“Woe is the king’s daughter! There are so many gallants in Spain, and
yet she must fall in love with her father’s barber!”
The barber was much surprised to hear this apt rejoinder; but he could
not find out from whence the voice came. He looked about everywhere, and
at last, feeling sleepy, he lay down under the oak-tree where the
princess was hidden.
In a very short time the barber was fast asleep; and the princess,
hearing him breathe heavily, got out of her hiding-place, mounted the
barber’s horse, which the king had given him, and rode away with the
barber’s bundle of clothes, leaving her own in its place.
When she had ridden at full speed for some hours she dismounted, and
opening the barber’s bundle, she then disrobed herself and put on male
attire.
Next day she had arrived in the kingdom of Leon, and she rode up to the
king’s palace and offered her services to the king as barber.
The king, being much struck by the stately bearing of the stranger,
willingly accepted the proffered services.
When the real barber awoke and found his horse and clothes gone he was
much alarmed; but seeing a bundle close to him he opened it, and was
delighted to find his lover’s dresses in it.
Being a beardless youth, and very handsome, he bethought him of putting
on the princess’s finest dress; and as his hair was very long and curly,
according to the fashion of the day, he made a very pretty woman.
Foot-sore and weary, he at last arrived at the palace of the King of
Leon, and was admitted to the king’s presence as the daughter of the
neighbouring King of Castille.
The King of Leon was so charmed with the beauty of the new arrival that
he could not sleep, and so he sent for the barber, to whom he confided
his love.
The real princess was much astonished to hear that her lover was in the
palace, for she guessed it was he in female attire; but she kept quiet
until her lover was asleep in bed, and then she stole into his room, put
back his clothes, and took her own away.
Next morning when the real barber awoke and found his magnificent
dresses gone and his male attire restored to him he was indeed
surprised; but there was no help for it—he must again become a man and
a barber.
The princess put on her own clothes, and hid in a cupboard of the room.
When she saw her lover leave the room, and heard him go down the
staircase, she closed the door behind him and finished her toilet.
The king got up earlier than usual, for he was so anxious to see the new
arrival; but before doing so he sent for the barber to shave him.
They looked everywhere for him, but without success; and at last, in
despair, they went to the bedroom of the new arrival, and, knocking at
the door, intimated the king’s command that she should present herself.
The princess was ready; and, slipping past the courtiers, presented
herself before the king.
“Who are you?” inquired the king.
“I am the daughter of the King of Castille, as I informed your mercy
yesterday,” answered the princess.
“But where, then, is my barber?” rejoined the king.
“What does one king’s daughter know about another king’s barber?” said
the princess.
At this moment the real barber presented himself, and humbly begged the
king’s pardon for having deceived him.
“But who are you?” roared the king. “Are you a barber or a thief?”
“I am the youngest son of a marquess,” answered the youth, “a barber by
trade, and affianced to the daughter of the King of Castille.”
Then the princess stepped forward and explained everything to the king,
who was so interested with what he heard, that the princess and the
barber had to tell the tale over and over again to him. Then he said—
“I have been shaved by the King of Castille’s daughter, and I have
courted his barber. I will not be again deceived. They shall now be man
and wife for ever.”
This was the wise King of Leon.