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

Chapter 41 The Snake King (1)
Once upon a time, there was a king and a queen who ruled over a large kingdom.They have a lot of wealth and live a very happy life.But year after year passed, and the king became very troubled, because the queen had never had a child.The queen was also very sad, although the king said nothing to her, but she could see that the kingdom had no heir, and the king was very distressed, so she made a wish every day, hoping to have a child.

One day, a poor old woman came to the palace and asked to see the queen.The palace servants said they could not let such a beggar woman go to the noble queen, so they gave her a penny to go.But the woman asked them to tell the queen that there was a woman at the gate of the palace who could relieve the queen's worries.The servants brought this message to the queen, who at once ordered the old woman to be brought to her.When the old woman saw the queen, she said, "I know your worries, queen, and I have come to help you. You want to have a son, and if you do as I say, you will have two sons."

The queen was amazed that the old woman knew so well the secrets of her heart, and agreed to follow her advice.

"Queen, you must put a tub in your room," she said, "fill the tub with water, and when you take a bath, you will find two red onions under the tub, and you must peel the onions carefully, Eat it, and when the time comes, your wish will come true."

The queen did as the poor woman told her, and when she was taking a bath, she found two onions under the tub.The two onions are exactly the same size and shape.When the queen saw the onion, she knew that the old woman was definitely not a beggar. She was very happy, and quickly ate an onion, including the skin.After she finished eating, she remembered that the woman had told her to peel off the skin before eating it.But it was too late, she had already eaten one, but she had to peel the other onion before eating it.

After a while, as the woman said, the queen gave birth to a child.But the queen's first child was an ugly snake.Only one lady-in-waiting saw the snake, and she threw the little snake out of the window into the forest outside the castle.The second child that was born to the queen was so beautiful that the ladies of the court carried him to the king and queen, who had no idea that he had a brother who looked like a snake.

The lovely prince was born, and there was joy in the palace and all over the country, but no one knew that the first child born to the queen was a snake, and was thrown into the forest.The king, queen, and little prince lived a happy life.Time flies, the little prince is now 20 years old.At this time, the father and mother said to him that they were getting old, and he should go to another country to find a wife. They wanted to see him get married in their lifetime.The prince heeded his parents' advice, harnessed his horses to his gilded carriage, and set off to find love.But when he came to the first intersection, there was a huge monster lying in the middle of the road—a terrible snake, and the prince's carriage had to stop.

"Where are you going?" asked the snake, and it sounded terrible.

"It has nothing to do with you," said the prince. "I am a prince, and I can go wherever I like."

"Go back," said the snake, "I know what you want, but you can't marry until I find a wife and spend my wedding night with her."

The prince had to go back to the palace, and told the king and queen that he had met a snake at the intersection.But both the King and Queen felt that he might go another way the next day, to see if he could get there, and find a wife in a foreign country.

The prince did so, but just as he reached the first intersection, there was the snake lying there again, and he stopped the prince again like last time.

On the third day, when the prince passed the intersection, the same thing happened again, and the snake said in a threatening tone that the prince could only get married if he found a wife.

When the king and queen heard about it for the third time, they thought it best to invite the snake to the palace and find him a wife.They thought that the snake should be satisfied with whoever they gave him, so they found a servant to marry the snake.The snake came to the palace and accepted the wife, but in the morning he tore the woman to pieces.Every time the king and queen forced him a woman, that's what happened to that woman.

The story quickly spread throughout the country.There was a man who married a second wife, who was very happy when she heard about the snake.Because the daughter born to her husband by his ex-wife is more beautiful than other girls, she is so gentle and well-behaved, no one who knows her doesn't like her.This wife also has a daughter, she is ugly and annoying, standing next to her gentle and beautiful sister, she looks even uglier and more annoying, so everyone ignores her.

For a long time, the stepmother had been dissatisfied because her husband's daughter was much more beautiful than her own daughter, and she really hated her stepdaughter.Now, she heard that there was a snake in the palace, and all the women who married him were torn to pieces by him, and he wanted beautiful women to be his wives.She went to the king, and said that her step-daughter would be glad to marry the snake, so that the only prince in the country could go out and find his own wife.Hearing this, the king was very happy, and ordered someone to take the girl into the palace.

She was terrified when the king's messenger came to fetch her, for she knew that the wicked stepmother had come on purpose.She begged the messenger to let her stay at home one more night.The messenger agreed, so she went to her mother's grave and wept bitterly about her tragic fate. She was about to be given to the snake. She prayed devoutly, hoping that her mother could give her advice.No one knows how long she stayed and cried in front of the grave, but what is certain is that she fell asleep in front of the grave and slept until the sun rose the next day.Then she awoke, cheered up, and began to look for something in the field.She found three nuts and put them carefully in her pocket.

"When I'm in danger, I crack open a nut," she said to herself.Then she went home, willingly following the king's messenger.

The messengers took the young and beautiful girl back to the palace, and everyone felt sorry for her, but she took courage herself, and asked the queen for a new house, instead of the one where the snake had lived.When she got this new house, she asked them to set up a fire, put a pot full of strong lye on the fire, and got three new brushes.The queen ordered that all the girl's demands should be met.So the girl put on seven clean and white dresses, and held a wedding ceremony with the snake.

When only the snake and the girl were left in the new house, the snake ordered her to take off her clothes in a threatening tone.

"Take it off first!" she said.

"No one has ordered me to undress yet." He was surprised.

"I will order you," she said.

So the snake started writhing and moaning and panting, and after a while he shed his outer skin, which fell on the floor and looked terrible.Then, the bride took off her white skirt and put it on the snakeskin.He ordered her to undress again, but she still told him to undress first.He had to do so, moaning in pain, and shed another layer of skin, and for each layer of skin he shed, the girl took off a skirt, until at last seven snakeskins were piled up on the floor, and six snow-white skirts, She was still wearing the last dress.Now, the snake was lying beside her, invisible and sticky. She used all her strength to scrub his body with a fresh brush dipped in lye.

She almost used up all three brushes, and finally, the most handsome young man in the world appeared before her eyes.He thanked her for saving himself from the spell, and told her that he was the eldest son of the king and queen, and heir to the kingdom.Then, he asked her if she would agree to share everything with him.She listened and happily said yes.

Every time after the snake gets married, a guard will open the new house the next morning to see if the bride is still alive.This time was no exception. In the early morning of the next day, the guard looked in from the door. He was shocked by what he saw. He quickly closed the door and ran to the king and queen in a hurry. They were waiting for him to answer.He told them that he had seen a wonderful scene. On the floor were seven snake skins and six snow-white skirts, and beside them were three worn-out brushes, and on the bed lay a handsome young man. beautiful girl.

The king and queen were taken aback and did not understand what was going on.At this moment, the old woman who appeared at the beginning of the story was brought before the queen again.She reminded the queen that the queen did not obey her orders, but ate the first onion with the skin on, and for this reason the queen's first child was a snake.At this time, the lady-in-waiting was also called, and she confessed that she had thrown the snake out of the window and into the forest.Immediately the king and queen sent for their eldest son and his wife.They embraced their son and daughter-in-law warmly, and asked him to tell about his tragic experience as a snake in the forest for the past 20 years.He told all his past experiences, and his parents immediately announced to the whole country that he was their eldest son, and he and his wife would run the country after their death.

Prince Snake and his beautiful wife lived happily in the palace, and he inherited the kingdom shortly after his father died, and soon after, his mother also passed away.

(End of this chapter)