Chapter 31 30. The Crab Prince

Once upon a time there was a fisherman who never caught enough fish to feed his family.One day, when he was pulling the net, he felt that the fishing net was very heavy. He pulled it hard, pulled it, and caught a huge crab, which was so big that the fisherman felt that he couldn't see it all with his eyes. "Oh, I got it this time! We can trade it in for some corn mush for the kids' supper." He carried the big crab back home, and told his wife to put the rice cooker on the fire, and he would immediately go back to change the corn mush.Then, he took the crab into the palace.

"Your Majesty, Holy Ming," he said to the king, "I have come to beg your mercy, and buy this crab. My wife has finished the cooking, but I have no money to buy cornmeal." The king replied, "But what can I do with a crab? Won't you sell it to someone else?" Just then the King's daughter came in, and as soon as she saw the crab she said, "Oh, what a beautiful crab, what a beautiful crab! Father, please buy it, buy it. I will Put it in the fish pond and let it play with other fish." The king's daughter was very fond of fish, and she often sat for hours by the fish pond in the garden, watching the fish swimming in it.The father couldn't resist his daughter's plea, so he granted her.The fisherman put the crabs into the fish pond and got a small bag of gold coins, which was enough to feed his whole family with corn mush for a month.

Since the princess got the crab, she never got tired of watching it. Whenever she was free, she went to the fish pond to watch it.Over time, she knew the crab's habits well. She found that the crab would disappear from noon to three o'clock in the afternoon, but she didn't know where it went.One day, the princess came to the fish pond to look at it again, when someone rang the doorbell.She looked down from the balcony, and it turned out that a poor tramp came to beg.She threw a bag of gold coins to him, but the tramp missed it clumsily, and the gold coins fell into the nearby ditch.The homeless man had to go down to the ditch to fish, and he dived into the water and swam to the bottom.There is an underground passage under the ditch that communicates with the fish pond of the king's house, and leads to other places.He continued to swim along the passage, and came to a beautiful pool. This is an underground hall, with curtains hanging all around, and a large dining table in the middle of the hall.The tramp emerged from the water and hid behind a curtain.Just at noon, I saw a fairy sitting on the back of a crab emerging from the pool.The fairy and the crab jumped into the hall, only to see that the fairy tapped the stick in her hand, and immediately a handsome young man came out of the crab's shell.The young man sat at the table, and at this moment, the fairy tapped it with a small stick, and immediately there were some delicacies on the plate on the table, and wine appeared in the wine bottle.After eating and drinking, the young man got back into the crab shell, and the fairy hit him with a stick again, and he sank into the pool with the fairy on his back and disappeared.

Seeing them go, the tramp came out from behind the curtain, sank into the pool, swam to the fish pond of the king's house, and then got out of the water.The princess was looking at the fish by the fish pond at that time, when she suddenly saw the tramp's head sticking out, she was startled, and she asked, "What are you doing down there?" "Don't talk, little princess," said the tramp, "but I want to tell you a strange thing." He came out of the water, and described to the princess what had just happened. "No wonder that crab disappears every day from noon to three o'clock!" said the princess, "Okay, let's go and see together at noon tomorrow!"

So, the next day, the two of them swam from the fish pond to the hall along the underground passage, and hid behind the curtain together.As soon as noon came, the fairy rode a crab and emerged from the water.The fairy tapped the small stick in her hand, and immediately a handsome young man emerged from the crab shell, and then walked to the table to eat.As for the little princess, she fell in love with this crab a long time ago, and when she saw a young man emerging from it, she couldn't help but fell in love with him immediately. The princess saw the crab shell lying next to her, and sneaked in while no one else was looking.

When the boy got back into the crab shell, he found a beautiful girl inside.He asked in a low voice, "What are you going to do? If the fairy finds out, we will both die." The princess also whispered to him, "I want to break her spell and get you out, and tell me what to do." "Impossible," said the boy, "to save me I must have a girl who loves me, and who is willing to die for me." "I am the girl," said the princess. The young man and the princess were talking inside the crab shell, and the fairy came and sat on the crab shell. The young man moved the crab's claws as usual, and carried the fairy to the sea along the waterway. The fairy sat on the crab's back, not at all I didn't realize that there was still a princess hidden underneath.After putting the fairy back into the sea, they swam to the fish pond again. At this time, the prince—this young man turned out to be a prince—told the princess in the crab shell how to save him: "You want to go to a rock by the sea, Singing songs and playing the qin on it. The fairy is very obsessed with music. When she hears music, she will come out of the water and say to you: "Keep playing, beautiful girl, I like listening to it very much." Then you say: If you give me the flower on your head, I can play it for you. When you get that flower, I will be saved, because that flower is my life."

Having said this, the crab swam back into the pond, and the princess came out from under the crab's shell. Besides, the tramp found that the princess was missing, and thought he had caused a disaster, so he quickly swam back to the fish pond.Unexpectedly, the princess reappeared from the water, and thanked him and gave him a large reward. Then the princess went to her father and told him that she wanted to learn music and sing.The king always fulfilled all the wishes of his daughter, and immediately sent for some masters of instrumental and vocal music to teach her to practice. Just finished learning, the princess said to the king: "Father, I am going to play the violin on a rock by the sea."

"To play the lute on the rocks by the sea? Are you crazy?" But as usual, the king satisfied her, and sent eight maids of honor in white veils to accompany him.In order to prevent danger, he sent a group of heavily armed soldiers to follow her closely. The princess sat on a rock and played the harp.Around her, eight court ladies in white gauze sat on the other eight rocks.Then the fairy came out from the waves, "You pull so well!" said the fairy to her, "Go on, I like to hear it!" The princess said to her: "As long as you give me the flower on your head, I can continue to play the violin for you, because I love flowers very much."

"Okay, if you can go and get the flower I threw, I'll give it to you." "I must go and get it," she said, and she played the harp again, and sang, and when she finished playing, the princess said, "You should give me flowers now." "Here you are," said the fairy, and threw the flower into the sea with all her might. The princess saw the flower floating up and down with the waves in the sea, so she jumped into the water and swam to the flower. "Little princess, little princess! Help, help!" The eight maids in white gauze stood on the rock and shouted loudly.The princess was swimming in the sea, swimming, the waves submerged her sometimes, and lifted her up again, it was hard to reach the flower, just when she was almost desperate, a wave came and just delivered the flower to her hand inside.

At this moment, she heard a voice from below her, saying: "You gave me life again, you are my bride. Now don't be afraid, I will carry you to the shore under you. But first you Don't tell anyone about us, not even your father. I must tell my parents, and within twenty-four hours, I will come and propose to you." "Okay, okay, I see." The princess could only answer simply out of breath.At this time, the crab carried her under the water and swam to the shore. When she got home, the princess told the king that she had enjoyed herself very much, but said nothing else.

At three o'clock in the afternoon of the next day, only the sound of drums and bugles sounded, and a team of horses came in their costumes. A steward stepped out of the team and announced loudly that the princes of their country asked to see the king. The prince proposed to the king's daughter according to palace etiquette, and told the king what had happened.After hearing this, the king realized that he had been kept in the dark and was unhappy. He asked his daughter to come out, and the daughter ran in immediately. When she saw the prince, she rushed forward and hugged her tightly, saying: "This is my bridegroom, this is the bridegroom." My bridegroom." Knowing that it was impossible to stop him, the king quickly held a wedding ceremony for them. (Venice area)