There was a King who had three daughters. When he died, his successor
proclaimed by the crier am order prohibiting the use of lights during
the night of his accession. Having made this announcement, the King
disguised himself and went forth alone. After walking about from place
to place he came to the abode of the daughters of the late King, and
going up close to it he overheard their conversation. This is what the
eldest was saying, “If the King took me for his wife, I would make him a
carpet upon which the whole of his army could be seated and there would
still be room to spare.” Then said the second, “If the King would take
me for his wife, I would make him a tent under which the whole army
could be sheltered, and room would still remain.” Lastly, the youngest
said, “If the King should espouse me, I would bring him a son and a
daughter with a star on their foreheads and a moon on their shoulders.”
The King, who had not lost a word of this conversation, sent for the
sisters on the morrow and married all three.[181] The eldest, as she had
declared, made a carpet on which the whole army was seated, and yet
there was room to spare. The second, in her turn, made a tent under
which all the army found shelter. As to the youngest, after a time, she
grew great, and her confinement approached. The day she was delivered
the King was absent, and on his return he inquired what she had given
birth to. The two elder sisters replied, “A little cat and a little
mouse.” On hearing this the King ordered the mother to be placed upon
the staircase, and commanded every one who entered to spit upon her.
Now she had given birth to a boy and a girl, but her two sisters, after
having shut them up in a box, sent them away by a servant to be exposed
on the bank of the river, and a violent wind afterwards arising, the box
was drifted to the other side. There was a mill on that side, where
dwelt an old man and his wife. The old man having found the box brought
it home. They opened it, and discovered the boy and the girl, with a
star on their foreheads and a moon on their shoulders. Astonished
thereat, they took them out and brought the children up as well as they
could.
Time passed away; the old woman died, and soon after came the turn of
the old man. Before dying he called the youth to him and said, “Know, my
son, that in such a place is a cave where there is a bridle which
belongs to me. That bridle is thine; but avoid opening the cave before
forty days have elapsed, if you wish the bridle to do whatever you
command.” The forty days having expired, the young man went to the cave,
and on opening it found the bridle. He took it in his hand and said to
it, “I want two horses,” and in a moment two horses appeared. The
brother and sister mounted them, and in the twinkling of an eye they
arrived in their father’s country. There the young man opened a café,
and his sister remained secluded at home.
As the café was the best in the country, the King came to hear of it,
and when he entered it he saw the youth, who had a star on his forehead.
He thought him so beautiful [and lingered so long] that he returned late
to the palace, when he was asked why he had tarried so late. He replied,
that a young lad had opened a café, and was so beautiful that he had
never seen his equal; and, what was most extraordinary, there was a star
on his brow. The sisters no sooner heard these words of the King than
they understood that he referred to their younger sister’s son. Full of
rage and spite, they quickly devised a plan of causing his death. What
did they do? They sent to his sister an old woman, who said to her, “Thy
brother, O my daughter, can hardly love thee, for he is all day at the
café and has a good time of it, while he leaves thee here alone. If he
truly loves thee, tell him to bring thee a flower from the Belle of the
Earth, so that thou too mayest have something to divert thyself with.”
On returning home that evening the young man found his sister quite
afflicted, and asked the cause of her grief. “Why should I not grieve?”
said she. “You leave me alone, secluded here, while you go about as your
fancy directs. If you love me, go to the Belle of the Earth and bring a
flower, so that I too may be amused.” “Console yourself,” replied he,
and at once gave orders to the bridle. An enormous horse appeared, which
he mounted and set off.
As he journeyed, a lamia presented herself before him, and said, “I have
a great desire to eat thee, but thou also excitest pity, and so I leave
thee thy life.” The young man then inquired of her how he could find the
Belle of the Earth. “I know nothing about it, my son,” replied the
lamia; “but go ask my second sister.” So he rode off and came to her,
and she drew near, intending to devour him, but seeing him so beautiful,
she asked where he was going. He told his story and said, “Do you know
the way to the Belle of the Earth?” But she in her turn sent him to her
elder sister, who on seeing him rushed out to eat him, but, like the
others, was touched by his comeliness and spared him; and when he
inquired after the Belle of the Earth, “Take this handkerchief,” said
she, “and when thou arrivest at her abode, use it to open the door.
Inside thou wilt see a lion and a lamb; throw brains to the lion and
grass to the lamb.” So he went forward and did all the lamia advised. He
tried the door and it opened; threw brains to the lion and grass to the
lamb, and they allowed him to pass. He went in and pulled a flower, and
he had no sooner done so than he found himself at his own door.
Great was his sister’s joy as she began playing with the flower. But on
the morrow the two sisters sent the old woman to her again. “Has he
brought thee the flower?” she asked. “Yes, he has.” “Thou art content,”
said the old hag; “but if thou hadst the handkerchief of the Belle of
the Earth, it would be quite another thing.” When her brother came home
he found her in tears, and in reply to his inquiries, “What pleasure,”
said she—“what pleasure can this flower give me? So long as I have not
the handkerchief of the Belle of the Earth I shall not be happy.” Then
he, desirous that his sister should have no cause for grief, mounted his
horse, and in the same manner as he had obtained the flower, possessed
himself of the handkerchief and brought it home to his sister.
On the morrow, when the young man had gone to his café, the old witch
again visited his sister, who informed her that her brother had brought
her the handkerchief. “How happy,” said the sorceress—“how happy thou
art in having a brother who brings thee whatever thou desirest! But if
thou dost wish to spend thy life like a pasha’s wife, thou must also
obtain the owner of that handkerchief.”
To please his sister, the young man once more sets out, and coming to
the eldest of the lamiæ and telling her his errand, “O my son,” said
she, “thou canst go there, but as to carrying away the mistress of the
handkerchief, that is not so easy. However, try in some way to obtain
possession of her ring, for therein lies all her power.” So he continues
his journey, and after passing the lion and the lamb he comes to the
chamber of the Belle of the Earth. He finds her asleep, and approaching
her noiselessly draws the ring from her finger, upon which she awakes
and discovering that she had not her ring, there was no alternative but
to submit to his will. They set out together and in the twinkling of an
eye arrived at the young man’s house. On perceiving them the sister was
overcome with joy.
It happened next day that the King again went to the café, and on his
return home ordered supper to be prepared, saying that he had invited
the young man and all his friends. The sisters instructed the cooks to
put poison in the food, which they did accordingly. At nightfall the
young man arrived, accompanied by the Belle of the Earth, whom he had
married, and his sister. But none of them, notwithstanding the
entreaties of the King, would touch any food, for the Belle of the Earth
had revealed to them that the meats were poisoned: they merely ate a few
mouthfuls out of the King’s mess.
Supper over, the King invited each one to tell a story, and when it came
to the young man’s turn, he recounted the whole story of his adventures.
Then the King recognised in him the son of his fairest wife, whom,
deceived by the lies of her sisters, he had exposed on the staircase. So
he instantly ordered the two sisters to be seized and cut to pieces, and
he took back his wife. As for the young man, he became his heir. He grew
old and prospered.
The points of difference between, and the relative merits of, Galland’s
story and Straparola’s