yellow fairy tale book

Chapter 48 Reliable John (2)

It happened that one day, they were sailing on the high seas, and when the reliable John was sitting in the front of the big ship, playing the violin to entertain himself, he saw three big crows flying towards him in the sky.He put down his violin and listened to what they were saying, for he knew their language.A crow said hoarsely, "Ah, ha! So he is taking the Golden Crown Princess home." "Yes," answered the second crow, "but he has not got her yet." No, he has her," said the third crow, "for she was sitting beside him in the boat." Then the first crow cried, "That won't help him! When they When they arrived in that country, a sorrel horse would run up to meet them, and the king would want to ride on it. If he got on the horse, it would gallop away with him on its back, and disappear into the air, and he would never again I can't see my bride." "Can't he avoid it?" asked the second big crow. "Oh! no, the king would be saved if someone else mounted quickly and shot the horse with a pistol in a holster. But who would do that? And anyone who knows and tell the king that he would be turned to stone from feet to knees.

’ Then said the second big crow: ‘I know better: even if the horse is killed, the young king will not get his bride—and when they go into the palace together, they will be in the closet See an off-the-shelf wedding shirt that looks like it's woven of gold and silver, but is actually all made of sulfur and pitch.When the king puts that shirt on, it burns him to ashes. ’ asked the third crow, ‘then there is no way to avoid it? ""oh!No," answered the second crow, "if someone with a gloved hand seized that shirt and threw it into the fire, the young King would be saved.But what's the use?Anyone who knows this and tells others half his body will be turned to stone from knees to heart.

At this time, the third big crow said: "I know more: Even if the wedding shirt is burned, the king still can't get his bride - at the ball after the wedding, the young queen is While dancing, her face would suddenly turn deathly white, and she would fall to the ground like a dead person.She will die unless someone picks her up, sucks three drops of blood from the right side of her body, and spits them out.But if anyone knew about it, and leaked it, he would be turned to stone from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. ’ So the crows flew away, but good John heard it all, and since then he became very sad—for if he didn’t tell his master what he had heard, it would be his master’s misfortune. but if he let the king know all this, he himself would perish. At last he said: "Even if I destroy myself, I will support my master. "

As they approached land, everything happened as the raven had predicted, and a sorrel horse galloped forward. "Very well!" said the king, "this horse will carry me back to the palace." He was about to mount, but the trusty John was quicker than he, and he sprang to his feet and drew the horse from his holster. The pistol killed the horse.Then the other servants, who had always been displeased with the trustworthy John, cried out: "It is a great crime to kill a horse that will carry the king to the palace!" But the king said: "Shut up! Don't speak of him, he Always my most reliable John. Who knows what kindness he may have done that?" So they went on, and entered the palace.In the great hall of the palace stood a wardrobe containing a ready-made wedding shirt, which looked exactly as if it had been woven of gold and silver.The young king went to the shirt and was about to pick it up, but the trusty John pushed him aside, grabbed it in his gloved hand, threw it into the fire and burned it.The other servants began to complain again, and said, "Look, he has burned the king's wedding shirt." But the young king said, "Who knows if he did it with good intentions? Don't speak of him, He is my most reliable John.

And then they had their wedding. The ball began, and the bride danced, but trusty John watched her face carefully. Suddenly, she became deathly white and dead He fell to the ground. He immediately rushed to her, picked her up, carried her to a room and put her down, then knelt beside her, sucked three drops of blood from the right side of her body, and spat out the blood. She regained her breathing immediately, When he came to himself, the king saw the whole thing, and not understanding why the trustworthy John did this, he was very angry, and cried, "Throw him into prison. The next morning the verdict was pronounced on John the Steady, and he was hanged. As he stood on the gallows, he said: "Every man who is doomed has a right to say a few words before he dies, and I Is there such a privilege? " "Yes," said the king, "you are permitted to speak." ’ So the trustworthy John said: ‘It is not fair that I should be condemned to death, for I have always been faithful to you. And he began to tell how he had heard the talk of the raven at sea, and how he had been compelled to do those few things in order to save his master. Then the king cried, "Oh!My most reliable John, sorry!sorry!put him down. ’ But as soon as he had said the last word, Reliable John fell lifeless to the ground, turned into a stone.

The king and queen were in despair, and the king said, "Ah! how I have done so wrong to such a faithful man!" and he had the stone statue taken to his bedroom, and set it up next to the bed.As soon as he saw the stone statue, he would cry and say, "Oh! If only I could bring you back to life, my most reliable John!" After a while, the queen gave birth to twins, two youngest sons. They thrive and make her feel happy every moment.One day, when the Queen went to church, and the King sat playing with the two children, he once again looked at the stone statue with great sorrow, sighed, and cried, "Oh! If only I could bring you back to life." Well, my dearest John!" Suddenly the stone statue spoke, and it said, "Yes, you can bring me back to life if you will sacrifice what is most precious to you." The king said loudly, "For you, I am willing to give up everything I have in this world." The stone statue continued: "If you cut off the heads of your two children with your own hands and smear their blood on me, I will come back to life." He killed his own children with his own hands. The king was stunned, but when he thought of how loyal John was and how he sacrificed his life for himself, he drew his sword and cut off the children's heads with his own hands. head.

After he had smeared their blood on the statue, the trusty John came back to life and stood before him safe and sound again.He said to the king: "Your sincerity will be rewarded." Then he took the heads of the two children, placed them on the corpses, and wiped their blood on the wounds, and after a while they were as before, like what Jumping up and down as if nothing had happened.The king was very happy, and when he saw the queen coming, he hid trusty John and the two children in a great wardrobe.When she came into the house, he said, "Have you prayed in church?" "Yes," she answered, "but my thoughts were always on good John, and what he had suffered for us." And so He said: "Dear wife, we can bring him back to life, but at the cost of our two young sons, we must sacrifice them." Faithful, we must repay him." He was very glad that she thought as he did, and he went to open the closet, and called out the two children and the reliable John, and said, "Praise God! John was free again, and we got our two little boys back." He then told her what had happened, and they lived happily ever after.

(End of this chapter)