not wake before their mistress, and that they might be ready to wait
upon her when she wanted them. The very spits at the fire, as full as
they could be of partridges and pheasants, and everything in the place,
whether animate or inanimate, fell asleep also.
All this was done in a moment, for fairies are not long in doing their
business.
And now the king and queen, having kissed their child without waking
her, went out of the palace, and put forth a proclamation that nobody
should come near it. This, however, was unnecessary, for in less than a
quarter of an hour there got up all around the park such a vast number
of trees, great and small bushes, and brambles, twined one within the
other, that neither man nor beast could pass through, so that nothing
could be seen but the very tops of the towers of the palace, and not
that even, unless it was a good way off. Nobody doubted but the fairy
gave therein a very extraordinary sample of her art, that the princess,
while she remained sleeping, might have nothing to fear from any curious
people.
When a hundred years had gone and past, the son of a king then reigning,
and who was of another family from that of the sleeping princess, being
out a-hunting on that side of the country, asked what these towers were
which he saw in the midst of a great thick wood. Every one answered
according as they had heard; some said it was an old ruinous castle,
haunted by spirits; others, that all the sorcerers and witches kept
their Sabbath, or weekly meeting, in that place.
The most common opinion was that an ogre lived there, and that he
carried thither all the little children he could catch, that he might
eat them up at his leisure, without anybody being able to follow him, as
having himself only power to pass through the wood.
The prince was at a stand, not knowing what to believe, when an aged man
spoke to him thus:--
"May it please your highness, it is about fifty years since I heard from
my father, who heard my grandfather say that there was then in this
castle a princess, the most beautiful that was ever seen, that she must
sleep there for a hundred years, and would be wakened by a king's son,
for whom she was reserved."
The young prince was all on fire at these words, believing, without
considering the matter, that he could put an end to this rare adventure,
and, pushed on by love and honour, resolved that moment to look into it.
Scarce had he advanced towards the wood, when all the great trees, the
bushes, and brambles, gave way of their own accord, and let him pass
through. He went up to the castle, which he saw at the end of a large
avenue, which he went into; and what not a little surprised him was he
saw none of his people could follow him, because the trees closed again
as soon as he passed through them.
However, he did not cease from valiantly continuing his way. He came
into a spacious outward court, where everything he saw might have frozen
up the most hardy person with horror. There reigned all over a most
frightful silence; the image of death everywhere showed itself, and
there was nothing to be seen but stretched-out bodies of men and
animals, all seeming to be dead.
He, however, very well knew, by the rosy faces and the pimpled noses of
the beef-eaters, that they were only asleep; and their goblets, wherein
still remained some few drops of wine, plainly showing that they all had
fallen asleep in their cups.
He then, crossing a court paved with marble, went upstairs, and came
into the guard-chamber, where the guards were standing in their ranks,
with their muskets upon their shoulders, and snoring as loud as they
could. After that, he went through several rooms full of gentlemen and
ladies all asleep, some standing, and others sitting.
At last he came into a chamber all gilt with gold; here he saw upon a
bed, the curtains of which were all open, the finest sight that ever he
beheld--a princess, who appeared to be about fifteen or sixteen years of
age, and whose resplendent beauty had in it something divine. He
approached with trembling and admiration, and fell down before her on
his knees. And now the enchantment was at an end; the princess awaked,
and looked on him with eyes more tender than the first view might seem
to admit of. "Is it you, my prince?" she said to him; "you have waited
a long time."
The prince, charmed with these words, and much more with the manner in
which they were spoken, assured her that he loved her better than
himself.
Their discourse was so well conducted that they did weep more than talk:
there was very little eloquence, but a great deal of love. He was more
at a loss than she was, and no wonder, as she had time to think on what
to say to him; for it is very probable, though the history mentions
nothing of it, that the good fairy, during so long a sleep, had given
her agreeable dreams. In short, they talked four hours together, and yet
said not half of what they had got to say.
In the meantime, all in the palace awaked, every one thinking on his
particular business; and as all of them were not in love, they were
ready to die with hunger. The chief lady of honour, being as sharp set
as the others, grew very impatient, and told the princess aloud that the
supper was served up. The prince helped the princess to rise, she being
entirely dressed, and very magnificent, though his royal highness did
not forget to tell her that she was dressed like his grandmother, and
had a point-band peeping over a high collar; but, however, she looked no
less beautiful and charming for all that.
They went into the great hall of looking glasses, where they supped, and
were served by the officers of the princess; the violins and hautboys
played all old tunes, but very excellent, though it was now about a
hundred years since they had lived. And after supper without any loss of
time, the lord almoner married them in the chapel of the castle, and the
chief lady of honour drew the curtains. They had but very little sleep
that night, the princess had no occasion; and the prince left her the
next morning to return into the city, where his father had been in great
pain anxious for his return.
The prince told him he had lost his way in the forest as he was hunting,
and had lain at the cottage of a collier, who had given him some brown
bread and cheese.
The king; his father, who was a very good man, readily believed him; but
his mother, the queen, could not be persuaded that this was altogether
true; and seeing that he went almost every day a-hunting, and that he
had always found some excuse for so doing, though he had lain out three
or four nights together, she began to suspect (and very justly too) his
having some little private amour, which he then endeavoured that she
should remain ignorant of.
Now these frequent excursions, which he then made from the palace, were
the times that he retired to the princess, with whom he lived in this
manner for about two years, and by whom he had two fine children, the
eldest of whom was a girl, whom they named Morning, and the youngest a
boy, whom they named Day, because he was a great deal handsomer and much
more beautiful and comely than the sister.
The queen's jealousy increasing, she several times spoke to her son,
desiring him to inform her after what manner he spent his time, alleging
that, as he saw her so very uneasy, he ought in duty to satisfy her. But
he never dared to trust her with his secret, for she was of the race of
ogres, and the king would certainly not have married her had it not been
for her vast riches. It was whispered among the court that she had an
ogrish inclination, and that whenever she saw any little children going
by, she had all the difficulty in the world to refrain from falling upon
them; so the prince would never tell her one word.
But when the king was dead, which happened about two years afterwards,
and he saw himself lord and master, he then openly declared his
marriage, and went in great ceremony to conduct his queen to the palace.
They made a very magnificent entry into the city, with their two
children beside them.
Some time after, the king went to make war with the Emperor Cantalabute,
his neighbour.
He left the government of the kingdom to the queen, his mother, and
earnestly recommended to her the care of his wife and children.
As soon as he was departed, the queen sent for her daughter-in-law to
come to her, and then sent her to a country house among the woods, that
she might with more ease and secrecy gratify her inclinations.
Some days after she went to this country house herself, and calling for
the clerk of the kitchen, she said to him, "I have a mind to eat little
Morning for my dinner to-morrow."
"Ah, madam," cried the clerk of the kitchen in a very great surprise.
"No excuse," replied she, interrupting him; "I will have it so,"--and
this she spoke in the tone of an ogress, seeming to have a strong desire
to taste fresh meat. "And to make the dish more delicious," added she,
"I will eat her with sauce made of Robert."
This poor man, knowing very well how dangerous it was to play tricks
with ogresses, took his great knife and went up into little Morning's
chamber. She was then four years old, and came up to him leaping and
laughing, to take him about the neck, and asked him for some
sugar-candy, on which he began to weep, and the knife fell out of his
hand; and he went into the back yard and killed a lamb, which he dressed
with such good sauce that his mistress assured him she had never eaten
anything so good in all her life.
He had at the same time taken up little Morning, and carried her to his
wife, in order that she might be concealed in a lodging which he had at
the bottom of the courtyard.
The queen's lascivious appetite (according to her own apprehensions)
being once humoured, she again began to long for another dainty bit.
Accordingly, a few days after, she called for the clerk of the kitchen,
and told him that she intended that night to sup out of little Day. He
answered never a word, being resolved to cheat her as he had done
before. He went to find little Day, and saw him with a foil in his hand,
with which he was fencing with a monkey, the child being but three years
old. He took him up in his arms and carried him to his wife, that she
might conceal him in her chamber, along with his sister; and, in the
room of little Day, cooked up a young kid very tender, which the ogress
praised as much as the former, saying it was wonderfully good.
All hitherto was mighty well; but a few evenings after this craving, the
ogress said to the clerk of the kitchen, "I will also eat the young
queen with the same sauce that I had with the children."
Now was the critical time, for the poor clerk despaired of being able to
deceive her.
The young queen was turned of twenty years of age, not counting the
hundred years she had been asleep. Though her skin was somewhat tough,
yet she was fair and beautiful: and how to find a beast in the yard so
firm that he might kill and cook to appease her canine appetite, was
what puzzled him greatly, and made him totally at a loss what to do.
He then took a resolution that he must save his own life, and cut the
queen's throat; and going into her chamber with an intent to do it at
once, he put himself into as great a fury as he could, went into the
queen's room with his dagger in his hand. However, his humanity would
not allow him to surprise her; but he told her, with a great deal of
respect, the orders he had received from the queen her mother.
"Do it," said she, stretching out her neck; "execute your orders, and I
shall go and see my children, whom I so dearly love." For she thought
them dead ever since they had been taken from her.
"No, fair princess!" cried the humane clerk of the kitchen, all in
tears; "you shall see your children again. But then you shall go with me
to my lodgings, where I have concealed them; and I shall deceive the
queen once more by giving her another young kid in your stead."
Upon this he forthwith conducted her to her chamber, where he left her
to embrace her children, and cry aloud with them; and he then went and
dressed a young kid, which the queen had for supper, and devoured it
with the same appetite as though it had been the young queen.
Now was she exceedingly delighted with this unheard of cruelty; and she
had invented a story to tell the king at his return how the mad wolves
had eaten up the queen, his wife, with her two children. One evening
some time after, as she was, according to her usual custom, rambling
about the court and yards of the palace to see if she could smell any
fresh meat, she heard, in a ground room, little Day crying, for his
mother was going to whip him because he had been guilty of some fault
and she heard at the same time little Morning soliciting pardon for her
brother.
The ogress presently knew the voice of the queen and her children, and
being quite in a rage to think she had been thus deceived, she commanded
the next morning, by break of day, in a most terrible voice, which made
every one tremble, that they should bring into the middle of the court a
very large tub, which she caused to be filled with toads, vipers,
snakes, and all sorts of serpents, in order to throw into it the queen
and her children, the clerk of the kitchen, his wife and maid: all of
whom she had given orders to have brought thither, with their hands tied
behind them, to suffer the vengeance of the incensed ogress.
They were brought out accordingly, and the executioners were going to
throw them into the tub, when the king fortunately entered the court in
his carriage, and asked with the utmost astonishment, what was meant by
this horrid spectacle, no one daring to tell him.
When the ogress saw what had happened, she fell into a violent passion,
and threw herself head foremost into the tub, and was instantly devoured
by the ugly creatures she had ordered to be thrown into it by others.
The king could not but grieve, being very sorry, for she was his mother;
but he soon comforted himself with his beautiful wife, and his two
pretty children. And after all things were settled, he well rewarded
the clerk of the kitchen for his wisdom, humanity, and compassion.
THE END.
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