Long ago there was a king who was very ill. He wanted a hare killed to make him some broth. His only son, the prince, set out to find one. As the prince walked along the path to the forest a pretty little hare ran out of the hedge and crossed his path. He at once started in pursuit. The hare was a very swift runner. The prince followed her into the deep forest. Suddenly the hare ran into a hole in the ground. The prince kept in sight of her and soon found to his dismay that he was in a big cave. At the very rear of the cave The prince was terribly frightened. “Oh, ho!” said the giant in such a deep savage voice that the cave echoed and re-echoed with his words. “You thought you’d catch my little hare, did you? Well, I’ve caught you instead!” The giant seized the prince in one of his enormous hands and tossed him lightly into a box at one end of the cave. He put the cover on the box and locked it down with a big key. The prince could get only a tiny bit of air through a little hole in the top, and he thought that he never could live. Hours passed. Sometimes the prince slept, but more often he lay there thinking about his sick father and what he could ever do to get out of the box and back once more to his father’s side. “You are so beautiful that I could stay here for ever and gaze into your lovely eyes,” said the prince. “You would see only a hare in the daytime,” replied the princess. “It is not always night. Besides, the giant may return at any moment. He just went out on a hunting trip because he thought that you The prince thanked her for all her great kindness to him and acted upon her advice. He went home by the nearest path, but when he reached the palace his father was already dead. The palace was wrapped in mourning. The prince was so overcome with grief that he felt that he could not keep on living in the palace. After his father’s funeral he went away as a wanderer. He changed clothes with a poor fisherman whom he met by the river, for he did not wish to be recognized as the prince. Dressed as a poor fisherman he wandered from one kingdom to another. He caught fish for his food, and he soon recognized the In the course of his wanderings the prince arrived at a city where a great festa was being held. The palace was decked with gay banners. Every afternoon the messenger of the king rode up and down the city streets proclaiming, “The princess of our kingdom is the most beautiful princess in all the world.” The prince remembered the beautiful princess who had let him out of the giant’s cave. “Surely this princess cannot be as beautiful as she,” said the prince. “I am going to see this princess with my own eyes and find out.” “This princess is not by any means the most beautiful one in the world,” said the prince dressed as a fisherman. “I know where there is a princess who is much more beautiful.” The people standing by heard him. His words were at once reported to the royal guards. They seized him roughly and took him to the king. “So you are the fisherman who says that my daughter is not the most beautiful princess in the world?” said the king sternly. “You say, I hear, that you know a princess who is much more beautiful. I am a just “Thanks, your majesty,” said the prince. “If you will allow me two weeks to fulfil the contract, and if you’ll prepare a festa for the night two weeks hence, I’ll endeavour to present the most beautiful princess in the world to your assembled court.” The king was astonished at the fisherman’s words, for he had not thought that a poor fisherman like him knew many princesses. However, he allowed him to depart in search of the princess. In the forest he saw evidences of what looked like a flood. The water had washed away every trace of the entrance of the cave. He dug and dug at the place where he thought it ought to be. He found nothing which seemed like the cave’s entrance. He dug and dug at a new place near by and soon he found his way barred by a massive door. The entrance to the cave was securely shut by it. The prince knocked at the door with all his might. Soon the door was opened a tiny bit and “What has happened to my beautiful princess who saved my life?” asked the prince. “I am indeed the prince, but I am surprised that you should recognize me in my fisherman’s garb.” “The princess told me that I would know you by the smile in your eyes,” replied the old ama. “I did not look at your clothes at all. I looked at your eyes. You have the smile in them though your face is sad. Come into the cave, and I will tell you all that has happened.” When the prince was inside the cave she hastily barred the door and said, “When the giant returned he was terribly angry at the “How will you ever swim past this terrible fish?” asked the old ama. “Do not fear,” replied the prince. “I have with me a net which is so strong that the biggest, fiercest fish in the world cannot break it. I will catch the fish in it. Just wait and you will see. In the meantime take the cotton out of the ears of the princess and tell her that I am here. Quiet her fears and stay in the box for a few moments.” The box had floated up to the surface of the water as the prince had said it would. The prince threw his net over it and drew it to land. The ama and the beautiful princess stepped out. The princess was so lovely that the prince fell upon his knees before her. The sight of her great beauty almost blinded his eyes. “I knew all the time that you would come back again,” said the princess. “I knew that you would deliver me from my troubles, but The prince told the princess all that had happened to him. “You saved my life from the giant,” said he. “I am very glad to have had an opportunity to save your life for you. Now I must ask you to again save my life.” Then he told about the festa at which he must display the most beautiful princess in the world or forfeit his life. “I’ll gladly go to the festa with you,” said the princess. “It is fortunate that it is held at night.” The Princess and her ama travelled quickly with the prince to the kingdom which claimed to possess the most beautiful princess in the world. It was already the night of the appointed festa when they arrived. The king’s army was drawn up to slay the prince. No one dreamed that the poor fisherman would be able to bring any princess When the poor fisherman stood before the king with an old ama standing by his side, a great laugh ran through the king’s court. “We knew that the fisherman would never be able to bring a princess more beautiful than our own lovely princess,” said the courtiers one to another. “But see what he has brought in her place!” Then they laughed and laughed until they could hardly stand. The king’s soldiers stepped forward to seize the fisherman to put him to death. “Grant me just one moment more of life,” begged the prince. The king nodded his head and the prince put his hand into the pocket of his fisherman’s coat. He pulled out a handful of “Just a moment more,” begged the prince. Then he pulled a handful of golden scales from out his pocket. The most beautiful golden cloud filled the room. “Please just another little minute,” asked the prince and he pulled out a handful of jewelled scales from his pocket. The most wonderful sparkling cloud of jewels fell about them. As the cloud cleared away there stood the most beautiful princess any one had ever seen or dreamed of between the old ama and the prince in the fisherman clothes. The soldiers drew back. The king looked at the floor and so did all the courtiers. “You have won your wager,” said the king when he could find his voice. “Our daughter is not the most beautiful princess in the The prince and princess and the old ama went back to the prince’s own kingdom where the wedding of the prince and princess was celebrated with a great feast. From the moment that the fish scales fell upon the princess her enchantment was broken and she never became a hare again. She and the prince lived together happily in the prince’s palace, and the giant never troubled them again, though they were always careful to keep away from the forest. |