The Blue Fairy Book Read online

  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.2

  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 neighbouring 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.

  Bellissima was already fifteen years old, and every one of the Princes wished to marry her, but not one dared to say so. How could they when they knew that any of them might have cut off his head five or six times a day just to please her, and she would have thought it a mere trifle, so little did she care? You may imagine how hard-hearted her lovers thought her; and the Queen, who wished to see her married, did not know how to persuade her to think of it seriously.

  ‘ Bellissima,’ she said, ‘I do wish you would not be so proud. What makes you despise all these nice kings? I wish you to marry one of them, and you do not try to please me.’

  ‘ I am so happy,’ Bellissima answered: ‘do leave me in peace, madam. I don’t want to care for anyone.’

  ‘ But you would be very happy with any of these princes,’ said the Queen, ‘ and I shall be very angry if you fall in love with anyone who is not worthy of you.’

  But the Princes
s thought so much of herself that she did not consider any one of her lovers clever or handsome enough for her; and her mother, who was getting really angry at her determination not to be married, began to wish that she had not allowed her to have her own way so much.

  At last, not knowing what else to do, she resolved to consult a certain witch who was called ‘The Fairy of the Desert.’ Now this was very difficult to do, as she was guarded by some terrible lions; but happily the Queen had heard a long time before that whoever wanted to pass these lions safely must throw to them a cake made of millet flour, sugar-candy, and crocodile’s eggs. This cake she prepared with her own hands, and putting it in a little basket, she set out to seek the Fairy. But as she was not used to walking far, she soon felt very tired and sat down at the foot of a tree to rest, and presently fell fast asleep. When she awoke she was dismayed to find her basket empty. The cake was all gone! and, to make matters worse, at that moment she heard the roaring of the great lions, who had found out that she was near and were coming to look for her.

  ‘ What shall I do?’ she cried; ‘I shall be eaten up,’ and being too much frightened to run a single step, she began to cry, and leant against the tree under which she had been asleep.

  Just then she heard some one say: ‘H’m, h’m ! ’

  She looked all round her, and then up at the tree, and there she saw a little tiny man, who was eating oranges.

  ‘ Oh! Queen,’ said he, ‘I know you very well, and I know how much afraid you are of the lions; and you are quite right too, for they have eaten many other people: and what can you expect, as you have not any cake to give them? ’

  ‘ I must make up my mind to die,’ said the poor Queen. ‘Alas ! I should not care so much if only my dear daughter were married.’

  ‘Oh! you have a daughter,’ cried the Yellow Dwarf (who was so called because he was a dwarf and had such a yellow face, and lived in the orange tree). ‘I’m really glad to hear that, for I’ve been looking for a wife all over the world. Now, if you will promise that she shall marry me, not one of the lions, tigers, or bears shall touch you.’

  The Queen looked at him and was almost as much afraid of his ugly little face as she had been of the lions before, so that she could not speak a word.

  ‘ What! you hesitate, madam,’ cried the Dwarf. ‘You must be very fond of being eaten up alive.’

  And, as he spoke, the Queen saw the lions, which were running down a hill towards them.

  Each one had two heads, eight feet, and four rows of teeth, and their skins were as hard as turtle shells, and were bright red.

  At this dreadful sight, the poor Queen, who was trembling like a dove when it sees a hawk, cried out as loud as she could, ‘Oh! dear Mr. Dwarf, Bellissima shall marry you.’

  ‘Oh, indeed!’ said he disdainfully. ‘ Bellissima is pretty enough, but I don’t particularly want to marry her—you can keep her.’

  ‘Oh! noble sir,’ said the Queen in great distress, ‘ do not refuse her. She is the most charming Princess in the world.’

  ‘Oh! well,’ he replied, ‘out of charity I will take her; but be sure you don’t forget that she is mine.’

  As he spoke a little door opened in the trunk of the orange tree, in rushed the Queen, only just in time, and the door shut with a bang in the faces of the lions.

  The Queen was so confused that at first she did not notice another little door in the orange tree, but presently it opened and she found herself in a field of thistles and nettles. It was encircled by a muddy ditch, and a little further on was a tiny thatched cottage, out of which came the Yellow Dwarf with a very jaunty air. He wore wooden shoes and a little yellow coat, and as he had no hair and very long ears he looked altogether a shocking little object.

  ‘ I am delighted,’ said he to the Queen, ‘ that, as you are to be my mother-in-law, you should see the little house in which your Bellissima will live with me. With these thistles and nettles she can feed a donkey which she can ride whenever she likes; under this humble roof no weather can hurt her; she will drink the water of this brook, and eat frogs—which grow very fat about here; and then she will have me always with her, handsome, agreeable, and gay as you see me now. For if her shadow stays by her more closely than I do I shall be surprised.’

  The unhappy Queen, seeing all at once what a miserable life her daughter would have with this Dwarf, could not bear the idea, and fell down insensible without saying a word

  When she revived she found to her great surprise that she was lying in her own bed at home, and, what was more, that she had on the loveliest lace nightcap that she had ever seen in her life. At first she thought that all her adventures, the terrible lions, and her promise to the Yellow Dwarf that he should marry Bellissima must have been a dream, but there was the new cap with its beautiful ribbon and lace to remind her that it was all true, which made her so unhappy that she could neither eat, drink, nor sleep for thinking of it.

  The Princess, who, in spite of her wilfulness, really loved her mother with all her heart, was much grieved when she saw her looking so sad, and often asked her what was the matter; but the Queen, who didn’t want her to find out the truth, only said that she was ill, or that one of her neighbours was threatening to make war against her. Bellissima knew quite well that something was being hidden from her—and that neither of these was the real reason of the Queen’s uneasiness. So she made up her mind that she would go and consult the Fairy of the Desert about it, especially as she had often heard how wise she was, and she thought that at the same time she might ask her advice as to whether it would be as well to be married, or not.

  So, with great care, she made some of the proper cake to pacify the lions, and one night went up to her room very early, pretending that she was going to bed; but, instead of that, she wrapped herself up in a long white veil, and went down a secret staircase, and set off, all by herself, to find the Witch.

  But when she got as far as the same fatal orange tree, and saw it covered with flowers and fruit, she stopped and began to gather some of the oranges—and then, putting down her basket, she sat down to eat them. But when it was time to go on again the basket had disappeared, and, though she looked everywhere, not a trace of it could she find. The more she hunted for it the more frightened she got, and at last she began to cry. Then all at once she saw before her the Yellow Dwarf.

  ‘ What’s the matter with you, my pretty one? ’ said he. ‘What are you crying about? ’

  ‘Alas!’ she answered; ‘no wonder that I am crying, seeing that I have lost the basket of cake that was to help me to get safely to the cave of the Fairy of the Desert.’

  ‘ And what do you want with her, pretty one?’ said the little monster, ‘for I am a friend of hers, and, for the matter of that, I am quite as clever as she is.’

  ‘ The Queen, my mother,’ replied the Princess, has lately fallen into such deep sadness that I fear that she will die; and I am afraid that perhaps I am the cause of it, for she very much wishes me to be married, and I must tell you truly that as yet I have not found anyone I consider worthy to be my husband. So for all these reasons I wished to talk to the Fairy.’

  ‘ Do not give yourself any further trouble, Princess,’ answered the Dwarf. ‘ I can tell you all you want to know better than she could. The Queen, your mother, has promised you in marriage——’

  ‘ Has promised me!’ interrupted the Princess. ‘ Oh ! no. I’m sure she has not. She would have told me if she had. I am too much interested in the matter for her to promise anything without my consent—you must be mistaken.’

  ‘ Beautiful Princess,’ cried the Dwarf suddenly, throwing himself on his knees before her, ‘ I flatter myself that you will not be displeased at her choice when I tell you that it is to me she has promised the happiness of marrying you.’

  ‘You! ’ cried Bellissima, starting back. ‘ My mother wishes me to marry you! ! How can you be so silly as to think of such a thing? ’

  ‘Oh! it isn’t that I care much to have that
honour,’ cried the Dwarf angrily; ‘but here are the lions coming; they’ll eat you up in three mouthfuls, and there will be an end of you and your pride.’

  And, indeed, at that moment the poor Princess heard their dreadful howls coming nearer and nearer.

  ‘ What shall I do?’ she cried. ‘Must all my happy days come to an end like this? ’

  The malicious Dwarf looked at her and began to laugh spitefully. ‘At least,’ said he, ‘you have the satisfaction of dying unmarried. A lovely princess like you must surely prefer to die rather than be the wife of a poor little dwarf like myself.’

  ‘Oh! don’t be angry with me,’ cried the Princess, clasping her hands. I’d rather marry all the dwarfs in the world than die in this horrible way.’

  ‘Look at me well, Princess, before you give me your word,’ said he. ‘I don’t want you to promise me in a hurry.’

  ‘ Oh ! ’ cried she, ‘ the lions are coming. I have looked at you enough. I am so frightened. Save me this minute, or I shall die of terror.’

  Indeed, as she spoke she fell down insensible, and when she recovered she found herself in her own little bed at home; how she got there she could not tell, but she was dressed in the most beautiful lace and ribbons, and on her finger was a little ring, made of a single red hair, which fitted so tightly that, try as she might, she could not get it off.