Now the King had a daughter, who was just as beautiful as her dead
mother, and had the same golden hair. When she was grown up the King
looked at her one day, and saw that in every respect she was like his
late wife, and suddenly felt a violent love for her. Then he spake to
his councillors, “I will marry my daughter, for she is the counterpart
of my late wife, otherwise I can find no bride who resembles her.” When
the councillors heard that, they were shocked, and said, “God has
forbidden a father to marry his daughter, no good can come from such a
crime, and the kingdom will be involved in the ruin.”
The daughter was still more shocked when she became aware of her
father’s resolution, but hoped to turn him from his design. Then she
said to him, “Before I fulfil your wish, I must have three dresses, one
as golden as the sun, one as silvery as the moon, and one as bright as
the stars; besides this, I wish for a mantle of a thousand different
kinds of fur and hair joined together, and one of every kind of animal
in your kingdom must give a piece of his skin for it.” But she thought,
“To get that will be quite impossible, and thus I shall divert my
father from his wicked intentions.” The King, however, did not give it
up, and the cleverest maidens in his kingdom had to weave the three
dresses, one as golden as the sun, one as silvery as the moon, and one
as bright as the stars, and his huntsmen had to catch one of every kind
of animal in the whole of his kingdom, and take from it a piece of its
skin, and out of these was made a mantle of a thousand different kinds
of fur. At length, when all was ready, the King caused the mantle to be
brought, spread it out before her, and said, “The wedding shall be
to-morrow.”
When, therefore, the King’s daughter saw that there was no longer any
hope of turning her father’s heart, she resolved to run away from him.
In the night whilst every one was asleep, she got up, and took three
different things from her treasures, a golden ring, a golden
spinning-wheel, and a golden reel. The three dresses of the sun, moon,
and stars she put into a nutshell, put on her mantle of all kinds of
fur, and blackened her face and hands with soot. Then she commended
herself to God, and went away, and walked the whole night until she
reached a great forest. And as she was tired, she got into a hollow
tree, and fell asleep.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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