Crimson Fairy Book

Chapter 4 A Tale of the Seven Simons (1)
In a place far, far away, across many countries, seas and rivers, there is a prosperous city.There lived a king named Ahideji who was kind, rich and handsome.He had a mighty army, ready to obey him at any command; and he had sixteen hundred cities, each of which had ten palaces with doors of silver, domes of gold, and windows of crystal.His cabinet is made up of twelve of the brightest men in the country, with their long beards flowing across their chests, all of them learned.This cabinet always tells the truth to the king.

The king had everything to be happy, but he was not happy at all, because he had not yet found his bride.

One day he was sitting in the palace looking out to the sea, a big ship entered the harbor, and several merchants walked onto the coast.The king said to himself: "These people have traveled from afar and have seen many things in the world. I want to ask them if they have seen a princess as smart and beautiful as me."

So he ordered the merchants to be brought to him, and said to them, "You have traveled many places and seen many wonders, and I want to ask you a question, and please answer it truthfully. You have seen or heard of people like me in other places. A smart and beautiful girl? She may be the daughter of an emperor, a king, or a lord, worthy to be my wife, worthy to be queen of my country."

The merchants thought for a while.Finally, the oldest businessman said: "I heard that in Pusan, a country far away across the ocean, there was a great king, and his daughter, Princess Helena, was very lovely. Her intelligence was nothing compared to your Majesty's." Not even the wisest gray-bearded old man can guess her riddles."

"Is that island far away? Which way can I go?"

"That island is not near," replied the merchant. "It will be ten years' journey, and we don't know the way to get there. Even if we knew, what good would it be? The princess will not be your bride."

"How dare you say that?" cried the king angrily.

"Your Majesty must forgive us. Please think about it. If you send an envoy to that island, it will take him ten years to get there and ten years to come back—a total of 20 years. The princess is here. Hasn't she aged for a while? Hasn't her beauty been lost?"

The king fully reacted. He thanked the merchants and agreed to trade in his country without paying any taxes.Then let them go.

After they had gone, the king fell into deep thought, bewildered and anxious.To relax, he decided to ride into the country, and sent for hunters and falcon trainers.The hunters sounded their horns, and the falconers put the falcons on their wrists, and together they set off across the country to a green hedge.

On the other side of the hedge was an endless field of corn, yellow ears of corn fluttering in the breeze like fine waves in a golden ocean.

The king reined in and admired the cornfield. "To tell the truth," he said, "the man who dug and planted the ground must have been a good farmer. If all the land in my kingdom were cared for as well as this one, the people would have more bread than they could eat ’” So he wondered whose land this land belonged to.

All the followers acted immediately and asked around.They found a comfortable and tidy farmhouse, and in front of it sat seven peasants, who were having their lunch, eating black bread and drinking water.They wore red shirts trimmed with gold, and were so alike that it was almost impossible to tell which was which.

The messenger asked, "Whose is this golden cornfield?" The seven brothers replied, "Ours."

"who are you?"

"We are farmers of King Ahideji."

Their answers were communicated to the king, who ordered the brothers to be brought to him at once.When asked who they were, the boss bowed and said:

"Your Majesty, King Ashidji, we are your farmers, born of one mother, and we all have the same name, and each one is called Simon. Our father taught us to be utterly true to the King, to work the land carefully, and to treat our neighbours. Be friendly. He also taught each of us a different trade, thinking it would be good for us.

He implores us not to neglect Mother Earth, who will reward us for our labor. "

Satisfied with the honest farmers, the king said: "Your fields are well planted, good people, and now you have a golden harvest. I would like each of you to tell me about the craft your father taught you. what."

"My work, O king," said the first Simon, "is not an easy job. If you will give me some workmen and materials, I will build you a great white column that reaches to the sky."

"Very well," answered the king, "you, second Simon, what is your trade?"

"My lord, my craft does not require much ingenuity. I can climb the pillars high above the clouds while my brother erected them, and I can see all that is going on--what is going on in every country under the sun .”

"Well," said the King, "where is the third Simon?"

"My lord, my work is very simple. Many of your ships have been built with fine improvements by skilled craftsmen. If you wish, I can build you a very simple A small ship is not grand enough to be fit for a king. But where other ships take a year to sail, mine takes one day, and where others take ten years, mine does in a week. "

"Well," said the king again, "what did the fourth Simon learn?"

"O King, my handicraft is of no importance. If my brother will build you a boat, let me aboard. If we are pursued by the enemy, I will grab the bow and sink the boat to the bottom of the sea. , When the enemy's boat is rowed away, I will raise the boat to the surface of the water again."

"You are very clever indeed," said the king. "What does the fifth Simon do?"

"Your Majesty, my job is to work as a blacksmith. If you order me to build a blacksmith shop, I will make you a crossbow. Whether it is an eagle in the sky or a beast in the forest, there will be danger. My crossbow bolts Can hit anything in sight."

"That sounds very useful," said the king, "and now, the sixth child, tell me what you do."

"My lord, my craft is so simple that I am ashamed to speak of it. If my brother hits any animal, I can get the game faster than any dog. If the game falls into the water, I can get it from the deepest Fish it out of the water, and if it falls in a dark forest, I can find it even in the middle of the night."

The king was very pleased with the handiwork and conversation of the six brothers, and he said, "Thank you, good men, your father has done a good job in teaching you these things. Come back to the city with me now, and I want to see what you have done." Things that can be done. I need people like you around me. When the harvest season comes, I will give you royal gifts and send you home."

The brothers bowed and said, "Obey the king's will." Then the king suddenly remembered that he had not asked the seventh Simon, and turning to him, said, "Why do you keep silent? What is your craft?"

The seventh Simon replied: "Oh, my lord, I have no craft, I have no knowledge, I can't learn a craft. Even if I do know something, it can't be called a real craft-it is a kind of craft. A performance. But no one can see such a performance—not even the King himself, for I doubt my performance will please His Majesty."

"Come, come," cried the King, "what is this work?"

"Your Majesty, first of all, please issue an imperial edict that if I tell you, you will not kill me, and then you can listen."

"If this is the case, then I will give you an imperial edict."

Then the Seventh Simon stepped back a little, cleared his throat, and said, "King Ahideji, my craft is such that - people who practice it in your kingdom usually die, and there is no Hope for pardon. There's only one thing I'm really good at, and that's - steal and hide whatever morsel I steal. No matter how deep the cellar, even with locked doors and enchanted , nor can it stop me from stealing what I want."

The king was furious when he heard this. "I will not pardon you, you scoundrel," he cried. "I will put you in the deepest dungeon, and give you bread and water, until you forget your craft. Immediate death in effect. That's the best thing, and I really want to do it."

"Oh, my lord, don't kill me! I'm not as bad as you think. Why, if I choose to steal, I'll steal gold and jewels from the palace, bribe the judge to let me go, and spend the rest of the treasure Build a palace of white marble. Though I know how to steal, I will not do it, and you yourself ask my craft.

If you kill me, you will break your promise. "

"Well," said the king, "I will not kill you, I pardon you. But from now on you will be shut up in a dark dungeon. Come, guards! Take him away and shut him up. Six of you A Simon with me, guaranteed royal favor."

So six Simons followed the king.The seventh Simon was caught by the guards, chained, and thrown into prison, with only a little bread to eat and water to drink.The next day, the king assigned the first Simon some carpenters, masons, blacksmiths and other labor, as well as a lot of iron, mortar and other materials.Simon gets to work.He built a great white column that reached into the clouds almost as high as the nearest star.

The second Simon climbed the pillar and saw and heard all that was going on in the world.As he climbed down the pillar, he told many wonderful things, such as one king was leading an army to attack another king, and it was likely to win; another place was holding a grand celebration, and another country's people were suffering The threat of death from famine.Indeed, no little thing that happened on earth could be hidden from him.

Then the third Simon went to work, and he stretched out his arm, and once, twice, three times, a marvelous ship was built.Disembarked at the king's sign and sent into the water, drifting proudly and steadily, like a bird flying on the top of the waves.The boat did not use ropes, but iron wires as cables, and musicians played very beautiful tunes on the wires with violin bows.While the boat was drifting on the sea, the fourth Simon grabbed the bow with his strong hand, and in a moment the boat was gone - sunk to the bottom of the sea.An hour passed, and Simon lifted the boat with his left hand, and it surfaced again, while with his right hand he snatched a great fish from the depths, and fed the king's table.

While all this was going on, the fifth Simon built the smithy to forge the iron, and the crossbow was ready when the king returned from the port.

Immediately the King went out into a field, and looked up into the sky, and saw far, far away, an eagle that looked like a small speck flying towards the sun.

"Well," said the king, "if you can hit the bird, I will reward you."

Simon smiled slightly. He picked up the crossbow, aimed and shot, and the eagle fell down immediately.As the eagle fell, the sixth Simon flew to catch it before it fell to the ground, and brought it before the King.

"Thank you, brave boys," said the king. "I see that each of you has mastered your craft, and you will all be richly rewarded. Now rest and eat."

The six Simons bowed to the king and went to eat.Before they had time to eat, the messengers said that the king wanted to see them, and they obeyed immediately, and saw the king surrounded by all the ministers.

(End of this chapter)