yellow-green fairy tale book

Chapter 6 The Story of Little King Locke (1)
Two or three miles off the coast of France, when the sea is calm, any one who passes by in a boat can see the trunks of many great trees standing at great depths under the water.Hundreds of years ago, there was a large forest here, and various wild animals lived in the forest.Beyond the forest was a beautiful city, guarded by a castle in which the Duke of Clarides lived.But then the sea water approached the city step by step, the foundations of the houses were gradually eroded and collapsed, and finally the land was finally submerged by the shining sea water.But all of this happened long, long after the story I'm about to tell you.

The successive Dukes of Clarides have always lived among his subjects, protecting them no matter in times of war or peace.

When the story begins, Duke Robert has passed away, leaving the young and beautiful Duchess to manage his domain for him.Everyone thought she might remarry, but she turned down all the proposals, saying that she herself had only one soul and therefore only one husband, and that an infant daughter would suffice up.

One day the Duchess sat on the tower, and in front of the tower was a great heath, full of yellow and purple flowers in summer.At this time, she saw a group of people riding towards the castle in the distance.Among them was a white horse with black and silver harnesses, on which sat a lady.The Duchess recognized her at once as her friend, the Countess de Blanchelandes, a young widow like herself.She had a son who was two years older than her own daughter, Abele Clarides.

The Duchess was very happy to welcome her friend, however, when the Countess sat on a cushion beside her and told her the purpose of her visit, the Duchess' joy suddenly turned to sadness.

"You know," said the countess, taking one of her friends' hands, and clasping them tightly, "every countess of Blanchelande finds a white rose beside her pillow before she dies." Flowers. Last night I went to bed feeling so happy, but this morning I woke up with a white rose against my cheek. There is no one else in this world who can help me except you , I came here just to ask you to adopt my son Yuri and let him be Abele's elder brother."

The Duchess was sobbing, she wrapped her arms around the Countess's neck, and hugged her tightly.The two women bid farewell silently, and the countess, who knew she would pass away soon, said nothing more. She silently rode back home, handed the sleeping boy to the butler Frankel, and Lie quietly on the bed.She was found to have passed away peacefully the next day.

In this way, Yuri and Abele lived and grew up together, and the Duchess kept her promise and treated Yuri as her own.After the two children grew up, she often took them around the territory, teaching them how to understand their subjects, how to care for and help them.

During a trip, when they walked through a meadow full of flowers, Yuri saw a large area of ​​dazzling light under the mountains in the distance.

"Godmother, what's that?" He pointed with his finger. "I think it's a giant's shield."

"No, it's a silver saucer as big as the moon," said Abele, looking back, astride her pony.

"That is neither a silver saucer nor a giant's shield," answered the Duchess; "it is a lake. But you may not see how beautiful it is, but it is dangerous to approach it. In the depths of the lake dwells a nixie, or a water-spirit, It lures passers-by to die."

No one mentioned the lake any more after that, but the children never forgot it.After returning to the castle, Abele came to Yuri one morning.

"The door to the tower is open," she whispered. "Let's go and see, and we may find some fairies."

But they didn't find a single fairy, and when they got to the roof they only found that the lake looked bluer and more charming.Abele stared blankly for a while and said, "Did you see it? I want to go there!"

"Don't go!" Yuri yelled. "You heard what your mother said. Besides, it's too far away. How can we get there?"

"You should know how to get there," Abele replied contemptuously, with a look of contempt, "If you still ask me such a question, then what's the use of being a man? Thanks to the fact that you have learned so much There are plenty of men in this world, I'll find out if I ask one of them."

Yuri blushed with anger, Abele had never spoken to him like this before.Even though she was two years younger than him, she now looked as if she was several years older than him.She just stood there, staring at him mockingly, until at last Yuri couldn't take it anymore, and he was so annoyed that he took her hand and said bravely:
"Okay, let's go to the lake together!"

The next afternoon, while the Duchess was busy weaving tapestry, sitting among her maids, the two children went out to play in the garden as usual.When they found that there were only the two of them here, Yuri went up to Abele, took her hand and said:

"Let's go!"

"Where are you going?" Abel asked with wide eyes.

"To the other side of the lake, of course." The boy replied.

Abele said nothing.Sometimes it's one thing to pretend to be disobedient, but it's another thing to really sneak out of the garden and go that far without telling adults. "Wear your silk shoes!
You boys are so stupid!Really stupid! "

"Whether it's stupid or not, even if I'm going to the other side of the lake, you have to go with me!" Yuri has not forgotten, and will not forgive the way she looked at him yesterday, "Unless you are scared, Then I'll go alone."

Yuri continued.

These words really made Abele unbearable.She cried out and put her arms around Yuri's neck and said that wherever he went, she would go with him.So, the two of them reconciled in this way, and they went on the road together.

It was a very hot day, and people were hiding in their houses, trying to wait for the sun to go down before going out to work and play.So, no one noticed the two kids as they walked by on the street.They walked across the bridge over the river to the flowery prairie that they rode with their mother on horseback.They went on and on, and presently Abel began to feel thirsty, but the sun had drank all the water, and there was not a drop left for her.The two children went on for a short distance. Fortunately, they saw a cherry tree, which was full of red cherries.They ate some cherries, and rested a little, feeling that they had enough strength to walk a little longer to reach the lake.But it wasn't long before Abele limped and said her foot hurt like hell.Yuri had to untie her shoelaces to see what was going on.It turned out that a stone got into the shoe. This problem is not difficult to solve, just pour it out.The two brothers and sisters jumped up and down, sang and talked along the road and walked forward for a while, when Abele stopped again.This time her shoe fell off.When she turned around to pick up the shoes, she saw the tower of the castle, which seemed to be very far away from here. She felt very uneasy and burst into tears.

"It's getting dark, and the wolves will eat us up." Abele whimpered.Yuri hugged her and comforted her:

"Hey, we'll be at the lake soon, there's nothing to be afraid of! We'll be home for dinner soon!" Abele wiped away his tears, trotted all the way and continued to move forward with his brother.

Yes, they soon reached the lake.There are silver and white ripples on the blue lake, purple and golden irises grow on the shore, and white water lilies float in the middle of the water.There was no one around, and there was no giant beast that Abele was afraid of, only some small crossed footprints left on the sand.The little girl immediately took off her worn out shoes and socks, and let the lake water caress her feet gently.Yuri looked around for some nuts and strawberries, but found nothing.

"I remember, just walk back along the road just a short distance away and there is a blackberry bush," he said, "you wait for me here, I will go and pick some fruits, and then we will go home." Abele lazily He leaned his head on a piece of soft moss, murmured, and soon fell asleep.In her dream she saw a dwarf, such a small person as she had never seen before, riding a crow, which circled above her head for a moment and then disappeared.Just then Yuri came back and put a bunch of strawberries with branches and leaves beside her.

"I can't bear to wake her up at this time." He thought to himself, walking through a silver willow forest to a place where he could see the whole lake.Under the moonlight, the lake is covered with a layer of mist, like a fairyland.Gradually, the thin silver-gray curtain seemed to split open, and many beauties with long green hair stretched out their hands and floated towards him.Yuri was startled, turned around and ran, but it was too late.

Abele was completely unaware that bad luck had befallen her brother Yuri, she was still sleeping, and she didn't even know that she was surrounded by a group of dwarves with long, long white beards.

"What shall we do with her?" asked a little man named Peak.Although these dwarfs around Abele are all very old, this dwarf named Peak looks older than the other dwarves.

"Make a cage and put her in it," replied a dwarf named Ruger.

"No, no. What do you do with such a pretty princess in a cage?" cried Digg.Tad, the kindest of them all, offered to send her home to her parents, but the other dwarves were too fond of their new toy to listen to him.

"Look, she's waking up soon," said a dwarf named Bou softly.At this moment, Abele slowly opened his eyes.At first, she thought she was dreaming, but when she saw the dwarves standing there and not disappearing, she suddenly realized that everything before her was real.Abele stood up abruptly and shouted:

"Yuri, Yuri, where are you?"

However, her cry made the dwarfs surround her even tighter.Abele trembled with fright and covered his face with his hands.For a moment the dwarves were stunned, not knowing what to do.Later, Todd climbed to a willow tree, stood on a branch above Abele's head, bent down and touched her fingers lightly.

Abel knew that he was showing her friendliness, so he put his hand down and stared at the dwarves who caught her.After a while she said:
"It's a pity you're so ugly, dwarfs. But I'd like you very much if you'd give me something to eat. I'm starving!"

As soon as she said this, the dwarfs cried out, some of them were very angry when they heard her say that she was ugly, and said she deserved to be left here alone; Then he laughed and said that they don't care what mortals think of them.Tad told Borg, their messenger, to bring her some milk and honey and good white bread baked in the ovens of their subterranean kingdom.It didn't take long—not even time for Abele to tie his shoelaces—Borg flew back on the crow's back.When Abele had put the bread, honey, and milk into her belly, she was no longer afraid, and was more than willing to talk to them.

"Dwarfs," she said, smiling, looking up, "you had a wonderful dinner, thank you. My name is Abele, and I have a brother named Yuri, help me find him." Come back. Besides, tell me which way to go back to the castle, my mother must be worried about us, afraid that something will happen!"

"But your feet are sore and sore that you can't walk," Digg said. "And we can't cross the border into your country. The best we can do is make a stretcher out of branches, cover it with moss, and put you Take it to the mountains to meet our king."

Many little girls are often terrified at the thought of being taken alone to a strange place.However, Abele, who had shaken off the initial panic, was happy about this unique adventure to come.

"When I get home, how many things can I tell my mother and Yuri! Maybe they will never have the chance to go to the mountains even if they live to be a hundred years old." So she curled up comfortably on the moss-made In the den, waiting to see what was about to happen.

They kept climbing and climbing, and gradually Abele fell asleep again, and did not wake up until the first sun.They are still climbing up, one small step at a time.Although the dwarves can jump from rock to rock much faster than mortals, they walk very slowly.Suddenly, the light cast on the stretcher through the branches began to change.Although it seemed to be as bright as before, it was different.Then the dwarves put down the stretcher, and they gathered around and helped Abele get off the stretcher.

Before her stood a dwarf, not half her height, but richly dressed and dignified.He wore a crown on his head, studded with huge diamonds, which made people worry about how his small body could support it.He wore a very splendid cloak over his shoulders, and held a spear in his hand.

"King Loch," reported a dwarf who had been in the forest just now, "we found this pretty little girl sleeping by the lake, and brought her to you. She said her name was Abele, and her The mother is the Duchess of Clarides."

"You have done well," said the King, "and she will be one of us." He stood on tiptoe to kiss her hand.He told her that they would all take care of her, make her happy, and get whatever she wanted right away.

"I want a pair of shoes," Abele said.

"Shoes!" ordered the king, poking the ground with his spear.Immediately a dwarf put on her feet a pair of silver-gray shoes studded with pearls.

"These are beautiful shoes," Abele said skeptically, "but do you think I'll be able to walk all the way back to my mother in these shoes?"

"No, it is not for you to wear it on rough roads," answered the king, "but on the flat roads in the mountains, and we have many wonderful things for you to see."

"Little King Locke," cried Abele, "please take away these beautiful sandals, and give me a pair of wooden shoes, and let me go back to mother!" King Locke, however, only shook his head.

"Little King Locke," Abele said again, this time her voice was trembling, "Let me go back to my mother and Yuri, I will love you with all my heart, just like loving them."

"Who is Yuri?" King Locke asked.

(End of this chapter)