Suddenly a voice came from under the table, where the bear had rolled
itself, as was its wont: 'Let me come to the ball; I, too, would like to
dance.'
But the only answer the prince made was to give the bear a kick, and to
drive it out of the room.
[Illustration: The Prince Kicks The Bear Out Of The Room]
In the evening the prince set off for the ball. As soon as he had
started, the bear came to the queen and implored to be allowed to go to
the ball, saying that she would hide herself so well that no one would
know she was there. The kind-hearted queen could not refuse her.
Then the bear ran to her barrow, threw off her bear's skin, and touched
it with the magic wand that the witch had given her. In a moment the
skin was changed into an exquisite ball dress woven out of moon-beams,
and the wheel-barrow was changed into a carriage drawn by two prancing
steeds. Stepping into the carriage the princess drove to the grand
entrance of the palace. When she entered the ball-room, in her wondrous
dress of moon-beams, she looked so lovely, so different from all the
other guests, that everyone wondered who she was, and no one could tell
where she had come from.
From the moment he saw her, the prince fell desperately in love with
her, and all the evening he would dance with no one else but the
beautiful stranger.
When the ball was over, the princess drove away in her carriage at full
speed, for she wished to get home in time to change her ball dress into
the bear's skin, and the carriage into the wheel-barrow, before anyone
discovered who she was.
The prince, putting spurs into his horse, rode after her, for he was
determined not to let her out of his sight. But suddenly a thick mist
arose and hid her from him. When he reached his home he could talk to
his mother of nothing else but the beautiful stranger with whom he had
danced so often, and with whom he was so much in love. And the bear
beneath the table smiled to itself, and muttered: 'I am the beautiful
stranger; oh, how I have taken you in!'
The next evening there was a second ball, and, as you may believe, the
prince was determined not to miss it, for he thought he would once more
see the lovely girl, and dance with her and talk to her, and make her
talk to him, for at the first ball she had never opened her lips.
And, sure enough, as the music struck up the first dance, the beautiful
stranger entered the room, looking even more radiant than the night
before, for this time her dress was woven out of the rays of the sun.
All evening the prince danced with her, but she never spoke a word.
When the ball was over he tried once more to follow her carriage, that
he might know whence she came, but suddenly a great waterspout fell from
the sky, and the blinding sheets of rain hid her from his sight.
When he reached his home he told his mother that he had again seen the
lovely girl, and that this time she had been even more beautiful than
the night before. And again the bear smiled beneath the table, and
muttered: 'I have taken him in a second time, and he has no idea that I
am the beautiful girl with whom he is so much in love.'
On the next evening, the prince returned to the palace for the third
ball. And the princess went too, and this time she had changed her
bear's skin into a dress woven out of the starlight, studded all over
with gems, and she looked so dazzling and so beautiful, that everyone
wondered at her, and said that no one so beautiful had ever been seen
before. And the prince danced with her, and, though he could not induce
her to speak, he succeeded in slipping a ring on her finger.
When the ball was over, he followed her carriage, and rode at such a
pace that for long he kept it in sight. Then suddenly a terrible wind
arose between him and the carriage, and he could not overtake it.
When he reached his home he said to his mother, 'I do not know what is
to become of me; I think I shall go mad, I am so much in love with that
girl, and I have no means of finding out who she is. I danced with her
and I gave her a ring, and yet I do not know her name, nor where I am to
find her.'
Then the bear laughed beneath the table and muttered to itself.
And the prince continued: 'I am tired to death. Order some soup to be
made for me, but I don't want that bear to meddle with it. Every time I
speak of my love the brute mutters and laughs, and seems to mock at me.
I hate the sight of the creature!'
When the soup was ready, the bear brought it to the prince; but before
handing it to him, she dropped into the plate the ring the prince had
given her the night before at the ball. The prince began to eat his soup
very slowly and languidly, for he was sad at heart, and all his thoughts
were busy, wondering how and where he could see the lovely stranger
again. Suddenly he noticed the ring at the bottom of the plate. In a
moment he recognised it, and was dumb with surprise.
Then he saw the bear standing beside him, looking at him with gentle,
beseeching eyes, and something in the eyes of the bear made him say:
'Take off that skin, some mystery is hidden beneath it.'
And the bear's skin dropped off, and the beautiful girl stood before
him, in the dress woven out of the starlight, and he saw that she was
the stranger with whom he had fallen so deeply in love. And now she
appeared to him a thousand times more beautiful than ever, and he led
her to his mother. And the princess told them her story, and how she had
been kept shut up by her father in his palace, and how she had wearied
of her imprisonment. And the prince's mother loved her, and rejoiced
that her son should have so good and beautiful a wife.
So they were married, and lived happily for many years, and reigned
wisely over their kingdom.
_THE SUNCHILD_
Once there was a woman who had no children, and this made her very
unhappy. So she spoke one day to the Sunball, saying: 'Dear Sunball,
send me only a little girl now, and when she is twelve years old you may
take her back again.'
So soon after this the Sunball sent her a little girl, whom the woman
called Letiko, and watched over with great care till she was twelve
years old. Soon after that, while Letiko was away one day gathering
herbs, the Sunball came to her, and said: 'Letiko, when you go home,
tell your mother that she must bethink herself of what she promised me.'
Then Letiko went straight home, and said to her mother: 'While I was
gathering herbs a fine tall gentleman came to me and charged me to tell
you that you should remember what you promised him.'
When the woman heard that she was sore afraid, and immediately shut all
the doors and windows of the house, stopped up all the chinks and holes,
and kept Letiko hidden away, that the Sunball should not come and take
her away. But she forgot to close up the keyhole, and through it the
Sunball sent a ray into the house, which took hold of the little girl
and carried her away to him.
One day, the Sunball having sent her to the straw shed to fetch straw,
the girl sat down on the piles of straw and bemoaned herself, saving:
'As sighs this straw under my feet so sighs my heart after my mother.'
And this caused her to be so long away that the Sunball asked her, when
she came back: 'Eh, Letiko, where have you been so long?'