yellow fairy tale book

Chapter 29 Magic Ring (2)

The next morning the King got up, looked out of the window, and was astonished.He saw that a palace had been erected on the opposite side, and there was a crystal bridge connected with the old palace!

There are trees on both sides of the bridge. There are golden apples and silver apples on the trees, and there are birds of paradise on the branches.To the right of the bridge, gleaming in the sun, were the five golden bell towers of the ornate church, which were tolling as if to call people from far and wide to witness the miracle.Now, though the king would have preferred to see his son-in-law tarred, feathered, and burned at the stake, he did not forget his own words, and agreed to the marriage.So he made Martin a duke, gave his daughter a large dowry, and prepared an unprecedented grand wedding banquet.

After getting married, Martin and the bride lived in the new palace, enjoying the most luxurious life, which Martin had never imagined.But he is not happy.The king's daughter babbled all day long that she would lose her status by marrying Martin, and that she wanted to marry a young and rich prince from a neighboring country.All she thinks about all day is how to get rid of this husband who doesn't like her.First of all, she has to figure out Martin's secret, where does his supernatural power come from.For this reason, she kept flattering and sweet talking to Martin, trying to get the secret out.Martin was tight-lipped at first, but then one day he felt upset.Again the bride flattered him, put on a smile, and talked a lot of sweet things, and gave Martin a potion, which was very sweet.When Martin drank the potion, he couldn't stop talking, so he told the king's daughter the secret of the magic ring.Before he finished speaking, he fell asleep.When the King's daughter saw that the potion had worked, she took the magic ring off Martin's finger, and going out into the courtyard, threw the ring from one hand into the other.

Immediately, twelve young men appeared and asked her what she wanted.The king's daughter told them that they should tear down the new palace, bridge, and church before tomorrow morning, and move the broken house where Martin's mother and son lived, and let Martin live back in his low old house. .Then tell them to send her to a kingdom at the ends of the earth, where the king will welcome her in his palace, and everything will be worthy of being a princess.

"Follow your orders." The twelve young men replied in unison.ah!look!The next morning the king woke up and looked out of the window. The palace, the Crystal Bridge, the church, and the trees were all gone, and there was only an ugly hut standing there pitifully.The king was taken aback.

The king immediately sent for his son-in-law, and asked him to explain all this.But Martin looked at his father-in-law, and could not utter a word.The king was very angry, and immediately called a council, accused Martin of witchcraft, deceiving the king, and deceiving the princess. For this reason, he was sentenced to be imprisoned in a high stone tower, given no meat to eat, no water to drink, and let him starve to death.

Later, when Martin was in a critical moment, his old friends Shulka and Vaska remembered that Martin had saved their lives at their critical moment, and they got together to discuss how to help him.Shulka roared, indicating that he could tear anyone to pieces for this.Vaska just yelled "meow-meow", scratched his ears with his paws, and was lost in thought.After a few minutes it had an idea, turned to Shulka and said:

"We're going into town, and we meet a baker, and you run between his legs, knock over the tray on his head, and I pick up the bread, and bring it to our master." The plan is certain , and they set off.The two loyal friends came to town, and were soon met by a baker with a tray on his head, who yelled:

Fresh cookies, fresh bread,
all kinds of good bread,
Come buy, come buy,
Guarantee your satisfaction very much!
Then Shulka ran between his legs, the baker staggered, the tray fell, and the bread and cookies rolled all over the floor.The baker yelled at Shulka, and Vaska managed to gather the bread and hide it under a bush.After a while, Shulka also came back to help it, and they came to the stone tower where Martin was held with bread.Quickly, Vaska climbed up to the grilled window, and said to Martin in an urgent tone:
"Are you alive, master?"

"Alive--I'm dying of starvation," said Martin, very faintly. "I never thought that I would be so starved to death."

"Don't be afraid, dear master. Shulka and I have come to see you," said Vaska.It immediately flipped into the prison, handed a bread roll to Martin, and then flipped it over and over several times until the entire plate of bread rolls was moved in.Then it said to Martin: "Dear master, Shulka and I are going to a far-off kingdom at the end of the earth to find your magic ring. You must hide the roll until we come back."

Vaska bid farewell to his dear master and set off on the journey with Shulka.They walked and walked, always looking left and right, so as to find clues about the princess.As long as you meet cats or dogs, ask them, and pay attention to the conversations of passers-by.Finally, they found out that the palace at the end of the earth where the princess was was not far away.One day, when at last they came to this farthest kingdom, they went into the palace at once, and made friends with all the cats and dogs in the palace, and asked them about the princess and about the magic ring.But no one knows.One day, by chance, Vaska went to the small room of the palace to catch mice, and came across a very fat mouse.Immediately Vaska threw himself on the mouse, dug his claws into the skin, and was about to bite, when he heard the mouse's entreaties, and stopped.The mouse said, "If you spare my life, I will obey your orders and I will do anything for you, because I am the king of the rat kingdom, and if I die, the whole race of rats will die."

"Well then," said Vaska, "I will spare your life. You must do something for me in return. In the palace lives a princess, the wife of my dear master. She stole my master's magic ring. Go away. You must get the magic ring at any cost, do you hear me? I won't let you go until you complete the task."

"Very well!" replied the mouse, "I will do as you say." So saying, he called all the mice in the kingdom together.Countless rats, big and small, brown and gray, all gathered and formed a circle around their king, who was still a captive at Vaska's claws.The Mouse King said to the rats, "Dear and loyal subordinates, if any of you steals the magic ring of the princess from other lands, it will save my life. I will give it the highest honor."

Immediately, a very small mouse stood up and said: "I used to go into the princess' bedroom at night, and I noticed that she valued a ring on her finger as much as her eyes. She wore it on her finger all day long. Come on, hide it in your mouth at night. Your Majesty, I can steal the ring for you."

After speaking, the little mouse immediately slipped into the princess's bedroom and waited until night fell. After the princess fell asleep, the little mouse climbed onto the princess' bed and bit a hole in the pillow. Put it under the princess' nostrils.He also blew some feathers into the princess' nostrils and mouth, and made some noises around her. The princess sneezed and coughed, and the ring fell out of her mouth and fell on the quilt.It was too late, but soon, the little mouse jumped over and bit the ring, ran back and handed it to Vaska as a ransom for the king of the mouse country.In this way, Vaska and Shulka rushed back to the high stone tower where Martin was imprisoned day and night. Vaska climbed on the window ledge and said to Martin:

"Martin, dear master, are you still alive?"

"Ah, Vaska, faithful kitten, is that you?" replied a very faint voice. "I'm starving. There's nothing to eat for three days."

"Be happy, dear master," Vaska replied, "from today onwards you will only be happy and prosperous, and you will never have to worry about it again. If I say that I am giving you a riddle, then guess Guess what Shulka and I brought you back! Listen, we brought back your ring!"

Martin was overjoyed when he heard these words, and he stroked Vaska affectionately, and Vaska rubbed against him with his nose and mouth, whistling "Puff, puff".From the window, Shulka looked up and cried cheerfully.

At this moment Martin took the ring and threw it from one hand to the other, and twelve youths appeared before him at once to ask for his orders.

"First get me some food and water, the sooner the better; second, get me those musicians, and let us have fun all day long."

The people of the town and the palace were astonished to hear that the music was coming from the tower.People ran to the king with the news that Martin must be bewitching in prison.Not only did he not starve to death, but there was also beautiful and pleasant music, the sound of plates clashing and knives and forks clashing. People passing by the tower stopped to listen and could not bear to leave.When the king heard this, he immediately sent an envoy to the tower. When the envoy heard all this, his feet were rooted out, and he could not walk.The king sent several more trusted ministers, who were also fascinated.Finally, the king went to see what happened in person, and he was also fascinated by the beauty of the music.

At this time, Martin summoned twelve young people and said to them: "When you build the new palace in the past, don't forget that there must be golden apples and silver apples on the tree, and birds of paradise on the branches; there must be five churches." A golden bell tower, let the bells ring, and call people from far and wide. One more thing: bring my unfaithful wife, and bring her into the women's closet."

Everything happened as he commanded.Martin took the old father-in-law, the king, by the arm, and led him into the new palace, where the princess sat trembling, waiting to be executed.Martin said to the king, "King—noble father-in-law! How should I punish your daughter for what I have suffered at the hands of your daughter?"

The king replied kindly: "My dear prince, my son-in-law, if you love me, please turn your anger into joy, forgive my daughter, and restore her to your heart!"

Martin's heart relented and he forgave his wife, and the couple lived happily ever after.He took the old mother with him, and Shulka and Vaska never parted from him.I don't need to tell you that he never let the ring go missing again.

(End of this chapter)