THE RED FAIRY BOOK Edited by ANDREW LANG
CONTENTS:
The Twelve Dancing Princesses. . . . . . 1
The Princess Mayblossom. . . . . . . . .13
Soria Moria Castle . . . . . . . . . . .30
The Death of Koschei the Deathless. . . 42
The Black Thief and Knight of the Glen. 54
The Master Thief . . . . . . . . . . . .67
Brother and Sister . . . . . . . . . . .82
Princess Rosette . . . . . . . . . . . .89
The Enchanted Pig. . . . . . . . . . . 104
The Norka. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
The Wonderful Birch. . . . . . . . . . 123
Jack and the Beanstalk . . . . . . . . 133
The Little Good Mouse. . . . . . . . . 146
Graciosa and Percinet. . . . . . . . . 158
The Three Princesses of Whiteland. . . 175
The Voice of Death . . . . . . . . . . 182
The Six Sillies. . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Kari Woodengown. . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Drakestail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
The Ratcatcher . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
The True History of Little Goldenhood .215
The Golden Branch. . . . . . . . . . . 220
The Three Dwarfs . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Dapplegrim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
The Enchanted Canary . . . . . . . . . 257
The Twelve Brothers. . . . . . . . . . 274
Rapunzel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
The Nettle Spinner . . . . . . . . . . 286
Farmer Weatherbeard. . . . . . . . . . 294
Mother Holle . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Minnikin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Bushy Bride. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
Snowdrop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
The Golden Goose . . . . . . . . . . . 340
The Seven Foals. . . . . . . . . . . . 346
The Marvellous Musician. . . . . . . . 354
The Story of Sigurd. . . . . . . . . . 357
* * *
PLATES
The Twelve Princesses quit the Castle by the secret staircase. . . . . . . . . Frontispiece
Father Lawrence, conceiving himself to be addressed by an Angel, falls on his knees before himTo face page 76
Drakestail, with his friends stowed away in his gizzard, demands speech of the King . . . . . . . . 204
The sleeping King, guided by his attendants, cuts the finger of the beautiful Maiden . . . . . . 328
* * *
* * *
* * *
-1-
THE TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES
I
ONCE upon a time there lived in the village of Montignies-sur- Roc a little cow-boy, without either father or mother. His real name was Michael, but he was always called the Star Gazer, because when he drove his cows over the commons to seek for pasture, he went along with his head in the air, gaping at nothing.
As he had a white skin, blue eyes, and hair that curled all over his head, the village girls used to cry after him, ‘Well, Star Gazer, what are you doing?’ and Michael would answer, ‘Oh, nothing,’ and go on his way without even turning to look at them.
The fact was he thought them very ugly, with their sun-burnt necks, their great red hands, their coarse petticoats and their wooden shoes. He had heard that somewhere in the world there were girls whose necks were white and whose hands were small, who were always dressed in the finest silks and laces, and were called princesses, and while his companions round the fire saw nothing in the flames but common everyday fancies, he dreamed that he had the happiness to marry a princess.
II
One morning about the middle of August, just at mid-day when the sun was hottest, Michael ate his dinner of a piece of dry bread, and went to sleep under an oak. And while he slept he dreamt that there appeared before him a beautiful lady, dressed in a robe of cloth of gold, who said to him: ‘Go to the castle of Beloeil, and there you shall marry a princess.’
That evening the little cow-boy, who had been thinking a great deal about the advice of the lady in the golden dress, told his dream to the farm people. But, as was natural, they only laughed at the Star Gazer.
* * *
-2-
The next day at the same hour he went to sleep again under the same tree. The lady appeared to him a second time, and said: ‘Go to the castle of Beloeil, and you shall marry a princess.’
In the evening Michael told his friends that he had dreamed the same dream again, but they only laughed at him more than before. ‘Never mind,’ he thought to himself; ‘if the lady appears to me a third time, I will do as she tells me.’
The following day, to the great astonishment of all the village, about two o’clock in the afternoon a voice was heard singing:
‘Raleô, raleô,
How the cattle go!’
It was the little cow-boy driving his herd back to the byre.
The farmer began to scold him furiously, but he answered quietly, ‘I am going away,’ made his clothes into a bundle, said good-bye to all his friends, and boldly set out to seek his fortunes.
There was great excitement through all the village, and on the top of the hill the people stood holding their sides with laughing, as they watched the Star Gazer trudging bravely along the valley with his bundle at the end of his stick.
It was enough to make anyone laugh, certainly.
III
It was well known for full twenty miles round that there lived in the castle of Beloeil twelve princesses of wonderful beauty, and as proud as they were beautiful, and who were besides so very sensitive and of such truly royal blood, that they would have felt at once the presence of a pea in their beds, even if the mattresses had been laid over it.
It was whispered about that they led exactly the lives that princesses ought to lead, sleeping far into the morning, and never getting up till mid-day. They had twelve beds all in the same room, but what was very extraordinary was the fact that though they were locked in by triple bolts, every morning their satin shoes were found worn into holes.
When they were asked what they had been doing all night, they always answered that they had been asleep; and, indeed, no noise was ever heard in the room, yet the shoes could not wear themselves out alone!
At last the Duke of Beloeil ordered the trumpet to be sounded,
* * *
-3-
and a proclamation to be made that whoever could discover how his daughters wore out their shoes should choose one of them for his wife.
On hearing the proclamation a number of princes arrived at the castle to try their luck. They watched all night behind the open door of the princesses, but when the morning came they had all disappeared, and no one could tell what had become of them.
IV
When he reached the castle, Michael went straight to the gardener and offered his services. Now it happened that the garden boy had just been sent away, and though the Star Gazer did not look very sturdy, the gardener agreed to take him, as he thought that his pretty face and golden curls would please the princesses.
The first thing he was told was that when the princesses got up he was to present each one with a bouquet, and Michael thought that if he had nothing more unpleasant to do than that he should get on very well.
Accordingly he placed himself behind the door of the princesses’ room, with the twelve bouquets in a basket. He gave one to each of the sisters, and they took them without even deigning to look at the lad, except Lina the youngest, who fixed her large black eyes as soft as velvet on him, and exclaimed, ‘Oh, how pretty he is — our new flower boy!’ The rest all burst out laughing, and the eldest pointed out that a princess ought never to lower herself by looking at a garden boy.