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Check out children's author Rick Walton's books. |
| These stories provided by children's author Rick Walton's Online Library. |
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The Shepherdess |
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ONCE UPON A TIME there lived a king who had two daughters, and he loved them with all his heart. When they grew up, he made up his mind he would give his kingdom to whichever best proved her devotion. So he called the elder princess and said to her:
`How much do you love me?'
`As the apple of my eye!' answered she.
'Ah,' exclaimed the king, kissing her tenderly as he spoke, `you arc indeed a good daughter.'
Then he sent for the younger and asked her how much she loved him.
`I look upon you, my Father,' she answered, `as I look upon salt in my food.'
The king did not like her words and ordered her to quit the court and never again appear before him. The poor princess went sadly up to her room and began to cry When she was reminded of her father's commands, she dried her eyes, made a bundle of her jewels and her best dresses, and hurriedly left the castle where she was born.
She walked straight along the road, without knowing what was to become of her, for she had never been shown how to work. As she was afraid no housewife would want to engage a girl with such a pretty face, she determined to make herself as ugly as she could.
She therefore took off her dress and put on some clothes belonging to a beggar, all torn and covered with mud. After that she smeared ashes over her hands and face and shook her hair into a great tangle. Having thus changed her appearance, she went about offering herself as a goosegirl or shepherdess. But the farmers' wives would have nothing to say to such an untidy maiden and sent her away with a morsel of bread for charity's sake.
After walking for a great many days without being able to find any work, she came to a large farm where they were in want of a shepherdess and engaged her gladly.
One day, when she was keeping her sheep in a lonely tract of land, she suddenly felt a wish to dress herself in her robes of splendor. She washed herself carefully in the stream, and as she always carried her bundle with her, it was easy to shake off her rags and transform herself into a great lady.
The king's son, who had lost his way out hunting, perceived this lovely damsel a long way off and wished to look at her closer. As soon as the girl saw him she fled into the wood as swiftly as a bird. The prince ran after her, but as he was running he caught his foot in the root of a tree and fell. When he was up again, she was nowhere to be seen.
When she was quite safe, she put on her rags again and smeared her face and hands. However, the young prince, who was both hot and thirsty, found his way to the farm to ask for a drink of cider, and he inquired the name of the beautiful lady who kept the sheep. At this everyone began to laugh, for they said the shepherdess was one of the ugliest creatures under the sun.
The prince thought some witchcraft must be at work, and he hastened away before the return of the shepherdess who became that evening the butt of everybody's mockery and jests.
But the king's son thought often of the lovely maiden he had seen only for a moment. She seemed to him more fascinating than any lady of the court. At last he dreamed of nothing else, and grew thinner day by day, till his parents inquired what was the matter, promising to do all they could to make him as happy as he once was. He dared not tell them, lest they should laugh at him, so he only said he would like some bread baked by the shepherdess at the distant farm.
Although the wish appeared rather odd, they hastened to fulfill it, and the farmer was told of the request of the king's son. The maiden showed no surprise at receiving such an order. She merely asked for some flour, salt and water, and also that she might be left alone in a little room adjoining the oven, where the kneading trough stood. Before beginning her work she washed herself carefully and even put on her rings. While she was baking, one of her rings slid into the dough. When she. had finished she again made herself as ugly as before and let lumps of dough stick to her fingers.
The loaf, which was a very little one, was brought to the king's son, who ate it with pleasure. But in cutting it he found the ring of the princess and declared to his parents he would marry the girl whom the ring fitted.
So the king made a proclamation through his whole kingdom, and ladies came from afar to lay claim to the honor. But the ring was so tiny that even those who had the smallest hands could only get it on their little fingers. In a short time all the maidens of the kingdom, including the peasant girls, had tried on the ring. The king was just about to announce their efforts had been in vain, when the prince observed he had not yet seen the shepherdess.
They sent for her, and she arrived covered with rags, but with her hands clean and she easily slipped on the ring. The king's son declared he would fulfill his promise. When his parents mildly remarked that the girl was only a keeper of sheep, and a very ugly one too, the maiden boldly said that she was born a princess. If they would only give her some water and leave her for a few minutes, she would show she could look as well as anyone in fine clothes.
They did what she asked, and when she entered in a magnificent dress, she looked so beautiful that all saw she must be a princess in disguise. The king's son recognized the charming damsel of whom he had once caught a glimpse and, flinging himself at her feet, asked if she would marry him. The princess then told her story and said it would be necessary to send an ambassador to her father to ask his consent and invite him to the wedding.
The princess' father, who had never ceased to repent his harshness toward his daughter, had sought her through the land, but as no one could tell anything of her, he supposed her dead. Therefore it was with great joy he heard she was living and that a king's son asked her in marriage. He quitted his, kingdom with his elder daughter to be present at the ceremony.
By orders of the bride, at the wedding breakfast they served her father bread without salt and meat without seasoning. Seeing him make faces and eat very little, his daughter, who sat beside him, inquired if his dinner was not to his taste.
`No,' he replied, `the dishes are carefully cooked and sent up, but they are all so tasteless.'
`Did not I tell you, my Father, that salt was the best thing in life? And yet, when I compared you to salt, to show how much I loved you, you thought slightingly of me and ordered me from your presence.'
The king embraced his daughter and admitted he had been wrong to misinterpret her words. Then, for the rest of the wedding feast, they gave him bread made with salt and dishes with seasoning, and he said they were the very best he had ever eaten.
[Paul Sebillot.]
(from The Green Fairy Book , by Andrew Lang)
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