A great king of a land far away in
the East had a daughter who was very beautiful, but so proud, and haughty,
and conceited, that none of the princes who came to ask her in marriage was
good enough for her, and she only made sport of them.
Once upon a time the king held a
great feast, and asked thither all her suitors; and they all sat in a row,
ranged according to their rank --kings, and princes, and dukes, and earls,
and counts, and barons, and knights. Then the princess came in, and as she
passed by them she had something spiteful to say to every one. The first was
too fat: 'He's as round as a tub,' said she. The next was too tall: 'What a
maypole!' said she. The next was too short: 'What a dumpling!' said she. The
fourth was too pale, and she called him 'Wallface.' The fifth was too red,
so she called him 'Coxcomb.' The sixth was not straight enough; so she said
he was like a green stick, that had been laid to dry over a baker's oven.
And thus she had some joke to crack upon every one: but she laughed more
than all at a good king who was there. 'Look at him,' said she; 'his beard
is like an old mop; he shall be called Grisly-beard.' So the king got the
nickname of Grisly-beard.
But the old king was
very angry when he saw how his daughter behaved, and how she
ill-treated all his guests; and he vowed that, willing or
unwilling, she should marry the first man, be he prince or
beggar, that came to the door.
Two days after there
came by a travelling fiddler, who began to play under the window
and beg alms; and when the king heard him, he said, 'Let him
come in.' So they brought in a dirty-looking fellow; and when he
had sung before the king and the princess, he begged a boon.
Then the king said, 'You have sung so well, that I will give you
my daughter for your wife.' The princess begged and prayed; but
the king said, 'I have sworn to give you to the first comer, and
I will keep my word.' So words and tears were of no avail; the
parson was sent for, and she was married to the fiddler. When
this was over the king said, 'Now get ready to go--you must not
stay here--you must travel on with your husband.'
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Then the fiddler went
his way, and took her with him, and they soon came to a great
wood. 'Pray,' said she, 'whose is this wood?' 'It belongs to
King Grisly-beard,' answered he; 'hadst thou taken him, all had
been thine.' 'Ah! unlucky wretch that I am!' sighed she; 'would
that I had married King Grisly-beard!'
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Next they came to some
fine meadows. 'Whose are these beautiful green meadows?' said
she. 'They belong to King Grisly-beard, hadst thou taken him,
they had all been thine.' 'Ah! unlucky wretch that I am!' said
she; 'would that I had married King Grisly-beard!'
Then they came to a
great city. 'Whose is this noble city?' said she. 'It belongs to
King Grisly-beard; hadst thou taken him, it had all been thine.'
'Ah! wretch that I am!' sighed she; 'why did I not marry King
Grisly-beard?' 'That is no business of mine,' said the fiddler:
'why should you wish for another husband? Am not I good enough
for you?'
At last they came to a
small cottage. 'What a paltry place!' said she; 'to whom does
that little dirty hole belong?' Then the fiddler said, 'That is
your and my house, where we are to live.' 'Where are your
servants?' cried she. 'What do we want with servants?' said he;
'you must do for yourself whatever is to be done. Now make the
fire, and put on water and cook my supper, for I am very tired.'
But the princess knew nothing of making fires and cooking, and
the fiddler was forced to help her. When they had eaten a very
scanty meal they went to bed; but the fiddler called her up very
early in the morning to clean the house. Thus they lived for two
days: and when they had eaten up all there was in the cottage,
the man said, 'Wife, we can't go on thus, spending money and
earning nothing. You must learn to weave baskets.' Then he went
out and cut willows, and brought them home, and she began to
weave; but it made her fingers very sore. 'I see this work won't
do,' said he: 'try and spin; perhaps you will do that better.'
So she sat down and tried to spin; but the threads cut her
tender fingers till the blood ran. 'See now,' said the fiddler,
'you are good for nothing; you can do no work: what a bargain I
have got! However, I'll try and set up a trade in pots and pans,
and you shall stand in the market and sell them.' 'Alas!' sighed
she, 'if any of my father's court should pass by and see me
standing in the market, how they will laugh at me! |
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But her husband did not care for
that, and said she must work, if she did not wish to die of hunger. At first
the trade went well; for many people, seeing such a beautiful woman, went to
buy her wares, and paid their money without thinking of taking away the
goods. They lived on this as long as it lasted; and then her husband bought
a fresh lot of ware, and she sat herself down with it in the corner of the
market; but a drunken soldier soon came by, and rode his horse against her
stall, and broke all her goods into a thousand pieces. Then she began to
cry, and knew not what to do. 'Ah! what will become of me?' said she; 'what
will my husband say?' So she ran home and told him all.
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'Who would have
thought you would have been so silly,' said he, 'as to put an earthenware
stall in the corner of the market, where everybody passes? but let us have
no more crying; I see you are not fit for this sort of work, so I have been
to the king's palace, and asked if they did not want a kitchen-maid; and
they say they will take you, and there you will have plenty to eat.'
Thus the princess became a
kitchen-maid, and helped the cook to do all the dirtiest work; but she was
allowed to carry home some of the meat that was left, and on this they
lived.
She had not been there long before
she heard that the king's eldest son was passing by, going to be married;
and she went to one of the windows and looked out. Everything was ready, and
all the pomp and brightness of the court was there. Then she bitterly
grieved for the pride and folly which had brought her so low. And the
servants gave her some of the rich meats, which she put into her basket to
take home.
All on a sudden, as she was going
out, in came the king's son in golden clothes; and when he saw a beautiful
woman at the door, he took her by the hand, and said she should be his
partner in the dance; but she trembled for fear, for she saw that it was
King Grisly-beard, who was making sport of her. However, he kept fast hold,
and led her in; and the cover of the basket came off, so that the meats in
it fell about. Then everybody laughed and jeered at her; and she was so
abashed, that she wished herself a thousand feet deep in the earth. She
sprang to the door to run away; but on the steps King Grisly-beard overtook
her, and brought her back and said, 'Fear me not! I am the fiddler who has
lived with you in the hut. I brought you there because I really loved you. I
am also the soldier that overset your stall. I have done all this only to
cure you of your silly pride, and to show you the folly of your
ill-treatment of me. Now all is over: you have learnt wisdom, and it is time
to hold our marriage feast.'
Then the chamberlains came and
brought her the most beautiful robes; and her father and his whole court
were there already, and welcomed her home on her marriage. Joy was in every
face and every heart. The feast was grand; they danced and sang; all were
merry; and I only wish that you and I had been of the party.
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