The prince was still gazing in surprise when the lady opened her eyes and smiled at him . ` Yes , I really am your wife , ' she said , as if she had guessed his thoughts , ` and the enchantment is ended . Now I must tell you who I am , and what befell to cause me to take the shape of an old woman . ` The king of Granada is my father , and I was born in the palace which overlooks the plain of the Vega . I was only a few months old when a wicked fairy , who had a spite against my parents , cast a spell over me , bending my back and wrinkling my skin till I looked as if I was a hundred years old , and making me such an object of disgust to everyone , that at length the king ordered my nurse to take my away from the palace . She was the only person who cared about me , and we lived together in this city on a small pension allowed me by the king . ` When I was about three an old man arrived at our house , and begged my nurse to let him come in and rest , as he could walk no longer . She saw that he was very ill , so put him to bed and took such care of him that by and bye he was as strong as ever . In gratitude for her goodness to him , he told her that he was a wizard and could give her anything she chose to ask for , except life or death , so she answered that what she longed for most in the world was that my wrinkled skin should disappear , and that I should regain the beauty with which I was born . To this he replied that as my misfortune resulted from a spell , this was rather difficult , but he would do his best , and at any rate he could promise that before my fifteenth birthday I should be freed from the enchantment if I could get a man who would swear to marry me as I was . ` As you may suppose , this was not easy , as my ugliness was such that no one would look at me a second time . My nurse and I were almost in despair , as my fifteenth birthday was drawing near , and I had never so much as spoken to a man . At last we received a visit from the wizard , who told us what had happened at court , and your story , bidding me to put myself in your way when you had lost all hope , and offer to save you if you would consent to marry me . ` That is my history , and now you must beg the king to send messengers at once to Granada , to inform my father of our marriage , and I think , ' she added with a smile , ` that he will not refuse us his blessing . ' Adapted from the Portuguese . The Jogi 's Punishment Once upon a time there came to the ancient city of Rahmatabad a jogi -LSB- FN # 1 : A Hindu holy man . -RSB- of holy appearance , who took up his abode under a tree outside the city , where he would sit for days at a time fasting from food and drink , motionless except for the fingers that turned restlessly his string of beads . The fame of such holiness as this soon spread , and daily the citizens would flock to see him , eager to get his blessing , to watch his devotions , or to hear his teaching , if he were in the mood to speak . Very soon the rajah himself heard of the jogi , and began regularly to visit him to seek his counsel and to ask his prayers that a son might be vouchsafed to him . Days passed by , and at last the rajah became so possessed with the thought of the holy man that he determined if possible to get him all to himself .
So he built in the neighbourhood a little shrine , with a room or two added to it , and a small courtyard closely walled up ; and , when all was ready , besought the jogi to occupy it , and to receive no other visitors except himself and his queen and such pupils as the XXXXX might choose , who would hand down his teaching .
Granada Portuguese Rahmatabad Vega daily days jogi months old second