yellow fairy tale book

Chapter 22 The Witch and the Servant (2)

Three months after the happiest days, Mirissa received an invitation to visit one of her aunts.

Although Mirizha was extremely reluctant to leave her husband, she did not want to refuse the invitation.She promised that she would be back in no more than seven days.She bid farewell to the prince tenderly and said, "Before I leave, I will give you the keys to all the rooms. You can go wherever you want and do whatever you want. There is only one thing I want to tell you, Do not open the little iron door of the North Tower. There are seven locks and seven bolts on this door. If you open this door, we both will suffer.”

Ivanich promised to come down, and Mirizha left, promising again to return within seven days.

It is lonely for the prince to be alone at home.Again he was tormented by curiosity to know what was shut up in that little room in the North Tower.For the first two days, he restrained himself, and on the third day, he couldn't bear it any longer. Holding a torch, he ran to the north tower and unlocked the seven locks on the small iron gate one by one.

What he saw was beyond his expectation.The small room was very black with smoke, except for the blue light of a very weak small fire, which made the room slightly bright.On top of the fire hung a large pot, in which pitch was constantly boiling.There is a miserable man chained in a cauldron, screaming in pain.

The sight before him terrified Ivanich.He asked what crime the man had committed and why he had received such a terrible punishment.

"I will tell you everything," said the man locked in the cauldron, "but first, lighten my torture a little, I beseech you!"

"How can it be relieved?" asked the prince.

"A little water," replied the man, "just splash a few drops on me and I'll feel better."

Driven by sympathy, the prince didn't think about the consequences, so he ran to the palace courtyard to fill a pot of water, and when he came back, he poured it on the person in the pot.

In an instant, with a terrible crash, it seemed that the columns of the castle were falling down, and the palace itself, with its towers, doors, windows, and cauldron, was whirling over the Prince's head.This went on for several minutes, and then everything disappeared in the air.Ivanich found himself alone in a heath-grown wasteland surrounded only by rocks and stones.

The prince now finds himself in serious trouble by being careless.He blamed his own curiosity but it was too late.In desperation, he walked on the wasteland, his heart full of regret.Finally, he saw a light in the distance, which came from a small wooden shed that looked very broken.

The shed belonged to none other than the kind, thin old beggar who had given the prince a sack of rusks and a hare.Ivanich knocked on the door and asked him to stay overnight. The old man opened the door and recognized Ivanich.

Next morning the prince asked his master if he could do something for him, because he didn't know the people there, and he didn't have enough money to take the old man home.

"My child," replied the old man, "the land around me is uninhabited. I have to go to far villages to feed myself. Even so, I often cannot find enough food to satisfy my hunger. However, if you are willing to be the servant of the old witch Kowa, you can walk straight along the small river behind the house, and after walking for about three hours, you will come to a sand dune on the left, which is her residence."

Ivanich thanked the thin old man for the information, and set off.After walking for about three hours, the prince saw an ugly gray stone wall.It was the back of a building, which the prince found unattractive.The prince went to the front of the building, however, the front was worse than the back.The old witch built four fences full of iron nails around her house, and on each fence was a pair of human skeletons.In the middle of the fence was a black cottage with only two latticed windows, both of which were covered with cobwebs, and an iron door leaning inward.

The prince knocked at the door, and a rough woman's voice let him in.

Ivanich went in and found himself in a kitchen blackened by smoke, where an ugly old woman sat by a fire roasting her bony hands.The prince said he was willing to be her servant, and the ugly old woman said that she needed a servant very much, and Ivanich could not be more suitable.

Ivanich asked him what his job was and how much he was paid.The witch made him follow her, and led him through a narrow dank passage into a cellar which was used as a stable.Ivanich saw two black horses in the stable.

"You see," said the old woman, "a mare and her foal. You lead them into the field every day, and watch them so that they don't run away. Nothing else. If you look after Be good for them for a year, and I will give you what you want. But if you don't take good care of it and run away with a horse, then your end will come. Your skeleton will also hang on the nailed fence. You have Seeing those skeletons, they have all been my servants, but they have not completed the tasks I assigned."

Ivanich thought to himself, anyway, I have reached this point, no matter how bad I am, I can't be worse, so I agreed to the witch's proposal.

At dawn the next day he went to the stables and took the two horses out to graze in the fields and brought them back to the stables at night without any problems.The Witch stood at the door, met him kindly, and gave him a very good supper.

This went on for a while, fairly smoothly.The prince led the horse out every day at dawn, and returned safely at night.

One day, he was tending his horses, and when he came to the bank of a river, he saw a big fish, which for some reason had been brought ashore, and it was struggling to get back into the river.

Ivanich took pity on it, took it in his arms, and threw it into the river.To Ivanich's surprise, as soon as the fish entered the water, it swam towards the shore again and said:

"My benefactor, how can I repay your kindness?"

"I need no reward," replied the Prince, "I am glad to be able to do something for you."

"You must accept my reward," said the big fish. "Take a scale from my body and keep it carefully. When you need my help, throw the scale into the river, and I will come to help you immediately."

Ivanich bent down, took a scale from the grateful fish, hid it on his body, and led the horse home.

After a short period of time, he let the horse go as usual, and found a large group of birds gathered together, flying over and over, making a lot of noise.

Curious, Ivanich ran over there and saw a flock of ravens attacking an eagle.Although the eagle is very powerful and fights bravely, it is outnumbered and is about to be defeated.

The prince sympathized with the disadvantaged eagle, and raised a big branch to drive away the ravens.Frightened by the sudden blow, the raven flew away.Many ravens were left dead or wounded on the battlefield.

After the eagle was rescued, he plucked a feather from his body and gave it to the prince, saying: "My benefactor, take this feather as a proof of my gratitude to you. Whenever you need my help, blow the feather Go into the air, and I will try to use my power to help you."

Ivanich thanked the eagle, put the feathers and scales together, and drove home.

Another day, he took his horses a little farther than usual, and approached a farmhouse.The pasture here is abundant, and the prince was very happy, so he decided to graze here that day.Just as he was sitting under a big tree to rest, he heard a cry not far from him. It turned out that a fox was caught in a trap placed by the farmer.

The fox tried desperately to get out of the trap, but there was no way.The kind prince came forward again and rescued the fox from the trap.

The fox thanked the prince for his kindness, and plucked two hairs from the tail, saying: "Whenever you need help, just throw these two hairs into the fire, and I will come to help you at once."

Ivanich put the fox's feathers together with fish scales and eagle feathers.It was getting dark, and he hurried his horse home.

At this point, the one-year period of service will expire.Three more days and a full year before he could get paid and leave the witch.

On the night of the penultimate day, he was having dinner when he saw the old woman sneak into the stable.

The prince followed her quietly to see what she was going to do.He was squatting at the door, and heard the witch talking to the horses, telling them to come out of the stable the next morning before Ivanich woke up, go to the river, and hide in the river until she called. come back again.If they didn't, she threatened to flog them until they bleed.

After hearing these words, Ivanich went back to his room and reminded himself not to sleep too early tomorrow morning.Early the next morning, he led the mare and foal out as usual, and this day he tied a rope to them and led them by him.

After a while, Ivanich was so sleepy from the witch's sorcery that he fell asleep.So the mare and foal ran away to the river and hid in the water.When the prince woke up in the evening, he was terrified to find that the two horses were missing.The prince was very desperate and resented that he should not be the witch's servant.

At this time, he suddenly remembered the fish scale, took the fish scale out of his pocket, and threw it into the river.After a while, the big fish came to the shore and asked him: "My friend and benefactor, what do you want?"

The Prince replied, "I should have watched the two horses, but they ran away and hid in the river. If you want to save my life, bring them to the shore."

"You wait here for a while," said the big fish, "my friends and I will catch them ashore soon." After speaking, the big fish dived into the water.

In an instant there was a sound in the water, the waves pushed back and forth, foam was thrown into the air, and two horses suddenly jumped ashore, trembling with fear.

Immediately Ivanich jumped on the mare's back, took the foal by the hand, and went home happily.

When the witch saw that the prince was leading the horse home, she was furious.No sooner had she set supper than she went into the stable again.The prince followed again.The witch scolded the two horses for not hiding well, and ordered them to hide in the clouds tomorrow morning.

The next day Ivanich took the horse out into the field, was enchanted again, and fell asleep.The two horses fled immediately and hid in the clouds on the top of the mountain.

When the prince woke up and found that the two horses were gone, he immediately thought of the eagle.He took the eagle's feather from his pocket and blew it up into the sky.

After a while, the eagle swooped down and asked him, "What do you want me to do?"

"My mare and foal escaped," answered the Prince, "and they hid in the clouds. Bring them back if you want to save my life."

"Wait a while," Big Eagle said, "I have friends to help, and I will drive them back to you soon."

After speaking, the big eagle flew into the sky and got into the clouds.

Almost at the same moment Ivanich saw two horses come out of the clouds, driven by a flock of eagles, large and small.He grabbed the horse, thanked the eagle, and went home happily.

The old witch was even more annoyed when she saw him.After serving supper, she stole away to the stable again, and Ivanich heard her scolding the horses for their poor hiding.She made them hide in the king's henhouse tomorrow while Ivanich was asleep.

The next morning the prince drove the horse into the field as usual.Then he felt very sleepy again and fell asleep again.The mare and foal ran to hide in a lonely henhouse in the wasteland.

The prince woke up and found that the horse was lost, so he thought he could ask the fox to help him.He lit a fire and threw two fox furs into the fire, and the fox immediately appeared beside him and asked him, "What do you want me to do?"

"I want to know," answered Ivanitch, "where is the king's henhouse?"

"It was less than an hour's walk," answered the Fox, showing the Prince the way.

They were walking together, and the fox asked the prince what he was doing in the henhouse.The prince told the fox how much it meant to him to get the horse back about the misfortune that had happened to him.

"It's very easy," said the fox, "just wait a moment. I have an idea. You stand by the door of the henhouse and wait to get your horse back. I'll slip in through a hole in the wall of the henhouse and take the chicken If you drive them hard, the noise will wake up all the hens. When they see two horses, they think they are making trouble, so they will drive them out."

Things came true one by one as the fox said.The prince mounted the mare, and led the foal home again.

At that time, the prince's spirit was very excited.Suddenly, he heard the mare speak to him: "You are the first person who succeeded in defeating the old witch Kowa. Now you can ask her for a reward, and you can ask for anything. If you don't betray me, I can give you a piece of advice."

The prince promised never to sell it.The mare went on to say, "You want nothing but my foal. This foal is no ordinary foal, neither love nor money can buy it. For it can Inside, run from one end of the land to the other. Of course that cunning Kowa will do everything possible to stop you from leaving the pony, saying it is lazy and sick. Don’t believe her, insist on your request .”

Ivanich was thinking of having such a horse, and promised that the mare would do what she suggested.

This time, Kova received Ivanich in the most friendly manner and prepared him a sumptuous dinner.As soon as Ivanich had finished his meal, Kova asked him what he wanted for a whole year's service.

"I want neither more nor less," replied the Prince, "only your foal."

The Witch pretended to be very surprised, and said he should have asked for something better than that, and that the foal was lazy and frightened and blind in one eye, and in short worth nothing.

The prince insisted on his request.Seeing that he was determined, the old witch said to him: "I will keep my promise and give you the pony. I know who you are and what you are going to do. I want to tell you what the pony is doing." The next will come in handy. The man in the pot of boiling pitch is a powerful magician. Because of your curiosity, negligence, Mirizha fell into his hands. He put her and her His castle and belongings were transferred to a distant country.

"You are the only one who can kill him. Because he is afraid of you, he has sent many detectives to watch you, and the detectives report every move you do to the magician every day.

"When you come to him, remember not to talk to him, otherwise, you will fall into the clutches of his friends. You must immediately grab his beard and drag him to the ground."

Ivanich thanked the old witch, got on the black pony, gave it a kick, and it carried him into the air like lightning.

It was getting dark, and Ivanich saw figures in the distance.These people came before them very quickly, and it turned out that the magician and his friends passed by in the air in a four-wheeled cart pulled by several owls.

The magician finds himself face to face with Ivanich, knowing that he cannot escape.He pretended to be very friendly and said to Ivanich: "How do you do, my benefactor!"

The Prince said nothing, but immediately grabbed him by the beard and dragged him to the ground.At this time, the foal jumped on the magician, kicked and trampled with its hooves until the magician was trampled to death.

Then Ivanich found himself back in the palace of her bride.Mirissa threw herself into his arms.

Since then, they lived a peaceful and happy life.

(End of this chapter)