Beauty and the Beast Page 8

  No, she wasn’t.

  “Hold on tight to my shaggy coat, and you won’t have to be afraid,” the bear said. After traveling a long, long time, they reached a mountain. The white bear knocked on a rocky slope, and a door opened. The two entered a castle in which there were many rooms, all lit up and sparkling with silver and gold. The table was already set, and everything was as grand as could be. The white bear gave the girl a silver bell. If she ever wanted anything, all she had to do was pick it up and ring, and she would have what she needed.

  It was evening by the time the young woman had eaten, and she felt sleepy from her long journey and thought she would go to bed. And so she picked up the bell to ring it. As soon as it was in her hand, she found herself in a chamber with a bed that had beautiful white sheets, pillows and curtains of silk, all fringed with gold. Everything in the room was made either of gold or silver. After she went to bed and put out the light, a man appeared out of nowhere and lay down next to her. It was the white bear, and every night he cast off his pelt. But she never set eyes on him, because he always waited until she had put out the light. Before the sun rose, he was up and gone again.

  The two lived happily for a while, but the girl soon turned silent and sorrowful. All day long she was by herself, and she was beginning to feel homesick for her father and mother, as well as her brothers and sisters. One day, when the white bear asked what was ailing her, she told him that she was very lonely and that she really wanted to go visit her father and mother and brothers and sisters. Not being able to see them made her sad.

  “Well,” said the bear, “perhaps we can find a cure for that. But you must promise me that you will not talk to your mother unless there are others around to listen. She will insist on taking you aside and going into a room to talk with her alone. If you do that, you will bring misfortune to us both.”

  One Sunday, not much later, the white bear came to see her and said that she could go that day to visit her father and mother. Off they went! She rode on his back, and they traveled far away. Finally they reached a grand house, where her brothers and sisters were outside running about and playing. Everything was so beautiful there. It was a joy to see.

  “This is where your father and mother live now,” the white bear said. “Don’t forget what I said to you, otherwise you will make both of us unhappy.”

  No, heaven forbid, she would not forget.

  When they reached the house, the white bear turned around and left.

  The girl went in to see her father and mother, and there was no end to the joy they all felt. Her parents could not thank her enough for everything she had done for them. Now they had everything they could possibly want, and it was all just as fine as could be. They were eager to hear about how she was faring.

  Well, she told them, living where she did was very comfortable. She had everything she could ever want. I have no idea what else she said, but it’s unlikely that she told anyone the full story. That evening, after they had eaten supper, everything happened just as the white bear had predicted. The girl’s mother wanted to take her aside and talk with her alone in her bedroom. But the girl remembered what the white bear had told her, and she wouldn’t go with her.

  “What we have to talk about can keep,” she said, and she put her mother off. But somehow or other, her mother managed to get her alone at last, and the girl had to tell her the whole story. She described how, every night, after she went to bed, a man came and lay down next to her as soon as she put out the light. She had never set eyes on him, because he was always gone before the sun rose. She felt very sad that she could not have a look at him, especially since she was by herself all day long, and things got really dreary and lonesome.

  “On no!” her mother said. “You may be sleeping in the same bed as a troll! I’m going to give you some good advice on how you can get a look at him. Take this candle stub and hide it under your dress. Light it while he’s sleeping, but just make sure that you don’t drop any tallow on him.”

  Yes, the girl took the candle and hid it inside her dress. The next evening the white bear appeared and took her away. After they had traveled for a while, he asked whether things had happened as he had said they would.

  She could not deny that they had.

  “Be careful,” he said. “If you take your mother’s advice, you will bring misfortune down on both of us, and we will be done for.”

  “No, of course I won’t!”

  They returned home, and the girl went to bed, and everything happened as it had before. A man appeared and lay down next to her. But this time, in the middle of the night, after making sure that he was fast asleep, she climbed out of bed and lit the candle. She let the flame shine down on him and saw that he was the most handsome prince you could imagine. She felt so much love for him that she thought she could not go on living unless she could give him a kiss. And so she did, but when she kissed him, she let three drops of hot tallow drip onto his shirt. He woke up abruptly.

  “What have you done?” he cried out. “Now you have brought misfortune down on both of us. If you had just waited a year, the spell would have been lifted. My stepmother bewitched me, and I have to live as a white bear by day and as a man by night. But now all the ties between us are severed. I have to leave you now and go find my stepmother. She lives in a castle east of the sun and west of the moon. A princess with a nose three ells long lives in the castle with her, and she is the one I must now wed.”

  The young woman wept and bemoaned her fate, but it was no use. He had to leave. She asked if she could accompany him. No, she could not. “Then tell me how to get there,” she said. “Surely I can at least go and search for you.” Yes, she could do that, but there was no road that led to the place where he was going. It lay east of the sun and west of the moon, and she would never be able to figure out how to get there.

  The next morning, the girl woke up, and the prince had vanished, along with the castle. She was lying on a little patch of green in the midst of a dark forest. By her side was the bundle of tattered clothes she had brought with her from home.

  After rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she cried until she could weep no more. She decided to start her search, and she walked many, many days until she reached a steep cliff. An old woman was seated nearby, and she had a golden apple that she was tossing into the air. The girl asked her if she knew the way to the prince who was living with his stepmother in a castle east of the sun and west of the moon and who was to marry the princess with a nose three ells long.

  “How do you know about him?” the old woman asked. “Maybe you are the girl destined for him.” Yes, she was. “Well, well, so it’s you then, is it?” said the old woman. “All I know is that he lives in a castle east of the sun and west of the moon and that you’ll get there too late or never. But I’ll lend you my horse, and you can ride it to my closest neighbor. Maybe she will be able to help you. And when you get there, just swat the horse under the left ear and tell it to go back home. You are also welcome to take this golden apple with you.”

  The girl climbed up on the horse and rode for a long, long time. She reached another cliff, and saw another old woman just sitting there. This one had a golden carding comb. The girl asked if she knew the way to the castle that was east of the sun and west of the moon. “You’ll get there too late or never, but I’ll lend you my horse, and you can ride it to my closest neighbor. Maybe she will be able to help you. And when you get there, just swat the horse under its left ear and tell it to trot back home.” The old woman gave her the golden carding comb. She might find some use for it, she said.

  The girl climbed up on the horse, and once again, she rode for a long, long stretch. Finally she reached another cliff, and sitting next to it was another old woman. This one was spinning with a golden spinning wheel. She asked her, too, if she knew how to find the prince and where the castle was that lay east of the sun and west of the moon. But it was just
as before. “Perhaps you are the one destined for the prince,” the old woman said. Yes, she was. But this woman didn’t have any better idea of how to reach the castle. She knew it was east of the sun and west of the moon, but that was it. “And you’ll get there too late or never. But I’ll lend you my horse, and you can ride over to the east wind and ask him. He may know his way around those parts and can blow you over there. When you reach him, just swat the horse under the left ear, and it’ll trot home on its own.” The old woman gave her the golden spinning wheel. “Maybe you’ll find some use for it,” she said.

  The girl rode many a long day before reaching the house of the east wind, but reach it she did. She asked the east wind to tell her the way to the prince who lived east of the sun and west of the moon. Yes, the east wind had often heard tell of the prince and the castle, but he didn’t know the way there, for he had never blustered that far. “But if you want, I’ll go with you to my brother the west wind. Maybe he knows, for he’s much more powerful. If you climb on my back, I’ll take you there.” Yes, she climbed on his back, and off they went with a blast.

  When they reached the house of the west wind, the east wind said that the girl he had brought with him was destined for the prince who lived in the castle east of the sun and west of the moon. She had set out to find him, and he had brought her this far and would be glad to know if the west wind knew how to get to the castle. “No,” said the west wind. “I’ve never blown that far. But if you want, I’ll go with you to our brother the south wind, for he’s much more powerful than either of us, and he has blown far and wide. Maybe he’ll be able to tell you. Climb on my back, and I’ll take you to him.” Yes, she climbed on his back, and they traveled to the south wind, and I think it didn’t take them very long at all.

  When they got there, the west wind asked if the south wind knew the way to the castle that lay east of the sun and west of the moon, for the girl with him was destined for the prince who lived there. “Is that so?” said the south wind. “Is she the one? Well, I’ve visited plenty of places in my time, but I have never yet sent blasts over there. If you want, I’ll take you to my brother the north wind. He is the oldest and most powerful of us all. If he doesn’t know where it is, you’ll never find anyone in the world who will know. Climb on my back, and I’ll take you over there.” Yes, she climbed on his back, and off he went at a good clip.

  They did not have to travel far. When they reached the house of the north wind, he was so fierce and cantankerous that he blew cold gusts at them from a long way off. “Blast you both, what do you want?” he roared from afar, and they both felt an icy shiver. “Well,” said the south wind, “you don’t need to bluster so loudly, for I am your brother, the south wind, and here is the girl who is destined for the prince who lives in the castle that lies east of the sun and west of the moon. She wants to know whether you were ever there and whether you can show her the way, for she so wants to find the prince.”

  “Yes, I know where it is,” the north wind said. “Once I blew an aspen leaf over there, but afterward I was so exhausted that I couldn’t blow a single gust for many a day. If you really want to go there and aren’t afraid to come along with me, I’ll take you on my back and try to send you over there.” Yes, with all her heart she wanted to go and had to get there if it was at all possible. And she would not be afraid, no matter how wild the ride. “Very well, then,” said the north wind. “But you will have to sleep here tonight, for we need an entire day if we are to get there at all.”

  Early the next morning the north wind woke her up. He pulled himself together, blustered around a bit, and made himself so stout and large that he looked terrifying. Off they went, high up in the air, as if they would not stop until they reached the end of the world.

  Here on earth there was a terrible storm. Acres of forest and many houses were blown down. There were shipwrecks by the hundreds when the storm blew out to sea. The wind flew over the ocean with the girl—no one can imagine how fast the two traveled—and all the while they remained on the ocean. The north wind grew more and more weary. Soon he was so out of breath that he barely had another blast left in him. His wings drooped lower and lower until at last he sank so low that the tops of the waves splashed over his heels. “Are you afraid?” asked the north wind. No, she wasn’t.

  They were not very far from land by now, and the north wind had just enough strength left to toss her up on the shore under the windows of the castle that lay east of the sun and west of the moon. But he was so weak and exhausted that he had to stay there and rest for a number of days before returning home.

  The next morning the girl sat down under the castle window and began playing with the golden apple. The first person she saw was the long-nosed princess who was to marry the prince. “What do you want for your golden apple, girl?” asked the long-nosed princess, as she opened up the window.

  “It’s not for sale, not for gold and not for money,” said the girl.

  “If it’s not for sale for gold or for money, what is it that you want in return? You can name whatever you want,” said the princess.

  “Well, you can have it if I can spend the night in the room where the prince sleeps,” said the girl whom the north wind had transported. Yes, that could be arranged. So the princess took the golden apple; but when the girl went up to the prince’s bedroom that night, she found that he was fast asleep. She called out his name and shook him, and she wept and wailed, but she could not wake him up. The next morning, when the sun was rising, the princess with the long nose walked in and chased her out of the bedroom.

  During the day, the girl sat under the castle window and began to card with her golden carding comb, and the same thing happened. The princess asked what she wanted for the comb. She said it wasn’t for sale, not for gold and not for money, but if she were allowed to go to the prince and spend the night in his room, the princess could have it. When the girl went to his room, she found that he was fast asleep once again. No matter how loudly she called his name and shook him and cried and prayed she could not get him to respond. At the crack of dawn, the princess with the long nose came and chased her out of the bedroom again.

  During the day, the girl sat down outside under the castle window and began to spin with her golden spinning wheel. The princess with the long nose wanted to have it too. She opened the window and asked what she wanted for it. The girl said, as she had said twice before, that it wasn’t for sale, neither for gold nor for money, but if she could go to the prince who was there and stay in his room for the night, she would give it to her. Yes, she was welcome to do that. But now you must know that there were some good people who had been staying at the castle, and while they were sitting in their room, which was right next to the prince’s, they heard a woman crying, praying, and shouting at the prince two nights running. They told the prince about it.

  That evening the princess took a sleeping potion to the prince’s room, but the prince only pretended to drink it. He threw it over his shoulder, for he had figured out what it was. When the girl came in, she found the prince wide awake, and then she told him the entire story of how she had found the castle. “Ah,” said the prince, “you’ve come just in the nick of time, for tomorrow was to be our wedding day. But now I won’t have to marry the long-nose. You are the one woman in the world who could set me free. I’ll tell the princess that I want to test my bride to see if she’s fit to be my wife. I’ll ask her to wash the shirt with the three wax stains on it. She’ll try, for she doesn’t know that it was you who dropped the wax on the shirt and that the person who stained the shirt is the only one who can wash it clean, not the clever trolls who live in the castle. Then I’ll tell her that I must marry the person who can wash the shirt and make it clean again, and I know that you can do that.”

  The two talked all night long about how much they loved each other. The next day, when the wedding was about to take place, the prince said, “First of all, I’d like to s
ee what my bride can do.”

  “Yes,” said the stepmother, eager to please.

  “Well,” said the prince, “I have a fine shirt that I’d like to wear to my wedding, but somehow or other it now has three spots of wax on it. I have to have them washed out. I have vowed to marry the woman who can do that. Anyone who can’t is not worth marrying.”

  Well, that was no great challenge, they said, and so they agreed to the bargain. The princess with the long nose began to scrub as hard as she could but the more she rubbed and scoured, the larger the stains grew. “Ah!” said the old troll woman, her mother, “you don’t know how to scrub a shirt. Let me try it.” As soon as she touched the shirt, it was worse than before. Even with all her rubbing and wringing and scrubbing, the spots grew larger and darker, and the shirt became even more dingy and ugly. Then all the other trolls began to help scrub, but the longer they washed, the darker and uglier the shirt became, until at last it was black all over as if it had been down the chimney.

  “Ah!” said the prince, “you are all worthless! You have no idea how to wash a shirt. Why over there, outside, there’s a beggar girl. I’ll bet that she knows how to wash better than the whole lot of you. Come in, girl!” he shouted. She walked in. “Can you wash this shirt and make it clean?” he asked.

  “I’m not sure,” she said, “but I think I can.” Almost before she had picked it up and dipped it in the water, it turned as white as the driven snow, and whiter still. “Yes, you are the girl for me,” said the prince.

  At that, the old hag flew into such a rage that she burst into pieces on the spot, and the princess with the long nose did the same right after her, and the whole pack of trolls right after that. At least I haven’t heard a word about them since.

  As for the prince and the princess, they set free all the good people who had been carried off and locked up in the castle. They took all the silver and gold with them. And they fled as far as possible from the castle that lies east of the sun and west of the moon.