The Blue Fairy Book
looking for him, however, came a knight riding on a steed that was much,
much finer than that which the knight in copper armor had ridden, and
this knight had silver armor and a silver saddle and bridle, and all
were so bright that they shone and glistened when he was a long way off.
Again the other knights called to him, and said that he might just as
well give up the attempt to ride up the glass hill, for it was useless
to try; but the knight paid no heed to that, but rode straight away
to the glass hill, and went still farther up than the knight in copper
armor had gone; but when he had ridden two-thirds of the way up he
turned his horse around, and rode down again. The Princess liked this
knight still better than she had liked the other, and sat longing that
he might be able to get up above, and when she saw him turning back she
threw the second apple after him, and it rolled into his shoe, and as
soon as he had got down the glass hill he rode away so fast that no one
could see what had become of him.
In the evening, when everyone was to appear before the King and
Princess, in order that he who had the golden apple might show it, one
knight went in after the other, but none of them had a golden apple to
show.
At night the two brothers went home as they had done the night before,
and told how things had gone, and how everyone had ridden, but no one
had been able to get up the hill. “But last of all,” they said, “came
one in silver armor, and he had a silver bridle on his horse, and a
silver saddle, and oh, but he could ride! He took his horse two-thirds
of the way up the hill, but then he turned back. He was a fine fellow,”
said the brothers, “and the Princess threw the second golden apple to
him!”
“Oh, how I should have liked to see him too!” said Cinderlad.
“Oh, indeed! He was a little brighter than the ashes that you sit
grubbing among, you dirty black creature!” said the brothers.
On the third day everything went just as on the former days. Cinderlad
wanted to go with them to look at the riding, but the two brothers would
not have him in their company, and when they got to the glass hill there
was no one who could ride even so far as a yard up it, and everyone
waited for the knight in silver armor, but he was neither to be seen nor
heard of. At last, after a long time, came a knight riding upon a horse
that was such a fine one, its equal had never yet been seen. The knight
had golden armor, and the horse a golden saddle and bridle, and these
were all so bright that they shone and dazzled everyone, even while the
knight was still at a great distance. The other princes and knights were
not able even to call to tell him how useless it was to try to ascend
the hill, so amazed were they at sight of his magnificence. He rode
straight away to the glass hill, and galloped up it as if it were no
hill at all, so that the Princess had not even time to wish that he
might get up the whole way. As soon as he had ridden to the top, he took
the third golden apple from the lap of the Princess and then turned his
horse about and rode down again, and vanished from their sight before
anyone was able to say a word to him.
When the two brothers came home again at night they had much to tell of
how the riding had gone off that day, and at last they told about the
knight in the golden armor too. “He was a fine fellow, that was! Such
another splendid knight is not to be found on earth!” said the brothers.
“Oh, how I should have liked to see him too!” said Cinderlad.
“Well, he shone nearly as brightly as the coal-heaps that thou art
always lying raking among, dirty black creature that thou art!” said the
brothers.
Next day all the knights and princes were to appear before the King and
Princess--it had been too late for them to do it the night before--in
order that he who had the golden apple might produce it. They all went
in turn, first princes, and then knights, but none of them had a golden
apple.
“But somebody must have it,” said the King, “for with our own eyes we
all saw a man ride up and take it.” So he commanded that everyone in the
kingdom should come to the palace, and see if he could show the apple.
And one after the other they all came, but no one had the golden apple,
and after a long, long time Cinderlad’s two brothers came likewise. They
were the last of all, so the King inquired of them if there was no one
else in the kingdom left to come.
“Oh! yes, we have a brother,” said the two, “but he never got the golden
apple! He never left the cinder-heap on any of the three days.”
“Never mind that,” said the King; “as everyone else has come to the
palace, let him come too.”
So Cinderlad was forced to go to the King’s palace.
“Hast thou the golden apple?” asked the King.
“Yes, here is the first, and here is the second, and here is the third,
too,” said Cinderlad, and he took all three apples out of his pocket,
and with that drew off his sooty rags, and appeared there before them in
his bright golden armor, which gleamed as he stood.
“Thou shalt have my daughter, and the half of my kingdom, and thou hast
well earned both!” said the King. So there was a wedding, and Cinderlad
got the King’s daughter, and everyone made merry at the wedding, for all
of them could make merry, though they could not ride up the glass hill,
and if they have not left off their merry-making they must be at it
still.(1)
(1) Asbjornsen and Moe.
THE STORY OF PRINCE AHMED AND THE FAIRY PARIBANOU
There was a sultan, who had three sons and a niece. The eldest of the
Princes was called Houssain, the second Ali, the youngest Ahmed, and the
Princess, his niece, Nouronnihar.
The Princess Nouronnihar was the daughter of the younger brother of the
Sultan, who died, and left the Princess very young. The Sultan took upon
himself the care of his daughter’s education, and brought her up in his
palace with the three Princes, proposing to marry her when she arrived
at a proper age, and to contract an alliance with some neighboring
prince by that means. But when he perceived that the three Princes, his
sons, loved her passionately, he thought more seriously on that affair.
He was very much concerned; the difficulty he foresaw was to make them
agree, and that the two youngest should consent to yield her up to their
elder brother. As he found them positively obstinate, he sent for them
all together, and said to them: “Children, since for your good and
quiet I have not been able to persuade you no longer to aspire to
the Princess, your cousin, I think it would not be amiss if every one
traveled separately into different countries, so that you might not
meet each other. And, as you know I am very curious, and delight in
everything that’s singular, I promise my niece in marriage to him that
shall bring me the most extraordinary rarity; and for the purchase of
the rarity you shall go in search after, and the expense of traveling, I
will give you every one a sum of money.”
As the three Princes were always submissive and obedient to the Sultan’s
will, and each flattered himself fortune might prove favorable to him,
they all consented to it. The Sultan paid them the money he promised
them; and that very day they gave orders for the preparations for their
travels, and took their leave of the Sultan, that they might be the more
ready to go the next morning. Accordingly they all set out at the same
gate of the city, each dressed like a merchant, attended by an officer
of confidence dressed like a slave, and all well mounted and equipped.
They went the first day’s journey together, and lay all at an inn, where
the road was divided into three different tracts. At night, when they
were at supper together, they all agreed to travel for a year, and to
meet at that inn; and that the first that came should wait for the rest;
that, as they had all three taken their leave together of the Sultan,
they might all return together. The next morning by break of day, after
they had embraced and wished each other good success, they mounted their
horses and took each a different road.
Prince Houssain, the eldest brother, arrived at Bisnagar, the capital
of the kingdom of that name, and the residence of its king. He went and
lodged at a khan appointed for foreign merchants; and, having learned
that there were four principal divisions where merchants of all sorts
sold their commodities, and kept shops, and in the midst of which
stood the castle, or rather the King’s palace, he went to one of these
divisions the next day.
Prince Houssain could not view this division without admiration. It was
large, and divided into several streets, all vaulted and shaded from the
sun, and yet very light too. The shops were all of a size, and all
that dealt in the same sort of goods lived in one street; as also the
handicrafts-men, who kept their shops in the smaller streets.
The multitude of shops, stocked with all sorts of merchandise, as the
finest linens from several parts of India, some painted in the most
lively colors, and representing beasts, trees, and flowers; silks and
brocades from Persia, China, and other places, porcelain both from Japan
and China, and tapestries, surprised him so much that he knew not how to
believe his own eyes; but when he came to the goldsmiths and jewelers he
was in a kind of ecstacy to behold such prodigious quantities of wrought
gold and silver, and was dazzled by the lustre of the pearls, diamonds,
rubies, emeralds, and other jewels exposed to sale.
Another thing Prince Houssain particularly admired was the great number
of rose-sellers who crowded the streets; for the Indians are so great
lovers of that flower that no one will stir without a nosegay in his
hand or a garland on his head; and the merchants keep them in pots in
their shops, that the air is perfectly perfumed.
After Prince Houssain had run through that division, street by street,
his thoughts fully employed on the riches he had seen, he was very much
tired, which a merchant perceiving, civilly invited him to sit down in
his shop, and he accepted; but had not been sat down long before he
saw a crier pass by with a piece of tapestry on his arm, about six feet
square, and cried at thirty purses. The Prince called to the crier,
and asked to see the tapestry, which seemed to him to be valued at an
exorbitant price, not only for the size of it, but the meanness of the
stuff; when he had examined it well, he told the crier that he could
not comprehend how so small a piece of tapestry, and of so indifferent
appearance, could be set at so high a price.
The crier, who took him for a merchant, replied: “If this price seems
so extravagant to you, your amazement will be greater when I tell you I
have orders to raise it to forty purses, and not to part with it under.”
“Certainly,” answered Prince Houssain, “it must have something very
extraordinary in it, which I know nothing of.” “You have guessed it,
sir,” replied the crier, “and will own it when you come to know that
whoever sits on this piece of tapestry may be transported in an instant
wherever he desires to be, without being stopped by any obstacle.”
At this discourse of the crier the Prince of the Indies, considering
that the principal motive of his travel was to carry the Sultan, his
father, home some singular rarity, thought that he could not meet with
any which could give him more satisfaction. “If the tapestry,” said he
to the crier, “has the virtue you assign it, I shall not think forty
purses too much, but shall make you a present besides.” “Sir,” replied
the crier, “I have told you the truth; and it is an easy matter to
convince you of it, as soon as you have made the bargain for forty
purses, on condition I show you the experiment. But, as I suppose you