Four and Twenty Fairy Tales: Selected from Those of Perrault, and Other Popular Writers
General
Four and Twenty Fairy Tales: Selected from Those of Perrault, and Other Popular Writers
Fairy tales
"Behold thee victorious," said she. "We owe everything to thee, Beauty.
Thou hast suffered gratitude to triumph over every other feeling. None
but thou would have had the courage to keep their word at the expense
of their inclination, nor to have perilled their life to have saved
that of their father. In return for this, there are none who can ever
hope to enjoy such happiness as thy virtue has won for thee. Thou
knowest at present little, but the rising sun shall tell thee more."
When the Lady had disappeared, Beauty again saw the unknown youth, but
stretched on the earth as dead. All the night passed in such dreams;
but they had become familiar to her, and did not prevent her from
sleeping long and soundly. It was broad daylight when she awoke. The
sun streamed into her apartment with more brilliancy than usual: her
monkeys had not closed the shutters. Believing the sight that met her
eyes but a continuation of her dreams, and that she was sleeping still,
her joy and surprise were extreme at discovering that it was a reality,
and that on a couch beside her lay, in a profound slumber, her beloved
Unknown, looking a thousand times more handsome than he had done in
her vision. To assure herself of the fact, she arose hastily and took
from off her toilet-table the miniature she usually wore on her arm;
but she could not have been mistaken. She spoke to him, in the hope of
awaking him from the trance into which he seemed to have been thrown by
some wonderful power. Not stirring at her voice, she shook him by the
arm. This effort was equally ineffectual, and only served to convince
her that he was under the influence of enchantment, and that she must
await the end of the charm, which it was reasonable to suppose had an
appointed period.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account