The Blue Fairy Book
dream. With great delight she slipped the bracelet on her arm, and went
on into a gallery of pictures, where she soon found a portrait of the
same handsome Prince, as large as life, and so well painted that as she
studied it he seemed to smile kindly at her. Tearing herself away from
the portrait at last, she passed through into a room which contained
every musical instrument under the sun, and here she amused herself for
a long while in trying some of them, and singing until she was tired.
The next room was a library, and she saw everything she had ever wanted
to read, as well as everything she had read, and it seemed to her that a
whole lifetime would not be enough to even read the names of the books,
there were so many. By this time it was growing dusk, and wax candles
in diamond and ruby candlesticks were beginning to light themselves in
every room.
Beauty found her supper served just at the time she preferred to have
it, but she did not see anyone or hear a sound, and, though her father
had warned her that she would be alone, she began to find it rather
dull.
But presently she heard the Beast coming, and wondered tremblingly if he
meant to eat her up now.
However, as he did not seem at all ferocious, and only said gruffly:
“Good-evening, Beauty,” she answered cheerfully and managed to conceal
her terror. Then the Beast asked her how she had been amusing herself,
and she told him all the rooms she had seen.
Then he asked if she thought she could be happy in his palace; and
Beauty answered that everything was so beautiful that she would be very
hard to please if she could not be happy. And after about an hour’s talk
Beauty began to think that the Beast was not nearly so terrible as she
had supposed at first. Then he got up to leave her, and said in his
gruff voice:
“Do you love me, Beauty? Will you marry me?”
“Oh! what shall I say?” cried Beauty, for she was afraid to make the
Beast angry by refusing.
“Say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ without fear,” he replied.
“Oh! no, Beast,” said Beauty hastily.
“Since you will not, good-night, Beauty,” he said.
And she answered, “Good-night, Beast,” very glad to find that her
refusal had not provoked him. And after he was gone she was very soon in
bed and asleep, and dreaming of her unknown Prince. She thought he came
and said to her:
“Ah, Beauty! why are you so unkind to me? I fear I am fated to be
unhappy for many a long day still.”
And then her dreams changed, but the charming Prince figured in
them all; and when morning came her first thought was to look at the
portrait, and see if it was really like him, and she found that it
certainly was.
This morning she decided to amuse herself in the garden, for the sun
shone, and all the fountains were playing; but she was astonished to
find that every place was familiar to her, and presently she came to the
brook where the myrtle trees were growing where she had first met the
Prince in her dream, and that made her think more than ever that he must
be kept a prisoner by the Beast. When she was tired she went back to
the palace, and found a new room full of materials for every kind of
work--ribbons to make into bows, and silks to work into flowers. Then
there was an aviary full of rare birds, which were so tame that they
flew to Beauty as soon as they saw her, and perched upon her shoulders
and her head.
“Pretty little creatures,” she said, “how I wish that your cage was
nearer to my room, that I might often hear you sing!”
So saying she opened a door, and found, to her delight, that it led into
her own room, though she had thought it was quite the other side of the
palace.
There were more birds in a room farther on, parrots and cockatoos that
could talk, and they greeted Beauty by name; indeed, she found them so
entertaining that she took one or two back to her room, and they talked
to her while she was at supper; after which the Beast paid her his usual
visit, and asked her the same questions as before, and then with a gruff
“good-night” he took his departure, and Beauty went to bed to dream of
her mysterious Prince. The days passed swiftly in different amusements,
and after a while Beauty found out another strange thing in the palace,
which often pleased her when she was tired of being alone. There was one
room which she had not noticed particularly; it was empty, except that
under each of the windows stood a very comfortable chair; and the first
time she had looked out of the window it had seemed to her that a black
curtain prevented her from seeing anything outside. But the second time
she went into the room, happening to be tired, she sat down in one of
the chairs, when instantly the curtain was rolled aside, and a most
amusing pantomime was acted before her; there were dances, and colored
lights, and music, and pretty dresses, and it was all so gay that Beauty
was in ecstacies. After that she tried the other seven windows in turn,
and there was some new and surprising entertainment to be seen from each
of them, so that Beauty never could feel lonely any more. Every evening
after supper the Beast came to see her, and always before saying
good-night asked her in his terrible voice:
“Beauty, will you marry me?”
And it seemed to Beauty, now she understood him better, that when she
said, “No, Beast,” he went away quite sad. But her happy dreams of the
handsome young Prince soon made her forget the poor Beast, and the only
thing that at all disturbed her was to be constantly told to distrust
appearances, to let her heart guide her, and not her eyes, and many
other equally perplexing things, which, consider as she would, she could
not understand.
So everything went on for a long time, until at last, happy as she was,
Beauty began to long for the sight of her father and her brothers and
sisters; and one night, seeing her look very sad, the Beast asked her
what was the matter. Beauty had quite ceased to be afraid of him. Now
she knew that he was really gentle in spite of his ferocious looks and
his dreadful voice. So she answered that she was longing to see her
home once more. Upon hearing this the Beast seemed sadly distressed, and
cried miserably.
“Ah! Beauty, have you the heart to desert an unhappy Beast like this?
What more do you want to make you happy? Is it because you hate me that
you want to escape?”
“No, dear Beast,” answered Beauty softly, “I do not hate you, and I
should be very sorry never to see you any more, but I long to see my
father again. Only let me go for two months, and I promise to come back
to you and stay for the rest of my life.”
The Beast, who had been sighing dolefully while she spoke, now replied:
“I cannot refuse you anything you ask, even though it should cost me my
life. Take the four boxes you will find in the room next to your own,
and fill them with everything you wish to take with you. But remember
your promise and come back when the two months are over, or you may have
cause to repent it, for if you do not come in good time you will find
your faithful Beast dead. You will not need any chariot to bring you
back. Only say good-by to all your brothers and sisters the night before
you come away, and when you have gone to bed turn this ring round upon
your finger and say firmly: ‘I wish to go back to my palace and see my
Beast again.’ Good-night, Beauty. Fear nothing, sleep peacefully, and
before long you shall see your father once more.”
As soon as Beauty was alone she hastened to fill the boxes with all the
rare and precious things she saw about her, and only when she was tired
of heaping things into them did they seem to be full.
Then she went to bed, but could hardly sleep for joy. And when at last
she did begin to dream of her beloved Prince she was grieved to see him
stretched upon a grassy bank, sad and weary, and hardly like himself.
“What is the matter?” she cried.
He looked at her reproachfully, and said:
“How can you ask me, cruel one? Are you not leaving me to my death
perhaps?”
“Ah! don’t be so sorrowful,” cried Beauty; “I am only going to assure
my father that I am safe and happy. I have promised the Beast faithfully
that I will come back, and he would die of grief if I did not keep my
word!”
“What would that matter to you?” said the Prince “Surely you would not
care?”
“Indeed, I should be ungrateful if I did not care for such a kind
Beast,” cried Beauty indignantly. “I would die to save him from pain. I
assure you it is not his fault that he is so ugly.”
Just then a strange sound woke her--someone was speaking not very far
away; and opening her eyes she found herself in a room she had never
seen before, which was certainly not nearly so splendid as those she
was used to in the Beast’s palace. Where could she be? She got up and
dressed hastily, and then saw that the boxes she had packed the night
before were all in the room. While she was wondering by what magic
the Beast had transported them and herself to this strange place she
suddenly heard her father’s voice, and rushed out and greeted
him joyfully. Her brothers and sisters were all astonished at her
appearance, as they had never expected to see her again, and there was
no end to the questions they asked her. She had also much to hear
about what had happened to them while she was away, and of her father’s
journey home. But when they heard that she had only come to be with them
for a short time, and then must go back to the Beast’s palace for ever,
they lamented loudly. Then Beauty asked her father what he thought could
be the meaning of her strange dreams, and why the Prince constantly
begged her not to trust to appearances. After much consideration, he
answered: “You tell me yourself that the Beast, frightful as he
is, loves you dearly, and deserves your love and gratitude for his
gentleness and kindness; I think the Prince must mean you to understand
that you ought to reward him by doing as he wishes you to, in spite of
his ugliness.”
Beauty could not help seeing that this seemed very probable; still, when
she thought of her dear Prince who was so handsome, she did not feel at
all inclined to marry the Beast. At any rate, for two months she need
not decide, but could enjoy herself with her sisters. But though they
were rich now, and lived in town again, and had plenty of acquaintances,
Beauty found that nothing amused her very much; and she often thought of
the palace, where she was so happy, especially as at home she never once
dreamed of her dear Prince, and she felt quite sad without him.
Then her sisters seemed to have got quite used to being without her, and
even found her rather in the way, so she would not have been sorry when
the two months were over but for her father and brothers, who begged her
to stay, and seemed so grieved at the thought of her departure that she
had not the courage to say good-by to them. Every day when she got up
she meant to say it at night, and when night came she put it off again,
until at last she had a dismal dream which helped her to make up her
mind. She thought she was wandering in a lonely path in the palace
gardens, when she heard groans which seemed to come from some bushes
hiding the entrance of a cave, and running quickly to see what could be
the matter, she found the Beast stretched out upon his side, apparently
dying. He reproached her faintly with being the cause of his distress,
and at the same moment a stately lady appeared, and said very gravely:
“Ah! Beauty, you are only just in time to save his life. See what
happens when people do not keep their promises! If you had delayed one
day more, you would have found him dead.”
Beauty was so terrified by this dream that the next morning she
announced her intention of going back at once, and that very night she