“The Bear.” Rose Fairy Book, Andrew Lang, New York: Longmans, Green, 1948, pp. 56-63.

Tale Summary

There was once a beautiful princess who lived locked up by her father, as he feared that something would happen to the daughter he loved so dearly. One day, the girl complained to her nurse, who was a witch and told her to ask her father for a wooden wheelbarrow and a bear’s skin so that she may enchant them, making the wheelbarrow move by itself and making her unrecognizable by the bear skin. She did this, and soon was transformed into a bear and wheeled into a forest. The prince of that land was hunting and his dogs soon found her, but she pleaded with him to spare her. Astonished by the talking bear, the prince took her home to his castle where she began doing housework. In a neighboring kingdom, great festivities were being held, and one day the prince announced his intention to go to a great ball that night. The bear girl asked if she could go, too, and the prince only kicked her but the queen allowed her to attend. The girl ran to her wheelbarrow and took off her bear skin, touching both with a magic wand given to her by the witch, transforming the skin into a dress made of moonbeams and the wheelbarrow into a horse-drawn carriage. The prince fell in love with her instantly when he saw her at the ball, where she was the most beautiful lady. After a night of dancing together silently, she left him and quickly returned to the palace so she could change back into her bear skin before she was discovered. The prince told the queen all about the beautiful stranger he had met, which pleased the bear girl to hear. The next evening was a second ball, and she entered the dance in a dress woven out of the rays of the sun. All night she and the prince danced, but she would not speak a word, and when she left a hard rain appeared to stop him from following her. At the third ball the next evening, the girl showed up in a dress made out of starlight and gems, and all marveled at her. A harsh wind kept him from pursuing her home that night, but the prince managed to slip a ring onto her finger before she left. When he arrived back home, he was tired and discouraged, and asked for soup. The bear girl brought it to him, and placed the ring in the dish. When he was done eating he found and recognized the ring, and asked the bear to remove her skin. She did this and appeared to him as a beautiful girl. She explained her story, and the two were married and lived happily for many years.