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

Chapter 44 Sisu's Story (1)
Once upon a time, there was a man who had three sons.The eldest son was called Pep, the second Alphen, and the youngest Sisu.They were poor, and in the end they were so poor that they couldn't even fill their stomachs.So the father called his sons and said to them, "Dear sons, I am old and can no longer work. I can't do anything, so I have to go begging in the street."

"No, no!" cried the sons. "You must not do that. If you really want to beg, we have to go. But we thought of a better way."

"What way?" asked the father.

"Well, we'll take you into the forest, and you'll chop wood, and we'll bundle it up and sell it in the city." Their father agreed, and they went into the forest.Because the old man ate too little and was very weak, the sons took turns to carry him.Next, they built a log cabin in the forest as a shelter, and began to work.Every morning, the father went to cut firewood, and the sons bundled up the firewood and carried them to the city to sell, and bought back the food that father needed urgently.

In this way, a few months passed, and my father suddenly fell ill. Knowing that his days were numbered, he asked his sons to hire a lawyer, and he wanted to make a will.When the lawyer came, he told the lawyer his will.

He said: "I have a small house in the village, and I also planted a fig tree. I will leave the house to my son, and the three of them will live together; and the fig tree is divided like this: the eldest son Pep wants the branches, and the second son wants the branches." Alphonse got the trunk, and as for Sisu, the younger son, I left him the fruit. Besides the house and the tree, I had an old bed sheet for the elder son, an old purse for the second son, and a ram's horn , to the youngest son. Well, goodbye."

Having said that, he lay down and died peacefully.The brothers wept bitterly for their beloved father. After burying his father, they discussed their future. "What shall we do now?" they said, "shall we live here in the woods, or shall we go back to the village?" At last they decided to stay there and continue selling firewood.

One very hot night, after a tiring day, they fell asleep under a tree in front of the house.While they were sleeping, three fairies passed by, stopped, and looked at them.

"What handsome young men!" said a Fairy. "Let us give each of them a present."

"Well, what present?" asked a fairy.

"The young man is covered with a sheet," said the first Fairy, "and he wraps it around himself, and he can go at once wherever he wants to go."

Then the second Fairy said, "This young man has a purse in his hand, and the purse will give him as much as he wants, I promise."

Finally, it was the turn of the third fairy. "This man is carrying a ram's horn. When he blows the small end, there will be many ships on the sea. When he blows the big end, all those ships will sink into the sea." Then, the fairies left They didn't know, Xisu was awake all the time, and he heard everything they said.

The next day, when they were chopping wood, Sisu said to his brothers: "This old bed sheet and money bag are useless to you. I hope you can give them to me. I like them very much. They always remind me of the old days." ” Pep and Alfin liked Sisu very much, and they were willing to give him anything he wanted, so they gave Sisu the sheets and money bag without saying a word.After receiving these two things, Xisu said again: "My dear brother, I am tired of living in the forest. I want to live in the city and do some business."

"Oh, Sisu! Come with us," they cried, "we are so happy here, who knows if we are better off elsewhere?"

"We can try," Xisu replied, "if we are unlucky, we can come back to chop wood again." So saying, he packed up the firewood, and his brothers did likewise.

However, when they arrived in the city, they found that the market was full of firewood sellers. Their firewood was not sold well, and they didn't even earn money for a meal, let alone buy something to take home.They were sad and wondered what to do next, when suddenly Sisu said, "Come with me to the tavern, let's go and eat something." Following Xisu to the tavern, Xisu ordered food to the tavern owner and said: "Give us three dishes, the best from your place, and a bottle of good wine."

"Sisu! Sisu!" whispered his brothers, terrified at the expense, "you are crazy, how are you going to pay?"

"Don't worry about it," Xisu replied, "I know it." After they finished eating, Xisu asked his two brothers to go first, and he stayed to pay.

The brothers left quickly, there was no need to remind them, they thought to themselves: "He has no money, he must be scolded."

As soon as they disappeared, Sisu asked the boss how much he wanted to pay, and then said to the purse: "Dear purse, please give me six gold coins." He paid six gold coins, which he paid immediately, and caught up with his brother.

"How did you pay?" they asked.

"Don't worry about it," he said, "I paid the money, and it's not worth a penny." He didn't say anything more.But the two older brothers were very disturbed, because they felt that something must be wrong, and they felt that the sooner they left Sisu, the better.Xisu knew what they were thinking, so he took out forty gold coins from his bag, gave each of his two elder brothers twenty, and said, "Take this money and do something serious. I'm leaving to find my own money." The way out." So he hugged his brother and walked on another road.

He walked for many days, and finally came to a city, and the palace was in this city.The first thing Sisu did was to prepare some good clothes for himself, and then bought a mansion, just opposite the palace.

Next, he locked the gate, and ordered a rain of gold from his purse, and the gold covered the steps, and when all was ready, he opened the gate, and people came to see his shining golden steps.At last, when word of this wonder reached the king, he came out to see for himself the glorious golden staircase.Sisu received the king warmly and showed him the whole house.

When the king returned to the palace, he told what he had seen and heard, and the queen and princess said they must go and see for themselves.So the king sent someone to ask Sisu for permission, and Sisu said that it was his honor to have the queen and princess here, and he would show them whatever they wanted to see.At this time, the princess was as beautiful as a fairy. Xisu fell in love with her at first sight and wished to marry her.The Princess saw what was in his mind, and intended to use this to satisfy her curiosity about the Golden Staircase.So she praised him, flattered him, and asked cunning questions, until at last she got Sisu out of her mind, and told the princess all about the Fairy and the gift.The princess begged Sisu to lend her the purse for a few days, and she also wanted to make a golden staircase.Xisu loved the princess so much that he gave the purse to the princess without hesitation.

The princess returned to the palace with the purse, and she had no intention of returning the purse to Sisu at all.Soon Sisu spent all his money, and without the purse, he would have no money.Of course, he went to the princess at once, and asked her if she had had enough, but she sent him back on some pretext, and told him to come back next day.The next day, it was the same, and the third day was the same, and finally Sisu was so angry that she didn't love her any more.In the evening, he took a thick stick in his hand, wrapped the sheet around him, and made a wish in his heart to go to the princess' bedroom.The princess was asleep, but Sisu grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out of bed, beat her hard, and finally she returned the purse to Sisu.Then, Xisu rolled up the quilt and meditated in his heart, hoping that he would return home safely.

As soon as he left, the princess hurried to her father and complained to him.The king became furious, stood up awkwardly, and ordered Xisu to be found. "Damn you," said the king, "but I will spare you if you will immediately hand over the sheet, the purse, and the ram's horns."

What can Sisu do?It is good to be alive, and his life is now in the hands of the king, so he has no choice but to give up these ill-gotten gains.Now, he was as poor as before.

He was thinking about what to do when he suddenly remembered that it was the season when the figs were ripe, so he thought, "I have to go and see if the figs are growing well." So he went home, and his brothers were there At home, but they are having a bad time, they spend all their money and don't know how to make money.But Sisu saw that the fig tree was growing well and full of fruit, and he was very happy, so he went and fetched a basket.He was about to feel the figs, to see which were ripe, when his brother Pep called out, "Stay still! Those figs are yours, yes, but the fig-branch is mine, and I won't let you touch it."

Sisu did not answer, but took a ladder and leaned against the tree, so that he could climb to the top of the tree, but he had just put his foot on the ladder when he heard the voice of his brother Alfin: "Don't move! The trunk is mine, and I won't let you touch it."

Next, they quarreled violently, neither would give way to the other, and finally, one of the three brothers said, "Let's find someone to judge." The other two agreed, and they found someone they could trust. , Sisu told him what had happened.

"It is my opinion," said the man, "that the figs are yours, of course, but you cannot pick figs without touching the trunk and branches. Therefore, you must give you the first basket of figs you pick. your brother Pep, in return for allowing you to put a ladder on the tree, and the second basket of figs to your brother Alphen, for allowing you to shake his branches. The rest is yours."

The brothers were all satisfied with the verdict, and when they came home they said to each other, "Let us each send the king a basket of figs. Perhaps he will reward us with something, and if he gives it, we shall divide it equally." ’ So they put the fullest figs in their baskets, and Pep went to the castle.

On the way, he met a little old man. The little old man stopped him and said to him: "Good boy, what's in your basket?"

"None of your business," Pep answered, "mind your own business." But the old man asked again, and Pep, trying to get rid of him, cried out angrily, "Trash."

"Well," replied the old man, "you say it's rubbish, so it's rubbish."

Pep walked away arrogantly. He came to the castle and knocked on the gate. "I have brought a basket of fine figs to the king," he said to the servant who opened the door. "It is such a small gift, please accept it with your majesty."

The king liked eating figs very much, so he ordered Pep to come to him, and brought out a silver dish to hold the figs.Pep opened the basket, and the king saw that the top layer of the basket was covered with delicious purple figs, but underneath was only a basket of rubbish. "You dare to fool me?" cried the King, furious, "and bring him down, and give him another fifty lashes." Pep came home sore and angry, but he decided to do nothing. Say.When his brothers asked how he was doing, he simply replied, "We'll wait until you've all been to the palace."

A few days later, some figs were ripe again and ready to be picked.It was time for Alphen to go to the palace this time.He walked along that road, and had not gone far before he met the old man, who asked him what was in the basket.

"The horn." Alphen said bluntly.

"Okay," the old man replied, "If you say ram's horns, just ram's horns."

When Alphen arrived at the castle, he knocked on the door and said to the servant: "I have a basket of good figs. It's just a small gift, please accept it with your majesty."

The king ordered Alphen to come to him, and took out a silver dish to hold figs, but when the basket was opened, the top layer was full of delicious purple figs, but the bottom layer was all turned into croissants.The king was so angry that he shouted: "Is this a conspiracy to play tricks on me? Pull him down and give him 150 lashes!" Alphen went home sad, but he didn't say anything, but said coldly: "Now , it's Sisu's turn."

Sisu had to wait a while before picking the last batch of figs, and these figs were not as good as the previous ones.However, he still picked figs and went to the palace as his brothers had agreed in advance.The old man appeared on that road again, and he came forward and said to Sisu, "What's in your basket?"

"It's figs for the king," Sisu replied.

"Let me see." Sisu opened the lid of the basket. "Oh, give me one, I love figs," the old man begged.

"I'm afraid that if I eat it for you, you will be able to see that one is missing." Xisu replied, but he was very kind, so he still gave him one.The old man ate one greedily, and holding the stalk in his hand, he asked for another, and another, and so on, until at last he ate half the basket of figs. "It's not enough to give to the king." Sisu murmured.

"Don't worry," said the old man, and put the stems back into the basket. "Go, take the basket and go to the castle, and it will bring you good luck."

(End of this chapter)