d commanded all the birds
to come and drop their feathers, fill the six beds, and carry them back
to the ogress, who again said that her son had helped Rosella. However,
she went and made up her son's bed with the six mattresses, and that
very day she made him marry the daughter of the King of Portugal. Then
she called Rosella, and, telling her that her son was married, bade her
kneel before the nuptial bed, holding two lighted torches. Rosella
obeyed, but soon the King of Love, under the plea that Rosella was not
in a condition to hold the torches any longer, persuaded his bride to
change places with her. Just as the queen took the torches in her hands,
the earth opened and swallowed her up, and the king remained happy with
Rosella.

When the ogress heard what had happened she clasped her hands over her
head, and declared that Rosella's child should not be born until she
unclasped her hands. Then the King of Love had a catafalque erected, and
stretched himself on it as though he were dead, and had all the bells
tolled, and made the people cry, "How did the King of Love die?" The
ogress heard it, and asked: "What is that noise?" Her daughters told her
that their brother was dead from her fault. When the ogress heard this
she unclasped her hands, saying, "How did my son die?" At that moment
Rosella's child was born. When the ogress heard it she burst a
blood-vessel (in her heart) and died. Then the King of Love took his
wife and sisters, and they remained happy and contented.[1]

* * * * *

There is another version of this story in Pitre (No. 281) entitled, "The
Crystal King," which resembles more closely the classic myth.

A father marries the youngest of his three daughters to a cavalier (the
enchanted son of a king) who comes to his wife at night only. The
cavalier once permits his wife to visit her sisters, and they learn from
her that she has never seen her husband's face. The eldest gives her a
wax candle, and tells her to light it when her husband is asleep, and
then she can see him and tell them what he is like. She did so, and
beheld at her side a handsome youth; but while she was gazing at him
some of the melted wax fell on his nose. He awoke, crying, "Treason!
treason!" and drove his wife from the house. On her wanderings she
meets a hermit, and tells him her story. He advises her to have made a
pair of iron shoes, and when she has worn them out in her travels she
will come t