BEAUTY long absence, were prodigal of their embraces, and,
AND THE seeing -him ride home on such a splendid horse,
BEAST they felt quite sure that he had been successful in
his journey. He gave his elder daughters the
gems and pearls they had desired, and, as he
handed the rose to Beauty, he sadly said, ‘You
little know, my darling, what this has cost me.’
This saying greatly excited the curiosity of his
children, and they gave him no rest till he had told
them the whole story from beginning to end.
The elder daughters urged him to break his
promise and remain at the cottage; but their
father said that a promise was a promise, whether
made to a king or a pauper, a man or a beast, and
that he must fulfil it. Then the two eldest were
very angry with Beauty, and told her that it was
all her fault. If she had asked for something
sensible this would not have happened.
‘If it be my fault,’ answered Beauty meekly, ‘it is
only fitting that I should suffer for it. I will, there-
es go back with my father to the palace of the
east.’

At first her father would not hear of this, but
Beauty was firm.
As the time drew near she divided all her little
possessions between her sisters, and said good-bye
to all she loved.
Now, it must be told, that when Beauty had received
the white rose she put it in water, and when she
had heard how it was won, and what it entailed,
she had wept nightly over it, and her tears falling
on it seemed to have preserved it in its beauty, for
at the end of the month it was as fresh as when
first picked; and the scent was so sweet that it
perfumed the whole house. She put the white
rose in her bosom, when the day came for de-
parture, and she mounted on a pillion behind her
father to depart.
The nats seemed to fly rather than gallop; and