red fairy book

Chapter 12 Black the Thief and Sir Canyon (1)
Long, long ago, there lived a king and queen in the south of Ireland.They had three beautiful sons, but their mother was dying of illness when they were very young.The whole court was in mourning, especially the king, and no one could comfort him.

Seeing death approaching, she called the king to her side, and said, "I am leaving you. You are young and full of energy, and you will remarry after I die. My only request is that, on an island in the sea Build a tower, and let your sons live there till they can manage their own affairs, so that no other woman can control them. Give them an education worthy of their rank, and teach them the necessary diversions and amusements. That's all I have to say."

The king promised with tears that he would do all this, and the queen lay down and died smiling.The court, and even the whole country, were shrouded in sorrow.Because there is no other good woman like the queen in this world.Her funeral was huge and her husband was heartbroken for her.He kept his word, built the tower, and sent his sons away.

The landowners and lords advised the king that he was too young to live like this, and that he should take another wife.

They helped him choose a rich and beautiful princess, the daughter of the neighboring king.The king loved her very much.Not long after, the queen gave birth to a son, and the court held a feast to celebrate the birth of the child.By this time the dead queen was almost forgotten.The king and the new queen lived happily for several years.

The queen had a quarrel with the hen-woman, went and talked with her for a long time in person, and told her to go away.The henwoman said the Queen's neck must have been broken when she came back.The queen, irritated by the threat of this humble servant, asked her why, or she would be executed.

"You'd better pay me a good price, it's worth it," said the hen woman. "What I'm going to tell you is very important."

"What will you pay?" asked the queen.

"You must give me," she said, "a sack of wool; I have an old jar, and you will fill me with butter; and I will have a pail, and you will fill me with wheat."

"How much is a sack of wool?" asked the Queen.

"The wool of seven sheep will grow seven times in seven years," she replied.

"How much cream can your jar hold?"

"Seven sticks of cream. That's more in seven years," she said.

"How much wheat can you put in your bucket?" asked the Queen again.

"It only takes seven years to become seven barrels."

"A good amount," said the queen. "If your reason is really special, I will give it to you."

"Okay," said the henwoman, "I'll tell you, because you're so stupid that you don't even know that there are things around you that threaten your safety and your son's safety."

"What is it?" asked the Queen.

"Wow, the king and his ex-wife have three beautiful sons, and he shut them all up in the tower, and when they grow up, he's going to give them the kingdom, and let your son try his luck in the world. If you don't want to find a way to destroy them In the end, you and your son will be alone."

"What do you think I should do?" she said, "I don't know what to do with this kind of thing."

"You must tell the king that you have heard about his son and would like to know why he kept it from you. Tell him that you want to see them and that he will let them go. If he brings them back, he will prepare a feast. Yes, and prepare a show to make everyone happy. You, ask the princes to play cards with you, they will definitely not refuse. Of course, you have to tell them that if you win, they have to listen to you , do what you want them to do.

If they win, you listen to them.Well, here's the card, you can't lose. "

The queen immediately took the cards, expressed her gratitude to the chicken woman, and returned to the palace.She mentioned his sons to the king anxiously, and at last she persuaded him politely and gently, without letting him see any flaws. He gladly granted her wish, and the sons were happy to be released from prison Come back to the palace.

The three princes were handsome and proficient in various entertainments, and soon won the respect of the people.The queen was even more jealous.When the feast and festivities are over, she will be able to carry out her plans, of course, depending on the potency of the hen-woman's deck.Then the game began, and the Queen cunningly challenged the Princes to play cards with her, and said those words as the Hen-woman had told her to do.

The princes accepted the challenge and the first round was the grand prince, which she won.The second round was the second prince, and she won again.The third round was the little prince, and he won.Now she was very sad, the little prince was the most handsome and cutest, but he got rid of her control.

Everyone wanted to hear what the queen wanted the princes to do, but it never occurred to her that she was making bad ideas.Whether it was the chicken mother who taught her, or whether she thought so herself, I dare not say. Anyway, she asked them to bring Sir Canyon's horse back to her, or they would be beheaded.

The little prince didn't know it was dangerous, but the whole court was shocked.Everyone knew that it was impossible to bring back the war horse, and everyone who went there died, but the princes could not take back their promise.

Everyone is waiting for the little prince's wish to see what he wants her to do.

"My brothers are going out," he said. "It's a dangerous journey. They don't know which way to go, and they don't know what's going to happen. I decided to go with them. My request is, Ask the Queen to stand on the tallest tower in the palace until we come back, or until we die. She can take nothing up there, but she can eat corn and bring some cold water to drink. We may have seven years, or more."

That's it.The three princes set out to find Sir Canyon.

As they walked along the road they came upon a little lame man who seemed to have been walking for years.

They talked, and the little prince asked his name, and why he wore such a striking black hat.

"That's the only way," he said. "You see me coming out of a hat. Sometimes I'm Sloan the Thief, and sometimes I'm Black the Thief." He told the princes about his adventure, and asked them Where to go, what to do.

The little prince told it from the beginning to the end, and then said: "Now we don't know whether we have gone the wrong way."

"Ah! Brave young man!" said Blake the Thief, "you don't know how dangerous it is. I have been following this horse for seven years, and I have never been able to get it because of the piece of silk that covered it. The piece There are sixty bells on the silk, and as soon as anyone approaches the horse, it sees it and rings it furiously, and the ringing of the bells will startle the prince and the guards, and be heard all over the country. It will be bad to be caught by Sir Gran , he would put people in the stove to cook."

"God bless!" said the little prince, "what shall we do? We shall lose our heads when we go back, and in any case we shall die."

"Well." Thief Sloan said, "If it were me, I would rather be killed by the knight. I will go with you and show you the way. We share our destiny."

The princes thanked him sincerely.Thief Sloan knew the way well, and in a short while they saw the castle.

"Now, we'll have to wait until dark. I know the palace well, they're asleep, and we might have a chance.

You know, Jazz has guards everywhere for this horse. "

In the dead of night, the three princes and the thief Sloan went to steal the war horse.But before they reached the stable, the horse neighed and swayed horribly.The bell rang, and Jazz and the people woke up.

The thief Black and the princes did not run away, they were surrounded by soldiers and thrown into prison.There, Sir's furnace was always burning, and Sir threw all the intruders into it, and it burned out in a while.

"Bold rascals!" said Ser Grann, "how dare you come and steal my steeds? Well, now it's time. I'll cook you one by one, and you'll see what happens to your companions."

He ordered his subordinates to poke the fire: "Let's cook the guy who looks the biggest first. This guy in the black hat looks like the leader. He should have been here many times."

"Like the Prince, I am dying," said Black the Thief, "but I will run away, and so will the Prince."

"Oh, you can't run away," Jazz said. "So do they, but in two or three minutes, it's their turn."

"If you're right, I should be dead, but here I am," said Black the Thief.

"What's the matter?" said Sir, "I should be very interested to hear your strange story."

"I can speak, sir, if you like," said Black the Thief, "but I am far more dangerous than the young man. Will you forgive the young man if I do?"

"I will. Go ahead," said the sergeant.

(End of this chapter)