The Laughing Prince | Page 9

in the world and find her for myself."
So he put on rich clothes as befitted his wealth, took a bag of the gold
his father had left him, mounted his horse, and rode off into the world.
Everywhere he went he made inquiries about Peerless Beauty and
everywhere he found old men who knew about the enchanted maiden
but would tell him nothing. Every one of them advised him to go home
like a sensible young man and think no more about her. But all they
said only made him the more determined to see the maiden for himself.
Finally one day as evening approached he came to a little hut in the

woods. At the door of the hut sat a poor old woman. She held out her
hand as he passed and begged an alms. Danilo, being a kind hearted
young man, gave her a gold piece.
"May God reward you!" the old woman said.
"Granny," Danilo asked, "can you tell me the way to Peerless Beauty?"
"Aye, my son, that I can but he is a rash youth who seeks that maiden!
It were better for you to turn back than to go on!"
"But I'm not going to turn back!" Danilo declared. "Whatever the
outcome I'm going to find Peerless Beauty and see for myself why all
men fear her."
When the old woman saw that Danilo was determined, she gave up
pleading with him and pointed out a faint trail in the forest which, she
told him, would lead him to Peerless Beauty's castle.
He slept that night in the old woman's hut and early next morning set
out on the forest trail. By afternoon he reached the castle.
"What do you want?" the guards demanded roughly.
"I want to see Peerless Beauty."
"Have you gold?" they asked him.
Danilo showed them his bag of ducats.
They led him into a hall of the castle and told him to put his gold on a
table. If he did so, perhaps Peerless Beauty would show herself and
perhaps she wouldn't.
Danilo did as the guards directed and then faced a curtain behind which,
they told him, Peerless Beauty was seated. The curtain opened a little,
but instead of showing her face Peerless Beauty extended only one
finger. However, that finger was so ravishingly beautiful that Danilo
almost fainted with delight. He would have stayed gazing on that one

enchanting finger for hours if the guards had not taken him roughly by
the shoulders and thrown him out of the castle.
"Come again when you've got more gold!" they shouted after him.
Like a man in a dream Danilo rode back to the old woman's hut.
"Now, my son, are you satisfied?" she asked him. "Are you ready now
to go home and settle down like a sensible young man?"
"Oh, granny!" Danilo raved. "Such a finger! I must see that finger again
if it cost me my whole fortune!"
He slept that night in the old woman's hut and the next day returned to
his native village. There he got another bag of the golden ducats which
his father had left him and at once started back to the castle of Peerless
Beauty.
This time that heartless maiden stripped him again of his gold, showed
him two of her enchanting fingers, and as before had her guards throw
him out of the castle.
"Come again when you've got more gold!" they shouted after him.
That's exactly what the poor young man did. He went back and back
until the fortune that his father had left him was entirely squandered.
And all he had seen of Peerless Beauty up to that time were the fingers
of one hand! Shouldn't you suppose that now with all his wealth lost he
would get over his foolish infatuation? Well, he didn't.
"I must go back again!" he kept telling himself.
His gold was gone but he still had his father's house. It was a big old
house with garrets and cellars.
"Perhaps if I hunt I shall find some treasures hidden away in odd
corners," Danilo said.
So he hunted upstairs and down. He opened old boxes and rummaged

about among the dark rafters. One day he came upon a funny looking
little cap.
"I wonder whose this was," he thought to himself.
He went to a mirror and tried the cap on. Then a strange thing happened.
The moment the cap touched his head, Danilo disappeared.
"Ah!" he cried, "it's a magic cap and the moment I put it on I become
invisible! Now I can slip into Peerless Beauty's chamber and see her
lovely face!"
With his magic cap pulled tightly down over his forehead, he set off
once more for Peerless Beauty's castle. Sure enough he was able to