Andrew Lan's Twelve-Color Fairy Tale Series: Pink Fairy Tale Books

Chapter 10 The Princess in the Box (2)
She wandered around the church like a madman, and finally found the blacksmith hiding in the pulpit, and began to crawl towards the pulpit.But she couldn't climb up anyway, so she desperately reached out to catch him, but she couldn't reach him no matter what.Christian stood in the pulpit, trembling with fear.Then the clock struck one o'clock in the morning, and the princess had to go back to the box, when he heard a bang, and the lid of the box was shut.Then peace returned to the church.Christian lay down in the pulpit and finally fell asleep.Until dawn the next day, he heard footsteps outside, and then heard the sound of a key being inserted into the lock to open the door.So he came down from the pulpit, took his gun, and stood before the princess's wooden box.

It was the commander himself who brought the people to the church, and he was amazed to see the newly recruited guard standing there unharmed!Then the commander asked him to report all the events of the night, but he said nothing.The commander had to take him to the king and report to the king that he was the guard who stood guard all night last night.It was the first time a guard had come out alive, and the king immediately got out of bed and rewarded him with the promised wad of money.Then the king began to ask him questions. "What have you seen?" he said. "Have you seen my daughter?" "I am only on guard," said the young blacksmith. Know if you dare to tell them what you have seen and heard.At the same time he was secretly proud of what happened last night. No one else could have done it, nor had the courage to do it, he thought.The king said he was very satisfied with this, and he asked the young man if he would continue to stand guard the next night. "No thanks," Christian said, "I don't want to stand anymore!"

"Then do as you please," said the king. "You were very heroic last night. Now eat breakfast. You must have something to replenish your energy after you have been on guard all night."

The king brought him breakfast himself, and sat down to eat with him.The king kept pouring wine into his glass, praising him and toasting his success.Christian didn't need to be persuaded to eat and drink. He enjoyed the delicious food to his heart's content. He ate a lot and drank even more.After drinking the wine he became bold again, and told the king that if the king gave him double rewards, he would go to watch at night again.

When everything was arranged, Christian left the king and went out into the street with a party of soldiers and officials.What he has now is money, he treats guests, and everyone eats and drinks together.While bragging about himself, he laughed at those soldiers who dared not stand guard, they were actually afraid of being eaten by the princess, it was really useless.Look, why didn't she eat me!He was very proud and satisfied, and the day passed quickly.At eight o'clock in the evening, he was again locked in the church alone.

For the first hour he was under the influence of alcohol.Then, after sober, he has been trying to escape.At last, at ten o'clock, he found a little door behind the altar open, and slipped out quietly, and ran to the beach.Just halfway, the dwarf suddenly appeared in front of him again and said to him: "Good evening, Christian, where are you going?" "Where I want to go," said the blacksmith, but he found that I can't even walk a step by myself. "You have accepted the task of standing guard tonight," said the little man, "you must stand guard." Then he grabbed Christian, and he had no choice but to follow the little man back to the small gate no matter how unwilling he was.Christian heard him say, "Go, now go to the altar and take in your hand the book that's there. Then stay there until you hear the lid of the wooden box shut, That way you won't get hurt."

So saying, the dwarf pushed him in, and locked the door.Christian immediately ran to the altar, picked up the book, and stood there.At twelve o'clock the princess came out of the box again. "Guard, where are you? Guard, where are you?" she snapped.Then she rushed to the pulpit and climbed right in.But this time there was no one there, so she screamed and growled: "My father sent no guards, let war and plague begin tonight!"

At this time, she saw the blacksmith standing in front of the altar, and rushed towards him. "Here you are," she growled, "I'm going to catch you." But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't climb the altar ladder, so she kept screaming, growling, and threatening.At one o'clock in the morning, she returned to the box, and Christian heard the sound of the box closing.The strange thing was that the princess looked different this night than she did the night before, not as ugly as the night before.

The church was quiet again, and the young blacksmith lay in front of the altar and fell asleep peacefully until the commander came to the church the next morning.He was brought again to the king, and all was as it had been the first day.He got the money promised by the king, but he didn't say whether he had seen the king's daughter, and he didn't want to stand guard anymore.But after eating a good breakfast and drinking a lot of wine, he proposed to stand guard on the third night.However, this time he asked for at least half of the kingdom, otherwise he was unwilling.The king had no choice but to agree, and promised to do so.

Then it was the same as the day before, the blacksmith and a group of soldiers and officials went to the street to drink and have fun.He also boasted that he was the most daring guard in the world. Amidst all the compliments, he was so happy that he almost forgot who he was!Soon it was eight o'clock in the evening again, and he had to put on his guard's uniform again, and was locked in the church.Just an hour later this time, he woke up from the influence of alcohol and thought to himself: "Everything is normal now, let's run away as soon as possible!" He knew that the third night must be the most difficult to deal with, and he was He only promised the king to stand guard when he was drunk, and it was impossible for the king to promise him half of the kingdom!So he decided to run away quickly, instead of waiting so long as he did on the first two nights, so as to escape the watchful eyes of the dwarf.

All the side and back doors were locked, but at last he thought of the window, which he opened and climbed to, when the clock struck nine in the evening.The window was really high off the ground, but he jumped to the ground safely and unhurt.He ran down to the beach, meeting no one this time, then jumped into a boat and paddled quickly away from the shore.He was overjoyed, thinking how clever he was, to have fooled the dwarf so easily!But then he heard someone on the shore shouting: "Good evening, Christian, where are you going?" It was the dwarf again!He made no reply, but paddled vigorously, thinking, "I'm afraid your legs are not so long tonight." But he found something gripping the skiff and pulling it straight to the shore, despite all his efforts. It is useless to paddle with all the strength.

The dwarf grabbed him and said, "You promised to stand guard, you must go!" Whether he wanted to or not, he dragged him all the way back to the church.

"I'm never going to climb that window again," Christian said. "It's too high."

"You must go in, and you can climb the window," said the dwarf, and pushed him up on the window sill.Then the dwarf said to him, "Remember what to do tonight. Tonight, you must lie straight on the left-hand side of the box. The lid opens to the right, and the princess comes out from the left. When she After getting out of the box and stepping over your body, you must lie down in the box immediately, and you must be quick, before she sees you. You must lie in the box until dawn, no matter how she threatens you, how much she begs you, thousand Don't come out, don't say anything. Then she will be no danger to you, and you and she will be free!"

The blacksmith had no choice but to jump into the church through the window. He immediately came to the princess box, straightened his body hard, and lay down on the left side of the box.He lay there like a rock, motionless until twelve o'clock in the night.Then the lid of the box was opened from the right, and the princess came out and stepped directly over him.She ran frantically up and down the church again, yelling and growling, "Where are you, guard? Where are you, guard?" She rushed to the altar and climbed up, but there was no one there, and she screamed He roared furiously: "My father didn't send the guards, let's start the war and the plague now!"

Then she kept rushing in and out of the church, sighing and wailing, "My father didn't send the guards, so start the war and the plague now!"

At this time, the church bell rang, and it was one o'clock in the morning!
Then the blacksmith heard soft music in the church, and the music grew louder and louder, and soon the whole church was filled with beautiful music.He heard noisy footsteps again, and it seemed that many people were coming to the church.The priest preached at the altar, and the people sang a hymn, and it was beautiful, such a song as he had never heard before.Then he heard the priest praying, thanking God for freeing this kingdom from war and plague, from all misfortunes, and thanking him for freeing the princess from the entanglement of evil.Many people joined in the priest's prayer and a hymn of thanksgiving.Then he heard the priest saying his and the princess's names, announcing that they would be married!It sounded like the church was very lively, but he couldn't see a thing!At last he heard many footsteps leaving the church, and the music grew weaker and quieter, and then there was silence in the church, while the dawn light came in through the windows.

The blacksmith crawled out of the box, fell to his knees, and thanked God.Only then did he find the princess lying in front of the altar, with a rosy face, so beautiful, but she kept crying and shivering in the white gauze.The blacksmith took off his guard uniform and wrapped it around her, and the princess wiped away her tears, and thanked him, taking his hand.The princess told him that she had been under the spell since she was born, but her father ignored the warning and came to see her before she was 14 years old, so that she would be haunted by magic again.Well, now, though, the spell is finally lifted, and it's all over.

The princess also said that he saved her, and if he wanted to, she would marry him.If he didn't want to, he would go to a nunnery to be a nun, and he would never be able to marry anyone else for the rest of his life, because in another world, she had already been betrothed to him, which he had heard with his own ears.

She was now the fairest and most charming princess in the world, and he had half the kingdom, which he had promised him from the king who stood guard on the third night.Both fell in love with each other, and they swore to be in love forever.

When the first ray of sunlight came in, the door of the church opened, and not only the general came, but also the king himself, to see how the guards were doing.When the king saw them sitting hand in hand on the steps in front of the altar, he ran over and took his daughter in his arms, and he was so excited that he thanked God for the young man who rescued his daughter.The king had nothing against the princess and the young man's marriage, so the blacksmith Christian and the princess held a grand wedding, and got half of the kingdom.After the king died, the blacksmith became the new king of the whole kingdom.

As for the other guards, there is no doubt that they all fled, for so many doors and windows of the church were open, and they all went to serve as soldiers in the Prussian state.As for what Christian told about what he saw, oh, he drank so much alcohol, he was so drunk, who knows if it is true or not?

(End of this chapter)