Andrew Lang_Fairy Book 01 (39 page)

"I would return good for evil," he said to himself, "and
save the unhappy man's life." He had hardly wished
this when his iron cage flew open, and he rushed to the
side of the keeper, who was awake and was defending
himself against the tiger. When he saw the monster had
got out he gave himself up for lost, but his fear was soon
changed into joy, for the kind monster threw itself upon
the tiger and very soon killed it, and then came and
crouched at the feet of the man it had saved.

Overcome with gratitude, the keeper stooped to caress
the strange creature which had done him such a great
service; but suddenly a voice said in his ear:

"A good action should never go unrewarded," and at
the same instant the monster disappeared, and he saw
at his feet only a pretty little dog!

Prince Darling, delighted by the change, frisked about
the keeper, showing his joy in every way he could, and
the man, taking him up in his arms, carried him to the
King, to whom he told the whole story.

The Queen said she would like to have this wonderful
little dog, and the Prince would have been very happy
in his new home if he could have forgotten that he was a
man and a king. The Queen petted and took care of
him, but she was so afraid that he would get too fat that
she consulted the court physician, who said that he was
to be fed only upon bread, and was not to have much
even of that. So poor Prince Darling was terribly
hungry all day long, but he was very patient about it.

One day, when they gave him his little loaf for breakfast,
he thought he would like to eat it out in the garden;
so he took it up in his mouth and trotted away toward a
brook that he knew of a long way from the palace. But
he was surprised to find that the brook was gone, and
where it had been stood a great house that seemed to be
built of gold and precious stones. Numbers of people
splendidly dressed were going into it, and sounds of
music and dancing and feasting could be heard from the
windows.

But what seemed very strange was that those people
who came out of the house were pale and thin, and their
clothes were torn, and hanging in rags about them.
Some fell down dead as they came out before they had
time to get away; others crawled farther with great
difficulty; while others again lay on the ground, fainting
with hunger, and begged a morsel of bread from those
who were going into the house, but they would not so
much as look at the poor creatures.

Prince Darling went up to a young girl who was trying
to eat a few blades of grass, she was so hungry. Touched
with compassion, he said to himself:

"I am very hungry, but I shall not die of starvation
before I get my dinner; if I give my breakfast to this
poor creature perhaps I may save her life."

So he laid his piece of bread in the girl's hand, and saw
her eat it up eagerly.

She soon seemed to be quite well again, and the Prince,
delighted to have been able to help her, was thinking of
going home to the palace, when he heard a great outcry,
and, turning round, saw Celia, who was being carried
against her will into the great house.

For the first time the Prince regretted that he was no
longer the monster, then he would have been able to
rescue Celia; now he could only bark feebly at the people
who were carrying her off, and try to follow them, but
they chased and kicked him away.

He determined not to quit the place till he knew what
had become of Celia, and blamed himself for what had
befallen her.

"Alas!" he said to himself, "I am furious with the
people who are carrying Celia off, but isn't that exactly
what I did myself, and if I had not been prevented did I
not intend to be still more cruel to her?"

Here he was interrupted by a noise above his head—someone
was opening a window, and he saw with delight
that it was Celia herself, who came forward and threw
out a plate of most delicious-looking food, then the
window was shut again, and Prince Darling, who had not
had anything to eat all day, thought he might as well
take the opportunity of getting something. He ran
forward to begin, but the young girl to whom he had
given his bread gave a cry of terror and took him up in
her arms, saying:

"Don't touch it, my poor little dog—that house is the
palace of pleasure, and everything that comes out of it
is poisoned!"

At the same moment a voice said:

"You see a good action always brings its reward," and
the Prince found himself changed into a beautiful white
dove. He remembered that white was the favorite
color of the Fairy Truth, and began to hope that he
might at last win back her favor. But just now his
first care was for Celia, and rising into the air he flew
round and round the house, until he saw an open window;
but he searched through every room in vain. No trace
of Celia was to be seen, and the Prince, in despair,
determined to search through the world till he found her.
He flew on and on for several days, till he came to a
great desert, where he saw a cavern, and, to his delight,
there sat Celia, sharing the simple breakfast of an old
hermit.

Overjoyed to have found her, Prince Darling perched
upon her shoulder, trying to express by his caresses how
glad he was to see her again, and Celia, surprised and
delighted by the tameness of this pretty white dove,
stroked it softly, and said, though she never thought of
its understanding her:

"I accept the gift that you make me of yourself, and
I will love you always."

"Take care what you are saying, Celia," said the old
hermit; "are you prepared to keep that promise?"

"Indeed, I hope so, my sweet shepherdess," cried the
Prince, who was at that moment restored to his natural
shape. "You promised to love me always; tell me that
you really mean what you said, or I shall have to ask
the Fairy to give me back the form of the dove which
pleased you so much."

"You need not be afraid that she will change her
mind," said the Fairy, throwing off the hermit's robe in
which she had been disguised and appearing before them.

"Celia has loved you ever since she first saw you, only
she would not tell you while you were so obstinate and
naughty. Now you have repented and mean to be good
you deserve to be happy, and so she may love you as
much as she likes."

Celia and Prince Darling threw themselves at the
Fairy's feet, and the Prince was never tired of thanking
her for her kindness. Celia was delighted to hear how
sorry he was for all his past follies and misdeeds, and
promised to love him as long as she lived.

"Rise, my children," said the Fairy, "and I will
transport you to the palace, and Prince Darling shall have
back again the crown he forfeited by his bad behavior."

While she was speaking, they found themselves in
Suilman's hall, and his delight was great at seeing his
dear master once more. He gave up the throne joyfully
to the Prince, and remained always the most faithful
of his subjects.

Celia and Prince Darling reigned for many years, but
he was so determined to govern worthily and to do his
duty that his ring, which he took to wearing again, never
once pricked him severely.
[25]

There was a man who had fine houses, both in town
and country, a deal of silver and gold plate, embroidered
furniture, and coaches gilded all over with gold. But
this man was so unlucky as to have a blue beard, which
made him so frightfully ugly that all the women and
girls ran away from him.

One of his neighbors, a lady of quality, had two
daughters who were perfect beauties. He desired of
her one of them in marriage, leaving to her choice which
of the two she would bestow on him. They would
neither of them have him, and sent him backward and
forward from one another, not being able to bear the
thoughts of marrying a man who had a blue beard, and
what besides gave them disgust and aversion was his
having already been married to several wives, and nobody
ever knew what became of them.

Blue Beard, to engage their affection, took them, with
the lady their mother and three or four ladies of their
acquaintance, with other young people of the neighborhood,
to one of his country seats, where they stayed a
whole week.

There was nothing then to be seen but parties of
pleasure, hunting, fishing, dancing, mirth, and feasting.
Nobody went to bed, but all passed the night in rallying
and joking with each other. In short, everything
succeeded so well that the youngest daughter began to
think the master of the house not to have a beard so very
blue, and that he was a mighty civil gentleman.

As soon as they returned home, the marriage was
concluded. About a month afterward, Blue Beard told his
wife that he was obliged to take a country journey for
six weeks at least, about affairs of very great
consequence, desiring her to divert herself in his absence, to
send for her friends and acquaintances, to carry them
into the country, if she pleased, and to make good cheer
wherever she was.

"Here," said he, "are the keys of the two great
wardrobes, wherein I have my best furniture; these are of my
silver and gold plate, which is not every day in use; these
open my strong boxes, which hold my money, both gold
and silver; these my caskets of jewels; and this is the
master-key to all my apartments. But for this little
one here, it is the key of the closet at the end of the great
gallery on the ground floor. Open them all; go into all
and every one of them, except that little closet, which I
forbid you, and forbid it in such a manner that, if you
happen to open it, there's nothing but what you may
expect from my just anger and resentment."

She promised to observe, very exactly, whatever he
had ordered; when he, after having embraced her, got
into his coach and proceeded on his journey.

Her neighbors and good friends did not stay to be
sent for by the new married lady, so great was their
impatience to see all the rich furniture of her house, not
daring to come while her husband was there, because of
his blue beard, which frightened them. They ran
through all the rooms, closets, and wardrobes, which
were all so fine and rich that they seemed to surpass one
another.

After that they went up into the two great rooms,
where was the best and richest furniture; they could not
sufficiently admire the number and beauty of the tapestry,
beds, couches, cabinets, stands, tables, and looking-glasses,
in which you might see yourself from head to
foot; some of them were framed with glass, others with
silver, plain and gilded, the finest and most magnificent
ever were seen.

They ceased not to extol and envy the happiness of
their friend, who in the meantime in no way diverted
herself in looking upon all these rich things, because of
the impatience she had to go and open the closet on the
ground floor. She was so much pressed by her curiosity
that, without considering that it was very uncivil to
leave her company, she went down a little back staircase,
and with such excessive haste that she had twice
or thrice like to have broken her neck.

Coming to the closet-door, she made a stop for some
time, thinking upon her husband's orders, and considering
what unhappiness might attend her if she was
disobedient; but the temptation was so strong she could
not overcome it. She then took the little key, and
opened it, trembling, but could not at first see anything
plainly, because the windows were shut. After some
moments she began to perceive that the floor was all
covered over with clotted blood, on which lay the bodies
of several dead women, ranged against the walls. (These
were all the wives whom Blue Beard had married and
murdered, one after another.) She thought she should
have died for fear, and the key, which she pulled out of
the lock, fell out of her hand.

After having somewhat recovered her surprise, she
took up the key, locked the door, and went upstairs into
her chamber to recover herself; but she could not, she
was so much frightened. Having observed that the key
of the closet was stained with blood, she tried two or
three times to wipe it off, but the blood would not come
out; in vain did she wash it, and even rub it with soap
and sand; the blood still remained, for the key was
magical and she could never make it quite clean; when
the blood was gone off from one side, it came again on
the other.

Blue Beard returned from his journey the same evening,
and said he had received letters upon the road, informing
him that the affair he went about was ended to
his advantage. His wife did all she could to convince
him she was extremely glad of his speedy return.

Next morning he asked her for the keys, which she
gave him, but with such a trembling hand that he easily
guessed what had happened.

"What!" said he, "is not the key of my closet among the
rest?"

"I must certainly have left it above upon the table,"
said she.

"Fail not to bring it to me presently," said Blue
Beard.

After several goings backward and forward she was
forced to bring him the key. Blue Beard, having very
attentively considered it, said to his wife,

"How comes this blood upon the key?"

"I do not know," cried the poor woman, paler than
death.

"You do not know!" replied Blue Beard. "I very well
know. You were resolved to go into the closet, were
you not? Mighty well, madam; you shall go in, and
take your place among the ladies you saw there."

Upon this she threw herself at her husband's feet, and
begged his pardon with all the signs of true repentance,
vowing that she would never more be disobedient. She
would have melted a rock, so beautiful and sorrowful
was she; but Blue Beard had a heart harder than any
rock!

"You must die, madam," said he, "and that presently."