"A white satin dress trimmed with lace and pearls," said his eldest daughter.
"And you must bring me something too, please, father," said the second daughter.
"And what do you want," asked the merchant.
"A purse full of gold so that I can buy what I want myself," said the second daughter.
"I will try and do what you both ask," he said, "and what shall I bring for my Beauty?"
"I will wait a little for my dresses and things," replied the smiling Beauty, as she helped her father on with his cloak, "but I should like you to bring me home a rose, a lovely red rose, if you can."
So her father kissed her, and promised he would bring her the rose, and went on his way full of hopes.
What a pity it is that our hopes cannot be always realized, and that we are so often doomed to disappointment! When the merchant arrived at the city, to his dismay he found that the man who owed him the money was still unable to pay him, the man had been disappointed himself at the last moment.
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.