upon the spectacle of thy beauty! Raise, O raise the
leaves off this basket, and let me get a sight of the fine fruit
beneath! Lift up that curtain, and let my eyes pass in to behold the
pomp of wonders! Who has shut up so smooth a creature in a prison woven
of hair? Who has locked up so rich a treasure in a leathern chest? Let
me behold this display of graces, and take in payment all my love; for
nothing else can cure the troubles I endure."

But when he had said, again and again, this and a great deal more, and
still saw that all his words were thrown away, he took to his bed, and
had such a desperate fit that the doctors prognosticated badly of his
case. Then his mother, who had no other joy in the world, sat down by
his bedside, and said to him, "My son, whence comes all this grief?
What melancholy humour has seized you? You are young, you are loved,
you are great, you are rich--what then is it you want, my son? Speak; a
bashful beggar carries an empty bag. If you want a wife, only choose,
and I will bring the match about; do you take, and I'll pay. Do you not
see that your illness is an illness to me? Your pulse beats with fever
in your veins, and my heart beats with illness in my brain, for I have
no other support of my old age than you. So be cheerful now, and cheer
up my heart, and do not see the whole kingdom thrown into mourning,
this house into lamentation, and your mother forlorn and heart-broken."

When the Prince heard these words, he said, "Nothing can console me but
the sight of the bear. Therefore, if you wish to see me well again, let
her be brought into this chamber; I will have no one else to attend me,
and make my bed, and cook for me, but she herself; and you may be sure
that this pleasure will make me well in a trice."

Thereupon his mother, although she thought it ridiculous enough for the
bear to act as cook and chambermaid, and feared that her son was not in
his right mind, yet, in order to gratify him, had the bear fetched. And
when the bear came up to the Prince's bed, she raised her paw and felt
the patient's pulse, which made the Queen laugh outright, for she
thought every moment that the bear would scratch his nose. Then the
Prince said, "My dear bear, will you not cook for me, and give me my
food, and wait upon me?" and the bear nodded her head, to show that she
accepted the office. Then his mother had some fowls brought, and a fire
lighted on the hearth in the same chamber, and some wat