The Blue Fairy Book
While the spring is green, or the stream shall flow,
Or the wind shall stir the sea!
There is none may taste of the golden fruit
Till the golden new time come
Many a tree shall spring from shoot,
Many a blossom be withered at root,
Many a song be dumb;
Broken and still shall be many a lute
Or ever the new times come!
Round and round the tree of gold,
Round and round dance we,
So doth the great world spin from of old,
Summer and winter, and fire and cold,
Song that is sung, and tale that is told,
Even as we dance, that fold and unfold
Round the stem of the fairy tree!
These grave dancing fairies were very unlike the Grey Women, and they
were glad to see the boy, and treated him kindly. Then they asked him
why he had come; and he told them how he was sent to find the Sword of
Sharpness and the Cap of Darkness. And the fairies gave him these, and
a wallet, and a shield, and belted the sword, which had a diamond blade,
round his waist, and the cap they set on his head, and told him that now
even they could not see him though they were fairies. Then he took it
off, and they each kissed him and wished him good fortune, and then they
began again their eternal dance round the golden tree, for it is their
business to guard it till the new times come, or till the world’s
ending. So the boy put the cap on his head, and hung the wallet round
his waist, and the shining shield on his shoulders, and flew beyond the
great river that lies coiled like a serpent round the whole world. And
by the banks of that river, there he found the three Terrible Women all
asleep beneath a poplar tree, and the dead poplar leaves lay all about
them. Their golden wings were folded and their brass claws were crossed,
and two of them slept with their hideous heads beneath their wings
like birds, and the serpents in their hair writhed out from under the
feathers of gold. But the youngest slept between her two sisters, and
she lay on her back, with her beautiful sad face turned to the sky; and
though she slept her eyes were wide open. If the boy had seen her he
would have been changed into stone by the terror and the pity of it,
she was so awful; but he had thought of a plan for killing her without
looking on her face. As soon as he caught sight of the three from far
off he took his shining shield from his shoulders, and held it up like
a mirror, so that he saw the Dreadful Women reflected in it, and did not
see the Terrible Head itself. Then he came nearer and nearer, till he
reckoned that he was within a sword’s stroke of the youngest, and he
guessed where he should strike a back blow behind him. Then he drew the
Sword of Sharpness and struck once, and the Terrible Head was cut from
the shoulders of the creature, and the blood leaped out and struck him
like a blow. But he thrust the Terrible Head into his wallet, and flew
away without looking behind. Then the two Dreadful Sisters who were left
wakened, and rose in the air like great birds; and though they could not
see him because of his Cap of Darkness, they flew after him up the wind,
following by the scent through the clouds, like hounds hunting in a
wood. They came so close that he could hear the clatter of their golden
wings, and their shrieks to each other: “_here, here,_” “_no, there;
this way he went,_” as they chased him. But the Shoes of Swiftness flew
too fast for them, and at last their cries and the rattle of their wings
died away as he crossed the great river that runs round the world.
Now when the horrible creatures were far in the distance, and the boy
found himself on the right side of the river, he flew straight eastward,
trying to seek his own country. But as he looked down from the air he
saw a very strange sight--a beautiful girl chained to a stake at the
high-water mark of the sea. The girl was so frightened or so tired that
she was only prevented from falling by the iron chain about her waist,
and there she hung, as if she were dead. The boy was very sorry for her
and flew down and stood beside her. When he spoke she raised her head
and looked round, but his voice only seemed to frighten her. Then he
remembered that he was wearing the Cap of Darkness, and that she could
only hear him, not see him. So he took it off, and there he stood before
her, the handsomest young man she had ever seen in all her life, with
short curly yellow hair, and blue eyes, and a laughing face. And he
thought her the most beautiful girl in the world. So first with one blow
of the Sword of Sharpness he cut the iron chain that bound her, and then
he asked her what she did there, and why men treated her so cruelly. And
she told him that she was the daughter of the King of that country, and
that she was tied there to be eaten by a monstrous beast out of the sea;
for the beast came and devoured a girl every day. Now the lot had fallen
on her; and as she was just saying this a long fierce head of a cruel
sea creature rose out of the waves and snapped at the girl. But the
beast had been too greedy and too hurried, so he missed his aim the
first time. Before he could rise and bite again the boy had whipped the
Terrible Head out of his wallet and held it up. And when the sea beast
leaped out once more its eyes fell on the head, and instantly it was
turned into a stone. And the stone beast is there on the sea-coast to
this day.
Then the boy and the girl went to the palace of the King, her father,
where everyone was weeping for her death, and they could hardly believe
their eyes when they saw her come back well. And the King and Queen made
much of the boy, and could not contain themselves for delight when they
found he wanted to marry their daughter. So the two were married with
the most splendid rejoicings, and when they had passed some time at
court they went home in a ship to the boy’s own country. For he could
not carry his bride through the air, so he took the Shoes of Swiftness,
and the Cap of Darkness, and the Sword of Sharpness up to a lonely place
in the hills. There he left them, and there they were found by the man
and woman who had met him at home beside the sea, and had helped him to
start on his journey.
When this had been done the boy and his bride set forth for home, and
landed at the harbor of his native land. But whom should he meet in the
very street of the town but his own mother, flying for her life from the
wicked King, who now wished to kill her because he found that she would
never marry him! For if she had liked the King ill before, she liked him
far worse now that he had caused her son to disappear so suddenly. She
did not know, of course, where the boy had gone, but thought the King
had slain him secretly. So now she was running for her very life,
and the wicked King was following her with a sword in his hand. Then,
behold! she ran into her son’s very arms, but he had only time to kiss
her and step in front of her, when the King struck at him with his
sword. The boy caught the blow on his shield, and cried to the King:
“I swore to bring you the Terrible Head, and see how I keep my oath!”
Then he drew forth the head from his wallet, and when the King’s eyes
fell on it, instantly he was turned into stone, just as he stood there
with his sword lifted!
Now all the people rejoiced, because the wicked King should rule them no
longer. And they asked the boy to be their king, but he said no, he must
take his mother home to her father’s house. So the people chose for king
the man who had been kind to his mother when first she was cast on the
island in the great chest.
Presently the boy and his mother and his wife set sail for his mother’s
own country, from which she had been driven so unkindly. But on the way
they stayed at the court of a king, and it happened that he was
holding games, and giving prizes to the best runners, boxers, and
quoit-throwers. Then the boy would try his strength with the rest, but
he threw the quoit so far that it went beyond what had ever been thrown
before, and fell in the crowd, striking a man so that he died. Now this
man was no other than the father of the boy’s mother, who had fled away
from his own kingdom for fear his grandson should find him and kill him
after all. Thus he was destroyed by his own cowardice and by chance, and
thus the prophecy was fulfilled. But the boy and his wife and his mother
went back to the kingdom that was theirs, and lived long and happily
after all their troubles.
THE STORY OF PRETTY GOLDILOCKS
Once upon a time there was a princess who was the prettiest creature in
the world. And because she was so beautiful, and because her hair was
like the finest gold, and waved and rippled nearly to the ground, she
was called Pretty Goldilocks. She always wore a crown of flowers, and
her dresses were embroidered with diamonds and pearls, and everybody who
saw her fell in love with her.
Now one of her neighbors was a young king who was not married. He was
very rich and handsome, and when he heard all that was said about Pretty
Goldilocks, though he had never seen her, he fell so deeply in love
with her that he could neither eat nor drink. So he resolved to send an
ambassador to ask her in marriage. He had a splendid carriage made for
his ambassador, and gave him more than a hundred horses and a hundred
servants, and told him to be sure and bring the Princess back with him.
After he had started nothing else was talked of at Court, and the King
felt so sure that the Princess would consent that he set his people to
work at pretty dresses and splendid furniture, that they might be
ready by the time she came. Meanwhile, the ambassador arrived at the
Princess’s palace and delivered his little message, but whether she
happened to be cross that day, or whether the compliment did not please
her, is not known. She only answered that she was very much obliged
to the King, but she had no wish to be married. The ambassador set off
sadly on his homeward way, bringing all the King’s presents back with
him, for the Princess was too well brought up to accept the pearls
and diamonds when she would not accept the King, so she had only kept
twenty-five English pins that he might not be vexed.
When the ambassador reached the city, where the King was waiting
impatiently, everybody was very much annoyed with him for not bringing
the Princess, and the King cried like a baby, and nobody could console
him. Now there was at the Court a young man, who was more clever and
handsome than anyone else. He was called Charming, and everyone loved
him, excepting a few envious people who were angry at his being the
King’s favorite and knowing all the State secrets. He happened to one
day be with some people who were speaking of the ambassador’s return
and saying that his going to the Princess had not done much good, when
Charming said rashly:
“If the King had sent me to the Princess Goldilocks I am sure she would
have come back with me.”
His enemies at once went to the King and said:
“You will hardly believe, sire, what Charming has the audacity to
say--that if _he_ had been sent to the Princess Goldilocks she would
certainly have come back with him. He seems to think that he is so much
handsomer than you that the Princess would have fallen in love with him
and followed him willingly.” The King was very angry when he heard this.
“Ha, ha!” said he; “does he laugh at my unhappiness, and think himself
more fascinating than I am? Go, and let him be shut up in my great tower
to die of hunger.”
So the King’s guards went to fetch Charming, who had thought no more of
his rash speech, and carried him off to prison with great cruelty. The
poor prisoner had only a little straw for his bed, and but for a little