-Thumb. Source: Perrault. \u201cA tale which has signs of\ngreat antiquity.\u201d\n\nPage 139. \u201cAinsel.\u201d Source: T. Keightley\u2019s \u201cFairy Mythology.\u201d\nParallels: A tale widely current in England with many slight\nvariations. Cf. the outwitting of Polyphemus by Ulysses in the Odyssey.\n\nPage 141. Peronella. Source: \u201cA Fairy-Book,\u201d Harper & Brothers, 1836.\nParallels: Many tales of wishes fulfilled. A traditional tale of long\nstanding in England.\n\nPage 149. Fair Goldilocks. Source: Madame D\u2019Aulnoy, a Frenchwoman who\nwrote many fairy tales. French text in \u201cCabinet des F\u00e9es,\u201d Vol. 2\n(1787); English translation consulted under the title \u201cThe Fair One\nwith Golden Locks\u201d in \u201cQueen Mab ... written by the Countess D\u2019Aulnoy,\nLondon, 1770.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTE\n\n\n[1] That is, ownself.","title":"Fairy Tales, Volume 1 (of 2)","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":28151}