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

standing by her side on the floor of the stable.

`Now you are mine!’ said he to the Princess.

`Now you can see that it is fated that she should be mine,’ he

said to the King.

`Yes, fated it is,’ said the King. `So what must be, must.’

Then everything was made ready for the wedding with great

splendour and promptitude, and the youth rode to church on

Dapplegrim, and the King’s daughter on the other horse. So everyone

must see that they could not be long on their way thither.[20]

[20] From J. Moe,

ONCE upon a time, in the reign of King Cambrinus, there lived at

Avesnes one of his lords, who was the finest man—by which I

mean the fattest—in the whole country of Flanders. He ate four

meals a day, slept twelve hours out of the twenty-four, and the only

thing he ever did was to shoot at small birds with his bow and

arrow.

Still, with all his practice he shot very badly, he was so fat and

heavy, and as he grew daily fatter, he was at last obliged to give up

walking, and be dragged about in a wheel-chair, and the people

made fun of him, and gave him the name of my Lord Tubby.

Now, the only trouble that Lord Tubby had was about his son,

whom he loved very much, although they were not in the least

alike, for the young Prince was as thin as a cuckoo. And what

vexed him more than all was, that though the young ladies throughout

all his lands did their best to make the Prince fall in love with

them, he would have nothing to say to any of them, and told his

father he did not wish to marry.

Instead of chatting with them in the dusk, he wandered about

the woods, whispering to the moon. No wonder the young ladies

thought him very odd, but they liked him all the better for that;

and as he had received at his birth the name of Desire, they all

called him d’Amour Desire.

`What is the matter with you?’ his father often said to him.

`You have everything you can possibly wish for: a good bed, good

food, and tuns full of beer. The only thing you want, in order to

become as fat as a pig, is a wife that can bring you broad, rich

lands. So marry, and you will be perfectly happy.’

`I ask nothing better than to marry,’ replied Desire, `but I have

never seen a woman that pleases me. All the girls here are pink

and white, and I am tired to death of their eternal lilie and roses.

`My faith!’ cried Tubby; `do you want to marry a negress,

and give me grandchildren as ugly as monkeys and as stupid as

owls?’

`No, father, nothing of the sort. But there must be women

somewhere in the world who are neither pink nor white, and I tell

you, once for all, that I will never marry until I have found one

exactly to my taste.’

Some time afterwards, it happened that the Prior of the Abbey

of Saint Amand sent to the Lord of Avesnes a basket of oranges, with

a beautifully-written letter saying that these golden fruit, then

unknown in Flanders, came straight from a land where the sun always

shone.

That evening Tubby and his son ate the golden apples at supper,

and thought them delicious.

Next morning as the day dawned, Desire went down to the

stable and saddled his pretty white horse. Then he went, all dressed

for a journey, to the bedside of Tubby, and found him smoking his

first pipe.

`Father,’ he said gravely, `I have come to bid you farewell.

Last night I dreamed that I was walking in a wood, where the

trees were covered with golden apples. I gathered one of them,

and when I opened it there came out a lovely princess with a

golden skin. That is the wife I want, and I am going to look for

her.’

The Lord of Avesnes was so much astonished that he let his pipe

fall to the ground; then he became so diverted at the notion of his

son marrying a yellow woman, and a woman shut up inside an

orange, that he burst into fits of laughter.

Desire waited to bid him good-bye until he was quiet again;

but as his father went on laughing and showed no signs of stopping,

the young man took his hand, kissed it tenderly, opened the door,

and in the twinkling of an eye was as at the bottom of the staircase.

He jumped lightly on his horse, and was a mile from home before

Tubby had ceased laughing.

`A yellow wife! He must be mad! fit for a strait waistcoat!’

cried the good man, when he was able to speak. `Here! quick!

bring him back to me.’

The servants mounted their horses and rode after the Prince;

but as they did not know which road he had taken, they went all

ways except the right one, and instead of bringing him back they

returned themselves when it grew dark, with their horses worn out

and covered with dust.

When Desire thought they could no longer catch him, he pulled

his horse into a walk, like a prudent man who knows he has far to

go. He travelled in this way for many weeks, passing by villages,

towns, mountains, valleys, and plains, but always pushing south,

where every day the sun seemed hotter and more brilliant.

At last one day at sunset Desire felt the sun so warm, that he

thought he must now be near the place of his dream. He was at

that moment close to the corner of a wood where stood a little hut,

before the door of which his horse stopped of his own accord. An

old man with a white beard was sitting on the doorstep enjoying

the fresh air. The Prince got down from his horse and asked leave

to rest.

`Come in, my young friend,’ said the old man; `my house is not

large, but it is big enough to hold a stranger.’

The traveller entered, and his host put before him a simple meal.

When his hunger was satisfied the old man said to him:

`If I do not mistake, you come from far. May I ask where you

are going?’

`I will tell you,’ answered Desire, `though most likely you will

laugh at me. I dreamed that in the land of the sun there was a

wood full of orange trees, and that in one of the oranges I should

find a beautiful princess who is to be my wife. It is she I am

seeking.’

`Why should I laugh?’ asked the old man. `Madness in youth

is true wisdom. Go, young man, follow your dream, and if you do

not find the happiness that you seek, at any rate you will have had

the happiness of seeking it.’

The next day the Prince arose early and took leave of his host.

`The wood that you saw in your dream is not far from here,’

said the old man. `It is in the depth of the forest, and this road

will lead you there. You will come to a vast park surrounded by

high walls. In the middle of the park is a castle, where dwells a

horrible witch who allows no living being to enter the doors.

Behind the castle is the orange grove. Follow the wall till you come

to a heavy iron gate. Don’t try to press it open, but oil the hinges

with this,’ and the old man gave him a small bottle.

`The gate will open of itself,’ he continued, `and a huge dog

which guards the castle will come to you with his mouth wide open,

but just throw him this oat cake. Next, you will see a baking

woman leaning over her heated oven. Give her this brush.

Lastly, you will find a well on your left; do not forget to take the

cord of the bucket and spread it in the sun. When you have done this,

do not enter the castle, but go round it and enter the orange grove.

Then gather three oranges, and get back to the gate as fast as you can.

Once out of the gate, leave the forest by the opposite side.

`Now, attend to this: whatever happens, do not open your oranges

till you reach the bank of a river, or a fountain. Out of each orange

will come a princess, and you can choose which you like for your

wife. Your choice once made, be very careful never to leave your

bride for an instant, and remember that the danger which is most

to be feared is never the danger we are most afraid of.’

Desire thanked his host warmly, and took the road he pointed

out. In less than an hour he arrived at the wall, which was very

high indeed. He sprang to the ground, fastened his horse to a tree,

and soon found the iron gate. Then he took out his bottle and oiled

the hinges, when the gate opened of itself, and he saw an old castle

standing inside. The Prince entered boldly into the courtyard.

Suddenly he heard fierce howls, and a dog as tall as a donkey,

with eyes like billiard balls, came towards him, showing his teeth,

which were like the prongs of a fork. Desire flung him the oat

cake, which the great dog instantly snapped up, and the young

Prince passed quietly on.

A few yards further he saw a huge oven, with a wide,

red-hot gaping mouth. A woman as tall as a giant was leaning

over the oven. Desire gave her the brush, which she took in

silence.

Then he went on to the well, drew up the cord, which was half

rotten, and stretched it out in the sun.

Lastly he went round the castle, and plunged into the orange

grove. There he gathered the three most beautiful oranges he could

find, and turned to go back to the gate.

But just at this moment the sun was darkened, the earth trembled,

and Desire heard a voice crying:

`Baker, baker, take him by his feet, and throw him into the oven!’

`No,’ replied the baker; `a long time has passed since I first

began to scour this oven with my own flesh. YOU never cared to

give me a brush; but he has given me one, and he shall go in peace.’

`Rope, O rope!’ cried the voice again, `twine yourself round

his neck and strangle him.’

`No,’ replied the rope; `you have left me for many years past

to fall to pieces with the damp. He has stretched me out in the

sun. Let him go in peace.’

`Dog, my good dog,’ cried the voice, more and more angry,

`jump at his throat and eat him up.’

`No,’ replied the dog; `though I have served you long, you never

gave me any bread. He has given me as much as I want. Let

him go in peace.’

`Iron gate, iron gate,’ cried the voice, growling like thunder,

`fall on him and grind him to powder.’

`No,’ replied the gate; `it is a hundred years since you left me

to rust, and he has oiled me. Let him go in peace.’

Once outside, the young adventurer put his oranges into a bag

that hung from