Evetrona's old stories

Eve shook her head.It was only then that she realized that the group seemed to have taken the liberty of bringing the storyteller into the lead role.

Before the next mini-oran spin, Ridilo still seemed to have more to say about the story, so she asked the question again: "Why did the fairy help Cinderella? Did she just want to make her a memorable moment, once in a lifetime?"

"I think the fairies did this on purpose." Lelier said, "Sometimes people are like this—if there is such a noble person in their lives, they will lose a ticket to enter the venue. Maybe the fairies have already seen through this, so I only did Cinderella such a favor, and why the glass slipper didn't disappear can also be explained in this way: because it was all in the fairy's plan, and she wanted to help her to the end from the beginning, but after all, something It's inconvenient to say so." After she finished speaking, she looked at Eve again, "What do you think?"

"I haven't thought about it that much." Eve replied, "It's just telling a story."

"Is this your favorite story?" Erinde asked curiously.

"Not really, I just thought you might be interested."

Eve never imagined that the story of Cinderella would cause such a big controversy among witches in another world.The topic, which was already over, entered the second round because of Rui Diluo's question just now——

"Which is more important, a kind heart or a beautiful appearance?" Stricky looked at Yuqie, "The fairy chooses to help this kind girl because she sympathizes with her, but the prince just chooses to help her because of her noble dress and beautiful appearance." He is attracted by his appearance - after all, it is absolutely impossible to see a person's character after meeting once or twice, which shows how superficial this prince is."

"What do you want to say? You want to say that men only look at appearance?" Yuqie smiled, "But even you, when picking leaves, you should pick the ones that look good, and when eating apples, you are willing to pick the ones that are rounder. It is human nature to pursue beauty, and improving literacy can make people tolerate ugly things. There is no conflict between the two."

Stricky pointed at Ban Xuemo and said to Eve, "This guy is really good at talking."

Eve shrugged, "Just get used to it."

When it comes to ugliness and beauty, Erinde remembered a story she read in a book, and she said, "Why don't I tell one too—maybe it's a fairy tale, but the style is different from Cinderella. I also want to Hear your thoughts on this story."

Streiki poured everyone a cup of loose leaf tea, and everyone fell silent, waiting for Erinde to tell her next story.

The story is roughly like this.

In a faraway place, a young girl was walking on a wild road. She went deeper into the jungle in pursuit of a fawn.

The deer disappeared, and the girl accidentally fell into the deep pit, but she didn't think it was a dragon's lair.Looking at the lark that broke into his home, the dragon didn't feel angry. Under the fearful eyes of the girl, the dragon healed her leg injury with magic and sent her out of the cave.

After that, the girl often came to visit the dragon and brought him some fruits and vegetables that he didn't like to eat.The dragon laughed secretly in his heart - human beings planted various plants in the ground and relied on these things to maintain their lives. Sometimes, this kind of behavior would make a dragon feel funny.

"Don't be busy." One day, the dragon actually spoke, his voice was very loud, the girl was startled by him, and then ran away screaming.

Long thought she would not come again, but only a few days later, the girl reappeared, lying at the entrance of the cave, with a pair of curious eyes showing from under her hat.

Long raised his head and looked at her. The person and the dragon did not speak for a long time.

In the end, it was Long who spoke first, and he said, "Stop throwing debris into the hole, that kind of stuff...will rot if you don't clean it up."

The girl covered her head and whispered, "I'm sorry."

"I know you mean well." The dragon stood up and swam out of the cave like a fish, "but don't come here again."

The girl shook her head.

"That's up to you." After saying this, the dragon flew away.

Since then, the girl has come several times, but the lair is already empty.The girl who had never had any friends felt that she had lost something at this time, so she burst into tears.The autumn rain was pattering, the huge wings shielded the wind and the rain, and the dragon came back.In fact, the dragon never left, he just ran away before she came every time.

"Why should I be afraid of a human being?" he asked himself.

As a result, this person became friends one by one, and they often sat together and talked.

The girl asked the dragon: "Why do you speak our language?"

Long replied: "Because I'm very smart, it doesn't take long to learn a language."

Then, the dragon asked the girl: "Why did you come to this wilderness?"

The girl replied: "Because the palace is very boring, so I want to sneak out to relax."

In this way, they got to know each other, and they cherished this friendship very much, but the happy time was always short. One day after a year, the girl suddenly said to Long: "I can't come to see you again."

Only then did Long know that the king's youngest daughter was about to marry into another country.

On the day of the wedding, Long stopped the convoy of Prince Yi. Before making a decision, Long did not discuss with the girl.

The prince said: "Mighty dragon, terrible dragon, we come from the east of the distant ruins, and we just arrived in the royal city seven days ago - just to fulfill the old agreement and reunite with my beloved and beautiful girl. We do not intend to offend, please be more accommodating."

Long replied, "I didn't intend to stop you. You have your reasons, and I have my reasons for coming—even though I have a deep friendship with her, we will be separated soon... So I just ask you a question: Can you take good care of her and never leave her?"

Before the prince could answer, the girl jumped out of the carriage, ran to the dragon, and said to the dragon: "Compared with this strange man, I would rather leave with you, no matter where we are going—or Is it the sky or the sea, or the endless mountains... We go to any free place, as long as we can be with you."

"That's as you wish." After saying this, the dragon flew away with the girl.

For the first time in her life, the girl was free——when she saw the mountain, she let the dragon fly to the peak; when she saw the cloud, she let the dragon go to the white depths. She was no longer a princess, but she found herself .

In this way, three years later, the departure of the princess made the foreign prince lose face. He became angry, reprimanded the king for breaking his promise, and threatened to send troops to crusade here.

The girl heard about this—she felt sorry for her father, so she prepared to go back to visit. In the middle of the night, she crossed the low wall that she had climbed several times, entered the palace under the surprised eyes of the guards, and came to her father's side.

The old king said to her: "My daughter, you are finally willing to come back—all these years, you only cared about your own enjoyment, but let your father and brother be insulted by others... how good is it?"

The girl said: "Father, this is not my original intention."

The old king said: "I know that you yearn for freedom and like to run around since you were a child-but it was my doting and indulgence that ruined you, myself, and this country."

Soon, the foreign prince fought all the way and brought his army back here. Under the city, he made a request to the king: as long as he can see the beautiful little princess again, he will give up the siege.

The girl agreed, and the two met under the city wall.

In three years, the girl's figure became more upright and her appearance became more beautiful, but what fascinated the prince the most was her eyes that dared to look directly at him.The dragon stayed on the wall and looked down at them, so the prince dared not act rashly.

The prince said to the girl: "I still love you, I can give up my status, just to get your favor - will you go with me?"

The girl flatly rejected him, and the meeting broke up unhappy.However, when they returned, the prince gave an order secretly - a cold arrow shot from a distance, and went straight to the girl's heart. The arrow still hurt the girl's shoulder.

The horn of attack sounded from outside the city, and the rain of arrows approached like locusts. The untrustworthy prince ordered to attack the city, but the dragon couldn't do more, and could only leave this place of right and wrong with the injured girl.

From then on, the girl fell into a coma. The arrow was obviously quenched with poison. It contained the prince's jealousy and anger, and he was determined to completely destroy the treasure that was destined to be impossible to obtain.

The dragon couldn't save the girl, so he asked his teacher for help. His teacher was an old dragon who had lived for a long time, and this old dragon did have a way to save the girl.

The old dragon said: "The only way is to transform her into a dragon."

When the girl woke up, she noticed something strange about her body—her breathing became dull, her back became stiff, and her limbs' sense of touch became dull. She took a deep breath, called the dragon's name, but let out a roar that shook the sky, and she was terrified.

The dragon came to her side, but the girl felt that the dragon seemed to be much smaller, but she soon realized that she had actually grown bigger.She felt that her field of vision had broadened, and she could see the mountains farther away, the dwarf trees nearby, and the wings on her back.

She asked Long: "What's wrong with me?" Her eyes were full of panic.

The dragon replied, "You have become my kind, a dragon."

The girl said, "But I don't want to be a dragon!"

Long said: "Sorry, I can only save you in this way."

The girl was very depressed. She looked at her own terrible reflection in the lake—no longer the face of a fair and clean girl, but a huge dragon's head full of rough scales and sharp fangs. She fell into deep despair.

The dragon said to her, "Now, you can fly alone, fly freely."

The dragon taught her how to fly with the wind, they crossed the mountains, leaped over the ocean, and flew to the distant high sky, but the girl was not happy about it-now, the world has changed in her eyes, and she can no longer go through it as before. Beautiful clothes, to eat sweet and sour fruits, to sing light and beautiful songs; for her, this kind of life is not good at all, she does not want to see the terrible abyss under her feet when she is flying, and she does not want to be in the Going to eat bloody whale meat in the cold sea, unwilling to face the frightened eyes when humans look at her... She can no longer get any support in the terrible night, and she has to go through the clouds of lightning and thunder alone in rainy days —she became so ugly that no one would like her any more.

So, the girl stopped flying, she hid in the dark and cold cave, no matter how much the dragon persuaded her, she refused to come out.

The maiden loathed her body—she wouldn't eat or drink, and ended up dying in the cave.

Before dying, she dreamed of a warm bed, she changed back to her original appearance, and lay on it comfortably.

[218] Rebirth under withering: One of the ancient dreams, Part [-]

After Erinde finished telling the story, everyone's reaction was completely different from when they had just finished listening to "Cinderella"—the atmosphere was not enthusiastic.

"How could this happen!" At this moment, Lopel stood up suddenly, and she rushed directly from another ship, and threw herself on Erinde.

Erinde pressed Lopel's head to stop her nonsense.

"Go back quickly, don't move around on the boat." The piano sound stopped, and Lelier's expression was unkind.

"Why did she die?" Lopel was very puzzled, "Isn't it good to be able to fly?"

"Lopel, you can't say that. Everything has two sides. Let me ask you—what's your favorite food?" Stricky asked her.

"Sweet things." Lopel replied: "Sugar, oranges, peaches...dried apples and raisins are also good."

"That's good - if you are given a chance to fly into the air, but the price is that you will never taste sweetness again, would you like it?"

"I... have to think about it." Lopel said, "I can't, I still have a fork."

"Look, you still have to think about it, but if you become a dragon, you will lose more than that."

Lopel stared at her, obviously a little angry.

"Is this really a fairy tale?" Eve said. "Where did a good story start like this?"

"Perhaps it started from the moment the dragon healed the wounded girl." Yuqie said, "I heard that those people in the north would sometimes rescue wild beasts. When the beasts recovered from their wounds, these people would kick them hard and kick them into the woods or wild fields. These beasts would not come back to find them after suffering the pain."

"You mean, because of this, the girl mistook the dragon for a kind creature?"

"No, what I mean is that Long just regarded her as an interesting pet from the beginning to the end." Yuqie's words always caught people off guard.

"Really? I thought it was a different kind of love story." Erinde said.

"What is love? In other words, do dragons really understand human 'love'?" Yuqie asked.

"Don't we have a dragon here? Barry, tell me, do you understand 'love'?" Streiki's tone was teasing.

"I don't understand, I'm only eight years old." Medra said dryly.

His answer left the always talkative Streiki speechless.

"Maybe the author of this story didn't know that dragons have only one gender." Eve said, "so I just wrote him as a special person."

"The dragon and the alien prince, that is, the competition between males and males - a strong male and a cunning male, it can be understood in this way." Streki nodded, "But what about the ending? It's telling people, Didn't it end well with a male like a dragon?"

"It's the backstabbing of the jealous ones. There's nothing wrong with the dragon." Erinde said.

"No, the dragon is actually at fault. The fault lies in his arrogance. Every time he thinks that he has saved the girl, but every time he is stupid—especially in the end, he puts her in shackles without authorization in order to support her." Yuqie said.

"So this story is actually satirizing a woman's family status?" Streiki's eyes lit up, "Yes! That's it, rough skin, bloated body, bad voice, and no one likes her—isn't this what a woman becomes? Is it what it looks like after the housewife?"

On the side, Lelier covered her head and sighed.

"But she also chose her husband." Elinde followed her train of thought.

"In that case, she was tricked by a poor boy to a remote mountain village." After Eve finished speaking, she couldn't help laughing.

Yuqie looked at them, not knowing what to say.

"Okay, do you have anything else to say? If you don't have anything else, let Lelier talk about it." Streki said, "Just now when Erinde was telling a story, Lelier told me about her Already knew the story."

Seeing that everyone was no longer talking, Lelier cleared her throat and began to talk loudly - until this moment, Eve suddenly recalled that this woman still had the identity of a college teacher.She said: "Actually, what you said is not bad. First of all, I want to say some things first-reading a story is a process of self-pleasure. The same story can read different truths because everyone They have their own experiences and different emphases, so it’s not that the story is interesting, but that it’s interesting if you find it interesting.”

Streki turned her back to Lelier, grinning secretly, and she whispered in Eve and Erinde's ear: "Look at her, she's in the mood now."

"The original story of this story has been two and a half centuries ago. Looking at it now, the meaning given to it by the author may be outdated. In this story, the prince said that he came from the east of the distant ruins. The area to the east of Chesk is Ketili, and the area where the girl is located is roughly in the south-central part of Mien, perhaps Shaken Kingdom."

The so-called Ketili, that is, Kael, Tilan, and Reshevan—these three countries use the same language.

"Did it happen during the second western expedition of Yujiao in the north?" Yuqie asked.

"That's true—at that time, the Yujiao coalition army slaughtered many small countries, and a minister wrote such a story while in exile." Le Lier said, "Now it is generally believed that this minister is satirizing a person from that year. One thing—Originally, the military strength of the neighboring country was not weak, but when the king died, the faction struggle became more and more fierce, and the result of the battle was that they supported a weak crown prince to come to power, in order to To achieve mutual checks and balances. However, the new king was unbearable, and within a year after he came to power, he completely ruined the country-in the end, the enemy invaded the king's city, and the defense lines of the northern countries collapsed. Cities suffered. Only later did they learn from their enemies how daring the timid can be: When all are fighting for power, only one loyal old minister has hope for a new young king , the old man taught him the concept of governing the country, tried every means to guide him, and hoped that one day he would become a real king. The old man did not dare to neglect day and night, but the king had long been accustomed to a life of pleasure and indulgence, so he With resentment in his heart - the old man is not clear about his thoughts, but there is no turning back when he opened the bow, so he can only bite the bullet and urge him more strictly... And slowly, the old man discovered to his surprise that the king actually started I realized that he was more active in his studies, and many of the questions he asked were very targeted. The old man had no doubts about him, and he almost knew all the answers, but he didn't know at that time that his student was actually I have already communicated with the enemy—through the old man’s answer, the enemy has a clear understanding of this country, and when they attack the city, they are naturally invincible... Maybe the author of this story is alluding to this matter—when imposing power and responsibility on those When they are incompetent, they cannot become powerful."

"I feel that the author may hate the old minister more than the king," Eve said.

"Who says it's not? Anyway, that's what happened." Lelier continued, "However, this story actually has another ending. A few years ago, Barreche of Eastern City rewrote this story."

"Who is Barreche?" Erinde asked.

"The author of "Green Forest and City Wall"." Eve replied.

"Yes, it's the eccentric Navesh Bareche." Leliere said, "In Bareche's version of the story, the prince's back arrow didn't hurt the princess, and the king also waited for the rescue, so the country was saved. Many years later, when the princess was dying, the dragon's teacher, the old dragon, still changed the princess into a dragon just like the original story, but the princess accepted the new look calmly, and since then traveled around the world with the dragon."

"Why can she accept it now?" Rui Diluo was puzzled.

"Because she was already old at that time, she must have experienced many things." Eve said, "At that age, her body becomes the biggest burden—as long as she can live again, it can be called a miracle."

Le Lier nodded, "Beauty is not a woman's eternal wealth - time will slowly take it away, leaving wrinkles all over the face, and in this process, we must learn to accept, or find new meanings, In order to fill yourself up, so that you don’t end up turning into an ugly shell and become the object of ridicule by young people.”

Hearing what Lelier said, everyone's expressions were a little subtle - when is old for a witch?

"Quickly persuade her." Erinde whispered in Stricky's ear, "This is going to be her classroom soon."

"Isn't that nice?" Stridge disapproved - she really liked how her partner looked when he was a teacher.

In the first few years when Lelier was a teacher, Streiki sneaked into the classroom more than once, just to see how she taught.

"If I get old, if I can become someone like Sigourney and Tyrian..." Limeya thought about it at this moment.

"Beauty and ugliness... is still the same topic, but Eve's Cinderella has become a beautiful princess, while Baleche's princess has turned into a terrible dragon. The two are just the opposite." Leliere said, "Bareche once said his motivation for adapting this story—he called it the 'Dragon Girl of Shaken Kingdom'—after reading "Dragon Girl", Bareche suddenly realized that almost all the novels he had written were created with handsome men and beautiful women as the main characters. , so Baleche was thinking, why is this happening?"

"Maybe, this can be regarded as a positive description." Yuqie tried to answer, "If in a novel, a person is described as a 'rat-eyed deer head', he may be a treacherous villain. , it is likely to be a reckless guy - judging by appearance is not only in reality, but also in writing."

"There are reasons for this, but Baleche explained it from another angle. He believes that due to the emergence of publishers, modern novels are mostly created on the premise of pleasing readers—from ancient times to modern times, There has been a shift in the readership—in the past, leisurely aristocrats lamented fate by watching tragedy, which has a sense of deviant, but now ordinary people are more likely to seek healing or fulfillment through other people's stories , whose behavior is mostly entertainment and relaxation. For an unpleasant bad ending, people always have to ask: why did it happen? So we start from the ending and look back upwards to see who did the wrong thing. It led to the tragedy—but in fact, each character will do what he thinks is right based on his own needs, but luck is not good, it’s not a question of who is right or wrong—so, Barreche modified the ending of the story , both giving it new meaning and making it more palatable to the general public."