On the way, he met a man who was taking his livestock to market. He asked the man if he were married. The man was not, so the old man invited him to come to dinner after he had finished his business in town. Then the father hurried home to tell his daughter.
The daughter just looked at her father and sighed. Then she set about preparing a fine dinner for their guest. She chased a chicken down in the yard, wrung its neck, and plucked it. She gathered fresh vegetables from the garden. She carried everything into the house and started cooking. She sliced the bread she had baked that morning before sunrise. She milked the cow and churned some milk into butter for the bread.
Promptly at six o'clock the dinner guest knocked on the door, and the
old man let him in and sat him in the most comfortable chair and poured
him a drink.
"So were you successful at the market today," asked the father.
"Yes, I sold every last one of my stock."
"And did you get a good price?"
"Well, yes, actually I sort of made a trade."
"Ah, and what did you get in trade?"
"I got these marvelous magic beans. I can't wait to get back home and
show my mother."
"Oh, you live with your mother, do you?"
"Why, yes....," the man went on and on.
Two women in the house would never work, the old man thought to himself. Besides, he wouldn't want his beloved daughter to marry a fool or a mama's boy. Magic beans, indeed! The daughter served the meal, and they passed the time pleasantly, and then the man left and was never heard from again.
The next day the old man got out of bed, put on the clothes his daughter had laid out for him, had the breakfast his daughter had waiting on the dining table for him, and then went looking for his daughter. He followed the sounds of hammering until he found her on the roof repairing a hole.
"Daughter," he called to her from the yard, "I'm going into town to find a husband to care for you when I'm gone. I'll be home in time for dinner."
The daughter just looked at her father and sighed. Then she took another nail from her mouth and continued to shingle the roof.
So the old man set off for town again to find his daughter a husband to take care of her. He loved his daughter very much, and he didn't want her to be left helpless and alone when he died.
When he got there he went to the square in the middle of town where it was said that everyone passed by at least once a day. He found a comfortable seat underneath a shade tree and stretched out his weary legs. Then he settled back to watch the passing parade of people, hoping to find a likely husband for his daughter.
Just as he was dozing off a dozen horses came prancing noisily into the square. At the head of the party was a handsome young man wearing a crown.
"It's the prince," everyone whispered.
"He's looking for a bride."
The old man felt his heart start beating faster. This must be a sign! Here was a man who could take very good care of his daughter. The old man waited impatiently in a long line to talk to the prince. As a matter of fact, he was the last one in line. When it was his turn to talk to the prince, he noticed that the young man looked tired and unhappy.
"Your majesty," he exclaimed, "You're tired and hungry. Why don't you
come back to my house and have a fine meal prepared by my lovely
daughter?"
The prince's eyes lit up and he became very excited.
"Why, yes! I'd love to," he said.
The old man was boosted onto a horse behind one of the prince's attendants and the party set off for the old man's house.
The daughter had finished fixing the roof and had decided to give the garden shed a fresh coat of paint, so when the large party arrived they found her disheveled and paint speckled. How was she going to feed so many? Her father had gone overboard this time, she thought.
The prince jumped from his horse and snapped his fingers at one of his attendants. The lackey sprung forward with a little glass shoe on a pillow. The prince knelt on the ground in front of the daughter and tried to pull off her right shoe and replace it with the one he had taken from his attendant.
The old man's mouth gaped open, and he scratched his head. What's the meaning of this, he almost shouted. He didn't want to offend the prince, but he thought it extremely unseemly for a prince to kneel in the dirt grabbing a woman's foot, especially when they hadn't been properly introduced.
The daughter, seeing the crown on his head, finally allowed the prince to take off her shoe. Then he tried to shove the impossibly tiny shoe onto her big toe as her foot, being a normal size 7-1/2, wouldn't fit into the shoe.
The prince suddenly stood and said a rude word. He gave the daughter a contemptuous look, and thrusting the little shoe into the waiting attendant's hands, he strode to his horse and mounted. Without another word to the old man or his daughter, the prince and his entourage left in a great cloud of dust.
When the dust had settled the daughter put her shoe back on and took her father inside. She cleaned him up, fed him his dinner, and then tucked him into his bed. She kissed him on his forehead and wished him sweet dreams.
The old man took her hands in his and patted them tiredly.
"You're a good daughter, Dear. And I know you'll be a good wife," he
said as he yawned and sleepily closed his eyes.
His daughter just sighed, then settled his blankets around him and tiptoed out. She still had a lot of work to do before her day would be over. She took her sewing box and some scraps of cloth out on the porch where she sat on the swing and started piecing a quilt. When it became too dark to see, she lit a lantern and continued working. Soon the lateness of the hour and her tiredness combined to make her eyelids heavy, and she fell asleep right where she sat.
A wanderer happened to be passing by and, seeing the light, stopped to ask for directions. When he came upon the sleeping girl, he felt an overwhelming urge to kiss her. He bent slowly and placed his lips lightly on hers.
She jumped up from the swing, her sewing flying in all directions, and swung a hard punch into the stranger's stomach. He doubled over in pain, and she kneed him in the face. He went flying off the porch and landed on his posterior. She launched herself from the top step and landed on his chest.
Her father, who was awakened by the noise of the fight, crashed through the front door determined to rescue his daughter. The sight of his sweet genteel daughter pummeling the unknown man senseless opened his eyes. He stepped down into the yard and lifted his daughter off her victim. He had to hold her back while the man got to his feet. The wanderer apologized for his behavior, swore never to do it again, asked for directions to the enchanted forest, and left hastily.
The father took his disheveled daughter into the house and made her a
cup of hot tea while she calmed down.
"I'm sorry, Father," she groaned, " he just took me by surprise!"
"That's all right, Daughter. Where on Earth did you learn to fight
like that?"
"The same place I've learned everything I know, Father. From you."
The old man scratched his head. He hadn't realized that he had raised a child who was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. He hadn't been trying to teach her anything in particular. He must have been teaching her by example all these years. Maybe, if his wife had lived longer, his daughter would have learned differently and might have needed a man to protect and care for her. But she had learned to take care of herself. And that was far more important than anything he or his wife could have taught her. Maybe he should just relax and enjoy his final years and let his daughter take care of him.
THE END
The image on this page is, of course, a picture of Leslie Anne Warren in Rogers & Hammerstein's "Cinderella".