English Fairy Tales

English Fairy Tales
MR. FOX
L
ADY
M
ARY
WAS
YOUNG
, and Lady Mary was fair. She had
two brothers, and more lovers than she could count. But of
them all, the bravest and most gallant, was a Mr. Fox, whom
she met when she was down at her father’s country-house.
No one knew who Mr. Fox was; but he was certainly brave,
and surely rich, and of all her lovers, Lady Mary cared for
him alone. At last it was agreed upon between them that
they should be married. Lady Mary asked Mr. Fox where
they should live, and he described to her his castle, and where
it was; but, strange to say, did not ask her, or her brothers to
come and see it.
So one day, near the wedding-day, when her brothers were
out, and Mr. Fox was away for a day or two on business, as
he said, Lady Mary set out for Mr. Fox’s castle. And after
many searchings, she came at last to it, and a fine strong
house it was, with high walls and a deep moat. And when
she came up to the gateway she saw written on it:
BE BOLD, BE BOLD.
But as the gate was open, she went through it, and found
no one there. So she went up to the doorway, and over it she
found written:
BE BOLD, BE BOLD, BUT NOT TOO BOLD.
Still she went on, till she came into the hall, and went up
the broad stairs till she came to a door in the gallery, over
which was written:
BE BOLD, BE BOLD, BUT NOT TOO BOLD, LEST
THAT YOUR HEART’S BLOOD SHOULD RUN
COLD.
But Lady Mary was a brave one, she was, and she opened
the door, and what do you think she saw? Why, bodies and
skeletons of beautiful young ladies all stained with blood. So
Lady Mary thought it was high time to get out of that hor-
rid place, and she closed the door, went through the gallery,
and was just going down the stairs, and out of the hall, when
who should she see through the window, but Mr. Fox drag-

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Joseph Jacobs
ging a beautiful young lady along from the gateway to the
door. Lady Mary rushed downstairs, and hid herself behind
a cask, just in time, as Mr. Fox came in with the poor young
lady who seemed to have fainted. Just as he got near Lady
Mary, Mr. Fox saw a diamond ring glittering on the finger
of the young lady he was dragging, and he tried to pull it off.
But it was tightly fixed, and would not come off, so Mr. Fox
cursed and swore, and drew his sword, raised it, and brought
it down upon the hand of the poor lady. The sword cut off
the hand, which jumped up into the air, and fell of all places
in the world into Lady Mary’s lap. Mr. Fox looked about a
bit, but did not think of looking behind the cask, so at last
he went on dragging the young lady up the stairs into the
Bloody Chamber.
As soon as she heard him pass through the gallery, Lady
Mary crept out of the door, down through the gateway, and
ran home as fast as she could.
Now it happened that the very next day the marriage con-
tract of Lady Mary and Mr. Fox was to be signed, and there
was a splendid breakfast before that. And when Mr. Fox was
seated at table opposite Lady Mary, he looked at her. “How
pale you are this morning, my dear.” “Yes,” said she, “I had
a bad night’s rest last night. I had horrible dreams.” “Dreams
go by contraries,” said Mr. Fox; “but tell us your dream, and
your sweet voice will make the time pass till the happy hour
comes.”
“I dreamed,” said Lady Mary, “that I went yestermorn to
your castle, and I found it in the woods, with high walls,
and a deep moat, and over the gateway was written:
BE BOLD, BE BOLD.
“But it is not so, nor it was not so,” said Mr. Fox.
“And when I came to the doorway over it was written:
BE BOLD, BE BOLD, BUT NOT TOO BOLD.
“It is not so, nor it was not so,” said Mr. Fox.
“And then I went upstairs, and came to a gallery, at the
end of which was a door, on which was written:

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96
English Fairy Tales
BE BOLD, BE BOLD, BUT NOT TOO BOLD, LEST
THAT YOUR HEART’S BLOOD SHOULD RUN
COLD.
“It is not so, nor it was not so,” said Mr. Fox.
“And then—and then I opened the door, and the room
was filled with bodies and skeletons of poor dead women, all
stained with their blood.”
“It is not so, nor it was not so. And God forbid it should
be so,” said Mr. Fox.
“I then dreamed that I rushed down the gallery, and just as
I was going down the stairs, I saw you, Mr. Fox, coming up
to the hall door, dragging after you a poor young lady, rich
and beautiful.”
“It is not so, nor it was not so. And God forbid it should
be so,” said Mr. Fox.
“I rushed downstairs, just in time to hide myself behind a
cask, when you, Mr. Fox, came in dragging the young lady
by the arm. And, as you passed me, Mr. Fox, I thought I saw
you try and get off her diamond ring, and when you could
not, Mr. Fox, it seemed to me in my dream, that you out
with your sword and hacked off the poor lady’s hand to get
the ring.”
“It is not so, nor it was not so. And God forbid it should
be so,” said Mr. Fox, and was going to say something else as
he rose from his seat, when Lady Mary cried out:
“But it is so, and it was so. Here’s hand and ring I have to
show,” and pulled out the lady’s hand from her dress, and
pointed it straight at Mr. Fox.
At once her brothers and her friends drew their swords
and cut Mr. Fox into a thousand pieces.

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97
Joseph Jacobs