So the unhappy father had to return home without the white satin dress
trimmed with lace and pearls, and without the bag of money, and he
dreaded meeting his two daughters, for he knew they would be terribly
angry.
[Illustration]
Now on his way home from the station to his house he had to pass by
part of the wall that surrounded the Great Park where the Great Beast
lived in his Great Castle; and as he passed by a corner of the wall
what should he see hanging just over the top, and just within his
reach if he stood on his toes, but a lovely red rose.
"At any rate I can take my Beauty what she asked for," he said to
himself, and, without so much as giving a thought to the wrong he was
doing, he stood on his toes and plucked the rose.
He was sorry he did it.
Of a sudden there was a roar, such a roar that the very ground shook,
and as to the poor merchant he quivered like a leaf.
Enough to make him quiver indeed, for a gate in the wall suddenly
opened, and out rushed the _Beast_.
Yes, the Beast, if you please, and he seized the merchant by the
scruff of his neck, and dragged him into the Park, and shut the gate
after him.
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