{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_67777/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_67777","id":"gutenberg_67777","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67777","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Short Stories","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. II\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\nThe division of Fairy Tales into two volumes was rather for the sake of\nkeeping the books small and of uniform size in the series, \u201cThe Open\nRoad Library,\u201d than because there was any difference in the age of\nchildren addressed. Some of the best stories have been reserved for\nthis book.\n\nThe plan has been to gratify interest awakened in the tales of the\nfirst volume by a parallel in the second. Thus in the first we had the\ndroll of \u201cHans in Luck,\u201d to which \u201cClever Alice\u201d corresponds in this.\nThe \u201cFrog Prince\u201d and \u201cBeauty and the Beast\u201d are paralleled by the\n\u201cWhite Cat,\u201d in which a princess instead of a prince is restored from\nthe spell of an animal disguise. The first volume recounts in\n\u201cDoll-in-the-Grass\u201d the story of twelve sons sent out into the world by\ntheir royal father to win their fortunes; the second tells of six sons,\nwho later become Pleiades, sent forth to learn trades. And so the\ncomparison might be continued. The incidents of fairy and folk lore\nappear in numberless combinations. Close similarity of plot has been\navoided, and stories which correspond in general motif have been put in\ndifferent volumes. About an equal number of tales from each of the\ngreat story-tellers\u2014Perrault, Andersen, Grimm, etc.\u2014is to be found in\neach book.\n\nThe atmosphere of these tales is healthful, and their tone, while not\nin most cases didactic, is distinctly moral and uplifting. In a simple\nand direct way right is rewarded and wrong is discountenanced; the\nthief among the six brothers has to be the palest star in the Pleiades.\nThe grotesque and horrible have been introduced only where they are so\nexaggerated that no sane child would fail to appreciate their\nextravagance. Cruel stepmothers are a tradition of fairy lore, but\ntales of cruel brothers and sisters do not appear in these volumes.\n\nWe have discriminated between these fairy tales and stories of a more\nheroic nature, which lay claim to having actually happened in some\nstated place. Tales like \u201cJack the Giant Killer\u201d and \u201cTom Thumb,\u201d in\nwhich this saga element is predominant, have been carried forward into\na succeeding volume, Tales of Old England. As in the last pages of the\nRhymes and Stories a few of the simplest fairy tales were introduced,\nso this book leads from the supernatural of the fairy tale to the\nheroic of the saga.\n\n\nM. F. LANSING\n\nCambridge, Massachusetts\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                            Page\n\n        The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood        1\n        The Emperor\u2019s New Clothes             16\n        The Golden Goose                      27\n        The Elves and the Shoemaker           34\n        The King of the Cats                  38\n        The Fir Tree                          41\n        Pleiades, or the Seven Stars          62\n        Bluebeard                             67\n        Thumbelina                            79\n        Clever Alice                         105\n        Riquet with the Tuft                 114\n        Snowdrop                             130\n        The White Cat                        152\n\n        NOTES                                179\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFAIRY TALES\n\n\nTHE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOOD\n\n\nOnce upon a time there lived in a distant land a King and Queen who\nwere very unhappy because they had no children; they were more sorry\nthan words can tell.\n\nAt last, however, the Queen had a daughter. There was a very fine\nchristening. For her godmothers the little Princess had all the fairies\nthat could be found in the land (there were seven in all), so that each\nof them might give her a gift, as was the custom of fairies in those\ndays. By this means the Princess would be sure to have all the\nperfections imaginable.\n\nAfter the christening was over, all the company returned to the palace,\nwhere a great feast was spread for the fairies. Before each fairy was\nplaced a magnificent cover, with a case of massive gold in which were a\nspoon, a fork, and a knife, all of pure gold set with diamonds and\nrubies. But as they were all sitting at table, they saw coming into the\nhall a very old fairy, who had not been invited because it was more\nthan fifty years since she had been out of a certain tower, and she was\nbelieved to be either dead or enchanted.\n\nThe King ordered a cover laid for her, but he could not give her a case\nof gold such as had been given to the others, for only seven had been\nmade. The old fairy fancied she was slighted, and muttered some threats\nbetween her teeth. One of the young fairies who sat beside her heard\nthese threats, and judging that she might give the little Princess some\nunlucky gift, went, as soon as they rose from the table, and hid\nherself behind the hangings. In this way she could be the one to speak\nlast, and might be able to repair, in so far as it was possible, any\nevil which the old fairy might intend to do.\n\nMeanwhile the fairies began to bestow their gifts upon the Princess.\nThe youngest gave for her gift that she should be the most beautiful\nperson in the world; the next, that she should have the wisdom and\nunderstanding of an angel; the third, that she should have wonderful\ngrace in everything that she did; the fourth, that she should dance\nperfectly; the fifth, that she should sing like a nightingale; and the\nsixth, that she should play with the greatest charm and skill on every\nkind of musical instrument.\n\nWhen the old fairy\u2019s turn came she stepped forward, shaking her head\nmore with spite than with age, and said that the Princess should pierce\nher hand with a spindle and die of the wound. This terrible gift made\nthe whole company tremble, and everybody began to weep. At this very\ninstant the young fairy came out from behind the hangings and, in a\nclear voice, said: \u201cBe of good cheer, O King and Queen; not so shall\nyour daughter die. It is true that I have not the power to undo\nentirely what my elder has done. The Princess shall indeed pierce her\nhand with a spindle; but instead of dying of the wound she shall only\nfall into a deep sleep, which shall last a hundred years, at the end of\nwhich a King\u2019s son shall come and wake her.\u201d\n\nThe King resolved to do all in his power to avoid the misfortune\nforetold by the old fairy. He immediately issued an edict forbidding\nany one, on pain of death, to spin with a distaff and spindle, or even\nto have a spindle in his house.\n\nFifteen or sixteen years afterward, when the King and Queen were at one\nof their country villas, the young Princess was running about one day\nin the castle. She went from room to room till she came to the top of a\ntower, where a good old woman was sitting alone, spinning with her\nspindle. This good woman had never heard of the King\u2019s edict against\nspindles.\n\n\u201cWhat are you doing there, my good woman?\u201d said the Princess.\n\n\u201cI am spinning, my pretty child,\u201d said the old woman, who did not know\nwho she was.\n\n\u201cOh, how pretty!\u201d exclaimed the Princess. \u201cHow do you do it? Let me see\nif I can do it.\u201d\n\nShe had no sooner taken the spindle than, either because she was very\nquick and a trifle heedless, or because the decree of the fairy has so\nordained, she pierced her hand with it and fell in a swoon.\n\nThe good old woman, in great alarm, cried out for help. People came\nrunning in from all directions. They threw water on the Princess\u2019s\nface; they unlaced her; they struck her on the palms of her hands and\nrubbed her temples with cologne water; but nothing would bring her to.\n\nThen the King, who had come up on hearing the noise, remembered the\nprediction of the fairies. He knew very well that this must come to\npass, since the fairies had decreed it. He had the Princess carried\ninto the finest apartment in the palace, and laid upon a bed\nembroidered with gold and silver. One would have taken her for a little\nangel, she was so beautiful; her cheeks were carnation, and her lips\nlike coral. Her eyes were closed, it is true, but she was heard to\nbreathe softly, which satisfied those about her that she was not dead.\nThe King gave orders that they should let her sleep quietly until the\ntime came for her to awake.\n\nThe good fairy who had saved her life by condemning her to sleep a\nhundred years was in the kingdom of Mataquin, twelve thousand leagues\naway, when this accident happened to the Princess; but she was promptly\ntold of it by a little dwarf who had a pair of seven-league boots,\u2014that\nis, boots with which he could cover seven leagues of ground at a single\nstride. The fairy set out immediately, and arrived at the castle about\nan hour later in a fiery chariot drawn by dragons.\n\nThe King handed her out of the chariot. She approved everything he had\ndone; but, as she had great foresight, she thought that when the\nPrincess awoke she would be much perplexed and troubled at finding\nherself all alone in this old palace. So this is what she did. She\ntouched with her wand everything in the palace except the King and\nQueen,\u2014governesses, maids of honor, ladies of the bedchamber,\ngentlemen, officers, stewards, cooks, scullions, guards, porters,\npages, and footmen; she touched also all the horses in the stable with\ntheir grooms, the great mastiffs in the courtyard, and even little\nPouste, the Princess\u2019s tiny spaniel that was lying on the bed beside\nher.\n\nThe moment she touched them they all fell asleep, not to wake again\ntill their mistress did. This was done in order that they might be\nready to serve her again when she had need of them. Even the spits that\nstood before the fire, as full as they could hold of partridges and\npheasants, fell asleep, and the fire itself as well. All this was done\nin a moment. Fairies are not long in doing their business!\n\nAnd now the King and Queen, having kissed their dear child without\nwaking her, left the castle, issuing a proclamation that no one should\ncome near it. These commands were not necessary, for in less than a\nquarter of an hour there grew up all around the park such a vast number\nof trees great and small, and of bushes and brambles, twining one\nwithin another, that neither man nor beast could pass through, and\nnothing could be seen but the very top of the towers of the palace, and\nthat, too, only from a great distance. Every one knew that this was the\nwork of the fairy in order that the Princess, while she slept, should\nhave nothing to fear from curious people.\n\nA hundred years passed, and the kingdom was in the hands of another\nroyal family. The son of the reigning King was hunting one day in that\npart of the country, and asked what those towers were which he saw in\nthe middle of a great dense wood. Every one answered according as he\nhad heard. Some said it was an old haunted castle; others, that all the\nwitches of the country held their revels there. But the common opinion\nwas that an ogre lived there, and that he carried thither all the\nlittle children he could catch, secure that no one would follow him,\nfor he alone had power to make his way through the wood.\n\nThe Prince did not know what to believe; but finally an aged man spoke\nto him thus: \u201cMay it please your Highness, more than fifty years ago I\nheard my father tell that there was in that castle a Princess, the most\nbeautiful ever seen; and that she was to sleep there a hundred years,\nand that she would be wakened by a King\u2019s son for whom she was\nwaiting.\u201d\n\nThe young Prince was all on fire at these words. He had not a moment\u2019s\ndoubt that he was the one to carry through this rare adventure, and\nfilled with love and longing for glory he instantly resolved to look\ninto the matter. As soon as he drew near the wood, all the great trees,\nthe bushes, and the brambles gave way of themselves to let him pass\nthrough. He walked toward the castle which he saw at the end of a long\navenue. As he looked around he was surprised to see that none of his\npeople had been able to follow him, for the trees had closed in again\nas soon as he had passed between them. He did not stop or turn back for\nthis; a young Prince, drawn on by love and the desire for glory, is\nalways valiant.\n\nHe came into a spacious outer court where the sight that met his eyes\nwas of a kind to freeze him with horror. A frightful silence reigned\nover all; the appearance of death was everywhere, and there was nothing\nto be seen but the bodies of men and animals stretched out on every\nside, and apparently lifeless. He noticed, however, that the faces of\nthe guards were ruddy, and he knew that they were only asleep; besides,\nthe goblets standing by them, with a few drops of wine left in them,\nplainly showed that they had fallen asleep while drinking their wine.\n\nHe then crossed a court paved with marble, went up the stairs, and came\ninto the guardroom, where soldiers were standing. They were drawn up in\nranks, with muskets on their shoulders, and were snoring loudly. He\nwent through several rooms full of gentlemen and ladies, some standing\nand others sitting, but all asleep. He entered a gilded chamber and saw\non a bed, the curtains of which were all drawn back, the most beautiful\nsight he had ever looked upon,\u2014a Princess, who appeared to be about\nfifteen or sixteen years old, and who was so dazzlingly beautiful that\nshe seemed to belong to another world. He approached with trembling and\nadmiration, and fell down upon his knees before her.\n\nThen, as the end of the enchantment was come, the Princess awoke, and\nlooking tenderly at the young man, said: \u201cIs it you, my Prince? You\nhave waited a long while.\u201d\n\nThe Prince, charmed with these words, and much more with the manner in\nwhich they were spoken, did not know how to show his joy and gratitude.\nHe assured her that he loved her better than himself. Then they forgot\nall else as they talked together of their love. She was perhaps more\nprepared for it than he, for it is very probable (though history says\nnothing of it) that the good fairy, during so long a sleep, had given\nher pleasant dreams. They talked together for four hours, and still\nthey had not said half that they wished to say.\n\nIn the meantime, all the palace had been awakened with the Princess.\nEvery one thought at once of his particular business, and as they were\nnot in love they realized that they were extremely hungry. The chief\nlady in waiting, who was as hungry as the rest, finally became\nimpatient and announced to the Princess that the meal was served. The\nPrince took the Princess by the hand. She was magnificently dressed,\nbut he took care not to tell her that her costume was like that of his\ngreat-grandmother as he had seen it in pictures. She looked not a bit\nthe less charming and beautiful for that.\n\nThey passed into the great hall lined with mirrors, where they supped,\nattended by the officers of the Princess. The violins and clarinets\nplayed old tunes, but they were excellent, though they had not been\nplayed for a hundred years. After supper, without losing any time, the\nlord almoner married them in the chapel of the castle.\n\nWhen they left the castle the next day to return to the home of the\nPrince, they were followed by all the retinue of the Princess. They\nmarched down the long avenue, and the wood opened before them to let\nthem pass through. Outside they met the Prince\u2019s followers, who had\nbeen waiting in great anxiety and were overjoyed to see their master\nagain. When they had gone a little way they turned to look back at the\ncastle, but behold! there was no castle to be seen, and no wood; castle\nand wood had vanished, but the Prince and Princess went gayly away, and\nwhen the old King and Queen died they reigned in their stead.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE EMPEROR\u2019S NEW CLOTHES\n\n\nMany years ago there lived an Emperor who was so fond of new clothes\nthat he spent all his money on them. He cared nothing about his\nsoldiers, or about the theater, or about driving, except for the sake\nof showing off his new clothes. He had a coat for every hour of the\nday; and just as they say of a King, \u201cHe is in the council chamber,\u201d\nhere they always said, \u201cThe Emperor is in his wardrobe.\u201d\n\nIn the great city in which he lived life was very gay. Every day many\nstrangers arrived. One day two rogues came who gave themselves out to\nbe weavers, and said that they could weave the finest cloth any one\ncould imagine. Not only were its colors and patterns uncommonly\nbeautiful, but the clothes which were made of this material possessed\nthe wonderful property of becoming invisible to any one who was not fit\nfor the office he held, or who was uncommonly stupid.\n\n\u201cThose must indeed be capital clothes,\u201d thought the Emperor. \u201cIf I wore\nthem I could find out which men in my kingdom are unfit for the offices\nthey hold; I could distinguish the wise men from the stupid. Yes, some\nof that cloth must be woven for me at once.\u201d\n\nSo he paid both the rogues a large sum of money in advance so that they\nmight begin their work at once.\n\nThey put up two looms and went through all the motions of weaving, but\nthey had nothing at all on their looms. They also demanded the finest\nsilk and the purest gold thread,\u2014all of which they put into their own\npockets; and they went on working away at the empty looms all day long\nand far into the night.\n\n\u201cI should like to know how those weavers are getting on with the\nstuff,\u201d thought the Emperor. But he felt a little queer when he\nremembered that any one who was stupid or unfit for his post would not\nbe able to see it. He felt very sure that he had nothing to fear for\nhimself, but still he preferred to send some one else first to see how\nthe weaving was getting on. Everybody in the town knew what a wonderful\npower the cloth had, and all were curious to see how bad or how stupid\ntheir neighbors were.\n\n\u201cI will send my faithful and honored old minister to the weavers,\u201d\nthought the Emperor. \u201cHe can judge best what the stuff is like, for he\nis clever, and no one fulfills his duties better than he does.\u201d\n\nSo the good old minister went to the hall where the two rogues sat\nworking at the empty looms.\n\n\u201cHeaven preserve us!\u201d thought the old minister, opening his eyes wide.\n\u201cI cannot see anything at all.\u201d But he did not say so.\n\nBoth the rogues begged him to be so good as to step a little closer,\nand asked him if he did not think the pattern and the colors beautiful.\nThey pointed to the empty loom, and the poor old minister walked\nforward, rubbing his eyes; but he could see nothing, for there was\nnothing there. \u201cMercy on us!\u201d thought he; \u201ccan I be so stupid? I have\nnever thought so, and nobody must know it. Can it be that I am not fit\nfor my office? No, it will certainly never do to say that I cannot see\nthe cloth.\u201d\n\n\u201cHave you nothing to say about it?\u201d asked one of the weavers.\n\n\u201cOh, it is beautiful! quite charming!\u201d answered the old minister,\nlooking through his spectacles. \u201cWhat a fine pattern! and what colors!\nYes, I will tell the Emperor that it pleases me very much.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow we are delighted to hear you say so,\u201d said both the weavers, and\nthen they named all the colors, and described the peculiar pattern.\n\nThe old minister paid great attention, so that he might be able to\nrepeat it to the Emperor when he got back.\n\nThen the rogues wanted more money, more silk, and more gold, to use in\ntheir weaving, but they put it all into their own pockets; not a single\nthread was ever put on the loom, but they went on working at the empty\nlooms as before.\n\nSoon the Emperor sent another worthy statesman to see how the weaving\nwas getting on, and how soon the cloth would be finished. It was the\nsame with him as with the first one: he looked and looked, but as there\nwas nothing on the loom he could see nothing.\n\n\u201cIs it not a beautiful piece of cloth?\u201d asked the rogues, and they\npointed to and described the splendid material that was not there at\nall.\n\n\u201cI am not stupid,\u201d thought the man, \u201cso it must be that I am not fit\nfor my good office. It is very strange, but I must not let it be\nnoticed.\u201d\n\nSo he praised the cloth which he did not see, and expressed to them his\ndelight in the beautiful colors and the charming pattern.\n\n\u201cYes, it is perfectly beautiful,\u201d he reported to the Emperor.\n\nEverybody in the town was talking of the magnificent cloth. The Emperor\nhimself wished to see it while it was still on the loom. With a great\ncrowd of carefully selected men, among whom were the two worthy\nstatesmen who had been before, he went to visit the cunning rogues, who\nwere weaving away with might and main, but without fiber or thread.\n\n\u201cIs it not splendid?\u201d said both the old statesmen. \u201cSee, Your Majesty,\nwhat a pattern! what colors!\u201d And they pointed to the empty loom, for\nthey believed others could see the cloth quite well.\n\n\u201cWhat!\u201d thought the Emperor; \u201cI can see nothing. This is terrible! Am I\nstupid? Am I not fit to be Emperor? That would be the most dreadful\nthing that could happen to me. Oh, it is very beautiful!\u201d he said\naloud. \u201cIt has my highest approval.\u201d And then he nodded pleasantly as\nhe examined the empty loom, for he would not say that he could see\nnothing.\n\nHis whole suite gazed and gazed, and saw no more than the others; but,\nlike the Emperor, they all exclaimed, \u201cOh, it is beautiful! beautiful!\u201d\nand they advised him to wear the splendid new clothes for the first\ntime at the great procession which was soon to take place.\n\n\u201cSplendid! Gorgeous! Magnificent!\u201d went from mouth to mouth. Every one\nseemed delighted, and the Emperor gave the rogues the title of \u201cCourt\nWeavers of the Emperor.\u201d\n\nDuring the whole night before the day on which the procession was to\ntake place, the rogues sat up and worked by the light of sixteen\ncandles. The people could see that they were hard at work, finishing\nthe Emperor\u2019s new clothes. They pretended to take the cloth from the\nloom; they cut into the air with huge scissors; they stitched with\nneedles with no thread; and at last they said, \u201cNow the clothes are\nfinished!\u201d\n\nThe Emperor came himself, with his noblest courtiers, and each rogue\nlifted his arm just as if he were holding something, and said, \u201cSee!\nhere are the trousers! here is the coat! here is the cloak!\u201d and so on.\n\n\u201cIt is as light as a spider\u2019s web. One would almost think one had\nnothing on; but that is the beauty of it!\u201d\n\n\u201cYes!\u201d said all the courtiers, but they could see nothing, for there\nwas nothing there.\n\n\u201cWill your Majesty be graciously pleased to take off your clothes,\u201d\nsaid the rogues; \u201cthen we will put on the new clothes here before the\ngreat mirror.\u201d\n\nThe Emperor took off his clothes, and the rogues pretended to put upon\nhim one garment after another. The Emperor turned round and round in\nfront of the mirror.\n\n\u201cHow well they look! How beautifully they fit!\u201d said everybody. \u201cWhat\nmaterial! and what colors! That is a splendid costume!\u201d\n\n\u201cThe canopy which is to be carried over your Majesty in the procession\nis waiting outside,\u201d announced the master of ceremonies.\n\n\u201cWell, I am ready,\u201d replied the Emperor. \u201cDon\u2019t the clothes look well?\u201d\nand he turned round again in front of the mirror to appear as if he\nwere admiring his costume.\n\nThe chamberlains who were to carry the train stooped and put their\nhands near the floor as if they were lifting it; then they pretended to\nbe holding something in the air. They would not have it noticed that\nthey could see nothing.\n\nSo the Emperor went along in the procession under the splendid canopy,\nand all the people in the streets and at the windows said: \u201cHow\nbeautiful the Emperor\u2019s new clothes are! That train is splendid! and\nhow well they fit!\u201d\n\nNo one wanted it to be noticed that he could see nothing, for in that\ncase he would be unfit for his office, or else very stupid. None of the\nEmperor\u2019s clothes had been such a success as these.\n\n\u201cBut he has nothing on,\u201d said a little child.\n\n\u201cJust hear the innocent!\u201d said the father; and each one whispered to\nhis neighbor what the child had said.\n\n\u201cBut he has nothing on,\u201d cried out all the people at last.\n\nThis struck the Emperor, for it seemed to him that they were right; but\nhe thought to himself, \u201cI must go through with the procession now.\u201d\n\nSo he held himself stiffer than ever, and the chamberlains held on\ntightly, carrying the train which was not there at all.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE GOLDEN GOOSE\n\n\nThere was once a man who had three sons, the youngest of whom was\nthought to be very stupid and silly. Everybody used to tease and mock\nhim.\n\nOne day the eldest son wanted to go into the forest to hew wood, and\nbefore he started, his mother gave him a fine sweet cake and a bottle\nof wine to take with him. In the forest he met a gray old man, who bade\nhim \u201cgood day,\u201d and said, \u201cGive me a piece of your cake and a sip of\nyour wine, for I am very hungry and thirsty.\u201d\n\nBut the prudent youth replied: \u201cIf I give you my cake and wine, I shall\nhave none for myself. Be off with you!\u201d\n\nAnd he left the little man standing there and went on his way. He began\nto cut down a tree, but he had not been at work long before he made a\nfalse stroke, and the ax cut so deeply into his arm that he had to go\nhome and have it bound up. This was the little gray man\u2019s doing.\n\nThe second son was now the one to go into the forest to cut wood, and\nthe mother gave him, as she had given the eldest, a sweet cake and a\nbottle of wine. The little old gray man met him, too, and asked for a\npiece of cake and a drink of wine; but the second son made the same\nsensible answer: \u201cWhat I give to you I cannot have for myself. Be off!\u201d\n\nAnd he left the little man standing there and went on his way. His\npunishment, however, was not long delayed; when he had made a few\nstrokes at the tree he struck himself in the leg, and had to be carried\nhome.\n\nThen the stupid son said to his father, \u201cFather, let me go and cut\nwood.\u201d\n\nThe father replied: \u201cYour brothers have hurt themselves. Leave it\nalone. You know nothing about it.\u201d\n\nBut he begged so long that at last the father said, \u201cWell, go then; you\nwill be wiser when you have hurt yourself.\u201d\n\nHis mother gave him a cake made with water and baked in the cinders,\nand with it a bottle of sour beer. When he came to the forest the\nlittle old gray man met him in the same way, greeted him, and said,\n\u201cGive me a piece of your cake and a taste of your wine; I am very\nhungry and thirsty.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have only a cake baked in ashes,\u201d replied the simple youth, \u201cand\nsour beer. If that will suit you, we will sit down and eat together.\u201d\n\nSo they sat down; but when the youth took out his cake it was a fine\nsweet cake, and the sour beer was good wine. They ate and drank, and\nthen the little man said: \u201cBecause you have a good heart and are\nwilling to share what you have, I will give you good luck. There stands\nan old tree. Cut it down and you will find something at the roots.\u201d\nThen the old man took leave of him.\n\nThe youth went and cut down the tree, and when it fell, there sitting\namong the roots was a goose, whose feathers were of pure gold. He\npicked it up, and, taking it with him, went to an inn where he meant to\npass the night. The landlord had three daughters, who, as soon as they\nsaw the goose, were very curious as to what kind of a bird it could be,\nand wanted to have one of its golden feathers.\n\nThe eldest thought to herself, \u201cI\u2019ll soon find a chance to pull out a\nfeather\u201d; and as soon as the youth went out of the room she seized the\ngoose by the wing; but her hand stuck fast and she could not get away.\n\nVery soon the second sister came in, thinking only of how she might\npluck a feather for herself; but she had hardly touched her sister when\nshe found herself held fast.\n\nAt last the third sister came also, with the same intention. Then the\nothers screamed out: \u201cKeep away! For goodness\u2019 sake, keep away!\u201d\n\nBut she did not understand why she should keep away. \u201cIf the others are\nthere by the bird, why should not I be, too?\u201d she thought, and ran to\nthem; but as soon as she had touched her sister she was made fast, too.\nSo they had to spend the night with the goose.\n\nThe next morning the youth took the goose under his arm and started\noff, without troubling himself about the three girls, who were still\nhanging on. They were obliged to keep on the run behind him, now to the\nright and now to the left, as the fancy seized him.\n\nIn the middle of the fields the parson met them, and when he saw the\nprocession he said: \u201cFor shame, you good-for-nothing girls! What are\nyou running across the fields after this young man for? Is that\nseemly?\u201d\n\nHe took the youngest by the hand to pull her away, but as soon as he\ntouched her hand he also stuck fast, and was obliged himself to run\nalong behind.\n\nBefore long the sexton came by and saw his master, the parson, running\nalong after three girls. He was astonished, and called after him:\n\u201cHalloo, your reverence! whither away so quickly? Do not forget that we\nhave a christening to-day!\u201d and running after him he took him by his\ngown, but was also held fast to it.\n\nWhile the five were trotting along thus, one behind the other, two\nlaborers came by, with their hoes, from the fields. The parson called\nout to them and begged them to release him and the sexton; but they had\nhardly touched the sexton when they, too, were caught fast, and now\nthere were seven of them running behind the youth and the goose.\n\nAfter a while the youth came to a city where a King ruled who had a\ndaughter who was so serious that no one could make her laugh. So the\nKing had made a decree that whoever could make her laugh should have\nher in marriage. When the youth heard this he went with his goose and\nall his train before the Princess, and as soon as she saw the seven\npeople continually on the trot, one behind the other, she began to\nlaugh heartily, as if she could never stop. Then the youth asked to\nhave her for his wife, and the wedding was celebrated. After the King\u2019s\ndeath he inherited the kingdom, and lived long and happily with his\nwife.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE ELVES AND THE SHOEMAKER\n\n\nThere was once a shoemaker who, through no fault of his own, had become\nso poor that at last he had only leather enough for one pair of shoes.\nSo in the evening he cut out the shoes which he intended to begin upon\nthe next morning, and since he had a good conscience he lay down\nquietly, said his prayers, and fell asleep.\n\nIn the morning he was preparing to sit down to work, when he looked,\nand there stood the shoes all finished on his table. He was so\nastonished that he did not know what to say. He took the shoes in his\nhand to examine them inside and out; and they were so neatly made that\nnot a stitch was out of place, showing that they were done by a master\nhand.\n\nVery soon a customer came in, and because the shoes pleased him so much\nhe paid more than the ordinary price for them. With this money the\nshoemaker was able to purchase leather for two pairs of shoes. He cut\nthem out in the evening, and next day was about to go to work with\nfresh courage; but there was no need for him to work, for the two pairs\nof shoes stood beautifully finished on his table. Presently customers\ncame in, who paid him so well that he was able to buy leather for four\npairs of shoes. The following morning he found the four pairs finished,\nand so it went on; what he cut out in the evening was finished in the\nmorning, so that he was soon in comfortable circumstances again, and at\nlast was becoming really prosperous.\n\nOne evening, not long before Christmas, the shoemaker said to his wife,\n\u201cWhat do you think of staying up to-night to see who it is that lends\nus this helping hand?\u201d\n\nThe wife liked the idea; so they lighted a candle and hid themselves in\na corner of the room behind some clothes which were hanging there. At\nmidnight came two little naked men, who sat down at the shoemaker\u2019s\ntable, took up the work which was cut out, and set to work so nimbly,\nstitching, sewing, and hammering with their little fingers, that the\nshoemaker could not take his eyes off them. They did not stop till\neverything was finished and the shoes stood ready on the table; then\nthey ran quickly away.\n\nThe next day the wife said to her husband: \u201cThe little men have made us\nrich, and we must show them how grateful we are. They must be almost\nfrozen, running about with nothing on. I\u2019ll tell you what we\u2019ll do; I\nwill make them little shirts, and coats, and vests, and trousers, and\nknit them stockings, and you shall make each of them a little pair of\nshoes.\u201d\n\nThe shoemaker was pleased with this plan, and on Christmas Eve, when\neverything was ready, they laid out the presents on the table instead\nof the usual work, and hid themselves to see how the little men would\nbehave.\n\nAt midnight they came bounding in, and were about to set to work; but\nthere was no leather to be seen, only these charming little clothes. At\nfirst they were astonished, and then perfectly delighted. With the\ngreatest speed they put on and smoothed down the pretty clothes,\nsinging,\n\n\n            \u201cNow we are boys so fine to see,\n            Why should we longer cobblers be?\u201d\n\n\nThen they danced and skipped, and leaped over chairs and benches. At\nlast they danced out at the door. From this time on they came no more;\nbut the shoemaker prospered as long as he lived, and succeeded in all\nhis undertakings.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE KING OF THE CATS\n\n\nMany years ago there lived in the north of Scotland, in a very lonely\nhouse, far from all other houses, two young men who were brothers. An\nold woman used to do their cooking, and there was no one else, unless\nwe count her cat and their dogs, within miles of them.\n\nOne autumn afternoon the elder of the two said he would not go out; so\nthe younger one went alone to follow the path where they had been\nshooting the day before. He intended to return home before sunset.\nHowever, he did not do so, and the older brother became very uneasy as\nhe watched and waited in vain, till long after their usual supper-time.\nAt last he returned, wet and exhausted, nor did he explain why he was\nso late. But after supper, when the two brothers were seated before the\nfire, the dogs lying at their feet and the old woman\u2019s black cat\nsitting gravely, with half-shut eyes, on the hearth, the young man\nbegan to tell his story.\n\n\u201cYou must be wondering,\u201d said he, \u201cwhat made me so late. I have had a\nvery strange adventure to-day; I hardly know what to say about it. I\nwent, as I told you I should, along our yesterday\u2019s route. A mountain\nfog came on just as I was about to turn homeward, and I completely lost\nmy way. I wandered about for a long time, not knowing where I was, till\nat last I saw a light, and made for it, hoping to get help. As I came\nnear it disappeared, and I found myself close to a large oak tree. I\nclimbed into the branches the better to look for the light, and behold!\nthere it was right beneath me, inside the hollow trunk of the tree. I\nseemed to be looking down into a church, where a funeral was taking\nplace. I heard singing, and saw a coffin surrounded by torches, all\ncarried by\u2014But there! I know you won\u2019t believe me if I tell you.\u201d\n\nHis brother eagerly begged him to go on. The dogs were sleeping\nquietly, but the cat was sitting up and seemed to be listening as\ncarefully and attentively as the man. Both brothers found themselves\nwatching the cat as the young man took up the story.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d he continued, \u201cit is as true as I sit here. The coffin and the\ntorches were both carried by cats, and upon the coffin was marked a\ncrown and scepter!\u201d\n\nHe got no further, for the black cat started up, shrieking, \u201cGood\ngracious! old Peter\u2019s dead, and I\u2019m King o\u2019 the Cats!\u201d then rushed up\nthe chimney and was seen no more.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE FIR TREE\n\n\nFar away in the forest stood a pretty little fir tree. The warm sun\nshone upon it, the fresh breezes blew about it, but the fir tree was\nnot happy. All about it were many tall companions, pines and firs, and\nthe little fir tree wanted to be tall like them. So it did not heed the\nwarm sunlight, or the soft air which fluttered its leaves, or even the\nlittle peasant children who passed by, prattling merrily. Sometimes the\nchildren would bring a basketful of raspberries or strawberries, and\nseat themselves near the fir tree, saying of the tree, \u201cWhat a pretty\nlittle one this is!\u201d which made it feel more unhappy than ever.\n\nAnd yet, all this time, the tree grew a whole joint or ring taller\nevery year; for by the number of rings on the trunk of a fir tree we\ncan tell its age.\n\nStill, as it grew, it complained, \u201cOh, if I were only as tall as the\nother trees! then I should spread out my branches on every side, and my\ncrown would overlook the wide world. The birds would build their nests\nin my branches, and when the wind blew, I should bow with stately\ndignity like the others.\u201d\n\nSo discontented was the tree that it took no pleasure in the sunshine,\nor the birds, or in the rosy clouds that floated over it morning and\nevening.\n\nSometimes in winter, when the snow lay white and sparkling on the\nground, a hare would come leaping along and jump right over the little\ntree\u2019s head; then how mortified it felt!\n\nTwo winters passed; and when the third came, the tree had grown so tall\nthat the hare was obliged to run round it.\n\n\u201cAh, to grow and grow! to become tall and old! That is the only thing\nin the world worth caring for,\u201d the fir tree sighed.\n\nIn the autumn the woodcutters always came and cut down several of the\ntallest trees, and the young fir, which had now grown to a very good\nheight, shuddered as the noble trees fell to the ground with a crash.\nAfter the branches were lopped off, the trunks looked so slender and\nbare that they could scarcely be recognized. Then the trees were\nplaced, one upon another, on wagons, and dragged by horses out of the\nforest. \u201cWhere were they going? What was going to become of them?\u201d The\nyoung fir tree wondered a great deal about it.\n\nSo in the spring, when the swallows and the storks came, it asked them:\n\u201cDo you know where those trees were taken? Did you meet them?\u201d\n\nThe swallows knew nothing of them, but the stork, after a little\nreflection, nodded his head and said: \u201cYes, I think I know. As I flew\nfrom Egypt I met several new ships, and they had fine masts that smelt\nlike fir. These must have been the trees, and I assure you they were\nmost stately and grand; they towered majestically.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, how I wish I were tall enough to go on the sea!\u201d said the fir\ntree. \u201cTell me, what is this sea, and what does it look like?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt would take too much time to explain,\u2014a great deal too much,\u201d said\nthe stork, flying quickly away.\n\n\u201cRejoice in thy youth,\u201d said the sunbeam; \u201crejoice in the fresh growing\ntime, and in the young life that is within thee!\u201d\n\nAnd the wind kissed the tree, and the dew wept tears over it; but the\nfir tree did not understand.\n\nChristmas time drew near, and many young trees were cut down; some that\nwere even smaller and younger than the fir tree, which had no peace or\nrest from its longing to leave the forest. These young trees, which\nwere chosen for their beauty, kept their branches, but were also laid\non wagons and drawn by horses out of the forest.\n\n\u201cWhere are they going?\u201d asked the fir tree. \u201cThey are not taller than I\nam; indeed, one was not so tall. And why do they keep all their\nbranches? Where are they going?\u201d\n\n\u201cWe know! we know!\u201d sang the sparrows. \u201cWe have looked in at the\nwindows of the houses in the town, and we know what is done with them.\nOh, you cannot think what honor and glory they receive! They are\ndressed up in the most splendid manner. We have looked in and seen them\nstanding in the middle of a warm room, adorned with all sorts of\nbeautiful things,\u2014gilded apples, sweetmeats, playthings, and hundreds\nof candles.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd then,\u201d asked the fir tree, trembling in all its branches, \u201cand\nthen what happens?\u201d\n\n\u201cWe did not see any more,\u201d said the sparrows; \u201cbut, indeed, it was\nsimply wonderful!\u201d\n\n\u201cI wonder whether anything so brilliant will ever happen to me,\u201d\nthought the fir tree. \u201cThat would be even better than sailing over the\nsea. Oh, when will Christmas be here! I am now as tall and well grown\nas those which were taken away last year. O that I were now laid on the\nwagon, or standing in the warm room with all that brightness and\nsplendor about me! Something better and more beautiful is sure to\nfollow, or the trees would not be so decked out. Yes, something better,\nsomething still more splendid must follow\u2014but what can it be? I am\nweary with longing. I scarcely know myself what is the matter with me.\u201d\n\n\u201cRejoice in our love,\u201d said the air and the sunlight; \u201crejoice in thine\nown bright life in the fresh air.\u201d\n\nBut the tree would not rejoice, though it grew taller every day; and,\nwinter and summer, its evergreen foliage might be seen in the forest,\nand passers-by would say, \u201cWhat a beautiful tree!\u201d\n\nA short time before the next Christmas the discontented fir tree was\nthe first to fall. As the ax cut sharply into its trunk, deep in\nthrough the pith, the tree fell to the ground with a groan, conscious\nonly of pain and faintness, and forgetting all its dreams of happiness\nin the sorrow of leaving its home in the forest. It knew that it would\nnever again see its dear old companions the trees, nor the little\nbushes, nor the flowers that had grown by its side\u2014perhaps not even the\nbirds.\n\nNor was the journey at all pleasant. The tree first recovered itself\nwhile it was being unloaded, with several other trees, in the courtyard\nof a house; and it heard a man say: \u201cWe want only one, and this is the\nprettiest. This one is beautiful!\u201d\n\nThen came two servants in grand livery, and carried the fir tree into a\nlarge and beautiful room. Pictures hung on the walls, and near the\nlarge stove stood great china jars with lions on the lids. There were\nrocking-chairs, silken sofas, large tables with picture books and toys\nthat had cost a hundred times a hundred dollars,\u2014at least, so the\nchildren said.\n\nThen the fir tree was placed in a great tub full of sand, but no one\ncould see that it was a tub, for it was hung with green cloth, and it\nstood on a very handsome carpet. Oh, how the tree trembled! What was\ngoing to happen to it now? Some young ladies came, and the servants\nhelped them to adorn the tree.\n\nOn some branches they hung little bags cut out of colored paper, and\neach bag was full of sweetmeats; from other branches there hung gilded\napples and walnuts, as if they had grown there; and above and all\naround were hundreds of red, blue, and white candles, which were\nfastened upon the branches. Dolls, exactly like real men and women,\nwere placed under the green leaves,\u2014the fir tree had never seen any\nbefore,\u2014and at the very top was fastened a glittering star, made of\ngold tinsel. Oh, it was very beautiful!\n\n\u201cThis evening,\u201d they all exclaimed, \u201cthis evening how bright it will\nbe!\u201d\n\n\u201cO that evening were come,\u201d thought the tree, \u201cand the candles were\nlighted! Then I shall know what else is going to happen. Will the trees\ncome from the forest to see me? Will the sparrows peep in at the\nwindows, I wonder? Shall I grow faster here, and keep on all these\nornaments during summer and winter?\u201d\n\nBut guessing was of very little use. Its back ached with trying; and\nthis pain is as bad for a slender tree as headache is for us.\n\nAt last the candles were lighted, and then what a shining blaze of\nsplendor the tree presented! It trembled so with joy in all its\nbranches that one of the candles fell on a green twig and set fire to\nit. \u201cHelp! help!\u201d exclaimed the young ladies, and they quickly\nextinguished the fire.\n\nAfter this the tree did not dare even to tremble (though the fire\nfrightened it), it was so anxious not to hurt any of the beautiful\nornaments which so dazzled and bewildered it by their brilliance.\n\nAnd now the folding doors were thrown open, and a troop of children\nrushed in as if they intended to upset the tree. They were followed\nmore slowly by the older people. For a moment the little ones stood\nsilent with delight, and then they shouted for joy till the room rang;\nand they danced merrily round the tree, and snatched off one present\nafter another.\n\n\u201cWhat are they doing?\u201d thought the tree. \u201cWhat will happen next?\u201d\n\nThe candles burned down to the branches and were put out one by one.\nThen the children were given permission to plunder the tree.\n\nOh, how they rushed upon it! Its branches creaked with the strain, and\nif it had not been fastened by the gold star to the ceiling, it must\nhave been thrown down.\n\nThen the children danced about with their pretty toys, and no one paid\nany attention to the tree except the old nurse, who came and peeped\namong the branches to see if an apple or a fig had been forgotten.\n\n\u201cA story! a story!\u201d cried the children, and dragged a little stout man\ntoward the tree.\n\n\u201cNow we are in the greenwood,\u201d said the man, as he sat down beneath it,\n\u201cand the tree will have the pleasure of hearing, too. But I am going to\ntell only one story. What shall it be? Henny Penny? or Humpty Dumpty,\nwho fell downstairs, but soon got up again, and at last married a\nprincess?\u201d\n\n\u201cHenny Penny!\u201d cried some. \u201cHumpty Dumpty!\u201d cried others; and there was\na great uproar. But the fir tree kept silent and thought: \u201cWhat am I\nsupposed to do now? Have I nothing to do with all this?\u201d But it had\nalready been in the entertainment, and had played out its part.\n\nThen the old man told the story of Humpty Dumpty,\u2014how he fell\ndownstairs, but soon got up again, and married a princess. And the\nchildren clapped their hands and cried, \u201cAnother! another!\u201d for they\nwanted to hear the story of Henny Penny too; but this time they got\nonly Humpty Dumpty. The fir tree stood quiet and thoughtful. The birds\nin the forest had never told anything like that,\u2014how Humpty Dumpty fell\ndownstairs, and yet married a princess.\n\n\u201cAh, yes, that is the way it happens in the world, I suppose,\u201d thought\nthe fir tree. And it believed the story because such a nice man had\ntold it.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d it thought, \u201cwho knows? Perhaps I shall fall downstairs, too,\nand marry a princess\u201d; and it looked forward eagerly to the next\nevening, expecting to be again decked out with candles and toys, tinsel\nand fruit. \u201cTo-morrow I will not tremble,\u201d thought the tree; \u201cI will\nenjoy to the full all my splendor, and I shall hear the story of Humpty\nDumpty again, and perhaps Henny Penny too.\u201d And the tree stood silent\nand lost in thought all night.\n\nIn the morning the servants came in. \u201cNow,\u201d thought the tree, \u201call the\ndecking me out will begin again.\u201d But they dragged it out of the room\nand upstairs to the garret, and threw it on the floor in a dark corner\nwhere no daylight shone, and there they left it. \u201cWhat does this mean?\u201d\nthought the tree. \u201cWhat am I to do here? What is there for me to hear\nin a place like this?\u201d and it leaned against the wall, and thought and\nthought.\n\nAnd it had time enough to think, for days and nights passed and no one\ncame near it; and when at last some one did come, it was only to put\nsome great boxes into a corner. So the tree was completely hidden from\nsight; it seemed as if it had been quite forgotten.\n\n\u201cIt is winter now out of doors,\u201d thought the tree. \u201cThe ground is hard\nand covered with snow, so that people cannot plant me yet. That is\ndoubtless why I am left here under cover till the spring comes. How\nthoughtful and kind everybody is to me! Still, I wish it were not so\ndark here, and so terribly lonely, with not even a little hare to look\nat. How pleasant it was out in the forest while the snow lay on the\nground, when the hare would run by\u2014yes, and jump over me, too; but I\ndid not like it at all then. Oh, it is terribly lonely here!\u201d\n\n\u201cSqueak, squeak!\u201d said a little mouse, stealing out of his hole and\ncreeping cautiously toward the tree; then came another, and they both\nsniffed at the fir tree, and crept in and out between its branches.\n\n\u201cOh, it is very cold!\u201d said the little mouse. \u201cIf it were not, we\nshould be very comfortable here, shouldn\u2019t we, old fir tree?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am not old at all,\u201d said the fir tree. \u201cThere are many who are much\nolder than I am.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhere do you come from?\u201d asked the mice, who were full of curiosity;\n\u201cand what do you know? What is the most beautiful place on earth that\nyou know about? Do tell us all about it! Have you been in the\nstoreroom, where cheeses lie on the shelves, and hams hang from the\nceiling? One can run about on tallow candles there. Ah! that is the\nplace where one goes in thin and comes out fat.\u201d\n\n\u201cI know nothing about that,\u201d said the fir tree; \u201cbut I know of the\nwood, where the sun shines and the birds sing.\u201d\n\nAnd then the tree told the little mice all about its youth. The mice\nhad never heard anything like that before, and they listened with all\ntheir ears, and said: \u201cHow much you have seen! How happy you must have\nbeen!\u201d\n\n\u201cHappy!\u201d exclaimed the fir tree; and then, as it thought over what it\nhad been telling them, it added, \u201cAh, yes, those were happy days.\u201d\n\nBut when it went on and told them about Christmas Eve, and how it had\nbeen adorned with sweetmeats and candles, the mice repeated once more,\n\u201cHow happy, how very fortunate you have been, you old fir tree!\u201d\n\n\u201cI am not old at all,\u201d replied the tree. \u201cI only came from the forest\nthis winter. I am now checked in my growth.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat splendid stories you do know!\u201d said the little mice. And the next\nnight they came with four others, to have them hear what the tree had\nto tell. The more it talked, the more it remembered, and then it\nthought to itself: \u201cYes, those were happy days, but they may come\nagain. Humpty Dumpty fell downstairs, and yet he married the princess.\nPerhaps I, too, may marry a princess.\u201d And the tree thought of a pretty\nlittle birch tree that grew in the forest; she was a princess, a real\nprincess, to the fir tree.\n\n\u201cWho is Humpty Dumpty?\u201d asked the little mice. And then the tree told\nthe whole story; it could remember every single word. And the little\nmice were so delighted with it that they were ready to jump with joy up\nto the very top of the tree. The next night a great many more mice made\ntheir appearance, and on Sunday two rats came; but they did not care\nabout the story at all, and that troubled the mice, for it made them\nalso think less of it.\n\n\u201cIs that the only story you know?\u201d asked the rats.\n\n\u201cThe only one,\u201d answered the tree. \u201cI heard it on the happiest evening\nof my life; but I did not know I was so happy at the time.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe think it is a very poor story,\u201d said the rats. \u201cDon\u2019t you know any\nstory about bacon or tallow candles in the storeroom?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d replied the tree.\n\n\u201cThen we are much obliged to you,\u201d said the rats, and they went their\nway.\n\nThe little mice also kept away after this, and the tree sighed and\nsaid, \u201cReally, it was very pleasant when the lively little mice sat\naround me and listened, while I told them stories. Now that is all\npast, too. However, I shall consider myself happy when some one comes\nto take me out of this place.\u201d\n\nBut would this ever happen? Yes; one morning people came to clear up\nthe garret; the boxes were moved aside and the tree was pulled out of\nthe corner and thrown roughly on the floor; then the servants dragged\nit out to the stairs, where the daylight shone.\n\n\u201cNow life is beginning again,\u201d thought the tree, rejoicing in the\nsunshine and fresh air.\n\nIt was carried downstairs and out into the yard so quickly that it\nforgot to look at itself, and gazed about it, for there was so much to\nbe seen.\n\nThe yard opened into a garden where everything was blooming. Fresh and\nsweet roses hung over a little trellis; the linden trees were in\nblossom; and swallows flew here and there, calling, \u201cTwit, twit, twit,\nmy mate is coming\u201d; but it was not the fir tree they meant.\n\n\u201cNow I shall live,\u201d thought the tree joyfully, stretching out its\nbranches; but alas! they were all withered and yellow, and it was lying\nin a corner among weeds and nettles.\n\nThe star of gold paper still stuck in the top of the tree and glittered\nin the sunshine. In the yard two of the merry children who had danced\nround the tree at Christmas were playing. One of them saw the gilded\nstar, and ran up and tore it off.\n\n\u201cSee what is sticking to the ugly old fir tree,\u201d he cried, and stamped\non the boughs till they crackled under his boots.\n\nAnd the tree saw all the fresh, bright flowers in the garden, and\nlooked at itself, and wished it had been left lying in the dark corner\nof the garret. It thought of its fresh youth in the forest, of the\nmerry Christmas Eve, and of the little mice that had listened so\nhappily to the tale of Humpty Dumpty.\n\n\u201cPast! past!\u201d said the poor tree. \u201cO had I only enjoyed myself while I\ncould! But now it is too late,\u2014it is all past.\u201d\n\nThen a lad came and chopped the tree into small pieces, till a large\npile lay heaped on the ground. The pieces were placed in a fire, where\nthey blazed up brightly, and the tree sighed so deeply that each sigh\nwas like a pistol shot. Then the children who were at play came and sat\nin front of the fire and looked at it, and cried, \u201cPiff! puff! bang!\u201d\nBut at each \u201cbang,\u201d which was a deep sigh, the tree was thinking of a\nsummer day in the forest, or of some winter night out there, when the\nstars were shining brightly, or of Christmas Eve, or of Humpty Dumpty,\nthe only story it had ever heard or could tell,\u2014till at last the tree\nburned away.\n\nThe children played on in the garden, and the youngest wore on his\nbreast the golden star which the tree had worn on the happiest evening\nof its life. Now that was past,\u2014all was past; the tree\u2019s life was past,\nand this story, too, is past, for all stories must come to an end some\ntime or other.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPLEIADES, OR THE SEVEN STARS\n\n\nThere was once a man who had six sons. He did not give them names like\nother people, but only called them according to their ages,\u2014Eldest,\nNext-Eldest, Third-Eldest, Third-Youngest, Next-Youngest, and Youngest.\nThey had no other names.\n\nWhen Eldest was eighteen, and Youngest twelve, their father told them\nthat they must all go out into the world, and each must learn a trade.\n\nThey set out together, but when they came to a place where there were\nsix roads, all leading different ways, they agreed to part company, and\neach chose a road. But they promised one another that just two years\nfrom that day they would meet there again, and go home together to\ntheir father.\n\nOn the appointed day they met, and went home together. Their father\nquestioned each of them as to what trade he had learned. Eldest said he\nhad learned to be a shipbuilder; he could build ships that went of\nthemselves. Next-Eldest had been to sea; he was a helmsman, and could\nsteer a ship as easily on the land as on the sea. Third-Eldest had only\nlearned the art of listening, but now he could hear in one country what\nwas going on in another. Third-Youngest had learned to shoot, and he\nhad become a crack shot. Next-Youngest had learned to climb; he could\ngo up and down a wall like a fly,\u2014there was nothing too steep for him.\n\nNow when their father had listened to what these five had to tell about\nwhat they could do, he said that although upon the whole they had done\nfairly well, yet he had expected something more of them. What they had\nlearned to do most people could do also. Now he must hear what Youngest\ncould do.\n\nYoungest had always been his darling, and in him he had the greatest\nconfidence. Youngest was delighted that at last it was his turn to\nspeak, and said in the most cheerful manner that he had become a master\nthief. When his father heard that, he was so angry that he gave\nYoungest a sound box on the ear, saying, \u201cFie! for shame! You are a\ndisgrace to me and to all your family.\u201d\n\nNow it so happened that just at this very time the King\u2019s fair young\ndaughter had been stolen away by a dwarf, and the King had promised\nthat whoever should find her and deliver her from the dwarfs power\nshould have her for his wife, and half the kingdom with her as her\nmarriage portion.\n\nThe six brothers determined to try their luck. The shipbuilder built a\nship that would go of itself. Then they all went on board, and the\nhelmsman steered the ship over the land and over the sea. The listener\nkept on listening all the time, and at last he could hear the Princess\ninside a glass mountain. So they sailed up to the glass mountain.\n\nThe climber climbed immediately to the top, and looking down he saw the\ndwarf lying asleep with his ugly head on the Princess\u2019s lap. Then he\nran down again, took the little master thief on his back, and climbed\nright down inside the mountain with him. The master thief stole away\nthe Princess without waking the dwarf, and the climber helped them both\nback to the ship. They got on board and sailed away.\n\nThe listener kept a strict watch on the dwarf all the time, and when\nthey had gone some little way he called to the others, \u201cNow the dwarf\nis waking; now he is stretching himself; now he misses the Princess;\nand now he is coming!\u201d\n\nThe Princess was dreadfully frightened, and said it was all over with\nthem now, unless they had some one on board who was a crack shot. The\ndwarf could fly through the air, so that he would overtake them\ndirectly; but he was shot-proof, except in one little black spot about\nthe size of a pin\u2019s head, which was just in the middle of his chest.\n\nThen came the dwarf, whirling and rushing through the air. But the\nmarksman was ready for him; he took aim and hit him right in the center\nof the little black spot. Instantly the dwarf fell into the water dead.\n\nSo the six brothers came sailing home with the Princess, and took her\nto her father\u2019s palace. They were all in love with her, and each one of\nthem could say with truth that without him she could not have been set\nfree. The King was in a great strait. He could not tell to which of the\nbrothers he ought to give his daughter, and the Princess herself was\ngreatly troubled, for she did not know which one of them she liked\nbest.\n\nBut now it did not please the good God that there should be any\nquarreling amongst them; so he made all six brothers and the Princess\ndie on the selfsame night, and he turned them all seven into stars, and\nfixed them in the sky. And now people call them Pleiades, or the Seven\nStars. And the star that shines brightest of all the seven is the\nPrincess, but the palest is the master thief.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBLUEBEARD\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a man who was very rich. He had fine houses,\nboth in town and in the country; in them he had a great deal of gold\nand silver plate; his furniture was richly embroidered and his coaches\nwere all gilded over. But this man had the misfortune to have a blue\nbeard, which made him so ugly and terrible that there was not a woman\nnor a girl who did not shun and avoid him.\n\nOne of his neighbors, a lady of quality, had two daughters who were\nperfect beauties. He asked her for one of them in marriage, leaving to\nher the choice of which she would bestow on him. They would neither of\nthem have him, but sent him backwards and forwards from one to the\nother, for neither could make up her mind to marry a man who had a blue\nbeard. Another thing which made them object to him was that he had been\nmarried several times already, and nobody knew what had ever become of\nhis wives.\n\nAs Bluebeard was very anxious to become better acquainted with them, he\ntook them, with their mother and three or four of their best friends,\nand some other young people of the neighborhood, to one of his country\nseats, where they spent a week. The whole time was given up to pleasure\nparties,\u2014to excursions, to hunting and fishing, to dancing, banqueting,\nand feasting. No one even thought of going to bed, but the nights were\npassed in merrymaking of all kinds. In short, all went off so well that\nthe younger daughter began to think that the beard of the master of the\nhouse was not so very blue, after all, and that he was a very civil\ngentleman. So as soon as they returned home the marriage was concluded.\n\nAbout a month afterward Bluebeard told his wife that he was obliged to\ntake a journey into the country, for six weeks at least, upon business\nof importance. He desired her to amuse herself and have a good time in\nhis absence, to send for her friends, to take them into the country if\nshe wished, and to live bountifully wherever she was.\n\n\u201cHere,\u201d he said, \u201care the keys of the two great storerooms for\nfurniture; these smaller ones are for the chests which contain my\nsilver and gold plate which is not in everyday use; these open my\nstrong boxes which hold my money, both gold and silver; these, my\ncaskets of jewels; and this is the master key to all the rooms. But\nthis little one here is the key of the closet at the end of the great\ngallery on the ground floor. Open them all; go everywhere else; but\ninto this little closet I forbid you to enter, and I forbid you so\nstrictly that if you do open it, there is nothing you may not expect\nfrom my anger.\u201d\n\nShe promised to obey all his orders exactly; and Bluebeard, after\nhaving embraced her, got into his coach and set out on his journey.\n\nThe neighbors and friends of the young wife did not wait to be sent\nfor, so eager were they to see all the riches of her house; for they\nhad not dared to come while her husband was there because of his blue\nbeard, which frightened them. As soon as they were inside the house\nthey ran about from room to room, and even through all the closets and\nwardrobes, saying that each one seemed finer and richer than the last.\nThey went up into the storerooms, where they could not say enough in\nadmiration of the number and beauty of the tapestry, beds, couches,\ncabinets, stands, tables, and looking-glasses in which you might see\nyourself from head to foot.\n\nSome of these mirrors were framed with glass, others with silver, plain\nand gilded; they were the most beautiful and most magnificent ever\nseen.\n\nThe visitors never stopped admiring and envying the happiness of their\nfriend, who meanwhile was not at all entertained in looking at all\nthese rich things because of her impatience to go and open the closet\non the ground floor. She was so beside herself with curiosity that,\nwithout once thinking that it was rude to leave her guests, she slipped\naway down a little back staircase with such excessive haste that two or\nthree times she came near falling and breaking her neck. When she\nreached the closet door she stood still for some moments, thinking of\nher husband\u2019s orders and considering how unhappiness might come upon\nher if she were disobedient; but the temptation was so strong that she\ncould not overcome it. She took the little key and, trembling, opened\nthe door.\n\nAt first she could not see anything because the windows were shut.\nAfter some moments she began to see that there was blood on the floor,\nand that the bodies of several dead women were lying there. (These were\nthe wives whom Bluebeard had married and murdered one after another.)\nShe thought she would surely die of fear, and the key, which she had\npulled out of the lock, fell from her hand.\n\nWhen she had recovered a little from the shock she picked up the key,\nlocked the door, and went upstairs into her chamber to compose herself;\nbut she could not do it, for she was too much upset by her fright.\n\nAs she noticed that the key of the closet was stained with blood, she\ntried two or three times to wipe it off, but the stain remained. It did\nno good to wash it, or even to rub it with soap and sand. The stain was\nstill there, for the key was a magic key, and she could never make it\nquite clean; when the stain was gone from one side, it came on the\nother.\n\nBluebeard returned from his journey that same evening, and said that he\nhad received letters upon the road, which told him that the business on\nwhich he was called away had been settled to his advantage. His wife\ndid all she could to convince him that she was overjoyed at his speedy\nreturn.\n\nNext morning he asked her for the keys. She gave them to him, but with\nsuch a trembling hand that he easily guessed what had happened.\n\n\u201cHow is it,\u201d said he, \u201cthat the key of my closet is not here with the\nrest?\u201d\n\n\u201cI must,\u201d she said, \u201chave left it upstairs on my table.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo not fail,\u201d said Bluebeard, \u201cto bring it to me presently.\u201d\n\nAfter putting it off several times she was forced to bring him the key.\nBluebeard examined it closely, and then said to his wife, \u201cHow comes\nthis stain upon the key?\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not know,\u201d cried the poor woman, turning paler than death.\n\n\u201cYou do not know!\u201d replied Bluebeard. \u201cWell, I know very well. You\nwanted to go into the closet, did you? Very well, madam; you shall go\nin and take your place among the ladies you saw there.\u201d\n\nShe threw herself weeping at her husband\u2019s feet, and begged his pardon\nwith all the signs of true repentance for her disobedience. She would\nhave melted a stone, so beautiful and sorrowful was she; but Bluebeard\nhad a heart harder than any stone.\n\n\u201cYou must die, madam,\u201d said he, \u201cand that at once.\u201d\n\n\u201cSince I must die,\u201d she answered, looking up at him through her tears,\n\u201cgive me a little time to say my prayers.\u201d\n\n\u201cI give you,\u201d replied Bluebeard, \u201chalf a quarter of an hour, but not\none moment more.\u201d\n\nWhen she was alone she called her sister, and said: \u201cSister Anne,\u201d\u2014for\nthat was her name,\u2014\u201cgo up, I beg you, to the top of the tower, and see\nif my brothers are not coming. They promised me they would come to-day;\nand if you see them, give them a sign to make haste.\u201d\n\nHer sister Anne went up to the top of the tower, and the poor wife\ncried out from time to time, \u201cAnne, sister Anne, do you see no one\ncoming?\u201d\n\nAnd sister Anne said, \u201cI see nothing but the sun, which makes a dust,\nand the grass, which looks green.\u201d\n\nIn the meantime Bluebeard, holding a great cutlass in his hand, cried\nout to his wife as loud as he could, \u201cCome down quickly, or I shall\ncome up to you.\u201d\n\n\u201cOne moment longer, if you please,\u201d said his wife; and she cried out\nvery softly, \u201cAnne, sister Anne, do you see no one coming?\u201d\n\nAnd sister Anne answered, \u201cI see nothing but the sun, which makes a\ndust, and the grass, which looks green.\u201d\n\n\u201cCome down at once,\u201d cried Bluebeard, \u201cor I shall come up to you.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am coming,\u201d answered his wife; and she cried, \u201cAnne, sister Anne, do\nyou see no one coming?\u201d\n\n\u201cI see,\u201d replied sister Anne, \u201ca great dust, that comes from this\nside.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs it my brothers?\u201d\n\n\u201cAlas, no, my sister! I see a flock of sheep.\u201d\n\n\u201cWill you not come down?\u201d cried Bluebeard.\n\n\u201cOne moment longer,\u201d said his wife; and then she cried out, \u201cAnne,\nsister Anne, do you see no one coming?\u201d\n\n\u201cI see,\u201d she said, \u201ctwo horsemen coming, but they are yet a great way\noff.\u201d\n\n\u201cGod be praised,\u201d replied the poor wife joyfully; \u201cthey are my\nbrothers. I will make them a sign, as well as I can, for them to make\nhaste.\u201d\n\nThen Bluebeard bawled out so loud that he made the whole house tremble.\nThe poor wife came down and threw herself at his feet, all in tears,\nwith her hair about her shoulders.\n\n\u201cAll this does not help you,\u201d said Bluebeard; \u201cyou must die.\u201d Then,\ntaking hold of her hair with one hand, and raising his cutlass with the\nother, he was going to strike off her head. The poor lady, turning\ntoward him and looking at him with dying eyes, begged him to give her\none little moment to collect her thoughts.\n\n\u201cNo, no,\u201d said he, \u201ccommend thyself to God,\u201d and again lifting his\narm....\n\nAt this moment there was such a loud knocking at the gate that\nBluebeard stopped suddenly. The gate was opened and presently two\nhorsemen entered, who with their swords in their hands ran straight to\nBluebeard. He saw they were his wife\u2019s brothers, one a dragoon, the\nother a musketeer. He fled immediately to save himself, but the two\nbrothers pursued so closely that they overtook him before he could gain\nthe steps of the porch. There they ran their swords through his body,\nand left him dead. The poor wife was so overcome that she had not\nstrength to rise and welcome her brothers.\n\nBluebeard had no heirs, and so his wife became mistress of all his\nestate. She made use of one portion of it to marry her sister Anne to a\nyoung gentleman who had loved her for a long while; another portion to\nbuy captains\u2019 commissions for her brothers; and the rest to marry\nherself to a very worthy gentleman who made her forget the distressing\ntime she had passed with Bluebeard.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHUMBELINA\n\n\nThere was once a woman who wished so very much to have a little child\nthat she went to a fairy and said: \u201cI should so very much like to have\na little child. Can you tell me where I can get one?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, that can be easily managed,\u201d said the fairy. \u201cHere is a\nbarleycorn; it is not of the same kind as those which grow in the\nfarmers\u2019 fields, and which the chickens eat. Put it in a flowerpot, and\nsee what will happen.\u201d\n\n\u201cThank you, thank you,\u201d said the woman; and she gave the fairy twelve\nshillings, which was the price of the barleycorn. Then she went home,\nand immediately there grew up a large, handsome flower, which looked\nlike a tulip, except that its leaves were tightly closed as if it were\nstill a bud.\n\n\u201cWhat a beautiful flower!\u201d exclaimed the woman, and she kissed the red\nand yellow leaves; and as she kissed them the flower opened. It was a\nreal tulip, but within the flower, upon the green velvety stamens, sat\na very delicate and graceful tiny maiden. She was scarcely half as long\nas a thumb, so they called her Thumbelina.\n\nA walnut shell, elegantly polished, served her for a cradle, blue\nviolet petals were her mattress, and a rose leaf her counterpane.\n\nHere she slept at night, but in the daytime she played upon the table,\nwhere the woman had put a bowl full of water. Round this bowl was a\nwreath of flowers with their stems in the water, and upon it floated a\nlarge tulip leaf, which served the little one for a boat. Here she sat\nand rowed herself from side to side with two white horsehairs for oars.\nIt was a very pretty sight. Thumbelina could sing, too, so sweetly and\nsoftly that nothing like it had ever before been heard.\n\nOne night while she lay in her pretty bed, a large, ugly, wet toad\ncrept through a broken pane of glass in the window, and hopped down on\nthe table where Thumbelina lay sleeping under the rose-leaf quilt.\n\n\u201cWhat a pretty little wife this would make for my son,\u201d said the toad;\nand she took up the walnut shell in which Thumbelina lay asleep, and\njumped through the window with it into the garden.\n\nOn the marshy bank of a broad stream in the garden lived the toad with\nher son. He was as ugly as his mother; and when he saw the lovely\nlittle maiden in the walnut shell, all he could say was, \u201cCroak, croak,\ncroak!\u201d\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t speak so loud, or you will wake her,\u201d said the old toad; \u201cand\nthen she might run away, for she is light as swan\u2019s-down. We will take\nher out in the stream and put her on one of the water-lily leaves; it\nwill be like an island to her, she is so light and small Then she can\u2019t\nrun away from us while we are preparing the apartments under the marsh,\nin which you are to live when you are married.\u201d\n\nFar out in the stream grew a number of water lilies, with broad green\nleaves which looked as if they were floating on the top of the water.\nThe leaf that was farthest away was also the largest, and to this the\nold toad swam with the walnut shell in which Thumbelina lay still\nasleep. The tiny maiden woke very early in the morning, and began to\ncry bitterly when she saw where she was, for she could see nothing but\nwater on every side of the large green leaf, and there was no way of\nreaching land.\n\nMeanwhile the old toad was very busy down under the marsh, decking her\nroom with rushes and yellow wild flowers to make it look pretty for her\nnew daughter-in-law. Then she swam out with her ugly son to the leaf on\nwhich she had placed Thumbelina. She wanted to get the pretty bed that\nshe might put it in the bridal chamber before Thumbelina herself came\nthere. The old toad bowed low in the water and said, \u201cHere is my son;\nhe will be your husband, and you will live happily together in the\nmarsh by the stream.\u201d\n\n\u201cCroak, croak, croak!\u201d was all the son could say for himself.\n\nThen the toad took up the delicate little bed and swam away with it,\nleaving Thumbelina all alone on the green leaf, where she sat and wept.\nShe could not bear to think of living with the old toad and having her\nugly son for a husband.\n\nThe little fishes who swam about in the water beneath had seen the toad\nand heard what she said; so now they lifted their heads above the water\nto look at the little maiden. As soon as they caught sight of her and\nsaw how very pretty she was, they felt sorry that she must go to live\nwith the ugly toads.\n\n\u201cNo, that must never be!\u201d they said to one another. So they crowded\ntogether in the water round the green stalk which held the leaf on\nwhich the little maiden stood, and gnawed it away at the root with\ntheir teeth. The leaf floated down the stream, carrying Thumbelina far\naway out of the reach of the toad.\n\nThumbelina sailed past many towns, and the little birds in the bushes\nsaw her and sang, \u201cWhat a lovely little creature!\u201d So the leaf floated\nfarther and farther away with her till it brought her to other lands.\n\nA pretty little white butterfly fluttered round her for a long time and\nat last alighted on the leaf. The maiden pleased him, and she was glad\nshe did, for she was lonely. Taking off her girdle she tied one end of\nit round the butterfly, fastening the other end to the leaf, which was\nnow gliding on much faster than before.\n\nPresently a large cockchafer flew by. The moment he caught sight of\nThumbelina he seized her round her slender waist with his claws and\nflew with her to a tree. The green leaf floated away down the stream,\nand the butterfly with it, for he was fastened to the leaf and could\nnot get away.\n\nOh, how frightened Thumbelina was when the cockchafer flew with her to\nthe tree! But especially was she distressed for the beautiful white\nbutterfly which she had fastened to the leaf, for if he could not free\nhimself he would die of hunger. But the cockchafer did not trouble\nhimself at all about that; he seated himself beside her on a large\ngreen leaf, gave her some honey from the flowers to eat, and told her\nshe was very pretty, though not in the least like a cockchafer.\n\nBefore long all the cockchafers who lived in the tree came to pay\nThumbelina a visit. They stared at her, and then the young lady\ncockchafers turned up their feelers and said, \u201cWhy, she has only two\nlegs! How very ugly!\u201d\n\n\u201cShe has no feelers,\u201d said one.\n\n\u201cHer waist is quite slim. Pooh! she is like a human being,\u201d said\nanother.\n\n\u201cHow ugly she is!\u201d said all the lady cockchafers.\n\nThen the cockchafer who had run away with her began to wonder why he\nhad thought her so pretty, and to believe that she was as ugly as the\nothers said. He would have nothing more to say to her, but told her she\nmight go where she liked. Then he flew down with her from the tree and\nplaced her on a daisy. There she sat and wept at the thought that she\nwas so ugly that the cockchafers would have nothing to do with her. And\nall the while she was really the loveliest little being that one could\nimagine, and as tender and delicate as a beautiful rose leaf.\n\nDuring the whole summer poor little Thumbelina lived quite alone in the\nwide forest. She wove herself a bed with blades of grass, and hung it\nunder a broad leaf to protect herself from the rain. She sucked honey\nfrom the flowers for food, and drank the dew from the leaves every\nmorning.\n\nSo passed away the summer and the autumn, and then came the winter,\u2014the\nlong cold winter. All the birds who had sung to her so sweetly had\nflown away, and the trees and flowers had withered. The large shamrock\nunder the shelter of which she had lived shriveled up, leaving nothing\nbut a yellow, withered stalk. She was dreadfully cold, for her clothes\nwere thin and torn, and she was herself so frail and delicate that she\nnearly froze to death. It began to snow, too, and the snowflakes as\nthey fell upon her were like a whole shovelful falling upon one of us,\nfor we are tall, but she was only an inch high. She wrapped herself in\na dry leaf, but it cracked in the middle and gave her no warmth, and\nshe shivered with cold.\n\nClose to the wood in which she was living was a large cornfield, but\nthe corn had been cut a long time; nothing remained but the bare, dry\nstubble, standing up out of the frozen ground. It was to her like\nwandering about in a large wood. Oh, how she shivered with cold! All at\nonce she came to the door of a field mouse who had a little den under\nthe corn stubble. There lived the field mouse in warmth and comfort,\nwith a storeroom full of corn and a splendid kitchen and dining room.\nPoor Thumbelina stood before the door just like a little beggar girl,\nand asked for a little piece of barleycorn, for she had been without a\nmorsel to eat for two days.\n\n\u201cYou poor little creature,\u201d said the field mouse, for she was a good,\nkind-hearted old mouse; \u201ccome into my warm room and dine with me.\u201d\n\nThen she was pleased with Thumbelina; so she said, \u201cYou are quite\nwelcome to stay with me all winter if you like; but you must keep my\nroom clean and neat, and tell me stories, for I like very much to hear\nthem.\u201d\n\nAnd Thumbelina did all that the field mouse asked her, and found\nherself very comfortable.\n\n\u201cTo-night I expect a visitor,\u201d said the field mouse one day. \u201cMy\nneighbor pays me a visit once a week. He is better off than I am; he\nhas large rooms, and wears a beautiful black velvet coat. If you could\nonly have him for a husband, you would be well provided for indeed. But\nhe is blind. You must tell him some of your prettiest stories.\u201d\n\nThumbelina had no interest in this neighbor, for he was a mole.\nHowever, he came and paid them a visit, dressed in his black velvet\ncoat.\n\n\u201cHe is very rich and learned,\u201d the field mouse told her, \u201cand his house\nis twenty times as large as mine.\u201d\n\nHe was rich and learned, no doubt, but he always spoke slightingly of\nthe sun and the pretty flowers because he had never seen them.\nThumbelina had to sing to him, \u201cLadybird, ladybird, fly away home,\u201d and\nmany other pretty songs. And the mole fell in love with her because she\nhad so sweet a voice; but he said nothing yet, for he was very prudent\nand cautious. A short time before, the mole had dug a long passage\nunder the earth, which led from his house to that of the field mouse,\nand here he gave the field mouse and Thumbelina permission to walk\nwhenever they liked. But he warned them not to be alarmed at the sight\nof a dead bird that lay in the passage. It was a perfect bird with a\nbeak and feathers and could not have been dead long. It was lying just\nwhere the mole had made his passage. The mole took in his mouth a piece\nof decaying wood, for that will often glow in the dark like fire, and\nwent before them, lighting them through the long, dark passage. When\nthey came to the spot where the dead bird lay, the mole pushed his\nbroad nose through the ceiling, so that the earth gave way and daylight\nshone into the passage.\n\nIn the middle of the path lay a swallow, his pretty wings pressed close\nto his sides, his feet and head drawn up under his feathers; the poor\nbird had evidently died of cold. It made little Thumbelina very sad to\nsee it, for she did so love the birds; all through the summer they had\nsung and twittered for her so beautifully. But the mole pushed it aside\nwith his crooked legs and said: \u201cNow he can\u2019t sing any more! How\nmiserable it must be to be born a little bird! I am thankful that none\nof my children will ever be birds, for they can do nothing but cry\n\u2018Tweet, tweet,\u2019 and must always die of hunger in the winter.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, you speak like a sensible man!\u201d exclaimed the field mouse. \u201cWhat\nis the use of his twittering if when winter comes he must either starve\nor be frozen to death? That may be high-bred, but it is certainly not\npleasant.\u201d\n\nThumbelina said nothing, but when the two others had turned their backs\non the bird she stooped down and stroked aside the soft feathers which\ncovered the head, and kissed the closed eyelids.\n\n\u201cPerhaps it was he who sang to me so sweetly in the summer,\u201d she said.\n\u201cHow much pleasure it gave me, you dear, pretty bird!\u201d\n\nThe mole stopped up the hole through which the daylight shone and\nescorted the ladies home. But Thumbelina could not sleep that night for\nthinking of the cold bird; so she got out of bed and wove a large,\nbeautiful blanket of hay. She carried it out and spread it over the\ndead bird, and piled upon it thistledown which she had found in the\nfield mouse\u2019s room, so that he might lie warmly in the cold earth.\n\n\u201cFarewell, pretty bird!\u201d she said; \u201cfarewell, and thank you for your\nbeautiful songs in the summer, when all the trees were green and the\nsun shone down warmly upon us.\u201d\n\nThen she laid her head on the bird\u2019s breast, but she was startled, for\nit seemed as if something inside the bird went \u201cthump, thump.\u201d It was\nthe bird\u2019s heart; for he was not really dead, only benumbed with the\ncold, and the warmth had restored him to life. In autumn all the\nswallows fly away to warmer countries; but if one happens to linger it\nbecomes so stiff with cold that it drops down as if it were dead, and\nthen the snow comes and covers it.\n\nThumbelina trembled very much; she was quite frightened, for the bird\nwas large, a great deal larger than herself,\u2014she was only an inch high.\nBut she took courage, piled up the down more thickly over the poor\nswallow, and then took a leaf she had used for her own counterpane and\nlaid it over his head.\n\nThe next night she stole out again to see him. He was alive but very\nweak; he could only open his eyes for a moment to look at Thumbelina,\nwho stood by him with the piece of decayed wood in her hand, for she\nhad no other lantern.\n\n\u201cThank you, pretty little maiden,\u201d said the sick swallow; \u201cI have been\nso beautifully warmed that soon I shall regain my strength and be able\nto fly about again in the warm sunshine.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, no!\u201d said she; \u201cit is very cold out of doors now; it snows and\nfreezes. Stay in your warm bed; I will take care of you.\u201d\n\nShe brought the swallow water in a flower leaf; and after he had drunk,\nhe told her that he had torn one of his wings on a thorn bush and could\nnot fly as fast as the others, who had flown far away to warm\ncountries. At last he had fallen to the ground and could remember\nnothing more, nor how he came to be where she had found him.\n\nAll winter the swallow remained underground, and Thumbelina nursed and\ncared for him tenderly. Neither the mole nor the field mouse knew\nanything about it, for they could not bear swallows.\n\nVery soon the springtime came, and the sun warmed the earth. Then the\nswallow bade farewell to Thumbelina and opened the hole in the roof\nwhich the mole had made. The sun shone in upon them so beautifully that\nthe swallow asked her if she would go with him. She could sit on his\nback, he said, and he would fly away with her into the green woods. But\nshe knew it would grieve the field mouse if she left her in that\nmanner, so she said, \u201cNo, I cannot.\u201d\n\n\u201cFarewell then, farewell, you good, pretty little maiden,\u201d said the\nswallow; and he flew out into the sunshine.\n\nThumbelina looked after him, and the tears rose in her eyes. She was\nvery fond of the swallow.\n\n\u201cTweet, tweet,\u201d sang the bird as he flew out into the green woods, and\nThumbelina felt very sad. She was not allowed to go out into the warm\nsunshine. The corn which had been sown in the field over the house of\nthe field mouse had grown up high in the air, and made a thick forest\nfor Thumbelina, who was only an inch high.\n\n\u201cYou are going to be married, little one,\u201d said the field mouse. \u201cMy\nneighbor has asked for you. What good fortune for a poor child like\nyou! Now we will set to work at your wedding clothes. You must have\nwoolen and linen. Nothing must be wanting if you are to become the wife\nof the mole.\u201d\n\nThumbelina had to turn the spindle, and the field mouse hired four\nspiders to weave for her day and night. Every evening the mole visited\nher and talked of the time when the summer would be over. Then he would\nset the wedding day for Thumbelina; but now the heat of the sun was so\ngreat that it burned the earth and made it hard like stone. Yes, as\nsoon as the summer was over the wedding should take place. But\nThumbelina was not at all pleased, for she did not like the tiresome\nmole.\n\nEvery morning when the sun rose, and every evening when it went down,\nshe would steal out of the door, and when the wind blew the ears of\ncorn aside so that she could see the blue sky, she thought how\nbeautiful and bright it seemed out there and wished so much to see her\ndear swallow again. But he never came; for by this time he had flown\nfar away into the lovely green forest.\n\nWhen autumn came Thumbelina had her outfit all ready, and the field\nmouse said to her, \u201cIn four weeks the wedding must take place.\u201d\n\nBut Thumbelina wept and said she would not marry the disagreeable mole.\n\n\u201cNonsense,\u201d replied the field mouse. \u201cNow don\u2019t be obstinate or I shall\nbite you with my white teeth. He is a very fine mole; the Queen herself\nhas not such a beautiful velvet coat His kitchens and cellars are quite\nfull. You ought to be very thankful for such good fortune.\u201d\n\nSo the wedding day came, on which the mole was to take her away to live\nwith him, deep under the earth, and never again to come out into the\nwarm sunshine, because he did not like it. The poor child was very\nunhappy at the thought of saying farewell to the beautiful sun; she\nwent to the door to look at it once more.\n\n\u201cFarewell, bright sun,\u201d she cried, stretching out her arms towards it;\nand then she walked a short distance from the house, for the corn had\nbeen cut and only the dry stubble remained in the fields.\n\n\u201cFarewell, farewell,\u201d she repeated, and threw her arms round a little\nred flower that grew just by her side. \u201cGreet the little swallow for me\nif you should see him again.\u201d\n\n\u201cTweet, tweet,\u201d sounded over her head suddenly. She looked up and there\nwas the swallow flying close by. He was delighted to see Thumbelina.\nShe told him how unwilling she was to marry the ugly mole and to live\nalways deep under the earth where the sun never shone. And as she told\nhim she wept.\n\n\u201cThe cold winter is coming,\u201d said the swallow, \u201cand I am going to fly\naway into warmer countries. Will you go with me? You can sit on my back\nand fasten yourself on with your sash. Then we can fly away from the\nugly mole and his dark rooms,\u2014far away over the mountains into warmer\ncountries, where the sun shines more brightly than here, where it is\nalways summer, and there are beautiful flowers. Do come with me, dear\nlittle Thumbelina; you saved my life when I lay frozen in that dark,\ndreary passage.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I will go with you,\u201d said Thumbelina, and she seated herself on\nthe bird\u2019s back with her feet on his outstretched wings, and bound her\nsash to one of his strongest feathers.\n\nUp he flew into the air and far away, over forest and over sea, high\nabove the highest mountains where the snow never melts. Thumbelina\nwould have frozen in the cold air had she not crept under the bird\u2019s\nwarm feathers, keeping only her little head out so that she might\nadmire the beautiful things in the world beneath. At length they\nreached the warm countries, where the sun shines brightly and the sky\nseems so much higher above the earth. Here on hedges grew the finest\ngreen, purple, and white grapes; lemons and oranges hung from the trees\nin the woods; and the air was fragrant with myrtles and orange\nblossoms. Beautiful children ran along the roads playing with gay\nbutterflies. And as the swallow flew farther and farther south,\neverything became more and more beautiful.\n\nAt last they came to a blue lake, and by the side of it, shaded by\nmagnificent trees, stood a palace of dazzling white marble, built in\nolden times. Vines clustered round its lofty pillars, and at the top\nwere many swallows\u2019 nests, and one of these was the home of the swallow\nwho carried Thumbelina.\n\n\u201cThat is my house,\u201d said the swallow, \u201cbut it would not do for you to\nlive there; you would not be comfortable. Choose for yourself one of\nthose lovely flowers and I will put you down on it, and then you shall\nhave everything you wish to make you happy.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat will be delightful,\u201d she said, and clapped her little hands for\njoy.\n\nOn the ground lay a large marble pillar, which in falling had broken\ninto three pieces. Between these fragments grew the most beautiful\ngreat white flowers. So the swallow flew down with Thumbelina and set\nher on one of the broad leaves. But how surprised he was to see,\nsitting in the middle of the flower, a tiny little man, as white and\ntransparent as if he had been made of crystal! He had the prettiest\ngold crown on his head, and delicate wings at his shoulders, and was no\nbigger than Thumbelina. He was the fairy of the flower; for in every\nflower dwelt a tiny man or woman, and this was the King over them all.\n\n\u201cOh, how beautiful he is!\u201d whispered Thumbelina to the swallow.\n\nThe little Prince was very much frightened at the swallow, who was like\na giant compared to such a tiny little being as he; but when he saw\nThumbelina he was delighted, for he thought her the prettiest little\nmaiden he had ever seen. He took the gold crown from his head and\nplaced it on hers, and asked her name, and if she would be his wife and\nQueen over all the flowers.\n\nThis was certainly a very different kind of husband from the son of the\ntoad or the mole with his black velvet coat; so she said Yes to the\nhandsome Prince. Then out of each flower came a little lady or a tiny\nlord, all so pretty that it was a pleasure to look at them. Each\nbrought Thumbelina a present; but the best gift of all was a pair of\nbeautiful white wings, which were fastened to her shoulders, and now\nshe, too, could fly from flower to flower.\n\nThen there was much rejoicing, and the swallow sat in his nest above\nand sang the wedding song as well as he could; but in his heart he felt\nsad, for he was very fond of Thumbelina and would have liked never to\npart with her.\n\n\u201cYou must not be called Thumbelina any more,\u201d said the Prince to her;\n\u201cfor that is an ugly name, and you are so very lovely. We will call you\nMaia.\u201d\n\n\u201cFarewell, farewell,\u201d sang the swallow with a heavy heart as he left\nthe warm countries to fly back again to Denmark. There he had a nest\nover the window of a man who wrote fairy tales. The swallow sang his\n\u201cTweet, tweet,\u201d and from his song we have the whole story.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCLEVER ALICE\n\n\nThere was once a man who had a daughter called Clever Alice. When she\nwas grown up her father said, \u201cWe must get her married.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said her mother; \u201cif only some one would come who would have\nher.\u201d\n\nAt last a young man named Hans came from a distance and wooed her; but\nhe made one condition,\u2014that Clever Alice should be as clever as she was\nsaid to be.\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d said her father, \u201cshe\u2019s sharp enough.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, indeed!\u201d said her mother; \u201cshe can see the wind coming up the\nstreet, and hear the flies coughing.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d replied Hans; \u201cbut if she is not really clever, I won\u2019t\nhave her.\u201d\n\nWhen they were all sitting together at dinner the mother said, \u201cAlice,\ngo down into the cellar and draw some beer.\u201d\n\nSo Clever Alice took the jug from the nail on the wall, and went into\nthe cellar, tapping the lid up and down as she went to pass away the\ntime. When she reached the cellar she fetched a chair and put it in\nfront of the cask so that she need not stoop and hurt her back. Then\nshe held the jug in her hand and turned the tap. While the beer was\nrunning, as she did not wish to be idle, she let her eyes wander all\nover the wall, looking first this way and then that. All at once she\nsaw just above her head a pickax, which the masons had accidentally\nleft there.\n\nThen Clever Alice began to cry, saying, \u201cIf I marry Hans, and we have a\nchild, and he grows up, and we send him into the cellar here to draw\nbeer, then the pickax will fall on his head and kill him.\u201d\n\nSo she sat and wept and cried with all her might over the misfortune\nwhich lay before her.\n\nThe people upstairs waited for the beer, but still Clever Alice did not\ncome. At last her mother said to the maid, \u201cGo down into the cellar and\nsee why Clever Alice is staying so long.\u201d\n\nThe maid went and found her sitting before the cask, crying bitterly.\n\n\u201cAlice, what are you crying about?\u201d she asked.\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d she answered, \u201chave I not reason to weep? If I marry Hans, and\nwe have a child, and he grows up and has to draw beer here, perhaps\nthat pickax will fall on his head and kill him.\u201d\n\nThen the maid said, \u201cWhat a clever Alice we have!\u201d and she, too, sat\ndown by Alice and began to weep over this misfortune.\n\nAfter a while, as the maid did not come back and the people upstairs\nwere getting very thirsty, the husband said to the boy, \u201cGo down cellar\nand see what has become of Alice and the maid.\u201d\n\nThe boy went down, and there sat Alice and the maid weeping together.\nSo he said, \u201cWhat are you crying for?\u201d\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d said Alice, \u201chave I not reason to cry? If I marry Hans, and we\nhave a child, and he grows up and has to draw beer here, that pickax\nwill fall on his head and kill him.\u201d\n\nThen the boy said, \u201cWhat a clever Alice we have!\u201d and he sat down by\nAlice and began to howl lustily.\n\nUpstairs they waited for the boy, but when he did not come the husband\nsaid, \u201cDo go down cellar, wife, and see why Alice does not come back.\u201d\n\nThe wife went downstairs and found the three in the midst of their\nlamentations. She asked the reason, and Alice told her, also, how her\nfuture child, when it grew up and was sent to draw beer, would be\nkilled by the pickax which would fall down. Then the mother likewise\nexclaimed, \u201cWhat a clever Alice we have!\u201d and sat down and wept with\nthem.\n\nThe husband upstairs waited a short time, but at last, as his wife did\nnot return and his thirst grew greater, he said, \u201cI must go down into\nthe cellar myself and see what has become of Alice.\u201d\n\nBut when he entered the cellar and found them all sitting there\ntogether crying, and heard the reason, how Alice\u2019s child was the cause\nof it all, because she might possibly have a child, who might be killed\nby the pickax, if he should happen to be sitting beneath it drawing\nbeer just at the moment when the pickax fell down, then he, too, said,\n\u201cWhat a clever Alice we have!\u201d and sat down and wept with them.\n\nThe bridegroom waited upstairs alone for a long time; then, as nobody\ncame, he said: \u201cThey must be waiting downstairs for me. I will go down\nand see what they are about.\u201d When he got downstairs there sat all\nfive, weeping and lamenting in a heartrending way, each a little louder\nthan the others.\n\n\u201cWhat misfortune can possibly have happened?\u201d he asked.\n\n\u201cAlas! dear Hans,\u201d said Alice, \u201cif we marry and have a child, and he\ngrows up, and we happen to send him into the cellar here to draw beer,\nthen that pickax which has been hanging up there might kill him if it\nwere to fall down upon his head; so have we not reason to weep?\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Hans, \u201cmore cleverness than that is not needed to keep\nhouse for me; and as you are such a clever Alice I will have you for my\nwife.\u201d So he took her by the hand, led her upstairs with him, and\nmarried her.\n\nWhen they had been married some time, Hans said, \u201cWife, I am going out\nto work and earn some money for us; do you go into the field and cut\nthe corn, so that we may have some bread.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, my dear Hans, I will do so.\u201d\n\nAfter Hans went away Alice cooked some nice broth for herself and took\nit into the field with her. When she got there she said to herself:\n\u201cNow which shall I do? Shall I reap first, or eat first? I will eat\nfirst.\u201d\n\nSo she emptied her bowl of broth, and when she was satisfied she said\nagain: \u201cNow which shall I do? Shall I reap first, or sleep first? I\nwill sleep first.\u201d\n\nThen she lay down in the corn and fell asleep.\n\nMeanwhile Hans had been at home some time, but Alice did not come.\n\n\u201cWhat a clever Alice she is!\u201d said he; \u201cshe is so industrious that she\ndoes not even come home to eat.\u201d\n\nBut as she still did not come, Hans went out to see how much she had\nreaped; but nothing was cut, and there lay Alice fast asleep in the\ncorn. Hans hurried home and brought back a fowler\u2019s net with little\nbells on it; this he hung about her, and still she did not wake. Then\nhe ran home, shut the house door, and sat down to work.\n\nAt last, when it was quite dark, Clever Alice woke. When she stood up\nthe net fell rattling about her, and the bells jingled at every step\nshe took. This frightened her, and made her wonder whether she was\nreally Clever Alice or not, and she said to herself, \u201cIs it I, or is it\nnot I?\u201d\n\nBut she did not know how to answer, and stood for a long time in doubt.\nAt last she thought, \u201cI will go home and ask if it is I, or if it is\nnot I; they will be sure to know.\u201d\n\nShe ran to the door of her house, but it was locked. Then she knocked\non the window, and cried, \u201cHans, is Alice at home?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d answered Hans, \u201cshe is at home.\u201d\n\nThen she was frightened and cried, \u201cAlas! then it is not I,\u201d and she\nran to the next door; but when the people heard the jingling of the\nbells they would not open for her, and she could get in nowhere. So she\nran away out of the village, and no one has ever seen her since.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRIQUET WITH THE TUFT\n\n\nThere was once a queen who had a son so ugly and misshapen that it was\nquestioned for a long time whether he was a human creature or not. A\nfairy who was present at his birth declared that he would be none the\nless amiable for all his ugliness, because he would have uncommon\nintelligence and wit. She added that he would have the power, by virtue\nof a gift which she had just bestowed upon him, to give the same\ntalents which he possessed to the person whom he should love best. All\nthis was some comfort to the poor Queen, who was in great distress at\nhaving such an unsightly child.\n\nAs soon as the child began to talk he said a thousand pretty things,\nand in everything he did he was so unusually clever that every one was\ndelighted with him. I forgot to tell you that he was born with a little\ntuft of hair on his head, and on this account they called him Riquet\nwith the Tuft; for Riquet was the family name.\n\nSeven or eight years after this the Queen of a neighboring kingdom had\ntwin daughters. The firstborn was more beautiful than the day. The\nQueen was so very happy over this that it was feared that such excess\nof joy would do her harm. The same fairy who had been present at the\nbirth of little Riquet with the Tuft was here too; and to moderate the\nQueen\u2019s joy she told her that this little Princess should have no sense\nat all, but should be as stupid as she was pretty. This mortified the\nQueen very much, but soon she had a still greater sorrow, for the\nsecond daughter was extremely ugly.\n\n\u201cDo not afflict yourself so much, madam,\u201d said the fairy. \u201cYour\ndaughter shall have it made up to her in other ways; she shall have so\nmuch intelligence and wit that her want of beauty will hardly be\nnoticed.\u201d\n\n\u201cGod grant it may be so,\u201d replied the Queen; \u201cbut is there no way to\nmake the elder, who is so pretty, have a little sense?\u201d\n\n\u201cI can do nothing for her in the matter of sense,\u201d said the fairy, \u201cbut\neverything in the matter of beauty; and therefore, as there is nothing\nI would not do for your satisfaction, I will bestow on her as a gift\nthe power to make handsome the person whom she likes best.\u201d\n\nAs the two Princesses grew older, their perfections grew with them.\nEverywhere people talked of the beauty of the elder and of the wit of\nthe younger. It is true that their defects increased considerably with\ntheir years. The younger grew visibly uglier, and the elder became more\nstupid every day; either she made no reply to what was asked her, or\nshe said something very silly. She was, besides, so clumsy that she\ncould not place four pieces of china on the mantelpiece without\nbreaking one, nor drink a glass of water without spilling half of it on\nher clothes.\n\nAlthough beauty is a great advantage to a young girl, in society the\nyounger sister was almost always preferred to the elder. People would\ngo first to the more beautiful to see and admire her; but they very\nsoon left her for the more clever sister, to enjoy listening to her\npleasant conversation; and it was amazing to see how in less than a\nquarter of an hour the elder was without a person near her, while the\nwhole company was crowding about the younger. The elder, dull as she\nwas, noticed this very plainly, and would have given, without a moment\nof regret, all her beauty to have half the wit of her sister. The\nQueen, for all her good sense, could not help reproaching her often for\nher stupidity; this made the poor Princess ready to die of grief.\n\nOne day, when she had withdrawn to a wood near by to lament her\nmisfortune, she saw coming towards her an ugly little man, very\nunpleasant to look at, but most magnificently dressed. It was the young\nPrince Riquet with the Tuft, who had fallen in love with her from her\nportraits, which were scattered everywhere, and had now left his\nfather\u2019s kingdom to have the pleasure of seeing her and talking with\nher. He was charmed at finding her thus alone, and addressed her with\nall imaginable respect and politeness. Having observed, after he had\npaid her all the usual compliments, that she seemed very melancholy, he\nsaid to her, \u201cI cannot understand, madam, how a person as beautiful as\nyou are can be also as sorrowful as you appear to be; for although I\ncan boast of having seen a great number of beautiful ladies, I declare\nto you that I never saw any one whose beauty approaches yours.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are very kind to say so, sir,\u201d answered the Princess; and here she\nstopped.\n\n\u201cBeauty,\u201d replied Riquet with the Tuft, \u201cis so great an advantage that\nit ought to make up for all else; and when any one possesses it, I do\nnot see that there is anything that can afflict her very much.\u201d\n\n\u201cI would much rather,\u201d said the Princess, \u201cbe as ugly as you are and\nhave sense, than have the beauty which I possess, and be as stupid as I\nam.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere is nothing, madam, which shows more plainly that we have sense\nthan to believe we have none; and it is the nature of that gift that\nthe more people have it, the more they believe they lack it.\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not know how that may be,\u201d said the Princess, \u201cbut I know very\nwell that I am extremely stupid, and that is the cause of my grief.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf that is all which troubles you, madam, I can very easily put an end\nto your sorrow.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd how will you do that?\u201d said the Princess.\n\n\u201cI have the power, madam,\u201d said Riquet with the Tuft, \u201cof giving to\nthat person whom it is my fortune to love best as much wit as it is\npossible to have; and as you, madam, are that person, it will only\ndepend on yourself if you have not as much wit as any one can have,\nprovided only you are pleased to marry me.\u201d\n\nThe Princess was much confused and did not speak a word.\n\n\u201cI see,\u201d continued Riquet with the Tuft, \u201cthat this proposal disturbs\nyou, and I do not wonder at it; but I will give you a whole year in\nwhich to make up your mind about it.\u201d\n\nThe Princess had so little sense, and at the same time so great a\ndesire to have some, that she imagined that the end of this year would\nnever come; so she accepted the proposal which was made to her. She had\nno sooner promised Riquet with the Tuft that she would marry him in a\nyear from that day than she realized a great change in herself; she\nfound herself saying with incredible ease whatever she wished, and\nsaying it, too, in a clever, fluent, and natural manner.\n\nShe began at that moment a brilliant conversation with Riquet with the\nTuft, which she sustained with such ease that Riquet began to think\nthat he had given her more wit than he had reserved for himself.\n\nWhen she returned to the palace the court did not know what to think of\nso sudden and extraordinary a change; for now she said as many sensible\nand extremely clever things as before she had said stupid and silly\nones. The whole court was delighted beyond measure over it; the younger\nsister was the only one who did not share the general happiness; for,\nhaving no longer any advantage over her sister in the line of wit and\nsense, she appeared beside her a homely, disagreeable girl.\n\nThe King himself was now guided by the advice of the elder sister, and\nsometimes would even hold a meeting of the council in her apartments.\nAs the report of this change spread everywhere, all the young Princes\nof neighboring kingdoms made efforts to gain her favor, and almost all\nof them asked for her hand in marriage; but she did not find any one\nwho had enough wit to satisfy her. So she heard them all without\nbinding herself to any one of them.\n\nHowever, there came one so powerful, so rich, so witty, and so handsome\nthat she could not help feeling a great liking for him. When her father\nsaw this he told her that he was leaving her to be her own mistress in\nthe matter of choosing a husband, and that she had only to express her\nwishes. She was so sensible that she knew so serious a matter deserved\nher careful consideration; so she thanked her father and asked him to\ngive her time to think it over.\n\nShe went, by chance, to walk in the same wood where she had met Riquet\nwith the Tuft, to deliberate on what she should do. While she was\nwalking in deep reflection she heard a dull noise under her feet, as of\na great many people running busily to and fro. Listening more\nattentively she heard one say, \u201cBring me that saucepan\u201d; another, \u201cGive\nme that kettle\u201d; and a third, \u201cPut some wood on the fire.\u201d\n\nAt that moment the ground opened, and she saw under her feet a great\nkitchen full of cooks, scullions, and all sorts of servants and people\nnecessary to prepare a magnificent feast. There came forward a company\nof twenty or thirty cooks, with larding needles in their hands and\nfoxtails in their caps, who took their places in one avenue of the wood\nabout a very long table, and went to work busily, keeping time with a\ntuneful song.\n\nThe Princess, in astonishment at the sight, asked them for whom they\nwere working.\n\n\u201cFor Prince Riquet with the Tuft, madam, whose wedding takes place\nto-morrow,\u201d replied their chief.\n\nThe Princess, more surprised than ever, remembered all at once that it\nwas that day twelvemonth on which she had promised to marry Prince\nRiquet. At the thought she was ready to sink into the ground. What made\nher forget was that when she made the promise she was very silly; and\nwhen she took the new sense that the Prince bestowed on her, she forgot\nall that she had done in the days of her stupidity. She walked on, but\nhad not taken thirty steps before Riquet with the Tuft presented\nhimself before her, magnificently attired like a man who was going to\nbe married.\n\n\u201cYou see, madam,\u201d said he, \u201cthat I am exact in keeping my word; and I\ndo not doubt that you are come to fulfill yours, and to make me, by\ngiving me your hand, the happiest man in the world.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will confess frankly to you,\u201d replied the Princess, \u201cthat I have not\nyet made up my mind in this matter, and that I do not believe that I\nshall ever be able to consent to what you desire.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou astonish me, madam,\u201d said Riquet with the Tuft.\n\n\u201cThat I can well believe,\u201d said the Princess; \u201cand assuredly if I had\nto do with a clown or a man of no sense, I should find myself very much\nat a loss. \u2018A Princess always keeps her word,\u2019 he would say to me, \u2018and\nyou must marry me, since you have promised to do so.\u2019 But as he to whom\nI speak is the man of all others in the world who has the most sense, I\nam sure he will hear reason. You know that when I was only a fool I\ncould hardly make up my mind to marry you. Now that I have the sense\nwhich you gave me, which makes me much harder to please, how can you\nexpect me to come to a decision to-day which I could not agree to\nbefore? If you thought seriously of marrying me, you made a great\nmistake in removing my stupidity and making me see things more plainly\nthan I did before.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf a man without wit or sense,\u201d replied Riquet, \u201cwould be justified in\nreproaching you for breaking your word, why do you wish, madam, that I\nshould not make use of the same right in a matter where the happiness\nof my whole life is at stake? Is it reasonable that persons of wit and\nsense should be worse off than those who have none? Can you pretend\nthis,\u2014you who are so wise and who wished so much to be? But come to the\npoint, if you please. Except for my ugliness is there anything in me\nwhich displeases you? Do you object to my birth, my sense, my temper,\nor my manners?\u201d\n\n\u201cNot at all,\u201d said the Princess; \u201cI like in you all that you have\nmentioned.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf that is the case,\u201d replied Riquet with the Tuft, \u201cI shall soon be\nhappy, for you have the power to make me the most handsome of men.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow can that be?\u201d asked the Princess.\n\n\u201cIt can be done,\u201d replied Riquet with the Tuft, \u201cif you love me enough\nto desire that it should be; and in order that you may have no doubt\nabout it, know that the same fairy who at my birth bestowed on me the\npower of making clever the person I love best, has given you the power\nof making as handsome as you please him whom you love best and for whom\nyou desire this favor.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf that be the case,\u201d said the Princess, \u201cI wish with all my heart\nthat you may be the comeliest and handsomest Prince in the world, and I\nbestow on you this gift in so far as I am able.\u201d\n\nThe Princess had no sooner pronounced these words than Riquet with the\nTuft seemed to her eyes the comeliest, handsomest, and most pleasing\nman she had ever seen.\n\nSome people say that it was not the fairy\u2019s charm, but love alone which\nmade this great change. They declare that the Princess, when she had\nreflected upon the perseverance of her lover, upon his discretion, and\nall the good qualities of his heart and mind, saw no longer the\ndeformity of his body nor the ugliness of his face; that his hump\nseemed to her no more than the grand air of a man who put on a look of\nimportance; that where before she had noticed that he limped badly, she\nnow found it nothing more than a careless grace of carriage which\ncharmed her. They tell, too, how his eyes, which were squinting,\nappeared to her on that account the more brilliant, while their\nirregularity passed in her judgment as a mark of the warmth of his\nlove; and finally that his great red nose gave, in her opinion, a\nmartial and heroic air to his appearance.\n\nHowever that may be, the Princess promised immediately to marry him,\nprovided he obtained the consent of the King her father. The King knew\nthat his daughter had a high esteem for Riquet with the Tuft, and was\nwell informed, too, as to the cleverness and prudence of the Prince. So\nhe received him gladly as his son-in-law. The next day their wedding\nwas celebrated as Riquet with the Tuft had foreseen, and according to\nthe orders which he had given long before.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSNOWDROP\n\n\nOnce upon a time, in the middle of winter, when the snowflakes were\nfalling like feathers from the sky, a queen sat sewing at a window\nframed in black ebony. And as she sat sewing and looking out upon the\nsnow, she pricked her finger with the needle, and three drops of blood\nfell on the snow outside. Because the red looked so beautiful on the\nwhite snow, she thought to herself, \u201cHow I should like to have a child\nas white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as the wood of this\nebony frame!\u201d\n\nVery soon after this she had a little daughter whose hair was black as\nebony, and whose cheeks were red as blood, while her skin was white as\nsnow; so they called her Snowdrop. But not long after her birth the\nQueen died.\n\nWhen Snowdrop was a year old the King took another wife. She was a\nbeautiful woman, but so proud and haughty that she could not bear to\nhave any one surpass her in beauty. She had a magic mirror, and when\nshe stood before it gazing at herself, she would say,\n\n\n            \u201cMirror, mirror on the wall,\n            Who is fairest of us all?\u201d\n\n\nThen the mirror would reply,\n\n\n            \u201cQueen, so beautiful and tall,\n            Thou art fairest of them all.\u201d\n\n\nThen she was content, for she knew the mirror always spoke the truth.\n\nBut Snowdrop was growing prettier and prettier every day, and when she\nwas seven years old she was so beautiful that she was even fairer than\nthe Queen herself. One day when the Queen asked her mirror the usual\nquestion,\n\n\n            \u201cMirror, mirror on the wall,\n            Who is fairest of us all?\u201d\n\n\nit answered,\n\n\n            \u201cLady Queen, thou art fairest here,\n            But Snowdrop is fairer far, \u2019tis clear.\u201d\n\n\nThen the Queen was terrified and turned every shade of green in her\njealousy. From that hour she hated Snowdrop so bitterly that she was\nthrown into a secret passion every time she saw her. And every day envy\nand pride grew up swiftly like evil weeds in her heart, till she had no\nrest day or night.\n\nAt last she sent for a huntsman and said to him: \u201cTake the child out\ninto the wood, and never let me see her again. You are to kill her and\nbring me her heart as a token that you have done it.\u201d\n\nThe huntsman obeyed, and took Snowdrop into the wood; but when he drew\nout his hunting knife to kill her, she began to weep and said, \u201cO dear\nhuntsman, spare my life; I will run away into the wild forest and never\ncome home again.\u201d\n\nAnd because she was so beautiful the huntsman took pity on her and\nsaid, \u201cWell, run away then, poor child.\u201d For he thought to himself,\n\u201cThe wild beasts will soon devour her.\u201d But yet it seemed as if a stone\nhad been rolled from his heart because he did not have to kill her.\n\nAs a young boar came running by just then, he stabbed it, and took the\nheart to the Queen as proof that Snowdrop was dead. The wicked woman\nhad it cooked in salt and ate it, thinking she had made an end of\nSnowdrop.\n\nBut when the poor child found herself all alone in the great forest,\neven the trees and their leaves began to seem terrible to her, and she\nwas so frightened that she did not know what to do. She began to run,\nand ran over the sharp stones and through the brambles, and the wild\nbeasts ran past her, but they did her no harm. She ran as far as her\nfeet would carry her, till it was nearly evening. Then she saw a little\nhouse and went into it to rest herself. Everything in the little house\nwas very small, but cleaner and neater than anything you can think of.\nA small table covered with a white cloth stood ready with seven small\nplates, and by each plate were a spoon, knife, fork, and cup. Against\nthe wall stood seven little beds, side by side, covered with snow-white\ncounterpanes.\n\nSnowdrop was so hungry and so thirsty that she ate a bit of bread and a\nlittle stew from each plate, and drank a drop of wine out of each cup,\nfor she did not wish to take all from one portion. Then feeling very\ntired she lay down on one of the little beds, but it was not\ncomfortable. She tried them all in turn, but one was too long, another\ntoo short, till she came to the seventh, which was just right; so she\nlay down upon it, said her prayers, and fell asleep.\n\nWhen it was quite dark the masters of the little house came home. They\nwere seven little dwarfs, who dug and delved in the mountains for ore.\nThey lighted their seven little lamps, and as soon as the room was full\nof light they saw that some one had been there, for all was not in the\nsame order in which they had left it.\n\nThe first said, \u201cWho has been sitting on my chair?\u201d\n\nThe second said, \u201cWho has been eating off my plate?\u201d\n\nThe third said, \u201cWho has been eating some of my bread?\u201d\n\nThe fourth said, \u201cWho has been tasting my stew?\u201d\n\nThe fifth said, \u201cWho has been using my fork?\u201d\n\nThe sixth said, \u201cWho has been cutting with my knife?\u201d\n\nThe seventh said, \u201cWho has been drinking out of my cup?\u201d\n\nThen the first dwarf looked around and saw a little hollow in his bed,\nand asked, \u201cWho has been lying on my bed?\u201d The others came running up\nand exclaimed, \u201cAnd mine! and mine!\u201d But the seventh, when he came to\nhis bed, saw Snowdrop lying there fast asleep. He called the others,\nwho cried out in astonishment and held up their little lamps to see\nbetter when they found Snowdrop sleeping there.\n\n\u201cHeavens!\u201d they cried; \u201cwhat a beautiful child!\u201d and were so pleased\nthat they did not wake her, but let her sleep on in the little bed. The\nseventh dwarf slept with his companions, one hour in each bed, and so\ngot through the night.\n\nWhen Snowdrop awoke in the morning and saw the seven little dwarfs, she\nwas frightened. But they were so friendly and asked her name so kindly\nthat she took courage and answered, \u201cI am called Snowdrop.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow came you to our house?\u201d they asked.\n\nThen she told them how her stepmother had wanted to have her killed,\nhow the huntsman had spared her life, and how she had run all day until\nshe had found their little house.\n\nThe dwarfs talked a little together and then said: \u201cWill you stay and\nkeep house for us,\u2014cook, make the beds, wash, sew, and knit? If you\nwill, then you shall stay with us and want for nothing.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, I should love to,\u201d said Snowdrop. So she stayed with them and kept\nthe house in order. Every morning the dwarfs went out into the\nmountains to dig for gold, and in the evening when they came back\nSnowdrop had their supper ready. But during the day she was left all\nalone and the good dwarfs warned her, saying, \u201cBeware of your\nstepmother. She will soon find out that you are here. Whatever you do,\ndon\u2019t let any one into the house.\u201d\n\nNow the Queen, believing that she had eaten Snowdrop\u2019s heart, had no\ndoubt that she was again the most beautiful woman in the world; so\nstepping before her mirror one day she said,\n\n\n            \u201cMirror, mirror on the wall,\n            Who is fairest of us all?\u201d\n\n\nThen the mirror replied,\n\n\n            \u201cLady Queen, thou art fairest here,\n            But Snowdrop up in the mountains near,\n            Who lives with the seven dwarfs, odd and queer,\n            A thousand times fairer doth appear.\u201d\n\n\nThen she was startled and angry, for she knew that the mirror always\nspoke the truth, and she saw that the huntsman must have deceived her,\nand that Snowdrop was still alive. Once more she pondered day and night\nhow she might destroy Snowdrop, for as long as she herself was not the\nfairest in all the land her jealous heart gave her no peace. At last\nshe thought of a plan. She stained her face and dressed herself like an\nold peddler woman, and was so changed that no one could have known her.\nIn this disguise she went over the hills to the home of the seven\ndwarfs. There she knocked at the door, calling out, \u201cFine wares to\nsell! fine wares to sell!\u201d\n\nSnowdrop peeped out of the window and said, \u201cGood day, my good woman,\nwhat have you to sell?\u201d\n\n\u201cGood wares, fine wares,\u201d she answered; \u201cbodice laces of all colors,\u201d\nand she pulled out one that was woven of gay-colored silk.\n\n\u201cSurely I may let this honest woman in,\u201d thought Snowdrop; so she\nunbarred the door and bought the pretty lace.\n\n\u201cChild, child,\u201d said the old woman, \u201cwhat a figure you have! Come, let\nme lace you properly for once.\u201d\n\nSnowdrop had no suspicion, but stood before the woman and let her lace\nher with the new lace. But the old woman laced her so quickly and so\ntightly that it took Snowdrop\u2019s breath away, and she fell down as\nthough dead.\n\n\u201cNow you are no longer the fairest,\u201d said the Queen, and she hurried\naway.\n\nNot long after, toward evening, the seven dwarfs came home and were\nterribly frightened to see their dear little Snowdrop lying on the\nfloor, still and motionless as if she were dead. They lifted her up,\nand when they saw how tightly she was laced, they cut the laces in two;\nthen she began to breathe a little and gradually came back to life.\nWhen the dwarfs heard what had happened they said: \u201cThe old peddler\nwoman was none other than the wicked Queen. Snowdrop, you must take\ncare and let no one in when we are not at home.\u201d\n\nThe wicked Queen went straight to her mirror the minute she got home\nand said,\n\n\n            \u201cMirror, mirror on the wall,\n            Who is fairest of us all?\u201d\n\n\nThen the mirror answered as before,\n\n\n            \u201cLady Queen, thou art fairest here,\n            But Snowdrop up in the mountains near,\n            Who lives with the seven dwarfs, odd and queer,\n            A thousand times fairer doth appear.\u201d\n\n\nWhen she heard this she turned pale with fright and anger, for she knew\nthat Snowdrop must have come back to life again.\n\n\u201cI will think of some way to make an end of her once for all,\u201d she said\nto herself.\n\nBy means of witchcraft, in which she was skilled, she prepared a\npoisoned comb. Then she took the form of another old woman. She went\nover the hills till she came to the house of the seven dwarfs, and\nknocking at the door she called out, \u201cWares, fine wares, to sell!\u201d\n\nSnowdrop looked out of the window and said, \u201cGo away; I am not to let\nany one in.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut surely you are allowed to look out,\u201d said the old woman; and she\nheld up the poisoned comb for her to see.\n\nThe child was so pleased with it that she let herself be beguiled, and\nopened the door. When they had settled their bargain the old woman\nsaid, \u201cNow I will comb your hair properly for once.\u201d\n\nPoor little Snowdrop had no thought of evil and let the woman do as she\npleased, but hardly had she put the comb in the child\u2019s hair when the\npoison took effect, and she fell down unconscious.\n\n\u201cWell, my beauty, you are really done for now,\u201d said the wicked woman,\nand she went away.\n\nFortunately it was near evening, when the seven dwarfs always came\nhome. When they saw Snowdrop lying on the floor as if she were dead,\nthey at once suspected the stepmother had been there again; so they\nsearched till they found the poisoned comb, and as soon as they had\ndrawn it out, Snowdrop came to herself and told them what had happened.\nAgain they warned her to be on her guard and to open the door to no\none.\n\nAs soon as the Queen got home she went to her mirror and said,\n\n\n            \u201cMirror, mirror on the wall,\n            Who is fairest of us all?\u201d\n\n\nBut the mirror replied as before,\n\n\n            \u201cLady Queen, thou art fairest here,\n            But Snowdrop up in the mountains near,\n            Who lives with the seven dwarfs, odd and queer,\n            A thousand times fairer doth appear.\u201d\n\n\nWhen she heard these words she actually trembled and shook with rage.\n\nThen she went into a secret room, which no one but herself ever\nentered, and there she prepared a poisoned apple. Outwardly it looked\nvery pretty, with such rosy cheeks that every one who saw it would long\nto eat it, but any one who ate a piece of it would be sure to die. When\nthe apple was ready she stained her face and dressed herself as a\npeasant woman, and so she went over the hills to the home of the seven\ndwarfs. She knocked at the door as usual, but Snowdrop put her head out\nof the window and said, \u201cI am not to let any one in; the seven dwarfs\nhave forbidden me.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is all the same to me,\u201d answered the woman. \u201cI shall soon get rid\nof my apples. There, I will give you one.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said Snowdrop, \u201cI am not to take anything.\u201d\n\n\u201cAre you afraid of poison?\u201d said the woman. \u201cSee, I will cut the apple\nin two. You eat the red cheek and I will eat the white.\u201d\n\nThe apple was so cunningly made that only the red side was poisoned.\nSnowdrop longed to eat the fine apple, and when she saw that the\npeasant woman was eating it herself, she could resist no longer, but\nstretched out her hand and took the poisoned half. But hardly had she\ntouched the first bite to her lips before she fell down dead. Then the\ncruel Queen looked down on her with fiendish delight, and laughing\naloud she cried, \u201cAs white as snow, as red as blood, as black as ebony;\nthis time the dwarfs cannot wake you.\u201d\n\nWhen she got home and asked the mirror,\n\n\n            \u201cMirror, mirror on the wall,\n            Who is fairest of us all?\u201d\n\n\nit answered at last,\n\n\n            \u201cQueen, so beautiful and tall,\n            Thou art fairest of them all.\u201d\n\n\nThen her jealous heart was at rest\u2014at least, as far as a jealous heart\ncan ever be at rest.\n\nWhen the dwarfs came home in the evening they found Snowdrop lying on\nthe floor, and she neither breathed nor moved. They lifted her up and\nlooked to see if they could find anything poisonous. They unlaced her\nbodice, washed her with water and wine, but all in vain; the child was\ndead, and remained dead. Then they laid her on a bier, and the seven\ndwarfs seated themselves round her, and wept for her, and mourned for\nthree days. They were going to bury her, but she looked so fresh and\nlifelike and had such pretty color in her cheeks that they said, \u201cWe\ncannot lay her away in the dark ground.\u201d\n\nSo they had a transparent coffin made of glass, and they laid her in\nit, and wrote on the lid in letters of gold her name, and that she was\na King\u2019s daughter. Then they put the coffin on the top of the mountain,\nand one of the dwarfs always stayed by it and kept watch over it. And\nthe birds came, too, and mourned for Snowdrop,\u2014first an owl, then a\nraven, and last of all a little white dove.\n\nSnowdrop lay a long, long time in the coffin unchanged, looking as if\nshe were asleep; for she was still as white as snow, as red as blood,\nand her hair as black as ebony.\n\nNow it happened that one day a King\u2019s son came into the wood and went\nto the dwarfs\u2019 house to spend the night. He saw the coffin on the\nmountain with beautiful Snowdrop lying in it, and when he had read what\nwas written on the lid in letters of gold, he said to the dwarfs: \u201cLet\nme have the coffin. I will give you whatever you like for it.\u201d\n\nBut the dwarfs said, \u201cNo; we would not part with it for all the gold in\nthe world.\u201d\n\nBut he replied: \u201cThen give it to me as a gift, for I cannot live\nwithout Snowdrop to gaze upon. I will honor and prize it as my dearest\npossession.\u201d\n\nWhen he spoke in this way the good dwarfs took pity on him and gave him\nthe coffin, and the Prince had his servants bear it away upon their\nshoulders. Now it happened that one of them stumbled over a tree stump.\nThis jolted the coffin so sharply that the poisoned piece of apple\nwhich Snowdrop had bitten fell out of her throat. Before long she\nslowly opened her eyes, lifted up the lid of the coffin, and sat up\nalive once more.\n\n\u201cOh, dear!\u201d she cried, \u201cwhere am I?\u201d\n\nThe Prince answered joyfully, \u201cYou are with me,\u201d and told her all that\nhappened, saying as he finished the story: \u201cI love you better than any\none in the world. Will you come with me to my father\u2019s palace and be my\nwife?\u201d\n\nSnowdrop consented and went with him, and their wedding was celebrated\nwith great state and splendor.\n\nNow Snowdrop\u2019s wicked stepmother was one of those invited to the feast.\nWhen she had arrayed herself in beautiful clothes, for the occasion she\nwent to the mirror and said,\n\n\n            \u201cMirror, mirror on the wall,\n            Who is fairest of us all?\u201d\n\n\nThe mirror answered,\n\n\n            \u201cLady Queen, thou art fairest here,\n            But the young Queen now at the palace near\n            A thousand times fairer doth appear.\u201d\n\n\nThen the wicked woman uttered a curse and was so beside herself with\nanger and mortification that she did not know what to do. At first she\nresolved not to go to the wedding at all, but she felt she could have\nno peace till she had seen the young Queen. When she went in she\nrecognized Snowdrop and stood stock-still with rage and fear. She knew\nshe could not be again the most beautiful woman in the world, and her\nanger was so great that she fell dead at the feast.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE WHITE CAT\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a King who had three brave and handsome\nsons. As they grew to be fine, tall young men, he began to be afraid\nthat they might want to rule over the kingdom before he was dead. The\nKing was old, but was as vigorous in mind as ever he had been, and did\nnot wish to give up his crown. He thought that the best way to live in\npeace was to divert their minds by promises he could always avoid\nfulfilling.\n\nHe called his sons to him and said: \u201cYou will agree with me, my dear\nchildren, that I shall soon be getting too old to reign any longer. I\nwant, therefore, to give my crown to one of you. But it is only fair\nthat in return for such a gift you should do something to make life\npleasant for me after I have retired into the country. I should like to\nhave a pretty, clever, faithful little dog who would be good company\nfor me. So without any regard to your ages, I declare to you that the\none who brings me the most beautiful little dog shall be my heir.\u201d\n\nThe Princes were surprised at their father\u2019s sudden fancy for a little\ndog, but were well pleased with the plan. They took leave of the King,\nwho gave them plenty of money and told them that in a year without fail\nthey must all return, and on the same day at the same hour bring him\ntheir little dogs.\n\nBefore they started they went to a castle outside the town and held a\ngreat feast, at which they promised always to be friends, and not be\njealous of one another in this matter. They agreed that the successful\none should share his good fortune with the others. Then they set out,\ndeciding that they would meet at the same castle on their return and go\ntogether to the King. Each took a different road. All three met with\nmany adventures, but I am only going to tell you about those of the\nyoungest.\n\nHe was young, and gay, and handsome, and had all the accomplishments a\nPrince should have; as for his courage, he was simply fearless.\n\nNo day passed without his buying some dogs. He bought big dogs and\nlittle dogs, house dogs, hunting dogs, mastiffs, greyhounds, spaniels,\nand lapdogs,\u2014dogs of every kind. As soon as he bought a pretty one he\nwas sure to see another that was prettier, and then he had to sell the\nothers and get that one, for he found it impossible to take thirty or\nforty thousand dogs about with him.\n\nOne evening he entered a great forest. Night came on suddenly and with\nit a violent storm of thunder and lightning; the rain began to pour\ndown. He took the first path he came to, and after he had walked a long\ntime he saw a faint light and hoped he was coming to some house where\nhe might find shelter for the night. Guided by the light he reached the\ngates of the most magnificent castle that could be imagined. The gate\nwas of gold, covered with rubies, and it was the bright, red light\nwhich shone from them that the Prince had seen. The walls were of\ntransparent porcelain, painted in many colors with pictures out of\nfairy tales, the adventures of the Sleeping Beauty in the Wood, and of\nCinderella, and a hundred others.\n\nUpon the door was a deer\u2019s foot fastened by a chain of diamonds. The\nPrince pulled it and heard a silver bell ring. Instantly the door flew\nopen, but he could see nothing but a dozen hands in the air, each\nholding a torch. He was so astonished that he hesitated to enter, but\nhe felt himself pushed forward from behind by other hands. He was\nsomewhat uneasy, but put his hand on his sword and walked on. He\nentered a hall paved with lapis lazuli, where he heard two enchanting\nvoices singing these words,\n\n\n        \u201cFear not these hands that float in space,\n        Nor anything else that here you see,\n        Unless from the charms of a beautiful face\n        You would keep your heart still fancy free.\u201d\n\n\nThis welcome reassured the Prince. The hands guided him toward a large\ndoor of coral, which opened of itself and admitted him to a hall of\nmother-of-pearl. Out of this opened other rooms so richly adorned with\npaintings and precious stones and so brilliantly lighted with thousands\nof hanging lamps that he was dazzled by their magnificence. When he had\npassed through sixty rooms the hands that were guiding him stopped, and\na most comfortable armchair moved of itself toward the fireplace. At\nthe same moment the fire was lighted, and hands which he noticed were\nvery beautiful\u2014small, white, plump, and well proportioned\u2014took off his\nwet clothes. Then they presented him with new garments made of the\nfinest materials and richly embroidered with gold and emeralds. They\ncombed his hair and waited on him with the greatest skill, though\nsometimes they appeared so suddenly that they made him start.\n\nWhen his toilet was complete\u2014and I assure you the fine costume became\nhim well\u2014the hands conducted him to a splendid room, upon the walls of\nwhich were painted the histories of Puss in Boots and other famous\ncats. The table was laid for two, with gold knife, fork, and spoon for\neach; the sideboard was covered with vessels and glasses of crystal set\nwith precious stones. The Prince was wondering who the second cover was\nfor, when in came a company of cats, carrying guitars. They took their\nplaces on a little platform, and, under the leadership of a cat who had\na book of music before her and beat time with a roll of paper, they\nbegan to mew each in a different key, and to draw their claws across\nthe strings of their guitars, making the strangest music that was ever\nheard. The Prince stopped his ears, but even then he could not keep\nfrom laughing heartily at the positions and grimaces of these novel\nmusicians.\n\nHe was wondering what queer thing would happen to him next when he saw\na tiny figure enter the room. It was covered by a long black veil. Two\ncats bearing black cloaks and carrying swords conducted it, and a\nretinue of cats followed.\n\nThe Prince was more astonished than ever; he did not know what to\nthink. The little black figure approached him and threw back the veil.\nThen he saw the most beautiful white cat that ever was or ever will be.\nShe looked very young and sad, and in a sweet voice that went straight\nto the Prince\u2019s heart she said to him, \u201cKing\u2019s Son, you are welcome;\nthe Queen of cats is glad to see you.\u201d\n\n\u201cMadam Cat,\u201d said the Prince, \u201cit is very kind of you to receive me\nwith such courtesy, but surely you are no ordinary cat. Your gift of\nspeech and your magnificent castle are strong proof to the contrary.\u201d\n\n\u201cKing\u2019s Son,\u201d replied the White Cat, \u201cI beg of you to spare me these\ncompliments, for I am very simple in my speech. But now,\u201d she added,\n\u201clet supper be served and let the musicians be silent, for the Prince\ndoes not understand what they are saying.\u201d\n\n\u201cAre they really saying anything, madam?\u201d asked the Prince.\n\n\u201cCertainly,\u201d she answered. \u201cWe have excellent music here. If you stay\nwith us a little while, you will soon learn to appreciate it.\u201d\n\n\u201cIndeed, I shall be a ready scholar,\u201d said the Prince, politely.\n\nSupper was now served by the mysterious hands. Soup made of white mice\nwas brought to the White Cat. When a plate was put before the Prince he\ndid not like to taste it. But the White Cat assured him that his soup\nwas made of pigeons, and that none of the dishes intended for him\ncontained either rats or mice. They talked together on different\nsubjects, and the Prince found that she knew all about what was going\non in the world, and was well informed along many lines.\n\nAfter supper the White Cat invited her guest into another room fitted\nup with a stage, where the cats danced and acted for their amusement.\nThen the White Cat said good night to him, and the hands conducted him\nto an apartment just opposite the one he had been in before. It was\nhung with butterflies\u2019 wings of every color; there were mirrors that\nreached from the floor to the ceiling; and his bed was draped in gauze,\nfastened with a thousand knots of ribbon. The Prince went to bed in\nsilence, for he did not know how to begin a conversation with the hands\nthat waited on him.\n\nIn the morning he was awakened by noise and confusion outside, and the\nhands came quickly and dressed him in hunting costume. He looked out\ninto the courtyard and saw more than five hundred cats making\npreparation for this holiday, for the White Cat was going hunting. He\nwas led to a wooden horse, which he seemed to be expected to mount. He\ndid so, and to his surprise it galloped off gayly.\n\nThe White Cat was riding a monkey, which went very fast and carried her\neven to the tops of trees when she wanted to reach eagles\u2019 nests. The\ncats ran after rabbits and hares and caught them, and the kittens\nclimbed everywhere for birds. The Prince had never enjoyed a hunt more.\nWhen the hunt was over they returned to the castle, and the Prince and\nthe White Cat supped together as before.\n\nSo the days passed in all kinds of amusements, and the Prince thought\nonly of the little White Cat with whom he was so happy. But she knew\nwhen he ought to return, and as he had quite forgotten, she reminded\nhim.\n\n\u201cDo you know,\u201d she said, \u201cthat you have only three days in which to\nlook for the little dog your father wants, and that your brothers have\nfound beauties?\u201d\n\nThe Prince came to himself and was astonished at his forgetfulness.\n\n\u201cWhy, how came I to forget such an important errand?\u201d he said. \u201cWhat\nshall I do? I can never get home in time, much less find a dog.\u201d And he\nbegan to be very much vexed and distressed.\n\nBut the White Cat comforted him, saying, \u201cKing\u2019s Son, do not vex\nyourself; I am your friend. You can stay here another day, for the good\nwooden horse will take you to your country in less than twelve hours.\u201d\n\n\u201cI thank you, beautiful White Cat,\u201d said the Prince; \u201cbut it is not\nenough that I return to my father; I must take him a little dog.\u201d\n\n\u201cLook,\u201d said the White Cat; \u201chere is an acorn in which is a little dog\nprettier even than the one in the dog star.\u201d\n\n\u201cO Madam Cat,\u201d said the Prince, \u201cyou are making fun of me.\u201d\n\n\u201cPut the acorn to your ear,\u201d said she.\n\nHe obeyed and heard a little sound inside, \u201cBow-wow!\u201d The Prince was\ndelighted, for a dog that could be shut up in an acorn must be very\ntiny. He was so eager to see it that he wanted to open the acorn, but\nthe White Cat told him it might be cold on the journey, and it would\ntherefore be better to wait until he was in his father\u2019s presence. He\nthanked her a thousand times, and said good-by very sadly when he\nstarted out.\n\n\u201cThe days with you have passed so quickly,\u201d he said, \u201cI only wish I\ncould take you along with me.\u201d\n\nBut at this proposal the White Cat only sighed deeply.\n\nThe Prince was the first to arrive at the place where the three\nbrothers agreed to meet. They embraced each other affectionately and\nbegan to tell their adventures. But the Prince did not tell his real\nadventures, and showed only a common cur, letting his brothers think\nthat this was the one he was going to show the King. They laughed at\nhim and showed him two beautiful little dogs in baskets.\n\nWhen they reached the palace every one crowded about to welcome them.\nThey went into the King\u2019s hall. He did not know in whose favor to\ndecide, for the dogs of the two elder sons seemed equally beautiful.\nThey were already making their plans about sharing the crown when the\nyoungest drew out of his pocket the acorn which the White Cat had given\nhim. He opened it, and there was a wonderful little dog with silky\nwhite hair and long ears lying on cotton wool. The Prince put it\nthrough a ring without its touching the sides. Then he placed it on the\nground, and it got up at once and began to dance. The King did not know\nwhat to say, for it was impossible to imagine anything more beautiful\nthan this little dog.\n\nBut he had not the least desire to part with his crown. The tiniest gem\nof it was dearer to him than all the dogs in the world. He told his\nchildren that as they had all succeeded so well the first time, he\nwould ask them to go once more. This time he would give them a year to\nseek by land and sea a piece of linen so fine that it could be drawn\nthrough the eye of the finest needle.\n\nEach departed his own way. Our Prince mounted the wooden horse again\nand rode back with all speed to the White Cat. He found all the doors\nopen and the windows, roofs, towers, and walls lighted brilliantly. The\nhands came to meet him and led the wooden horse off to the stable,\nwhile the Prince hastened to the room of the White Cat. She was asleep\nin a little basket on a white satin cushion, but she started up when\nthe Prince came in and received him with the greatest joy.\n\n\u201cHow could I hope that you would come back to me, King\u2019s Son?\u201d\n\nThe Prince caressed and petted her and told her of his journey. Then he\ntold her what the King wanted this time and asked her for help, for the\nrequest seemed impossible to him. The White Cat looked serious and said\nshe must think the matter over; fortunately there were cats in the\ncastle who spun very well; if it could be done they could do it. She\nwould set them to it, and he need take no care.\n\nThe second year passed as quickly and happily as the first. Presently\nthe White Cat told him that the year was gone, and that he need not be\nat all anxious about the linen, as she had a piece ready for him.\n\n\u201cThis time I can give you an equipage suited to your rank,\u201d she added;\nand bade him look out into the courtyard. There stood a splendid open\ncarriage enameled in flame-colored gold. Twelve snow-white horses\nharnessed in fours drew it; their trappings were of flame-colored\nvelvet embroidered with diamonds. A hundred coaches, each drawn by\neight horses and filled with richly dressed nobles, were ready to\naccompany him. A thousand guards were in waiting behind to end the\nprocession.\n\n\u201cGo!\u201d she said to the Prince; \u201cand when you appear at your father\u2019s\ncourt in such state, he will surely not refuse you the crown you\ndeserve. Here is a walnut; do not crack it until you are before him.\nThen you will find in it the piece of linen you asked of me.\u201d\n\n\u201cDear White Cat,\u201d said the Prince, \u201chow can I ever thank you? If you\nwill only consent to it, I will gladly give up all thought of ever\nbeing King and stay here with you.\u201d\n\n\u201cKing\u2019s Son,\u201d she replied, \u201cit is very good of you to care so much for\na little white cat who is good for nothing but to catch mice; but you\nmust go.\u201d\n\nSo the Prince kissed her paw and set out. They did not stop at all\nuntil they came to the King\u2019s palace where the two elder brothers had\nalready arrived. They displayed their pieces of linen, which were\nindeed so fine that they would go through the eye of a big needle; but\nthe King, who was very glad of some excuse, sent for a very small\nneedle that he had selected and had kept locked with the State\ntreasure. Through this the linen would not go. The Princes were angry,\nand said that this was a trick that the King was playing on them.\n\nBut all at once there was a sound of trumpets and the youngest son\nappeared. The King and his two elder sons were astonished at his\nmagnificence. After the young Prince had greeted them he took out the\nwalnut and cracked it, thinking to find in it the piece of linen, but\ninstead there was only a hazelnut. He cracked that and was surprised to\nsee a cherry stone. The people who were looking on began to smile, and\nthe King laughed to himself at the idea that a walnut should contain a\npiece of linen. The Prince cracked the cherry stone, which contained a\nkernel. He opened that and found a grain of wheat, and in that was a\nmillet seed. Then he began to wonder too, and murmured, \u201cWhy, White\nCat, you have made game of me.\u201d\n\nAt that moment he felt a cat\u2019s claw on his hand, which scratched him so\nsharply that he bled. He hoped this was to encourage him, and opened\nthe millet seed. Then, to the astonishment of every one, he drew forth\na piece of linen four hundred ells long. Into it were woven all the\nkinds of birds and beasts and fishes in the world; the sun, moon, and\nstars; every sort of plant and tree that grows; and pictures of all the\nKings and Queens in the world, and all their children. When the needle\nwas brought the linen went through the eye six times with ease. The\nKing and the two elder brothers sat still and did not say a word, for\nno one could help seeing that this linen was so beautiful and rare that\nnothing in the world could be compared to it.\n\nPresently the King turned to his sons and said with a deep sigh:\n\u201cNothing consoles me more in my old age than to see your deference to\nmy wishes. I desire to put you to further proof. Go once more and\ntravel for a year, and at the end of that time he who brings back the\nmost beautiful girl shall marry her and be crowned King on his wedding\nday. It is necessary that my successor should marry. I promise that I\nwill not then put off the reward.\u201d\n\nSo they set out again, and our Prince returned in his splendid carriage\nto his dear White Cat. This time she knew the day and hour of his\narrival, and had the road strewn with flowers and grand preparations\nmade to celebrate his return. Seated in a gallery from which she could\nsee him coming, the White Cat awaited him.\n\n\u201cWell, King\u2019s Son,\u201d she said, \u201cyou have again returned without a\ncrown.\u201d\n\n\u201cMadam,\u201d he replied, \u201cyour kindness has earned me one twice over, but I\nam persuaded that my father is unwilling to part with it himself.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo matter,\u201d she said; \u201cyou must not give up trying to deserve it. As\nyou must take back a lovely maiden next time, I will find you one that\nwill gain you the prize. Now let us take no more care about the\nmatter.\u201d\n\nNothing passes more quickly than days spent without trouble or care. If\nthe White Cat had not taken pains to remember the time when he must\nreturn to the court, the Prince would have surely forgotten it. But one\nevening she told him that it depended on himself alone whether he would\ntake to the court one of the most beautiful Princesses in the world.\n\n\u201cTo do this,\u201d she said, \u201cyou must take your sword and cut off my head\nand tail and throw them quickly into the fire.\u201d\n\n\u201cI!\u201d he exclaimed; \u201cI cut off your head and tail! My dear White Cat, my\nlove, am I to do such a cruel deed? Ah! perhaps you are testing my\naffections, but you need not doubt me.\u201d\n\nBut she begged and begged, telling him that he must trust her and do as\nshe said. The tears came into his eyes at the thought of killing his\ndear White Cat, and he begged her to spare him. But she was determined,\nand at last with a trembling hand he drew his sword, cut off her head\nand tail, and threw them in the fire. Immediately the most charming\nchange imaginable took place. The body of the White Cat grew tall and\nbecame that of the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.\n\nThe Prince was so overwhelmed with astonishment and delight that he\ncould not speak. As he stood gazing at her, the door opened and a long\ntrain of lords and ladies entered the room, each with a cat\u2019s skin\nthrown over the shoulder. They bowed low before the Queen and showed\ntheir great joy at seeing her once more restored to her natural state.\nShe received them graciously, but after a few moments dismissed them,\nsaying that she wished to be alone with the Prince. To him she\nexplained that she was a Princess who had been turned into a cat by\nsome angry fairies. All her lords and ladies had been turned into cats,\ntoo, and her servants had been made invisible, all but their hands. To\nfree them from this enchantment a handsome young Prince must come and\nlove her well enough to do her bidding.\n\nTogether they set out for the King\u2019s court. Their chariot was more\nmagnificent than any the Prince had ever seen. Even the horses\u2019 shoes\nwere of emerald with diamond nails. Since the Princess was as lovely as\nshe appeared, the Prince loved her more dearly than ever, and they had\na most delightful journey together.\n\nWhen they came near the palace the Princess stepped into a chair made\nof crystal, carried by her guards, and drew the silken curtains about\nher so that she could not be seen. The Prince remained in the chariot\nand soon met his brothers walking in the palace grounds with two very\nbeautiful Princesses. They asked him if he, too, had found a Princess.\nHe said that the most beautiful thing he had seen was a little white\ncat, and her he had brought. They laughed at his simplicity.\n\n\u201cA cat!\u201d they said. \u201cAre you afraid that our palace will be eaten up by\nmice?\u201d\n\nThe elder brothers and their Princesses got into carriages of gold and\nazure; the horses were decked with plumes, and nothing could have been\nmore brilliant than the cavalcade. Our young Prince followed, and then\ncame the crystal chair at which every one looked with admiration. The\ncourtiers hastened to tell the King that the three Princes had arrived.\n\n\u201cDo they bring beautiful women with them?\u201d asked the King.\n\n\u201cIt is impossible that they should be surpassed,\u201d was the reply, which\ndid not seem to please the King.\n\nThe elder brothers entered first. The King received them kindly but\ncould not choose between them. He turned to the youngest and said,\n\u201cThis time you come alone.\u201d\n\n\u201cYour Majesty,\u201d said the Prince, \u201cwill find in the crystal chair a\nlittle white cat which mews so prettily and has such soft paws that I\nam sure you will be charmed with her.\u201d\n\nThe King smiled and went to draw back the curtains, but the Princess,\nby touching a spring, shattered the crystal and stood forth like the\nsun appearing from behind a cloud. Her fair hair floated over her\nshoulders; her soft white robe was lined with pink. She bowed\ngracefully before the King, who exclaimed, \u201cThis is the matchless woman\nwho deserves my crown!\u201d\n\n\u201cSire,\u201d she said, \u201cI am not come to deprive you of a crown you fill so\nworthily. I have by inheritance six kingdoms; permit me to offer one to\nyou and give one to each of your sons. I ask no other return but your\nfriendship and your consent to my marriage with your youngest son. We\nshall have quite enough with three kingdoms.\u201d\n\nThe King and all the court were carried away with joy and astonishment.\nThe three weddings took place at once. Many months were spent in\nfestivities. Then each King and Queen went to rule their own kingdom,\nand all lived happily ever after.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNOTES\n\n\nPage 1. The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood. Source: \u201cContes de Ma M\u00e8re\nl\u2019Oye,\u201d by Charles Perrault (1628\u20131703). Parallel: Grimm\u2019s \u201cLittle\nBriar Rose.\u201d The Perrault conclusion, describing at length the later\nadventures of the characters, we follow Grimm\u2019s example in omitting.\n\nPage 16. The Emperor\u2019s New Clothes. Source: \u201cWonder Stories Told for\nChildren,\u201d by Hans Christian Andersen (1805\u20131875).\n\nPage 27. The Golden Goose. Source: \u201cKinder- und Hausm\u00e4rchen,\u201d by Jacob\nGrimm (1785\u20131863) and Wilhelm Grimm (1786\u20131859). Three folklore motifs\nare united,\u2014that of simple kindness rewarded, of the magic touch, which\nhere creates an amusing situation, and of the unconscious success of a\nsimpleton in making a royal personage laugh.\n\nPage 34. The Elves and the Shoemaker. Source: Grimm. Parallels: Beside\na wealth of tales in which elves or pixies help mortals, this very\nincident of their being kindly provided with clothes and refusing\nthereafter to work appears in several Scottish and English\nversions,\u2014notably in \u201cThe Cauld Lad of Hilton.\u201d Elves always disappear\nwhen clothed.\n\nPage 38. The King of the Cats. Source: The Folk-Lore Journal, II, 22.\nThe best of five English variants of this tale.\n\nPage 41. The Fir Tree. Source: Andersen.\n\nPage 62. Pleiades. Source: \u201cFairy Tales from Afar, Translated from the\nDanish Popular Tales of Svend Grundtvig,\u201d by Jane Mulley. A good\npresentation of co\u00f6peration.\n\nPage 67. Bluebeard. Source: Perrault. Parallels: Several, three in\nGrimm. Mr. Lang says, \u201cPerrault\u2019s tale has a great advantage over its\npopular rivals. It is at once more sober and more terrible, and\npossesses an epical unity of idea and action. The leading idea, of\ncuriosity punished, of the box or door which may not be opened, and of\nthe prohibition infringed with evil results, is of world-wide\ndistribution.\u201d\n\nPage 79. Thumbelina. Source: Andersen. In the tales of Hans Andersen we\nsee the difference between the unconscious art of traditional folklore\nand the introspective, studied productions of a writer for children.\n\nPage 105. Clever Alice. Source: Grimm. The first part is a typical\nsatire on cleverness; the second recalls the old woman of the nursery\nrhyme who depended for identity on her little dog at home. One of a\nsuccession of Hans and Alice stories.\n\nPage 114. Riquet with the Tuft. Source: Perrault. \u201cThe touch of the\ntraditional and popular manner in the story is the love of a woman\nredeeming the ugliness of a man.\u201d\n\nPage 130. Snowdrop. Source: Grimm. Parallels: A characteristic German\ntale with many variants. The symbolism of color, the wicked stepmother,\nthe dwarfs in their little house, the child in the forest, and most of\nall the atmosphere and style make this a typical German story.\n\nPage 152. The White Cat. Source: Madame D\u2019Aulnoy. French text in\n\u201cCabinet des F\u00e9es,\u201d Vol. 3; English translation in \u201cNovels and Tales of\nthe Fairies, London, 1749.\u201d Parallel: Grimm\u2019s \u201cThe Three Feathers.\u201d Our\nversion is much abridged. The delicacy and charm of Madame D\u2019Aulnoy\u2019s\nstyle can be best appreciated in the descriptions of life in the\nenchanted palace and of the graceful little White Cat. The rude details\nof other stories, in which the older princes bring home farmer lasses\nwho try to jump through a ring and break their arms and legs in the\nattempt, are here omitted. With characteristic refinement the\nstory-teller allows no one to be discomfited; all live happily ever\nafter, as the heroes and heroines of real fairy tales should.","title":"Fairy Tales, Volume 2 (of 2)","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":28670}