Once upon a time there lived a king and a queen who had one son.
The king loved the boy very much, but the queen, who was a wicked woman, hated the sight of him; and this was the more unlucky for, when he was twelve years old, his father died, and he was left alone in the world.
Now the queen was very angry because the people, who knew how bad she was, seated her son on the throne instead of herself, and she never rested till she had formed a plan to get him out of the way.Fortunately, however, the young king was wise and prudent, and knew her too well to trust her.
One day, when his mourning was over, he gave orders that everything should be made ready for a grand hunt.The queen pretended to be greatly delighted that he was going to amuse himself once more, and declared that she would accompany him.
'No, mother, I cannot let you come,' he answered; 'the ground is rough, and you are not strong.' But he might as well have spoken to the winds: when the horn was sounded at daybreak the queen was there with the rest.
All that day they rode, for game was plentiful, but towards evening the mother and son found themselves alone in a part of the country that was strange to them.They wandered on for some time, without knowing where they were going, till they met with a man whom they begged to give them shelter.'Come with me,' said the man gladly, for he was an ogre, and fed on human flesh; and the king and his mother went with him, and he led them to his house.
When they got there they found to what a dreadful place they had come, and, falling on their knees, they offered him great sums of money, if he would only spare their lives.The ogre's heart was moved at the sight of the queen's beauty, and he promised that he would do her no harm; but he stabbed the boy at once, and binding his body on a horse, turned him loose in the forest.
The ogre had happened to choose a horse which he had bought only the day before, and he did not know it was a magician, or he would not have been so foolish as to fix upon it on this occasion.
The horse no sooner had been driven off with the prince's body on its back than it galloped straight to the home of the fairies, and knocked at the door with its hoof.The fairies heard the knock, but were afraid to open till they had peeped from an upper window to see that it was no giant or ogre who could do them harm.'Oh, look, sister!' cried the first to reach the window, 'it is a horse that has knocked, and on its back there is bound a dead boy, the most beautiful boy in all the world!' Then the fairies ran to open the door, and let in the horse and unbound the ropes which fastened the young king on its back.And they gathered round to admire his beauty, and whispered one to the other: 'We will make him alive again, and will keep him for our brother.' And so they did, and for many years they all lived together as brothers and sisters.
By-and-by the boy grew into a man, as boys will, and then the oldest of the fairies said to her sisters: 'Now I will marry him, and he shall be really your brother.' So the young king married the fairy, and they lived happily together in the castle; but though he loved his wife he still longed to see the world.
At length this longing grew so strong on him that he could bear it no more; and, calling the fairies together, he said to them: 'Dear wife and sisters, I must leave you for a time, and go out and see the world.But I shall think of you often, and one day I shall come back to you.'
The fairies wept and begged him to stay, but he would not listen, and at last the eldest, who was his wife, said to him: 'If you really will abandon us, take this lock of my hair with you; you will find it useful in time of need.' So she cut off a long curl, and handed it to him.
The prince mounted his horse, and rode on all day without stopping once.Towards evening he found himself in a desert, and, look where he would, there was no such thing as a house or a man to be seen.'What am I to do now?' he thought.'If I go to sleep here wild beasts will come and eat me! Yet both I and my horse are worn out, and can go no further.' Then suddenly he remembered the fairy's gift, and taking out the curl he said to it: 'I want a castle here, and servants, and dinner, and everything to make me comfortable tonight; and besides that, I must have a stable and fodder for my horse.' And in a moment the castle was before him just as he had wished.
In this way he travelled through many countries, till at last he came to a land that was ruled over by a great king.Leaving his horse outside the walls, he clad himself in the dress of a poor man, and went up to the palace.The queen, who was looking out of the window, saw him approaching, and filled with pity sent a servant to ask who he was and what he wanted.'I am a stranger here,'
answered the young king, 'and very poor.I have come to beg for some work.' 'We have everybody we want,' said the queen, when the servant told her the young man's reply.'We have a gate-keeper, and a hall porter, and servants of all sorts in the palace; the only person we have not got is a goose-boy.Tell him that he can he our goose-boy if he likes.' The youth answered that he was quite content to be goose-boy; and that was how he got his nickname of Paperarello.And in order that no one should guess that he was any better than a goose-boy should be, he rubbed his face and his rags over with mud, and made himself altogether such a disgusting object that every one crossed over to the other side of the road when he was seen coming.
'Do go and wash yourself, Paperarello!' said the queen sometimes, for he did his work so well that she took an interest in him.'Oh, Ishould not feel comfortable if I was clean, your Majesty,' answered he, and went whistling after his geese.
It happened one day that, owing to some accident to the great flour mills which supplied the city, there was no bread to be had, and the king's army had to do without.When the king heard of it, he sent for the cook, and told him that by the next morning he must have all the bread that the oven, heated seven times over, could bake.'But, your Majesty, it is not possible,' cried the poor man in despair.
