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PRINCE ROUL’S BRIDE
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Once upon a time in a far-off land there lived by an ocean an ogre and his wife.
 
Their home was a cave in a big white rock which was so white it shone like a light even in the darkest night, and many a ship had thought it a harbor in a storm and been wrecked1 by the shore where the ogre lived.
 
And this was the way he lived, because the ships carried rich cargoes2 and the ogre lost no time in helping3 himself to all that he could find, while the sailors were glad to escape in lifeboats when they saw the dreadful-looking ogre, who was so big and strong he could lift a ship.
 
In the same country, miles and miles away from the ogre’s cave, lived a rich king, who[Pg 101] had a son named Roul, and one day while the Prince was out hunting he passed in the woods a cabin where lived a poor girl named Leta.
 
But while Leta was very poor she was also very pretty, and as the Prince rode past he saw her at the window and raised his plumed4 hat and smiled.
 
The next day Prince Roul again rode to the woods and this time he did not pass Leta’s cabin. He stopped his horse in front of her door and asked for a drink of water.
 
He had thought Leta pretty through the window, but when he beheld5 her this time he completely lost his heart, and day after day he went to the cottage and talked to pretty Leta.
 
After a while the King told his son it was time he was looking for a wife, as he wanted to see him married before he died and know that his wife was worthy6 to be a queen.
 
So the King gave a feast which lasted for weeks, and princesses from far and near were asked that Prince Roul might choose for himself a wife, for, as I said before, the King was very rich and all the kings in the other countries were anxious, of course, to have Prince Roul for a son-in-law.
 
But Prince Roul did not choose a wife from[Pg 102] among the beautiful princesses, for he was already in love with pretty Leta, and while he knew full well his father would never give his consent to their marriage, he was determined7 he would wed8 no one else.
 
On the last day of the feast the King told him he would have to choose. “You have before you the beautiful women of the land,” said the King. “Make your choice at once, and the wedding shall take place this night.”
 
“Father, you have not brought to me the most beautiful woman in the world,” replied Prince Roul. “If you had I should have asked her to be my wife before this.”
 
“What do you mean?” asked the King. “All the princesses in the land are here.”
 
“Ah yes, that is true,” replied the Prince, “but the most beautiful woman in the world is not a princess, as you think of them, but she is a Princess for all that. Father, she is the Princess of my heart and I cannot marry any other woman.”
 
Then the King made the Prince tell him who she was that he loved so dearly, and when he learned Leta was a poor girl who lived in the woods close by, he was very angry and told the Prince he should never wed her.
 
[Pg 103]
 
All the beautiful princesses were sent home, and the angry King called his servants to him and commanded that they should go to the woods and find this girl who had upset his plans for his son.
 
“Find her and chase her out of the woods; drive her into another land where the Prince will never find her,” he told them.
 
But the King had forgotten one very important thing, and that was his son, for he should have made him a prisoner before he gave such an order. This he did not do, and Prince Roul, who overheard what his father had said, lost no time in jumping on his horse and making his way to the woods ahead of the servants of the King.
 
“Jump up behind me,” he said to Leta when she came out of the cabin, and away they rode, the feet of Prince Roul’s horse scarcely touching9 the ground as they fled.
 
The King’s servants were not long in discovering that the Prince had outwitted them, but they gave chase and away they went through the woods, while poor frightened little Leta clung to the Prince, wondering what it was all about.
 
On and on they rode, but to Leta clinging to[Pg 104] her lover, it seemed they flew over the ground and through the woods. She could see the bright trimmings of the servants’ coats glistening10 in the sun, and she knew they were gaining on them.
 
By this time Prince Roul had told her that his father, the King, had tried to make him marry a princess, but that he would marry no one but the girl he loved and that was herself.
 
When Leta heard this she was more frightened than ever, for she knew now that she was the cause of all this trouble and that the servants must be chasing them to take Roul from her.
 
Leta put her hand to her breast. Yes; it was there—the little paper with the powder a fairy had given her a long time ago, because Leta had left a beautiful rose on its stem she was about to pick when she discovered a little fairy sleeping inside the rose.
 
“If you ever are in trouble, open this paper and throw the powder around you,” the fairy had told her. “It will protect you from all harm.”
 
Leta had never before needed protection, and she was not thinking so much of herself now as of her lover, wondering what the King would do if he did not obey him.
 
[Pg 105]
 
Just then the horse on which they were riding came to a full stop with such force that Leta was thrown to the ground and the next thing she knew over the side of a cliff leaped the horse with the Prince on his back.
 
The ocean was below, but before the horse and his rider had reached it Leta drew from her dress the magic powder and threw it over the cliff.
 
“Make the ocean dry,” she screamed as she threw the powder, and, to her surprise, as she threw it over she went, too, and the next instant she stood beside Prince Roul on dry land before a beautiful white castle and the ocean was miles away.
 
The cliff over which they had gone was the white rock where the ogre and the ogress lived, but when Leta threw the powder she had also summoned the little fairy who had given it to her and she had changed the big white cave into a castle.
 
When the King’s servants came dashing up to the cliff they saw nothing of the Prince or his horse, and the bottom of the cliff was so far below that they felt sure they had been destroyed, and they rode home to the King with the sad news.
 
[Pg 106]
 
The King’s grief was deep and bitter, for he really loved his son very much, and now when it was too late he cried out that he wished he had let the Prince marry the girl he loved; if only he had him alive that would be all he would ask.
 
The little fairy did not make herself visible to either Leta or the Prince, but if they could have seen with fairy eyes they would have seen the fairy flying ahead of them into the castle, touching everything with her magic wand as she went.
 
When Leta entered the door, which was open, for they had called and no one answered, she stood spellbound by what she saw.
 
The long white marble hall had a floor of silver and marble and the doors were silver also.
 
The Prince, who was used to beautiful things, was quite surprised at all the splendor11, too.
 
Opening a big silver door, they entered a room hung with silver and deep-blue curtains, and on a silver table Leta saw a big white envelop12. When she looked at it she read her own name.
 
Wondering who could have left it, she[Pg 107] opened it and read: “Princess Leta, this is your castle; it is the gift of the fairies who love roses.”
 
“Your father will not object now to having me for the wife of his son,” she said, with a blush, as she gave the note to the Prince, and then they ran like two happy children through the beautiful castle that had come to them so strangely.
 
In the deep dungeons13 under the castle they found all the wealth that the ogre had taken from the ships, and after they had become used to their new home they gave it all to the poor, and so the ogre’s stolen wealth did not help him, and while it could not be given back to those who had lost it, it did much good.
 
And what became of the old ogre and his wife, you are wondering. I will tell you. When the fairy changed the cave into a castle she changed the ogre and ogress into two big silver statues in the big hall, one at each end, like huge mummies, holding a big light in their hands, which lighted the long hall of the castle.
 
Then one day Prince Roul and Princess Leta rode away to the palace of the old King, and when he saw his son he wept for joy and hugged him to his heart, and Leta’s pretty[Pg 108] face won the old King’s heart at once, so they all lived happily ever after.
 
But while the old King wanted them to make the palace their home, Prince Roul and Leta could not give up their white castle by the sea, so part of the year they lived in the white castle, and when Prince Roul grew old and his grandchildren begged for a story, the King told them of Prince Roul’s bride and the wonderful leap they took over the cliff which forms the back of the castle.

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1 wrecked ze0zKI     
adj.失事的,遇难的
参考例句:
  • the hulk of a wrecked ship 遇难轮船的残骸
  • the salvage of the wrecked tanker 对失事油轮的打捞
2 cargoes 49e446283c0d32352a986fd82a7e13c4     
n.(船或飞机装载的)货物( cargo的名词复数 );大量,重负
参考例句:
  • This ship embarked cargoes. 这艘船装载货物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The crew lashed cargoes of timber down. 全体船员将木材绑牢。 来自《简明英汉词典》
3 helping 2rGzDc     
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的
参考例句:
  • The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
  • By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
4 plumed 160f544b3765f7a5765fdd45504f15fb     
饰有羽毛的
参考例句:
  • The knight plumed his helmet with brilliant red feathers. 骑士用鲜红的羽毛装饰他的头盔。
  • The eagle plumed its wing. 这只鹰整理它的翅膀。
5 beheld beheld     
v.看,注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 );瞧;看呀;(叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现)哎哟
参考例句:
  • His eyes had never beheld such opulence. 他从未见过这样的财富。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The soul beheld its features in the mirror of the passing moment. 灵魂在逝去的瞬间的镜子中看到了自己的模样。 来自英汉文学 - 红字
6 worthy vftwB     
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的
参考例句:
  • I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
  • There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。
7 determined duszmP     
adj.坚定的;有决心的
参考例句:
  • I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
  • He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。
8 wed MgFwc     
v.娶,嫁,与…结婚
参考例句:
  • The couple eventually wed after three year engagement.这对夫妇在订婚三年后终于结婚了。
  • The prince was very determined to wed one of the king's daughters.王子下定决心要娶国王的其中一位女儿。
9 touching sg6zQ9     
adj.动人的,使人感伤的
参考例句:
  • It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
  • His letter was touching.他的信很感人。
10 glistening glistening     
adj.闪耀的,反光的v.湿物闪耀,闪亮( glisten的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • Her eyes were glistening with tears. 她眼里闪着晶莹的泪花。
  • Her eyes were glistening with tears. 她眼睛中的泪水闪着柔和的光。 来自《用法词典》
11 splendor hriy0     
n.光彩;壮丽,华丽;显赫,辉煌
参考例句:
  • Never in his life had he gazed on such splendor.他生平从没有见过如此辉煌壮丽的场面。
  • All the splendor in the world is not worth a good friend.人世间所有的荣华富贵不如一个好朋友。
12 envelop Momxd     
vt.包,封,遮盖;包围
参考例句:
  • All combine to form a layer of mist to envelop this region.织成一层烟雾又笼罩着这个地区。
  • The dust cloud will envelop the planet within weeks.产生的尘云将会笼罩整个星球长达几周。
13 dungeons 2a995b5ae3dd26fe8c8d3d935abe4376     
n.地牢( dungeon的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The captured rebels were consigned to the dungeons. 抓到的叛乱分子被送进了地牢。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He saw a boy in fetters in the dungeons. 他在地牢里看见一个戴着脚镣的男孩。 来自辞典例句


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