orange fairy book

Chapter 9 Daughter Fish (2)

The ant shouted: "Monkey, come!" In another blink of an eye, the ant turned into a monkey, grabbed the tallest branch and jumped into the room like a swing, only to see the giant sleeping on the bed, snoring again and again.

"If he sees me, he'll probably die of fright, and then I won't know where the crown is," thought the monkey. "I'd better be another animal." Then she cried softly. : "Parrot, come on!"

Then a red and gray parrot jumped up in front of the Giant, who was just awake and stretching himself, and his yawn made the castle shake.The parrot waited a little while, and when the Giant was quite awake, she dared to speak to him, and said, "Since your daughter is dead, the crown is no longer yours, and I have been ordered to take it away."

The giant jumped up from the bed with a roar when he heard this, and rushed to the parrot, trying to break the parrot's neck with his big hands, but the parrot dodged so quickly that the giant could not catch her.She flew up behind the Giant and said, "Be patient, I beg you, for I will do you no good if I die."

"You are right," replied the Giant, "but I am not so foolish as to give you the crown for nothing. I will think what I will give you in exchange!" And he scratched his big head.At last, his eyes lit up, and he said, "Oh, yes, that's it! There are some beautiful sapphires on St. Martin's Arch, and if you take them out and put them in a necklace for me, I'll give you the crown. "

She had heard of this magnificent arch before, and the precious stones and carvings set in it.The gems were part of the arch, and it seemed difficult to remove them from the arch, but since it was the only way of getting the crown, she had to try anyway.She bowed to the giant, flew out of the window where the giant could not see, and shouted hastily:
"Eagle, come on!"

Before flying to the tree, she felt that she had a pair of powerful wings, even if she wanted to fly into the clouds, it would be a breeze.She flitted through the air like a speck until she saw the sunlit Arch of St. Martin on the ground.She swooped down and hid behind the buttress, so that no one under the arch could find her.Then, she began to peck out the nearest sapphires one by one with her mouth.It was much more difficult than she expected, but in the end she finished it, and her heart was filled with hope.Then she found a string hanging from a nearby tree, so she took it down and strung the gems together.When the jeweled necklace was finished, she hung it around her own neck, flew back to the castle, and stopped outside the window where the giant could not see, and called, "Come, parrot!"

In a blink of an eye, the red and gray parrot was standing in front of the giant again.

"This is the necklace you want," said the parrot. The Giant's eyes shone as he took the string of sapphires into his hand, but he was not going to give up the crown though.

He pretended to complain, "It's not as blue as I thought it would be. But since you want that crown so badly, I'll give you one more chance and bring me something else."

The parrot asked: "What do you want now?" The giant replied:

"If I want to give you my crown, I must have a more beautiful one. This time, you will bring me the crown studded with stars."

The parrot went away, and said as soon as he came out of the castle:
"Toad, come!" She turned into a toad, and began to look for the crown studded with stars.

It happened to be night at this time, and she came to a clear pond within a short distance. The reflections of the stars in the pond were shining brightly, as if they were really within reach.She stooped and filled the sparkling water in the pouch she had brought, and fashioned a crown out of the reflections of the stars.When she was done she went back to the castle, and called again:
"Come on, parrot!" So she turned into a parrot to meet the giant.

She said: "This is the crown you want." This time, the giant couldn't help but click his tongue in admiration.He knew that he had to admit defeat, so he held the exquisite crown of stars and said to the parrot:
"You are indeed more capable than me, take that crown, you won it with your strength!"

After the parrot took the crown that the giant gave her, she jumped onto the windowsill and called, "Monkey, come!" It took the monkey no more than half a minute to climb into the courtyard under the tree.When she reached the ground, she said, "Come on, Ant!" As the monkey turned into a tiny ant, the crown shrunk down until it was almost invisible. Wall, how happy she was to leave the giant's castle at last!When she called again, "Come on, deer," the crown grew back to its original size.

The deer ran so fast, it was hard to believe that a deer could run so fast!She ran and ran, crossed the river, walked through the woods, and finally came to the sea.At last she cried:
"Come, fish!" Then she jumped into the water and swam down to the palace under the sea, where the Queen and the other fish were waiting for her.

The fish felt that she had been gone for a long time, and many fish had given up hope.

One of them was a beautiful little fish that changed color every time she moved. She complained, "I'm tired of waiting here. I want to see how the world is up there. That fish seems to have gone a few It's been a month."

Another fish said, "This task is too difficult. The giant must have killed her, otherwise she should have come back long ago."

"Now is the time for the worms to come out," another fish murmured in a low voice, "if we don't eat them, the river fish will eat them up! Terrible!"

At this time, a voice suddenly came from behind: "Look! There is a shiny thing swimming towards us quickly, what is it?" The Queen stood up with her tail immediately after hearing this, very excited.

Everyone became quiet all of a sudden, even the few fish who complained just now shut their mouths, and everyone stared in that direction together.The little fish came gradually, holding the crown tightly in its mouth, and the other fish backed away to make way for her.The little fish swam straight up to the queen, and the queen bent down to take the crown and put it on her head. At this moment, a wonderful thing happened—her tail disappeared, or in other words, her tail separated and became the world The most beautiful two legs, and the fish around her also lost their scales and turned back into a girl.They looked at each other, and then they all turned to the little fish who had restored them, and found that she was also restored, and the most beautiful of them all.Even more incredible is that they have all returned to land.

"It's you who gave us a new life, it's you, it's you!" They cheered and cried with joy.

They returned to the original palace with the queen, and the underwater palace had been left behind by them.They've been away for a long time, so a lot has changed here.The queen's husband died a few years ago and her son has grown up and taken the throne!
Although the king was happy to be reunited with his mother, there was always a lingering sadness in his heart.Later, the queen couldn't bear to see her son depressed, and wanted to know the reason, so she invited him to take a walk in the garden together.They sat together in a gazebo planted with jasmine flowers—the place she used to come to when she was first married.She took her son's hand and asked, "What is it that makes you unhappy? Tell me, and I will do my best to make you happy!"

"It is useless," replied the prince, "no one can help me, I have to bear it myself."

The queen persuaded again: "But you at least let me share your sorrow for you."

"It's no use," said the prince, "I'm in love with someone I'll never have, can't forget, and can't be replaced."

"Things may not be as bad as you think," replied the queen, "anyway, tell me first."

The two of them were silent for a while, then the prince turned to his mother and said softly:

"I fell in love with a beautiful deer! But I always believed that she was originally a girl."

The queen said happily after hearing this: "Oh, if that's the reason..." The queen's next words confirmed the prince's guess was right, it was not a deer, but a girl who had been enchanted, and , it was she who won back the crown so that they could return home.

"Here she is, in my palace," continued the queen, "and I will take you to her."

When the prince stood before the girl, he saw that she was much more beautiful than in his dream, but he could not be sure that she was the fawn.

At this time, the girl walked towards him. When she looked at the prince, her eyes were the same as those of the deer in the forest. She said softly in the prince's ear:
"Please do me a favor, let me go, don't kill me."

The prince remembered this sentence, and the person he had longed for was finally in front of him, and he felt very happy.And the queen, his mother, looked at them and smiled.

(End of this chapter)