The Red Fairy Book

The fact was he thought them very ugly, with their sun-burnt
necks, their great red hands, their coarse petticoats and their
wooden shoes. He had heard that somewhere in the world there
were girls whose necks were white and whose hands were small,
who were always dressed in the finest silks and laces, and were
called princesses, and while his companions round the fire saw
nothing in the flames but common everyday fancies, he dreamed
that he had the happiness to marry a princess.


II


One morning about the middle of August, just at mid-day when
the sun was hottest, Michael ate his dinner of a piece of dry bread,
and went to sleep under an oak. And while he slept he dreamt
that there appeared before him a beautiful lady, dressed in a robe
of cloth of gold, who said to him: `Go to the castle of Beloeil, and
there you shall marry a princess.'

That evening the little cow-boy, who had been thinking a great
deal about the advice of the lady in the golden dress, told his dream
to the farm people. But, as was natural, they only laughed at the
Star Gazer.

The next day at the same hour he went to sleep again under
the same tree. The lady appeared to him a second time, and said:
`Go to the castle of Beloeil, and you shall marry a princess.'

In the evening Michael told his friends that he had dreamed
the same dream again, but they only laughed at him more than
before. `Never mind,' he thought to himself; `if the lady appears
to me a third time, I will do as she tells me.'

The following day, to the great astonishment of all the village,
about two o'clock in the afternoon a voice was heard singing:

`Raleo, raleo,
How the cattle go!'

It was the little cow-boy driving his herd back to the byre.

The farmer began to scold him furiously, but he answered
quietly, `I am going away,' made his clothes into a bundle, said
good-bye to all his friends, and boldly set out to seek his fortunes.

There was great excitement through all the village, and on the
top of the hill the people stood holding their sides with laughing,
as they watched the Star Gazer trudging bravely along the valley
with his bundle at the end of his stick.

It was enough to make anyone laugh, certainly.


III


It was well known for full twenty miles round that there lived
in the castle of Beloeil twelve princesses of wonderful beauty, and
as proud as they were beautiful, and who were besides so very
sensitive and of such truly royal blood, that they would have felt
at once the presence of a pea in their beds, even if the mattresses
had been laid over it.

It was whispered about that they led exactly the lives that
princesses ought to lead, sleeping far into the morning, and never
getting up till mid-day. They had twelve beds all in the same
room, but what was very extraordinary was the fact that though
they were locked in by triple bolts, every morning their satin shoes
were found worn into holes.

When they were asked what they had been doing all night,
they always answered that they had been asleep; and, indeed,
no noise was ever heard in the room, yet the shoes could not wear
themselves out alone!

At last the Duke of Beloeil ordered the trumpet to be sounded,
and a proclamation to be made that whoever could discover how
his daughters wore out their shoes should choose one of them for
his wife.

On hearing the proclamation a number of princes arrived at
the castle to try their luck. They watched all night behind the
open door of the princesses, but when the morning came they had
all disappeared, and no one could tell what had become of them.


IV


When he reached the castle, Michael went straight to the
gardener and offered his services. Now it happened that the
garden boy had just been sent away, and though the Star Gazer
did not look very sturdy, the gardener agreed to take him, as he
thought that his pretty face and golden curls would please the
princesses.

The first thing he was told was that when the princesses got
up he was to present each one with a bouquet, and Michael thought