y,
however, the Monster called Zelinda in haste, and said: "Listen,
Zelinda; if you do not consent to marry me it is fated that your father
must die. He is ill and near the end of his life, and you will not be
able even to see him again. See whether I am telling you the truth."
And, drawing out an enchanted mirror, the Monster showed Zelinda her
father on his death-bed. At that spectacle Zelinda, in despair and half
mad with grief, cried: "Oh, save my father, for mercy's sake! Let me be
able to embrace him once more before he dies. Yes, yes, I promise you I
will be your faithful and constant wife, and that without delay. But
save my father from death."

Scarcely had Zelinda uttered these words when suddenly the Monster was
transformed into a very handsome youth. Zelinda was astounded by this
unexpected change, and the young man took her by the hand, and said:
"Know, dear Zelinda, that I am the son of the King of the Oranges. An
old witch, touching me, changed me into the terrible Monster I was, and
condemned me to be hidden in this rose-bush until a beautiful girl
consented to become my wife."

* * * * *

The remainder of the story has no interest here. Zelinda and her husband
strive to obtain his parents' consent to his marriage. They refuse and
the young couple run away from the royal palace and fall into the power
of an ogre and his wife, from whom they at last escape.[5]

A characteristic trait of this class of stories is omitted in the above
version, but found in a number of others. In a Sicilian version (Pitre,
No. 39, "The Empress Rosina") the monster permits Rosina to visit her
family, but warns her that if she does not return at the end of nine
days he will die. He gives her a ring the stone of which will grow black
in that event. The nine days pass unheeded, and when Rosina looks at her
ring it is as black as pitch. She returns in haste, and finds the
monster writhing in the last agony under the rose-bush. Four days she
rubbed him with some ointment she found in the palace, and the monster
recovered. As in the last story, he resumes his shape when Rosina
consents to marry him. In one of Pitre's variants the monster allows
Elizabeth to visit her dying father, if she will promise not to tear her
hair. When her father dies she forgets, in her grief, her promise, and
tears out her hair. When she returns to the palace the monster has
disappeared. She seeks him, exclaiming:--