The Blue Mountains

The Blue Mountains is a fairy tale. Andrew Lang included it in The Yellow Fairy Book (1894), but provided no bibliographical information and its origin remains obscure. Synopsis A Scotsman, an Englishman and an Irishman all ran away from the army together. After several days, the Scotsman saw a castle, went to it without speaking to the others, and met a lady. At his request, she gave him a meal and a bed to sleep. And then the same thing happened to the Englishman. The Irishman saw the same castle and went to it, but when the lady gave him food, he stared about the castle and did not eat. When she asked, he said he could not eat without knowing who she was or where she came from, or how she came there. She told him she was an enchanted princess, and if a man stayed in a little room from ten until midnight for three nights running, she would be freed. Every night creatures came into the room and beat him, but the princess had a bottle that cured him every morning. She went off and told him she would back in a coach and six. A little lad came, and when he went to wait for the princess, the lad stuck a pin in his coat, putting him to sleep. When the princess came, the lad told her he was asleep. The princess said she would come once more, and then he would not see her again. The Irishman resolved to keep awake, but the boy stuck the pin in his coat again, and the princess left, leaving him a sword.