green fairy tale book

Chapter 44 Jolinde and Jollinger

Once upon a time, deep in a dense forest stood a castle, and in the castle lived a lonely old woman--she was a witch.During the day, she transforms herself into a cat or an owl; at night, she transforms back into a human form.She used magic to lure birds and small animals to her side, then killed and ate them.If a young man came within a hundred paces of the castle, he would stand there, unable to move, unless the witch let him go.But if a pretty maiden strays into the Witch's domain, the Witch turns her into a bird and puts her in a wicker cage.These cages are all kept in one room of the castle.There are almost seven thousand such cages in the castle, each containing a rare bird.

There was a young girl named Jolynd, and she was the prettiest girl in the neighbourhood.She had a fiancé named Jollinger, who was as handsome as she was.Their greatest joy is staying together so they can have long sweet talks.

One evening they went for a walk in the forest together.

"Be careful," said Jollinger, "don't get too close to the castle."

This is a beautiful evening.The afterglow of the sun crossed the tall tree trunks and slanted on the dark green fallen leaves.The turtledove stood on the hawthorn tree and sang crisply.From time to time Jolinde wept softly, and she sat in the sun moaning uncontrollably; and Jollinger moaned too.For some reason, they all felt sad as if they had been sentenced to death.They looked around suspiciously and found that they could no longer remember the way home.The red sun was half hidden among the mountains to the west.Through the trees in front of him, Jollinger found that the ancient walls of the castle were close at hand.He was scared to death.At this moment, Jolinde suddenly sang:
My little bird with its blood-red throat,

Singing Sorrow, Sorrow, Sorrow!

His song mourns the dead young dove,

Singing sorrow, sorrow, sorrow - chirp, chirp, chirp...

Jollinger turned his head to look at Jolinde. He was horrified to find that Jolinde had turned into a nightingale and was still singing "chirp, chirp".An owl with blood-red eyes flew around her three times and uttered three shrill calls: "Doo-wee, doo-wee, doo-boo--" Jollinger was immediately frozen in place. , like a stone, unable to cry, unable to speak, unable to even move a finger.The sun has completely disappeared behind the mountain.The owl flew into a bush, and after a while, a hunchbacked old woman came out from behind the bush.She was short and thin, and her skin was brown and brown.She had bright red eyes and an aquiline nose that hung down to her chin.While muttering to herself, she snatched the nightingale away.Although Jollinger was heartbroken, he still couldn't speak a word, and he couldn't even move a toe.At last the old witch came out again, chanting the incantation in a fierce and terrible voice:

"Good evening, Angel of Mercy; when the light of the new moon shines in the cage, Angel of Mercy, you may set him free."

Jollinger's magic was lifted.He knelt before the old witch and begged her to give Jolind back to him, but the witch refused him fiercely, saying that he would never see Jolind again, and left trembling.Jolinger chased after the witch, shouting, crying, and begging, but to no avail.

"What can I do!" he thought.He left the forest sadly, and finally came to a strange village, where he found a job of shepherding sheep, and missed Jolinde sadly day and night.During this time, he often went around the castle, but never dared to get too close.One night, Jollinger had a dream. He dreamed that he found a blood-red flower with a beautiful big pearl in its heart.He also dreamed that he plucked the bloody flower and took it into the witch's castle, and everything touched by the flower was freed from the magic, and he also rescued his beloved Jolin Germany.When he woke up, he began to look for the flowers that appeared in his dream.He searched for eight days and nights, and finally found this bloody flower on the morning of the ninth day.There is a huge dewdrop in the middle of it, just like a shining pearl.

He plucked the flower, and traveled day and night to the witch's castle.When he was less than a hundred steps away from the castle, he was not caught again. He was very happy, then went straight to the gate of the castle, touched the gate with a flower, and the gate opened at once.He walked across the castle yard, then stopped and listened quietly, looking for the sound of a bird in a room, and finding the sound came to a hall.The witch was in the hall, and seven thousand cages with birds were densely packed there.When the witch saw Jollinger, she was very angry. She opened her mouth to spray poisonous gas and poisonous water at Jollinger, but Jollinger was safe and sound under the protection of the Scarlet Flower, and the witch could not take a step closer to him.Jollinger didn't have time to pay attention to her, he was anxious to find his little nightingale in the cage.But there were hundreds of nightingales here, how was he to find his Jolynd among them?When he was at a loss, he found that the old witch quietly picked up a cage and fled to the door.He rushed over immediately, hitting the cage and the witch with flowers.Now the Witch could no longer cast her spells, and in the blink of an eye Jolind stood before him alive again.Jolinde hugged his neck tightly, and she looked even more beautiful than before.

Jolinde turned all the other birds back into maidens, and he went home with his Jolinde and lived happily ever after.

(End of this chapter)