The Bear

: The Grey Fairy Book

Once on a time there was a king who had an only daughter. He was

so proud and so fond of her, that he was in constant terror that

something would happen to her if she went outside the palace, and

thus, owing to his great love for her, he forced her to lead the

life of a prisoner, shut up within her own rooms.



The princess did not like this at all, and one day she complained

about it very bitterly to her n rse. Now, the nurse was a witch,

though the king did not know it. For some time she listened and

tried to soothe the princess; but when she saw that she would not

be comforted, she said to her: 'Your father loves you very

dearly, as you know. Whatever you were to ask from him he would

give you. The one thing he will not grant you is permission to

leave the palace. Now, do as I tell you. Go to your father and

ask him to give you a wooden wheel-barrow, and a bear's skin.

When you have got them bring them to me, and I will touch them

with my magic wand. The wheel-barrow will then move of itself,

and will take you at full speed wherever you want to go, and the

bear's skin will make such a covering for you, that no one will

recognise you.'



So the princess did as the witch advised her. The king, when he

heard her strange request, was greatly astonished, and asked her

what she meant to do with a wheel-barrow and a bear's skin. And

the princess answered, 'You never let me leave the house--at

least you might grant me this request' So the king granted it,

and the princess went back to her nurse, taking the barrow and

the bear's skin with her.



As soon as the witch saw them, she touched them with her magic

wand, and in a moment the barrow began to move about in all

directions. The princess next put on the bear's skin, which so

completely changed her appearance, that no one could have known

that she was a girl and not a bear. In this strange attire she

seated herself on the barrow, and in a few minutes she found

herself far away from the palace, and moving rapidly through a

great forest. Here she stopped the barrow with a sign that the

witch had shown her, and hid herself and it in a thick grove of

flowering shrubs.



Now it happened that the prince of that country was hunting with

his dogs in the forest. Suddenly he caught sight of the bear

hiding among the shrubs, and calling his dogs, hounded them on to

attack it. But the girl, seeing what peril she was in, cried,

'Call off your dogs, or they will kill me. What harm have I ever

done to you?' At these words, coming from a bear, the prince was

so startled that for a moment he stood stock-still, then he said

quite gently, 'Will you come with me? I will take you to my

home.'



'I will come gladly,' replied the bear; and seating herself on

the barrow it at once began to move in the direction of the

prince's palace. You may imagine the surprise of the prince's

mother when she saw her son return accompanied by a bear, who at

once set about doing the house-work better than any servant that

the queen had ever seen.



Now it happened that there were great festivities going on in the

palace of a neighbouring prince, and at dinner, one day, the

prince said to his mother: 'This evening there is to be a great

ball, to which I must go.'



And his mother answered, 'Go and dance, and enjoy yourself.'



Suddenly a voice came from under the table, where the bear had

rolled itself, as was its wont: 'Let me come to the ball; I, too,

would like to dance.'



But the only answer the prince made was to give the bear a kick,

and to drive it out of the room.



In the evening the prince set off for the ball. As soon as he had

started, the bear came to the queen and implored to be allowed to

go to the ball, saying that she would hide herself so well that

no one would know she was there. The kind-hearted queen could not

refuse her.



Then the bear ran to her barrow, threw off her bear's skin, and

touched it with the magic wand that the witch had given her. In a

moment the skin was changed into an exquisite ball dress woven

out of moon-beams, and the wheel-barrow was changed into a

carriage drawn by two prancing steeds. Stepping into the carriage

the princess drove to the grand entrance of the palace. When she

entered the ball-room, in her wondrous dress of moon-beams, she

looked so lovely, so different from all the other guests, that

everyone wondered who she was, and no one could tell where she

had come from.



From the moment he saw her, the prince fell desperately in love

with her, and all the evening he would dance with no one else but

the beautiful stranger.



When the ball was over, the princess drove away in her carriage

at full speed, for she wished to get home in time to change her

ball dress into the bear's skin, and the carriage into the

wheel-barrow, before anyone discovered who she was.



The prince, putting spurs into his horse, rode after her, for he

was determined not to let her out of his sight. But suddenly a

thick mist arose and hid her from him. When he reached his home

he could talk to his mother of nothing else but the beautiful

stranger with whom he had danced so often, and with whom he was

so much in love. And the bear beneath the table smiled to itself,

and muttered: 'I am the beautiful stranger; oh, how I have taken

you in!'



The next evening there was a second ball, and, as you may

believe, the prince was determined not to miss it, for he thought

he would once more see the lovely girl, and dance with her and

talk to her, and make her talk to him, for at the first ball she

had never opened her lips.



And, sure enough, as the music struck up the first dance, the

beautiful stranger entered the room, looking even more radiant

than the night before, for this time her dress was woven out of

the rays of the sun. All evening the prince danced with her, but

she never spoke a word.



When the ball was over he tried once more to follow her carriage,

that he might know whence she came, but suddenly a great

waterspout fell from the sky, and the blinding sheets of rain hid

her from his sight.



When he reached his home he told his mother that he had again

seen the lovely girl, and that this time she had been even more

beautiful than the night before. And again the bear smiled

beneath the table, and muttered: 'I have taken him in a second

time, and he has no idea that I am the beautiful girl with whom

he is so much in love.'



On the next evening, the prince returned to the palace for the

third ball. And the princess went too, and this time she had

changed her bear's skin into a dress woven out of the star-light,

studded all over with gems, and she looked so dazzling and so

beautiful, that everyone wondered at her, and said that no one so

beautiful had ever been seen before. And the prince danced with

her, and, though he could not induce her to speak, he succeeded

in slipping a ring on her finger.



When the ball was over, he followed her carriage, and rode at

such a pace that for long he kept it in sight. Then suddenly a

terrible wind arose between him and the carriage, and he could

not overtake it.



When he reached his home he said to his mother, 'I do not know

what is to become of me; I think I shall go mad, I am so much in

love with that girl, and I have no means of finding out who she

is. I danced with her and I gave her a ring, and yet I do not

know her name, nor where I am to find her.'



Then the bear laughed beneath the table and muttered to itself.



And the prince continued: 'I am tired to death. Order some soup

to be made for me, but I don't want that bear to meddle with it.

Every time I speak of my love the brute mutters and laughs, and

seems to mock at me. I hate the sight of the creature!'



When the soup was ready, the bear brought it to the prince; but

before handing it to him, she dropped into the plate the ring the

prince had given her the night before at the ball. The prince

began to eat his soup very slowly and languidly, for he was sad

at heart, and all his thoughts were busy, wondering how and where

he could see the lovely stranger again. Suddenly he noticed the

ring at the bottom of the plate. In a moment he recognised it,

and was dumb with surprise.



Then he saw the bear standing beside him, looking at him with

gentle, beseeching eyes, and something in the eyes of the bear

made him say: 'Take off that skin, some mystery is hidden beneath

it.'



And the bear's skin dropped off, and the beautiful girl stood

before him, in the dress woven out of the star-light, and he saw

that she was the stranger with whom he had fallen so deeply in

love. And now she appeared to him a thousand times more beautiful

than ever, and he led her to his mother. And the princess told

them her story, and how she had been kept shut up by her father

in his palace, and how she had wearied of her imprisonment. And

the prince's mother loved her, and rejoiced that her son should

have so good and beautiful a wife.



So they were married, and lived happily for many years, and

reigned wisely over their kingdom.