orange fairy book

Chapter 29 Frog Fairy and Lion Spirit (2)

So the queen went away, and taking a small ax which was by the gate, went to the cypress grove to chop some wood for the house.The enthusiastic frogs also came to help, but their movements were still too slow, so the frog called the six thousand little frogs to help.Soon, they built the most beautiful little house in the world. The little frog also helped to retrieve some hay from the top of the [-] steps, and made a bed and put it in a corner of the house. This bed looked soft and soft. Comfortable, the queen was very happy to lie on it.She was so tired from morning to night, but she had just fallen asleep when the monsters in the lake started making horrible noises, and a dragon crawled in to frighten her, and she ran out of the house in fright— — In fact, that's exactly what the dragon was for!

The poor queen spent the night curled up under a large rock.The next morning, she awoke from the nightmare, and to her delight the frog was watching over her.

"It looks like we're going to build a house again," said the Frog to the Queen. "I don't think we'll build by the lake this time." Then they went together to find wood and rebuild the house.

The little house was built in no time, and they made a bed out of wild thyme, which smells delicious.The queen and the frog told no one, but somehow word of it got to the lion spirit (as it always seems to happen), so the lion spirit sent a big crow to bring the queen to her before.

"What kind of person or god is helping you?" Lion Spirit frowned and asked, "Because of the continuous sulfur rain, the earth has become dry and no grass can grow, but I heard that your bed is made of fragrant herbs. .Since you can find flowers and plants for yourself, of course you can also find them for me. After an hour, you will place a bouquet of the rarest fragrant flowers in my room, otherwise... Humph! You can go now."

The poor queen went sadly to her cottage, where the frog was waiting for her, and saw her sorrow at a glance.

"What happened?" asked the frog with a smile.

"Oh, you can still laugh!" replied the Queen. "This time I must bring her a bouquet of the rarest fragrant flowers within an hour. Where shall I find it? If I cannot, she will Killed me."

"That's right, I'll see if I can help you," replied the frog, "The only friend I have here is a bat, she is kind and always helps me, so I'm going to lend her my hat." , after she puts it on, she can fly to the upper world and bring back what she wants. I wanted to go there myself, but she can hurry up."

The queen wiped away her tears happily, and waited patiently.In less than an hour the bat flew back with all the most beautiful and fragrant flowers on earth.The queen rushed to the palace of the lion spirit with these flowers, and the lion spirit was so surprised that he had nothing to say when he saw the flowers.

Although the queen escaped another disaster, she was very homesick when she smelled and touched the flowers. She told the frog, "I can't bear it anymore. If I don't want to escape from here, I'd rather die."

"Let me show you my hat," said the Frog, and took off his hat and put it in a box, and sprinkled it with a few twigs, some donkey grass, and two peas, and then she closed the box, He muttered something in a low voice that the queen could not understand.

After a while, a voice in the box began to speak:

"Fate rules us, so you are not allowed to leave here until certain things come true, however, you will receive a gift that will comfort you in case of any trouble."

The voice was right, and a few days later, when the frog entered the queen's room, he saw beside her a baby, the most beautiful baby in the world.

"The hat seems to keep its word," cried the Frog happily. "Look at her cheeks, and her little feet! What shall we call her?"

They thought up a thousand names, but gave up for a thousand reasons—one was too long, another was too short, this one didn't sound good, and that one reminded the queen of someone she didn't like.At last a name came to the queen's mind, and she cried:
"That's right! Just call her Muffet."

"That's a good name," cried the frog, jumping up high.

When Muffet was six months old, the frog found that the queen was sad again.

One day, the frog came to play with the baby, and the baby could already crawl.The game they play is to let Muffet crawl to the frog. As long as the baby makes a happy cry, the frog will jump into the air and land on the baby's head, back or legs. There is no such good playmate as a frog in the world. .

Although the frog had a good time with the baby, she still noticed the sad look of the queen. She asked the queen, "Why are your eyes so sad? I don't understand what you can complain about now. Muffet is healthy." , very happy, even the lion spirit treats her very well when she sees her. Why on earth are you doing this?"

"Oh! if only her father could see her!" said the Queen, clasping her hands together; "or if I could tell him all that has happened since we parted. But he must have known Crashed news, will definitely think I'm dead, or eaten by wild beasts, although he will miss me, I know that, but he will soon remarry a young and beautiful wife, he will forget about me .”

In fact, the queen's conjecture was almost correct, except that the king had to wait nine years before agreeing to another marriage.

The frog didn't answer then, but she stopped playing, jumped into the cypress forest, and sat there thinking and thinking.Next morning she went to the queen and said to her:

"Madame, here I come, and I have a plan, that is, I will go to the king in your place, and tell him what happened to you, and let him know that he has a daughter, the most beautiful baby in the world. It is a long way, and My speed is also very slow, but I will go to him sooner or later. But, leaving you alone, without my protection, are you afraid? You think about it carefully, and you decide."

"Oh, don't think about it." The queen exclaimed happily, holding hands and raising them, and asked Muffet to do the same to express her gratitude. "I'm going to write him a letter to let him know you're coming from me." She pricked her finger and wrote a few words in blood on the corner of her handkerchief, then tore off the corner of the handkerchief, Give it to the frogs, and they say goodbye.

Because the frog was under the spell of a witch, it took her a year and four days to climb the [-] steps.When she reached the top of the steps she was so tired that she had to spend another year resting by a small river, and when she set off again she had been away from the queen for nearly two years.

First came her bodyguards—grasshoppers, then her handmaidens—the little green frogs you'd see in the fields, each riding a snail with a velvet saddle, and then The water-rat in his squire's clothes, and lastly the frog herself, lay in a litter made of tortoise shells, and was carried by eight toads.Because the sedan chair is very spacious, she is very comfortable lying in the sedan chair with that hat on.

They walked away for seven years. During the seven years, although Muffet gave the queen a lot of comfort, the queen was still tormented by the hope in her heart.Fortunately, the lion spirit likes to take the mother and daughter to hunt in the upper world. If not, the queen may have died of pain.Although the queen is sad, it is always a joy to her to see the sun again.As for little Muffet, she has been very accurate with her arrows since she was seven years old, and she rarely misses the target.After all, the seven years of waiting passed faster than the queen imagined.

Frog was always careful to maintain her dignified image, and she refused to show her face in public, even on the highway, where she might meet someone.But sometimes, when the team had to cross a river, or pass through a swamp, she would order the team to stop.They took off their fine clothes and left their mounts aside, and the grasshoppers, water-rats, and even the frogs themselves played in the mud for an hour or two.

At last, the end was near, and when they saw the king's castle, they forgot all the hardships and hardships they had traveled along the way.On a sunny morning, this team entered the gate of the palace with the pomp of royal envoys, causing an unprecedented sensation!The doors and windows, and even the roof were crowded with people, and their cheers reached the king's ears, but the king had no time to pay attention to it at this time, because nine years had passed, and he had granted the courtier's request, His second wedding will be held the next day.

When the frog's sedan chair stopped in front of the steps of the palace, she leaned forward a little and waved to a guard standing at the door, beckoning him to come.

"I want to see your Majesty," she said.

The soldier replied: "Your Majesty is busy, and no one will be seen."

"Your Majesty will meet me." When the frog spoke, his eyes were fixed on the guard, so somehow, the guard led the team through the corridor into the reception hall.There sat the king, surrounded by the nobles, who were discussing the dresses that everyone would wear to the king's wedding.

Everyone was surprised when the team stepped forward.Everyone was still more amazed when the frog jumped out of the litter onto the ground, and then onto the arm of the king's chair.

"I have come just in time, Your Majesty," began the Frog; "if I had been a day late, you would have broken the promise you made to the Queen nine years ago."

Although everyone present expected the king to sternly reprimand the frog for his rude words and deeds, the king said gently: "I will miss her deeply forever, but you must know, Miss Frog, that a king seldom does what he wants." , he must also respect the wishes of his subjects. For nine years, I have been refusing their request, but now I can no longer refuse, I have chosen a young and beautiful woman to be my second wife, she is there Playing with the ball."

"No matter how beautiful she is, you can't marry her, because your wife is still alive. She wrote you a letter in blood and asked me to bring it to you." handkerchief, and continued: "Besides, you have a daughter, she is almost nine years old, and she is the most beautiful girl in the world."

When the king heard these words, his face turned pale, and his hands trembled violently. He was so excited that he couldn't see what the queen had written.He kissed the handkerchief, burst into tears, and was unable to speak for some minutes.He told the courtiers that it was indeed the queen's handwriting, and since they knew the good news that the queen was still alive, the second wedding was of course unnecessary.This naturally displeased the ambassadors who brought the bride into the palace, and one of the ambassadors even asked the king angrily: "You are the king of a country, how can you listen to the nonsense of a frog that is not a thing, and make the princess suffer insults?"

The frog retorted angrily, "I'm not 'a frog that's nothing,' and I'll prove it to you." She put on her hat and called, "Come on, my fairy friends!" Immediately the little fairies stood before her, each wearing a beautiful tiara on her head.Of course, no one would have guessed that they were the snails, water-rats, and grasshoppers that the frog had chosen as his followers.

At a gesture from the frog, the fairies danced the ballet, and everyone was so delighted that they begged them to dance again.However, at this time, it is no longer boys and girls dancing, but flowers.Then these flowers turned into fountains, and the water jets flowed from both sides of the hall in a staggered manner, and poured down the steps like a waterfall, forming a small river around the castle, on which floated colorful gilded boats.

(End of this chapter)