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.
"Don't you know it's a sin to steal?" roared the Beast. "How dare you steal my roses? I am going to kill you."
"Oh, mercy, Mr. Beast," cried the unhappy man, flinging himself on his knees before the monster.
