Chapter 23 22. Pool master

Once upon a time, there was a young man who spent every day in a coffee shop, competing with others and playing billiards.One day, in a cafe, he met a foreign gentleman. "How do we compare to a game of pool?" the young man asked him. "Let's compare one game to one game." "What are we betting on?" "If you win, I will marry my daughter to you," said the foreigner. Then they played, and the young man won. The foreign gentleman said: "Well, I am the king of the sun, and I will write to you soon." Then he left. The young man waited every day for the postman to deliver a letter from the Sun King, but the letter never came.The young man set off to look for the foreigner.Every Sunday, he stopped in a city, waiting for the mass to come out of the church, and asked the oldest people where the Sun King lived.But no one knows, only once, an elder told him:

"I'm sure there is such a king; but where he lives, I can't really tell." The young man walked for another week and came to another city. He met an old man who walked out of the church after mass and told him the way to another city.He finally got there on Sunday, and at the church door he asked an elder if he knew the whereabouts of the Sun King.The elder said to him, "He lives near here. Follow this street to the end and turn right. There is a palace over there. You can recognize it immediately because it is a palace without a door." "Then how do we get in?"

"Who knows! You try to go to that grove. There is a pool in it. Every day at noon, the three daughters of the Sun King go there to take a bath." The young man came to the grove and hid himself.At noon the three daughters of the Sun King came.They took off their dresses, jumped into the pool, and started swimming.The young man leaned over lightly, picked up the dress of the most beautiful girl, and left. The three girls came out of the water and immediately went to dress.But the prettiest girl couldn't find her dress. "Hurry up, we've already put on, what's the matter with you?" the two sisters asked.

"I can't find my clothes! Wait for me!" "You look for it. We have to go first." They left her there alone and left.The girl began to cry. At this time, the young man jumped out and said, "If you can take me to your father, I will give you back your clothes." "Who are you?" "I am the one who won the billiards bet and will marry the daughter of the Sun King." The two young men looked at each other and fell in love at first sight.The girl said, "You should marry me. But my father will blindfold you and let you choose one of our three sisters. If you want to choose me, you must touch our hands. One of my fingers has Incomplete." After speaking, he led the young man to the palace of the Sun King.

The young man said to the Sun King, "I have come here to marry your daughter." The Sun King said: "Okay, you can marry her tomorrow, and now you choose one of my three daughters." As he spoke, someone blindfolded him. The first daughter came in, and the young man touched her hand and said, "I don't like that." The Sun King let in the second daughter again.The young man touched her hand again and said, "That doesn't suit me either." The third daughter came in, and the young man confirmed that she was the girl with the disabled finger, and said, "I want to marry this."

The wedding was soon over, and the couple were arranged to live in a room in the palace.In the middle of the night, the bride said to the groom, "Hey, let me remind you that my father is thinking about killing you." The young man said, "Then let's run away." The two rose early, mounted a horse each, and fled.After the Sun King got up, he went to the room of the newlyweds and saw that both of them had disappeared.He came to the stables and found that they had ridden off the two fastest horses too.Immediately he sent a troop of cavalry in pursuit, and told them to bring the two men back.

The two were galloping on flying horses. The daughter of the Sun King heard the sound of horseshoes behind them. She looked back and saw a group of cavalry chasing them.She took a comb from her head and stuck it in the ground.The comb immediately turned into a forest. In the forest, a man and a woman were digging roots. The cavalry asked them, "Do you see the daughter of the Sun King passing by with her husband?" The man and the woman replied: "We are digging tree roots behind here, and we will go home when it gets dark." The cavalryman said: "What we are asking is whether you have seen the daughter of the Sun King and her husband pass by here!"

"Okay, let's fill this cart and go back," the two said. The cavalry became a little impatient, turned their horses and went back.The Sun King asked them, "Have you found them?" The cavalry replied: "We were about to catch up with them, and suddenly we fell into a forest. There was a man and a woman in the forest. They always answered questions that were not relevant." "Why don't you bring these two people back! This man and woman are them." The cavalry went back to give chase.Seeing that they were about to catch up, the daughter of the Sun King stuck the comb in the ground again, and the comb turned into a vegetable garden, in which a man and a woman were harvesting lettuce and turnips.The cavalry asked them, "Have you seen the daughter of the Sun King pass by with her husband?"

"A handful of lettuce for a sour, and a turnip and a half sour for a handful." The horsemen asked again, and the man and woman answered something about lettuce and turnips.The cavalry had to go back again. They reported to the Sun King: "We will catch them in a moment, but at this time a vegetable garden appeared, and a man and a woman were in it, answering irrelevant questions." "You should catch them, this man and woman are them." The cavalry chased and chased, and the newlyweds were within reach, when the girl stuck the comb in the ground again, and a church appeared in front of her, and two bell-keepers were ringing the bell.The horsemen asked if they had seen the Sun King's daughter and her husband pass by.

The watcher said, "We are now ringing the bell for the second time, and then the third time, and then Mass will begin." The cavalry returned impatiently. "You should catch them! They are!" cried the Sun King, and this time he too was bored. (Milan area) -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ [1] The name of the ancient auxiliary currency, the currency value is one-twentieth lira.