yellow fairy tale book

Chapter 34 The Prince of the Ring (1)

Once upon a time in a kingdom, the king and queen had a daughter, Ingeborg; and a son, who was usually called "The Ring."

One day in the winter when he was 12 years old, the weather was fine, and the prince took his guards and rode to a forest to hunt.After they had walked a long way, they suddenly saw a doe with a gold ring on its horn.The prince was anxious to catch him, and they rode after him till all the guard's horses were too tired to run.In the end, even the prince's horse was exhausted, and it seemed that it could not stand still.Then they found themselves in a dark place, and the doe had long since disappeared.By this time they were so far from the kingdom that there was not a single house in sight.They thought it was time to go home, but found themselves lost.At first they were able to find the way together, but after a while, everyone firmly believed that the way they chose was the most correct.As a result, they each picked a different path and left separately.

Like everyone else, the prince lost his way.He wandered for a long time, until at last he came to a small clearing in the forest not far from the sea.There he found a woman sitting on a chair with a barrel beside her.The prince walked straight up to her and greeted her politely.So the woman welcomed him kindly.The prince took the opportunity to look into the barrel, and saw an unusual gold ring on the bottom of the barrel.He loved the ring so much he couldn't take his eyes off it!The woman saw what the prince was thinking, and said that he could try to get it if he didn't mind the trouble.

The prince listened, thanked her for her generosity, and said that at least it was worth a try.So he bent down to look at the wooden barrel, and felt that it was not very deep, so he should be able to get the ring easily.Unexpectedly, the longer he stretched his arm, the deeper the barrel became.When he had stretched almost all his body into the barrel, the woman stood up suddenly, and shouting that it was time for him to stay inside, pushed the Prince into it.Then she quickly closed the lid and threw the barrel into the sea with a plop.

The Prince was in a very bad condition, for he felt the cask being thrown off the land and bumped on the surface of the sea, where the waves raged.He didn't know how many days he had endured, and finally one day he felt the barrel hit the rock.This really pleased the prince, because he felt that this was not just a reef in the sea, but it was very likely to land.Knowing a little about water, he finally decided to kick the bottom of the bucket so he could swim ashore.But the sea is not only covered with smooth rocks, but also has high cliffs overhead.It seemed difficult to climb over them, but he scrambled against the edge for a while, then tried hard to climb over - and finally he succeeded!

He climbed to the top of the cliff, looked around, and found himself floating on an island.The forests of the island, full of fruiting apple trees, are quite as pleasant as on land.He stayed on the island for a few days.One day he suddenly heard a loud noise in the forest - so scared that he quickly hid behind the bushes.Then he saw a giant coming straight towards him, pulling a sledge full of logs.He didn't dare to look any further, and quickly lay down on the spot.

At first the Giant stood still and looked at the Prince for a long while as he passed by.Then the giant picked him up and took him home, and was very friendly to him.The giant told his wife that he had found the boy in the woods, and gave him to her, so that she might have him to help with the house too.The giant's wife was overjoyed, and took care of the prince as best she could with great joy.The prince lived with them, and was willing to listen to them in everything, and they became more and more friendly to him.

One day the giant led him around the house and introduced all the houses to him, except the living room.This matter made the prince very curious, thinking that there must be some rare treasure inside.He decided to check it out.So one day, when the giant was going to the forest again, he sneaked up to the drawing room, and quietly pushed the door half open.Then he saw something in the room, crawling towards him along the floor humming.Frightened by the scene in front of him, he hurriedly retracted his head and closed the door with a bang.After a while, though, he forgot his fear and thought he should try again—it was fun to be able to hear what it was saying.But this time the situation was the same as before, he was still scared and fled back.So he blamed himself first, and then hoped to muster up the courage to do it again.So he opened the living room door and stood firmly in the doorway.Then he saw that it was a big dog, and it called to him:

"Take me, Prince of the Ring."

The Prince went away in great terror, thinking that it was not of much value; but its words still haunted the Prince.

No one knows how long the prince and giant stayed together.Until one day the giant came and told the prince that he would die soon, so he would take him away from the island and go to the mainland.The Giant was very pleased with the Prince's work, and told him that he could choose anything he wanted from his property.Then the Prince thanked him sincerely, and said that the Giant would not need to pay anything; but if the Giant really wished to pay anything, allow himself the dog in the parlour.

When the giant heard this, he was surprised and said, "In that case, you have taken away my woman's best assistant; but I will not break my promise."

When the prince heard that he agreed, he went to the living room to lead the dog.The dog rushed towards him, looking very happy.But our prince was so frightened that he tried to appear calm.

The giant accompanied him to the seashore.There the prince found a stone boat, in which there was just room for two men and a dog.When the ship landed on the mainland, the giant said goodbye to the prince kindly, and he also told the ring that he and his wife would die within two weeks after they parted, and then the ring could inherit all the property on the island.The Prince was very grateful to the Giant for all his kindness.So the Giant turned and went home, while the Prince of the Ring walked some distance with the sea on his back.At this time, he didn't know which country he was in, but he didn't dare to talk to the big dog.Finally, after he had driven for a while in silence, the big dog asked him, "Don't you have any curiosity at all? Otherwise, why didn't you ask my name?"

The prince had to reluctantly ask it: "What's your name?"

"It would be better if you could call me Snati-Snati." Big Dog replied. "Now we have come to a king's domain. So you must ask the king to take us all winter, so that we can stay in a small house."

At this moment the Prince began to feel that he was not so afraid of the big dog as before.They came together to the king and asked him to take them in for the winter.The king agreed to the prince's request.When the princes and ministers saw the big dog, they all burst into laughter, as if mocking it.After the prince found out, he advised them not to do this again, otherwise the big dog would be angry.But they replied that the prince's advice was not worth heeding at all.

After the Prince of the Ring lived with the King for a while, the King felt that the Prince was very unusual, so he respected him more than anyone else.However, the king had a national teacher named Rhett. He saw that the king valued the prince of the ring so much, and gradually began to envy the prince.One day, he begged to see the king and asked, "Why does Your Majesty like this stranger so much? He doesn't seem to have any special qualities."The king told him it was because the prince had just arrived, and he would know the answer before long.So Rhett asked the king to order him and the Prince of the Ring to go to the woods to cut wood the next morning, and see who could cut more wood.

Snati - Snati heard this, and hurried to inform the Prince of the Ring.It also advised him to ask the king for two axes so that he could follow up with the other if the first one broke.So the next morning the King ordered them both to go into the woods and get wood for him.Neither the Prince of the Ring nor Reid, the national teacher, had any objections.The Lord of the Rings followed the dog's advice and asked for two axes, and then he and Rhett set off on their own way.But when the prince rushed to the woods, Snati also picked up an ax to help him chop wood.In the evening, the king came to inspect their day's work at Rhett's suggestion.He was surprised to find that the Prince of the Ring's firewood pile was at least twice as high as Rhett's.

"I guessed that the Prince of the Ring is not for nothing," said the King. "I have never seen anyone who can do so much work in one day!"

So the king regarded the Prince of the Ring more than before, and he became more and more indifferent to Rhett.One day Rhett visited the king and said: "Since the Prince of the Ring is so great, why doesn't His Majesty let him go and kill two bison in the woods, and ask him to skin the buffalo on the same day and bring it back to you before dark?" Horns and hides."

"Don't you think this is a very dangerous thing?" the King asked him. "Think about how fierce they are. No one would risk attacking them."

Rhett quibbles that although the prince may die for this, people must want to see how brave he is; and if he successfully kills the bison, the king can justify making him a nobleman.Although the king was unwilling, he couldn't help the national teacher Rhett's obsession, and finally agreed.So one day, the king ordered the Prince of the Ring to kill the buffalo in the woods and bring back the horns and hide for him before dark.The prince didn't know how ferocious these bison were, so he agreed immediately and set off on the road.This is exactly what Rhett is happy to see, because he knows that the prince will never come back alive.

As soon as the two fierce buffaloes saw the Prince of the Ring, they roared and charged at him.The leading bison was really strong, but the other was smaller.The Prince of the Ring was now very frightened.

"What do you think of them?" Snati asked him.

"It's terrible," said the prince.

"We have no choice but to attack them and hope it goes well," Snati said. "Go and kill the little one, and leave the rest to me."

As Snati said, she pounced on the big buffalo and quickly subdued it.And what about the prince?Trembling and timidly, he dealt with the little buffalo.When Snati rushed to help the prince, he found that he was about to be knocked to the ground by the buffalo.Snati immediately helped the master kill the bison.

(End of this chapter)