There was a King who had three daughters. When he died, his successor
proclaimed by the crier an 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.[FN#432] 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 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
caf⁄, and his sister remained secluded at home.
As the caf⁄ 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 caf⁄, 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 caf⁄ 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 caf⁄, 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 cost 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 lamiae 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 caf⁄, 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