The Blue Fairy Book

by Andrew Lang

  In the evening, when everyone was to appear before the King and Princess, in order that he who had the golden apple might show it, one knight went in after the other, but none of them had a golden apple to show.

  At night the two brothers went home as they had done the night before, and told how things had gone, and how everyone had ridden, but no one had been able to get up the hill. ‘But last of all,’ they said, ‘came one in silver armour, and he had a silver bridle on his horse, and a silver saddle, and oh, but he could ride! He took his horse two-thirds of the way up the hill, but then he turned back. He was a fine fellow,’ said the brothers, ‘and the Princess threw the second golden apple to him! ’

  ‘Oh, how I should have liked to see him too!’ said Cinderlad.

  ‘Oh, indeed! He was a little brighter than the ashes that you sit grubbing among, you dirty black creature!’ said the brothers.

  On the third day everything went just as on the former days. Cinderlad wanted to go with them to look at the riding, but the two brothers would not have him in their company, and when they got to the glass hill there was no one who could ride even so far as a yard up it, and everyone waited for the knight in silver armour, but he was neither to be seen nor heard of. At last, after a long time, came a knight riding upon a horse that was such a fine one, its equal had never yet been seen. The knight had golden armour, and the horse a golden saddle and bridle, and these were all so bright that they shone and dazzled everyone, even while the knight was still at a great distance. The other princes and knights were not able even to call to tell him how useless it was to try to ascend the hill, so amazed were they at the sight of his magnificence. He rode straight away to the glass hill, and galloped up it as if it were no hill at all, so that the Princess had not even time to wish that he might get up the whole way. As soon as he had ridden to the top, he took the third golden apple from the lap of the Princess, and then turned his horse about and rode down again, and vanished from their sight before anyone was able to say a word to him.

  When the two brothers came home again at night, they had much to tell of how the riding had gone off that day, and at last they told about the knight in the golden armour too. He was a fine fellow, that was! Such another splendid knight is not to be found on earth!’ said the brothers.

  ‘Oh, how I should have liked to see him too! ’ said Cinderlad.

  ‘Well, he shone nearly as brightly as the coal-heaps that thou art always lying raking amongst, dirty black creature that thou art! ’ said the brothers.

  Next day all the knights and princes were to appear before the King and the Princess—it had been too late for them to do it the night before—in order that-he who had the golden apple might produce it. They all went in turn, first princes, and then knights, but none of them had a golden apple.

  ‘But somebody must have it,’ said the King, ‘ for with our own eyes we all saw a man ride up and take it. So he commanded that everyone in the kingdom should come to the palace, and see if he could show the apple. And one after the other they all came, but no one had the golden apple, and after a long, long time Cinderlad’s two brothers came likewise. They were the last of all, so the King inquired of them if there was no one else in the kingdom left to come.

  ‘ Oh ! yes, we have a brother,’ said the two,‘ but he never got the golden apple! He never left the cinder-heap on any of the three days.’

  ‘Never mind that,’ said the King; ‘ as everyone else has come to the palace, let him come too.’

  So Cinderlad was forced to go to the King’s palace.

  ‘Hast thou the golden apple?’ asked the King.

  ‘ Yes, here is the first, and here is the second, and here is the third, too,’ said Cinderlad, and he took all the three apples out of his pocket, and with that threw off his sooty rags, and appeared there before them in his bright golden armour, which gleamed as he stood.

  ‘Thou shalt have my daughter, and the half of my kingdom, and thou hast well earned both ! ’ said the King. So there was a wedding, and Cinderlad got the King’s daughter, and everyone made merry at the wedding, for all of them could make merry, though they could not ride up the glass hill, and if they have not left off their merry-making they must be at it still.28

  THE STORY OF PRINCE AHMED AND THE FAIRY PARIBANOU

  THERE was a sultan, who had three sons and a niece. The eldest of the Princes was called Houssain, the second Ali, the youngest Ahmed, and the Princess, his niece, Nouronnihar.

  The Princess Nouronnihar was the daughter of the younger brother of the Sultan, who died, and left the Princess very young. The Sultan took upon himself the care of his daughter’s education, and brought her up in his palace with the three Princes, proposing to marry her when she arrived at a proper age, and to contract an alliance with some neighbouring prince by that means. But when he perceived that the three Princes his sons loved her passionately, he thought more seriously on that affair. He was very much concerned; the difficulty he foresaw was to make them agree, and that the two youngest should consent to yield her up to their elder brother. As he found them positively obstinate, he sent for them all together, and said to them: Children, since for your good and quiet I have not been able to persuade you no longer to aspire to the Princess, your cousin, I think it would not be amiss if every one travelled separately into different countries, so that you might not meet each other. And, as you know I am very curious, and delight in everything that’s singular, I promise my niece in marriage to him that shall bring me the most extraordinary rarity; and for the purchase of the rarity you shall go in search after, and the expense of travelling, I will give you every one a sum of money.’

  As the three Princes were always submissive and obedient to the Sultan’s will, and each flattered himself fortune might prove favourable to him, they all consented to it. The Sultan paid them the money he promised them; and that very day they gave orders for the preparations for their travels, and took their leaves of the Sultan, that they might be the more ready to go the next morning. Accordingly they all set out at the same gate of the city, each dressed like a merchant, attended by an officer of confidence dressed like a slave, and all well mounted and equipped. They went the first day’s journey together, and lay all at an inn, where the road was divided into three different tracts. At night, when they were at supper together, they all agreed to travel for a year, and to meet at that inn; and that the first that came should wait for the rest; that, as they had all three taken their leaves together of the Sultan, they might all return together. The next morning by break of day, after they had embraced and wished each other good success, they mounted their horses and took each a different road.

  Prince Houssain, the eldest brother, arrived at Bisnagar, the capital of the kingdom of that name, and the residence of its king. He went and lodged at a khan appointed for foreign merchants; and, having learnt that there were four principal divisions where merchants of all sorts sold their commodities, and kept shops, and in the midst of which stood the castle, or rather the King’s palace, he went to one of these divisions the next day.

  Prince Houssain could not view this division without admiration. It was large, and divided into several streets, all vaulted and shaded from the sun, and yet very light too. The shops were all of a size, and all that dealt in the same sort of goods lived in one street; as also the handicrafts-men, who kept their shops in the smaller streets.

  The multitude of shops, stocked with all sorts of merchandises, as the finest linens from several parts of India, some painted in the most lively colours, and representing beasts, trees, and flowers; silks and brocades from Persia, China, and other places, porcelain both from Japan and China, and tapestries, surprised him so much that he knew not how to believe his own eyes; but when he came to the goldsmiths and jewellers he was in a kind of ecstacy to behold such prodigious quantities of wrought gold and silver, and was dazzled by the lustre of the pearls, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and other jewels exposed to sale.

  Anothe
r thing Prince Houssain particularly admired was the great number of rose-sellers who crowded the streets; for the Indians are so great lovers of that flower that not one will stir without a nosegay in his hand or a garland on his head; and the merchants keep them in pots in their shops, that the air is perfectly perfumed.

  After Prince Houssain had run through that division, street by street, his thoughts fully employed on the riches he had seen, he was very much tired, which a merchant perceiving civilly invited him to sit down in his shop, and he accepted; but had not been sat down long before he saw a crier pass by with a piece of tapestry on his arm, about six feet square, and cried at thirty purses. The Prince called to the crier, and asked to see the tapestry, which seemed to him to be valued at an exorbitant price, not only for the size of it, but the meanness of the stuff; when he had examined it well, he told the crier that he could not comprehend how so small a piece of tapestry, and of so indifferent appearance, could be set at so high a price.

  The crier, who took him for a merchant replied: ‘ If this price seems so extravagant to you, your amazement will be greater when I tell you I have orders to raise it to forty purses, and not to part with it under.’ ‘Certainly,’ answered Prince Houssain, ‘it must have something very extraordinary in it, which I know nothing of.’ ‘You have guessed it, sir,’ replied the crier, ‘ and will own it when you come to know that whoever sits on this piece of tapestry may be transported in an instant wherever he desires to be, without being stopped by any obstacle.’

  At this discourse of the crier the Prince of the Indies, considering that the principal motive of his travel was to carry the Sultan, his father, home some singular rarity, thought that he could not meet with any which could give him more satisfaction. ‘If the tapestry,’ said he to the crier, ‘has the virtue you assign it, I shall not think forty purses too much, but shall make you a present besides.’ ‘Sir,’ replied the crier, ‘I have told you the truth; and it is an easy matter to convince you of it, as soon as you have made the bargain for forty purses, on condition I show you the experiment. But, as I suppose you have not so much about you, and to receive them I must go with you to your khan, where you lodge, with the leave of the master of the shop, we will go into the back shop, and I will spread the tapestry; and when we have both sat down, and you have formed the wish to be transported into your apartment of the khan, if we are not transported thither it shall be no bargain, and you shall be at your liberty. As to your present, though I am paid for my trouble by the seller, I shall receive it as a favour, and be very much obliged to you, and thankful.’

  On the credit of the crier, the Prince accepted the conditions, and concluded the bargain; and, having got the master’s leave, they went into his back shop; they both sat down on it, and as soon as the Prince formed his wish to be transported into his apartment at the khan he presently found himself and the crier there; and, as he wanted not a more sufficient proof of the virtue of the tapestry, he counted the crier out forty purses of gold, and gave him twenty pieces for himself.

  In this manner Prince Houssain became the possessor of the tapestry, and was overjoyed that at his arrival at Bisnagar he had found so rare a piece, which he never disputed would gain him the hand of Nouronnihar. In short, he looked upon it as an impossible thing for the Princes his younger brothers to meet with anything to be compared with it. It was in his power, by sitting on his tapestry, to be at the place of meeting that very day; but, as he was obliged to stay there for his brothers, as they had agreed, and as he was curious to see the King of Bisnagar and his Court, and to inform himself of the strength, laws, customs, and religion of the kingdom, he chose to make a longer abode there, and to spend some months in satisfying his curiosity.

  Prince Houssain might have made a longer abode in the kingdom and Court of Bisnagar, but he was so eager to be nearer the Princess that, spreading the tapestry, he and the officer he had brought with him sat down, and as soon as he had formed his wish were transported to the inn at which he and his brothers were to meet, and where he passed for a merchant till they came.

  Prince Ali, Prince Houssain’s second brother, who designed to travel into Persia, took the road, having three days after he parted with his brothers joined a caravan, and after four days’ travel arrived at Schiraz, which was the capital of the kingdom of Persia. Here he passed for a jeweller.

  The next morning Prince Ali, who travelled only for his pleasure, and had brought nothing but just necessaries along with him, after he had dressed himself, took a walk into that part of the town which they at Schiraz called the bezestein.

  Among all the criers who passed backwards and forwards with several sorts of goods, offering to sell them, he was not a little surprised to see one who held an ivory telescope in his hand of about a foot in length and the thickness of a man’s thumb, and cried it at thirty purses. At first he thought the crier mad, and to inform himself went to a shop, and said to the merchant, who stood at the door: ‘ Pray, sir, is not that man’ (pointing to the crier who cried the ivory perspective glass at thirty purses) ‘ mad? If he is not, I am very much deceived.’ ‘ Indeed, sir,’ answered the merchant, ‘ he was in his right senses yesterday; and I can assure you he is one of the ablest criers we have, and the most employed of any when anything valuable is to be sold. And if he cries the ivory perspective glass at thirty purses it must be worth as much or more, on some account or other. He will come by presently, and we will call him, and you shall be satisfied; in the meantime sit down on my sofa, and rest yourself.’

  Prince Ali accepted the merchant’s obliging offer, and presently afterwards the crier passed by. The merchant called him by his name, and, pointing to the Prince, said to him: ‘Tell that gentleman, who asked me if you were in your right senses, what you mean by crying that ivory perspective glass, which seems not to be worth much, at thirty purses. I should be very much amazed myself if I did not know you.’ The crier, addressing himself to Prince Ali, said : ‘ Sir, you are not the only person that takes me for a madman on the account of this perspective glass. You shall judge yourself whether I am or no, when I have told you its property: and I hope you will value it at as high a price as those I have showed it to already, who had as bad an opinion of me as you.

  ‘ First, sir,’ pursued the crier, presenting the ivory pipe to the Prince, ‘ observe that this pipe is furnished with a glass at both ends; and consider that by looking through one of them you see whatever object you wish to behold.’ ‘I am,’ said the Prince, ‘ready to make you all imaginable reparation for the scandal I have thrown on you if you will make the truth of what you advance appear,’ and as he had the ivory pipe in his hand, after he had looked at the two glasses he said: ‘Show me at which of these ends I must look that I may be satisfied.’ The crier presently showed him, and he looked through, wishing at the same time to see the Sultan his father, whom he immediately beheld in perfect health, set on his throne, in the midst of his council. Afterwards, as there was nothing in the world so dear to him, after the Sultan, as the Princess Nouronnihar, he wished to see her; and saw her at her toilet laughing, and in a pleasant humour, with her women about her.

  Prince Ali wanted no other proof to be persuaded that this perspective glass was the most valuable thing in the world, and believed that if he should neglect to purchase it he should never meet again with such another rarity. He therefore took the crier with him to the khan where he lodged, and told him out the money, and received the perspective glass.

  Prince Ali was over-joyed at his bargain, and persuaded himself that, as his brothers would not be able to meet with anything so rare and admirable, the Princess Nouronnihar would be the recompense of his fatigue and trouble; that he thought of nothing but visiting the Court of Persia incognito, and seeing whatever was curious in Schiraz and thereabouts, till the caravan with which he came returned back to the Indies. As soon as the caravan was ready to set out, the Prince joined them, and arrived happily without any accident or trouble, otherwise than the length of
the journey and fatigue of travelling, at the place of rendezvous, where he found Prince Houssain, and both waited for Prince Ahmed.

  Prince Ahmed, who took the road of Samarcand, the next day after his arrival there went, as his brothers had done, into the bezestein, where he had not walked long but heard a crier, who had an artificial apple in his hand, cry it at five and thirty purses ; upon which he stopped the crier, and said to him: ‘ Let me see that apple, and tell me what virtue and extraordinary properties it has, to be valued at so high a rate.’ ‘Sir,’ said the crier, giving it into his hand, ‘ if you look at the outside of this apple, it is very worthless, but if you consider its properties, virtues, and the great use and benefit it is of to mankind, you will say it is no price for it, and that he who possesses it is master of a great treasure. In short, it cures all sick persons of the most mortal diseases; and if the patient is dying it will recover him immediately and restore him to perfect health; and this is done after the easiest manner in the world, which is by the patient’s smelling the apple.’