The Blue Fairy Book
he met told him what a terrible giant Galifron was, and that nobody
dared go near him; and the more he heard, the more frightened he grew.
Frisk tried to encourage him by saying: “While you are fighting the
giant, dear master, I will go and bite his heels, and when he stoops
down to look at me you can kill him.”
Charming praised his little dog’s plan, but knew that this help would
not do much good.
At last he drew near the giant’s castle, and saw to his horror that
every path that led to it was strewn with bones. Before long he saw
Galifron coming. His head was higher than the tallest trees, and he sang
in a terrible voice:
“Bring out your little boys and girls,
Pray do not stay to do their curls,
For I shall eat so very many,
I shall not know if they have any.”
Thereupon Charming sang out as loud as he could to the same tune:
“Come out and meet the valiant Charming
Who finds you not at all alarming;
Although he is not very tall,
He’s big enough to make you fall.”
The rhymes were not very correct, but you see he had made them up so
quickly that it is a miracle that they were not worse; especially as he
was horribly frightened all the time. When Galifron heard these words he
looked all about him, and saw Charming standing, sword in hand this put
the giant into a terrible rage, and he aimed a blow at Charming with his
huge iron club, which would certainly have killed him if it had reached
him, but at that instant a raven perched upon the giant’s head, and,
pecking with its strong beak and beating with its great wings so
confused and blinded him that all his blows fell harmlessly upon the
air, and Charming, rushing in, gave him several strokes with his sharp
sword so that he fell to the ground. Whereupon Charming cut off his head
before he knew anything about it, and the raven from a tree close by
croaked out:
“You see I have not forgotten the good turn you did me in killing the
eagle. To-day I think I have fulfilled my promise of repaying you.”
“Indeed, I owe you more gratitude than you ever owed me,” replied
Charming.
And then he mounted his horse and rode off with Galifron’s head.
When he reached the city the people ran after him in crowds, crying:
“Behold the brave Charming, who has killed the giant!” And their shouts
reached the Princess’s ear, but she dared not ask what was happening,
for fear she should hear that Charming had been killed. But very soon
he arrived at the palace with the giant’s head, of which she was still
terrified, though it could no longer do her any harm.
“Princess,” said Charming, “I have killed your enemy; I hope you will
now consent to marry the King my master.”
“Oh dear! no,” said the Princess, “not until you have brought me some
water from the Gloomy Cavern.
“Not far from here there is a deep cave, the entrance to which is
guarded by two dragons with fiery eyes, who will not allow anyone to
pass them. When you get into the cavern you will find an immense hole,
which you must go down, and it is full of toads and snakes; at the
bottom of this hole there is another little cave, in which rises the
Fountain of Health and Beauty. It is some of this water that I really
must have: everything it touches becomes wonderful. The beautiful things
will always remain beautiful, and the ugly things become lovely. If one
is young one never grows old, and if one is old one becomes young. You
see, Charming, I could not leave my kingdom without taking some of it
with me.”
“Princess,” said he, “you at least can never need this water, but I am
an unhappy ambassador, whose death you desire. Where you send me I will
go, though I know I shall never return.”
And, as the Princess Goldilocks showed no sign of relenting, he started
with his little dog for the Gloomy Cavern. Everyone he met on the way
said:
“What a pity that a handsome young man should throw away his life so
carelessly! He is going to the cavern alone, though if he had a
hundred men with him he could not succeed. Why does the Princess ask
impossibilities?” Charming said nothing, but he was very sad. When he
was near the top of a hill he dismounted to let his horse graze, while
Frisk amused himself by chasing flies. Charming knew he could not be far
from the Gloomy Cavern, and on looking about him he saw a black hideous
rock from which came a thick smoke, followed in a moment by one of the
dragons with fire blazing from his mouth and eyes. His body was yellow
and green, and his claws scarlet, and his tail was so long that it lay
in a hundred coils. Frisk was so terrified at the sight of it that he
did not know where to hide. Charming, quite determined to get the water
or die, now drew his sword, and, taking the crystal flask which Pretty
Goldilocks had given him to fill, said to Frisk:
“I feel sure that I shall never come back from this expedition; when I
am dead, go to the Princess and tell her that her errand has cost me
my life. Then find the King my master, and relate all my adventures to
him.”
As he spoke he heard a voice calling: “Charming, Charming!”
“Who calls me?” said he; then he saw an owl sitting in a hollow tree,
who said to him:
“You saved my life when I was caught in the net, now I can repay you.
Trust me with the flask, for I know all the ways of the Gloomy Cavern,
and can fill it from the Fountain of Beauty.” Charming was only too glad
to give her the flask, and she flitted into the cavern quite unnoticed
by the dragon, and after some time returned with the flask, filled to
the very brim with sparkling water. Charming thanked her with all his
heart, and joyfully hastened back to the town.
He went straight to the palace and gave the flask to the Princess, who
had no further objection to make. So she thanked Charming, and ordered
that preparations should be made for her departure, and they soon set
out together. The Princess found Charming such an agreeable companion
that she sometimes said to him: “Why didn’t we stay where we were? I
could have made you king, and we should have been so happy!”
But Charming only answered:
“I could not have done anything that would have vexed my master so
much, even for a kingdom, or to please you, though I think you are as
beautiful as the sun.”
At last they reached the King’s great city, and he came out to meet the
Princess, bringing magnificent presents, and the marriage was celebrated
with great rejoicings. But Goldilocks was so fond of Charming that she
could not be happy unless he was near her, and she was always singing
his praises.
“If it hadn’t been for Charming,” she said to the King, “I should never
have come here; you ought to be very much obliged to him, for he did the
most impossible things and got me water from the Fountain of Beauty, so
I can never grow old, and shall get prettier every year.”
Then Charming’s enemies said to the King:
“It is a wonder that you are not jealous, the Queen thinks there is
nobody in the world like Charming. As if anybody you had sent could not
have done just as much!”
“It is quite true, now I come to think of it,” said the King. “Let him
be chained hand and foot, and thrown into the tower.”
So they took Charming, and as a reward for having served the King so
faithfully he was shut up in the tower, where he only saw the jailer,
who brought him a piece of black bread and a pitcher of water every day.
However, little Frisk came to console him, and told him all the news.
When Pretty Goldilocks heard what had happened she threw herself at the
King’s feet and begged him to set Charming free, but the more she cried,
the more angry he was, and at last she saw that it was useless to say
any more; but it made her very sad. Then the King took it into his
head that perhaps he was not handsome enough to please the Princess
Goldilocks, and he thought he would bathe his face with the water
from the Fountain of Beauty, which was in the flask on a shelf in the
Princess’s room, where she had placed it that she might see it often.
Now it happened that one of the Princess’s ladies in chasing a spider
had knocked the flask off the shelf and broken it, and every drop of the
water had been spilt. Not knowing what to do, she had hastily swept away
the pieces of crystal, and then remembered that in the King’s room she
had seen a flask of exactly the same shape, also filled with sparkling
water. So, without saying a word, she fetched it and stood it upon the
Queen’s shelf.
Now the water in this flask was what was used in the kingdom for getting
rid of troublesome people. Instead of having their heads cut off in the
usual way, their faces were bathed with the water, and they instantly
fell asleep and never woke up any more. So, when the King, thinking
to improve his beauty, took the flask and sprinkled the water upon his
face, _he_ fell asleep, and nobody could wake him.
Little Frisk was the first to hear the news, and he ran to tell
Charming, who sent him to beg the Princess not to forget the poor
prisoner. All the palace was in confusion on account of the King’s
death, but tiny Frisk made his way through the crowd to the Princess’s
side, and said:
“Madam, do not forget poor Charming.”
Then she remembered all he had done for her, and without saying a word
to anyone went straight to the tower, and with her own hands took off
Charming’s chains. Then, putting a golden crown upon his head, and the
royal mantle upon his shoulders, she said:
“Come, faithful Charming, I make you king, and will take you for my
husband.”
Charming, once more free and happy, fell at her feet and thanked her for
her gracious words.
Everybody was delighted that he should be king, and the wedding, which
took place at once, was the prettiest that can be imagined, and Prince
Charming and Princess Goldilocks lived happily ever after.(1)
(1) Madame d’Aulnoy.
THE HISTORY OF WHITTINGTON
Dick Whittington was a very little boy when his father and mother died;
so little, indeed, that he never knew them, nor the place where he was
born. He strolled about the country as ragged as a colt, till he met
with a wagoner who was going to London, and who gave him leave to walk
all the way by the side of his wagon without paying anything for his
passage. This pleased little Whittington very much, as he wanted to see
London sadly, for he had heard that the streets were paved with
gold, and he was willing to get a bushel of it; but how great was his
disappointment, poor boy! when he saw the streets covered with dirt
instead of gold, and found himself in a strange place, without a friend,
without food, and without money.
Though the wagoner was so charitable as to let him walk up by the side
of the wagon for nothing, he took care not to know him when he came to
town, and the poor boy was, in a little time, so cold and hungry that he
wished himself in a good kitchen and by a warm fire in the country.
In his distress he asked charity of several people, and one of them bid
him “Go to work for an idle rogue.” “That I will,” said Whittington,
“with all my heart; I will work for you if you will let me.”
The man, who thought this savored of wit and impertinence (though the
poor lad intended only to show his readiness to work), gave him a blow
with a stick which broke his head so that the blood ran down. In this
situation, and fainting for want of food, he laid himself down at the
door of one Mr. Fitzwarren, a merchant, where the cook saw him, and,
being an ill-natured hussy, ordered him to go about his business or she
would scald him. At this time Mr. Fitzwarren came from the Exchange, and
began also to scold at the poor boy, bidding him to go to work.
Whittington answered that he should be glad to work if anybody would
employ him, and that he should be able if he could get some victuals to