The Red Fairy Book - Andrew Lang (best novels for beginners TXT) 📗

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`Oh! so you won’t marry me?’ said he. `Little simpleton, you

should have everything heart can desire.’

 

`No, indeed; nothing should make me marry you; in fact, I

don’t think I shall ever love anyone,’ cried the Princess.

 

`In that case,’ said the Enchanter, touching her, `you had

better become a particular kind of creature that is neither fish nor

fowl; you shall be light and airy, and as green as the grass you live

in. Off with you, Madam Grasshopper.’ And the Princess, rejoicing

to find herself free once more, skipped out into the garden, the

prettiest little green Grasshopper in the world. But as soon as she

was safely out she began to be rather sorry for herself.

 

`Ah! Florimond,’ she sighed, `is this the end of your gift?

Certainly beauty is short-lived, and this funny little face and a green

crape dress are a comical end to it. I had better have married my

amiable shepherd. It must be for my pride that I am condemned

to be a Grasshopper, and sing day and night in the grass by this

brook, when I feel far more inclined to cry.’

 

In the meantime Prince Peerless had discovered the Princess’s

absence, and was lamenting over it by the river’s brim, when he

suddenly became aware of the presence of a little old woman. She

was quaintly dressed in a ruff and farthingale, and a velvet hood

covered her snow-white hair.

 

`You seem sorrowful, my son,’ she said. `What is the matter?’

 

`Alas! mother,’ answered the Prince, `I have lost my sweet

shepherdess, but I am determined to find her again, though I should

have to traverse the whole world in search of her.’

 

`Go that way, my son,’ said the old woman, pointing towards the

path that led to the castle. `I have an idea that you will soon

overtake her.’

 

The Prince thanked her heartily and set out. As he met with

no hindrance, he soon reached the enchanted wood which surrounded

the castle, and there he thought he saw the Princess Sunbeam

gliding before him among the trees. Prince Peerless hastened

after her at the top of his speed, but could not get any nearer;

then he called to her:

 

`Sunbeam, my darling—only wait for me a moment.’

 

But the phantom did but fly the faster, and the Prince spent

the whole day in this vain pursuit. When night came he saw

the castle before him all lighted up, and as he imagined that the

Princess must be in it, he made haste to get there too. He entered

without difficulty, and in the hall the terrible old Fairy met him.

She was so thin that the light shone through her, and her eyes

glowed like lamps; her skin was like a shark’s, her arms were thin

as laths, and her fingers like spindles. Nevertheless she wore

rouge and patches, a mantle of silver brocade and a crown of

diamonds, and her dress was covered with jewels, and green and

pink ribbons.

 

`At last you have come to see me, Prince,’ said she. `Don’t

waste another thought upon that little shepherdess, who is

unworthy of your notice. I am the Queen of the Comets, and can

bring you to great honour if you will marry me.’

 

`Marry you, Madam,’ cried the Prince, in horror. `No, I will

never consent to that.’

 

Thereupon the Fairy, in a rage, gave two strokes of her wand

and filled the gallery with horrible goblins, against whom the

Prince had to fight for his life. Though he had only his dagger, he

defended himself so well that he escaped without any harm, and

presently the old Fairy stopped the fray and asked the Prince if

he was still of the same mind. When he answered firmly that he

was, she called up the appearance of the Princess Sunbeam to the

other end of the gallery, and said:

 

`You see your beloved there? Take care what you are about,

for if you again refuse to marry me she shall be torn in pieces by

two tigers.’

 

The Prince was distracted, for he fancied he heard his dear

shepherdess weeping and begging him to save her. In despair he

cried:

 

`Oh, Fairy Douceline, have you abandoned me after so many

promises of friendship? Help, help us now!’

 

Immediately a soft voice said in his ear:

 

`Be firm, happen what may, and seek the Golden Branch.’

 

Thus encouraged, the Prince persevered in his refusal, and at

length the old Fairy in a fury cried:

 

`Get out of my sight, obstinate Prince. Become a Cricket!’

 

And instantly the handsome Prince Peerless became a poor little

black Cricket, whose only idea would have been to find himself a

cosy cranny behind some blazing hearth, if he had not luckily

remembered the Fairy Douceline’s injunction to seek the Golden Branch.

 

So he hastened to depart from the fatal castle, and sought shelter

in a hollow tree, where he found a forlorn looking little Grasshopper

crouching in a corner, too miserable to sing.

 

Without in the least expecting an answer, the Prince asked it:

 

`And where may you be going, Gammer Grasshopper?’

 

`Where are you going yourself, Gaffer Cricket?’ replied the Grasshopper.

 

`What! can you speak?’ said he.

 

`Why should I not speak as well as you? Isn’t a Grasshopper

as good as a Cricket?’ said she.

 

`I can talk because I was a Prince,’ said the Cricket.

 

`And for that very same reason I ought to be able to talk more

than you, for I was a Princess,’ replied the Grasshopper.

 

`Then you have met with the same fate as I have,’ said he. `But

where are you going now? Cannot we journey together?’

 

`I seemed to hear a voice in the air which said: “Be firm,

happen what may, and seek the Golden Branch,” ‘ answered the

Grasshopper, `and I thought the command must be for me, so I

started at once, though I don’t know the way.’

 

At this moment their conversation was interrupted by two mice,

who, breathless from running, flung themselves headlong through

the hole into the tree, nearly crushing the Grasshopper and the

Cricket, though they got out of the way as fast as they could and

stood up in a dark corner.

 

`Ah, Madam,’ said the fatter of the two, `I have such a pain in

my side from running so fast. How does your Highness find yourself?’

 

`I have pulled my tail off,’ replied the younger Mouse, `but as I

should still be on the sorcerer’s table unless I had, I do not regret

it. Are we pursued, think you? How lucky we were to escape!’

 

`I only trust that we may escape cats and traps, and reach the

Golden Branch soon,’ said the fat Mouse.

 

`You know the way then?’ said the other.

 

`Oh dear, yes! as well as the way to my own house, Madam.

This Golden Branch is indeed a marvel, a single leaf from it makes

one rich for ever. It breaks enchantments, and makes all who

approach it young and beautiful. We must set out for it at the

break of day.’

 

`May we have the honour of travelling with you—this respectable

Cricket and myself?’ said the Grasshopper, stepping forward.

`We also are on a pilgrimage to the Golden Branch.’

 

The Mice courteously assented, and after many polite speeches

the whole party fell asleep. With the earliest dawn they were on

their way, and though the Mice were in constant fear of being

overtaken or trapped, they reached the Golden Branch in safety.

 

It grew in the midst of a wonderful garden, all the paths of which

were strewn with pearls as big as peas. The roses were crimson

diamonds, with emerald leaves. The pomegranates were garnets,

the marigolds topazes, the daffodils yellow diamonds, the violets

sapphires, the corn-flowers turquoises, the tulips amethysts, opals

and diamonds, so that the garden borders blazed like the sun. The

Golden Branch itself had become as tall as a forest tree, and sparkled

with ruby cherries to its topmost twig. No sooner had the Grasshopper

and the Cricket touched it than they were restored to their

natural forms, and their surprise and joy were great when they

recognised each other. At this moment Florimond and the Fairy

Douceline appeared in great splendour, and the Fairy, as she

descended from her chariot, said with a smile:

 

`So you two have found one another again, I see, but I have still

a surprise left for you. Don’t hesitate, Princess, to tell your devoted

shepherd how dearly you love him, as he is the very Prince your

father sent you to marry. So come here both of you and let me

crown you, and we will have the wedding at once.’

 

The Prince and Princess thanked her with all their hearts, and

declared that to her they owed all their happiness, and then the two

Princesses, who had so lately been Mice, came and begged that the

Fairy would use her power to release their unhappy friends who

were still under the Enchanter’s spell.

 

`Really,’ said the Fairy Douceline, `on this happy occasion I

cannot find it in my heart to refuse you anything.’ And she gave

three strokes of her wand upon the Golden Branch, and immediately

all the prisoners in the Enchanter’s castle found themselves free,

and came with all speed to the wonderful garden, where one touch

of the Golden Branch restored each one to his natural form, and

they greeted one another with many rejoicings. To complete her

generous work the Fairy presented them with the wonderful cabinet

and all the treasures it contained, which were worth at least ten

kingdoms. But to Prince Peerless and the Princess Sunbeam she

gave the palace and garden of the Golden Branch, where, immensely

rich and greatly beloved by all their subjects, they lived happily

ever after.[18]

 

[18] Le Rameau d’Or. Par Madame d’Aulnoy,

THE THREE DWARFS

THERE was once upon a time a man who lost his wife, and a

woman who lost her husband; and the man had a daughter

and so had the woman. The two girls were great friends and used

often to play together. One day the woman turned to the man’s

daughter and said:

 

`Go and tell your father that I will marry him, and then you

shall wash in milk and drink wine, but my own daughter shall wash

in water and drink it too.’

 

The girl went straight home and told her father what the woman

had said.

 

`What am I to do?’ he answered. `Marriage is either a success

or it is a failure.’

 

At last, being of an undecided character and not being able to

make up his mind, he took off his boot, and handing it to his

daughter, said:

 

`Take this boot which has a hole in the sole, hang it up on a nail

in the hayloft, and pour water into it. If it holds water I will

marry again, but if it doesn’t I won’t.’ The girl did as she was bid,

but the water drew the hole together and the boot filled up to the

very top. So she went and told her father the result. He got up

and went to see for himself, and when he saw that it was true and

no mistake, he accepted his fate, proposed to the widow, and they

were married at once.

 

On the morning after the wedding, when the two girls awoke,

milk was standing for the man’s daughter to wash in and wine for

her to drink; but for the woman’s daughter, only water to