Page 11 - The She-Bear

means or other of having a son and heir. But
where shall I look? Where shall I find a woman
equal in beauty to my wife? Every one appears
a witch in comparison with her; where, then,
shall I find another with a bit of stick, or seek
another with the bell, if Nature made Nardella
(may she be in glory), and then broke the
mould? Alas, in what a labyrinth has she put
me, in what a perplexity has the promise I
made her left me! But what do I say? I am
running away before I have seen the wolf; let
me open my eyes and ears and look about; may
there not be some other as beautiful? Is it
possible that the world should be lost to me? Is
there such a dearth of women, or is the race
extinct?"
So saying he forthwith issued a proclamation
and command that all the handsome women in
the world should come to the touch-stone of
beauty, for he would take the most beautiful to
wife and endow her with a kingdom. Now,
when this news was spread abroad, there was
not a woman in the universe who did not come
to try her luck--not a witch, however ugly, who
stayed behind; for when it is a question of
beauty, no scullion-wench will acknowledge
herself surpassed; every one piques herself on
being the handsomest; and if the looking-glass
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