Crimson Fairy Book

Chapter 39 Prince Vivian and Princess Placida (1)
Once upon a time there was a king and queen who were very much in love.The queen's name was Santa Terina, and she was beautiful and kind, and it would be hell if any husband didn't like a wife like that.King Gridelin himself is also a perfect combination of various good qualities.Because his character was shaped by a fairy who summoned the souls of all his ancestors at his christening and extracted the best from each of them.But unfortunately, the fairies put too much kindness into the king's character.Kindness is a good thing, but it often gets the person who has it into trouble.Fortunately, up until now, things have been going well for King Gridelin, and his country has prospered.

As the saying goes: People do not have a hundred days to be happy, and flowers do not have a hundred days to be successful.In this year, Queen Santa Terina gave birth to a little daughter carved in powder and jade, named Placida.King Gridelin was overjoyed.But he felt that as long as the daughter inherited her mother's beauty and kindness, no other gifts were needed, so there was no need for the fairies to work hard to bless the little princess.The king had good intentions at first, but the fairies thought he had made an unforgivable mistake because he deprived the fairies of their right to bless the little princess.So they decided to punish King Gridelin severely.Retribution came quickly.First, the queen fell ill, and soon disappeared for no reason.If it hadn't been for Princess Placida's young age, I wonder what King Gridelin would have done in his grief.He was very sad and depressed, how could he raise the little princess?

Fortunately, the good-natured Fairy Lolotti volunteered to look after Princess Placida and her cousin, Prince Vivian.Prince Vivien was a poor child. He was orphaned shortly after his birth and lived under the protection of his uncle, King Gridelin.Although the fairy took good care of Prince Vivian and Princess Placida, as they grew up, their personalities became more and more clear: education can sometimes alleviate the congenital defects of character, but it cannot completely make up for them. defect.Take Princess Placida, for example: she's almost perfectly cute, and she's so smart that she can learn everything, but she's also terribly lazy and doesn't care about anything.In contrast, Prince Vivienne was a little too active.He is always interested in new things constantly, but gets bored immediately once he gets started.So he will quickly put this matter behind him and rush to another matter that arouses his curiosity, and then he will quickly lose interest in the same short time... There is always one who will inherit the throne, and the common people naturally take a lot of interest in them.People who like quiet life and peace hope that Princess Placida will become queen in the future; while those who are outgoing and ambitious hope that Prince Vivian will do a great career after he succeeds to the throne.

For a country, the struggle for succession often brings civil war and various troubles.Even in King Gridelin's palace, the officials were divided into two factions, often quarreling over the issue of heirs.As for the two children themselves, they are pampered and have no mood to make a fuss about such things.However, their personalities and hobbies are destined to make them unable to like each other, so people can't see the possibility of them getting married in the future.It's such a pity, because only a marriage between the two of them can satisfy both factions.Prince Vivian was very aware of this dilemma, but he was an upright and kind person who didn't want to hurt his beautiful cousin, or maybe he was too impetuous and didn't want to do anything seriously, so he suddenly An idea came up, I planned to leave this place of right and wrong, and go to the outside world to take risks.Fortunately, he was riding on horseback when this idea came up, otherwise, with his fast-paced character, he must have started on foot immediately, because he didn't want to delay for a minute.

Prince Vivian's leaving without saying goodbye is a heavy blow to everyone.No one knew what happened to the prince.For King Gridelin, it was nothing more than a bolt from the blue.He has been very depressed since the death of Queen Santa Terina, indifferent to anything.But the disappearance of the prince sounded the alarm for him, and he had to pick himself up again and devote himself to cultivating Princess Placida.Although he couldn't help crying every time he saw Princess Placida, he decided to see for himself what gifts and talents the princess had.But soon he found that Placida was not only lazy by nature, but also that the fairy always pampered and doted on her like her grandmother.The king seriously reproached the fairy for being too spoiled to the little princess, and the fairy Lolotti accepted his accusation humbly, and promised that she would never let Placida be so lazy in the future.And so began Placida's troubles.Although she would love to wear her favorite clothes, beautiful jewelry, and have her own fun, instead of wearing the same old, worn robes all day long like this; and would never want to be in public if she could avoid it.But this time, the King and Fairy didn't let her go.King Gridelin demanded that all matters of government, great and small, be explained to her, and that she was obliged to attend all discussions of state, and whenever the king asked her, she gave her opinion of the matter in question.This kind of poor and busy life is really a great torture for Placida, who is lazy by nature.So she begged Fairy Lolotti to take her away from the country that made too many demands on unhappy princesses.

The fairy refused firmly at first.But who could resist the tears and pleadings of a girl as beautiful and lovely as Placida?The fairy finally relented.So Placida lay comfortably on her favorite sofa, and the fairy cast a spell and transferred Placida to her cave together with her and the sofa.The disappearance of the princess plunged everyone into despair, and for King Gridelin, it was even worse; the little princess had always been the driving force for him to live, and now the only pillar of his heart collapsed .

Now let's talk about Prince Vivienne and see where his indefatigable ambition has taken him.

King Gridelin owned a very vast country, but Prince Vivian's horse carried the prince to the end of the country diligently, and then it couldn't move anymore.The prince had no choice but to dismount and go on his journey on foot.But for his hot-tempered personality, such a slow walk is really uncomfortable.

After the prince felt that he had been walking for a long time, he found himself trapped alone in a large forest, surrounded by darkness and oppression, which made him tremble uncontrollably.However, he mustered up his courage and walked as fast as he could along the path he felt was right. Just when he felt exhausted and unable to walk anymore, he found a faint light in front of him.This made him courage again, he believed that he was not far from the place where he ate and rested, but the more he walked in the direction of the light, the light seemed to be farther away from him, sometimes even completely disappeared from sight.So you can imagine how grumpy and bored Prince Vivien was when he finally came to the shabby little hut where the light came from.He knocked heavily on the door of the small hut, and an old woman's voice came from inside, but she did not come out to answer the door immediately, so the prince knocked heavily again, and arrogantly asked the old woman to let him in , but he forgot that he had already left his country.Although he knocked loudly on the door, the old woman was still unhurried and just said softly:
"You have to be patient."

He could hear that the old woman was ready to open the door for him, but it took a long time to open the door.First she shooed her cat aside lest it should slip through the crack when the door was opened.Then the prince heard her talking to herself about cutting the wick so she could see who was knocking at the door; there was no oil in the lamp, and she had to fill it up first... and so she lingered in the house For a long time, the prince was told to be patient over and over again.It was not long before the prince walked into the dilapidated little hut.He looked around, disappointed.

The hut was bare, and there was nothing edible at all, not even a crumb of bread to be seen.The prince told the old woman that he was going to die of starvation and exhaustion, but the old woman only said quietly that he had to be patient.Still, she gave him a bundle of straw and told him he could sleep on it.

"But where is the food?" screamed Prince Vivian.

"Wait a minute, wait a moment," said the old woman, "if you will be patient, I will go to the garden and pick some peas, and we will shell them leisurely, and then I will build a fire and cook them Ripe. When they are fully cooked, we can eat them leisurely. Don't worry."

"When all these things are done, I will starve to death." The prince said despondently.

"Patience, patience," the old woman looked at him and smiled kindly, "There is no rush. You must have heard the phrase 'good things take time'."

The prince was going crazy, but there was nothing he could do.

"Come with me," said the old woman, "and you shall be beside me with a lamp when I pick the peas, so that I may see."

The Prince seized the lamp at once, but he was so quick that the lamp went out.So he had to squat in front of the fire, took out two unburned charcoals from the ashes, and lit the lamp again.This took a long time again.At last, however, they picked the peas, and shelled them, and a fire was built, and they counted them carefully—for the old woman said she could cook only fifty-four peas, and not one more.The prince protested that he was so hungry now that 54 peas were not enough to fit between his teeth—it was just a few peas!It doesn't matter if there are more or less.But his protests were of no avail, and at last he obediently counted the peas.He was too anxious, and would always drop one or two. At this time, he had to count from the beginning to ensure that the number was not too much, and it was exactly 54.When the peas were cooked, the old woman took a scale and a small piece of bread from the cupboard, intending to divide the bread.But Prince Vivian couldn't wait any longer. He snatched the bread and ate it all, and said like the old lady, "Be patient."

"You're joking," said the old woman, still kindly, "but that's my name, and someday you'll know more about me."

They ate twenty-seven peas each, and the prince was surprised to find that he was full.Then he lay down on the grass and slept soundly, as sweetly as in the palace.

Next morning the old woman gave him milk and bread for breakfast, which he ate with great contentment, secretly glad that at last he no longer had to pick peas, wash them, count them, and cook them.After breakfast he asked the old woman to tell him who she was.

"I will, I'm glad to tell you," she said, "but that's going to be a long story."

"Oh! I can't listen to it if it's too long," cried the Prince.

"But," she said, "at your age, you should listen to the old man and learn to be patient."

"But, but," said the Prince, in a tone of impatience, "the old man shouldn't be talking so much! Tell me what country I am in now, and nothing else will be said."

"I hope so," she said, "you are now in the forest of the Black Bird Immortal, and this is where he spoke his oracle."

"The oracle?" cried the prince, "Oh! I must go and ask him for advice!" As he said, he took out some gold coins from his pocket and handed them to the old woman. Throwing it on the table, I couldn't wait to ask the way, and ran out the door like lightning.He ran forward at the fastest speed along the road closest to him, leaving behind the small hut and the owner who didn't like him at all.He ran so fast that sometimes he lost his way while running; sometimes he tripped over a stone; and sometimes he ran head-on against a tree.Not long after, he saw a huge black castle towering majestically in the distance. From that castle, he should be able to overlook the whole forest.The prince felt that this castle must be the place where the oracle came, that is, the residence of the black bird fairy.Just as the sun was about to set, the prince finally reached the outer gate of the castle.The castle is surrounded by a deep moat.Whether it is the drawbridge, the gate, or the color of the river, it is as black and dark as the walls and towers of the castle.In front of the gate stood a big clock with red letters written on it:

"Mortal who have come here: If you want to know your fate, ring this bell, and bear what befalls you."

The prince picked up a big stone without hesitation, and knocked the big clock hard. The bell sounded dull and terrifying, and at the same time, the gate of the castle creaked up.As soon as the prince walked in, the door crashed down, making a loud noise like thunder.Frightened bats flew out from behind every tower and city wall, flapping their wings and screaming, blackening the sky.If it were someone else who saw this weird scene, they would have been terrified, but Prince Vivian was fearless.He strode forward until he came to the second door.Six slaves in robes had opened the door for him.

He longed to speak to them, but he found at once that they spoke a language he could not understand at all, and it seemed that the niggers could not understand him either.This irritated the Prince enough, for he was a man of few words, and he even began to miss his old friend Patience, the slow old woman in the hut.

Still, now he had to follow them quietly.They led the Prince into a splendid hall, with a floor of ebony, walls of jet, and all the curtains and hangings of black velvet.The prince looked around for something to eat, but found nothing.So he gestured to the niggers that he was hungry.In the same way, the nigger said respectfully that he must wait, and they left.

A few hours later, the six black slaves reappeared, all fully wrapped up.With great civility they led the Prince slowly into a banquet hall, where they sat round a long table.All food is placed in the middle of the table.The prince anxiously grabbed the plate in front of him, trying to draw it closer, but he soon saw that all the plates were firmly fastened to the table.So he turned his head to observe how the solemn black slaves around him were eating.I saw that each of them picked up a long hollow reed pipe and sucked their own food through the reed pipe.The prince had no choice but to follow their example, although he found this way of eating monotonous and boring.After supper they returned to the great hall with its ebony floor.There, the prince was forced to watch the black slaves play what seemed to him the most monotonous and endless game—chess.It wasn't until he thought he was bored to death that they led the Prince, as before, respectfully but very slowly, into a bedroom.

Desperate to hear the oracle, the prince got up early the next morning.He asked to see the Black Bird Immortal immediately, but he was ignored.The niggers led him before a great marble tub, the water in which was shallow on one side and deep on the other, and beckoned to the prince to enter it.The prince was about to take a bath, and he jumped joyfully into the deep water, but the niggers pulled him back politely but firmly, and allowed him to stand in the shallow water, which was only an inch deep.In the next few days, this set of procedures was repeated continuously, and the prince was so irritable that he was going crazy.For six whole days, he lived in absolute silence, was respectfully taken to the hall, banquet hall, bedroom and bathtub by the black slaves, fed with that long reed tube, and watched them play countless games of chess— —Among all recreational activities, chess was the one he hated for a long time.The only difference was that the water level in the tub was rising inch by inch every day, until it finally reached his chin, and his bath was finally complete.On this day, black slaves in black robes lined up, each with a black bat perched on their heads. They let the prince stand in the middle of the line, and then sang a low and solemn song, walked into a Inside the iron gate.This iron gate leads to a temple-like building.Amid their chanting, another band of black slaves appeared.They handed over the prince to the group of black slaves, and then slowly exited the iron gate.

(End of this chapter)