311

_The White Snake_ 319

_The Story of a Clever Tailor_ 324

_The Golden Mermaid_ 328

_The War of the Wolf and the Fox_ 339

_The Story of the Fisherman and his Wife_ 343

_The Three Musicians_ 353

_The Three Dogs_ 360

_THE BLUE BIRD_

Once upon a time there lived a King who was immensely rich. He had broad
lands, and sacks overflowing with gold and silver; but he did not care a
bit for all his riches, because the Queen, his wife, was dead. He shut
himself up in a little room and knocked his head against the walls for
grief, until his courtiers were really afraid that he would hurt
himself. So they hung feather-beds between the tapestry and the walls,
and then he could go on knocking his head as long as it was any
consolation to him without coming to much harm. All his subjects came to
see him, and said whatever they thought would comfort him: some were
grave, even gloomy with him; and some agreeable, even gay; but not one
could make the least impression upon him. Indeed, he hardly seemed to
hear what they said. At last came a lady who was wrapped in a black
mantle, and seemed to be in the deepest grief. She wept and sobbed until
even the King's attention was attracted; and when she said that, far
from coming to try and diminish his grief, she, who had just lost a good
husband, was come to add her tears to his, since she knew what he must
be feeling, the King redoubled his lamentations. Then he told the
sorrowful lady long stories about the good qualities of his departed
Queen, and she in her turn recounted all the virtues of her departed
husband; and this passed the time so agreeably that the King quite
forgot to thump his head against the feather-beds, and the lady did not
need to wipe the tears from her great blue eyes as often as before. By
degrees they came to talking about other things in which the King took
an interest, and in a wonderfully short time the whole kingdom was
astonished by the news that the King was married again--to the sorrowful
lady.

[Illustration]

Now the King had one daughter, who was just fifteen years old. Her name
was Fiordelisa, and she was the prettiest and most charming Princess
imaginable, al