When he woke up, he felt his chin and found his whole face covered with a growth of beard. As he was wondering what had happened, he felt hungry again but did not dare to eat any more peaches. He suspected them of being the cause of his beard. Then he saw a pear tree. Pulling down a branch, he picked a few large succulent pears. The more he ate, the more delicious they tasted. When he was sated with the pears, he fell asleep again and did not wake till dusk. Stretching himself, he bu

mped his head against a tree. His head seemed heavier than usual and when he felt it, he discovered that he had grown a pair of thick horns and his chin was covered with a snowy white beard more than a foot long. "How terrible I look!" thought the little prince. "Even if the princess returns, she will never recognize me and will never love me again. What can I do?" The more he thought the more wretched he felt, and he burst into tears. After a while, exhausted with weeping, he fell into a deep sleep.

He dreamed that an old man came to see him. "My child, why are you so sad?" he asked, stroking the little prince's head. When the little prince told him what had happened, the old man said, "Don't worry. Go and pick up some of the dried peaches and pears that have fallen under the trees and eat them, then your beard and your horns will disappear. Leave quickly! This place is inhabited by demons. They are now asleep. When they awake, they will devour you."

The words startled the little prince from sleep. He rubbed his eyes. A cool breeze was blowing, carrying away with it the heat of the desert. Following the advice of the old man in his dream, he gathered a handful of dry peaches and a handful of dry pears and chewed them slowly. Sure enough, when he finished eating and felt his chin and head again, the beard and the horns had vanished. He pondered for a while. Then, breaking some willow twigs, he wove a basket and filled half of it with dry peaches and pears and half with fresh. He hurried from the demon's orchard.

He wanted to go home, but had no idea in which direction home lay. "The important thing is just to keep going!" he thought to himself. Everywhere he went, it was desert with no sign of human habitation. He had only the dry peaches and pears to allay his hunger and the vast desert to sleep on. He walked like this for seven days and nights and saw not even a bird, let alone a human being.

Finally he reached a highway. Breathing a sigh of relief, he sat down by the roadside to rest.

Presently he saw a man driving a donkey along the road. From him the little prince learnt that his home lay to the east, while the kingdom of the princess lay to the west. "How can I go home now, having lost both the princess and the wooden horse?" he thought to himself. So he chose to go west along the road. As he was walking, he heard the sound of men shouting orders. A great cortege caught up with him. The men were in full armor, the horses likewise; it was a most impressive sight.

In the middle was a carriage intricately inlaid with gold, with glass windows on all four sides. Four elaborately caparisoned horses led the way. The little prince had stepped aside to watch, but to his surprise the carriage came to a halt in front of him and a man came up and asked him, "What are you selling?"

"Nothing," replie

d the little prince.

But the man pointed to his basket and said, "Aren't these peaches and pears? After a hard day's journey, our prince is thirsty and hungry. Please be so good as to sell us some of your fruit."

"This fruit is not for sale," said the little prince. "It is food for my journey. Can't you see that there is not even a blade of grass to be found on this road? Where can I find food to eat if I sell this to you?"

Meanwhile the prince inside the carriage was shouting to his men to hurry up. "Pay whatever he asks!" he cried, handing them out an ingot of gold.

"Where are you going?" inquired the little prince.

"Our master is on his way to his wedding," answered the men. "His bride is the princess in the town ahead." So saying, he pointed to the west. The little prince was shaken by the news, but he managed to maintain an unruffled appearance. After he had asked some more detailed questions and was sure that the bride was none other than the princess he loved, he accepted the gold, chose two especially red peaches and two especially big pears from his basket and handed them to the men.

The prince inside the carriage was delighted to have the fruit and devoured it ravenously. The cortege then continued on its way, and with the rocking of the carriage, the prince gradually fell asleep. When he awoke, he gave a great start and began crying out loud. His escort gathered around him to inquire what the matter was. When they l

ooked inside the carriage, they saw no prince but a monster with a white beard on its chin and two horns on its head. They were panic stricken. The whole cortege came to a halt to wait for the fruit seller.

After a short while, when the little prince caught up with them, they stopped him and asked, "What kind of fruit did you sell our master?"

"Fruit that grows on trees."

"But why does he have a beard on his face and horns on his head after eating your fruit?"

The little prince saw the strange-looking creature in the carriage and felt inwardly delighted, but he concealed his feeling and calmly said in reply, "I've been eating them every day. Why has nothing happened to me?" There was nothing the courtiers could say to this.

How could the prince marry the princess now that he looked like a monster? They put their heads together to find a way out. "We'd better turn back," one of them suggested. "They'll definitely drive us out if we go." But the prince would rather die than go back.

Finally, his father's favorite courtier came up with an idea. "We must find a handsome young man and disguise him as the prince. If the princess falls for it and we manage to get her back to our kingdom, she'll be at our mercy." This plan was generally acclaimed and they began to l

ook around for a likely candidate. In the end they agreed that the fruit-seller was the most handsome young man present, and they asked him to do the job.

Pretending to be coy, he said, "This is your affair. See to it yourself. I have my own business to attend to." The courtiers begged him again and again, offering him five golden ingots as reward.

"That's not enough," said the little prince.

"Seven then," said the courtiers. They told him to sit upright in the carriage, like a real prince. Their own master, the prince with the horns, was told to ride on a horse. They bound his head in a piece of cloth, put a veil over his face and advised him that once they were in the capital, he should hide indoors and not on any account let anyone see him. When everything was satisfactorily arranged, the cortege continued on its way. They arrived to find the king waiting for them outside the town gates. Seeing so handsome a son-in-law and so many betrothal gifts, the king was overjoyed. At the same time, he was very concerned that the marriage might be ruined if his daughter's story became known, so preparations for a four-day wedding banquet got under way immediately. The old were entertained outside while the young were asked to stay inside to wait on the prince and princess. The king's whole purpose was to keep the guests so busy that they would have no time to learn his shameful secret.

Throughout the first three days of the wedding, the princess did nothing but weep and kept her face veiled. She wouldn't even raise her head to look at the bridegroom for her heart was set on another -- the little prince, the only man she truly loved. When the fourth day came, the king was still worried and sent a trusted old woman to spy on the bridegroom and see whether he really loved the princess. That evening, at the banquet in the palace, the little prince sat beside the princess.

When no one was looking, he told her in a whisper, "It's me! I've come back!"

The princess immediately put aside her veil and glanced at him. "Heavens!" she thought to herself. "Is this a dream? What could be in father's mind to bring him back to me like this?"

Afraid that the princess might reveal his secret, the little prince whispered the whole story to her, telling her to act as if she knew nothing. While they were dancing together, they discussed how to escape. The little prince's idea was that after the wedding, when she was supposed to leave with him, she should ask her father for the wooden horse. She must tell him that she would never leave without it. "No matter how he threatens you, don't be afraid."

The old woman came to the king and reported, "The young couple are very fond of one another, Your Majesty. They have been dancing and singing together the whole evening." This pleased the king greatly.

The n

ext day many distinguished guests gathered in front of the palace, waiting to see the princess off. The prince's men were also ready with their horses. But inside the palace the princess was still clinging onto her father and pestering him with her request for the wooden horse In a rage the king called in the hangman to threaten her with death, but the princess was not in the least afraid, saying that if she couldn't have the wooden horse, she would die.

The king was at his wits' end. When the distinguished guests, tired of waiting, came in to ask the reason for the delay, the king said to them, "The naughty thing! She is behaving just like a child. She has a wooden horse which she desperately wants to take with her."

Hearing this, the guests burst out laughing. "A toy! Why not let her take it with her?" The king felt too embarrassed to say anything. He took out the wooden horse and gave it to her and amid much pomp and ceremony the cortege left the capital.

The journey took them several days. During this time their escort attended to them with great devotion, never giving them one minute to themselves, which made it impossible for them to escape. As they were approaching their destination, the young couple became desperate. At the last moment, the little prince thought of a new ruse. He told the princess, "When we arrive at the palace gates, you must say that you will get out of the carriage on one condition only: they are to bring you seven plates piled high with gold. You must then scatter the gold on the ground for the people to pick up."

The princess followed his instructions carefully. As soon as she scattered the gold about, people stampeded to get it. Seizing this opportunity, the little prince helped the princess onto the wooden horse, loosened one screw, and in the twinkling of an eye they were up in the air. There was no mishap on their journey, and they landed safe and sound in the prince's home.

The king, the little prince's father, had been missing his lost son day and night. He blamed his disappearance on the carpenter and was about to put this unfortunate man to death. The carpenter had been nailed to the end of a bridge for three days and nights. The little prince, when he returned, saw the king and said to him, "Father, the carpenter's wooden horse has been of great service. Without it I would not have been able to see so many countries, find such a beautiful bride and come back to you again safe and sound. You should give the carpenter a handsome reward." The king listened with great shame and felt compelled to tell his son what he had done to the carpenter. He sent his men to the bridge at once. They found the carpenter still alive, untied him and brought him back to the palace.

The little prince personally took good care of the carpenter until his wounds were healed. Then he gave him a large sum of money to enable him to

perfect his craft. The little prince and the princess held a second wedding, and in the course of time the prince succeeded to the throne.

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