Crimson Fairy Book

Chapter 32 The Shepherd Boy Paul
Once upon a time, a shepherd was driving his flock to a pasture. On the way, he found a baby lying on the grass.I don't know which unscrupulous person thought it was troublesome to raise a child and threw him away.The shepherd liked the child very much, so he took him home and gave him milk to drink.By the time he was 14, the boy, Paul, was so powerful that he could uproot oak trees like weeds.Gradually, Paul got tired of staying at home doing nothing, so he decided to go out of the house and explore the world.

He walked many miles without seeing anything new, but in an open area of ​​the forest he was surprised to find a man combing the trees as though he were combing linen.

"Good morning, my friend," said Paul, "you must be a strong man, I think."

The man stopped what he was doing and smiled. "My name is Tree Comber," he replied proudly. "My greatest wish is to wrestle with Paul the Shepherd Boy."

"Your wish is easy to come true. I am the shepherd boy Paul, and I can wrestle with you right now." The boy replied.Then he seized the Treecomber, and threw him down hard on his knees.However, the tree comber immediately got up again, grabbed Paul, and threw Paul to the ground as well.Then Paul got the upper hand and threw the treecomber on his back. "Come on," cried the Treecomber, "I think you're a smart man, let's make friends."

"Great," Paul replied, and the two of them continued on their journey together.

Then they saw a man crushing a stone into powder with his hands, and the stone was as brittle as a nut in his hand.

"Good morning," said Paul politely, "I think you must be very powerful!"

"I am Stonebreaker," replied the man, "and my greatest wish is to wrestle with Paul the Shepherd Boy."

"Your wish is easy to come true, because I am the shepherd boy Paul, and I am willing to wrestle with you right away." So they started the competition.Soon, the man gave in and begged to go with them.So the three of them went on their journey together.

After walking for a while, they met a man who was kneading iron like dough. "Good morning," said Paul, "you must be very powerful."

"My name is Iron Kneader, and I want to compete with Paul the shepherd boy," replied the man.

"Then let's compete right away." Paul replied.This time, Paul defeated his opponent again, and the four of them walked together again.

At noon, when they entered the forest, Paul stopped suddenly and said to the comber, "We three are going out to hunt game, and you stay here and cook us a supper." So the comber began to work, and he Boiled and baked, and the meal was almost ready.At this time, a dwarf with a pointed beard came over. "What are you cooking?" he asked. "Give me something."

"You want to eat, I'll give you a fork on your back." The tree comber said rudely.The little man said nothing, and waited patiently for the rice to be cooked, then suddenly threw the treecomber to the ground, ate the food in the pot, and went away.The tree comber was so ashamed that he resumed cooking some vegetables.When the hunters came back, the vegetables were still hard, and they all complained that he was a poor cook, and that the tree comber hadn't told them about the dwarf.

On the second day, they left the rock-crusher to cook, and the third day to the iron-kneader. Every time the dwarf appeared, they treated the dwarf like the tree comber, and they also encountered the dwarf's revenge.On the fourth day, Paul said to them: "My friends, your cooking skills are so poor. I think there must be a reason. You go hunting today, and I will stay and cook." So they set off, thinking about today's cooking. They were secretly happy about what Paul was about to encounter.

Paul set to work as soon as they were gone, and had hardly put the stew on the pot when the dwarf appeared and said he wanted some vegetables. "Go away," Paul shouted, picking up the pot.The dwarf tried to grab Paul by the collar, but Paul grabbed his beard first.To keep him out of trouble, Paul tied him to a tree.The hunters came back early to see how Paul was doing, and they were surprised to find that the meal had already been prepared.

"You're all trash," Paul said, "you can't even fight a dwarf. After dinner, I'll show you how I subdue him!" However, when they finished eating, they came to the kidnapped The place where the little dwarf was, but found that the little dwarf disappeared, and even the tree that tied him was gone. It turned out that the little dwarf uprooted the tree and ran away with the tree.The four friends followed the trail of trees until they came to a deep hole. "He must have got in there," said Paul. "I'm going to run after him. Look! There's a basket over there, and I can just sit in it, and you put me down on the rope. When I pull hard on the rope , pull up the basket immediately." After speaking, Paul stepped into the basket, and his friends put him down.

When the basket was at the bottom of the hole, Paul jumped down and looked around.It is a very pretty valley, full of meadows and streams, and a beautiful castle.Seeing that the castle door was open, Paul walked in.A lovely young girl came up to him, and she begged Paul to leave quickly.Because her master is a six-headed dragon, who snatched the girl from her hometown and brought her to this underground castle.Paul didn't listen to the girl's entreaties. He said that he was not afraid of the dragon, and he didn't care how many heads he had.He sat down quietly, waiting for the six-headed dragon to come back.

After a while, the six-headed dragon came back, and all the tusks on the six heads rattled angrily when they saw a stranger.

"I am Paul the Shepherd Boy," said the young man. "I have come to fight you, and as time is short, let us begin now."

"Very well," replied the six-headed dragon, "I'm sure I have dinner, but let's have a bite to start our appetite."

After speaking, he chewed some big stones like eating pancakes. When he was about to finish eating, he threw a stone to Paul. Paul didn't like to eat stones. He took it and chopped the stone in half with a wooden knife.Then, grabbing the two halves of the stone, he threw all his strength at the six-headed dragon, and two of the heads were instantly shattered.The six-headed dragon roared and charged at Paul, who jumped to his side and snapped off his other two heads.Paul then grabbed the dragon by the neck and slammed the rest of his head against the rock.

When the girl heard that the six-headed dragon was dead, she thanked Paul with tears for saving her.She told Paul, however, that her two sisters were in the hands of other dragons, which were more fierce and terrible than this one.Paul swore he would never put his sword back into its sheath until they were delivered.He asked the girl to lead the way for him.

The maiden was glad to go with Paul, but before she went, she gave Paul a golden whip, and told him to beat the castle with it.Paul complied, and immediately the castle was transformed into a golden apple, which Paul pocketed and began his search.

They did not go far when they came to the castle where the second girl was imprisoned.The owner of the castle was a dragon with twelve heads, and he snatched the girl from her home and took her to his castle.The girl was very happy to see her sister and Paul, and she gave Paul one of the dragon's clothes, so that Paul would have double his strength.No sooner had he put on his clothes than the dragon came back, and the duel began at once, and the hard struggle lasted so long that Paul, with his sword and his clothes, cut off all twelve of the dragon's heads.

Paul turned the castle into an apple and put it in his pocket, and went to find the third castle with the two girls.

It was not long before they found the castle where the little sister was imprisoned, and the girl was more beautiful than the two older sisters.Her husband had eighteen heads, but when he left the ground for the surface he left the others at home, and took only one, which he transformed into the head of a dwarf.

When Paul learned that the dreaded dragon was the dwarf who had tied himself to the tree, he wanted to impale the dragon's neck immediately.However, thinking about those eighteen heads, I'd better be careful.The third sister gave him a silk dress, which can increase his strength tenfold.

As soon as he put on his clothes, the whole castle shook violently. Long Fei went up the steps and entered the hall.

"Friend, we meet again! Have you forgotten me?
I am Paul the shepherd boy, and I have come to wrestle with you and free your wife from your clutches. "

"Oh, I'm glad to see you again," said the dragon. "The two dragons you killed are my brothers. Now, I will avenge them with your blood." With that, he went into the room , looking for my own clothes, and drinking some magic wine.However, the clothes were already on Paul, and the wine was taken away by the girl. She gave Paul a drink and poured out the rest.

Seeing this, Long was a little scared, but after a while, he took back all eighteen heads, so he became bold again.

"Come on," he cried, raising his head, trying to throw all the heads at Paul, but Paul jumped under the head and chopped it up with his sword, and the dragon's six heads immediately rolled to the ground.After the six strongest heads were lost, the other twelve died soon after.Paul turned the castle into an apple and led the three sisters towards the hole leading to the ground.

The basket was still tied to the rope and hung in the air, but there was only room for three girls in the basket, and Paul sent them up first, telling them to lower the basket to save himself.Unfortunately, when the three friends saw such a beautiful girl, they had long forgotten about Paul. They took the three girls away to a desolate place, and they lived a miserable life again.And Paul felt that the three girls were too ungrateful, and he vowed to take revenge on them.He looked for the exit everywhere, but everything was not that simple.Time passed month after month, and he was still far, far away from his goal.

Then, one day, he passed a griffin's den, and the griffin wasn't there, and the den was full of cubs.At this time, a cloud of fire suddenly exploded overhead. If Paul hadn't covered the nest with his clothes, the cubs would have been burned to death.After the griffin came home, the cubs told their father about Paul's deeds. The griffin immediately caught up with Paul and asked Paul how he could thank him.

"Please put me on the ground," Paul begged him.The Griffin agreed, but because the journey was so long, he first found some food for Paul on the way.

"Now, you climb on my back," said the griffin to Paul. "If I turn my head to the right, you cut a piece of beef that hangs on the right and put it in my mouth; if I turn my head to the right Turn left, and you'll take a glass of wine from the barrel hanging on the left, and pour it into my mouth."

Paul and the monster flew upward for three days and three nights, and on the morning of the fourth day they reached the ground of a city.

This happened to be the city where his friends lived.Paul thanked the griffin and said goodbye, and the griffin went home again.

At first, Paul was so tired that he didn't want to do anything but sleep.But once his strength was restored, he set out to search for the three treacherous friends.When they saw Paul, they were frightened to death, thinking that Paul would never come back to reprimand them.

"You know what's going to happen to you," Paul said calmly, "Don't let me see you again.

roll! After they left, Paul took three apples out of his pocket and put them in the most beautiful place. Then he whipped the apples with a golden whip, and the apples immediately turned back into three castles. Paul gave two castles to two Sister, another for himself and the youngest girl, his wife, where they still live to this day.

(End of this chapter)