yellow-green fairy tale book

Chapter 18 Doctor Satin (1)
Once upon a time there was a king who was very rich and very powerful.However, although he was married several times, he only had two daughters.

The eldest daughter looks surprisingly ordinary, with squinted eyes and a hunchback.She was, however, very clever and always charming.Therefore, although she was very malicious and dishonest, she was always loved by the king.

On the contrary, the youngest daughter is very cute, kind-hearted and has a good temper.All who knew her could not tell whether it was her charming looks or her refined manners that were more attractive.

The monarch of the neighboring country was a young emperor, in his early twenties, but who had shown remarkable daring in battle.He could very well conquer the entire world if he wanted to.Fortunately, he loves peace and does not like war, and he only thinks about governing his own country well.His common people hoped that he would marry early.After inquiring, only the two princesses from the neighboring country are of the right age, and they are well matched.So the emperor sent envoys to their father's court to ask the king to marry one of the princesses to him.Still, he is determined to marry a woman he loves and can live happily with.Therefore, he decided to go and see the two princesses in person before deciding which one to marry.Therefore, shortly after the messengers left, he disguised himself and followed them.He arrived soon after the messengers arrived.However, as he had been foolish enough not to tell anyone of his intentions, when he came to the palace, he found that the ambassadors had already proposed to the princess on his behalf.

The emperor's arrival was soon discovered, and he had to disclose his identity.When the king learned of this, he prepared to receive him with royal ceremonies.Of course, the king could only pretend not to know his identity.They discussed it, and the messenger introduced the emperor to the king as a prince, so that the king could receive him with royal etiquette.

A great ball was held in the evening, and the young emperor met the two princesses and became acquainted with them.The princess's ugly appearance and vicious words disgusted him very much.He felt that even if she had ten kingdoms, he would not marry her; and the little princess's natural beauty and graceful manners soon fascinated him, and even if she was only a shepherdess, he would share the throne with her.

He found it difficult to hide his thoughts, and although he tried to be as polite as possible to the eldest princess, he still couldn't do it well.What he saw and heard in the next few days made him like the little princess even more.In the end, he publicly stated that if the king and princess agreed.He will marry the little princess as his wife.This is his greatest wish.

He ordered the envoy to postpone the farewell ceremony a little, hoping that the king would understand his intentions.But when he found that this idea was not feasible, he ordered the messenger to propose marriage to the little princess in the name of the emperor.

The king couldn't hide his dissatisfaction when he heard the news that was completely contrary to his own hopes.As we said earlier, the king has always loved his eldest daughter and always obeyed her.As soon as the messengers had left, he sent for the eldest princess, and told her of the insolent request of the Emperor to marry her sister.After learning about this, the eldest princess was even more furious than her father.After discussing with the father and daughter, they decided to send the little princess to a place where the emperor could not find her.But where to send it, they don't know very well.They racked their brains for a while, and finally found a suitable place for a prison.It was an ancient castle called Desert Tower, and they thought it would be safest to put the little princess there.

At the same time, they thought it best to continue the merry atmosphere as usual, and they ordered that all kinds of wonderful entertainment should continue.On the day when they were about to take the little princess away, they invited the whole court guests to a large hunting event in the forest.

Both the emperor and the little princess counted the time, looking forward to the day of hunting, which would be a very happy day.The next morning, the king and his guests were at the meeting place, but in the crowd the emperor did not see his beloved little princess.This surprised and puzzled him.He waited anxiously, looking left and right, not paying attention to what the king was saying to him.The hunt started, but the little princess still didn't show up.He decides not to go hunting, and spends the whole day looking for her, without any result.

On the way back to the palace, one of his attendants told him that a few hours ago, he had seen the little princess's carriage, and there were guards on both sides of the carriage, and no one could speak to the princess.He followed the carriage for a while and saw the carriage stopped at Desert Tower. When the carriage returned, he found that it was empty.Hearing this news, the emperor was very sad, and left the palace immediately, and he ordered the ambassador to declare war on the king the next day, unless the king promised to release the little princess.Not only that, but as soon as he returned to his country, he gathered a large number of soldiers and occupied the frontier towns before the enemy could organize an army to resist.Meanwhile, before leaving court, he wrote a letter to his beloved little princess, begging her to be patient and trusting him to save her.Then he delivered the letter to the hand of his most trusted squire, who he knew would swear his loyalty to him to the death.

The attendant carefully inspected the environment around the desert tower. He not only found the room where the little princess was imprisoned, but also found that the small window of this room was facing a wasteland full of thorns.

Now the unfortunate princess was beginning to worry, for she could not even get a breath of air at the only window in the room, and her sister's former nurse was in charge of her.This woman never closes her eyes to rest, nothing can induce her to take half a step away from the princess, she watches every move of the little princess.

But one day, while the watchman was busy writing a report to the eldest princess in the room, the little princess ran to the window, looked around, and suddenly found a man hiding among the thorns.After the man saw the little princess, he walked out from the thorns and took out a letter from his clothes.The little princess recognized him at once as the emperor's squire, and let down a long rope to which the squire had tied the letter.You can imagine how quickly she pulled the letter up.Thankfully, she finished reading the letter just as the caretaker returned to the room after writing his report.

The princess was very happy.The next day, she managed to write the reply on a piece of notebook paper and threw it through the window to the emperor's retinue.As soon as the servant got the letter, he sent it to his master immediately.Upon hearing the news of his beloved princess, the emperor was very happy and decided that no matter how difficult he encountered, he would go to the desert tower to meet the little princess in person.He ordered his attendants to ask the little princess's permission.The princess replied that if she could see the emperor, she would be very happy too, but she was worried that the watchman's vigilance would make his trip in vain. She could only see the emperor while the watchman was in the room writing his report.

When the emperor learned of the difficulty of going forward, he certainly wanted to see the princess more than ever.He did not hesitate to take any risks.But, on the advice of his squire, he was prepared to resort to cunning rather than force.In his second letter to the princess he sent some sleeping powder.The princess managed to get the powder into the caretaker's supper.So, when the emperor arrived in front of the desert tower in the evening, the princess heard his signal and could boldly appear at the window.They had a pleasant and long talk, and when they parted they both thought the meeting would go undiscovered.But they were dead wrong.Facts have proved that any sleeping pills have no effect on the princess' former nanny, she sees and hears everything.She immediately wrote a report to her master.

This news made the vicious princess very angry, and she decided to take cruel revenge on the emperor who had defied her.

She ordered the old nurse to pretend not to notice.At the same time, she set a big trap. If the emperor passed by the thorns in front of the desert tower, she could not only catch the emperor like catching a mouse, but also shoot many poisonous arrows that would pierce the emperor's whole body.When everything was ready, she set the trap among the thorns, and the little princess was unaware of it.

That evening the emperor, like all lovers, hurried to the castle.He heard the princess's joyous laughter, and he quickly stepped forward to give the princess a signal as usual.Suddenly his foot stepped on something, he didn't know exactly what it was.After a sharp pain, he turned pale and almost passed out.Fortunately, only a few arrows were shot.After he staggered a few steps, he fell into a pool of blood.

If he had come alone, he would probably be dead.Luckily his attendants were at hand, and they immediately carried him into the jungle.The other guards were there waiting for him.They bandaged his wounds and cut down tree trunks to make a stretcher.By this time the emperor was unconscious, and his attendants carried him back to his palace from the enemy's land.

(End of this chapter)