The Grey Fairy Book | Page 5

and hastened to present the cake to the prince.
The sick man began to eat it so fast that the doctors thought he would
choke; and, indeed, he very nearly did, for the ring was in one of the
bits which he broke off, though he managed to extract it from his
mouth without anyone seeing him.
The moment the prince was left alone he drew the ring from under his
pillow and kissed it a thousand times. Then he set his mind to find how
he was to see the owner---for even he did not dare to confess that he
had only beheld ‘Donkey Skin' through a keyhole, lest they should
laugh at this sudden passion. All this worry brought back the fever,
which the arrival of the cake had diminished for the time; and the
doctors, not knowing what else to say, informed the queen that her son
was simply dying of love. The queen, stricken with horror, rushed into
the king's presence with the news, and together they hastened to their
son's bedside.
‘My boy, my dear boy!' cried the king, ‘who is it you want to marry?
We will give her to you for a bride; even if she is the humblest of our
slaves. What is there in the whole world that we would not do for you?'
The prince, moved to tears at these words, drew the ring, which was an
emerald of the purest water, from under his pillow.
‘Ah, dear father and mother, let this be a proof that she whom I love is
no peasant girl. The finger which that ring fits has never been thickened
by hard work. But be her condition what it may, I will marry no other.'
The king and queen examined the tiny ring very closely, and agreed,
with their son, that the wearer could be no mere farm girl. Then the
king went out and ordered heralds and trumpeters to go through the
town, summoning every maiden to the palace. And she whom the ring
fitted would some day be queen.
First came all the princesses, then all the duchesses' daughters, and so
on, in proper order. But not one of them could slip the ring over the tip
of her finger, to the great joy of the prince, whom excitement was fast
curing. At last, when the high-born damsels had failed, the shopgirls

and chambermaids took their turn; but with no better fortune.
‘Call in the scullions and shepherdesses,' commanded the prince; but
the sight of their fat, red fingers satisfied everybody.
‘There is not a woman left, your Highness,' said the chamberlain; but
the prince waved him aside.
‘Have you sent for "Donkey Skin," who made me the cake?' asked he,
and the courtiers began to laugh, and replied that they would not have
dared to introduce so dirty a creature into the palace.
‘Let some one go for her at once,' ordered the king. ‘ I commanded the
presence of every maiden, high or low, and I meant it.'
The princess had heard the trumpets and the proclamations, and knew
quite well that her ring was at the bottom of it all. She, too, had fallen
in love with the prince in the brief glimpse she had had of him, and
trembled with fear lest someone else's finger might be as small as her
own. When, therefore, the messenger from the palace rode up to the
gate, she was nearly beside herself with delight. Hoping all the time for
such a summons, she had dressed herself with great care, putting on the
garment of moonlight, whose skirt was scattered over with emeralds.
But when they began calling to her to come down, she hastily covered
herself with her donkey-skin and announced she was ready to present
herself before his Highness. She was taken straight into the hall, where
the prince was awaiting her, but at the sight of the donkey-skin his
heart sank. Had he been mistaken after all?
‘Are you the girl,' he said, turning his eyes away as he spoke, ‘are you
the girl who has a room in the furthest corner of the inner court of the
farmhouse?'
‘Yes, my lord, I am,' answered she.
‘Hold out your hand then,' continued the prince, feeling that he must
keep his word, whatever the cost, and, to the astonishment of every one
present, a little hand, white and delicate, came from beneath the black
and dirty skin. The ring slipped on with the utmost ease, and, as it did
so, the skin fell to the ground, disclosing a figure of such beauty that
the prince, weak as he was, fell on his knees before her, while the king
and queen joined their prayers to his. Indeed, their welcome was so
warm, and