“Do not be afraid,” answered Jupiter, “I have heard your complaint, and have come here to show you how great a wrong you do me. Hark! I who am the sovereign lord of this world, promise to grant the first three wishes you make, whatever they may be. Think well about what things will bring you joy and prosperity, and as your happiness is at stake, take your time.”
Having said this, Jupiter withdrew and ascended to Olympus. As for the woodcutter, he happily tied his bundle of sticks and, throwing it over his shoulder, set out for his home. His heart was so light that it seemed that his load was also light, and his thoughts were happy as he strode along. Many a wish came into his mind, but he was determined to seek the advice of his wife, a young woman of good sense.
He soon reached his cottage where he threw down his bundle and said to his wife, “Here I am, Fanny. Make up the fire and set the table and don’t hold back. We are wealthy, Fanny, wealthy for ever more. We have only to wish for whatever we desire.”
He told her the story of what had happened that day. Fanny, who had a quick and active mind, immediately thought of many ways in which their fortune could be advanced, but she approved of her husband’s decision to act with care and caution.
“It would be a pity,” she said, “to spoil our chances through impatience. We should sleep on it, and wish no wishes until tomorrow.
“That is well said,” answered Harry. “Meanwhile, fetch a bottle of our best wine, and we shall drink to our good fortune.”
Fanny brought a bottle from the store behind the wood pile, and Harry made himself comfortable, leaning back in his chair with his toes towards the fire and his goblet in his hand.
“What fine glowing embers!” he said, “and what a fine fire for toasting! I wish we had a black pudding to toast.”
He had hardly spoken these words when his wife saw, to her great astonishment, a long black pudding coming out from a corner of the hearth, winding and wriggling its way towards her. She cried out in fear, and then again in dismay, when she realised that this strange occurrence was due to the wish so rashly and foolishly uttered by her husband.
“What!” she said to him, “When you can ask for a kingdom, for gold, pearls, rubies, rich garments and untold wealth, is this the time to set your mind on black puddings!”
“No,” answered the man, “it was thoughtless, and a sad mistake, but now I shall be on my guard, and shall do better next time.”
“A LONG BLACK PUDDING CAME WINDING AND WRIGGLING TOWARDS HER”
“Who knows what you will do?” returned his wife, “Once a witless fool, always a witless fool!” And giving free rein to her anger and bad temper she continued to scold her husband until he too was angry, and he almost made a second wish and wished himself to be a widower.
“That’s enough, woman!” he shouted at last, “Be quiet! Whoever heard such impertinence as this! A plague on you and your pudding – I wish to goodness it hung on the end of your nose!”
No sooner had the husband uttered these words than the wish was granted, immediately, and the long coil of black pudding appeared grafted to his angry wife’s nose.
Harry paused when he saw what he had done. Fanny was an attractive young woman, blessed with good looks, and this new ornament did nothing to set off her beauty. However, it offered one advantage: as it hung right in front of her mouth, it effectively stopped her talking.
So, having only one wish left, he had all but decided to make good use of it without further delay, and before he had any further mishap, to wish for a kingdom of his own. He was about to say the word, when he had a sudden thought.
“It is true,” he said to himself, “that no one is as great as a king, but what about the queen who shares his dignity? How would it look if she were sitting beside me on the throne with a length of black pudding for a nose?”
He decided to ask Fanny to resolve this dilemma, and to let her decide whether she would rather be a queen, with this horrible appendage blighting her good looks, or remain a peasant wife, but with this unwanted addition removed from her lovely nose.
Fanny’s mind was soon made up. Although she had dreamed of having a crown and sceptre, a woman’s first wish is to please.
Everything else has to yield to this great desire, and Fanny preferred to be beautiful in plain clothing, than to be a queen with an ugly face.
So our woodcutter did not change his situation, did not become a king or fill his purse with money. He was happy enough to use his remaining wish for a less exalted purpose, and he relieved his wife of her affliction.
THE MORAL
Ah! so it is that miserable man,
By nature fickle, blind, unwise, and rash,
Oft fails to reap a harvest from great gifts
Bestowed upon him by the heav’nly gods.
DONKEY SKIN
Once upon a time there was a king who was so great, so loved by his people and so respected by the neighbouring kings and his allies that it could almost be said that he was the happiest king alive. His good fortune was made even greater by his choice in marriage of a princess who was as beautiful as she was good, and with whom he lived in perfect happiness. They had a daughter who was so perfect, and who had so many gifts, that they never regretted that they had no other children.
The king’s court was a place of magnificence, good taste and abundance in everything. There were wise and clever ministers, good and devoted courtiers, faithful and hardworking servants. The large stables were filled with the most beautiful horses in the world, with richly decorated harnesses and saddles. But the thing that astonished everyone who came to admire the horses was to see a large donkey, with big long ears, in the finest stall.
Now, this was not just a whim of the king, who had given this donkey such a distinguished place for a good reason. The special qualities of this rare animal deserved to be honoured, since it was an extraordinary beast. Every morning its droppings, instead of being like those of any other donkey, were covered with beautiful gold coins of every type, which were collected daily.
Since the misfortunes of life visit kings just as they do their subjects, and since good is always mixed with bad, one day the queen was suddenly attacked by a fatal illness, and neither science nor the skill of the doctors could find a cure. There was great mourning throughout the land. The king, despite the famous proverb that marriage is the grave of love, was very attached to his wife and was deeply distressed. He made vows at all the temples in his kingdom and offered to give his life for that of his beloved queen, but he prayed to all the gods and fairies in vain. The queen, feeling her last hour approach, said to her husband, who was weeping copiously, “There is something I need to speak to you about before I die. If by chance you want to marry again . . .”
At these words the king broke down completely, took his wife’s hands in his, and assured her that it was useless to speak to him of a second marriage.
“No, my dear wife,” he said at last, “tell me instead how I can follow you to your grave.”
“The state,” continued the queen, with a finality that just increased the distress of the king, “the state demands successors to the throne, and since I have only given you a daughter, you will be urged to marry again in order to produce sons. But I beg you not to give in to the persuasions of your people until you have found a princess who is more beautiful than I am. Please swear this to me, and then I shall die content.”
It is possible that the queen, who was not lacking in self-esteem, extracted this oath in the firm belief that no woman in the world was as beautiful as she was, and so felt sure that the king would never marry again. Whatever the truth, she died soon afterwards, and no husband ever grieved so much. The king cried and sobbed day and night, and his only occupation was the observation of all the rites of bereavement, both large and small.
However, even great griefs do not last for ever. After a while, the ministers of state assembled and came to the king, urging him to marry again. At first, this request seemed very harsh to him
and he wept again. He reminded them of the vow he had made to the queen and defied his advisers to find a princess who was more beautiful than the queen, thinking that this would be impossible. However, the advisers didn’t take this promise very seriously, and said that beauty didn’t matter, as long as the queen was both good and fertile. The state needed princes in order to maintain its peace and prosperity, and although it was true that the king’s daughter, the princess, had all the qualities that would make a great queen, she would have to choose a foreigner as her husband, and she would go away to live with him. Even if her husband stayed in her country and shared the throne with her, any children they might have would not be considered to be of pure native blood.
The king, considering these things, promised to think it over. And so a search began among all the marriageable princesses for one who would suit him. Portraits of lovely princesses were brought to him every day, but none of them gave the promise of the beauty of his late queen, and instead of coming to a decision he brooded on his sorrow and grief until, in the end, he went mad. He began to believe that he was a young man again and that his young and beautiful daughter the princess was the queen, as he had known her in the days of their courtship. He urged the poor girl to become his wife without delay.
The princess, who was both virtuous and pure, threw herself at her father’s feet and begged him, as eloquently as she could, not to make her consent to his unnatural request.
The king in his madness could not understand the reason for her desperate reluctance, and asked an old druid to set her conscience at rest. Now this druid, who was more ambitious than religious, put his favour with the king before the innocence and virtue of the princess, and instead of trying to restore the king to his senses, he encouraged him in his delusion.
The young princess, overcome with misery, at last thought of the Lilac Fairy, her godmother. Determined to consult her, she set out that same night in a pretty little carriage drawn by a large sheep, who knew all the roads. When she arrived at her godmother’s home, the fairy, who loved the princess, told her that she knew what she had come to say, but that she need have no fear, because nothing would harm her if she faithfully carried out the fairy’s instructions.
“For, my dear child,” she said to her, “it would be a great sin to submit to your father’s wishes, but you can avoid doing so without making him angry. Tell him that to satisfy your whim, he must give you a dress that is the colour of the weather. He will never, despite his love and his power, be able to give you that.”
The princess thanked her godmother from the bottom of her heart, and the next morning she spoke to the king as the fairy had advised, and declared that no one would win her hand in marriage unless he gave her a dress that was the colour of the weather. The king, filled with joy and hope, called together his most skilled workers, and demanded that they make this garment, on pain of death. He was saved from resorting to this extreme measure when, two days later, they brought him the much desired robe. The blue heavens, patterned with gold-tinted clouds, are not more beautiful than this lovely dress when it was unfolded. The princess was very sad because of this, and didn’t know what to do.
Once again she went to her fairy godmother, who was astonished that her plan had failed. She now told the princess to ask for a gown the colour of the moon.
Again, the king expressly commanded his most skilled workers to make a dress the colour of the moon, and woe betide them if they took more than 24 hours to produce it.
The princess, although she seemed pleased with the dress when it was delivered, became very distressed in private when she was with her women and her nurse. The Lilac Fairy, who knew everything, was quick to comfort her.
“If I am not greatly deceived,” she said, “it is certain that if you ask for a dress the colour of the sun, we shall at last baffle the king your father, because it would never be possible to make such a gown, and in any case we would gain some time.”
So the princess asked for yet another gown, as recommended by her godmother. The infatuated king could refuse his daughter nothing, and he gladly used all the diamonds and rubies in his crown to pay for this superb garment. Nothing would be spared in the making of a dress that was as beautiful as the sun. When the dress appeared, all those who were unfolding it were so dazzled that they had to close their eyes. And it is a fact that sunglasses date from that time.
What on earth could the princess do? Nobody had ever seen such a beautiful and artistic robe. She was dumbfounded and, pretending that the brilliance of the dress had hurt her eyes, she retired to her chamber, where she found the fairy waiting for her.
When she saw the dress that was like the sun, the Lilac Fairy grew crimson with rage.
“Oh!” she said, “This time, my child, we will set a terrible test for the king. Even though he is mad, I think he will be quite astonished by the request that I think you should make. It is that he should give you the skin of that donkey he loves so much, and which supplies him with all his wealth. Go, and tell him that you want this skin.”
The princess, overjoyed at finding yet another means of escape (for she believed that her father could never bring himself to sacrifice the donkey), went to find him, and told him her latest desire.
Although the king was astonished, he did not hesitate. The poor donkey was killed and the skin was brought ceremoniously to the princess, who became desperate when she realised there was no way of avoiding her fate.
At that moment her godmother arrived.
“What are you doing, child?” she asked, finding the princess tearing out her hair, her beautiful face stained with tears. “This is the happiest moment of your life. Wrap yourself in this skin, leave the palace and go as far away as possible. When you sacrifice everything to virtue, the gods know how to reward you. Go, and I will make sure that your possessions follow you. Wherever you go, the chest containing your clothes and jewels will follow you, and here is my wand, which I will give you. Tap the ground with it when you need the chest, and it will appear before your eyes. But hurry, do not delay.”
The princess embraced her godmother many times and begged her not to abandon her. Then, after she had smeared herself with soot from the chimney, she wrapped herself up in the donkey skin and left the magnificent palace without being recognised by a single person.
There was a great commotion when it was realised that the princess was missing. The king, who had had a great banquet prepared, was inconsolable. He sent out more than a hundred guards, and more than a thousand musketeers to find her, but the Lilac Fairy made her invisible to all of them, so that no one could find her.
Meanwhile, the princess had walked far, far away, as far away as she possibly could. After a while she looked for a place to stay, but although people gave her food out of charity, she was so dishevelled and dirty that no one wanted to give her a place to stay. After a while she came to a beautiful town, at the gate of which there was a small farm. The farmer’s wife needed a girl to wash the dishes and look after the geese and the pigs, and seeing how dirty the princess was she offered to take her on. By now the princess was very tired, and she accepted this offer joyfully. She was put into a corner of the kitchen where, for a few days, because the donkey skin made her look so dirty and unpleasant, she was subjected to the coarse jokes of the menservants. After a while they got tired of their joking, and, in any case, she did her work so well that the farmer’s wife took her under her protection. She looked after the sheep, penning them up when necessary, and she showed such intelligence when she took the geese out to find food that it seemed as if she had never done anything else. Everything that she set her beautiful hands to was done well.
One day she was sitting beside a pool where she often went to ponder her sad situation, when she thought she would look at her reflection in the water. She was revolted by the horrible donkey skin, which covered her from head to toe. Embarrassed, she washed her face and hands, which became whiter than ivory, and once again her lovely complexion reveal
ed its natural freshness. The joy of rediscovering her beauty made her want to bathe in the pool. She did so, but she had to put on her horrible donkey skin before returning to the farm.
The next day was a holiday, so the princess had time to tap for her chest with the fairy’s wand, attend to her face and hair, and put on the lovely gown that was the colour of the weather. However, the room was so small that the train could not be spread out properly. The beautiful princess looked at herself and, with good reason, admired her appearance so much that she decided to wear her magnificent dresses on holidays and Sundays for her own pleasure. She worked flowers and diamonds into her lovely hair with great skill, but she was sad that only the sheep and geese could see her beauty, and they loved her just as much in the horrible donkey skin after which she had been named at the farm.
One Sunday, when Donkey Skin had put on her sun-coloured dress, the son of the king to whom the farm belonged stopped there to rest on his return from the hunt. This prince was young and handsome, greatly loved by his father and his mother the queen, and adored by the people. After he had eaten the simple meal that he was offered, he set out on an inspection of the farmyard and all its nooks and crannies. Going from one place to another he went down a dark passage, at the end of which he found a closed door. Curiosity made him put his eye to the keyhole. Imagine how astonished he was when he saw a beautiful and richly dressed princess with such a noble and dignified bearing that he believed her to be divine. Had it not been for the respect with which he was filled, he would have forced the door to the room.
He found it difficult to leave the gloomy little passage, but he wanted to find out who the inmate of the tiny room might be. He was told that she was a servant called Donkey Skin, because of the skin that she always wore, and that she was so dirty and unpleasant that no one took any notice of her, or even spoke to her; she had been taken on out of pity to look after the geese.
Classic Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault Page 7
