donkey skin

There was once upon a time a king who was so much loved by his subjects that he
thought himself the happiest man in the whole world, and he had everything his
heart could desire. His palace was filled with the rarest of curiosities, and
his gardens with the sweetest flowers, while in the marble stalls of his stables
stood a row of milk-white Arabs, with big brown ey Strangers who had heard of the marvels which the king had collected, and made
long journeys to see them, were, however, surprised to find the most splendid
stall of all occupied by a donkey, with particularly large and drooping ears. It
was a very fine donkey; but still, as far as they could tell, nothing so very
remarkable as to account for the care with which it was lodged; and they went
away wondering, for they could not know that every night, when it was asleep,
bushels of [color:65c6=blue ! important][color:65c6=blue ! important]gold
pieces tumbled out of its ears, which were picked up each morning by the
attendants.

After many years of prosperity a sudden blow fell
upon the king in the death of his wife, whom he loved dearly. But before she
died, the queen, who had always thought first of his happiness, gathered all her
strength, and said to him:

'Promise me one thing: you must marry again, I
know, for the good of your people, as well as of yourself. But do not set about
it in a hurry. Wait until you have found a woman more beautiful and better
formed than myself.'

'Oh, do not speak to me of marrying,' sobbed the
king; ‘rather let me die with you!' But the queen only smiled faintly, and
turned over on her pillow and died.

For some months the king's grief was
great; then gradually he began to forget a little, and, besides, his counselors
were always urging him to seek another wife. At first he refused to listen to
them, but by-and-by he allowed himself to be persuaded to think of it, only
stipulating that the bride should be more beautiful and attractive than the late
queen, according to the promise he had made her.

Overjoyed at having
obtained what they wanted, the counselors sent envoys far and wide to get
portraits of all the most famous [color:65c6=blue ! important][color:65c6=blue ! important]beauties
of every country. The artists were very busy and did their best, but, alas!
nobody could even pretend that any of the ladies could compare for a moment with
the late queen.

At length, one day, when he had turned away discouraged
from a fresh collection of pictures, the king's eyes fell on his adopted
daughter, who had lived in the palace since she was a baby, and he saw that, if
a woman existed on the whole earth more lovely than the queen, this was she! He
at once made known what his wishes were, but the young girl, who was not at all
ambitious, and had not the faintest desire to marry him, was filled with dismay,
and begged for time to think about it. That night, when everyone was asleep, she
started in a little car drawn by a big sheep, and went to consult her fairy
godmother.

'I know what you have come to tell me,' said the fairy, when
the maiden stepped out of the car; 'and if you don't wish to marry him, I will
show you how to avoid it. Ask him to give you a [color:65c6=blue ! important][color:65c6=blue ! important]dress
that exactly matches the sky. It will be impossible for him to get one, so you
will be quite safe.' The girl thanked the fairy and returned home
again.

The next morning, when her father (as she had
always called him) came to see her, she told him that she could give him no
answer until he had presented her with a dress the colour of the sky. The king,
overjoyed at this answer, sent for all the choicest weavers and dressmakers in
the kingdom, and commanded them to make a robe the colour of the sky without an
instant's delay, or he would cut off their heads at once. Dreadfully frightened
at this threat, they all began to dye and cut and sew, and in two days they
brought back the dress, which looked as if it had been cut straight out of the
heavens! The poor girl was thunderstruck, and did not know what to do; so in the
night she harnessed her sheep again, and went in search of her
godmother.

'The king is cleverer than I thought,' said the fairy; ‘but
tell him you must have a dress of moonbeams.'

And the next day, when the
king summoned her into his presence, the girl told him what she
wanted.

'Madam, I can refuse you nothing,' said he; and he ordered the
dress to be ready in twenty-four hours, or every man should be
hanged.

They set to work with all their might, and by dawn next day, the
dress of moonbeams was laid across her bed. The girl, though she could not help
admiring its beauty, began to cry, till the fairy, who heard her, came to her
help.

Well, I could not have believed it of him!' said she; ‘but ask for
a dress of sunshine, and I shall be surprised indeed if he manages
that!'

The goddaughter did not feel much faith in the fairy after her two
previous failures; but not knowing what else to do, she told her father what she
was told.

The king made no difficulties about it, and even gave his
finest rubies and diamonds to ornament the dress, which was so dazzling, when
finished, that it could only be looked through smoked glasses!

When the
princess saw it, she pretended that the sight hurt her eyes, and retired to her
room, where she found the fairy awaiting her, very much ashamed of
herself.

'There is only one thing to be done now,' cried she; ‘you must
demand the skin of the ass he treasures by. It is from that donkey he obtains
all his vast riches, and I am sure he will never give it to you.'

The
princess was not so certain; however, she went to the king, and told him she
could never marry him till he had given her the ass's skin.

The king was
both astonished and grieved at this new request, but did not hesitate an
instant. The ass was sacrificed, and the skin laid at the feet of the
princess.

The poor girl, seeing no escape from the fate she dreaded, wept
afresh, and tore her hair; when, suddenly, the fairy stood before
her.

Take heart,' she said, 'all will now go well! Wrap yourself in this
skin, and leave the palace and go as far as you can. I will look after you. Your
dresses and your jewels shall follow you underground, and if you strike the
earth whenever you need anything, you will have it at once. But go quickly: you
have no time to lose.'

So the princess clothed herself in the ass's skin,
and slipped from the palace without being seen by anyone.

Directly she
was missed there was a great hue and cry, and every corner, possible and
impossible, was searched. Then the king sent out parties along all the roads,
but the fairy threw her invisible mantle over the girl when they approached, and
none of them could see her.

The princess walked on a long, long way,
trying to find some one who would take her in, and let her work for them; but
though the cottagers, whose houses she passed, gave her food from charity, the
ass's skin was so dirty they would not allow her to enter their houses. For her
flight had been so hurried she had had no time to clean it.

Tired and
disheartened at her ill-fortune, she was wandering, one day, past the gate of a
farmyard, situated just outside the walls of a large town, when she heard a
voice calling to her. She turned and saw the farmer's wife standing among her
turkeys, and making signs to her to come in.

'I want a girl to wash the
dishes and feed the turkeys, and clean out the pig-sty,' said the women, 'and,
to judge by your dirty clothes, you would not be too fine for the
work.'

The girl accepted her offer with joy, and she was at once set to
work in a corner of the kitchen, where all the farm servants came and made fun
of her, and the ass's skin in which she was wrapped. But by-and-by they got so
used to the sight of it that it ceased to amuse them, and she worked so hard and
so well, that her mistress grew quite fond of her. And she was so clever at
keeping sheep and herding turkeys that you would have thought she had done
nothing else during her whole life!

One day she was sitting on the banks
of a stream bewailing her wretched lot, when she suddenly caught sight of
herself in the water. Her hair and part of her face was quite concealed by the
ass's head, which was drawn right over like a hood, and the filthy matted skin
covered her whole body. It was the first time she had seen herself as other
people saw her, and she was filled with shame at the spectacle. Then she threw
off her disguise and jumped into the water, plunging in again and again, till
she shone like ivory. When it was time to go back to the farm, she was forced to
put on the skin which disguised her, and now seemed more dirty than ever; but,
as she did so, she comforted herself with the thought that to-morrow was a
holiday, and that she would be able for a few hours to forget that she was a
farm girl, and be a princess once more.

So, at break of day, she stamped
on the ground, as the fairy had told her, and instantly the dress like the sky
lay across her tiny bed. Her room was so small that there was no place for the
train of her dress to spread itself out, but she pinned it up carefully when she
combed her beautiful hair and piled it up on the top of her head, as she had
always worn it. When she had done, she was so pleased with herself that she
determined never to let a chance pass of putting on her splendid clothes, even
if she had to wear them in the fields, with no one to admire her but the sheep
and turkeys.

Now the farm was a royal farm, and, one holiday,
when ‘Donkey Skin' (as they had nicknamed the princess) had locked the door of
her room and clothed herself in her dress of sunshine, the king's son rode
through the gate, and asked if he might come and rest himself a little after
hunting. Some food and milk were set before him in the garden, and when he felt
rested he got up, and began to explore the house, which was famous throughout
the whole kingdom for its age and beauty. He opened one door after the other,
admiring the old rooms, when he came to a handle that would not turn. He stooped
and peeped through the keyhole to see what was inside, and was greatly
astonished at beholding a beautiful girl, clad in a dress so dazzling that he
could hardly look at it.

The dark gallery seemed darker than ever as he
turned away, but he went back to the kitchen and inquired who slept in the room
at the end of the passage. The scullery maid, they told him, whom everybody
laughed at, and called ‘ Donkey Skin;' and though he perceived there was some
strange mystery about this, he saw quite clearly there was nothing to be gained
by asking any more questions. So he rode back to the palace, his head filled
with the vision he had seen through the keyhole.

All night long he tossed
about, and awoke the next morning in a high fever. The queen, who had no other
child, and lived in a state of perpetual anxiety about this one, at once gave
him up for lost, and indeed his sudden illness puzzled the greatest doctors, who
tried the usual remedies in vain. At last they told the queen that some secret
sorrow must be at the bottom of all this, and she threw herself on her knees
beside her son's bed, and implored him to confide his trouble to her. If it was
ambition to be king, his father would gladly resign the cares of the crown, and
suffer him to reign in his stead; or, if it was love, everything should be
sacrificed to get for him the wife he desired, even if she were daughter of a
king with whom the country was at war at present!

'Madam,' replied the
prince, whose weakness would hardly allow him to speak, 'do not think me so
unnatural as to wish to deprive my father of his crown. As long as he lives I
shall remain the most faithful of his subjects! And as to the princesses you
speak of, I have seen none that I should care for as a wife, though I would
always obey your wishes, whatever it might cost me.'

'Ah! my son,' cried
she, 'we will do anything in the world to save your life ----and ours too, for
if you die, we shall die also.'

'Well, then,' replied the prince, 'I will
tell you the only thing that will cure me ---a cake made by the hand of "Donkey
Skin." '

'Donkey Skin?' exclaimed the queen, who thought her son had gone
mad; 'and who or what is that?'

'Madam,' answered one of the attendants
present, who had been with the prince at the farm, '"Donkey Skin" is, next to
the wolf, the most disgusting creature on the face of the earth. She is a girl
who wears a black, greasy skin, and lives at your farmer's as
hen-wife.'

'Never mind,' said the queen; 'my son seems to have eaten some
of her pastry. It is the whim of a sick man, no doubt; but send at once and let
her bake a cake.'

The attendant bowed and ordered a page to ride with the
message.

Now it is by no means certain that ‘Donkey Skin'
had not caught a glimpse of the prince, either when his eyes looked through the
keyhole, or else from her little window, which was over the road. But whether
she had actually seen him or only heard him spoken of, directly she received the
queen's command, she flung off the dirty skin, washed herself from head to foot,
and put on a skirt and bodice of shining silver. Then, locking herself into her
room, she took the richest cream, the finest flour, and the freshest eggs on the
farm, and set about making her cake.

As she was stirring the mixture in
the saucepan a [color:65c6=blue ! important][color:65c6=blue ! important]ring
that she sometimes wore in secret slipped from her finger and fell into the
dough. Perhaps ‘Donkey Skin' saw it, or perhaps she did not; but, any way, she
went on stirring, and soon the cake was ready to be put in the oven. When it was
nice and brown she took off her dress and put on her dirty skin, and gave the
cake to the page, asking at the same time for news of the prince. But the page
turned his head aside, and would not even condescend to answer.

The page
rode like the wind, and as soon as he arrived at the palace he snatched up a
silver tray 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 their caresses so bewildering, that the princess
hardly knew how to find words to reply, when the ceiling of the hall opened, and
the fairy godmother appeared, seated in a car made entirely of white lilac. In a
few words she explained the history of the princess, and how she came to be
there, and, without losing a moment, preparations of the most magnificent kind
were made for the wedding.

The kings of
every country in the earth were invited, including, of course, the princess's
adopted father (who by this time had married a widow), and not one
refused.

But what a strange assembly it was! Each monarch traveled in the
way he thought most impressive; and some came borne in litters, others had
carriages of every shape and kind, while the rest were mounted on elephants,
tigers, and even upon eagles. So splendid a wedding had never been seen before;
and when it was over the king announced that it was to be followed by a
coronation, for he and the queen were tired of reigning, and the young couple
must take their place. The rejoicings lasted for three whole months, then the
new sovereigns settled down to govern their kingdom, and made themselves so much
beloved by their subjects, that when they died, a hundred years later, each man
mourned them as his own father and mother.

khôi,sao a vít bài mà hok thấy con trỏ đâu hít za???chèn hình động hok đc ha?