The old Fairy, who wished to make him happy, at last hit upon a plan.  She shut the Dear Little Princess up in a palace of crystal, and put this palace down where the Prince would not fail to find it.  His joy at seeing the Princess again was extreme, and he set to work with all his might to try to break her prison; but in spite of all his efforts he failed utterly.  In despair he thought at least that he would try to get near enough to speak to the Dear Little Princess, who, on her part, stretched out her hand that he might kiss it; but turn which way he might, he never could raise it to his lips, for his long nose always prevented it.  For the first time he realized how long it really was, and exclaimed: 

“Well, it must be admitted that my nose is too long!”

In an instant the crystal prison flew into a thousand splinters, and the old Fairy, taking the Dear Little Princess by the hand, said to the Prince: 

“Now, say if you are not very much obliged to me.  Much good it was for me to talk to you about your nose!  You would never have found out how extraordinary it was if it hadn’t hindered you from doing what you wanted to.  You see how self-love keeps us from knowing our own defects of mind and body.  Our reason tries in vain to show them to us; we refuse to see them till we find them in the way of our interests.”

Prince Hyacinth, whose nose was now just like anyone’s else, did not fail to profit by the lesson he had received.  He married the Dear Little Princess, and they lived happily ever after.[1]

[1] Le Prince Desir et la Princesse Mignonne.  Par Madame Leprince de Beaumont.

EAST OF THE SUN AND WEST OF THE MOON

Once upon a time there was a poor husbandman who had many children and little to give them in the way either of food or clothing.  They were all pretty, but the prettiest of all was the youngest daughter, who was so beautiful that there were no bounds to her beauty.

So once—­it was late on a Thursday evening in autumn, and wild weather outside, terribly dark, and raining so heavily and blowing so hard that the walls of the cottage shook again—­they were all sitting together by the fireside, each of them busy with something or other, when suddenly some one rapped three times against the window-pane.  The man went out to see what could be the matter, and when he got out there stood a great big white bear.

“Good-evening to you,” said the White Bear.

“Good-evening,” said the man.

“Will you give me your youngest daughter?” said the White Bear; “if you will, you shall be as rich as you are now poor.”

Truly the man would have had no objection to be rich, but he thought to himself:  “I must first ask my daughter about this,” so he went in and told them that there was a great white bear outside who had faithfully promised to make them all rich if he might but have the youngest daughter.