Little Red Riding-Hood

LITTLE RED RIDING-HOOD

 THE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOOD

 CINDERELLA; OR, THE LITTLE GLASS SLIPPER

 ALADDIN AND THE WONDERFUL LAMP

 THE TALE OF A YOUTH WHO SET OUT TO LEARN WHAT FEAR WAS

 RUMPELSTILTZKIN

 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

 THE MASTER-MAID

 WHY THE SEA IS SALT

 THE MASTER CAT; OR, PUSS IN BOOTS

 FELICIA AND THE POT OF PINKS

 THE WHITE CAT

 THE WATER-LILY. THE GOLD-SPINNERS

 THE TERRIBLE HEAD

 THE STORY OF PRETTY GOLDILOCKS

 THE HISTORY OF WHITTINGTON

 THE WONDERFUL SHEEP

 LITTLE THUMB

 THE FORTY THIEVES

 HANSEL AND GRETTEL

 SNOW-WHITE AND ROSE-RED

 THE GOOSE-GIRL

 TOADS AND DIAMONDS

 PRINCE DARLING

 BLUE BEARD

 TRUSTY JOHN

 THE BRAVE LITTLE TAILOR

 A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT

 THE PRINCESS ON THE GLASS HILL

 THE STORY OF PRINCE AHMED AND THE FAIRY PARIBANOU

 THE HISTORY OF JACK THE GIANT-KILLER

 THE BLACK BULL OF NORROWAY

 THE RED ETIN

THE BRONZE RING

Once upon a time in a certain country there lived a king whose palace

was surrounded by a spacious garden. But, though the gardeners were many

and the soil was good, this garden yielded neither flowers nor fruits,

not even grass or shady trees.

The King was in despair about it, when a wise old man said to him:

“Your gardeners do not understand their business: but what can you

expect of men whose fathers were cobblers and carpenters? How should

they have learned to cultivate your garden?”

“You are quite right,” cried the King.

“Therefore,” continued the old man, “you should send for a gardener

whose father and grandfather have been gardeners before him, and very

soon your garden will be full of green grass and gay flowers, and you

will enjoy its delicious fruit.”

So the King sent messengers to every town, village, and hamlet in his

dominions, to look for a gardener whose forefathers had been gardeners

also, and after forty days one was found.

“Come with us and be gardener to the King,” they said to him.

“How can I go to the King,” said the gardener, “a poor wretch like me?”

“That is of no consequence,” they answered. “Here are new clothes for

you and your family.”

“But I owe money to several people.”

“We will pay your debts,” they said.

So the gardener allowed himself to be persuaded, and went away with

the messengers, taking his wife and his son with him; and the King,

delighted to have found a real gardener, entrusted him with the care

of his garden. The man found no difficulty in making the royal garden

produce flowers and fruit, and at the end of a year the park was not

like the same place, and the King showered gifts upon his new servant.

The gardener, as you have heard already, had a son, who was a very

handsome young man, with most agreeable manners, and every day he

carried the best fruit of the garden to the King, and all the prettiest

flowers to his daughter. Now this princess was wonderfully pretty and

was just sixteen years old, and the King was beginning to think it was

time that she should be married.

“My dear child,” said he, “you are of an age to take a husband,

therefore I am thinking of marrying you to the son of my prime minister.

“Father,” replied the Princess, “I will never marry the son of the

minister.”

“Why not?” asked the King.

“Because I love the gardener’s son,” answered the Princess.

On hearing this the King was at first very angry, and then he wept and

sighed, and declared that such a husband was not worthy of his daughter;

but the young Princess was not to be turned from her resolution to marry

the gardener’s son.

Then the King consulted his ministers. “This is what you must do,” they

said. “To get rid of the gardener you must send both suitors to a

very distant country, and the one who returns first shall marry your

daughter.”

The King followed this advice, and the minister’s son was presented with

a splendid horse and a purse full of gold pieces, while the gardener’s

son had only an old lame horse and a purse full of copper money, and

every one thought he would never come back from his journey.

The day before they started the Princess met her lover and said to him:

“Be brave, and remember always that I love you. Take this purse full of

jewels and make the best use you can of them for love of me, and come

back quickly and demand my hand.”

The two suitors left the town together, but the minister’s son went off

at a gallop on his good horse, and very soon was lost to sight behind

the most distant hills. He traveled on for some days, and presently

reached a fountain beside which an old woman all in rags sat upon a

stone.

“Good-day to you, young traveler,” said she.

But the minister’s son made no reply.

“Have pity upon me, traveler,” she said again. “I am dying of hunger,

as you see, and three days have I been here and no one has given me

anything.”

“Let me alone, old witch,” cried the young man; “I can do nothing for

you,” and so saying he went on his way.

That same evening the gardener’s son rode up to the fountain upon his

lame gray horse.

“Good-day to you, young traveler,” said the beggar-woman.

“Good-day, good woman,” answered he.

“Young traveler, have pity upon me.”

“Take my purse, good woman,” said he, “and mount behind me, for your

legs can’t be very strong.”

The old woman didn’t wait to be asked twice, but mounted behind him,

and in this style they reached the chief city of a powerful kingdom. The

minister’s son was lodged in a grand inn, the gardener’s son and the old

woman dismounted at the inn for beggars.

The next day the gardener’s son heard a great noise in the street, and

the King’s heralds passed, blowing all kinds of instruments, and crying:

“The King, our master, is old and infirm. He will give a great reward to

whoever will cure him and give him back the strength of his youth.”

Then the old beggar-woman said to her benefactor:

“This is what you must do to obtain the reward which the King promises.

Go out of the town by the south gate, and there you will find three

little dogs of different colors; the first will be white, the second

black, the third red. You must kill them and then burn them separately,

and gather up the ashes. Put the ashes of each dog into a bag of its own

color, then go before the door of the palace and cry out, ‘A celebrated

physician has come from Janina in Albania. He alone can cure the King

and give him back the strength of his youth.’ The King’s physicians will

say, This is an impostor, and not a learned man,’ and they will make all

sorts of difficulties, but you will overcome them all at last, and will

present yourself before the sick King. You must then demand as much wood

as three mules can carry, and a great cauldron, and must shut yourself

up in a room with the Sultan, and when the cauldron boils you must throw

him into it, and there leave him until his flesh is completely separated

from his bones. Then arrange the bones in their proper places, and throw

over them the ashes out of the three bags. The King will come back to

life, and will be just as he was when he was twenty years old. For your

reward you must demand the bronze ring which has the power to grant

you everything you desire. Go, my son, and do not forget any of my

instructions.”

The young man followed the old beggar-woman’s directions. On going out

of the town he found the white, red, and black dogs, and killed and

burnt them, gathering the ashes in three bags. Then he ran to the palace

and cried:

“A celebrated physician has just come from Janina in Albania. He alone

can cure the King and give him back the strength of his youth.”

The King’s physicians at first laughed at the unknown wayfarer, but the

Sultan ordered that the stranger should be admitted. They brought the

cauldron and the loads of wood, and very soon the King was boiling away.

Toward mid-day the gardener’s son arranged the bones in their places,

and he had hardly scattered the ashes over them before the old King

revived, to find himself once more young and hearty.

“How can I reward you, my benefactor?” he cried. “Will you take half my

treasures?”

“No,” said the gardener’s son.

“My daughter’s hand?”

“No.”

“Take half my kingdom.”

“No. Give me only the bronze ring which can instantly grant me anything

I wish for.”

“Alas!” said the King, “I set great store by that marvelous ring;

nevertheless, you shall have it.” And he gave it to him.

The gardener’s son went back to say good-by to the old beggar-woman;

then he said to the bronze ring:

“Prepare a splendid ship in which I may continue my journey. Let the

hull be of fine gold, the masts of silver, the sails of brocade; let

the crew consist of twelve young men of noble appearance, dressed like

kings. St. Nicholas will be at the helm. As to the cargo, let it be

diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and carbuncles.”

And immediately a ship appeared upon the sea which resembled in every

particular the description given by the gardener’s son, and, stepping

on board, he continued his journey. Presently he arrived at a great town

and established himself in a wonderful palace. After several days he

met his rival, the minister’s son, who had spent all his money and was

reduced to the disagreeable employment of a carrier of dust and rubbish.

The gardener’s son said to him:

“What is your name, what is your family, and from what country do you

come?”

“I am the son of the prime minister of a great nation, and yet see what

a degrading occupation I am reduced to.”

“Listen to me; though I don’t know anything more about you, I am willing

to help you. I will give you a ship to take you back to your own country

upon one condition.”

“Whatever it may be, I accept it willingly.”

“Follow me to my palace.”

The minister’s son followed the rich stranger, whom he had not

recognized. When they reached the palace the gardener’s son made a sign

to his slaves, who completely undressed the new-comer.

“Make this ring red-hot,” commanded the master, “and mark the man with

it upon his back.”

The slaves obeyed him.

“Now, young man,” said the rich stranger, “I am going to give you a

vessel which will take you back to your own country.”

And, going out, he took the bronze ring and said:

“Bronze ring, obey thy master. Prepare me a ship of which the

half-rotten timbers shall be painted black, let the sails be in rags,

and the sailors infirm and sickly. One shall have lost a leg, another

an arm, the third shall be a hunchback, another lame or club-footed or

blind, and most of them shall be ugly and covered with scars. Go, and

let my orders be executed.”

The minister’s son embarked in this old vessel, and thanks to favorable

winds, at length reached his own country. In spite of the pitiable

condition in which he returned they received him joyfully.

“I am the first to come back,” said he to the King; now fulfil your

promise, and give me the princess in marriage.

So they at once began to prepare for the wedding festivities. As to the

poor princess, she was sorrowful and angry enough about it.

The next morning, at daybreak, a wonderful ship with every sail set came

to anchor before the town. The King happened at that moment to be at the

palace window.

“What strange ship is this,” he cried, “that has a golden hull, silver

masts, and silken sails, and who are the young men like princes who man

it? And do I not see St. Nicholas at the helm? Go at once and invite the

captain of the ship to come to the palace.”

His servants obeyed him, and very soon in came an enchantingly handsome

young prince, dressed in rich silk, ornamented with pearls and diamonds.

“Young man,” said the King, “you are welcome, whoever you may be. Do me

the favor to be my guest as long as you remain in my capital.”

“Many thanks, sire,” replied the captain, “I accept your offer.”

“My daughter is about to be married,” said the King; “will you give her

away?”

“I shall be charmed, sire.”

Soon after came the Princess and her betrothed.

“Why, how is this?” cried the young captain; “would you marry this

charming princess to such a man as that?”

“But he is my prime minister’s son!”

“What does that matter? I cannot give your daughter away. The man she is

betrothed to is one of my servants.”

“Your servant?”

“Without doubt. I met him in a distant town reduced to carrying away

dust and rubbish from the houses. I had pity on him and engaged him as

one of my servants.”

“It is impossible!” cried the King.

“Do you wish me to prove what I say? This young man returned in a vessel

which I fitted out for him, an unseaworthy ship with a black battered

hull, and the sailors were infirm and crippled.”

“It is quite true,” said the King.

“It is false,” cried the minister’s son. “I do not know this man!”

“Sire,” said the young captain, “order your daughter’s betrothed to be

stripped, and see if the mark of my ring is not branded upon his back.”

The King was about to give this order, when the minister’s son, to save

himself from such an indignity, admitted that the story was true.

“And now, sire,” said the young captain, “do you not recognize me?”

“I recognize you,” said the Princess; “you are the gardener’s son whom I

have always loved, and it is you I wish to marry.”

“Young man, you shall be my son-in-law,” cried the King. “The marriage

festivities are already begun, so you shall marry my daughter this very

day.”

And so that very day the gardener’s son married the beautiful Princess.

Several months passed. The young couple were as happy as the day was

long, and the King was more and more pleased with himself for having

secured such a son-in-law.

But, presently, the captain of the golden ship found it necessary to

take a long voyage, and after embracing his wife tenderly he embarked.

Now in the outskirts of the capital there lived an old man, who had

spent his life in studying black arts--alchemy, astrology, magic,

and enchantment. This man found out that the gardener’s son had only

succeeded in marrying the Princess by the help of the genii who obeyed