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

Chapter 26 Rosemary

Once upon a time, there was a father and daughter. The father always made his daughter work all day long.One morning, after the daughter finished the work assigned by her father, her father asked her to go to the woods to gather some dead leaves and branches and come back to make a fire.

The girl went out and picked up a large bundle of firewood in a short while.Then, she wanted to pull out a fragrant rosemary for herself, but it seemed that the harder she tried, the more unable to pull out the rosemary.Finally, she carefully pulled out the rosemary by the root.At this time, she heard a voice next to her say, "Hey!" She turned around and saw a handsome young man standing in front of her, asking her why she came to steal his firewood.

The girl felt baffled, so she had to falter and make excuses, saying that her father had sent her here.

"Very well," said the young man, "then you come with me."

So he took her into the hole under the root of the tree, and they walked in until they came to a palace. The whole palace was richly decorated, but only the roof was lit.They went into the palace, and he told her that he was a manor of a great estate, and that he had never seen a girl as beautiful as her, and that if she loved him, they would marry and live happily ever after.

"Yes, I will," said the girl, and they were married.

The next day, the housekeeper's old woman handed over all the keys in the house to the girl.However, the housekeeper told her that there was one key that she should not use anyway, because if she used it, the whole palace would fall down and be covered with weeds, and no one would remember her.

The bride promised to be careful, but after a while, finding nothing to do, she wondered what was in the chest that had been opened with that key.We all know that if we start to think about something, we will do it, and in a short while the key in the bride's hand was in the lock of the box.But the lock was so tight that she couldn't open it with all her strength, so she had to smash the box open.What exactly is in the box?Hey, there is nothing but a piece of snake skin.She didn't know that her husband was a magician and he wore this snakeskin when he was working.As soon as the girl saw this snake skin, she felt extremely disgusted and turned her face away.Suddenly the floor under her feet shook violently, and the entire palace suddenly disappeared, as if it had never existed before.The girl found herself standing in the middle of a clearing, not knowing where she was or where to go.She wept bitterly, partly because of her recklessness, and more because of the loss of her beloved husband.So, she broke off a rosemary from the bush beside her, and made up her mind that no matter how much it cost, she would go all over the world to find her husband.So she walked, walked, walked, until she came to a house built of straw.She knocked on the door and asked if the family wanted a servant.The hostess said the girl could stay if she wanted to.But day by day, the poor girl became more and more sad, and finally the mistress asked her what was the matter, and she told the mistress how she had gone all over the world to find a husband.

The hostess replied: "No one knows where he is better than the sun, the moon, and the wind, because they can go anywhere!"

On hearing this, the girl set off, and on and on she went until she came to the golden castle, where the sun dwelt.She ventured to knock on the door, and said, "Hello, Sun! I have come here to ask you to be kind and help me. I have made a mistake, and I am so tired. I am so tired. Because I'm going all over the world looking for my husband."

"Really?" said the sun, "you are so rich, do you still need help? But though you live in a windowless palace, and the sun is everywhere, he knows you."

So the girl told the whole story to the sun, and she didn't hide her own mistakes.The sun heard this, and was very sorry for her, and though he could not tell her where to go, he gave her a nut, and told her to open it in her hour of distress.The girl thanked the sun sincerely and left.She walked, walked, walked, until she came to a castle, she knocked on the door, and an old woman came and opened the door.

"Hello!" said the girl, "I've come here to ask you to do me a favor and help me!"

"You are looking for my mistress Moon! I will pass on your request to her."

The moon came out, and she recognized the girl, for the moon had seen her both when she was sleeping in the hut and in the palace.So the moon said to her: "You are so rich, do you still need help?"

So the maiden told her the whole story, and the moon listened, and felt sorry for her, and though she could not tell her where to find a husband, she gave her an almond, to break it in time of need.So the girl thanked the moon and left.She walked, walked, until she came to a castle.She knocked on the door and said, "Hi! I'm here to ask you to do me a favor and help me."

"What you are looking for is my master—Fengba." An old woman opened the door and said, "I will pass on your request to him."

The wind recognized her again when he saw her, because he had seen her no matter when she was in the hut or in the palace, so the wind said to her: "You are so rich, do you still need help?"

She told Feng the whole thing again.The wind listened, feeling sorry for her, and he gave her a walnut, telling her to crack it when she needed it most.But the girl didn't take the walnuts and leave as Feng thought.She was very tired and sad, and she didn't know where to go, so she cried sadly.Feng also cried together, and said: "Don't be afraid, I'll go and find out."

So, the wind left with a "hula", and came back in a blink of an eye. He was very happy and his face was radiant.

He cried: "I finally found out from those people that he is in the palace. The king hid him for fear that others would see him. Besides, he is going to marry the princess tomorrow. The princess is an ugly monster. No one will marry her."

How despaired the poor girl was when she heard the news!As soon as she calmed down, she begged Feng to try her best to postpone the wedding for two or three days, and she wanted to take advantage of this time to rush to the palace.

Feng happily agreed, and he left quickly, much faster than the girl.Soon he arrived at the palace, where he saw five tailors working day and night to make the princess's wedding dress.

The wind came down and blew over all their lace and satin and pearls and it all went whizzing away!They were blown out of the window, into the treetops, across the river, and onto the swaying ears of corn!The tailors followed, crawling and running to catch these things, but in vain.The lace is torn, the ribbon is stained, the pearls are scattered.Now there is nothing left, so I have to buy materials and redo them all.Apparently, the wedding dress couldn't be made the next day.

But the king was anxious to marry off his daughter, and wanted no excuses, and ordered that, at all costs, a dress should be made for the bride.But when the king went to see the princess, he also felt that the dress on the princess was not worthy of her status at all, so he ordered the wedding to be postponed for several hours, so that the tailor could dismantle the dress and modify it.

By this time, the girl had arrived at the castle.She was very tired from walking, and her feet ached. As soon as she reached the door, she cracked open the nut and took out the most beautiful cloak in the world. Then she rang the bell and asked, "Isn't the princess getting married today?"

"Yes, it's today."

"Please ask her if she wants to buy this cloak."

The princess was very glad when she saw the cloak, for the one she had worn at the wedding was ruined among other things, and it was too late to make another one.So she asked the girl how much the cloak cost.

The girl asked for a lot of gold, but the princess wanted the cloak wholeheartedly, so she gave it to her willingly.

Immediately the girl hid the gold in her pocket, turned and left the castle.As soon as she was gone, before no one was watching, she cracked open the almonds and took out the most beautiful petticoat in the world.Then she went back to the castle again, and asked the princess if she would like to buy a petticoat.As soon as the princess took her eyes on the petticoats, she immediately said that they were much more beautiful than the cloak, and she was willing to pay whatever price the girl wanted.So the girl asked for more gold, which the princess gladly gave to her, for she liked the new petticoats so much.

Then the girl came down the steps, and before no one saw her, cracked open the walnut again, and brought out from it the most splendid court dress in the world, such as no tailor could have made.She carefully put the dress on her arm, knocked on the door of the palace, and asked the princess if she wanted to buy a court dress.

The princess jumped up for joy when she heard the news.For she was thinking that this pretty mantle and these lovely petticoats would be of little use without a gown, and she knew that the tailors would never be able to make it in time.So she immediately spread the word that no matter how high the price the girl asked, she would buy the dress.

This time, the price offered by the girl was to let her go and see the groom.

The princess was not happy to hear the girl's answer, but she had to give in because she insisted on buying the dress.And she thought, it wouldn't be a big deal to take a look, so she felt at ease.

The girl was then led into her husband's room.She walked up to him and touched him with the rosemary she carried, and he immediately recovered his memory, recognized her, kissed her, and announced that she was his real wife and he only loved her.

Then they went back to the girl's house, where they lived to old age and lived a happy life.

(End of this chapter)