Crimson Fairy Book

Chapter 15 Bagpipe Portable City (2)
Tidu didn't like this suggestion. He was worried that others would laugh at him. Besides, he hadn't touched the flute for a long time, but the old man insisted on him doing so, so Tidu had to do it.

"Sit on the slope next to me," said the old man when he came back, "start playing the flute, and in a moment people will crowd you."

Tidu complied, and at first he didn't have much confidence.But somehow the bagpipes had never sounded so sweet, and while he played the crowd stopped moving and talking, and stood motionless, surrounding him in silence.After playing for a while, he took off his hat and passed it along the crowd, throwing silver coins and even gold coins into the hat.

Titus played a few more tunes out of gratitude, and then turned to go home to hear all around say, "What a piper! Come back, we beg you, and give us another treat next week."

"What did I tell you?" said the old man, as they passed through the garden gate, "isn't it happier to play the bagpipes for hours than to stir sauce and vinegar all day? I'll tell you again which way to go. Try to be smarter , don't be afraid, and don't let luck pass you by! I'll guide you no more, so listen to me. Come to the garden every Sunday afternoon, and sit under that lime tree and play, Bring a deep felt hat and put it at your feet so people will throw money into it. If you are invited to play at a party, accept it positively, but when negotiating the price, say it doesn't matter if they You can take as much as you want. In the end, you will get more money. Maybe one day, we will meet again, and I will see how you follow my advice. See you later."

In this way, the old man left.

His words came true as before, even though he couldn't do what he asked immediately, he had to finish the work on time first.But he had some nice clothes made to order, and in these he went every Sunday to play the flute in the garden.In the evening, whenever he took stock, he always found that he had harvested more than the previous Sunday.Finally he can do as he pleases, and he can't handle so many invitations.Citizens often go to small taverns to drink at night, and the owner always invites Tidu to play tunes for them.He thus became rich, and soon bought bagpipes of gilded silver, which shone brightly in the sun or in the light of a fire.Tidu has become the proudest person in Kangle.

After a few years, he saved a lot of money. Even in Kangle, where everyone is rich, he is recognized as a rich man.Only then did he remember that he once had a home and his own family, and he wanted to see them again and let them know how good he was at playing.This time he doesn't need to hide in the cabin, if he wants he can rent the best cabin, or buy a boat himself.He packed all his treasures into chests, and had them delivered to the first ship that was sailing for his native land, and he followed with ease and joy.The sea was calm at the beginning of the voyage, but soon the wind picked up.It was windy at night.They sailed with the wind for two days, thinking they could escape the storm simply by leaving the harbor.At this time, the boat suddenly hit the reef and began to take in water.They were ordered to lower the boats, and Titus and three of his crew stepped into one of them, but before they could leave the larger ship a great wave capsized the boat, and all four fell into the water.Fortunately, Tidu had an oar beside him, and with the support of the oar, he floated on the water.When the sun rose and the clouds cleared, he found himself not far from the shore.Because of the high waves, he swam desperately to the shore.When he crawled out of the water, almost half dead, he immediately fell to the ground and fell asleep.

When he woke up, he got up and searched the island to see if there were other people on the island; although there were streams and thick fruit trees on the island, there was no trace of man or beast.Then he got tired of walking and sat down to think.

Maybe it was the first time in his life that he didn't think about money.His mind was not thinking of the lost treasure, but of what he had done to his parents: lazy and disobedient as a child, and forgotten about them when he grew up. "If a wild beast comes and tears me to pieces," he said bitterly to himself, "then I deserve it! All my fortune is buried at the bottom of the sea—ah! easy to come, easy to lose—but the strange thing is I don't think I should care about these treasures, I just hope my bagpipes are not lost." He got up and walked for a while, and saw a tree full of bright red apples hanging between the branches and leaves, and he picked some apples and ate greedily.Then he stretched and fell asleep on the soft moss.

In the morning, he ran to the nearest stream to wash his face. When he saw his own face, he was shocked. His nose had grown into an apple shape, almost reaching his waist.He thought he was dreaming and drew back in terror, but, alas, the horror was real. "Oh, why didn't the beast eat me?" he cried. "I shall never see people again! How happy I would be if the sea drowned me!" He cried with his headache in his hands.Such great grief had exhausted him.

Later he was hungry and looked around for something to eat.Above him was a walnut tree laden with ripe brown fruit.He picked some and ate a handful.What surprised him was that when he ate walnuts, he felt that his nose was getting shorter and shorter. After a while, he dared to touch his nose with his hand, and looked in the stream again, yes!There was nothing wrong with that, the nose was as short as ever, maybe a little shorter than before.When he discovered this situation, Ti was very happy, and he did a very bold thing.He took an apple out of his pocket, and ate it cautiously, and immediately his nose grew as long as his chin.He was particularly afraid that his nose would grow longer again, so he ate a walnut in a hurry and waited for the result in panic.If the last time his nose got shorter was just accidental, if the walnuts didn't make it shorter!If that was the case, he would have completely ruined his life if he couldn't get the nose back because he had superimposed on it himself.But there is no assumption, his approach is correct, because the nose returned to its original shape after a long time. "This will make me rich," he said to himself happily.He picked some apples and put them in one pocket, and put many walnuts into another.The next day he weaved a basket of rushes, in which he could carry his treasure if he should leave the island.

That night he dreamed that his old friend came to him and said, "Because you don't mourn the loss of the treasure, but the loss of the bagpipes, so I'll give you a new set of bagpipes." Lo!When he got up in the morning, the set of bagpipes was in that basket.He happily picked up the flute and played one of his favorite tunes.At this moment hope was kindled in him.He looked out to sea, trying to find the shadow of the ship.right!There is a boat on the sea, sailing directly to the island.

Tidu ran towards the beach with bagpipes in hand.

The sailors knew that no one lived on this island, so they were very surprised when they saw a man standing on the shore waving to welcome them.A boat was put down from the ship, and two sailors rowed ashore to find out how he had come here, and asked him if he wished to take him away.Tidu told them the story of the sinking ship, and the captain promised him that he could board the ship and sail back to Kangli with them.Titus gratefully accepted the crew's invitation.As a token of gratitude, he would play the flute for them whenever they invited him.

They sailed quickly, and soon Tidu was walking on the streets of Kangle's capital again, playing his flute as he walked.The people hadn't heard such a tune since he left, and they rounded him up and gave him whatever money they had in their pockets out of joy.The first thing he did was to buy himself some badly needed new clothes, but he asked the tailor to make them in foreign styles.When everything was ready, he set out with a small basket of apples and came to the palace.He did not wait long when a court servant came up and bought all the apples, and wanted to bring some more.Mention agreed.He left there in a hurry, as if there was a mad cow behind him.He was afraid that the man would eat the apple immediately.

It is needless to say that he did not bring apples to the palace for several days, but hid himself on the other side of town, and put on other clothes and a long black beard, so that even his mother could not recognize him.

On the morning after he went to the castle, the whole town was clamoring about one thing: a terrible misfortune had happened to the royal family, and not only the king, but also his wife and children were very ill from eating an apple from a stranger. Serious illness.The most famous physicians and the greatest magicians were hastily summoned to the palace, but they all shook their heads and went away, having never met such a disease.Soon word spread around town—how no one knew—that the disease had something to do with the nose, and people anxiously rubbed their noses to make sure they hadn't caught something in the air.

It was more than a week since this happened, before the king heard that in an inn on the other side of the town lived a man who claimed to be able to cure all diseases.The royal carriage was sent to fetch the magician, and promised him untold riches if he would restore their noses to their original shape.Anticipating this call, Tidu stayed up all night trying to change his appearance.He did so well that it was not at all obvious that he was the bagpipe man or the apple man.He got into the carriage, and was hastily brought before the king, who was counting the hours anxiously, for his and the queen's noses were now a yard long, and they did not know where they would stop.

At this time, Tidu felt that giving raw walnuts to the royal family for medical treatment looked indecent and might arouse suspicion.So he carefully crushed the walnuts into a powder, and divided the powder into small portions so that the medicine could be swallowed immediately when placed on the tongue.Tidu gave one part to the king and the other to the queen, and told them to sleep in a dark room and not move for several hours before taking the medicine, so that they might be cured.

The king was very happy to hear this news, and he was willing to give Titus half the kingdom, but the piper was not as greedy as before he was killed on the island.His only concern now was whether he would get enough money to buy a small piece of land and live out the rest of his life.However, the king gave him three times the treasure he asked for.Titus went to the harbor with these treasures, and hired a small boat to return home.The sea was calm along the way, and ten days later, the coast that he had almost forgotten appeared clearly before his eyes.A few hours later, he returned to his hometown, where he was warmly received by his father, three older sisters and two older brothers. His mother and other brothers had died a few years earlier.

After meeting, he set out to find out if there was any small property for sale near the town.After buying the property, he started the second thing, which was to find a wife to live with him, which was soon completed.Those who attended said the happiest part of the day was when Titu played the bagpipes for them before they said goodbye and went home.

(End of this chapter)