“Do not get up to-morrow,” he added, “until you see the sun and
hear a golden bell ring. Then you will find your breakfast
waiting for you here, and the horse you are to ride will be ready
in the courtyard. He will also bring you back again when you
come with your daughter a month hence. Farewell. Take a
rose to Beauty, and remember your promise!”
The merchant was only too glad when the Beast went away, and
though he could not sleep for sadness, he lay down until the sun
rose. Then, after a hasty breakfast, he went to gather
Beauty’s rose, and mounted his horse, which carried him off so
swiftly that in an instant he had lost sight of the palace, and he
was still wrapped in gloomy thoughts when it stopped before the
door of the cottage.
His sons and daughters, who had been
