The Tapestry Room: A Child's RomanceMolesworth, Mrs.
Science
The Tapestry Room: A Child's Romance
Molesworth, Mrs.
Fantasy literature
"It would be impossible to tell the Prince's delight. He became at once
as gay and lively as the day before. The Princess and he had supper
together, and amused themselves afterwards with the enchanted balls, and
the evening passed so quickly that the princess could hardly believe
more than one hour instead of three had gone, when he started up, saying
his time was over. It was sad to see him go, forced, through no fault of
his own, to return to his hated disguise; but still it was with a
lightened heart that the poor brown bull went tramping about during the
next one-and-twenty hours.
"And on her side the Princess's lonely hours were cheered by the thought
that she was to be the means of freeing him from the power of the
terrible spell, for all that she saw of him only served to increase her
sympathy and respect.
"So time went on. The Princess got more and more accustomed to her
strange life, and every day more attached to the Prince, who on his side
could not do enough to prove to her his gratitude. For many weeks he
never failed to enter her presence the instant the sun had sunk below
the horizon, and the three hours they spent together made amends to both
for the loneliness of the rest of the day. And whenever the Princess
felt inclined to murmur, she renewed her patience and courage by the
thought of how much harder to bear was the Prince's share of the trial.
She was allowed to remain in peaceful security, and to employ her time
in pleasant and interesting ways; while he was forced to rove the world
as a hateful monster, shunned by any of the human race whom he happened
to meet, constantly exposed to fatigue and privation.
"Sometimes they spent a part of the evening in the beautiful gardens
surrounding the palace. There, one day, as sunset was approaching, the
Princess had betaken herself to wait the Prince's arrival, when a sad
shock met her. It was past the usual hour of his coming. Several times
she had wandered up and down the path by which he generally approached
the castle, tossing her balls as she went, for more than once he had
seen their glitter from a distance, and known by it that she was
waiting. But this evening she waited and watched in vain, and at last, a
strange anxiety seizing her, she turned towards the castle to see if
possibly he had entered from the other side, and was hurrying back when
a low moan reached her ears, causing her heart for an instant almost to
leave off beating with terror.
CHAPTER X.
THE END OF THE BROWN BULL.
"'And happy they ever lived after'--
Yes, that was the end of the tale."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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