Crimson Fairy Book

Chapter 13 Little Wild Rose

This story happened a long time ago, and if it hadn't happened, no story would have been told.

At that time, wolves and sheep were kept in the same pen and lived together peacefully, and the shepherds dined with the king and queen on the lawn.

Dear children, once upon a time there was a man who was 120 years old if he was not 100 years old.His wife was also very old--how old I don't know, but some say she was as old as the goddess Venus.They have lived very happily these years, and they will be even happier if they have children.Although they were very old, they had not made up their minds to have children, and they used to sit by the fire and talk about how they should be brought up if there were children in the family.

One day the old man was thoughtful and looked sadder than usual.At last he said to his wife, "Old woman, listen to me!"

"What are you going to do?" she asked.

"Give me some money from the cupboard and I'm going on a long journey, around the world, to see if I can find a child. Because it hurts my heart to think that my house will fall into the hands of strangers when I die. I told You, if I can't find the child, I won't come back."

Then the old man took the bag, filled it with food and money, put the bag on his shoulder, and said goodbye to his wife.

He walked and walked for a long time without seeing a single child.One morning he came to a forest so thick with trees that there was not a single light shining through the branches.Seeing this terrible place, the old man stopped and dared not go in.But he remembered the saying of the adage, "What happens is the unexpected", and in the depths of this darkness, maybe he could find the child he was looking for.So he mustered up his courage and went in boldly.

It is impossible for him to tell you how long he walked in it, until at last he came to an opening that seemed a hundred times darker than the forest itself.He stopped again, but he felt as if something was driving him inside, and he stepped into the hole, his heart pounding.

The silence and darkness frightened him, and he stood where he was, not daring to take a step forward.Then he plucked up his courage and continued to walk a few steps forward. Suddenly, far in front of him, he saw a faint light.This gave him hope again, and he went straight to the light, and saw sitting by the fire an old hermit with a long white beard.

The hermit either did not hear the approach, or pretended not to, for he ignored the approach and continued reading.The old man waited patiently for a while, then knelt down and said, "Good morning!" But he seemed to be speaking to a stone. "Good morning," he said again, louder than before.This time the hermit gestured to him to come closer. "Son," he whispered, his voice echoing in the cave, "what brought you to this dark and gloomy place? I haven't seen a human face for hundreds of years, and I thought I would never see a human again."

"My misfortune has brought me here," replied the old man. "I have no children, and my wife and I have longed for one all our lives. So I left home and went out into the world, hoping to find somewhere what I needed. s things."

The hermit picked up an apple from the ground and gave it to him, saying, "Eat half of the apple, and give the rest to your wife, and stop wandering the world."

Overjoyed, the old man bent down and kissed the hermit's feet, and left the cave.As fast as he could go through the dark forest, he came at last to a field of flowers, whose bright light dazzled his eyes.Suddenly he felt very thirsty and his throat was dry.He looked for the brook, but could not find it, and his tongue was getting dry.Finally, his eyes fell on the apple in his hand.Due to thirst, he forgot what the hermit had said, and ate not only his own half of the apple, but also his wife's half.After eating, he fell asleep. When he woke up, he saw a strange thing lying on the embankment not far away, surrounded by pink roses.The old man stood up and rubbed his eyes to see what it was.To his surprise and delight, it was a little girl about two years old, her skin was as white and rosy as the rose on her head.He took her gently in his arms, and she didn't seem afraid at all, but just jumped and screamed with joy.The old man wrapped her in his cloak and galloped home.

As he approached the hut where they lived, he put the child in a bucket near the gate, and ran into the house, crying, "Wife, come out, hurry, I have brought you a daughter, and her hair is golden , eyes like stars!"

Hearing this wonderful news, the old lady was so anxious to see the baby that she rushed downstairs, nearly falling and hurting herself.

But when her husband brought her to the bucket, it was actually empty.The old man was overwhelmed with fright, while the old lady sat on the ground and sobbed sadly and disappointedly.Thinking of kids that might get out of the barrel, hide and play jokes on them.They searched everywhere, but there was no sign of her at all.

"Where will she be?" whimpered the old man in despair. "Oh, why should I leave her, even for a moment? Did the Fairy take her, or did the Beast take her?" They searched again, But neither fairies nor beasts were encountered.At last he had no choice but to give up, and returned to the hut sadly with grief.

What the hell happened to that kid?It turned out that she found herself alone in a strange place and was so frightened that she burst into tears.An eagle, circling nearby, heard her cry and flew over to look.When it found the rosy little one, it thought of the hungry eaglet at home, and it jumped down, grabbed her in its talons, and flew quickly over the treetops.In a few minutes it flew back to the nest, placed little Briar (as the old man called her) among the downy young eaglets, and flew away by itself.The young eagle was naturally very surprised to see this strange animal that suddenly appeared.Instead of eating her, as their father had hoped, they snuggled up beside her, stretching out their little wings to shield her from the sun.

At this time, in the depths of the forest where the eagle built its nest, there flowed a brook, the water of which was poisonous.On the banks of the brook lived the dreaded seven-headed worm.The seven-headed worm often watched the eagle fly up and down the treetops, bringing food to its chicks.It carefully observes when the young eaglets start their test flights and when they fly away from the nest.Of course, if the eagle is protecting them in the nest, even the big and thick seven-headed worm knows that he can't do anything bad, but when the eagle is gone, if the brave chicks get too close to the ground, they will definitely be killed. The monster ate it.But the young eaglets in the nest knew nothing of these dreadful things, and thought it would soon be their turn to go out and see the world.A few days later, their eyes opened, and their wings couldn't help but flutter. They longed to fly over the treetops, to the high mountains, and to the bright sun in the distance.But in the middle of the night, the hungry seven-headed worm couldn't wait for dinner, so he rushed out of the creek and came directly to the tree.With bright eyes, it gradually approached the nest in the tree, and its two fire-breathing tongues stretched closer and closer to the nest, reaching out to the trembling bird in the farthest corner.But just as the tongue was about to sweep away the bird, the seven-headed worm screamed in fright, turned around and fell.Then there was the sound of fighting in the ground, and although there was no wind, the tree was shaking all the time, and there was only roaring and roaring, and the young eagles felt even more frightened, thinking that their doom had come.Only Wild Rose was not disturbed, and she slept peacefully throughout the fight.

When the eagle flew back in the morning, he saw signs of fighting under the tree, yellow manes everywhere, and hard scales everywhere.It was very happy to see these things, and hurried back to the nest.

"Who killed the seven-headed worm?" it asked the children.But the chicks replied, "I don't know." They said they were in constant danger and were rescued at the last moment.The sun shone through the thick boughs on Briar Rose's golden hair as she slept curled up in the corner of her den.The eagle saw it, and wondered if the little girl had brought it luck, and killed the enemy with her magic.

"Children," said it, "what does it mean that I have brought her here for your supper and you have left her untouched?" The Eaglets made no answer.Briar opened her eyes, and she looked seven times more lovely than before.

From that day on, Briar lived like a princess.The eagle flew all over the woods, looking for the softest and greenest moss to make her bed, and picked up many bright and beautiful flowers in its beak from the wild or high mountains to decorate her bed.It made the bed so skillfully that there was not a Fairy in the whole forest who would not love to sleep there, rocking to and fro on the tops of the trees.When the little ones were able to fly out of their nests, the eagle taught them where to find fruits and plums, which the Briar-rose loved to eat.

As time went by, the wild rose grew taller and more beautiful every year.She lived a happy life in the bird's nest, and never thought of going out. At sunset, she would stand by the bird's nest and admire the beautiful world.Many birds in the forest are her companions. They often come to talk to her, and bring her strange flowers as toys from far away places, and butterflies to dance with her.The days passed so quickly, and she was 14 years old in a blink of an eye.

One morning the King's son was out hunting, and he had not ridden very far when a deer came running up ahead of him from under a tree.The prince gave chase, and the stag ran ahead, and the prince followed, until at last he found himself in the depths of the wood, where no one had ever been before.

The trees were very dense, and the forest was very dark. He stopped to listen, and heard a sound that broke the silence, and it frightened him.The sound was neither the barking of a dog nor the sound of a horn.He stood motionless, not knowing whether to move forward.At this time, he looked up at the sky, and it seemed that a beam of sunlight was pouring down from a tall tree.By the light he saw the young eagle and the nest, and the young eagle was watching him from the nest.The Prince nocked the arrow to his bow and took aim, but before he could let it go another ray of light dazzled his eyes.The light was so brilliant that his bow dropped and he covered his face with his hands.When at last he ventured to open his eyes, Briarrose was watching him, her golden hair flowing over her.This is the first time she saw people.

"Tell me how I can get to you?" he cried, but Briar just smiled, shook her head, and sat back quietly.

Seeing that there was no other way, the prince had no choice but to turn around and leave the forest.He could have stayed there, but returned to his father with a longing to find Briar.Then he came to the forest again, hoping to find her.This time he was not so lucky, and he returned home in great sorrow.

The king could not think what had caused the change in his son, and he sent for him, and asked him what had happened.The prince confessed that the image of Briar had filled his soul, and he would not be happy without her.At first the King was a little embarrassed, for he doubted that a girl in the top of a tree would make a good queen, but he loved his son so much that he promised to do what he could to find Briar.The next morning he sent many heralds to search all over the country, asking if anyone knew where the girl who lived in the top of the tree in the forest was.And promised that whoever finds her will get a lot of wealth, and can serve in the palace.But no one knows.All the girls in the kingdom have their homes on the ground, and they find it ridiculous to grow up on a tree. "She may be a good queen." They relayed the king's words, throwing their heads up in contempt. The heralds were almost desperate when an old woman stepped out of the crowd and spoke to them.Not only was she very old, but she was also very ugly, hunchbacked and bald.The heralds laughed rudely when they saw her. "I can show you the girl who lives in the top of the tree," she said, but they laughed harder.

"Go away, old witch!" they cried, "you will bring us bad luck." The old woman stood still, and said that only she knew where to find the maiden.

"Follow her," said the oldest herald at last, "the King's order is clear, that whoever knows what has become of the maiden is to take him immediately to the palace. Take her into the carriage, and let her go with the let's go together."

The old woman was thus brought back to the palace.

"You said you could bring the girl from the tree here?" asked the king, sitting on his throne.

"Yes, my lord, I mean what I say," she said.

"Then bring her at once," said the king.

"Give me a jug and a three-legged stool first," said the old woman.The king ordered that it be brought to her at once.The old woman took the pot and the stool, and walked away under her arms, keeping a certain distance from the royal hunters in front, who in turn followed the prince.

Oh, the old woman keeps making noises along the way!She murmured quickly, banging the pot so loudly that it seemed as if a group of gypsies were passing the next corner.When they reached the forest, she told them all to wait outside, and she went into the dark forest alone.

She stopped under the tree where the Maiden lived, and gathered some dry sticks, and lighted a fire, and then she put the three-legged stool on top of the fire, and put the pot on top of the three-legged stool.But something went wrong with the pot.As soon as the old woman put the pot on it, it fell and fell to the ground with a thud.

It was really like being bewitched, and no one knew what would happen—the briar, who had been looking down from the nest, lost patience with the old woman's stupid behavior, and she shouted: "The three-legged stool is on the top of the mountain." You can't stand it, you have to move it!"

"But where should I move it, child?" asked the old woman, looking up at the nest, while holding the pot in one hand and the three-legged stool in the other, trying to set them down firmly.

"Didn't I tell you that it would be better to do that," Briar said more impatiently, "light a fire by the tree, and hang the pot from a branch."

The old woman hung the jug on a small twig, and the twig broke at once, and the jug fell to the ground.

"If you could show me, maybe I'd understand," she said.

It was too late, but it was too late, and the girl quickly slid down from the smooth tree trunk, stood next to the stupid old woman, and taught her what to do.Suddenly the old woman caught the girl, took her on her shoulders, and ran quickly to the edge of the forest, where she had arranged for the prince to wait.When the prince saw them coming out, he rushed to meet them.He hugged the girl and kissed her tenderly in front of everyone.The servants put a golden garment on her and coiled pearls around her hair.She got into the king's carriage, which was drawn by six of the whitest horses in the world and ran to the gate of the palace in one breath.The wedding and wedding reception took place three days later.People who came to see the bride said that if you want a perfect wife, you must go to the top of the tree to find it.

(End of this chapter)