orange fairy book

Chapter 8 Daughter Fish (1)

A long time ago, there was a couple who lived by the river and they had a daughter.Because she was still young, her parents always spoiled her, never taught her manners, and even if she did something wrong, they were never willing to punish her.As for the work—she wouldn't do it at all if her mother asked her to help with the cooking or washing the dishes.She dances and plays with her friends all day long.

One day, my mother was tired and sick.She couldn't bear her mother to continue to work hard, so she finally agreed to help.Mom asked her to go to the river to mend the nets, because Dad was going out fishing that night.

The girl took the fishing net and darned it very carefully, and it didn't take long to mend all the holes.While mending fishing nets, everyone passing by would stop and chat with her. Although this made her very happy, what made her most proud was mending the fishing nets by herself.At this time the sun was already at the top, and she was about to put away the fishing net and go home, when she suddenly heard the sound of splashing water behind her, she looked back, and it turned out that a big fish jumped out of the water.She cast the net into the water, and the water rippled round and round, and she caught the net.

She shouted to the fish, "Wow, you look so pretty!"

The fish looked up at her and said, "You better not kill me, if you do, I'll turn you into a fish!"

The girl didn't think so, and went home with the fish.

"Look what I brought back," she said happily. "This fish should be delicious, although it's a pity to eat it, because it can talk, and it said that if I kill it, it will turn me into a fish." It's a fish."

"Oh, let him go, let him go!" pleaded her mother. "Maybe it does some kind of magic, and what if something happens to you?"

"Oh, mother, that's all nonsense. What can such a fish do to me? Besides, I'm very hungry now, and I'm just waiting for the fish." After saying that, she went out to play.

After about an hour, the horn at home told her it was time for lunch.

"This fish looks delicious!" She said, scooping up a large piece of fish with a spoon.But when she swallowed the fish, she shivered all over.Then, her head seemed to be flattened, her eyes looked to both sides strangely, her arms were clinging to the sides of her body, her legs were also tightly together, and it became very difficult to breathe.With a hard jump, she jumped out the window and into the river, where she felt more comfortable, and swam into the nearby sea.

As soon as she swam into the sea, many fish saw her and swam towards her. Her sad expression caught the attention of those fish, so the fish asked her to tell her story.

"I'm not a fish at all," the new fish gulped down a mouthful of salty sea water as soon as he said a word. After all, he couldn't adapt to the sudden change from a human to a fish. Well, at least a few minutes ago I was a girl, but..." She hid her head in the waves, not wanting the other fish to see her cry.

"But you don't believe that fish you caught can really turn you into a fish, do you?" an old tuna comforted her. My life is really good. Cheer up and come with us to the palace to meet the queen, I dare say her palace is the most beautiful in the world."

The new fish was a little apprehensive, but she was more afraid of being alone, so she wagged her tail in agreement, and she set off with hundreds of fish.When the people on the rocks and in the steamer saw them swimming by, they said, "Look, what a majestic school of fish!" They didn't know that the school of fish was going to the queen's palace.

People on land have no way of knowing what's going on under the sea, and this new fish certainly doesn't know what the underwater world is like.She had seen jellyfish and nautiluses floating close to the surface, and beautiful seaweed of all colors floating around, but that was only what she saw at the seashore.Now, as she gradually dives into the depths, the eye is drawn to something strange - lumps of gold, giant anchors, piles of pearls, priceless gems... all strewn across the ocean floor!There are also human skeletons there, as well as white creatures that have not seen the sun for many years, because they basically grow in the crevices of the rocks, and the sun can't reach them at all.

"We have arrived at last, and that is the palace of the Fish Queen. I think you will think that no king in the world has such a beautiful palace." A big fish shouted as he swam into a deep valley-don't forget , The seabed also has mountains and valleys just like land.

"It's so beautiful!" said the little fish panting. She swam as hard as she could to keep up with the fish along the way, and now she felt exhausted.

The palace was indeed indescribably beautiful—the walls were pink coral, smoothed by the flowing sea, and strings of pearls hung by the windows.The door was left open, and the whole school of fish swam into the hall of the audience.The queen's upper body is a woman, and she is sitting on the throne, which is made of blue and green shells.

Everyone pushed the new fish to the front, and the queen asked her, "Who are you and where did you come from?" The little fish told the queen his story in a low and trembling voice.

After Xiao Yu'er finished speaking, the queen was deeply touched and told her own story: "I was once a girl too, and my father was the king of a big country. He chose a husband for me, and on the wedding day, my mother put She put the crown on my head and told me that if I wore it I would be Queen. I have been very happy ever since and had a lovely son and we are very happy. But one morning, I While walking in the garden, a giant suddenly appeared and snatched my crown. He grabbed me tightly and said that he was going to give the crown to his daughter, and that he would confuse my husband into thinking that woman was Me. Since then, his daughter has taken my place as queen. And I was so sad that I chose to jump into the sea to kill myself. My maids loved me very much and jumped into the sea with me. There is a witch who pities me Fate, instead of letting us die, she turned us all into fish, and let me keep a woman's face and upper body. We will always be fish, unless someone takes my crown back!"

"Tell me what to do, and I'll get the crown back," cried the little fish, who would do anything to get her back on land and back to her old self.The Queen replied:

"Okay, I'll tell you what to do."

The queen was silent for a moment, then said:
"If you do as I tell you, there will be no danger. First you must go back to land, and then to the top of a high mountain where the giant's castle is built. He is now sitting on the steps for his The daughter wept, for just as the prince was out hunting, his daughter died, and before she died she sent a faithful servant to give him the crown. But I warn you, be careful when you go to him to get the crown, Because if he sees you, he will kill you. So, I will give you a superpower, so that you can turn into any animal, which is convenient for you to move at any time. You just need to knock on the forehead and say the name of the animal The name will do."

The journey back to land seemed to be much shorter than imagined. As soon as the little fish came ashore, he raised his tail and knocked on his forehead, shouting:

"Deer, come on!"

In an instant, the slippery little fish was gone, and in its place was a beautiful deer, with forked horns and slender legs, ready to go.She turned her head and took a breath, and then jumped up, crossing the river briskly, and surmounting all obstacles in the way.

It so happened that a prince went hunting early in the morning, but he didn't get any results. When he was resting under the tree, a deer passed by, so he decided to catch her.The prince jumped on his horse, and the horse galloped like the wind, and he had hunted often in this forest, and knew all the shortcuts, so that at last he overtook the panting deer.

"Please, please, let me go and don't kill me," Lu'er said to the prince with tears in his eyes, "because I have a long way to go and I have important things to do." When the prince was surprised When he was stunned, Lu'er jumped over the obstacle in front of him and disappeared in a blink of an eye.

The prince took the rein, and made no attempt to chase her, thinking: That can't be a deer, no deer has eyes like that.She must be a girl, but bewitched, I'm in love with her, and I'll marry no one but her.So he turned his horse's head and walked slowly back to the palace.

When the deer ran to the castle built by the giant on the top of the mountain, he saw the high and flat walls around the castle, and was immediately discouraged.After a while, she had an idea and called out:

"Ant, come on!" In the blink of an eye, the forked horns and beautiful body disappeared, replaced by a small brown ant, which no one could see unless you looked closely.So she began to climb up the wall.

She crawls extremely fast, don't underestimate such a little ant!After she had climbed to the top of the wall and down the other side, into the courtyard of the castle, she paused to consider what to do next.She looked around and saw a tree next to one of the walls, the tallest branch almost reaching the window in the corner.

(End of this chapter)