Chapter 44 43. Dead Man's Arm

In a village, there is a custom that after a man dies, his sisters will watch over his tomb for three nights; if a woman dies, her brother will be responsible for guarding the tomb.Once a girl died, and her brother went to the cemetery as usual to keep vigil.He was a tall and well-built boy, and he was a fearless young man. In the middle of the night, three dead men came out of the grave and asked the young man, "How about playing a game?" "Well," answered the young man, "where would you like to go and play?" "We always go to church and play." They entered the church and took him to the church basement, which was filled with rotting coffins and scattered bones.They picked up some bones and a skull, went upstairs again, and erected the bones in a straight line on the church floor. "We'll just play skittles[1] and use these for the pegs." They took the skulls again, and said, "This is our ball." So they started rolling.

"Would you like to gamble?" "Of course!" The young man was very skilled at rolling the ball with the skull, and every time he won money from the dead.When the dead man has lost all his money, he puts the ball and the nine pillars back in the church crypt, and goes back to his respective graves. On the second night, the dead people bet with rings and gold teeth if they want to make money.As a result, the young man won again.On the third night, they gambled again.At the end, the dead people said to the young man: "You have won again. But we have nothing left to give you. However, since the casino cannot keep accounts and must be cashed on the spot, then we will give this dead man's arm to you." You. It's a bit dry, but it's in good condition, and it'll be more useful than a sword in the future. No matter what enemy you touch it with, this arm will grab his chest and put him Pushed down, thrown to his death, even if he were a giant, he couldn't escape."

The dead men went away, leaving the young man standing with the dead man's arm in his hand. The next morning he gave his father the money and gold he had won at skittles, and said, "My dear father, I'm going out and try my luck." His father wished him luck.Then the young man hid that arm under his cloak, and went away. He came to a big city.Here the walls of the houses are wrapped in black crepe, the people are in mourning, and even the horses and carriages are wrapped in black crepe. "What happened?" he asked a weeping passerby.The man explained: "Let me tell you, there is a black castle on the other side of the mountain that is occupied by magicians, and they force us to give up one person every day. Whoever gets there will be finished. To begin with, they want It was women, to whom the king was compelled to send shopgirls, housewives, bakers, and weavers one by one; The ones who were sent never came back. Now, the king sends soldiers there, three a day. And their end is not good. If anyone can save us from the clutches of the magician, if he needs anything, we will Give him something."

"Let me see what I can do," said the young man.He asked to be taken to the king at once. "Your Majesty, let me go to the castle alone." The king looked him in the eyes and said, "If you succeed and save my daughter, I will marry her to you and you will inherit the throne. You will stay in the castle for three nights and break the spell. Destroy the magician. There is a cannon on the battlements of the castle. Fire once if you are alive tomorrow morning, twice the day after tomorrow, and three times the morning after tomorrow." In the evening the young man walked toward Castle Black, the arm hidden under the cloak.He went up the steps and into a room.A table had been set up with food on it, but the backs of the chairs were pressed against the table.He didn't move these things at all, leaving them there as they were.He went into the kitchen, lit the fire, and sat down by the hearth with the arm in his hand.In the middle of the night, a chorus came from under the chimney.

Many have been killed by us, It's your turn next! Many have been killed by us, It's your turn next! Then, bam!A magician jumped out of the chimney.boom!Another one came out.boom!Come out the third one.They all had horrible ugly faces and long noses.It wobbled like an octopus' tentacles to grab at the young man's arms and legs.The young man has seen that the key lies in the long nose.He swung the dead man's arm like a sword.He hit a magician in the chest with his arm, but it had no effect.He hit the second magician again on the head, again to no avail.Then he swung at the third magician's nose, and the dead man's hand seized that nose, and with a jerk, killed the magician instantly.At this time, the young man was fully aware that the nose was a dangerous and sensitive part of the magician's body, so he aimed his attack at the target.The dead man's hand took the second magician by the nose and killed him.Then, the third magician was born.The young man rubbed his hands in satisfaction, and went to sleep.

Early in the morning, he climbed onto the castle wall and fired a cannon: Boom!In the city, people are waiting anxiously.Hearing the sound of cannon, people waved handkerchiefs embroidered with black to greet him. In the evening, when he walked into the restaurant, he saw that some chairs had been turned around and placed there properly.At this time, a group of dejected noblewomen in mourning clothes, maids and maids came out from other doors and entered the dining room.They said to the young man, "Please hold on and save us!" Then they sat down to eat.After dinner, they bowed deeply to the young man and left the restaurant.The young man went into the kitchen, sat down by the fire, and waited for midnight.The clock struck twelve, and the voice of the chorus came again from the chimney:

You killed our three brothers, Now we want your life! You killed our three brothers, Now we want your life! boom!boom!boom!Three long-nosed magicians jumped down the chimney.The young man waved the arm of the dead, and grabbed their long noses one by one with lightning speed.After a while, the three magicians became a pile of dead bodies. The next morning, he fired two cannons: Boom!Boom!In the city, people greeted him waving white handkerchiefs.At this time, the black gauze they were wearing had been taken off. On the evening of the third day he found more chairs set up in the dining room, and more women in black mourning than the previous day.They went into the restaurant and said, "You stay one more night, and we're all saved!" Then, after eating with the young people, they left.The young man sat in his usual place in the kitchen and waited.At midnight the voices from the chimneys howled like a chorus:

You killed our six brothers, Now we want your life! You killed our six brothers, Now we want your life! boom!boom!boom!boom!More than a dozen magicians jumped down one after another, all with long noses.The young man waved the arm of the dead, coming to kill one by one.It was not difficult for him to kill the magician, all he had to do was grab the magician's nose with a withered dead man's arm.The magicians are all dead.The young man went to sleep contentedly.The next morning, when the cock crows, the whole castle comes back to life.A procession of maids, ladies, and ladies in drag skirts entered the kitchen to thank and salute the young man.The princess came in the middle of the procession.She walked up to the young man, put her arms around his neck and said, "I want you to be my husband!"

At this time, the rescued soldiers also walked in in groups of three and saluted him. "Go to the walls of the castle," ordered the young man, "and fire three cannon!" The townspeople heard the cannon and cheered enthusiastically, waving yellow, green, red, and blue handkerchiefs. The young man walked down the hill with the rescued crowd and entered the city.People no longer wear black gauze, and there are flags and colorful streamers waving in the wind everywhere.The king awaits the returning crowd.His crown is woven with various flowers.On the same day, the wedding was held.People are still talking about this grand and spectacular wedding.

(Trantino region) -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ [1] Skittles is a game of erecting nine pillars and hitting them with a rolling ball.