The Blue Fairy Book Page 11

  Then the gold was brought up, and the wedding was celebrated, but the young King, though he loved his wife dearly, and though he was very happy, still kept on saying : ‘If I could only shudder! if I could only shudder!’ At last he reduced her to despair. Then her maid said : ‘I’ll help you; we’ll soon make him shudder.’ So she went out to the stream that flowed through the garden, and had a pail full of little gudgeon brought to her. At night, when the young King was asleep, his wife had to pull the clothes off him, and pour the pail full of little gudgeon over him, so that the little fish swam all about him. Then he awoke and cried out: ‘Oh! how I shudder, how I shudder, dear wife! Yes, now I know what shuddering is.’6

  RUMPELSTILTZKIN

  THERE was once upon a time a poor miller who had a very beautiful daughter. Now it happened one day that he had an audience with the King, and in order to appear a person of some importance he told him that he had a daughter who could spin straw into gold. ‘Now that’s a talent worth having,’ said the King to the miller; ‘if your daughter is as clever as you say, bring her to my palace to-morrow, and I’ll put her to the test.’ When the girl was brought to him he led her into a room full of straw, gave her a spinning-wheel and spindle, and said: ‘Now set to work and spin all night till early dawn, and if by that time you haven’t spun the straw into gold you shall die.’ Then he closed the door behind him and left her alone inside.

  So the poor miller’s daughter sat down, and didn’t know what in the world she was to do. She hadn’t the least idea of how to spin straw into gold, and became at last so miserable that she began to cry. Suddenly the door opened, and in stepped a tiny little man and said : ‘Good-evening, Miss Miller-maid; why are you crying so bitterly ?’ ‘Oh!’ answered the girl, ‘I have to spin straw into gold, and haven’t a notion how it’s done.’ ‘What will you give me if I spin it for you ? ‘asked the manikin. ‘My necklace,’ replied the girl. The little man took the necklace, sat himself down at the wheel, and whir, whir, whir, the wheel went round three times, and the bobbin was full. Then he put on another, and whir, whir, whir, the wheel went round three times, and the second too was full; and so it went on till the morning, when all the straw was spun away, and all the bobbins were full of gold. As soon as the sun rose the King came, and when he perceived the gold he was astonished and delighted, but his heart only lusted more than ever after the precious metal. He had the miller’s daughter put into another room full of straw, much bigger than the first, and bade her, if she valued her life, spin it all into gold before the following morning. The girl didn’t know what to do, and began to cry; then the door opened as before, and the tiny little man appeared and said : ‘What’ll you give me if I spin the straw into gold for you ?’ ‘The ring from my finger,’ answered the girl. The manikin took the ring, and whir! round went the spinning-wheel again, and when morning broke he had spun all the straw into glittering gold. The King was pleased beyond measure at the sight, but his greed for gold was still not satisfied, and he had the miller’s daughter brought into a yet bigger room full of straw, and said : ‘You must spin all this away in the night; but if you succeed this time you shall become my wife.’ ‘She’s only a miller’s daughter, it’s true,’ he thought; ‘but I couldn’t find a richer wife if I were to search the whole world over.’ When the girl was alone the little man appeared for the third time, and said : ‘What’ll you give me if I spin the straw for you once again?’ ‘I’ve nothing more to give,’ answered the girl. ‘Then promise me when you are Queen to give me your first child.’ ‘Who knows what mayn’t happen before that?’ thought the miller’s daughter; and besides, she saw no other way out of it, so she promised the manikin what he demanded, and he set to work once more and spun the straw into gold. When the King came in the morning, and found everything as he had desired, he straightway made her his wife, and the miller’s daughter became a queen.

  When a year had passed a beautiful son was born to her, and she thought no more of the little man, till all of a sudden one day he stepped into her room and said : ‘Now give me what you promised.’ The Queen was in a great state, and offered the little man all the riches in her kingdom if he would only leave her the child. But the manikin said: ‘No, a living creature is dearer to me than all the treasures in the world.’ Then the Queen began to cry and sob so bitterly that the little man was sorry for her, and said : ‘I’ll give you three days to guess my name, and if you find it out in that time you may keep your child.’

  Then the Queen pondered the whole night over all the names she had ever heard, and sent a messenger to scour the land, and to pick up far and near any names he should come across. When the little man arrived on the following day she began with Kasper, Melchior, Belshazzar, and all the other names she knew, in a string, but at each one the manikin called out : ‘That’s not my name.’ The next day she sent to inquire the names of all the people in the neighbourhood, and had a long list of the most uncommon and extraordinary for the little man when he made his appearance. ‘Is your name, perhaps, Sheepshanks, Cruickshanks, Spindleshanks?’ but he always replied: ‘That’s not my name.’ On the third day the messenger returned and announced: ‘I have not been able to find any new names, but as I came upon a high hill round the corner of the wood, where the foxes and hares bid each other good night, I saw a little house, and in front of the house burned a fire, and round the fire sprang the most grotesque little man, hopping on one leg and crying:

  To-morrow I brew, to-day I bake,

  And then the child away I’ll take;

  For little deems my royal dame

  That Rumpelstiltzkin is my name!

  You may imagine the Queen’s delight at hearing the name, and when the little man stepped in shortly afterwards and asked : ‘Now, my lady Queen, what’s my name?’ she asked first: ‘Is your name Conrad?’ ‘No.’ ‘Is your name Harry?’ ‘No.’ ‘Is your name, perhaps, Rumpelstiltzkin ?’ ‘Some demon has told you that, some demon has told you that,’ screamed the little man, and in his rage drove his right foot so far into the ground that it sank in up to his waist; then in a passion he seized the left foot with both hands and tore himself in two.7

  BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

  ONCE upon a time, in a very far-off country, there lived a mer. chant who had been so fortunate in all his undertakings that he was enormously rich. As he had, however, six sons and six daughters, he found that his money was not too much to let them all have everything they fancied, as they were accustomed to do.

  But one day a most unexpected misfortune befell them. Their house caught fire and was speedily burnt to the ground, with all the splendid furniture, the books, pictures, gold, silver, and precious goods it contained; and this was only the beginning of their troubles. Their father, who had until this moment prospered in all ways, suddenly lost every ship he had upon the sea, either by dint of pirates, shipwreck, or fire. Then he heard that his clerks in distant countries, whom he trusted entirely, had proved unfaithful; and at last from great wealth he fell into the direst poverty.

  All that he had left was a little house in a desolate place at least a hundred leagues from the town in which he had lived, and to this he was forced to retreat with his children, who were in despair at the idea of leading such a different life. Indeed, the daughters at first hoped that their friends, who had been so numerous while they were rich, would insist on their staying in their houses now they no longer possessed one. But they soon found that they were left alone, and that their former friends even attributed their misfortunes to their own extravagance, and showed no intention of offering them any help. So nothing was left for them but to take their departure to the cottage, which stood in the midst of a dark forest, and seemed to be the most dismal place upon the face of the earth. As they were too poor to have any servants, the girls had to work hard, like peasants, and the sons, for their part, cultivated the fields to earn their living. Roughly clothed, and living in the simplest way, the girls regretted unceasingly the luxuries and amusements of the
ir former life; only the youngest tried to be brave and cheerful. She had been as sad as anyone when misfortune first overtook her father, but, soon recovering her natural gaiety, she set to work to make the best of things, to amuse her father and brothers as well as she could, and to try to persuade her sisters to join her in dancing and singing. But they would do nothing of the sort, and, because she was not as doleful as themselves, they declared that this miserable life was all she was fit for. But she was really far prettier and cleverer than they were; indeed, she was so lovely that she was always called Beauty. After two years, when they were all beginning to get used to their new life, something happened to disturb their tranquillity. Their father received the news that one of his ships, which he had believed to be lost, had come safely into port with a rich cargo. All the sons and daughters at once thought that their poverty was at an end, and wanted to set out directly for the town; but their father, who was more prudent, begged them to wait a little, and, though it was harvest-time, and he could ill be spared, determined to go himself first, to make inquiries. Only the youngest daughter had any doubt but that they would soon again be as rich as they were before, or at least rich enough to live comfortably in some town where they would find amusement and gay companions once more. So they all loaded their father with commissions for jewels and dresses which it would have taken a fortune to buy; only Beauty, feeling sure that it was of no use, did not ask for anything. Her father, noticing her silence, said: ‘And what shall I bring for you, Beauty?’

  ‘The only thing I wish for is to see you come home safely,’ she answered.

  But this reply vexed her sisters, who fancied she was blaming them for having asked for such costly things. Her father, however, was pleased, but as he thought that at her age she certainly ought to like pretty presents, he told her to choose something.

  ‘Well, dear father,’ she said, ‘as you insist upon it, I beg that you will bring me a rose. I have not seen one since we came here, and I love them so much.’

  So the merchant set out and reached the town as quickly as possible, but only to find that his former companions, believing him to be dead, had divided between them the goods which the ship had brought ; and after six months of trouble and expense he found himself as poor as when he started, having been able to recover only just enough to pay the cost of his journey. To make matters worse, he was obliged to leave the town in the most terrible weather, so that by the time he was within a few leagues of his nome he was almost exhausted with cold and fatigue. Though he knew it would take some hours to get through the forest, he was so anxious to be at his journey’s end that he resolved to go on; but night overtook him, and the deep snow and bitter frost made it impossible for his horse to carry him any further. Not a house was to be seen; the only shelter he could get was the hollow trunk of a great tree, and there he crouched all the night, which seemed to him the longest he had ever known. In spite of his weariness the howling of the wolves kept him awake, and even when at last the day broke he was not much better off, for the falling snow had covered up every path, and he did not know which way to turn.

  At length he made out some sort of track, and though at the beginning it was so rough and slippery that he fell down more than once, it presently became easier, and led him into an avenue of trees which ended in a splendid castle. It seemed to the merchant very strange that no snow had fallen in the avenue, which was entirely composed of orange trees, covered with flowers and fruit. When he reached the first court of the castle he saw before him a flight of agate steps, and went up them, and passed through several splendidly furnished rooms. The pleasant warmth of the air revived him, and he felt very hungry; but there seemed to be nobody in all this vast and splendid palace whom he could ask to give him something to eat. Deep silence reigned everywhere, and at last, tired of roaming through empty rooms and galleries, he stopped in a room smaller than the rest, where a clear fire was burning and a couch was drawn up cosily close to it. Thinking that this must be prepared for someone who was expected, he sat down to wait till he should come, and very soon fell into a sweet sleep.

  When his extreme hunger wakened him after several hours, he was still alone; but a little table, upon which was a good dinner, had been drawn up close to him, and, as he had eaten nothing for twenty-four hours, he lost no time in beginning his meal, hoping that he might soon have an opportunity of thanking his considerate entertainer, whoever it might be. But no one appeared, and even after another long sleep, from which he awoke completely refreshed, there was no sign of anybody, though a fresh meal of dainty cakes and fruit was prepared upon the little table at his elbow. Being naturally timid, the silence began to terrify him, and he resolved to search once more through all the rooms; but it was of no use. Not even a servant was to be seen; there was no sign of life in the palace! He began to wonder what he should do, and to amuse himself by pretending that all the treasures he saw were his own, and considering how he would divide them among his children. Then he went down into the garden, and though it was winter everywhere else, here the sun shone, and the birds sang, and the flowers bloomed, and the air was soft and sweet. The merchant, in ecstacies with all he saw and heard, said to himself:

  ‘ All this must be meant for me. I will go this minute and bring my children to share all these delights.’

  In spite of being so cold and weary when he reached the castle, he had taken his horse to the stable and fed it. Now he thought he would saddle it for his homeward journey, and he turned down the path which led to the stable. This path had a hedge of roses on each side of it, and the merchant thought he had never seen or smelt such exquisite flowers. They reminded him of his promise to Beauty, and he stopped and had just gathered one to take to her when he was startled by a strange noise behind him. Turning round, he saw a frightful Beast, which seemed to be very angry and said, in a terrible voice:

  ‘Who told you that you might gather my roses? Was it not enough that I allowed you to be in my palace and was kind to you? This is the way you show your gratitude, by stealing my flowers! But your insolence shall not go unpunished.’ The merchant, terrified by these furious words, dropped the fatal rose, and, throwing himself on his knees, cried: ‘ Pardon me, noble sir. I am truly grateful to you for your hospitality, which was so magnificent that I could not imagine that you would be offended by my taking such a little thing as a rose.’ But the Beast’s anger was not lessened by this speech.

  ‘You are very ready with excuses and flattery,’ he cried; ‘but that will not save you from the death you deserve.’

  ‘Alas!’ thought the merchant, ‘ if my daughter Beauty could only know what danger her rose has brought me into!’

  And in despair he began to tell the Beast all his misfortunes, and the reason of his journey, not forgetting to mention Beauty’s request.

  ‘ A king’s ransom would hardly have procured all that my other daughters asked,’ he said; ‘but I thought that I might at least take Beauty her rose. I beg you to forgive me, for you see I meant no harm.’

  The Beast considered for a moment, and then he said, in a less furious tone:

  ‘I will forgive you on one condition—that is, that you will give me one of your daughters.’

  ‘ Ah!’ cried the merchant, ‘ if I were cruel enough to buy my own life at the expense of one of my children’s, what excuse could I invent to bring her here?’

  ‘No excuse would be necessary,’ answered the Beast. ‘ If she comes at all she must come willingly. On no other condition will I have her. See if any one of them is courageous enongh, and loves you well enough to come and save your life. You seem to be an honest man, so I will trust you to go home. I give you a month to see if either of your daughters will come back with you and stay here, to let you go free. If neither of them is willing, you must come alone, after bidding them good-bye for ever, for then you will belong to me. And do not imagine that you can hide from me, for if you fail to keep your word I will come and fetch you!’ added the Beast grimly.

/>   The merchant accepted this proposal, though he did not really think any of his daughters would be persuaded to come. He promised to return at the time appointed, and then, anxious to escape from the presence of the Beast, he asked permission to set off at once. But the Beast answered that he could not go until the next day.

  ‘Then you will find a horse ready for you,’ he said. ‘Now go and eat your supper, and await my orders.’

  The poor merchant, more dead than alive, went back to his room, where the most delicious supper was already served on the little table which was drawn up before a blazing fire. But he was too terrified to eat, and only tasted a few of the dishes, for fear the Beast should be angry if he did not obey his orders. When he had finished he heard a great noise in the next room, which he knew meant that the Beast was coming. As he could do nothing to escape his visit, the only thing that remained was to seem as little afraid as possible; so when the Beast appeared and asked roughly if he had supped well, the merchant answered humbly that he had, thanks to his host’s kindness. Then the Beast warned him to remember their agreement, and to prepare his daughter exactly for what she had to expect.

  ‘ Do not get up to-morrow,’ he added, ‘until you see the sun and hear a golden bell ring. Then you will find your breakfast waiting for you here, and the horse you are to ride will be ready in the courtyard. He will also bring you back again when you come with your daughter a month hence. Farewell. Take a rose to Beauty, and remember your promise!’