green fairy tale book

Chapter 2 White Snake
Once upon a time there was a king who was famous for his wisdom.It seems that there is nothing in the world that he does not know, and even the most secret news will somehow reach his ears.But the king had an odd habit.Every night after dinner, when the table was cleared and everyone else had left, one of his most trusted servants would serve him a dish.No one knew what the dish was, not even the servants who served it, because the king never shared it with others and never lifted the lid of the plate in front of anyone.

This situation continued for a long time.One day, the servant serving him could no longer restrain his curiosity. He quietly brought the dishes into his room, locked the door carefully, and opened the lid of the plate—the dishes on the plate It turned out to be a white snake.He couldn't help but want to taste the taste of the white snake, so he cut off a small piece of snake meat and put it in his mouth.As soon as the snake meat touched his tongue, he heard some strange voices whispering outside the window.He went to the window and listened carefully, looking for the source of the sound, and found that it was actually a few sparrows gathered together, chirping and talking about what he saw in the fields and forests.It turned out that after eating the piece of white snake meat, he could already understand the language of animals.

It just so happened that the queen lost her most beloved ring that day.Since this loyal servant is the king's confidant and can freely go in and out of the palace, the suspicion first fell on him.The king angrily called him before him, and threatened him that if the servant could not find the thief who had stolen the ring before tomorrow, he would be arrested and tortured.The servant knew that the king was doubting him, but even if he defended himself, saying that he was innocent, how could the king listen?He was anxious and afraid, so he had to pace the yard while thinking about what he should do.

Not far from him, there is a group of ducks flapping their wings in the pond, sometimes combing their feathers with their beaks, and sometimes chatting with each other.So the servant stood by the pond and listened to what they had to say.The ducks talked about where they had gone for a walk in the morning and what good food they had found.One of the ducks looked very distressed, and said, "I have a heavy thing in my stomach, and I'm afraid I'm going to make a gastroptosis! Well, I found some delicious food under the queen's window this morning, and I ate too much." In a hurry, I actually swallowed a ring that was on the ground. Now my stomach hurts like hell."

Hearing this, the servant immediately rushed into the sink, grabbed the duck by the neck, carried it into the kitchen, and said to the cook, "This duck is fat and big, just kill it."

"That's right," the chef weighed the weight of the duck with his hands, "This guy is eating himself fat, he must have been waiting to be put into the pot." So he chopped off the duck's head with a knife, and waited until the After the duck was disemboweled, the queen's ring was found in its stomach.

Now, the servant easily proved his innocence.The king felt that he had misunderstood his loyal servant, and wanted to give him some compensation to make up for his spiritual wounds.So he asked the servant what he wanted, and said that if he wanted to be an official, let him be the biggest official in the court.

But the servant politely declined, and just asked for a horse and some money, because he really wanted to go out into the world.The king granted his request, so he set out on a journey, and one day he passed a pond, and found three fish struggling in the mud at the edge of the waterline, entangled in reeds and unable to jump into the water Go, my mouth is opening and closing to drink water, it seems that I can't last long.Although most people think that fish can't talk, he heard the three little fishes crying sadly: "Woooooo...I'm still young, I don't want to die, I'm not married yet..." The servant was moved with compassion. Heartbroken, he dismounted, tore off the reeds that clung to them, and lowered them into the water.They slapped the water happily, raised their heads and called to him: "We will remember your kindness, and we will repay you!"

He rode on, and presently he heard a voice in the sand beneath his feet, and stopped to hear the king of the ants complaining: "Man and their dreadful beasts cannot be separated." Shall we stay away? You damn horse, many of my subjects have been trampled to death by your big hoof!" The servant hurriedly pulled the horse to the side path.The ant king shouted to him: "We will remember your kindness, and we will repay you!"

Soon after he came to a wood, and he saw two old crows standing on their nest, throwing young crows out. "You little beasts, go away!" cried the old crows. "We can't afford you! You've grown up, and it's time to fend for yourself." The poor little crows lay on the ground and flapped Wing, cried sadly: "We are poor children! We haven't even learned how to fly, how can we support ourselves? What else can we do but starve to death here?"

The good young man drew his sword, killed his horse, and left the horse's meat to the little crows.They jumped up happily, and yelled while eating: "We will remember your kindness, and we will repay you!"

Now the young man had to travel on foot.After walking a long way, he came to a big city.There was a crowd of people in the street talking about it, not knowing what had happened.The young man approached curiously, and saw a man who looked like a herald riding on horseback and shouted loudly: "Everyone, listen carefully, the king's daughter is asking for marriage! The opportunity is not to be missed, sign up as soon as possible! But suitors must Do a difficult task first, or die!" Many suitors had lost their lives in vain, but when the young man saw the princess, he was immediately fascinated by her beauty.So he forgot the danger, and resolutely went to the king to propose.

The king took him to the edge of a large lake, threw a golden ring into the lake in front of him, and asked him to swim to the lake and fish it up.The king added: "If you come ashore empty-handed, we will throw you into the lake again; and you will either fish up the ring and give it to me, or you will be drowned in the lake. Come on!"

The people felt sorry for the handsome boy, and they all went away, leaving him alone.He stood on the bank, not knowing what to do.Suddenly, he saw three fish swimming towards him in the lake. They were the three fish he had saved their lives.The middle fish held a shell in its mouth and laid it down at the young man's feet.The young man opened the shell and saw that it was the golden ring that the king had just thrown into the lake!The young man happily gave the ring to the king's daughter, hoping that she would marry him as the king had promised.But the proud princess felt that the poor boy was not good enough for her, so she asked the young man to complete another task.

She came to the garden and scattered ten sacks of millet on the grass with her own hands, and asked the young man to pick them up before sunrise tomorrow morning. "Not one grain less," she added.

The young man sat in the garden with a sad face, thinking about how he could accomplish this impossible task, and after much deliberation, he still couldn't do anything, so he had to sit there moaning and waiting to die.

Unexpectedly, the next morning, when the first rays of the sun shone into the garden, he found that the ten bags of millet had been neatly placed in front of him, not a single grain missing.It turned out that the king of ants led thousands of ants into the garden at night, and this kind of little creature who reciprocated kindness diligently packed all the millet on the grass into bags.

Presently the princess came into the garden, and she was astonished to find that the suitor had once again accomplished the impossible.But even so, her proud heart still refused to give in.She said to the king, "Although he has fulfilled these two tasks, he cannot yet be my husband, unless he can give me an apple from the tree of life."

The young man didn't know where the tree of life grew, but he set off in spite of himself, determined that as long as his legs could walk, he would never stop looking for the tree of life-though he could never find it .

He searched all three kingdoms, but found nothing.One night he came to a wood, where there was no village or shop, so he lay down under a tree and was going to sleep.At this moment, he suddenly heard a sound from the branch, and then a golden apple fell into his hand.At the same time, three crows flew down and landed on his lap.They said: "We are the three little crows you saved. Thanks to your help, we didn't starve to death. When we grew up, we heard that you were looking for golden apples, so we flew across the sea and into the world. At the end of the day, I picked a golden apple for you from the tree of life."

The young man went home in great joy, and took the golden apples back to the princess.The princess had nothing more to say.They cut open the golden apple, and each ate half of it.She looked at the young man, and a deep love suddenly rose in her heart.From then on, they lived happily and peacefully together.Thanks to the fruit of life, they were very healthy until their old age, and became well-known long-lived old people.

(End of this chapter)