The Junior Classics, Volume 1: Fairy and wonder tales
General
The Junior Classics, Volume 1: Fairy and wonder tales
Children's literature
As often happens in this world, there was once a young man who spent
all his time in traveling. One day, as he was walking along, he picked
up a snuffbox. He opened it, and the snuffbox said to him in the
Spanish language: “What do you want?” He was very much frightened, but,
luckily, instead of throwing the box away he only shut it tight and put
it in his pocket. Then he went on, away, away, away, and as he went he
said to himself, “if it says to me again, ‘What do you want?’ I shall
know better what to say this time.” So he took out the snuffbox and
opened it, and again it asked: “What do you want?” “My hat full of
gold,” answered the youth, and immediately it was full.
Our young man was enchanted. Henceforth he should never be in need of
anything. So on he traveled, away, away, away, through thick forests,
till at last he came to a beautiful castle. In the castle there lived a
king. The young man walked round and round the castle, not caring who
saw him, till the king noticed him and asked what he was doing there.
“I was just looking at your castle.” “You would like to have one like
it, wouldn’t you?” The young man did not reply, but when it grew dark
he took out his snuffbox and opened the lid.” What do you want?” “Build
me a castle with laths of gold and tiles of diamond and the furniture
all of silver and gold.” He had scarcely finished speaking when there
stood in front of him, exactly opposite the king’s palace, a castle
built precisely as he had ordered. When the king awoke he was struck
dumb at the sight of the magnificent house shining in the rays of the
sun. The servants could not do their work for stopping to stare at it.
Then the king dressed himself and went to see the young man. And he
told him plainly that he was a very powerful prince, and that he hoped
that they might all live together in one house or the other, and that
the king would give him his daughter to wife. So it all turned out just
as the king wished. The young man married the princess and they lived
happily in the palace of gold.
But the king’s wife was jealous both of the young man and of her own
daughter. The princess had told her mother about the snuffbox, which
gave them everything they wanted, and the queen bribed a servant to
steal the snuffbox. They noticed carefully where it was put away every
night, and one evening, when the whole world was asleep, the woman
stole it and brought it to her old mistress. Oh, how happy the queen
was! She opened the lid and the snuffbox said to her: “What do you
want?” And she answered at once: “I want you to take me and my husband
and my servants and this beautiful house and set us down on the other
side of the Red Sea, but my daughter and her husband are to stay
behind.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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