by Andrew Lang
Just then a strange sound woke her—someone was speaking not very far away; and opening her eyes she found herself in a room she had never seen before, which was certainly not nearly so splendid as those she was used to in the Beast’s palace. Where could she be? She got up and dressed hastily, and then saw that the boxes she had packed the night before were all in the room. While she was wondering by what magic the Beast had transported them and herself to this strange place she suddenly heard her father’s voice, and rushed out and greeted him joyfully. Her brothers and sisters were all astonished at her appearance, as they had never expected to see her again, and there was no end to the questions they asked her. She had also much to hear about what had happened to them while she was away, and of her father’s journey home. But when they heard that she had only come to be with them for a short time, and then must go back to the Beast’s palace for ever, they lamented loudly. Then Beauty asked her father what he thought could be the meaning of her strange dreams, and why the Prince constantly begged her not to trust to appearances. After much consideration he answered: ‘You tell me yourself that the Beast, frightful as he is, loves you dearly, and deserves your love and gratitude for his gentleness and kindness; I think the Prince must mean you to understand that you ought to reward him by doing as he wishes you to, in spite of his ugliness.’
Beauty could not help seeing that this seemed very probable; still, when she thought of her dear Prince who was so handsome, she did not feel at all inclined to marry the Beast. At any rate, for two months she need not decide, but could enjoy herself with her sisters. But though they were rich now, and lived in a town again, and had plenty of acquaintances, Beauty found that nothing amused her very much; and she often thought of the palace, where she was so happy, especially as at home she never once dreamed of her dear Prince, and she felt quite sad without him.
Then her sisters seemed to have got quite used to being without her, and even found her rather in the way, so she would not have been sorry when the two months were over but for her father and brothers, who begged her to stay, and seemed so grieved at the thought of her departure that she had not the courage to say good-bye to them. Every day when she got up she meant to say it at night, and when night came she put it off again, until at last she had a dismal dream which helped her to make up her mind. She thought she was wandering in a lonely path in the palace gardens, when she heard groans which seemed to come from some bushes hiding the entrance of a cave, and running quickly to see what could be the matter, she found the Beast stretched out upon his side, apparently dying. He reproached her faintly with being the cause of his distress, and at the same moment a stately lady appeared, and said very gravely:
‘Ah! Beauty, you are only just in time to save his life. See what happens when people do not keep their promises! If you had delayed one day more, you would have found him dead.’
Beauty was so terrified by this dream that the next morning she announced her intention of going back at once, and that very night she said good-bye to her father and all her brothers and sisters, and as soon as she was in bed she turned her ring round upon her finger, and said firmly:
‘ I wish to go back to my palace and see my Beast again,’ as she had been told to do.
Then she fell asleep instantly, and only woke up to hear the clock saying, ‘ Beauty, Beauty,’ twelve times in its musical voice, which told her at once that she was really in the palace once more. Everything was just as before, and her birds were so glad to see her! but Beauty thought she had never known such a long day, for she was so anxious to see the Beast again that she felt as if supper-time would never come.
But when it did come and no Beast appeared she was really frightened; so, after listening and waiting for a long time, she ran down into the garden to search for him. Up and down the paths and avenues ran poor Beauty, calling him in vain, for no one answered, and not a trace of him could she find; until at last, quite tired, she stopped for a minute’s rest, and saw that she was standing opposite the shady path she had seen in her dream. She rushed down it, and, sure enough, there was the cave, and in it lay the Beast—asleep, as Beauty thought. Quite glad to have found him, she ran up and stroked his head, but to her horror he did not move or open his eyes.
‘Oh! he is dead; and it is all my fault,’ said Beauty, crying bitterly.
But then, looking at him again, she fancied he still breathed, and, hastily fetching some water from the nearest fountain, she sprinkled it over his face, and to her great delight he began to revive.
‘ Oh! Beast, how you frightened me!’ she cried. ‘I never knew how much I loved you until just now, when I feared I was too late to save your life.’
‘Can you really love such an ugly creature as I am?’ said the Beast faintly. ‘Ah! Beauty, you only came just in time. I was dying because I thought you had forgotten your promise. But go back now and rest, I shall see you again by-and-by.’
Beauty, who had half expected that he would be angry with her, was reassured by his gentle voice, and went back to the palace, where supper was awaiting her; and afterwards the Beast came in as usual, and talked about the time she had spent with her father, asking if she had enjoyed herself, and if they had all been very glad to see her.
Beauty answered politely, and quite enjoyed telling him all that had happened to her. And when at last the time came for him to go, and he asked, as he had so often asked before:
‘Beauty, will you marry me ? ’ she answered softly:
‘Yes, dear Beast.’
As she spoke a blaze of light sprang up before the windows of the palace; fireworks crackled and guns banged, and across the avenue of orange trees, in letters all made of fire-flies, was written: ‘Long live the Prince and his Bride.’
Turning to ask the Beast what it could all mean, Beauty found that he had disappeared, and in his place stood her long-loved Prince! At the same moment the wheels of a chariot were heard upon the terrace, and two ladies entered the room. One of them Beauty recognised as the stately lady she had seen in her dreams; the other was also so grand and queenly that Beauty hardly knew which to greet first.
But the one she already knew said to her companion:
‘Well, Queen, this is Beauty, who has had the courage to rescue your son from the terrible enchantment. They love one another, and only your consent to their marriage is wanting to make them perfectly happy.’
‘ I consent with all my heart,’ cried the Queen. ‘How can I ever thank you enough, charming girl, for having restored my dear son to his natural form?’
And then she tenderly embraced Beauty and the Prince, who had meanwhile been greeting the Fairy and receiving her congratulations.
‘Now,’ said the Fairy to Beauty, ‘ I suppose you would like me to send for all your brothers and sisters to dance at your wedding?’
And so she did, and the marriage was celebrated the very next day with the utmost splendour, and Beauty and the Prince lived happily ever after.8
THE MASTER-MAID
ONCE upon a time there was a king who had many sons. I do not exactly know how many there were, but the youngest of them could not stay quietly at home, and was determined to go out into the world and try his luck, and after a long time the King was forced to give him leave to go. When he had travelled about for several days, he came to a giant’s house, and hired himself to the giant as a servant. In the morning the giant had to go out to pasture his goats, and as he was leaving the house he told the King’s son that he must clean out the stable. ‘And after you have done that,’ he said, ‘ you need not do any more work to-day, for you have come to a kind master, and that you shall find. But what I set you to do must be done both well and thoroughly, and you must on no account go into any of the rooms which lead out of the room in which you slept last night. If you do, I will take your life.’
‘ Well to be sure, he is an easy master!’ said the Prince to himself as he walked up and down the room humming and singing, for he thought there would be plenty of tim
e left to clean out the stable; ‘but it would be amusing to steal a glance into his other rooms as well,’ thought the Prince, ‘for there must be something that he is afraid of my seeing, as I am not allowed to enter them.’ So he went into the first room. A cauldron was hanging from the walls; it was boiling, but the Prince could see no fire under it. ‘ I wonder what is inside it,’ he thought, and dipped a lock of his hair in, and the hair became just as if it were all made of copper. ‘That’s a nice kind of soup. If anyone were to taste that his throat would be gilded,’ said the youth, and then he went into the next chamber. There, too, a cauldron was hanging from the wall, bubbling and boiling, but there was no fire under this either. ‘ I will just try what this is like too,’ said the Prince, thrusting another lock of his hair into it, and it came out silvered over. ‘Such costly soup is not to be had in my father’s palace,’ said the Prince; ‘but everything depends on how it tastes,’ and then he went into the third room. There, too, a cauldron was hanging from the wall, boiling, exactly the same as in the two other rooms, and the Prince took pleasure in trying this also, so he dipped a lock of hair in, and it came out so brightly gilded that it shone again. ‘Some talk about going from bad to worse,’ said the Prince; ‘but this is better and better. If he boils gold here, what can he boil in there?’ He was determined to see, and went through the door into the fourth room. No cauldron was to be seen there, but on a bench someone was seated who was like a king s daughter, but, whosoever she was, she was so beautiful that never in the Prince’s life had he seen her equal.
‘ Oh! in heaven’s name what are you doing here?’ said she who sat upon the bench.
‘ I took the place of servant here yesterday,’ said the Prince.
‘ May you soon have a better place, if you have come to serve here!’ said she.
‘Oh! but I think I have got a kind master,’ said the Prince. ‘ He has not given me hard work to do to-day. When I have cleaned out the stable I shall be done.’
‘Yes, but how will you be able to do that?’ she asked again. ‘If you clean it out as other people do, ten pitchforksful will come in for every one you throw out. But I will teach you how to do it: you must turn your pitchfork upside down, and work with the handle, and then all will fly out of its own accord,’
‘ Yes, I will attend to that,’ said the Prince, and stayed sitting where he was the whole day, for it was soon settled between them that they would marry each other, he and the King’s daughter; so the first day of his service with the giant did not seem long to him. But when evening was drawing near she said that it would now be better for him to clean out the stable before the giant came home. When he got there he had a fancy to try if what she had said were true, so he began to work in the same way that he had seen the stable-boys doing in his father’s stables, but he soon saw that he must give up that, for when he had worked a very short time he had scarcely room left to stand. So he did what the Princess had taught him,turned the pitchfork round, and worked with the handle, and in the twinkling of an eye the stable was as clean as if it had been scoured. When he had done that, he went back again into the room in which the giant had given him leave to stay, and there he walked backwards and forwards on the floor, and began to hum and to sing.
Then came the giant home with the goats. ‘Have you cleaned the stable?’ asked the giant.
‘Yes, now it is clean and sweet, master,’ said the King’s son.
‘I shall see about that,’ said the giant, and went round to the stable, but it was just as the Prince had said.
‘You have certainly been talking to my Master-maid, for you never got that out of your own head,’ said the giant.
‘ Master-maid! What kind of a thing is that, master?’ said the Prince, making himself look as stupid as an ass; ‘I should like to see that.’
‘ Well, you will see her quite soon enough,’ said the giant.
On the second morning the giant had again to go out with his goats, so he told the Prince that on that day he was to fetch home his horse, which was out on the mountain-side, and when he had done that he might rest himself for the remainder of the day, ‘for you have come to a kind master, and that you shall find,’ said the giant once more. ‘But do not go into any of the rooms that I spoke of yesterday, or I will wring your head off,’ said he, and then went away with his flock of goats.
‘Yes, indeed, you are a kind master,’ said the Prince; ‘but I will go in and talk to the Master-maid again; perhaps before long she may like better to be mine than yours.’
So he went to her. Then she asked him what he had to do that day.
‘Oh ! not very dangerous work, I fancy,’ said the King’s son. ‘I have only to go up the mountain-side after his horse.’
‘ Well, how do you mean to set about it?’ asked the Master-maid.
‘Oh! there is no great art in riding a horse home,’ said the King’s son. ‘I think I must have ridden friskier horses before now.’
‘Yes, but it is not so easy a thing as you think to ride the horse home,’ said the Master-maid; ‘but I will teach you what to do. When you go near it, fire will burst out of its nostrils like flames from a pine torch: but be very careful, and take the bridle which is hanging by the door there, and fling the bit straight into its jaws, and then it will become so tame that you will be able to do what you like with it.’ He said he would bear this in mind, and then he again sat in there the whole day by the Master-maid, and they chatted and talked of one thing and another, but the first thing and the last now was, how happy and delightful it would be if they could but marry each other, and get safely away from the giant; and the Prince would have forgotten both the mountain-side and the horse if the Master-maid had not reminded him of them as evening drew near, and said that now it would be better if he went to fetch the horse before the giant came. So he did this, and took the bridle which was hanging on a crook, and strode up the mountain-side, and it was not long before he met with the horse, and fire and red flames streamed forth out of its nostrils. But the youth carefully watched his opportunity, and just as it was rushing at him with open jaws he threw the bit straight into its mouth, and the horse stood as quiet as a young lamb, and there was no difficulty at all in getting it home to the stable. Then the Prince went back into his room again, and began to hum and to sing.
Towards evening the giant came home. ‘Have you fetched the horse back from the mountain-side?’ he asked.
‘ That I have, master; it was an amusing horse to ride, but I rode him straight home, and put him in the stable too,’ said the Prince.
‘ I will see about that,’ said the giant, and went out to the stable, but the horse was standing there just as the Prince had said. ‘You have certainly been talking with my Master-maid, for you never got that out of your own head,’ said the giant again.
‘Yesterday, master, you talked about this Master-maid, and to-day you are talking about her; ah! heaven bless you, master, why will you not show me the thing? for it would be a real pleasure to me to see it,’ said the Prince, who again pretended to be silly and stupid.
‘ Oh! you will see her quite soon enough,’ said the giant.
On the morning of the third day the giant again had to go into the wood with the goats. ‘To-day you must go underground and fetch my taxes,’ he said to the Prince. ‘When you have done this, you may rest for the remainder of the day, for you shall see what an easy master you have come to,’ and then he went away.
‘Well, however easy a master you may be, you set me very hard work to do,’ thought the Prince; ‘but I will see if I cannot find your Master-maid; you say she is yours, but for all that she may be able to tell me what to do now,’ and he went to her. So, when the Master-maid asked him what the giant had set him to do that day, he told her that he was to go underground and get the taxes.
‘And how will you set about that?’ said the Master-maid.
‘Oh! you must tell me how to do it,’ said the Prince, ‘ for I have never yet been underground, and eve
n if I knew the way I do not know how much I am to demand.’
‘Oh! yes, I will soon tell you that; you must go to the rock there under the mountain-ridge, and take the club that is there, and knock on the rocky wall,’ said the Master-maid. ‘Then someone will come out who will sparkle with fire: you shall tell him your errand, and when he asks you how much you want to have you are to say: “As much as I can carry.” ’
‘ Yes, I will keep that in mind,’ said he, and then he sat there with the Master-maid the whole day, until night drew near, and he would gladly have stayed there till now if the Master-maid had not reminded him that it was time to be off to fetch the taxes before the giant came.
So he set out on his way, and did exactly what the Master-maid had told him. He went to the rocky wall, and took the club, and knocked on it. Then came one so full of sparks that they flew both out of his eyes and his nose. ‘What do you want?’ said he.
‘ I was to come here for the giant, and demand the tax for him,’ said the King’s son.
‘How much are you to have then?’ said the other.
‘I ask for no more than I am able to carry with me,’ said the Prince.
‘ It is well for you that you have not asked for a horse-load,’ said he who had come out of the rock. ‘But now come in with me.’
This the Prince did, and what a quantity of gold and silver he saw! It was lying inside the mountain like heaps of stones in a waste place, and he got a load that was as large as he was able to carry, and with that he went his way. So in the evening, when the giant came home with the goats, the Prince went into the chamber and hummed and sang again as he had done on the other two evenings.
‘ Have you been for the tax?’ said the giant.
‘Yes, that I have, master,’ said the Prince.
