"Ass'-skin; she wished to go and see it."
The king goes to where Faithful was and gives her two blows with his
slipper, saying to her:
"If you return there again I will kill you on the spot."
The next day Ass'-skin goes with her geese, and there appears to her
again the old woman. She tells her that she ought to go to the ball
again this evening--that her mistress would give her permission. "Here
is a walnut; you have there all that is necessary to dress yourself
with. The king will ask you your name--Braf-le-mandoufle." [152]
In the evening she asks permission of her mistress, but she is
astonished (at her asking), and says to her:
"You do not know what the king has said--that if he catches you he
will kill you on the spot?"
"I am not afraid. He will be sure not to catch me."
"Go, then."
She goes off, and on the way she breaks the walnut, and there comes
out of it a golden robe. She goes in. The king comes with a thousand
compliments, and asks her how she had escaped the evening before
without saying anything to him, and that he had been very much hurt
at it.
They amuse themselves thoroughly. The king has eyes for her alone. He
asks her her name. She tells him, "Braf-le-mandoufle." They feast
themselves well, and some friends having called to him he goes to them,
and the young lady escapes.
Ass'-skin goes to tell the queen that yesterday evening's young lady
had come, but still more beautiful--that she had escaped in the very
middle of the ball. She goes off to her geese. The king comes to his
house. His mother says to him:
"She came then, the young lady you love? but she only loves you so-so,
since she has gone off in this fashion."
"Who told you that?"
"Ass'-skin."
He goes off to her and gives her two kicks with his slipper, and says
to her:
"Woe to you if you go there again; I will kill you on the very spot."
She goes off to her geese, and the old woman comes to her again and
tells her to ask permission again for this evening--that she must go
to the dance. She gives her a peach, and tells her that she will have
there all that is necessary to dress herself with. She goes then to
ask her mistress if she will give her permission, like last night,
to go to the ball. She says to her:
"Yes, yes, I will give you leave. But are you not afraid lest the king
should catch you? He has said that he will kill you if you go there."
"I am not afraid, because I am sure that he will not catch
me. Yesterday he looked for me again, but he could not catch me."
She goes off then. On the way she opens her peach, and finds there
a dress entirely of diamonds, and if she was beautiful before,
judge what she is now! She shone like the sun. The king was plunged
into joy when he saw her. He was in an ecstasy. He did not wish
to dance, but they sat down at their ease on beautiful arm-chairs,
and with their refreshments before them they passed such a long time
together. The king asked her to give him her promise of marriage. The
young lady gives him her word, and the king takes his diamond ring
off his finger and gives it to her. His friends call him away to
come quickly to see something very rare, and off he goes, leaving
his lady. She takes advantage of this opportunity to escape. [153]
She tells her mistress all that has passed--how that this young lady
had come with a dress of diamonds, that all the world was dazzled
by her beauty, that they could not even look at her she shone so
brightly, that the king did not know where he was for happiness,
that they had given each other their promise of marriage, and that
the king had given her his diamond ring, but that the best thing of
all was that to-day again she has escaped him.
The king comes in at that very instant. His mother says to him:
"She has not, she certainly has not, any wish for you. She has gone
off with your diamond ring. Where will you go and look for her? You do
not know where she lives. Where will you ask for a young lady who has
such a name as 'Braf-le-mandoufle!' She has given you her promise of
marriage too; but she does not wish to have you, since she has acted
like that."
Our king did not even ask his mother who has told her that. He went
straight to bed thoroughly ill, and so Ass'-skin did not have her
two kicks that evening.
The queen was in great trouble at seeing her son ill like that. She
was continually turning over in her head who this young lady might
be. She said to her son, "Is this young lady our Ass'-skin? How else
could she have known that you had given your promise to one another,
and that you had given her the ring too? She must have been very
close to you. Did you see her?"
He says, "No," but remains buried in thought.