yellow fairy tale book

Chapter 21 The Witch and the Servant (1)

Long long ago, there was a king who had three sons.The eldest son was called Szabo, the second Vaza, and the third Ivanich.

One beautiful spring morning, the king took his three sons for a walk in the garden, looking at all kinds of fruit trees, feeling relaxed and happy.Some fruit trees are blooming like brocades; some fruit trees have too many fruits, their branches are curved, and their branches touch the ground.Walking and walking, I came to a relatively barren place, where three beautiful trees grew.The king stared intently for a while, shook his head sadly, and walked away silently.

The sons didn't understand what it meant, and asked their father why they became sad.The king told them this story:

When I saw these three trees, I couldn't help being sad.These three trees were planted here by myself when I was 20 years old.The tree seeds were given to my father by a famous magician who promised that the three trees would grow into the best trees in the world.My father was not able to see the tree grow.Before he died, he ordered me to transplant the tree here, and asked me to take good care of it, which I did exactly.After five years, I saw flowers growing on the branches, and a few days later, I saw fruits bearing, those exquisite fruits I had never seen before.

I gave the gardener the strictest orders to take special care of these trees.Because the magician once warned my father that if you pluck one unripe fruit from the tree, the rest will immediately rot.The fruit is golden yellow when ripe.

Every day I look at these fruits, and the ripening ones are more alluring every day, but I dare not disobey the magician's warning.

One night, I dreamed that the fruit was ripe. I tasted a few, and the taste was really delicious.After I woke up, I sent for the gardener and asked him if the fruits on the three trees were ripe last night.
Instead of answering my question, the head gardener plopped down at my feet and swore to me that he was innocent.He said that he had been guarding the three trees all night, but, strangely enough, as if by magic, the fruit from all three trees had been stolen.

This incident makes me very sad.I didn't punish the head gardener because I knew he was very loyal to me.But I decided to pick them all before they ripen next year, because I don't really believe what the magician says.

In the second year, I followed the plan and picked all the unripe fruits.I tasted an apple and it tasted bitter and astringent.The next day, all the picked fruits were rotten.

Since then, the Three Trees have been carefully looked after by my most loyal and reliable servants.However, every year on the eve of ripening, all the fruits are stolen by an invisible hand.The next morning, there was not a single apple left on the tree.After a while, I didn't even bother to look at these trees.

When the king had finished telling the story, his eldest son Szabo said to his father, "Father, please forgive me if I am wrong. I am sure that there are many people in the country who have ways of dealing with a magician who steals fruit. However, as you Eldest son, I think I have a right to try it first. Let me be in charge tonight."

The king agreed.As night fell, Szabo climbed one of the trees to protect the fruit at the cost of his own life.In the first half of the night, he didn't close his eyes.But, just after midnight, he fell asleep with an overwhelming drowsiness.He didn't wake up until dawn and found that all the fruits on the tree had disappeared.

The second year, the second son Waza came to try his luck, but with the same result.Now, it was the turn of the third youngest son.

Although his older and stronger brothers both failed, Ivanich was not discouraged.When night fell, he climbed a tree like his two brothers.The moon had risen, and its soft light illuminated the whole neighborhood, and enabled the careful prince to see all that was going on around him.

At midnight, a light west wind blew, the big tree swayed slightly, and a bird with snow-white fur that looked like a swan flew gently and landed on his chest.Immediately the prince seized the bird with both hands, and caught it by the wings.Now, hi!look!To his great astonishment, he found that it was not a bird he was holding in his hands, but a very beautiful little girl whom he had never seen before.

"You needn't be afraid of Ivanich," said the beautiful Mirissa, looking at the prince with friendly eyes. "It wasn't an evil magician who stole your apples, but he stole the seeds from my mother, so Caused the death of the fruit. Before my mother died, she commanded me to take the fruit every year when it was ripe, because that is what you have no right to. If you don't grab me so hard, I will take the fruit again tonight .Your actions freed me from the spell."

Ivanich expected to catch a terrible magician, but unexpectedly a lovely girl arrived.He fell in love with her at first sight, and the two talked about love in the middle of the night.Mirizha was going away, and Ivanich begged her not to go.

"I would have loved to stay," said Mirissa, "but a cunning witch cut off a lock of my hair while I was asleep, and has taken hold of me ever since. If dawn finds that I am still here, I shall be punished." New hurt. Maybe you will get hurt too."

As Mirizha said, she took off a sparkling diamond ring from her finger, handed it to the prince, and said, "Take this souvenir. When you can't see me, seeing this ring is like seeing me. You If you really love me, come to me in my country. I may not be able to show you the way. However, this ring can show you the way.

"If you are truly loving and have the courage to travel, and whenever you come to a crossroads where you cannot decide, look at this diamond ring and it will guide you which way to choose. If it shines as brightly as before, you go straight; if it When it gets darker, then you change your path."

Mirizha bent down and kissed the prince's forehead, and before the prince could speak, she rode a white cloud through the branches and disappeared.

It was dawn, and the prince was still full of strange visions. He came down from the tree and returned to the palace, not knowing if the fruit had been stolen.All he could think about at the moment was Mirizha, how he could find her.

As soon as the gardener saw the prince returning to the palace, he ran to look at the tree.Seeing that the branches were covered with fruit, he hurried to the king to report the good news.The king was overjoyed, and immediately ran to the garden and ordered the gardener to pick some fruits for him to taste.He took a bite, and felt that the taste of the apple was as good as any he had tasted in a dream.He immediately went to his son Ivanich, embraced him tenderly, praised him warmly, and asked him how he managed to defeat the magician and keep the fruit.

This question puts Ivanich in a dilemma.He didn't want to tell the real story, so he lied that at midnight a hornet was flying from branch to branch and buzzing around him.He drew his sword to block it, fending off the hornet.At dawn, he was tired, and the hornet disappeared as suddenly as it had come.

The king believed his son's words and asked his son to go back to rest immediately to relieve the fatigue from the night.The king himself went to arrange a series of banquets to celebrate the bountiful harvest of kiwi fruit.

The whole capital was agitated, everyone shared in the king's joy, and Prince Ivanich did not take part in the feast.

While the king was toasting frequently at the banquet, Prince Ivanich took a few bags of gold, picked the fastest horse from the royal stables, got on the horse's back, and ran away like a gust of wind.

It was not until the next day that everyone discovered that Prince Ivanich had disappeared.The king was very dismayed, and he sent several teams to search all over the country, but they were all in vain.After six months, he gave up his search, thinking the prince was dead.In another six months, everyone forgot about him.But the prince, with the help of the diamond ring, traveled very well and was not harmed by any evil.

When he left the palace for three months, he came to a dense forest, which seemed to be an untouched virgin forest, and it was so huge that it seemed endless.The prince found a path leading into the woods, and was about to go in when he heard someone say, "Hey, young man! Where are you going?"

Ivanich turned around and saw a tall, thin old man in rags, sitting at the foot of an oak tree, the color of which was the same as that of the tree, so Ivanich had not noticed just now. he.

"Where else should I go," said the Prince, "through the woods, of course!"

"Through the woods?" said the old man, looking surprised. "Obviously, you have never heard of this dense forest. You are wandering blindly to achieve your purpose. Well, before you take a step forward, listen to me. Let me tell you, deep in the dense forest there are countless beasts of prey, hyenas, wolves, bears, snakes, and all kinds of beasts. If I cut you and your horses into small pieces and threw them, there would not be a mouthful of hundreds of beasts! So, Take my advice. If you want to save your life, go the other way."

The prince was taken aback by what the old man said, and thought about what to do.He looked at the diamond ring and saw that it was as bright as before, so he said loudly: "Even if the jungle is more terrifying than what you said, I don't care, I still want to go through it."

He galloped into the forest.The old beggar yelled after him, and the prince turned his horse back to the old oak tree.

"I am sorry for you," said the old beggar, "but, since you are determined to overcome the danger, you will at least take one piece of advice from me, which will help you overcome the beast.

"Take this sack of dry bread, and this live hare. I give you both to save your life. But you must leave the horse, which will only stumble in the thick woods. or get stabbed by brambles or thorny weeds. You go about a hundred yards into the woods, and the beasts will surround you. Immediately throw them the dry bread in the bag. They will grab it greedily. Go and eat. When you have thrown the last slices of dry bread, throw the hare out. As soon as the hare is on the ground, it will run as fast as it can, and the beast will go after it. This way, you can walk through the forest without harm .”

Ivanich thanked the old man for his advice, got off his horse, and went into the forest with the bag and the hare in his hands.As soon as the thin old man disappeared from his field of vision, he heard howls and roars coming from the dense forest, approaching him.Before he had time to think, he found himself surrounded by the most ferocious beasts.On one side is the tiger flashing ferocious eyes, and on the other side is the big she-wolf baring her white teeth viciously.Here a great bear roared wildly; there a dreadful serpent coiled in the grass at his feet.

Ivanich didn't forget the old man's advice, and quickly reached into the bag, took out slices of bread, and threw them to the surrounding beasts in handfuls.The bag gradually became lighter, and the prince began to feel frightened.The slices of bread were thrown away, and the hungry beasts still surrounded him, looking horribly greedy.At this time, the prince also threw the hare out.

As soon as the little hare landed on the ground, it leaned its ears back, and fled away like flying, as fast as an arrow leaving the string.The beasts chased after him, and the prince was safe.He looked at the diamond ring, the diamond was still so bright, and he went straight through the forest.

Not far away, he saw a very special man walking towards him.The man was not more than three feet tall, with bent legs and a prickly prickly bark like a porcupine.Walking beside it were two lions, tied by its two long beards.

The man stopped before the prince, and said in a sharp voice, "Are you the one who fed my bodyguard just now?"

Ivanich was stunned at his appearance, speechless.The dwarf said again: "I am very grateful for your generosity. How can I repay you?"

"All I want," answered Ivanich, "is permission to pass through this wood safely."

"That is certain," replied the dwarf, "and I will send you a lion to be your guard for the sake of safety. But when you come out of the forest and approach a palace, let the lion return, for the land does not belong to you." I control it. Otherwise the lion will fall into the hands of the enemy and be killed by them."

As he spoke, he let go of a lion, and commanded it to guard the prince well.Although the prince later encountered many wolves, hyenas, leopards, and other wild beasts, these beasts, seeing the lion guarding him, avoided him at a distance.

Ivanich walked as fast as he could, trying to get out of the forest as quickly as possible.Yet hour after hour passed without seeing a green field or any sign of habitation.At last, in the evening, the dense bushes began to see through gradually, and through the criss-crossing branches, he saw a plain.

When he reached the end of the forest, the lion stood still.The prince parted with it and thanked it kindly for its protection.It was quite dark, and Ivanich had to wait for daylight before starting his journey.

He made a bed out of leaves and dead grass, lit a fire with dry branches, and slept soundly all night until dawn.

He got up and walked towards a beautiful white palace.The palace shone brightly in the distance.After about an hour, he walked to the palace, opened the gate and walked in.

He passed through many marble halls, and came to a grand staircase of porphyry, which led down to a beautiful garden.

The prince suddenly saw Mirissa among a group of girls who were weaving garlands, and couldn't help cheering.

As soon as Mirizha saw the prince coming, she ran over and hugged him tenderly.When the prince had related all his adventures, they entered the palace, where a feast awaited them.Princess Mirizha called for her chambermaids, and introduced Ivanich to them as her future husband.

Preparations for the wedding began at once, and were soon completed into a ceremony of the most splendid and unparalleled splendor.

(End of this chapter)