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

Chapter 30 The Master and the Book
Once upon a time, there was a man who had a very clever son who was very good at reading and liked reading very much.One day he was out looking for work, and as he was crossing a hill he met a man who asked him where he was going.

"I'm going to find a job as a servant," said the boy.

"Will you serve me then?" the man asked.

"Oh, yes, of course I do," said the boy.

"But, do you know how to read?" the man asked.

"Yes, I can read as well as the pastor," said the boy.

"Then I can't have you," said the man. "Actually, I'm short of a book boy who can't read. His job is just to clean the dust off my old books."

The man left after speaking, and the child watched him go away helplessly.

"It's a pity I didn't get that job," he thought. "It's just too good for me."

Determined to get the job, he hid behind a small hill, wearing his clothes inside out so the man wouldn't recognize him easily.Then, he ran all the way behind the small hill, and met the man at the other end of the hill.

"Where are you going, child?" said the man, who did not recognize the child as the one he had met earlier.

"I'm going to find a job as a servant," said the boy.

"Will you serve me?" said the man.

"Oh yes, of course I will," said the boy.

"However, can you read?" said the man.

"No, I don't know a single word," said the boy.

So the man took him back and gave him a job, and all he had to do was dust off the books.But while he was dusting, he had plenty of time to read, and at last he read them all, and became as wise as his master, who was a very wonderful magician.Moreover, he can do all kinds of magic, and he can turn himself into any kind of animal, or any kind of thing he wants to change.

When he had learned all these spells, he felt no need to stay here any longer, so he ran away home to his parents.Soon, a fair was opened in the neighboring village, and the boy told his mother that he had learned a skill that could transform himself into any kind of animal.

"Now," said he, "I'll be a horse, and papa can take me to the market and sell me, and I'll come home safe and sound."

His mother was horrified at the idea, but the boy told her there was no need to panic and everything would be all right.So he became a horse, which was a fine horse. His father took him to the market and charged a high price. He killed himself, and ran back home while no one noticed.

The story of the sold and then suddenly vanished horse spread throughout the country, and finally reached the ears of the wizard.

"My God!" he said, "this is my book boy. He tricked me and ran away, but I want to catch him."

The next day, the boy turned into a horse again, and his father led the horse to the market.The horse soon attracted buyers. When the buyer and the seller were drinking and celebrating, the wizard came over and saw the horse.He recognized right away that it was no ordinary horse, so he went over and offered a higher price to the buyer, who sold him the horse.

As soon as the wizard got the horse, he led the horse to a blacksmith's shop. He wanted to drive a red-hot nail into the horse's mouth so that the horse could not change again.Seeing that the situation was not good, the horse quickly turned into a pigeon and flew into the sky.Immediately the wizard turned into an eagle and flew into the sky to chase the dove.The dove quickly turned into a gold ring again, and fell into a girl's pocket.Immediately the eagle became a man, and expressed his willingness to give the girl a lot of money to buy the gold ring, but she would not sell it, thinking that the ring was falling on her body, and it might be God's arrangement.However, the wizard's price was higher and higher, until at last the golden ring was so frightened that it turned into a grain of wheat and fell to the ground.So the wizard turned into a hen and started looking for the grain of wheat, but this time, the grain of wheat turned into a ferret and bit off the hen's head.

Immediately the wizard died, the ferret returned to human form, and the young man married the girl.Since then, he no longer uses magic.

(End of this chapter)