A great king of a land far away in the East had a daughter who was verybeautiful, but so proud, and haughty, and conceited, that none of theprinces who came to ask her in marriage was good enough for her, and sheonly made sport of them.

Once upon a time the king held a great feast, and asked thither allher suitors; and they all sat in a row, ranged according to theirrank--kings, and princes, and dukes, and earls, and counts, and barons,and knights. Then the princess came in, and as she passed by them shehad something spiteful to say to every one. The first was too fat: 'He'sas round as a tub,' said she. The next was too tall: 'What a maypole!'said she. The next was too short: 'What a dumpling!' said she. Thefourth was too pale, and she called him 'Wallface.' The fifth was toored, so she called him 'Coxcomb.' The sixth was not straight enough;so she said he was like a green stick, that had been laid to dry overa baker's oven. And thus she had some joke to crack upon every one: butshe laughed more than all at a good king who was there. 'Look athim,' said she; 'his beard is like an old mop; he shall be calledGrisly-beard.' So the king got the nickname of Grisly-beard.

But the old king was very angry when he saw how his daughter behaved,and how she ill-treated all his guests; and he vowed that, willing orunwilling, she should marry the first man, be he prince or beggar, thatcame to the door.

Two days after there came by a travelling fiddler, who began to playunder the window and beg alms; and when the king heard him, he said,'Let him come in.' So they brought in a dirty-looking fellow; and whenhe had sung before the king and the princess, he begged a boon. Then theking said, 'You have sung so well, that I will give you my daughter foryour wife.' The princess begged and prayed; but the king said, 'I havesworn to give you to the first comer, and I will keep my word.' So wordsand tears were of no avail; the parson was sent for, and she was marriedto the fiddler. When this was over the king said, 'Now get ready togo--you must not stay here--you must travel on with your husband.'

Then the fiddler went his way, and took her with him, and they soon cameto a great wood. 'Pray,' said she, 'whose is this wood?' 'It belongsto King Grisly-beard,' answered he; 'hadst thou taken him, all had beenthine.' 'Ah! unlucky wretch that I am!' sighed she; 'would that I hadmarried King Grisly-beard!' Next they came to some fine meadows. 'Whoseare these beautiful green meadows?' said she. 'They belong to KingGrisly-beard, hadst thou taken him, they had all been thine.' 'Ah!unlucky wretch that I am!' said she; 'would that I had married KingGrisly-beard!'

Then they came to a great city. 'Whose is this noble city?' said she.'It belongs to King Grisly-beard; hadst thou taken him, it had all beenthine.' 'Ah! wretch that I am!' sighed she; 'why did I not marry KingGrisly-beard?' 'That is no business of mine,' said the fiddler: 'whyshould you wish for another husband? Am not I good enough for you?'

At last they came to a small cottage. 'What a paltry place!' said she;'to whom does that little dirty hole belong?' Then the fiddler said,'That is your and my house, where we are to live.' 'Where are yourservants?' cried she. 'What do we want with servants?' said he; 'youmust do for yourself whatever is to be done. Now make the fire, and puton water and cook my supper, for I am very tired.' But the princess knewnothing of making fires and cooking, and the fiddler was forced to helpher. When they had eaten a very scanty meal they went to bed; but thefiddler called her up very early in the morning to clean the house. Thusthey lived for two days: and when they had eaten up all there was in thecottage, the man said, 'Wife, we can't go on thus, spending money andearning nothing. You must learn to weave baskets.' Then he went out andcut willows, and brought them home, and she began to weave; but it madeher fingers very sore. 'I see this work won't do,' said he: 'try andspin; perhaps you will do that better.' So she sat down and tried tospin; but the threads cut her tender fingers till the blood ran. 'Seenow,' said the fiddler, 'you are good for nothing; you can do no work:what a bargain I have got! However, I'll try and set up a trade in potsand pans, and you shall stand in the market and sell them.' 'Alas!'sighed she, 'if any of my father's court should pass by and see mestanding in the market, how they will laugh at me!'

But her husband did not care for that, and said she must work, if shedid not wish to die of hunger. At first the trade went well; for manypeople, seeing such a beautiful woman, went to buy her wares, and paidtheir money without thinking of taking away the goods. They lived onthis as long as it lasted; and then her husband bought a fresh lot ofware, and she sat herself down with it in the corner of the market; buta drunken soldier soon came by, and rode his horse against her stall,and broke all her goods into a thousand pieces. Then she began to cry,and knew not what to do. 'Ah! what will become of me?' said she; 'whatwill my husband say?' So she ran home and told him all. 'Who wouldhave thought you would have been so silly,' said he, 'as to put anearthenware stall in the corner of the market, where everybody passes?but let us have no more crying; I see you are not fit for this sort ofwork, so I have been to the king's palace, and asked if they did notwant a kitchen-maid; and they say they will take you, and there you willhave plenty to eat.'

Thus the princess became a kitchen-maid, and helped the cook to do allthe dirtiest work; but she was allowed to carry home some of the meatthat was left, and on this they lived.

She had not been there long before she heard that the king's eldest sonwas passing by, going to be married; and she went to one of the windowsand looked out. Everything was ready, and all the pomp and brightness ofthe court was there. Then she bitterly grieved for the pride and follywhich had brought her so low. And the servants gave her some of the richmeats, which she put into her basket to take home.

All on a sudden, as she was going out, in came the king's son in goldenclothes; and when he saw a beautiful woman at the door, he took herby the hand, and said she should be his partner in the dance; but shetrembled for fear, for she saw that it was King Grisly-beard, who wasmaking sport of her. However, he kept fast hold, and led her in; and thecover of the basket came off, so that the meats in it fell about. Theneverybody laughed and jeered at her; and she was so abashed, that shewished herself a thousand feet deep in the earth. She sprang to thedoor to run away; but on the steps King Grisly-beard overtook her, andbrought her back and said, 'Fear me not! I am the fiddler who has livedwith you in the hut. I brought you there because I really loved you. Iam also the soldier that overset your stall. I have done all this onlyto cure you of your silly pride, and to show you the folly of yourill-treatment of me. Now all is over: you have learnt wisdom, and it istime to hold our marriage feast.'

Then the chamberlains came and brought her the most beautiful robes; andher father and his whole court were there already, and welcomed her homeon her marriage. Joy was in every face and every heart. The feast wasgrand; they danced and sang; all were merry; and I only wish that youand I had been of the party.