yellow-green fairy tale book

Chapter 28 Zolvisia's Story (2)
She turned one of them into a walking stick and the other into a whip.Then she found a stick, went to the bank of the river, and turned the stick into a raft.She sat on it comfortably and rowed towards the middle of the river.

She drifted for two days and two nights.On the evening of the third day she was almost at Zolvisia's garden.At this time, the king came back from hunting on a fire horse.

"Who are you?" he asked in surprise.For the old woman traveled on a raft, which is rare in this country. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"My child, I am a poor pilgrim," she replied, "I missed the caravan, and I have been walking in the desert for days on an empty stomach. Fortunately, I finally came to the river and found this little raft .I leave my life to it and don't know whether I will live or die. Now that you see me, I beg you, can you give me some bread tonight and let me and your gatekeeper Sleep with the dog!"

This wretched invented story touched the young man's heart, and he promised her to eat and spend the night in his palace.

"Ride behind me, old lady," he said, "you have come so far, and this is a long way from the palace." As he spoke, he bent down to help her, but the horse turned and did not move. Ken let her go up.

Again and again, the old witch guessed the reason, but the king still knew nothing.

"I'm afraid I shall fall off," she said. "Since you are so kind-hearted and sympathetic to my misfortune, you will ride slowly. I think I can keep up, though I am lame."

When he reached the gate, he told the old woman to rest by herself, and he would bring all she wanted.But his wife Zolvisia turned pale as soon as she heard that he had brought someone.She begged to have some food for the old woman, and sent her away, for this man would bring them misfortune.

The King was only amused by her concern, and said lightly:

"Why do you think she is a witch who likes to eavesdrop on people's speech? Even if she is, can she still hurt us?"

He called for the maids, and told them to feed the old woman, and let her sleep in the maids' room.

The old woman was very cunning, and she told all kinds of strange stories to the maids, and they were so fascinated by them that they stayed awake till midnight.The next morning, one of the maids burst out laughing while dressing Zolvisia, and the other maids laughed too.

"What's the matter with you?" Zolvisia asked.The maid replied that she was thinking of the strange and interesting adventures told by the new old woman.

"Oh, ma'am!" said the maid, "she may be a witch, as they say, but I'm sure she won't work her magic to hurt a fly! Her stories can be told when the king is away." Let you pass a lot of boring time!"

So, at this ill-fated moment, Zolvezia agreed, and the old woman was brought to her, and they have been almost inseparable ever since.

The Witch began to talk about the young King, and said that in all her travels she had never seen a man like him.

"He is so clever that he can guess your secret and win your heart," she said. "Of course, in return, he will tell you his secret too?"

"No, I don't think he has any secrets," Zolvisia replied.

"There is no secret?" said the old woman very disdainfully. "This is nonsense! Every man has a secret, and they tell the secret to the woman they love. If he never told you, it is him Do not love you!"

These words troubled Zolvisia, although she refused to admit it to the witch.But when she was alone with her husband, she coaxed him into revealing the secret of her source of strength.The king caressed her for a long time without answering, but she refused to give up, so he told her:

"My strength comes from my long sword, which is by my side day and night, and never leaves me. Now that you know it, you must exchange rings with me, and swear by this ring that you will not take my Tell this secret to anyone." But just after Zolvisia swore the oath, she hurriedly told the old witch about this important matter.

Four days later, night fell and everyone fell asleep.The witch slipped quietly into the king's chamber and took the sword from him in his deep sleep.Then she opened the window, flew to the river bank, and threw the sword into the river.

The next morning everyone wondered why the king didn't get up early to hunt as usual.

The attendants leaned against the keyhole of the room and heard heavy breathing, but no one dared to go in until Zolvisia pushed the door open.God, what a stunning sight that was!The king lay on the bed, foaming at the mouth, with his eyes closed, as if dying.They cried out loudly, but there was no response at all.

Suddenly, there was a scream from the crowd standing behind, and the witch was striding forward with snakes all over her neck, arms and hair!As soon as she signaled, the snakes hissed at the maidservants with their spitting letters, and pierced their bodies with their fangs.Then she turned to Zolvisia and said:
"I leave it up to you to choose—will you come with me, or let the snake kill you too?"

Zolvisia stared at her in shock, unable to utter a word.The Witch snatched her up and took her to where the raft was hidden in the forest.After climbing on the raft, the witch raised her oars, and in this way they went down the river to a neighboring country, where the witch sold Zolvisia to the king for a bag of gold.

Every morning since the morning when the young king passed by the three huts in the forest and left behind the scissors, the razor, and the mirror, the fairies' sons have taken out these three things which the king had left them, and examined them carefully. .So far all three are so bright with no shadows at all.But on this particular morning, when they took out these three things as usual, there was blood on the razor and scissors, and the surface of the little mirror was foggy.

"Something must have happened to our little brother," they whispered to each other with ugly faces, "we must rescue him as soon as possible, before it is too late." Putting on their magic shoes, they hurried to the palace.

The servants received them eagerly, and were anxious to tell them all they knew, but they knew very little; only that the king's sword was gone, and no one knew where it was.The guests spent the whole day without finding it.At night, they were tired and hungry, but where was there to eat?The king was not hunting that day, and there was nothing there.The dwarves were desperate, and at that moment a moonlight suddenly appeared on the river below the city wall.

"It's so stupid! We can catch fish and eat them." They shouted and rushed to the shore, and soon caught several big fish, and cooked them immediately.So they felt better and started looking around again.

In the distance, in the middle of the river, the water was tumbling strangely, and from time to time a big fish jumped out of the water, writhing and struggling, and seemed to be in great pain.The brothers' eyes were fixed there - and there was a bright light in the night sky as the fish leaped into the air. "Long swords!" they shouted, jumping into the water and dragging their swords out.And the fish lay exhausted on the surface of the water, unable to move.

They swam back to shore with their swords, dried it carefully with their clothes, and went to the palace, and laid it by the King's pillow.Immediately, the pale face of the king came back to life, and his sunken cheeks filled up.The king sat up, opened his eyes and said:
"Where is Zolvisia?"

"Neither do we know," answered the Dwarfs; "but now that you are free, you will find her soon." They told him all that had happened since Zolvisia had revealed his secret.

"I'm going to my horse," was all he said, but he was on the verge of tears when he entered the stable.His favorite horse was almost as sad as he was.When the door swung back to its original position, the horse only turned its head slowly, but when it saw the King it stood up and rubbed its head against the King.

"Oh, my poor horse! You are much wiser than I am! If I had been like you, I would not have lost Zolvisia, but now we will get her back together!"

The king had walked a long time down the stream with his horse, and there was no news of Zolvisia.

At night, they rest by a hut not far from the big city.The king lay sprawled in the grass, and lazily watched his horses grazing.At this time, an old woman came up and brought him a wooden bowl of fresh milk.

He was so thirsty that he drank all the milk in one go.He put down the empty bowl and began talking to the woman.The woman is happy when someone talks to her.

"You're lucky to be passing by," she said. "The King's wedding is going to take place in five days. Oh! But the bride doesn't like it, because the King only married her for her blue eyes and golden hair! She always carries a bottle of Poison, claiming to swallow it, would not marry the king. But the king is handsome too, sure suits her--how could she find better-- just because she bought it from a witch The unknown woman..."

The king was taken aback.Had she finally been found?His heart was beating so fast he could hardly breathe.But he still asked:
"Is her name Zolvisia?"

"Yes, that's what she said, though old witch .

"Listen," he said, "can you keep a secret?"

"Well," replied the old woman, "if you will give me some money."

"Of course you deserve it, don't worry - I'll give you more than you can imagine! Here's a handful of gold, and I'll give you the same amount if you do what I say gold." The old woman nodded.

"You go and buy a court maid's costume and try to get into the palace and meet Zolvisia. Then, you show her this ring, and she will tell you what to do."

After that, the old woman set off.She wore a yellow silk dress, and a veil was tightly drawn over her head.In this attire she boldly followed the merchant sent by the king to present Zolvezia into the palace.

At first, the bride was unwilling to pay any attention to anyone.But after seeing the ring, she immediately became as docile as a lamb.She thanked the merchants and sent them off except the old woman.

"Grandma," Zolvisia asked after closing the door tightly, "where is the owner of this ring?"

"In my cabin," replied the old woman, "waiting for your orders."

"Tell him to wait another three days. Now go to the king here and tell him you have persuaded me so that he will stop watching me and leave me alone. By the third day I will be in Take a walk in the garden by the river. Your guests will meet me there. I will take care of the rest."

At dawn on the third day, when the first ray of sunlight hit the earth, the palace began to make noise.Because the king is going to marry Zolvisia.Bright red tents were pitched, studded with fragrant white garlands.The wedding reception will be held in these tents.When everything was ready, a welcoming team went to meet the bride, and curious people crowded the road.At dawn, the bride took a walk in the royal garden.She walked through one flower bush after another, and the people crowded outside the wall to watch her pass, wanting to see her elegant demeanor in a golden dress.Suddenly, a ball of lightning fell from the sky, causing the crowd to retreat in shock.But that was not the thunderbolt, but the fiery horse!When people took a closer look, the horse had already disappeared carrying the two people.

Since then, Zolvezia and her husband have learned how to cherish happiness after they have obtained it; but many men and women have not yet learned this.Moreover, no one can teach this, everyone has to learn it by their own experience.

(End of this chapter)