The Red Fairy Book by Andrew Lang (interesting novels to read .txt) 📕

show how sorry he was.

The nurse restored to Rosette all her dresses and jewels, and the

bushel of gold pieces; the wedding was held at once, and they all

lived happily ever after—even to Frisk, who enjoyed the greatest

luxury, and never had anything worse than the wing of a partridge

for dinner all the rest of his life.[7]

[7] Madame d’Aulnoy.

ONCE upon a time there lived a King who had three daughters.

Now it happened that he had to go out to battle, so he called

his daughters and said to them:

`My dear children, I am obliged to go to the wars. The enemy

is approaching us with a large army. It is a great grief to me to

leave you all. During my absence take care of yourselves and be

good girls; behave well and look after everything in the house.

You may walk in the garden, and you may go into all the rooms

in the palace, except the room at the back in the right-hand

corner; into that you must not enter, for harm would befall you.’

`You may keep your mind easy, father,’ they replied. `We

have never been disobedient to you. Go in peace, and may heaven

give you a glorious victory!’

When everything was ready for his departure, the King gave

them the keys of all the rooms and reminded them once more of

what he had said. His daughters kissed his hands with tears in

their eyes, and wished him prosperity, and he gave the eldest the

keys.

Now when the girls found themselves alone they felt so sad and

dull that they did not know what to do. So, to pass the time, they

decided to work for part of the day, to read for part of the day, and

to enjoy themselves in the garden for part of the day. As long as

they did this all went well with them. But this happy state of

things did not last long. Every day they grew more and more

curious, and you will see what the end of that was.

`Sisters,’ said the eldest Princess, `all day long we sew, spin, and

read. We have been several days quite alone, and there is no

corner of the garden that we have not explored. We have been

in all the rooms of our father’s palace, and have admired the rich

and beautiful furniture: why should not we go into the room that

our father forbad us to enter?’

Sister,’ said the youngest, `I cannot think how you can tempt

us to break our father’s command. When he told us not to go into

that room he must have known what he was saying, and have had

a good reason for saying it.’

`Surely the sky won’t fall about our heads if we DO go in,’ said

the second Princess. `Dragons and such like monsters that would

devour us will not be hidden in the room. And how will our father

ever find out that we have gone in?’

While they were speaking thus, encouraging each other, they

had reached the room; the eldest fitted the key into the lock, and

snap! the door stood open.

The three girls entered, and what do you think they saw?

The room was quite empty, and without any ornament, but in

the middle stood a large table, with a gorgeous cloth, and on it lay

a big open book.

Now the Princesses were curious to know what was written in

the book, especially the eldest, and this is what she read:

`The eldest daughter of this King will marry a prince from the

East.’

Then the second girl stepped forward, and turning over the page

she read:

`The second daughter of this King will marry a prince from the

West.’

The girls were delighted, and laughed and teased each other.

But the youngest Princess did not want to go near the table or

to open the book. Her elder sisters however left her no peace, and

will she, nill she, they dragged her up to the table, and in fear and

trembling she turned over the page and read:

`The youngest daughter of this King will be married to a pig from

the North.’

Now if a thunderbolt had fallen upon her from heaven it would

not have frightened her more.

She almost died of misery, and if her sisters had not held her

up, she would have sunk to the ground and cut her head open.

When she came out of the fainting fit into which she had

fallen in her terror, her sisters tried to comfort her, saying:

`How can you believe such nonsense? When did it ever happen

that a king’s daughter married a pig?’

`What a baby you are!’ said the other sister; `has not our

father enough soldiers to protect you, even if the disgusting creature

did come to woo you?’

The youngest Princess would fain have let herself be convinced

by her sisters’ words, and have believed what they said, but her heart

was heavy. Her thoughts kept turning to the book, in which stood

written that great happiness waited her sisters, but that a fate was

in store for her such as had never before been known in the world.

Besides, the thought weighed on her heart that she had been

guilty of disobeying her father. She began to get quite ill, and in

a few days she was so changed that it was difficult to recognise her;

formerly she had been rosy and merry, now she was pale and

nothing gave her any pleasure. She gave up playing with her sisters

in the garden, ceased to gather flowers to put in her hair, and never

sang when they sat together at their spinning and sewing.

In the meantime the King won a great victory, and having

completely defeated and driven off the enemy, he hurried home to his

daughters, to whom his thoughts had constantly turned. Everyone

went out to meet him with cymbals and fifes and drums, and there

was great rejoicing over his victorious return. The King’s first act

on reaching home was to thank Heaven for the victory he had gained

over the enemies who had risen against him. He then entered his

palace, and the three Princesses stepped forward to meet him. His

joy was great when he saw that they were all well, for the youngest

did her best not to appear sad.

In spite of this, however, it was not long before the King noticed

that his third daughter was getting very thin and sad-looking. And

all of a sudden he felt as if a hot iron were entering his soul, for it

flashed through his mind that she had disobeyed his word. He felt

sure he was right; but to be quite certain he called his daughters to

him, questioned them, and ordered them to speak the truth. They

confessed everything, but took good care not to say which had led

the other two into temptation.

The King was so distressed when he heard it that he was almost

overcome by grief. But he took heart and tried to comfort his

daughters, who looked frightened to death. He saw that what had

happened had happened, and that a thousand words would not alter

matters by a hair’s-breadth.

Well, these events had almost been forgotten when one fine day

a prince from the East appeared at the Court and asked the King for

the hand of his eldest daughter. The King gladly gave his consent.

A great wedding banquet was prepared, and after three days of

feasting the happy pair were accompanied to the frontier with

much ceremony and rejoicing.

After some time the same thing befell the second daughter, who

was wooed and won by a prince from the West.

Now when the young Princess saw that everything fell out

exactly as had been written in the book, she grew very sad. She

refused to eat, and would not put on her fine clothes nor go out

walking, and declared that she would rather die than become a

laughing-stock to the world. But the King would not allow her to

do anything so wrong, and he comforted her in all possible ways.

So the time passed, till lo and behold! one fine day an enormous

pig from the North walked into the palace, and going straight

up to the King said, `Hail! oh King. May your life be as prosperous

and bright as sunrise on a clear day!’

`I am glad to see you well, friend,’ answered the King, `but

what wind has brought you hither?’

`I come a-wooing,’ replied the Pig.

Now the King was astonished to hear so fine a speech from a Pig,

and at once it occurred to him that something strange was the

matter. He would gladly have turned the Pig’s thoughts in another

direction, as he did not wish to give him the Princess for a wife; but

when he heard that the Court and the whole street were full of all

the pigs in the world he saw that there was no escape, and that he

must give his consent. The Pig was not satisfied with mere promises,

but insisted that the wedding should take place within a

week, and would not go away till the King had sworn a royal oath

upon it.

The King then sent for his daughter, and advised her to submit

to fate, as there was nothing else to be done. And he added:

`My child, the words and whole behaviour of this Pig are quite

unlike those of other pigs. I do not myself believe that he always

was a pig. Depend upon it some magic or witchcraft has been at

work. Obey him, and do everything that he wishes, and I feel sure

that Heaven will shortly send you release.’

`If you wish me to do this, dear father, I will do it,’ replied the

girl.

In the meantime the wedding-day drew near. After the marriage,

the Pig and his bride set out for his home in one of the royal

carriages. On the way they passed a great bog, and the Pig ordered

the carriage to stop, and got out and rolled about in the mire till

he was covered with mud from head to foot; then he got back

into the carriage and told his wife to kiss him. What was the

poor girl to do? She bethought herself of her father’s words, and,

pulling out her pocket handkerchief, she gently wiped the Pig’s

snout and kissed it.

By the time they reached the Pig’s dwelling, which stood in a

thick wood, it was quite dark. They sat down quietly for a little, as

they were tired after their drive; then they had supper together, and

lay down to rest. During the night the Princess noticed that the Pig

had changed into a man. She was not a little surprised, but

remembering her father’s words, she took courage, determined to

wait and see what would happen.

And now she noticed that every night the Pig became a man,

and every morning he was changed into a Pig before she awoke.

This happened several nights running, and the Princess could not

understand it at all. Clearly her husband must be bewitched. In

time she grew quite fond of him, he was so kind and gentle.

One fine day as she was sitting alone she saw an old witch go past.

She felt quite excited, as it was so long since she had seen a human

being, and she called out to the old woman to