Once upon a time there was a Queen and she gave birth to a son, who was so ugly and so misshapen that it seemed doubtful for a long time that he was of human form. A fairy, who was present at the birth, declared that despite this he would still be attractive, because he would be very intelligent. She added that he would even be able, in virtue of a gift which she had just granted to him, to bestow as much intelligence as he had himself on the person he loved best.
All this was some comfort to the poor Queen, who was deeply unhappy at having brought such an ugly little runt into the world. And it is true that as soon as the child began to talk he said all sorts of clever things, while whatever he did had something so ingenious about it that people were delighted. I forgot to say that he was born with a little tuft of hair on his head, so that he was called Ricky the Tuft, Rickett being the family name.*
About seven or eight years later, the Queen of a neighbouring kingdom gave birth to twin girls. The first of them to come into the world was as fair as a summer’s day, and the Queen was overjoyed, so much so that it made people afraid that her excessive happiness might be harmful for her. The fairy who had been present at the birth of Ricky the Tuft was there also, and to moderate the Queen’s joy she told her that the little Princess would lack any intelligence, and would be as stupid as she was beautiful.
This was very distressing for the Queen; but a few moments later she had much greater cause to be unhappy, for when the second daughter was born she was found to be extremely ugly. ‘Do not be upset, ma’am,’ said the fairy; ‘your daughter will have other talents to make up for it, for she will be so intelligent that it will hardly be noticed that she lacks beauty.’ ‘God send that it may be so,’ replied the Queen; ‘but would it not be possible for her sister, who is so beautiful, to be given a little intelligence as well?’
‘As far as intelligence is concerned, madam,’ said the fairy, ‘I can do nothing for her, but as regards beauty I can do everything, and since I will do whatever I can to please you, I shall grant her a gift: she will be able to bestow beauty on any person she may choose.’ As the two princesses grew up, their qualities also increased in perfection, and people everywhere talked of nothing but the elder daughter’s beauty and the young one’s intelligence. However, their defects also worsened with age. The younger Princess became visibly uglier, and day by day the elder grew more stupid. When she was asked something, either she would fail to reply, or else she would say something silly. Besides, she was so clumsy that she could not even arrange a few vases on the mantelpiece without breaking one, or drink a glass of water without spilling half of it over her clothes.
Even though beauty is a great advantage for a young person, the younger Princess was almost always the favourite whenever they were in company together. At first people would go over to the beautiful Princess to see and admire her, but soon they would turn to the intelligent one, to listen to the many entertaining things she would say; and it was surprising to see how, in less than a quarter of an hour, the elder sister had nobody near her, while everyone was standing round the younger one. The elder, despite her great stupidity, noticed this quite clearly, and would willingly have given up all her beauty in order to have half her sister’s intelligence. The Queen, wise though she was, could not prevent herself from reproaching her daughter several times for being so silly, which made the poor Princess
almost die of misery.
One day, when she had gone alone to a wood in order to lament her unhappiness, she saw coming towards her a very ugly little man, most unpleasant to look at, but dressed with great magnificence. It was the young Prince, Ricky the Tuft, who had fallen in love with one of the portraits of her which were to be found everywhere, and had left his father’s kingdom in order to have the pleasure of seeing and talking to her. Delighted to encounter her alone, he greeted her with all the respect and politeness imaginable.
When they had exchanged the usual civilities, he said, having observed that she seemed very sad: ‘I cannot understand, madam, why someone as beautiful as you are should be as unhappy as you appear to be; for, although I am glad to say that I have seen a multitude of beautiful ladies before now, I must admit that I have never seen anyone whose beauty even approaches yours.’ ‘If you say so, Sir,’ replied the Princess; and that was all. ‘Beauty,’ Ricky the Tuft went on, ‘is so great a benefit that it
makes up for everything else; and when you possess it, I cannot see that anything can cause you much unhappiness.’
‘I’d rather be as ugly as you are,’ said the Princess, ‘provided I was clever, than beautiful and stupid like me.’
‘Nothing shows intelligence more clearly, madam, than the belief that one does not possess it, for it is in the nature of this quality that the more intelligence you have, the less you believe
you have.’
‘I couldn’t say, I’m sure,’ said the Princess, ‘but I know I’m very stupid, and it makes me so unhappy I could die.’
‘If that is the only thing that makes you sad, madam, I can easily put an end to your sorrow.’
‘And how can you do that?’ asked the Princess.
‘I have the power, madam,’ said Ricky the Tuft, ‘to give as much intelligence as anyone can have to the person I love the most, and since you, madam, are that person, you can choose whether to have as much intelligence as it is possible to have, on condition that you agree to marry me.’
The Princess was struck dumb with amazement, and made no answer.
‘I can see that you find my proposal disagreeable,’ said Ricky the Tuft, ‘which does not surprise me; but I will give you a whole year in which to decide.’ The Princess had so little intelligence, and at the same time desired so strongly to possess more, that she could not imagine that the end of the year would ever arrive; and so she accepted the proposal that had been made to her. No sooner had she promised Ricky the Tuft that she would marry him, on the same day a year later, than she began to feel quite different from before. She discovered in herself an incredible ability to say whatever she pleased, and to say it in a natural, elegant, and simple manner. At once she began a long conversation
about romantic matters with Ricky the Tuft, and she spoke with such brilliance that Ricky came to think that he had given her more, by way of intelligence, than he had kept for himself
.
When she returned to the palace, the whole court was baffled by the sudden and extraordinary change in her, for now she made as many amazingly witty and sensible remarks as she had previously made silly ones. You would not believe how delighted everyone was at court. The younger sister was the
only one not to be pleased, because she no longer had the advantage of being clever, and appeared in comparison only to be a picture of ugliness.
The King let himself be guided by his elder daughter’s opinions, and sometimes even held a Council in her apartments. Once the news of the change in her had become known, all the young princes of kingdoms nearby made efforts to make her fall in love with them, and almost every one asked her to marry him, but she could find no one among them who was clever enough; and although she listened to them all, she would not commit herself to any of them. However, one of the princes who arrived was so powerful and rich, so intelligent, and so handsome, that she could not prevent herself feeling favourably disposed towards him. Her father observed this, and told her that he would leave the choice of a husband to her, and that she had only to say whom she had chosen.
Now the cleverer you are, the harder you fi nd it to make a firm decision on this matter, and when she had thanked her father the Princess asked him for more time to think about it. By chance she went for a walk, so as to reflect more easily on what to do, in the very wood where she had met Ricky the Tuft. While she was walking, deep in thought, she heard muffled sounds coming from beneath her feet, as if a number of people were busily coming and going. She listened more carefully, and heard a man say:
‘Bring that pot over here’; another said: ‘Give me that saucepan’; and another: ‘Put some more wood on the fi re’. At the same moment, the earth opened before her, and she saw what looked like a great kitchen, full of cooks, scullions, and all the staff needed to prepare a magnificent banquet. A troop of twenty or thirty cooks with meat for roasting came out, and went off into an avenue among the trees, taking their positions around a very long table where, holding their larding-pins* in their hands and
with the tassels on their hats* over their ears, they all began to work, keeping time to the sound of a melodious song.
Astonished at the sight, the Princess asked them whom they worked for. ‘For the Prince, Ricky the Tuft, my lady,’ said the one who seemed to be in charge; ‘it’s his wedding-day tomorrow.’ The Princess, even more surprised than she had been before, remembered all of a sudden that it was a year to the day that she had promised to marry the Prince, Ricky the Tuft, and she felt as if the ground had given way beneath her. The reason why she had not remembered was that at the time when she had
made her promise she had been stupid, but when she acquired her new powers of thought from the Prince she had forgotten all her stupidities. She continued her walk, but had gone only twenty or thirty paces before Ricky the Tuft appeared in front of her, richly dressed and in all his fi nery, every inch a prince who is about to be married.
‘As you can see, madam,’ he said, ‘I have kept my word punctually, and I have no doubt that you are here in order to keep your promise, and make me the happiest of men by giving me your hand in marriage.’ ‘I must tell you frankly,’ replied the Princess, ‘that I have not yet reached a decision on the point, and it is my belief that I may never be able to make the decision that you wish.’
‘You astonish me, madam,’ said Ricky the Tuft.
‘I can well believe it,’ said the Princess, ‘and certainly, if I were dealing with a mere brute, a man without understanding, I should be in a very difficult situation. A princess’s word is her bond, he would say, and I am bound to marry him, because of my promise; but since the person I am addressing is the most intelligent man in the world, I am sure that he will listen to reason. You will recall that, when I was stupid, I still could not bring myself to marry you; how can you expect me today, having the intelligence you gave me, which also makes me more critical of other people than I was before, to take a decision which I was unable to take previously? If you really meant to marry me, it was very wrong of you to take away my stupidity and make me see things more clearly than I did once.’
‘If a man of no intelligence,’ Ricky the Tuft answered, ‘would be justified—as you suggested a moment ago—in blaming you for not keeping your word, how can you expect me not to do the
same in a matter where my entire happiness is at stake? Is it reasonable that those who are intelligent should be in a worse position than those who are not? How can you make such a claim, you who are yourself so intelligent, and so much wanted to be? But allow me to come to the point. Apart from my ugliness, is there anything about me which you find displeasing? Are you dissatisfied with my station in life, my mind, my temperament, or my behaviour?’ ‘By no means,’ replied the Princess; ‘I am attracted by all the things that you have mentioned.’ ‘If that is the case,’ said Ricky the Tuft, ‘I shall be happy, since you have the power to make me the handsomest of men.’ ‘How can that be?’ asked the Princess. ‘It can be,’ replied Ricky the Tuft, ‘if you love me enough to want it to be; and to remove your doubts, madam, you should know that the same fairy who, on the day I was born, gave me the power to bestow intelligence on any person I chose, also gave you the power to bestow good looks on any person whom you loved and to whom you wished to grant such a favour.’ ‘If that is how things stand,’ said the Princess, ‘I wish with all my heart that you should be the handsomest and most attractive prince in all the world; and as far as it lies in my power to do so, I bestow this gift upon you.’ No sooner had she spoken these words, than Ricky the Tuft appeared to her to be the handsomest, best-looking, most attractive man she had ever seen.
Some people affirm that it was not the fairy’s magic which worked this transformation, but love alone. They say that the Princess, having reflected on her lover’s perseverance, his discretion,
and all his good qualities of soul and mind, no longer noticed the deformity of his body or the ugliness of his face; that his humped back appeared to her to be no more than the posture
taken by a proud man who is aware of his importance; and that, though before she had observed him hobbling along most dreadfully, she now perceived only a slight stoop, which she found delightful. They say furthermore that his eyes, which had a squint, seemed to her all the brighter for it, and that these crosseyes were to her mind a sign of passionate love; and finally that his big red nose seemed to her to have a military and heroic air.
However that may be, the Princess immediately promised to marry him, provided that he obtained the consent of the King her father. The King, having been informed that his daughter had a high opinion of Ricky the Tuft, and knowing besides that he was a wise and intelligent prince, accepted him with pleasure as his son-in-law. On the very next day the wedding took place, as Ricky the Tuft had foreseen, and according to the orders that he had given long before.
