Chapter 53 52. Beastmaster

A man lost his wife and lived alone with a beautiful daughter.After a while, he felt that the celibate life was too miserable, and he had no one to take care of his daughter, so he had the idea of ​​marrying another wife.But unfortunately, the second wife he married was very mean to his daughter Stelina and made things difficult for him in every possible way. One day, Stellina said: "Father, I would rather go to the countryside to farm the fields than suffer her torture at home." But her father said to her, "Don't worry." One day, Stelina broke a bowl and her stepmother slapped her. She couldn't take it anymore and ran away from home.She came to the house of an aunt in the mountains, who was a half-immortal but very poor, and said to her niece: "Dear Stelina, I can only let you look after these sheep for me, but I will cherish my sheep." I will give you all the things I have." He said, and handed her a ring. "If you encounter any situation, you hold this ring in your hand, and it will help you."

One morning, Stellina was herding sheep on the pasture, and saw a handsome young man approaching in the distance.The young man said to her: "How can such a beautiful person herd sheep? Marry me and come with me. I will let you live a leisurely and comfortable life." Stelina flushed with shame, as if painted over, not knowing how to answer.The young man persuaded her in every possible way, and finally she was tempted by what he said, and she followed him away.There was a carriage parked on the road next to it, two people got into the carriage, and the carriage galloped away like the wind.After walking for about a whole day, the carriage finally stopped in front of a luxurious palace.

"Here, Stelina," said the young man, letting her in, "this palace is now at your disposal. Whatever you want, order and it will be there. I must leave now, and I have a few things left." We need to deal with it, and we will see you tomorrow morning." After finishing speaking, he left. Stellina stared dumbfounded at everything before her, unable to utter a word.She felt someone holding her hand, but she couldn't see anyone.She allowed herself to be taken into a very luxurious room, in which many clothes and jewels were prepared.She was undressed and put on a lady's attire. She felt that there were many people around her serving her, but she couldn't see any of them.After getting dressed, someone took her to another room, where a table of delicious meals had been prepared.She sat at the table and started to eat. People kept changing the plates and serving delicious meals to her, but there was still no one in sight.After dinner, she took a look inside and outside the palace. There were many rooms in the palace, some decorated in yellow and some in red. There were sofas, armchairs and many rare furniture in the palace.There is also a beautiful garden behind the palace, which is full of various animals.There were dogs, cats, donkeys, chickens, and even some ridiculously large toads.These animals are all together, noisy, as if talking about something.Stelina was immediately fascinated by the animals and couldn't stop looking at them, when it was getting dark and she wanted to go back to sleep.

She came to a room where there was a big king-like bed, and she felt that someone was helping her to undress, and someone brought her a lamp, a nightgown, and a pair of slippers.She went to bed, and in the silence of the palace she soon fell asleep, and slept well into the morning. As soon as she opened her eyes in the morning, she thought: Let me try to ring the bell to see if someone is coming to serve me.But no sooner had her hand touched the bell than she saw before her a silver tray of coffee and sugar.She drank her coffee and got out of bed.Then, get dressed, groomed, and in short, served like a princess.

After a while, the young man came back. "Did you sleep well? Happy?" Stelina answered yes, and the young man shook her hand, and after a while, bade her good-bye, and went away.The young man saw her like this every day, and other than that, he never saw him again. In this way, the girl lived in the palace for two months and began to feel a little bored.One morning, after the young man left, she said, "I want to take a walk in the beautiful fields nearby, and get some fresh air!" As soon as she had finished speaking, she saw a hat, a fan and A parasol, "It seems that you have been waiting by my side, let me take a look at you, just a glance!" But it was useless to say what she said, and she still couldn't see anyone.

At this moment, Stelina remembered the ring that her aunt had given her. Since she came to the palace, she had no worries about food and clothing, so she never thought of using it, and kept it in the wardrobe in the room.She went to open the closet, took out the ring, held it in her hand, and said, "Let me see who the person next to me is!" Immediately, a beautiful court lady appeared beside her. Stellina jumped up happily: "Finally someone chatted with me!" "Thank you, thank you!" said the beautiful lady-in-waiting. "I have been enchanted for a long time, and I could neither be seen nor talked to, and you have at last made me visible."

So the two girls became best friends in the world, and they decided to solve the mystery of the palace together. They walked out of the palace, walked along the path at the head of the field, and walked until they reached the end. When they came to a point, the path passed between two pillars. On one pillar was written "Question" and on the other pillar "Reply". Stellina asked "I want to know where I am" to the post that said "Ask a question": The post that said "Answer" replied; "You're in a place where you're comfortable, but..."

"But what? But what?" asked Stelina, who asked this post and that post, but received no answer. That "but" gave the pair of friends a sense of foreboding, and the two continued to move forward worriedly.Seeing to be out of this garden.An iron net blocked their way, and outside the iron net, a handsome knight was sitting on the ground. As soon as the knight saw them, he stood up, and said, "How are you in there? Be careful, you are in dire danger, and in the hands of the Beastmaster, who has a palace here, filled with He took the treasure and brought him here whenever he grabbed someone, and then ate them one by one."

When Stelina heard this, she was frightened to death, and asked the knight: "How can we escape?" "I can get you out," he said to Stelina, "I am the prince of India, and I happened to pass here on my travels in the world. When I saw you just now, I felt a feeling of admiration, and I wanted to take you to meet her." Meet my father, he will welcome you warmly, and your maid of honor." "Okay, I accept, I am willing to go with you." Stelina said. The maid said: "If the palace is really full of treasures, it would be a pity to leave them here. Now that the Beastmaster is not here, let's go and get these treasures. We will come here again tomorrow morning and escape with you."

"But how am I going to spend the night in this open place?" said the Prince. "There isn't even a shed here." "Look at mine!" said Stelina, took out the ring from her pouch, held it in her hand, and read: "I will immediately conjure a palace here, servants, carriages, everything for food, lodging, and use." You have to have everything you need." Immediately a beautiful manor appeared in the middle of the meadow.The prince said goodbye to the two girls and went into the manor. Stelina and the ladies returned to the palace and immediately began to search from top to bottom.When they went down to the cellar, they found that it was full of boxes of all sizes, as far as the eye could see. Stelina asked, "What are these things? What is it?" The two men began to open the lids of the boxes one by one, and saw that one box was full of silver, the other full of jewels, and the third full of gold coins.Stellina took hold of the ring and said: "I will have all the boxes here moved to the estate of the Indian prince at once." As said, the cellar was completely empty.

Stellina and the maid continue their search and discover a mysterious staircase.After going up, it was pitch black inside, and only heard a voice calling: "Have pity on me! Pity me on!" Stelina felt her legs tremble, but at the thought of the ring in her hand, she walked on again.It was a large room, and on a large table were many heads, men's and women's, with arms and legs, and many hanging on the walls and on chairs.Those heads were crying, "Have pity on me! Have pity on me!" The two girls learned in horror that this was the secret residence of the Beastmaster. Later, they found a barn, which was full of wheat, corn, and fodder. It was obvious at a glance that it was specially prepared for the animals in the garden. Of course, these animals were the men and women who were captured by the beast king. It became like this, and then the Beastmaster would eat them one by one. That night, Stelina managed to fall asleep.In the morning, the beast king came to greet her as usual and asked her if she slept well last night.Stelina answered with the same civility as she did every morning, pretending to know nothing.The beast king said: "Goodbye, Stellina, I wish you a happy day, and we will see you tomorrow." After finishing speaking, he left again. Stelina immediately climbed up to the barn with the maid, and threw corn, wheat, and fodder through the window into the garden, so that the animals gathered together to grab the fodder, and would not notice their escape, nor would they report to the beast king. .While the animals were eating, Stellina and the maid of honor slipped out quietly. When the two girls went to the two pillars again, Stellina took out the ring and held it in her hand and said, "I'll let them tell me what I meant by 'but' last time." "The 'but' I said last time meant that if you don't kill the Beastmaster, you won't be able to escape." Zhuzi said. "Then what shall I do?" Stelina asked again. "Go to the Beastmaster's room and steal that walnut from under the cushion of the armchair he's sitting in." As soon as he had finished speaking, the pillar collapsed on the ground. Stellina bravely returned to the palace, found walnuts under the chair cushions, and took them out.As soon as he got it in his hand, he saw the beast king running towards him, shouting, "Okay, Stellina, you betrayed me!" After speaking, he fell to the ground and died. The beast king fell to the ground and died, and all the animals returned to their original appearance. Some were kings, some were queens, and some were princes. They all thanked Stellina: some would give her a kingdom, and some would marry her as queen.Stellina quickly explained: "I'm really sorry, I already have my fiancé, and he is waiting for me." After finishing speaking, everyone walked out of the palace together, and the palace behind them immediately caught fire. After the princes and nobles were saved, they returned to their homes.Stellina brought a large amount of treasure and followed the Indian prince to India.The two got married and lived happily ever after.