Tales of Giants from Brazil | Page 9

the beautiful princess who had let him out of the giant's cave. "Surely this princess cannot be as beautiful as she," said the prince. "I am going to see this princess with my own eyes and find out."
Accordingly the prince went to the palace gate to watch for the princess. Soon she came to the balcony and leaned over the railing. She was very beautiful, but her nose was just a tiny bit crooked. She did not compare at all with the princess of the cave.
"This princess is not by any means the most beautiful one in the world," said the prince dressed as a fisherman. "I know where there is a princess who is much more beautiful."
The people standing by heard him. His words were at once reported to the royal guards. They seized him roughly and took him to the king.
"So you are the fisherman who says that my daughter is not the most beautiful princess in the world?" said the king sternly. "You say, I hear, that you know a princess who is much more beautiful. I am a just king or else I should order that you be put to death immediately. As it is, I'll give you the chance to prove what you say. If you are unable to fulfil your boast and show me this princess who in the opinion of my court is more beautiful than my daughter, you shall lose your life. Remember that you will have to bring her here to my court to have her beauty proven."
"Thanks, your majesty," said the prince. "If you will allow me two weeks to fulfil the contract, and if you'll prepare a festa for the night two weeks hence, I'll endeavour to present the most beautiful princess in the world to your assembled court."
The king was astonished at the fisherman's words, for he had not thought that a poor fisherman like him knew many princesses. However, he allowed him to depart in search of the princess.
Then the prince hurried home and once more walked toward the forest by the same path he had gone the day he went in search of the hare for his father's broth. He soon found the place where the hare had crossed his path, and he did his best to remember the course they had followed as he pursued her into the forest.
In the forest he saw evidences of what looked like a flood. The water had washed away every trace of the entrance of the cave. He dug and dug at the place where he thought it ought to be. He found nothing which seemed like the cave's entrance.
He dug and dug at a new place near by and soon he found his way barred by a massive door. The entrance to the cave was securely shut by it. The prince knocked at the door with all his might.
Soon the door was opened a tiny bit and the face of a little old woman looked out. "I am the ama of the princess," she said. "I think you are the prince she was expecting to return to deliver her from all the terrible calamities which have befallen her."
"What has happened to my beautiful princess who saved my life?" asked the prince. "I am indeed the prince, but I am surprised that you should recognize me in my fisherman's garb."
"The princess told me that I would know you by the smile in your eyes," replied the old ama. "I did not look at your clothes at all. I looked at your eyes. You have the smile in them though your face is sad. Come into the cave, and I will tell you all that has happened."
When the prince was inside the cave she hastily barred the door and said, "When the giant returned he was terribly angry at the princess because she had let you escape. He seized her roughly and put her into the box in your place. The princess had thrown away the key to the box when she let you out; and, search as he would, the giant was unable to find it again anywhere. That made him even angrier than before. All day he sits on the top of the chest when the princess is in the form of the hare. At night when he goes away he causes a great river to flow around the entrance to the cave. He has placed a huge fish as guard to the entrance. This fish swims up and down before our door and calls out such vile names at the princess, that, when she is in her own form, she stays in the box and stuffs cotton in her ears. You got here just as the giant had left. The water must have risen as soon as