to his horse and told him he might come that day week to visit his
daughter. Then the Beast returned to Bella and said to her, "This
house with all that therein is thine; if thou desirest aught clap
thine hands and say the word and it shall be brought unto thee." And
with that he made a sort of bow and went away.
So Bella lived on in the home with the Beast and was waited on by
invisible servants and had whatever she liked to eat and to drink; but
she soon got tired of the solitude and, next day, when the Beast came
to her, though he looked so terrible, she had been so well treated
that she had lost a great deal of her terror of him. So they spoke
together about the garden and about the house and about her father's
business and about all manner of things, so that Bella lost altogether
her fear of the Beast. Shortly afterwards her father came to see her
and found her quite happy, and he felt much less dread of her fate at
the hands of the Beast. So it went on for many days, Bella seeing and
talking to the Beast every day, till she got quite to like him, until
one day the Beast did not come at his usual time, just after the
midday meal, and Bella quite missed him. So she wandered about the
garden trying to find him, calling out his name, but received no
reply. At last she came to the rose-bush from which her father had
plucked the rose, and there, under it, what do you think she saw!
There was the Beast lying huddled up without any life or motion. Then
Bella was sorry indeed and remembered all the kindness that the Beast
had shown her; and she threw herself down by it and said, "Oh,
Beast, Beast, why did you die? I was getting to love you so much."
[Illustration: _Beauty and the Beast_]
No sooner had she said this than the hide of the Beast split in two
and out came the most handsome young prince who told her that he had
been enchanted by a magician and that he could not recover his natural
form unless a maiden should, of her own accord, declare that she loved
him.
Thereupon the prince sent for the merchant and his daughters, and he
was married to Bella, and they all lived happy together ever
afterwards.
[Illustration: Reynard]
REYNARD AND BRUIN
You must know that once upon a time Reynard the Fox and Bruin the Bear
went into partnership and kept house together. Would you like to know
the reason? Well, Reynard knew that Bruin had a beehive full of
honeycomb, and that was what he wanted; but Bruin kept so close a
guard upon his honey that Master Reynard didn't know how to get away
from him and get hold of the honey. So one day he said to Bruin,
"Pardner, I have to go and be gossip--that means god-father, you
know--to one of my old friends." "Why, certainly," said Bruin. So off
Reynard goes into the woods, and after a time he crept back and
uncovered the beehive and had such a feast of honey. Then he went back
to Bruin, who asked him what name had been given to the child. Reynard
had forgotten all about the christening and could only say,
"Just-begun." "What a funny name," said Master Bruin.
A little while after Reynard thought he would like another feast of
honey. So he told Bruin that he had to go to another christening; and
off he went. And when he came back and Bruin asked him what was the
name given to the child Reynard said, "Half-eaten." The third time the
same thing occurred, and this time the name given by Reynard to the
child that didn't exist was "All-gone,"--you can guess why.
A short time afterwards Master Bruin thought he would like to eat up
some of his honey and asked Reynard to come and join him in the feast.
When they got to the beehive Bruin was so surprised to find that there
was no honey left; and he turned round to Reynard and said,
"Just-begun, Half-eaten, All-gone--so that is what you meant; you have
eaten my honey." "Why no," said Reynard, "how could that be? I have
never stirred from your side except when I went a-gossiping, and then
I was far away from here. You must have eaten the honey yourself,
perhaps when you were asleep; at any rate we can easily tell; let us
lie down here in the sunshine, and if either of us has eaten the
honey, the sun will soon sweat it out of us." No sooner said than
done, and the two lay side by side in the sunshine. Soon Master Bruin
commenced to doze, and Mr. Reynard took some honey from the hive and
smeared it round Bruin's snout; then he woke him up and said, "See,
the honey is oozing out of your snout; you must have eaten it when you
were asleep."
Some time after this Reynard saw a man driving a cart full of fish,
which made his mouth water. So he ran and he ran and he ran till he
got far away in front of the cart and lay down in the road as still as
if he were dead. When the man came up to him and saw him lying there
dead, as he thought, he said to himself, "Why, that will make a
beautiful red fox scarf and muff for my wife Ann." And he got down and
seized hold of Reynard and threw him into the cart all along with the
fish, and then he went driving on as before. Reynard began to throw
the fish out till there were none left, and then he jumped out himself
without the man noticing it, who drove up to his door and called out,
"Ann, Ann, see what I have brought you." And when his wife came to the
door she looked into the cart and said, "Why, there is nothing there."
Reynard in the meantime had brought all his fish together and began
eating some when up comes Bruin and asked for a share. "No, no," said
Reynard, "we only share food when we have shared work. I fished for
these, you go and fish for others."
"Why, how could you fish for these? the water is all frozen over,"
said Bruin.
"I'll soon show you," said Reynard, and brought him down to the bank
of the river, and pointed to a hole in the ice and said, "I put my
tail in that, and the fish were so hungry I couldn't draw them up
quick enough. Why do you not do the same?"
So Bruin put his tail down and waited and waited but no fish came.
"Have patience, man," said Reynard; "as soon as one fish comes the
rest will follow."
"Ah, I feel a bite," said Bruin, as the water commenced to freeze
round his tail and caught it in the ice.
[Illustration: Bruin Gets a Beating]
"Better wait till two or three have been caught and then you can catch
three at a time. I'll go back and finish my lunch."
And with that Master Reynard trotted up to the man's wife and said to
her, "Ma'am, there's a big black bear caught by the tail in the ice;
you can do what you like with him." So the woman called her husband
and they took big sticks and went down to the river and commenced
whacking Bruin who, by this time, was fast in the ice. He pulled and
he pulled and he pulled, till at last he got away leaving three
quarters of his tail in the ice, and that is why bears have such short
tails up to the present day.
Meanwhile Master Reynard was having a great time in the man's house,
golloping everything he could find till the man and his wife came back
and found him with his nose in the cream jug. As soon as he heard them
come in he tried to get away, but not before the man had seized hold
of the cream jug and thrown it at him, just catching him on the tail,
and that is the reason why the tips of foxes' tails are cream white to
this very day.
[Illustration: Bruin Carries Reynard]
Well, Reynard crept home and found Bruin in such a state, who
commenced to grumble and complain that it was all Reynard's fault that
he had lost his tail. So Reynard pointed to his own tail and said,
"Why, that's nothing; see my tail; they hit me so hard upon the head
my brains fell out upon my tail. Oh, how bad I feel; won't you carry
me to my little bed." So Bruin, who was a good-hearted soul, took him
upon his back and rolled with him towards the house. And as he went on
Reynard kept saying, "The sick carries the sound, the sick carries the
sound."
"What's that you are saying?" asked Bruin.
"Oh, I have no brains left, I do not know what I am saying," said
Reynard but kept on singing, "The sick carries the sound, ha, ha, the
sick carries the sound."
Then Bruin knew that he had been done and threw Reynard down upon the
ground, and would have eaten him up but that the fox slunk away and
rushed into a briar bush. Bruin followed him closely into the briar
bush and caught Reynard's hind leg in his mouth. Then Reynard called
out, "That's right, you fool, bite the briar root, bite the briar
root."
Bruin thinking that he was biting the briar root, let go Reynard's
foot and snapped at the nearest briar root. "That's right, now you've
got me,
don't hurt me too much,"
called out Reynard, and slunk away.
"Don't hurt me too much,
don't hurt me too much."
When Bruin heard Reynard's voice dying away in the distance he knew
that he had been done again, and that was the end of their
partnership.
Some time after this a man was plowing in the field with his two oxen,
who were very lazy that day. So the man called out at them, "Get a
move on or I'll give you to the Bear"; and when they didn't quicken
their pace he tried to frighten them by calling out, "Bear, Bear, come
and take these lazy oxen." Sure enough, Bruin heard him and came out
of the woods and said, "Here I am, give me the oxen, or else it'll be
worse for you." The man was in despair but said, "Yes, yes, of course
they are yours, but please let me finish my morning's plowing so I may
finish this acre." Bruin could not say "No" to that, and sat down
licking his chops and waiting for the oxen. The man went on plowing,
thinking what he should do, when just at the corner of the field
Reynard came up to him and said, "If you will give me two geese, I'll
help you out of this fix and deliver the Bear into your hands." The
man agreed and he told him what to do and went away into the woods.
Soon after, the Bear and the man heard a noise like "Bow-wow,
Bow-wow"; and the Bear came to the man and said, "What's that?" "Oh,
that must be the lord's hounds out hunting for bears." "Hide me, hide
me," said Bruin, "and I will let you off the oxen." Then Reynard
called out from the wood, "What's that black thing you've got there?"
And the Bear said, "Say it's the stump of a tree." So when the man had
called this out to the Fox, Reynard called out, "Put it in the cart;
fix it with the chain; cut off the boughs, and drive your axe into the
stump." Then the Bear said to the man, "Pretend to do what he bids
you; heave me into the cart; bind me with the chain; pretend to cut
off the boughs, and drive the axe into the stump." So the man lifted
Bruin into the cart, bound him with the chain, then cut off his limbs
and buried the axe in his head.
Then Reynard came forward and asked for his reward, and the man went
back to his house to get the pair of geese that he had promised.
"Wife, wife," he called out, as he neared the house, "get me a pair of
geese, which I have promised the Fox for ridding me of the Bear."
"I can do better than that," said his wife Ann, and brought him out a
bag with two struggling animals in it.
"Give these to Master Reynard," said she; "they will be geese enough
for him." So the man took the bag and went down to the field and gave
the bag to Reynard; but when he opened it out sprang two hounds, and
he had great trouble in running away from them to his den.
When he got to his den the Fox asked each of his limbs, how they had
helped him in his flight. His nose said, "I smelt the hounds"; his
eyes said, "We looked for the shortest way"; his ears said, "We
listened for the breathing of the hounds"; and his legs said, "We ran
away with you." Then he asked his tail what it had done, and it said,
"Why, I got caught in the bushes or made your leg stumble; that is all
I could do." So, as a punishment, the Fox stuck his tail out of his
den, and the hounds saw it and caught hold of it, and dragged the Fox
out of his den by it and ate him all up. So that was the end of Master
Reynard, and well he deserved it. Don't you think so?
[Illustration]
THE DANCING WATER, THE SINGING APPLE, AND THE SPEAKING BIRD
There was once an herb-gatherer who had three daughters who earned
their living by spinning. One day their father died and left them all
alone in the world. Now the king had a habit of going about the
streets at night, and listening at the doors to hear what the people
said of him. So one night he listened at the door of the house where
the three sisters lived, and heard them disputing. The oldest said:
"If I were the wife of the royal butler, I could give the whole court
to drink out of one glass of water, and there would be some left."
The second said: "If I were the wife of the keeper of the royal
wardrobe, with one piece of cloth I could clothe all the attendants,
and have some left."
But the youngest daughter said: "Were I the king's wife, I would bear
him two children: a son with a sun on his forehead, and a daughter
with a moon on her brow."
The king went back to his palace, and the next morning sent for the
sisters, and said to them: "Do not be frightened, but tell me what you
said last night." The oldest told him what she had said, and the king
had a glass of water brought, and commanded her to prove her words.
She took the glass, and gave all the attendants some water to drink,
and still there was some water left.
"Bravo!" cried the king, and summoned the butler. "This is your
husband. Now it is your turn," said the king to the next sister, and
commanded a piece of cloth to be brought, and the young girl at once
cut out garments for all the attendants, and had some cloth left.
"Bravo!" cried the king again, and gave her the keeper of the wardrobe
for her husband. "Now it is your turn," said the king to the
youngest.
"Please your Majesty, I said that if I were the king's wife, I would
bear him two children: a son with a sun on his forehead, and a
daughter with a moon on her brow."
"If that is true," replied the king, "you shall be my queen; if not,
you shall die," and straightway he married her.
Very soon the two older sisters began to be envious of the youngest.
"Look," said they; "she is going to be queen, and we must be
servants!" and they began to hate her. A few months before the queen's
children were to be born, the king declared war, and was obliged to go
with his army, but he left word that if the queen had two children: a
son with a sun on his forehead, and a girl with a moon on her brow,
the mother was to be respected as queen; if not, he was to be informed
of it, and would tell his servants what to do. Then he departed for
the war.
When the queen's children were born, a son with a sun on his forehead
and a daughter with a moon on her brow, as she had promised, the
envious sisters bribed the nurse to put little dogs in the place of
the queen's children, and sent word to the king that his wife had
given birth to two puppies. He wrote back that she should be taken
care of for two weeks, and then put into a tread-mill.
Meanwhile the nurse took the little babies, and carried them out of
doors, saying: "I will make the dogs eat them up," and she left them
alone. While they were thus exposed, three fairies passed by and
exclaimed: "Oh how beautiful these children are!" and one of the
fairies said: "What present shall we make these children?" One
answered: "I will give them a deer to nurse them." "And I a purse
always full of money." "And I," said the third fairy, "will give them
a ring which will change colour when any misfortune happens to one of
them."
The deer nursed and took care of the children until they grew up. Then
the fairy who had given them the deer came and said: "Now that you
have grown up, how can you stay here any longer?" "Very well," said
the brother, "I will go to the city and hire a house." "Take care,"
said the deer, "that you hire one opposite the royal palace." So they
went to the city and hired a palace as directed, and furnished it as
if they had been princes. When the aunts saw the brother and sister,
imagine their terror! "They are alive!" they said. They could not be
mistaken for there was the sun on the forehead of the son, and the
moon on the girl's brow. They called the nurse and said to her:
"Nurse, what does this mean? are our nephew and niece alive?" The
nurse watched at the window until she saw the brother go out, and then
she went over as if to make a visit to the new house. She entered and
said: "What is the matter, my daughter; how do you do? Are you
perfectly happy? You lack nothing. But do you know what is necessary
to make you really happy? It is the Dancing Water. If your brother
loves you, he will get it for you!" She remained a moment longer and
then departed.
[Illustration: _The Foster Mother_]
When the brother returned, his sister said to him; "Ah! my brother, if
you love me go and get me the Dancing Water." He consented, and next
morning saddled a fine horse, and departed. On his way he met a
hermit, who asked him, "Where are you going, cavalier?"
"I am going for the Dancing Water." "You are going to your death, my
son; but keep on until you find a hermit older than I." He continued
his journey until he met another hermit, who asked him the same
question, and gave him the same direction. Finally he met a third
hermit, older than the other two, with a white beard that came down to
his feet, who gave him the following directions: "You must climb
yonder mountain. On top of it you will find a great plain and a house
with a beautiful gate. Before the gate you will see four giants with
swords in their hands. Take heed; do not make a mistake; for if you
do, that is the end of you! When the giants have their eyes closed, do
not enter; when they have their eyes open, enter. Then you will come
to a door. If you find it open, do not enter; if you find it shut,
push it open and enter. Then you will find four lions. When they have
their eyes shut, do not enter; when their eyes are open, enter, and
you will see the Dancing Water." The youth took leave of the hermit,
and hastened on his way.
Meanwhile the sister kept looking at the ring constantly, to see
whether the stone in it changed colour; but as it did not, she
remained undisturbed.
A few days after leaving the hermit the youth arrived at the top of
the mountain, and saw the palace with the four giants before it. They
had their eyes shut, and the door was open. "No," said the youth,
"that won't do." And so he remained on the lookout a while. When the
giants opened their eyes, and the door closed, he entered, waited
until the lions opened their eyes, and passed in. There he found the
Dancing Water, and filled his bottles with it, and escaped when the
lions again opened their eyes.
The aunts, meanwhile, were delighted because their nephew did not
return; but in a few days he appeared and embraced his sister. Then
they had two golden basins made, and put into them the Dancing Water,
which leaped from one basin to the other. When the aunts saw it they
exclaimed: "Ah! how did he manage to get that water?" and called the
nurse, who again waited until the sister was alone, and then visited
her. "You see," said she, "how beautiful the Dancing Water is! But do
you know what you want now? The Singing Apple." Then she departed.
When the brother who had brought the Dancing Water returned, his
sister said to him: "If you love me you must get for me the Singing
Apple." "Yes, my sister, I will go and get it."
Next morning he mounted his horse, and set out. After a time he met
the first hermit, who sent him to an older one. He asked the youth
where he was going, and said: "It is a difficult task to get the
Singing Apple, but hear what you must do: Climb the mountain; beware
of the giants, the door, and the lions; then you will find a little
door and a pair of shears in it. If the shears are open, enter; if
closed, do not risk it." The youth continued his way, found the
palace, entered, and found everything favourable. When he saw the
shears open, he went in a room and saw a wonderful tree, on top of
which was an apple. He climbed up and tried to pick the apple, but the
top of the tree swayed now this way, now that. He waited until it was
still a moment, seized the branch, and picked the apple. He succeeded
in getting safely out of the palace, mounted his horse, and rode home,
and all the time he was carrying the apple it kept on singing.
The aunts were again delighted because their nephew was so long
absent; but when they saw him return, they felt as though the house
had fallen on them. Again they summoned the nurse, and again she
visited the young girl, and said: "See how beautiful they are, the
Dancing Water and the Singing Apple! But should you see the Speaking
Bird, there would be nothing left for you to see." "Very well," said
the young girl; "we will see whether my brother will get it for me."
When her brother came she asked him for the Speaking Bird, and he
promised to get it for her. He met, as usual on his journey, the first
hermit, who sent him to the second, who sent him on to a third one,
who said to him: "Climb the mountain and enter the palace. You will
find many statues. Then you will come to a garden, in the midst of
which is a fountain, and on the basin is the Speaking Bird. If it
should say anything to you, do not answer. Pick a feather from the
bird's wing, dip it into a jar you will find there, and anoint all the
statues. Keep your eyes open, and all will go well."
The youth already knew well the way, and soon was in the palace. He
found the garden and the bird, which, as soon as it saw him,
exclaimed: "What is the matter, noble sir; have you come for me? You
have missed it. Your aunts have sent you to your death, and you must
remain here. Your mother has been sent to the tread-mill." "My mother
in the tread-mill?" cried the youth, and scarcely were the words out
of his mouth when he became a statue like all the others.
Now when her brother did not come back the third time the sister
looked at her ring, and it had become black, and she knew that
something had befallen him. Poor child! not having anything else to
do, she dressed herself like a page and set out.
Like her brother, she met the three hermits, and received their
instructions. The third concluded thus: "Beware, for if you answer
when the bird speaks you will lose your life, but if you speak not, it
will come to you; take one of its feathers and dip it in the jar you
will see there and anoint your brother's nostril with it." She
continued her way, followed exactly the hermit's directions, and
reached the garden in safety. When the bird saw her it exclaimed: "Ah!
you here, too? Now you will meet the same fate as your brother. Do you
see him lying there? Your father is at the war. Your mother is in the
tread-mill. Your aunts are rejoicing."
But the sister made no reply, but let the bird sing on. When it had
nothing more to say it flew down, and the young girl caught it, pulled
a feather from its wing, dipped it into the jar, and anointed her
brother's nostrils, and he at once came to life again. Then she did
the same with all the other statues, with the lions and the giants,
until all became alive again. Then she departed with her brother, and
all the noblemen, princes, barons, and kings' sons rejoiced greatly.
Now when they had all come to life again the palace disappeared, and
the hermits disappeared, for they were the three fairies.
The day after the brother and sister reached the city where they
lived, they summoned a goldsmith, and had him make a gold chain, and
fasten the bird with it. The next time the aunts looked out they saw
in the window of the palace opposite the Dancing Water, the Singing
Apple, and the Speaking Bird. "Well," said they, "the real trouble is
coming now!"
The bird directed the brother and sister to procure a carriage finer
than the king's, with twenty-four attendants, and to have the service
of their palace, cooks, and servants, more numerous and better than
the king's. All of which the brother and sister did at once. And when
the aunts saw these things they were ready to die of rage.
At last the king returned from the war, and his subjects told him all
the news of the kingdom, and the thing they talked about the least was
his wife and children. One day the king looked out of the window and
saw the palace opposite furnished in a magnificent manner. "Who lives
there?" he asked, but no one could answer him. He looked again and saw
the brother and sister, the former with the sun on his forehead, and
the latter with the moon on her brow. "Gracious! if I did not know
that my wife had given birth to puppies, I should say that those were
my children," exclaimed the king. Another day he stood by the window
and enjoyed the Dancing Water and the Singing Apple, but the bird was
silent.
After the king had heard all the music, the bird said: "What does
your Majesty think of it?" The king was astonished at hearing the
Speaking Bird, and answered: "What should I think? It is marvellous."