The Blue Fairy Book
said good-by to her father and all her brothers and sisters, and as soon
as she was in bed she turned her ring round upon her finger, and said
firmly, “I wish to go back to my palace and see my Beast again,” as she
had been told to do.
Then she fell asleep instantly, and only woke up to hear the clock
saying “Beauty, Beauty” twelve times in its musical voice, which told
her at once that she was really in the palace once more. Everything
was just as before, and her birds were so glad to see her! But Beauty
thought she had never known such a long day, for she was so anxious to
see the Beast again that she felt as if suppertime would never come.
But when it did come and no Beast appeared she was really frightened;
so, after listening and waiting for a long time, she ran down into the
garden to search for him. Up and down the paths and avenues ran poor
Beauty, calling him in vain, for no one answered, and not a trace of him
could she find; until at last, quite tired, she stopped for a minute’s
rest, and saw that she was standing opposite the shady path she had seen
in her dream. She rushed down it, and, sure enough, there was the cave,
and in it lay the Beast--asleep, as Beauty thought. Quite glad to have
found him, she ran up and stroked his head, but, to her horror, he did
not move or open his eyes.
“Oh! he is dead; and it is all my fault,” said Beauty, crying bitterly.
But then, looking at him again, she fancied he still breathed, and,
hastily fetching some water from the nearest fountain, she sprinkled it
over his face, and, to her great delight, he began to revive.
“Oh! Beast, how you frightened me!” she cried. “I never knew how much
I loved you until just now, when I feared I was too late to save your
life.”
“Can you really love such an ugly creature as I am?” said the Beast
faintly. “Ah! Beauty, you only came just in time. I was dying because
I thought you had forgotten your promise. But go back now and rest, I
shall see you again by and by.”
Beauty, who had half expected that he would be angry with her, was
reassured by his gentle voice, and went back to the palace, where supper
was awaiting her; and afterward the Beast came in as usual, and talked
about the time she had spent with her father, asking if she had enjoyed
herself, and if they had all been very glad to see her.
Beauty answered politely, and quite enjoyed telling him all that had
happened to her. And when at last the time came for him to go, and he
asked, as he had so often asked before, “Beauty, will you marry me?”
She answered softly, “Yes, dear Beast.”
As she spoke a blaze of light sprang up before the windows of the
palace; fireworks crackled and guns banged, and across the avenue of
orange trees, in letters all made of fire-flies, was written: “Long live
the Prince and his Bride.”
Turning to ask the Beast what it could all mean, Beauty found that he
had disappeared, and in his place stood her long-loved Prince! At the
same moment the wheels of a chariot were heard upon the terrace, and two
ladies entered the room. One of them Beauty recognized as the stately
lady she had seen in her dreams; the other was also so grand and queenly
that Beauty hardly knew which to greet first.
But the one she already knew said to her companion:
“Well, Queen, this is Beauty, who has had the courage to rescue your
son from the terrible enchantment. They love one another, and only your
consent to their marriage is wanting to make them perfectly happy.”
“I consent with all my heart,” cried the Queen. “How can I ever thank
you enough, charming girl, for having restored my dear son to his
natural form?”
And then she tenderly embraced Beauty and the Prince, who had meanwhile
been greeting the Fairy and receiving her congratulations.
“Now,” said the Fairy to Beauty, “I suppose you would like me to send
for all your brothers and sisters to dance at your wedding?”
And so she did, and the marriage was celebrated the very next day
with the utmost splendor, and Beauty and the Prince lived happily ever
after.(1)
(1) La Belle et la Bete. Par Madame de Villeneuve.
THE MASTER-MAID
Once upon a time there was a king who had many sons. I do not exactly
know how many there were, but the youngest of them could not stay
quietly at home, and was determined to go out into the world and try his
luck, and after a long time the King was forced to give him leave to go.
When he had traveled about for several days, he came to a giant’s house,
and hired himself to the giant as a servant. In the morning the giant
had to go out to pasture his goats, and as he was leaving the house he
told the King’s son that he must clean out the stable. “And after you
have done that,” he said, “you need not do any more work to-day, for you
have come to a kind master, and that you shall find. But what I set you
to do must be done both well and thoroughly, and you must on no account
go into any of the rooms which lead out of the room in which you slept
last night. If you do, I will take your life.”
“Well to be sure, he is an easy master!” said the Prince to himself as
he walked up and down the room humming and singing, for he thought there
would be plenty of time left to clean out the stable; “but it would be
amusing to steal a glance into his other rooms as well,” thought the
Prince, “for there must be something that he is afraid of my seeing,
as I am not allowed to enter them.” So he went into the first room.
A cauldron was hanging from the walls; it was boiling, but the Prince
could see no fire under it. “I wonder what is inside it,” he thought,
and dipped a lock of his hair in, and the hair became just as if it were
all made of copper. “That’s a nice kind of soup. If anyone were to taste
that his throat would be gilded,” said the youth, and then he went into
the next chamber. There, too, a cauldron was hanging from the wall,
bubbling and boiling, but there was no fire under this either. “I will
just try what this is like too,” said the Prince, thrusting another lock
of his hair into it, and it came out silvered over. “Such costly soup is
not to be had in my father’s palace,” said the Prince; “but everything
depends on how it tastes,” and then he went into the third room. There,
too, a cauldron was hanging from the wall, boiling, exactly the same
as in the two other rooms, and the Prince took pleasure in trying this
also, so he dipped a lock of hair in, and it came out so brightly gilded
that it shone again. “Some talk about going from bad to worse,” said the
Prince; “but this is better and better. If he boils gold here, what can
he boil in there?” He was determined to see, and went through the door
into the fourth room. No cauldron was to be seen there, but on a bench
someone was seated who was like a king’s daughter, but, whosoever she
was, she was so beautiful that never in the Prince’s life had he seen
her equal.
“Oh! in heaven’s name what are you doing here?” said she who sat upon
the bench.
“I took the place of servant here yesterday,” said the Prince.
“May you soon have a better place, if you have come to serve here!” said
she.
“Oh, but I think I have got a kind master,” said the Prince. “He has not
given me hard work to do to-day. When I have cleaned out the stable I
shall be done.”
“Yes, but how will you be able to do that?” she asked again. “If you
clean it out as other people do, ten pitchforksful will come in for
every one you throw out. But I will teach you how to do it; you must
turn your pitchfork upside down, and work with the handle, and then all
will fly out of its own accord.”
“Yes, I will attend to that,” said the Prince, and stayed sitting where
he was the whole day, for it was soon settled between them that they
would marry each other, he and the King’s daughter; so the first day of
his service with the giant did not seem long to him. But when evening
was drawing near she said that it would now be better for him to clean
out the stable before the giant came home. When he got there he had a
fancy to try if what she had said were true, so he began to work in the
same way that he had seen the stable-boys doing in his father’s stables,
but he soon saw that he must give up that, for when he had worked a very
short time he had scarcely any room left to stand. So he did what the
Princess had taught him, turned the pitchfork round, and worked with the
handle, and in the twinkling of an eye the stable was as clean as if
it had been scoured. When he had done that, he went back again into the
room in which the giant had given him leave to stay, and there he walked
backward and forward on the floor, and began to hum and sing.
Then came the giant home with the goats. “Have you cleaned the stable?”
asked the giant.
“Yes, now it is clean and sweet, master,” said the King’s son.
“I shall see about that,” said the giant, and went round to the stable,
but it was just as the Prince had said.
“You have certainly been talking to my Master-maid, for you never got
that out of your own head,” said the giant.
“Master-maid! What kind of a thing is that, master?” said the Prince,
making himself look as stupid as an ass; “I should like to see that.”
“Well, you will see her quite soon enough,” said the giant.
On the second morning the giant had again to go out with his goats,
so he told the Prince that on that day he was to fetch home his horse,
which was out on the mountain-side, and when he had done that he might
rest himself for the remainder of the day, “for you have come to a kind
master, and that you shall find,” said the giant once more. “But do not
go into any of the rooms that I spoke of yesterday, or I will wring your
head off,” said he, and then went away with his flock of goats.
“Yes, indeed, you are a kind master,” said the Prince; “but I will go
in and talk to the Master-maid again; perhaps before long she may like
better to be mine than yours.”
So he went to her. Then she asked him what he had to do that day.
“Oh! not very dangerous work, I fancy,” said the King’s son. “I have
only to go up the mountain-side after his horse.”
“Well, how do you mean to set about it?” asked the Master-maid.
“Oh! there is no great art in riding a horse home,” said the King’s son.
“I think I must have ridden friskier horses before now.”
“Yes, but it is not so easy a thing as you think to ride the horse
home,” said the Master-maid; “but I will teach you what to do. When you
go near it, fire will burst out of its nostrils like flames from a pine
torch; but be very careful, and take the bridle which is hanging by the
door there, and fling the bit straight into his jaws, and then it will
become so tame that you will be able to do what you like with it.” He
said he would bear this in mind, and then he again sat in there the
whole day by the Master-maid, and they chatted and talked of one thing
and another, but the first thing and the last now was, how happy and
delightful it would be if they could but marry each other, and get
safely away from the giant; and the Prince would have forgotten both the
mountain-side and the horse if the Master-maid had not reminded him of
them as evening drew near, and said that now it would be better if he
went to fetch the horse before the giant came. So he did this, and
took the bridle which was hanging on a crook, and strode up the
mountain-side, and it was not long before he met with the horse, and
fire and red flames streamed forth out of its nostrils. But the youth
carefully watched his opportunity, and just as it was rushing at him
with open jaws he threw the bit straight into its mouth, and the horse
stood as quiet as a young lamb, and there was no difficulty at all in
getting it home to the stable. Then the Prince went back into his room
again, and began to hum and to sing.