Old, Old Fairy Tales - Illustrated by Anne Anderson

A KING and Queen lived long ago in a far-off land, and longed for a little baby-girl of their own. They waited and they waited, and they hoped and they hoped, and at last their little treasure came. She was a dainty little daughter, and her father and mother, to show their joy, gave a christening feast, and seven good fairies were asked to it. They were to be the baby’s godmothers.

Now, just as they were all sitting down to the feast, in limped an old fairy who had not been invited, because no one had heard anything of her for fifty years. The King, who had ordered a gold plate for each of the seven fairies that he expected, had none for the old fairy, and so a china plate was set before her. This seemed to make her very angry, and she muttered crossly to herself.

As the youngest of the seven good fairies listened to her muttering, she thought, This old crone will give Baby a present that will do her harm. I shall wait to give my present until after she has given hers, and perhaps mine may undo the harm. Then this good fairy hid behind a curtain.

The six godmothers each gave the baby-girl a present.

The first said, You shall have a beautiful face.

The second said, You shall think beautiful thoughts.

The third said, You shall do kind deeds.

The fourth said, You shall dance like a fairy.

The fifth said, You shall sing like a nightingale.

The sixth said, You shall play the harp.

Then up got the old fairy, and in a spiteful voice said, When you are fifteen years old you shall learn to spin, and you shall prick your finger with the spindle and die.

When the guests heard this they all cried aloud, and the King and Queen cried loudest of all.

But out stepped the good fairy from behind the curtain, and said, Weep not, O King and Queen. It is true that your daughter shall spin, it is true that she shall prick her finger, it is true that she shall fall asleep. But the sleep will not be the sleep of death. In a hundred years the son of a King shall find her, wake her, and marry her. Then all the fairies vanished.

Now the King made up his mind that his little daughter should, if possible, escape this hundred years’ sleep. So he made a law that any one having a spinning-wheel in her house should be put to death; and soon it was believed that there was none left in all the land.

When the Princess was fifteen years old, all the gifts that the six good fairies had promised were hers. She had a beautiful face, and she thought beautiful thoughts, and she did kind deeds. She danced like a fairy, and she sang like a nightingale, and she played upon the harp.

It was at this age that her parents took her with them to visit one of their castles. One day while wandering through it the girl came to a tower, and there in a little room at the top she found an old woman sitting at her spinning-wheel. The old woman was so deaf that she had never heard the King’s order.

What are you doing, good dame? asked the Princess.

Spinning, my pretty child, said the old woman.

Oh, how pretty, how wonderful! Let me try, said the Princess, seizing the spindle. But she no sooner had it in her hand than she pricked her finger, and, fainting, fell on the floor. The old woman shrieked, and the King and Queen rushed to the tower. The moment they saw their daughter, they understood that all had happened as had been foretold. The eyes of the Princess were closed in the sleep from which she should not wake for a hundred years.

While the King and Queen were still gazing at their sleeping beauty, the youngest fairy godmother drove up to the castle in a chariot of fire drawn by dragons. The King helped her to alight and led her to the turret. When this kind, thoughtful fairy saw that the Princess was in the sleep from which she should not awake for a hundred years, she went from room to room of the castle touching with her magic wand all the lords and ladies and men and maids. She went to the stables and touched the grooms and the horses, and she went to the garden and touched the gardeners, and they too all fell asleep for a hundred years.

But the King and Queen she did not touch. They left the palace, grieving to part with their child, but rejoicing to leave her in a sweet and peaceful sleep, and not in the sleep of death. Before they left, the King gave orders that nobody was to approach the castle. But there was no need of the command, for in a quarter of an hour a dense forest sprang up, so thick and prickly that no one could venture through it. Above this forest could be seen only the turret where the Sleeping Beauty lay.

A hundred years passed, and the story of the Princess was forgotten.

One day the son of the King who now reigned was a-hunting. Coming to the thick, prickly wood, and seeing the turret, the Prince asked to whom it belonged. No one knew, but an old peasant said, I once heard my grandfather tell that in that turret is a beautiful Princess who is doomed to sleep there until she is awakened by the Prince who will marry her.

This news excited the Prince, who leapt from his horse, and determined to force his way through the wood. But there was no need of force. The branches parted and made a path for him of their own accord, and he soon reached the garden of the castle.

Here a strange sight met his eyes. The gardeners were all asleep. One seemed to have fallen asleep while mowing, another while weeding, and another while planting. The Prince passed to the stables. Here the stablemen seemed to have fallen asleep in the very act of rubbing down the horses. Next he entered the castle. There, in the kitchen, the cook had fallen asleep while basting the roast. Upstairs the ladies, asleep, were stooping over their needlework. One lord had been reading, another smoking, and others playing chess, but all seemed to have fallen suddenly asleep. Dogs and pussy-cats, too, lay sound asleep on the rugs.

At last the Prince mounted to the turret chamber, and there he stood spell-bound. On an old rose-coloured couch lay the Sleeping Beauty, as fresh as the new-blown roses that decked her golden hair. The Prince came nearer, bent over, and kissed her. Then she awoke, and cried, My Prince, my Prince, I have waited for you a hundred years. And every one within and without the castle awoke, and there was great rejoicing.

The Prince then led the Princess through the enchanted forest, which, after they had passed, entirely disappeared. Very soon they were married, and the Princess often told her husband of the dreams she had dreamed during the hundred long years she had passed as the Sleeping Beauty.

ONCE upon a time a widow and her two little girls lived alone in a cottage. There was a pretty little garden in front of the cottage. In the garden were two rosebushes. One bore white roses and the other red. The rose-bushes were older than the little girls, who were named Snow-White and Rose-Red after them. Rose-Red always wore a wreath of red roses on her hair, and Snow-White a single white rose on hers.

Both children were very good and obedient, and always busy, but they were different in their ways. Snow-White was quiet and gentle, and Rose-Red was merry and wild. The sisters were very fond of each other, and often vowed they would keep together as long as they lived.

Snow-White and Rose-Red lived a great deal in the wood near their home. Wild animals passed near them, but did them no harm. The hares ate from their hands, the deer grazed by their side, the stags bounded merrily by, and birds would alight on their uncovered heads. Sometimes the little girls remained in the wood all night, sleeping on a bed of moss, and covered by large ferns.

One morning, when Snow-White and Rose-Red awoke in the wood, they saw beside them a little child, whose robe sparkled like dew. The child gave them a kind look and vanished. The next thing the children noticed was that they had lain all night on the edge of a steep rock. When they told their mother these things, she said, The little child with sparkling robe must have been a guardian angel.

This was in the summer-time, and all the summer long little Rose-Red gathered fresh flowers each day and arranged them in a vase for her mother. And in each bouquet was a rose from either rose-bush.

In winter, little Snow-White every day polished the copper kettle till it shone like gold. In the evening, when the snow was falling, the mother and her little girls gathered round the fire, and while the children knitted, their mother read to them from the Good Book. A pet lamb lay on the hearth beside them, and a white dove perched, with its head beneath its wing, on Snow-White’s shoulder. Suddenly one evening a loud knock was heard.

Open the door quickly, Rose-Red, said her mother; some poor wanderer has lost his way. Rose-Red threw the door wide open, but when a big brown bear walked in, she ran screaming to her mother, and Snow-White hid behind the bed.

I have not come to hurt you, said the bear in a gentle voice; I only want to warm myself by your fire, for I am half frozen.

Poor bear, said the mother, come in, and lie down by the fire if you want to, but take care not to burn your furry coat. And the big brown bear lay down.

Dear children, will you sweep the snow off my fur? he asked. Then Snow-White and Rose-Red crept near with the broom, and in turn swept the snow from the bear’s coat. By the time this was done, the children lost all fear, and the bear had become their playfellow. When bedtime came the mother said, Stay here by the fire all night, gentle bear.

In the morning the little girls opened the door, and the bear trotted away through the snow into the wood.

In the evening he returned, and when the door was opened, he walked to the hearth, and lay down as if he had been used to rest there all his life. The next evening he came again, and the next, and the next, nor did he stop his visits until the spring had come and the songbirds were heard in the wood. Then he said, Good-bye, Snow-White, good-bye, Rose-Red; I must go into the forest to hide my treasures from the wicked dwarfs who live there. In winter these treasures are safe under the frozen earth, but now the warm sun melts the ice, and it will be easy for the dwarfs to dig down and reach what is mine.

The children felt quite sorrowful as the bear left them. As he passed out at the door, the latch caught his fur, and Snow-White thought she caught a glimpse of glittering gold under his coat. But that seemed so impossible that she fancied she must have been dreaming.

Some time afterwards the children were in the forest gathering wildflowers. Rose-Red had her basket nearly filled with blue speedwell, when, as they wandered near a fallen tree, they noticed on the other side a strange little man. As they came nearer, they saw it was a dwarf with an old withered face and a snow-white beard. The end of his beard had caught in a cleft of the fallen tree. The dwarf danced and he danced, and he tugged and he tugged, but he could not set himself free. When he caught sight of the children looking at him, he exclaimed, Why do you stand there staring instead of helping me? Oh, you are ugly. In spite of these unkind words the children wished to help the unfortunate little man.

I will run home and call somebody, said Rose-Red.

What, snarled the dwarf, bring more ugly mortals to stare and do nothing!

Let me see what I can do, said Snow-White, and, drawing her scissors from her pocket, she cut the dwarfs beard where it was caught in the tree and set him free. No sooner was this done than the dwarf seized a bag of gold that was lying at the foot of the fallen tree. He swung it over his shoulder and marched off, muttering, You bad children to have spoiled my magnificent beard.

Another day, some time later, Snow-White and Rose-Red were fishing on the banks of a stream. Suddenly they saw a strange little figure jumping about as if he meant to jump into the water. They ran towards him, and found he was the dwarf.

Why do you wish to jump into the water? asked Rose-Red.

I jump into the water, Silly? Can’t you see it is that huge fish that is dragging me?

The truth was that the dwarf’s beard had