The Blue Fairy Book

When he came to the place where the monstrous beasts were standing, he did not stop nor run away, but went boldly through among them. One came up roaring with open mouth to devour him, when he struck it with his wand, and laid it in an instant dead at his feet. He soon came to the Etin’s castle, where he knocked, and was admitted. The auld woman that sat by the fire warned him of the terrible Etin, and what had been the fate of the twa brithers; but he was not to be daunted. The monster soon came in, saying:

  “Snouk but and snouk ben,  I find the smell of an earthly man;  Be he living, or be he dead,  His heart shall be kitchen to my bread.”

He quickly espied the young man, and bade him come forth on the floor. And then he put the three questions to him, but the young man had been told everything by the good fairy, so he was able to answer all the questions. When the Etin found this he knew that his power was gone. The young man then took up the axe and hewed off the monster’s three heads. He next asked the old woman to show him where the King’s daughters lay; and the old woman took him upstairs and opened a great many doors, and out of every door came a beautiful lady who had been imprisoned there by the Etin; and ane o’ the ladies was the King’s daughter. She also took him down into a low room, and there stood two stone pillars that he had only to touch wi’ his wand, when his two friends and neighbors started into life. And the hale o’ the prisoners were overjoyed at their deliverance, which they all acknowledged to be owing to the prudent young man. Next day they a’ set out for the King’s Court, and a gallant company they made. And the King married his daughter to the young man that had delivered her, and gave a noble’s daughter to ilk ane o’ the other young men; and so they a’ lived happily a’ the rest o’ their days.30

1

Asbjornsen and Moe.

2

Madame d’Aulnoy.

3

Charles Perrault.

4

Arabian Nights.

5

Grimm.

6

Grimm.

7

La Belle et la Bete. Par Madame de Villeneuve.

8

Asbjornsen and Moe.

9

Asbjornsen and Moe.

10

Charles Perrault.

11

Fortunee. Par Madame la Comtesse d’Aulnoy.

12

La Chatte blanche. Par Madame la Comtesse d’Aulnoy.

13

Madame d’Aulnoy.

14

Madame d’Aulnoy.

15

Charles Perrault.

16

Arabian Nights.

17

He was a vulgar boy!

18

Grimm.

19

Grimm.

20

Grimm.

21

Charles Perrault.

22

Cabinet des Fees.

23

Charles Perrault.

24

Grimm.

25

Swift.

26

Asbjornsen and Moe.

27

Arabian Nights.

28

Old Chapbook.

29

Chambers, Popular Traditions of Scotland.

30

Chambers, Popular Traditions of Scotland.