The Snuff-box

: The Green Fairy Book

As often happens in this world, there was once a young man who

spent all his time in travelling. One day, as he was walking

along, he picked up a snuff-box. He opened it, and the snuff-box

said to him in the Spanish language, 'What do you want?' He was

very much frightened, but, luckily, instead of throwing the box

away, he only shut it tight, and put it in his pocket. Then he

went on, away, away, away, and as he went e said to himself, 'If

it says to me again "What do you want?" I shall know better what

to say this time.' So he took out the snuff-box and opened it, and

again it asked 'What do you want?' 'My hat full of gold,' answered

the youth, and immediately it was full.



Our young man was enchanted. Henceforth he should never be in need

of anything. So on he travelled, away, away, away, through thick

forests, till at last he came to a beautiful castle. In the castle

there lived a King. The young man walked round and round the

castle, not caring who saw him, till the King noticed him, and

asked what he was doing there. 'I was just looking at your

castle.' 'You would like to have one like it, wouldn't you?' The

young man did not reply, but when it grew dark he took his snuff-

box and opened the lid. 'What do you want?' 'Build me a castle

with laths of gold and tiles of diamond, and the furniture all of

silver and gold.' He had scarcely finished speaking when there

stood in front of him, exactly opposite the King's palace, a

castle built precisely as he had ordered. When the King awoke he

was struck dumb at the sight of the magnificent house shining in

the rays of the sun. The servants could not do their work for

stopping to stare at it. Then the King dressed himself, and went

to see the young man. And he told him plainly that he was a very

powerful Prince; and that he hoped that they might all live

together in one house or the other, and that the King would give

him his daughter to wife. So it all turned out just as the King

wished. The young man married the Princess, and they lived happily

in the palace of gold.



But the King's wife was jealous both of the young man and of her

own daughter. The Princess had told her mother about the snuff-

box, which gave them everything they wanted, and the Queen bribed

a servant to steal the snuff-box. They noticed carefully where it

was put away every night, and one evening, when the whole world

was asleep, the woman stole it and brought it to her old mistress.

Oh how happy the Queen was! She opened the lid, and the snuff-box

said to her 'What do you want?' And she answered at once 'I want

you to take me and my husband and my servants and this beautiful

house and set us down on the other side of the Red Sea, but my

daughter and her husband are to stay behind.'



When the young couple woke up, they found themselves back in the

old castle, without their snuff-box. They hunted for it high and

low, but quite vainly. The young man felt that no time was to be

lost, and he mounted his horse and filled his pockets with as much

gold as he could carry. On he went, away, away, away, but he

sought the snuff-box in vain all up and down the neighbouring

countries, and very soon he came to the end of all his money. But

still he went on, as fast as the strength of his horse would let

him, begging his way.



Someone told him that he ought to consult the moon, for the moon

travelled far, and might be able to tell him something. So he went

away, away, away, and ended, somehow or other, by reaching the

land of the moon. There he found a little old woman who said to

him 'What are you doing here? My son eats all living things he

sees, and if you are wise, you will go away without coming any

further.' But the young man told her all his sad tale, and how he

possessed a wonderful snuff-box, and how it had been stolen from

him, and how he had nothing left, now that he was parted from his

wife and was in need of everything. And he said that perhaps her

son, who travelled so far, might have seen a palace with laths of

gold and tiles of diamond, and furnished all in silver and gold.

As he spoke these last words, the moon came in and said he smelt

mortal flesh and blood. But his mother told him that it was an

unhappy man who had lost everything, and had come all this way to

consult him, and bade the young man not to be afraid, but to come

forward and show himself. So he went boldly up to the moon, and

asked if by any accident he had seen a palace with the laths of

gold and the tiles of diamond, and all the furniture of silver and

gold. Once this house belonged to him, but now it was stolen. And

the moon said no, but that the sun travelled farther than he did,

and that the young man had better go and ask him.



So the young man departed, and went away, away, away, as well as

his horse would take him, begging his living as he rode along,

and, somehow or other, at last he got to the land of the sun.

There he found a little old woman, who asked him, 'What are you

doing here? Go away. Have you not heard that my son feeds upon

Christians?' But he said no, and that he would not go, for he was

so miserable that it was all one to him whether he died or not;

that he had lost everything, and especially a splendid palace like

none other in the whole world, for it had laths of gold and tiles

of diamond, and all the furniture was of silver and gold. And that

he had sought it far and long, and in all the earth there was no

man more unhappy. So the old woman's heart melted, and she agreed

to hide him.



When the Sun arrived, he declared that he smelt Christian flesh,

and he meant to have it for his dinner. But his mother told him

such a pitiful story of the miserable wretch who had lost

everything, and had come from far to ask his help, that at last he

promised to see him.



So the young man came out from his hiding-place and begged the sun

to tell him if in the course of his travels he had not seen

somewhere a palace that had not its like in the whole world, for

its laths were of gold and its tiles of diamond, and all the

furniture in silver and gold.



And the sun said no, but that perhaps the wind had seen it, for he

entered everywhere, and saw things that no one else ever saw, and

if anyone knew where it was, it was certainly the wind.



Then the poor young man again set forth as well as his horse could

take him, begging his living as he went, and, somehow or other, he

ended by reaching the home of the wind. He found there a little

old woman busily occupied in filling great barrels with water. She

asked him what had put it into his head to come there, for her son

ate everything he saw, and that he would shortly arrive quite mad,

and that the young man had better look out. But he answered that

he was so unhappy that he had ceased to mind anything, even being

eaten, and then he told her that he had been robbed of a palace

that had not its equal in all the world, and of all that was in

it, and that he had even left his wife, and was wandering over the

world until he found it. And that it was the sun who had sent him

to consult the wind. So she hid him under the staircase, and soon

they heard the south wind arrive, shaking the house to its

foundations. Thirsty as he was, he did not wait to drink, but he

told his mother that he smelt the blood of a Christian man, and

that she had better bring him out at once and make him ready to be

eaten. But she bade her son eat and drink what was before him, and

said that the poor young man was much to be pitied, and that the

sun had granted him his life in order that he might consult the

wind. Then she brought out the young man, who explained how he was

seeking for his palace, and that no man had been able to tell him

where it was, so he had come to the wind. And he added that he had

been shamefully robbed, and that the laths were of gold and the

tiles of diamond, and all the furniture in silver and gold, and he

inquired if the wind had not seen such a palace during his

wanderings.



And the wind said yes, and that all that day he had been blowing

backwards and forwards over it without being able to move one

single tile. 'Oh, do tell me where it is,' cried the you man. 'It

is a long way off,' replied the wind, 'on the other side of the

Red Sea.' But our traveller was not discouraged, he had already

journeyed too far.



So he set forth at once, and, somehow or other, he managed to

reach that distant land. And he enquired if anyone wanted a

gardener. He was told that the head gardener at the castle had

just left, and perhaps he might have a chance of getting the

place. The young man lost no time, but walked up to the castle and

asked if they were in want of a gardener; and how happy he was

when they agreed to take him! Now he passed most of his day in

gossiping with the servants about the wealth of their masters and

the wonderful things in the house. He made friends with one of the

maids, who told him the history of the snuff-box, and he coaxed

her to let him see it. One evening she managed to get hold of it,

and the young man watched carefully where she hid it away, in a

secret place in the bedchamber of her mistress.



The following night, when everyone was fast asleep, he crept in

and took the snuff-box. Think of his joy as he opened the lid!

When it asked him, as of yore, 'What do you want?' he replied:

'What do I want? What do I want? Why, I want to go with my palace

to the old place, and for the King and the Queen and all their

servants to be drowned in the Red Sea.' He hardly finished

speaking when he found himself back again with his wife, while all

the other inhabitants of the palace were lying at the bottom of

the Red Sea.