The Blue Fairy Book
have heard tell of the Prince, and of his castle, but I do not know the
way to it, for I have never blown so far; but, if you like, I will go
with you to my brother the West Wind: he may know that, for he is much
stronger than I am. You may sit on my back, and then I can carry you
there.” So she seated herself on his back, and they did go so swiftly!
When they got there, the East Wind went in and said that the girl whom
he had brought was the one who ought to have had the Prince up at the
castle which lay east of the sun and west of the moon, and that now she
was traveling about to find him again, so he had come there with her,
and would like to hear if the West Wind knew whereabout the castle was.
“No,” said the West Wind; “so far as that have I never blown; but if you
like I will go with you to the South Wind, for he is much stronger than
either of us, and he has roamed far and wide, and perhaps he can tell
you what you want to know. You may seat yourself on my back, and then I
will carry you to him.”.
So she did this, and journeyed to the South Wind, neither was she very
long on the way. When they had got there, the West Wind asked him if he
could tell her the way to the castle that lay east of the sun and west
of the moon, for she was the girl who ought to marry the Prince who
lived there. “Oh, indeed!” said the South Wind, “is that she? Well,”
said he, “I have wandered about a great deal in my time, and in all
kinds of places, but I have never blown so far as that. If you like,
however, I will go with you to my brother, the North Wind; he is the
oldest and strongest of all of us, and if he does not know where it is
no one in the whole world will be able to tell you. You may sit upon
my back, and then I will carry you there.” So she seated herself on his
back, and off he went from his house in great haste, and they were not
long on the way. When they came near the North Wind’s dwelling, he was
so wild and frantic that they felt cold gusts a long while before they
got there. “What do you want?” he roared out from afar, and they froze
as they heard. Said the South Wind: “It is I, and this is she who should
have had the Prince who lives in the castle which lies east of the sun
and west of the moon. And now she wishes to ask you if you have ever
been there, and can tell her the way, for she would gladly find him
again.”
“Yes,” said the North Wind, “I know where it is. I once blew an aspen
leaf there, but I was so tired that for many days afterward I was not
able to blow at all. However, if you really are anxious to go there, and
are not afraid to go with me, I will take you on my back, and try if I
can blow you there.”
“Get there I must,” said she; “and if there is any way of going I will;
and I have no fear, no matter how fast you go.”
“Very well then,” said the North Wind; “but you must sleep here
to-night, for if we are ever to get there we must have the day before
us.”
The North Wind woke her betimes next morning, and puffed himself up, and
made himself so big and so strong that it was frightful to see him, and
away they went, high up through the air, as if they would not stop until
they had reached the very end of the world. Down below there was such a
storm! It blew down woods and houses, and when they were above the sea
the ships were wrecked by hundreds. And thus they tore on and on, and
a long time went by, and then yet more time passed, and still they were
above the sea, and the North Wind grew tired, and more tired, and at
last so utterly weary that he was scarcely able to blow any longer, and
he sank and sank, lower and lower, until at last he went so low that the
waves dashed against the heels of the poor girl he was carrying. “Art
thou afraid?” said the North Wind. “I have no fear,” said she; and it
was true. But they were not very, very far from land, and there was just
enough strength left in the North Wind to enable him to throw her on to
the shore, immediately under the windows of a castle which lay east of
the sun and west of the moon; but then he was so weary and worn out that
he was forced to rest for several days before he could go to his own
home again.
Next morning she sat down beneath the walls of the castle to play with
the golden apple, and the first person she saw was the maiden with the
long nose, who was to have the Prince. “How much do you want for that
gold apple of yours, girl?” said she, opening the window. “It can’t be
bought either for gold or money,” answered the girl. “If it cannot be
bought either for gold or money, what will buy it? You may say what you
please,” said the Princess.
“Well, if I may go to the Prince who is here, and be with him to-night,
you shall have it,” said the girl who had come with the North Wind. “You
may do that,” said the Princess, for she had made up her mind what she
would do. So the Princess got the golden apple, but when the girl went
up to the Prince’s apartment that night he was asleep, for the Princess
had so contrived it. The poor girl called to him, and shook him, and
between whiles she wept; but she could not wake him. In the morning, as
soon as day dawned, in came the Princess with the long nose, and drove
her out again. In the daytime she sat down once more beneath the windows
of the castle, and began to card with her golden carding-comb; and then
all happened as it had happened before. The Princess asked her what she
wanted for it, and she replied that it was not for sale, either for gold
or money, but that if she could get leave to go to the Prince, and be
with him during the night, she should have it. But when she went up to
the Prince’s room he was again asleep, and, let her call him, or shake
him, or weep as she would, he still slept on, and she could not put any
life in him. When daylight came in the morning, the Princess with the
long nose came too, and once more drove her away. When day had quite
come, the girl seated herself under the castle windows, to spin with
her golden spinning-wheel, and the Princess with the long nose wanted to
have that also. So she opened the window, and asked what she would
take for it. The girl said what she had said on each of the former
occasions--that it was not for sale either for gold or for money, but if
she could get leave to go to the Prince who lived there, and be with him
during the night, she should have it.
“Yes,” said the Princess, “I will gladly consent to that.”
But in that place there were some Christian folk who had been carried
off, and they had been sitting in the chamber which was next to that of
the Prince, and had heard how a woman had been in there who had wept and
called on him two nights running, and they told the Prince of this. So
that evening, when the Princess came once more with her sleeping-drink,
he pretended to drink, but threw it away behind him, for he suspected
that it was a sleeping-drink. So, when the girl went into the Prince’s
room this time he was awake, and she had to tell him how she had come
there. “You have come just in time,” said the Prince, “for I should have
been married to-morrow; but I will not have the long-nosed Princess, and
you alone can save me. I will say that I want to see what my bride can
do, and bid her wash the shirt which has the three drops of tallow on
it. This she will consent to do, for she does not know that it is you
who let them fall on it; but no one can wash them out but one born of
Christian folk: it cannot be done by one of a pack of trolls; and then
I will say that no one shall ever be my bride but the woman who can do
this, and I know that you can.” There was great joy and gladness between
them all that night, but the next day, when the wedding was to take
place, the Prince said, “I must see what my bride can do.” “That you may
do,” said the stepmother.
“I have a fine shirt which I want to wear as my wedding shirt, but three
drops of tallow have got upon it which I want to have washed off, and
I have vowed to marry no one but the woman who is able to do it. If she
cannot do that, she is not worth having.”
Well, that was a very small matter, they thought, and agreed to do it.
The Princess with the long nose began to wash as well as she could,
but, the more she washed and rubbed, the larger the spots grew. “Ah! you
can’t wash at all,” said the old troll-hag, who was her mother. “Give it
to me.” But she too had not had the shirt very long in her hands before
it looked worse still, and, the more she washed it and rubbed it, the
larger and blacker grew the spots.
So the other trolls had to come and wash, but, the more they did, the
blacker and uglier grew the shirt, until at length it was as black as if
it had been up the chimney. “Oh,” cried the Prince, “not one of you is
good for anything at all! There is a beggar-girl sitting outside the
window, and I’ll be bound that she can wash better than any of you! Come
in, you girl there!” he cried. So she came in. “Can you wash this shirt
clean?” he cried. “Oh! I don’t know,” she said; “but I will try.” And
no sooner had she taken the shirt and dipped it in the water than it
was white as driven snow, and even whiter than that. “I will marry you,”
said the Prince.
Then the old troll-hag flew into such a rage that she burst, and the
Princess with the long nose and all the little trolls must have burst
too, for they have never been heard of since. The Prince and his bride
set free all the Christian folk who were imprisoned there, and took away
with them all the gold and silver that they could carry, and moved far
away from the castle which lay east of the sun and west of the moon.(1)
(1) Asbjornsen and Moe.
THE YELLOW DWARF
Once upon a time there lived a queen who had been the mother of a great
many children, and of them all only one daughter was left. But then
_she_ was worth at least a thousand.
Her mother, who, since the death of the King, her father, had nothing in
the world she cared for so much as this little Princess, was so terribly
afraid of losing her that she quite spoiled her, and never tried to
correct any of her faults. The consequence was that this little person,
who was as pretty as possible, and was one day to wear a crown, grew
up so proud and so much in love with her own beauty that she despised
everyone else in the world.
The Queen, her mother, by her caresses and flatteries, helped to make
her believe that there was nothing too good for her. She was dressed
almost always in the prettiest frocks, as a fairy, or as a queen going
out to hunt, and the ladies of the Court followed her dressed as forest
fairies.
And to make her more vain than ever the Queen caused her portrait to be
taken by the cleverest painters and sent it to several neighboring kings
with whom she was very friendly.
When they saw this portrait they fell in love with the Princess--every
one of them, but upon each it had a different effect. One fell ill, one
went quite crazy, and a few of the luckiest set off to see her as soon
as possible, but these poor princes became her slaves the moment they
set eyes on her.
Never has there been a gayer Court. Twenty delightful kings did
everything they could think of to make themselves agreeable, and after
having spent ever so much money in giving a single entertainment thought
themselves very lucky if the Princess said “That’s pretty.”
All this admiration vastly pleased the Queen. Not a day passed but
she received seven or eight thousand sonnets, and as many elegies,
madrigals, and songs, which were sent her by all the poets in the
world. All the prose and the poetry that was written just then was about
Bellissima--for that was the Princess’s name--and all the bonfires that
they had were made of these verses, which crackled and sparkled better
than any other sort of wood.