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

Chapter 16 The Wounded Lion

Once upon a time, there was a girl who was very poor and had nothing, begging everywhere for a living.One day, she came to a thatched hut and asked if he could give her some work.The farmer said that he was in need of a cowherd. The cowherd boy had left, and if the girl wanted to, she could do the job.So she became a gopis.

One morning, she was driving the cows in the pasture when she heard a loud moaning nearby that sounded like someone moaning.She hurried to the place where the sound came from, only to find that it was a lion screaming, with his limbs spread out and lying on the ground.

You can guess how frightened she was!But the lion seemed to be in great pain, and she felt sorry for him, and approached him step by step, until at last she saw a thick thorn on one of the lion's legs.She pulled out the thorn and bandaged his wound, and the Lion was very grateful to her, and licked the girl's hand with his big rough tongue in gratitude.

After the girl bandaged the lion's wound, she went back to look for the ox, but all the ox was gone, and she searched everywhere, but could not find it.She had to go back and admit her mistake to the master.The master scolded her severely, beat her again, and said, "Now, you must go and see the donkey."

So she had to lead the donkey into the woods every day to look for food, until one morning, exactly a year after she had last seen the lion, she heard another groan that seemed to be made by someone.She walked straight towards the place where the voice came from, and the situation at the moment surprised her!It turned out to be the lion from last time. He was lying on the ground with his limbs spread out, with a deep gash on his face.

This time, the girl was not afraid at all. She ran to the lion, washed his wound, and applied herbs to heal the wound.When she bandaged him, the Lion thanked her again as before.

After she had bandaged his wound, she went to look for her donkey, but she searched everywhere and could not find it.

She had to go back and confess her mistake to her master, who first scolded her and then beat her again.At last he said, "Come on, go, watch those pigs."

In this way, from the next day, she went to feed the pigs, and she fed the pigs well, and those pigs grew fatter day by day.

Another year has passed.One morning, the girl was herding pigs outside, when she suddenly heard someone groaning again.She ran over and saw that it was her old friend again.I saw the lion was covered with bruises, lying under a tree, dying.

She knelt before the lion, washed his wounds, and applied healing herbs.The Lion thanked her by licking her hand, and asked her if she would stay and take care of him, but the girl said she had to look after the pigs, and she had to go and see them.

So she ran to the place where the pigs were put, but the pigs were all gone, as if swallowed by the ground beneath her feet.She whistled and yelled, but the only sound was birdsong.

So she sat down on the ground and cried sadly. Several hours passed, but she still dared not go home.At last she had had enough crying, and got up, and searched the woods, but in vain, not even a trace of a pig.Finally, she thought, perhaps climbing a tree would give her a better view.But as soon as she climbed to the highest branch and sat down, she saw something that made her forget about the pig.It turned out that she saw a handsome young man walking along this road. When he was almost under the tree, he pushed a stone aside and disappeared behind the stone.

The girl rubbed her eyes, wondering if she was dreaming.Then she thought, "I'll stay here till I see him come out, and see who he is." So she waited, and at dawn the next day the stone was moved aside, and a lion went away come out.

The lion went away and was never seen again.The girl climbed down from the tree and went to the stone. She pushed the stone aside, and a hole appeared before her eyes.She went into the hole, and at the end of the road was a gorgeous house.She went into the house, cleaned the room, wiped the dust off the furniture, and put the house in order.There was food on a shelf in the corner of the room, and she ate well and then climbed up the tree again.

As the sun went down, she saw the young man coming cheerfully along the road, pushing the stone aside as before, and disappearing behind it.

The next morning, a lion came out.He looked around warily, but saw nothing, and then he disappeared into the forest.

The girl climbed down the tree again, and did what she had done the day before.After three days like this, she went every day to take care of the palace.Finally, the girl felt that she was about to discover the secret, so she decided to ask him what happened.In the evening, when she saw him coming out of the wood, she came down from the tree and asked him to tell her who he was.

The young man seemed very happy to see her, and he said that he felt that she must be the one who had been quietly helping him with the house for so many days.He added that he had been a prince, and had been enchanted by a very powerful giant, so that he was only allowed to show his true colors at night, but all day he had to be transformed into a lion, the same one she had helped. head lion.Moreover, that same giant, who had a grudge against the girl's kindness, stole her ox, donkey, and pig.

The girl asked him, "How can I break the magic?"

He said it would be difficult, for the only way was to weave a cloak of the King's daughter's hair and give it to the Giant who lived on the top of the high mountain.

"Very well," said the girl, "I will go to the city and knock at the gates of the palace, and ask the princess to take me as a slave."

So they parted, and she went into the city, calling out along the street, "Who will hire me, who will hire me?" But she ignored them and continued to shout: "Who is willing to hire me as a servant, who is willing to hire me as a servant?"

At last the princess' maid came.

"What will you do?" asked the maid.The girl had to admit that she couldn't do anything.

"Then you will have to do chores for the cook in the kitchen and wash the dishes." After finishing speaking, the maid took her straight back to the palace.

So the girl combed her hair again, and dressed herself up very cleanly and smartly. Everyone liked her and praised her. Gradually, these praises spread to the princess.She sent for the girl, and when the princess saw her and her hair so beautifully combed, she asked her to come and comb her hair.

The princess's hair was thick and long, shining like the sun.The girl combed and combed her until she was even shinier than before.The princess was very happy and asked her to come and comb her hair every day. Finally one day, the girl mustered up her courage and asked the princess to allow her to cut a strand from her thick long hair.

The princess was so proud of her hair that she was not at all willing to cut it off, so she declined the request.But the girl could not give up hope, and every day she begged the princess to allow herself to cut only a lock of her hair.At last the princess became impatient and shouted: "Cut it, cut it, as long as you can find me the most handsome prince in the world to be my bridegroom!"

The girl promised that she would find it, and then she cut off the princess's long curly hair, and wove it into a garment that shone like silk, and she gave it to the young man, who called She gave the garment to the giant.She had to be careful, though, and yelled loudly what she had brought along the way, or the giant would rush up and kill her with a sword.

So the girl set off, and she climbed the hill, but before she reached the top the Giant heard her steps, and rushed out.He breathes fire and holds a sword in one hand and a large stick in the other.But she cried out that she had brought him a cloak, and he was quiet, and asked her to come in.

He tried on the clothes, but they were too short, so he tore them off and threw them on the floor, saying they were useless.The girl sadly picked up her clothes, and returned to the palace in great disappointment.

The next day, when she was combing the princess's hair, she asked for another strand of hair to be cut.At first the princess refused, but the girl pleaded hard, the princess finally let go, and just asked her to find a prince for herself as a groom.

The maiden told the princess that she had found the prince, and out of her hair she made a glittering garment, which she joined to the other garment, and when she was finished she took it to the giant.

This time, the dress fit, the giant was very happy, and asked her what she wanted in return.She said that if only he would break the spell on the lion and change him back to his original form.

The giant refused, and after a while, he finally gave in, and told her exactly what to do.She had to kill the Lion with her own hands, and chop him up, and then she had to burn him, and scatter his ashes in the water, so that the prince would come out of the water, and the spell would be broken.

But the girl went away crying, for she was afraid that the giant had lied to her, and she was afraid that after she had killed the lion, she would find that she had killed the prince too.

She went down the mountain crying, and when she saw the prince, he was waiting for her at the foot of the mountain.When the prince had heard what she had said, he comforted her, and told her to take courage and do as the giant had said.

The girl believed what the prince told her, and the next morning, when he turned into a lion, she took out a knife, killed him with one blow, chopped up the body, burned it with fire, and scattered the ashes into the water.Finally, a prince came out of the water. He was extremely handsome, shining like the sun.

So the young prince thanked the girl for what she had done for him, and said that he would marry her, and that he would not marry unless she was the only one.But the girl wept bitterly, and she replied that she could never marry the prince, because when she cut off the princess's hair, she had promised the princess that the prince would marry only the princess.

But the prince replied, "If it is really a princess, we must hurry. Come with me."

So, they entered the palace together.When the king, queen, and princess saw the young man, they were overjoyed, for they knew him.It turned out that he was the king's eldest son, who had long ago been enchanted by a giant and disappeared.And the princess is his sister.

He asked his parents to allow him to marry the girl who had saved him.So they had a great wedding, and the girl became a princess, and then a queen, and she was quite worthy of all the glory that was bestowed on her.

(End of this chapter)