orange fairy book

Chapter 21 Three treasures (1)

A long time ago, there was an old couple. They had three sons. The eldest was named Martin, the second was Mike, and the third was Jack.

One night they sat around the table and had dinner.

"Martin," the old man said suddenly, "I don't think I can live long. You are the eldest and will inherit this house, but you must cherish this blessing and treat your mother and two younger brothers well."

"Of course, papa, how can I treat them badly?" Martin answered, choosing the best thing on the plate.

It didn't take long for the old father to fall ill. He asked to call his three sons who were out hunting to see them for the last time.The old man gave instructions to the eldest and second child first, then turned to look at Jack.

"Son," he said, "you are not as smart as others, but since God has deprived you of some wisdom, he will give you a kind heart. You must act with this kind heart, and you must Listen to your mother and brother." After finishing speaking, the old man sank his head on the pillow and died.

After burying the old man, Martin and Mike decided to try their luck in the outside world together, leaving Jack to stay at home with his mother.Jack's favorite thing was to sit by the fire and dream, but his old mother said there was nothing he needed to do at home, and he should go out with his brothers.

So, one fine morning, the three brothers set off together.Martin and Mike carried two big bags of food, but Jack didn't bring anything, which made the two brothers very angry.Because the weather was very hot and the bags on their backs were heavy, they were very tired when it was almost noon, so they sat under a tree to rest. The two brothers began to eat, and Jack was also very hungry, but he didn't ask. Brother wants to eat.He thought of his dead father and what his father had said before he was alive, and threw himself under another tree and burst into tears.

Big brother Martin said, "Maybe next time you won't be so lazy and bring your own food." But to his surprise, Jack answered him like this:
"You two are really good! You keep saying that you want to find your own way and don't burden your mother, but when you go out, you take all the food at home!"

This answer was beyond my brother's expectation, so they were so ashamed for a while that they didn't know how to answer. Then they all took the initiative to give Jack some food, and after he finished eating, they went on the road again.

When it was getting dark, they came to a hut, knocked on the door and asked if they could spend the night there.The master, who was a woodcutter, invited them into the house and made them sit down for supper.Martin thanked the master, and because he wanted to save face, he told the master that they had brought a lot of dry food and only wanted to stay overnight, and then he and Mike opened the bag and began to eat.At this time, Jack was hiding in the corner, and the hostess felt sorry for him when she saw him, so she asked him to have dinner together, and Jack accepted it happily.Martin saw his brother enjoying the delicious dishes and the delicious fresh soup, while he himself chewed the hard bread and cheese, which tasted like wax, and he felt very sorry for his previous refusal. He thought: The kid won't have such a good chance again."

The next morning, in order to get revenge on his brother, Martin decided to go into a dense forest, where they would probably not meet anyone.

They could not find their way, and after walking to and fro in the wood for a long time, at last they came to an open place where there was a castle.Jack cried out happily, but Martin lost his temper, and said angrily:
"We must be going in the wrong direction! Turn back."

By this time Mike, too, was hungry, so his temper grew very bad-tempered, and he replied, "Idiot! We're all out here to go wandering, so what does it matter where we go?" And without a word he went straight to the castle , Jack followed him, and after a while, Martin followed.

The gate of the castle was open, and they entered the hall and looked around, but there was no one there.Jack ventured forward and opened a door, and to their amazement, the resplendent hall was filled with heaps of copper coins, piled from floor to ceiling.

Martin and Mike were dazzled by everything in front of them. They poured out all the remaining food in the bag, and put copper coins into it by the handful.

While they were filling the bag, Jack opened the door of another hall, and it turned out to be full of silver.The two brothers immediately poured out all the copper coins in the bag, and then put the silver in the bag.When they filled the bags, Jack opened the door of the third hall, and all three of them stepped back in amazement, because the room was full of gold, and the dazzling light blinded their eyes. opened.However, they soon recovered from their astonishment, and the two brothers quickly poured out the silver in the bag, and filled it with gold, until it was too full to hold any more, and Martin said:
"We'd better leave at once, and we'll be in trouble if anyone comes." With that, he left the castle in a hurry, with Mike following him closely.Jack lagged behind, pocketing the few pieces of gold, silver, and brass that had fallen on the floor, and eating the food his brother had left in the first hall.When Jack caught up with the two older brothers, he found them resting in the woods.The sun was going down now, and Martin was beginning to feel hungry, so when he saw Jack coming, he told him to go back to the castle, and get back the bread and cheese that had been left there.

"There's no need to go back," Jack replied, "because I ate them all."

The two brothers were very angry when they heard his answer, and threw themselves on Jack, punching and kicking him and insulting him, and they didn't let go until they were exhausted.

At last Martin cried, "Go where you want, and don't follow us." Poor Jack went away crying.

The next day, the two elder brothers returned home, bought a beautiful house, lived in it with their mother, and lived a luxurious life like an aristocrat.

Jack stayed in the woods for a few hours and began to think about what he should do.At last he decided to go back to the castle and take away enough treasures to allow him to live comfortably in the future.He got up from the ground and walked towards the castle.As before, the door was open, and he went straight to the hall full of gold, took off his coat, tied up the sleeves so that it could be used as a bag, and then, by the handful, he began The gold was packed into the clothes, but at this moment, an earthquake-like sound made the castle tremble, followed by a voice hoarse like a bull's voice:
"I smell people." Then two giants came in, and they saw Jack.

The taller giant said, "Little one, so you stole our treasure! Well done, we have you, and we are going to cook you for dinner!"

Just then another giant, who was a little smaller, took him aside, and the two giants talked for a while in low tones, and then the larger giant said:

"In order to please my friend, I decided to spare your life, but I have one condition, that is, you will be responsible for keeping our treasure in the future. There is a small table here, if you are hungry, just knock on it The little table says 'Emperor's Feast' so you can have what you want."

Jack happily agreed to the giant's request.For the next few days, he enjoyed it because he had what he wanted to eat and didn't have to do anything from morning to night, but he was getting tired of this kind of life.

"Let the Giants keep their treasures for themselves," he thought at last, "I am going away from here, but I don't want to take the gold and the silver with me, I only want to take you—my lovely little table."

So he picked up the little table and started to walk towards the woods. After a while, he came out of the woods and came to a field.There he met an old man who begged him for something to eat.

Jack happily replied: "You have found the right person." He asked the old man to sit with him under the tree, then put the table in front of them, knocked three times, and shouted: "The emperor's feast!" , All kinds of fish and meat appeared on the table!
(End of this chapter)