green fairy tale book

Chapter 7 The Story of the Stork Caliph (2)
So they took off from the roof of the palace and spread their wings to the holy place.But flying is not an easy task, especially since the two novice storks have hardly practiced.

"Oh, my lord!"

After several hours, the prime minister said out of breath, "I can't keep up with you, you fly too fast for me. Besides, it's getting dark now, we should find a place to spend the night. "

The Caliph heeded this advice.There's a ruin in the valley below them that looks like a good hiding place.So they landed, intending to spend the night in the ruins.Apparently it used to be a castle.Many magnificent pillars stand among the ruins, and some rooms are still well preserved. Among the broken bricks and ruins, the shadow of the prosperity of the past can be vaguely seen.The caliph and Shah al-Mansur walked along the corridor looking for a drier place to settle, when suddenly Mansur stopped.

"My lord," he whispered, "if even a grand chancellor is afraid of ghosts, let alone a stork with no strength to restrain a chicken. To tell you the truth, I am terribly afraid, because I think Someone or something was approaching me and I could actually hear the sighs and groans."

The Caliph also stopped, and he also heard a low cry, which sounded like a human being, not an animal.Curiously, he wanted to rush to the place where the crying sound came from to see what happened, but the Grand Chancellor grabbed his wings with his beak, begging him not to expose himself to an unknown dangerous person.But, beneath the caliph's stork exterior, there was a brave heart.He tore his wings out of the Grand Vizier's beak, which caused the caliph to lose several feathers.He rushed down a dark corridor, from behind a door that was ajar at the end came the sighs and cries.The caliph pushed the door open with his beak, and was immediately immobilized by the sight before him—through the moonlight shining through the small half-closed window, he saw a huge animal sitting on the floor of the dilapidated hut. Night owl, big tears were rolling down from its round eyes, and at the same time there was a shrill wail from its curved beak.But it let out a shriek of excitement when it saw the Caliph and the Grand Vizier creeping along.It gently wipes away the tears with its dirty brown wings.To the surprise of the two storks, the owl said in fluent human Arabic:

"Welcome to you, storks! Your presence means that I will be free from misery, because it is prophesied that good fortune will come to me through a stork."

The caliph regained his composure.He raised one leg in a graceful gesture, then lowered his long neck and said, "Oh, night owl! From your words, I believe you have had a similar experience with us. But, alas! You hope to pass We are liberated, I’m afraid it’s nothing but joy. After hearing our story, you will know that we are mud bodhisattvas crossing the river-it’s hard to protect ourselves!”

Ye Xiao asked him to tell his story, so the caliph told it about his encounter with the prime minister.

4
After the caliph finished speaking, Night Owl said: "When you have heard my story, you must admit that I am not luckier than you at all. My father is the king of the Indies. I am his only daughter, and my name is Lusa .That Katsna who enchanted you was also the one who brought disaster on me.One day he came to visit my father and asked me to marry his son Mirza. My father rashly ordered him to be taken from the upstairs Before long, the man approached me in another form. One day in the garden, I ordered the servant to bring me some refreshments, and he pretended to be a slave to bring the refreshments, and with a puff of smoke, he transformed me into the present This horrible look. I fainted from fear, and he transported me here. When I woke up, he shouted at me in a terrible voice: 'This is where you should be, haha, you You look good, sows have a sense of self-esteem when they see you. You can live like this ugly and helpless all your life! Unless someone voluntarily marries you as a wife. This is my revenge on you and your father!

"Months have passed since then, and I've been living a life of isolation, sad and alone in the ruins, with everyone avoiding me and even the animals terrified of me. I see I don't see the beauty of nature, because I can't see anything in the daytime; I can't see until night, when the pale moonlight shines in here, and the shadows in my eyes fade away." Saying this, the night owl used her wings again Wipe her eyes—many tears flowed again as she narrated what had happened to her.

After hearing the story of Princess Night Owl, Caliph fell into deep thought. "If I am not mistaken," he said, "there must be some mysterious connection between our encounters, but how can we find the key to solve the mystery?"

Night Owl replied: "Oh, my lord! When I was a child, there was a witch who prophesied that a stork would bring me happiness. I think I can tell you so that we can be saved." The Caliph was very surprised and hurriedly Ask her what she means.

She said: "The magician who made us into this miserable state comes to this ruin once a month. I often see him entertaining his companions in the hall not far from this room, and they tell each other the evil they have done. Well, maybe we'll talk about that spell you've forgotten."

"Oh! my dearest princess," cried the Caliph, "when will he come, and where is that hall?"

Ye Xiao pondered for a while, and said: "You must not think that I am heartless, but we must first be a villain and then a gentleman. I can only tell you if you agree to my conditions."

"Speak, speak!" cried the Caliph, "tell me what you want, and I will gladly give you whatever you want!"

"Well," replied Night Owl, "you know I want to be free too; I can only be free if one of you two is willing to marry me."

The two storks were taken aback by this condition.The caliph waved to the prime minister, and the two left the room to discuss the matter.

The Caliph said: "Great Prime Minister, this is really a headache. Why don't you marry her."

"Indeed!" said the prime minister, "then when I get home, my wife will definitely pick out my eyeballs! Besides, I am already an old man. Your Majesty, you are still young and unmarried, and you are more suitable To marry such a young and lovely princess."

"That's the problem," said the caliph, fluttering his wings in frustration. "How do you know she's young and cute? This is not marrying a wife, isn't it a gamble?"

They quarreled for a while, but the prime minister's attitude was very firm. He would rather be a stork for the rest of his life than marry a night owl, so the caliph decided to meet the night owl's conditions by himself.Night Owl was overjoyed.She said that the caliph and the others came at the right time, because the magicians were most likely to arrive tonight.

Ye Xiao led them through the room, through a long and dark corridor, and finally came to a broken wall, and light leaked from the cracks in the wall.Night Owl warned them to keep quiet.Through this crack, they could see the whole hall.There are many magnificently carved pillars in the hall, and many shining lanterns illuminate the hall like daytime.In the center of the hall was a round table with many dishes on it, and beside the table was a couch with eight people sitting on it.The Caliph and the Grand Vizier recognized one of the eight villains as the peddler who had sold them the miraculous powder.The man sitting next to him asked the peddler to tell what he had been up to lately, and the peddler told them the story of the Caliph and the Grand Vizier.

"What was the spell you told them?" asked an old wizard.

"A difficult Latin word, 'mutabo.'"

5
The two storks were ecstatic.They ran towards the gate of the dilapidated castle, and Ye Xiao could hardly catch up with them.When they reached the gate, the caliph turned around and said gratefully to Ye Xiao: "You are the benefactor of me and my friend. To prove my gratitude, please accept my marriage proposal." Then he turned to the east.They kowtowed three times to the sun rising from the mountains in the east, shouting at the same time: "Mutabo!" Soon they changed back to human form.The reborn master and servant hugged each other and wept with joy.When they turned around, they were amazed to see a beautiful girl in expensive clothes standing in front of them!
She smiled and stretched out her hand to Caliph, and asked, "Don't you know your Princess Night Owl?"

It's her!The Caliph was immediately captivated by her grace and beauty, and he even felt that becoming a stork was the luckiest experience of his life.They immediately set off for their hometown.Fortunately, the caliph found that the powder box and wallet in his waist were still there, so he bought travel supplies in the nearest village, and then traveled across the mountains, overnight, and after a few days, they entered the village of their hometown. city ​​gate.

The Caliph's return caused a great stir.People thought he was dead, and now they were all happy to welcome back their beloved leader.

After people learned how Mirza conspired to usurp the throne and murdered the caliph and the prime minister, they were all filled with righteous indignation.They rushed into the palace in mighty force, and threw the old magician and his son into prison.The caliph took the magician to the room where the princess had lived as a night owl, and hanged him there.As for the magician's son, given his ignorance of his father's evil deeds, the caliph asked him to choose between execution and magic powder, and Mirza chose the latter.The prime minister handed him the powder box.After taking a swig of the powder, the magic spell transformed him into a stork.The caliph ordered him to be locked in an iron cage and placed in the garden of the palace.

The Caliph and his wife, Princess Night Owl, lived together happily ever after.He is happiest every day when the Prime Minister visits him in the afternoon.Sometimes when the caliph was in a good mood, he would imitate the prime minister's appearance as a stork, imitate his high-spirited walking posture, walk up and down the room with his legs up and down, chirping; Kowtowing to the east, shouting "Mu...Mu..." The caliph's wife and children were often amused by his performance.But if the caliph kowtows or calls "Mu...Mu..." for too long, the prime minister will smile and threaten the caliph, saying that he will tell the queen what they said outside Princess Yexiao's door that night.

(End of this chapter)