There was once a king, whose queen had hair of the purest gold, and wasso beautiful that her match was not to be met with on the whole face ofthe earth. But this beautiful queen fell ill, and when she felt that herend drew near she called the king to her and said, 'Promise me that youwill never marry again, unless you meet with a wife who is as beautifulas I am, and who has golden hair like mine.' Then when the king in hisgrief promised all she asked, she shut her eyes and died. But the kingwas not to be comforted, and for a long time never thought of takinganother wife. At last, however, his wise men said, 'this will not do;the king must marry again, that we may have a queen.' So messengers weresent far and wide, to seek for a bride as beautiful as the late queen.But there was no princess in the world so beautiful; and if there hadbeen, still there was not one to be found who had golden hair. So themessengers came home, and had had all their trouble for nothing.

Now the king had a daughter, who was just as beautiful as her mother,and had the same golden hair. And when she was grown up, the king lookedat her and saw that she was just like this late queen: then he said tohis courtiers, 'May I not marry my daughter? She is the very image of mydead wife: unless I have her, I shall not find any bride upon the wholeearth, and you say there must be a queen.' When the courtiers heard thisthey were shocked, and said, 'Heaven forbid that a father should marryhis daughter! Out of so great a sin no good can come.' And his daughterwas also shocked, but hoped the king would soon give up such thoughts;so she said to him, 'Before I marry anyone I must have three dresses:one must be of gold, like the sun; another must be of shining silver,like the moon; and a third must be dazzling as the stars: besides this,I want a mantle of a thousand different kinds of fur put together, towhich every beast in the kingdom must give a part of his skin.' And thusshe thought he would think of the matter no more. But the king made themost skilful workmen in his kingdom weave the three dresses: one golden,like the sun; another silvery, like the moon; and a third sparkling,like the stars: and his hunters were told to hunt out all the beasts inhis kingdom, and to take the finest fur out of their skins: and thus amantle of a thousand furs was made.

When all were ready, the king sent them to her; but she got up in thenight when all were asleep, and took three of her trinkets, a goldenring, a golden necklace, and a golden brooch, and packed the threedresses--of the sun, the moon, and the stars--up in a nutshell, andwrapped herself up in the mantle made of all sorts of fur, and besmearedher face and hands with soot. Then she threw herself upon Heaven forhelp in her need, and went away, and journeyed on the whole night, tillat last she came to a large wood. As she was very tired, she sat herselfdown in the hollow of a tree and soon fell asleep: and there she slepton till it was midday.

Now as the king to whom the wood belonged was hunting in it, his dogscame to the tree, and began to snuff about, and run round and round, andbark. 'Look sharp!' said the king to the huntsmen, 'and see what sortof game lies there.' And the huntsmen went up to the tree, and when theycame back again said, 'In the hollow tree there lies a most wonderfulbeast, such as we never saw before; its skin seems to be of a thousandkinds of fur, but there it lies fast asleep.' 'See,' said the king, 'ifyou can catch it alive, and we will take it with us.' So the huntsmentook it up, and the maiden awoke and was greatly frightened, and said,'I am a poor child that has neither father nor mother left; have pity onme and take me with you.' Then they said, 'Yes, Miss Cat-skin, you willdo for the kitchen; you can sweep up the ashes, and do things of thatsort.' So they put her into the coach, and took her home to the king'spalace. Then they showed her a little corner under the staircase, whereno light of day ever peeped in, and said, 'Cat-skin, you may lie andsleep there.' And she was sent into the kitchen, and made to fetch woodand water, to blow the fire, pluck the poultry, pick the herbs, sift theashes, and do all the dirty work.

Thus Cat-skin lived for a long time very sorrowfully. 'Ah! prettyprincess!' thought she, 'what will now become of thee?' But it happenedone day that a feast was to be held in the king's castle, so she said tothe cook, 'May I go up a little while and see what is going on? I willtake care and stand behind the door.' And the cook said, 'Yes, you maygo, but be back again in half an hour's time, to rake out the ashes.'Then she took her little lamp, and went into her cabin, and took off thefur skin, and washed the soot from off her face and hands, so that herbeauty shone forth like the sun from behind the clouds. She next openedher nutshell, and brought out of it the dress that shone like the sun,and so went to the feast. Everyone made way for her, for nobody knewher, and they thought she could be no less than a king's daughter. Butthe king came up to her, and held out his hand and danced with her; andhe thought in his heart, 'I never saw any one half so beautiful.'

When the dance was at an end she curtsied; and when the king lookedround for her, she was gone, no one knew wither. The guards that stoodat the castle gate were called in: but they had seen no one. The truthwas, that she had run into her little cabin, pulled off her dress,blackened her face and hands, put on the fur-skin cloak, and wasCat-skin again. When she went into the kitchen to her work, and beganto rake the ashes, the cook said, 'Let that alone till the morning, andheat the king's soup; I should like to run up now and give a peep: buttake care you don't let a hair fall into it, or you will run a chance ofnever eating again.'

As soon as the cook went away, Cat-skin heated the king's soup, andtoasted a slice of bread first, as nicely as ever she could; and when itwas ready, she went and looked in the cabin for her little golden ring,and put it into the dish in which the soup was. When the dance was over,the king ordered his soup to be brought in; and it pleased him so well,that he thought he had never tasted any so good before. At the bottomhe saw a gold ring lying; and as he could not make out how it had gotthere, he ordered the cook to be sent for. The cook was frightened whenhe heard the order, and said to Cat-skin, 'You must have let a hair fallinto the soup; if it be so, you will have a good beating.' Then he wentbefore the king, and he asked him who had cooked the soup. 'I did,'answered the cook. But the king said, 'That is not true; it was betterdone than you could do it.' Then he answered, 'To tell the truth I didnot cook it, but Cat-skin did.' 'Then let Cat-skin come up,' said theking: and when she came he said to her, 'Who are you?' 'I am a poorchild,' said she, 'that has lost both father and mother.' 'How came youin my palace?' asked he. 'I am good for nothing,' said she, 'but to bescullion-girl, and to have boots and shoes thrown at my head.' 'But howdid you get the ring that was in the soup?' asked the king. Then shewould not own that she knew anything about the ring; so the king senther away again about her business.

After a time there was another feast, and Cat-skin asked the cook to lether go up and see it as before. 'Yes,' said he, 'but come again in halfan hour, and cook the king the soup that he likes so much.' Then sheran to her little cabin, washed herself quickly, and took her dressout which was silvery as the moon, and put it on; and when she went in,looking like a king's daughter, the king went up to her, and rejoiced atseeing her again, and when the dance began he danced with her. After thedance was at an end she managed to slip out, so slyly that the king didnot see where she was gone; but she sprang into her little cabin, andmade herself into Cat-skin again, and went into the kitchen to cook thesoup. Whilst the cook was above stairs, she got the golden necklace anddropped it into the soup; then it was brought to the king, who ate it,and it pleased him as well as before; so he sent for the cook, whowas again forced to tell him that Cat-skin had cooked it. Cat-skin wasbrought again before the king, but she still told him that she was onlyfit to have boots and shoes thrown at her head.

But when the king had ordered a feast to be got ready for the thirdtime, it happened just the same as before. 'You must be a witch,Cat-skin,' said the cook; 'for you always put something into your soup,so that it pleases the king better than mine.' However, he let her go upas before. Then she put on her dress which sparkled like the stars, andwent into the ball-room in it; and the king danced with her again, andthought she had never looked so beautiful as she did then. So whilsthe was dancing with her, he put a gold ring on her finger without herseeing it, and ordered that the dance should be kept up a long time.When it was at an end, he would have held her fast by the hand, but sheslipped away, and sprang so quickly through the crowd that he lost sightof her: and she ran as fast as she could into her little cabin underthe stairs. But this time she kept away too long, and stayed beyond thehalf-hour; so she had not time to take off her fine dress, and threw herfur mantle over it, and in her haste did not blacken herself all overwith soot, but left one of her fingers white.

Then she ran into the kitchen, and cooked the king's soup; and as soonas the cook was gone, she put the golden brooch into the dish. When theking got to the bottom, he ordered Cat-skin to be called once more, andsoon saw the white finger, and the ring that he had put on it whilstthey were dancing: so he seized her hand, and kept fast hold of it, andwhen she wanted to loose herself and spring away, the fur cloak fell offa little on one side, and the starry dress sparkled underneath it.

Then he got hold of the fur and tore it off, and her golden hair andbeautiful form were seen, and she could no longer hide herself: so shewashed the soot and ashes from her face, and showed herself to be themost beautiful princess upon the face of the earth. But the king said,'You are my beloved bride, and we will never more be parted from eachother.' And the wedding feast was held, and a merry day it was, as everwas heard of or seen in that country, or indeed in any other.