Chapter 58 57. The Feathered Demon

There was a king who was sick.The doctors came and said to him, "Your Majesty, if you want to cure your disease, you must get a feather from the monster. This is the only way to cure the disease, but because the monster eats everyone, his feather is very weak." hard to come by." The king told everyone about it, but no one wanted to go.He asked one of his loyal and brave guards, who said, "I'll go." People told the guards: "On the top of a mountain, there are seven caves, and a demon lives in one of them." The guards went on the road, and when it was dark, they came to an inn.When the shopkeeper heard about him, he said to him, "Since it is so useful, if you could bring me a feather too..."

"Well, I'll bring you one too," he said. "If you can talk to the goblin, ask about my daughter, she's been missing for years and I never knew where she was." In the morning, he continued on his way.When he came to a river, he called the ferryman to take him across the river.On the way, he also chatted with the ferryman. "Can you bring me a feather too?" asked the ferryman. "I've heard it brings good luck." "Okay, I'll bring you one." "If you can talk to it, ask it for me why I have been here for so many years and can't leave this boat."

"I will definitely ask for you." After disembarking, he continued on his way.Arriving at a spring, he sat down to eat a few mouthfuls of bread.Two well-dressed gentlemen came and sat down to chat with him. "Will you bring us one too?" they asked him. "Why not?" "Besides, please ask the demon one more thing for us. In our garden, there used to be a spring that gushed gold and silver, but now it has dried up. What's the matter?" "Okay, I'll definitely ask for you." He started on his way again.In the evening, he came to the door of a monastery, knocked on the door and asked to stay overnight.The monk came and opened the door and said, "Come in, come in."

After hearing his history, the monks said: "Do you know the situation there?" "They told me that there are seven holes there, and there is a door deep in one of the holes, knock on the door and go in, and you will find the demon." "Well, good sir," said the dean, "if I don't remind you of the situation there, you will surely die. Do you think that monster is easy to deal with? I will introduce it to you now, but we will help you You have to help us too." "OK." "Tell you, when you climb to the top of the mountain, check out the seven openings first, the seventh is the residence of the demon. You go down from this opening, the cave is dark and you can't see anything. We will send you a candle And a box of matches, so you can use it to light your way. But you must go in at noon, because the goblin is not at home. Only his wife is in there, and he is a good girl who can do it, and she will teach you other things. Without her help, you would meet the ogre and be eaten by him."

"Thank you for telling me all this. I didn't know these things before." "Now I'm going to ask you to do me a favor. Do me a favor, we've been here for many years and it's been quiet and peaceful, but since ten years ago we've been at odds with each other, some want this, some want that, The strife continued and the courtyard was full of smoke. What is the reason for this?" The next morning, the guards began to climb the mountain.He climbed to the top of the mountain at eleven o'clock and rested on the ground.When it was twelve o'clock, he entered the seventh hole, and it was so dark inside that he could not see his fingers. He struck a match, lit a candle, and saw a door.As soon as he knocked, the door opened.A beautiful girl asked, "Who are you? Who brought you here? Don't you know who my husband is? He eats whoever he sees."

"I'm here to pluck the feathers from his body. Anyway, I've already come, so I have to do it with all my might. If he eats it, there's nothing I can do." "Look, I've been here for years and I can't take it anymore. If you succeed, we'll both run away together. Don't let him see you, or he'll eat you. I'll Hide you under the bed and I'll pluck his feathers for you while he sleeps. How many do you want?" "Four." Then he told the girl about the king, the shopkeeper, the boatman, the gentleman, and the monk, and their requests.

They were talking while eating.An hour passed.The girl started to make food for the monster again. "When he's hungry, he'll soon smell the living, but when he's full, he can't. If he smells you, you're in trouble!" At six o'clock, there was a loud bang on the door, and the agile guard immediately hid under the bed.The demon came in and said: "Somebody, somebody, This taste belongs to the stranger or have been Or there are people hiding at home now. " "What nonsense," said the wife, "you talk nonsense when you're hungry. Go and eat."

The demon started to eat, but he could still smell the smell of strangers, so after eating, he went to look around again.Finally it was time to go to bed.He and his wife took off their coats, got into the quilt, and the demon fell asleep. The guard hid under the bed, his ears pricked up all the time. "Be careful," the girl whispered to him, "now I'll pretend to be dreaming and pluck one of his feathers." As she spoke, she plucked a feather and handed it to the guard under the bed. "Ouch! What are you doing? Pulling my feathers!" said the demon. "Oh... I'm dreaming..."

"What did you dream about?" "I dreamed of the monastery at the bottom of the mountain. For ten years, the monks have been fighting each other, and they can't get together." "It's not a dream, it's real!" said the demon. "The monks are quarreling like this because ten years ago the devil came into the monastery disguised as a monk." "What do we have to do to get rid of him?" "It is necessary for those real monks to start doing good deeds. Then we can find out who is the devil." After speaking, the demon fell asleep.

After about a quarter of an hour, the wife plucked another feather and handed it to the guard under the bed. "Ouch! You hurt me so much!" "I'm dreaming!" "Dream again! What did you dream about?" "That spring down the hill, in the garden of the two gentlemen's house, once gushed gold and silver. I dreamed it dried up. Who knows what it means?" "What you dreamed tonight is all true. The spring is blocked, and no gold and silver will flow out. You need to dig the spring up again, but slowly. There is a ball underneath. Beside the ball is a snake, sleeping. Before the snake notices it, the head of the snake under the ball must be smashed, and the spring will gush gold and silver again."

After a quarter of an hour, the girl plucked another feather. "Ouch! Tonight, you want to pluck my hair!" "Don't worry, I'm dreaming." "What did you dream about again?" "A boatman, on the river down the mountain, who has been unable to escape that boat for so many years." "This dream was also true. The boatman didn't know what he was supposed to do; he met the first person on the boat, and after collecting the money, he didn't let the guests get off the boat first, but he had to get off first. In this way, that person will stay on board in his stead, and he can go." The girl plucked out the fourth feather. "What are you doing? My God!" "Forgive me, I'm still dreaming about a shopkeeper who, for years, has been looking forward to being reunited with his missing daughter." "You mean that you dreamed of your father, because the shopkeeper's daughter is you..." At six o'clock in the morning, the demon got up, said goodbye to his wife, and left.At this time, the guard got out from under the bed, wrapped the four feathers in a bundle, took the girl on his arm, and fled together. Passing by the monastery, he explained to the monks: "I tell you, the demon told me that one of you is a devil. You have to do some great good, and he will escape from here." Immediately the monks began to do good deeds, and finally the devil slipped away. The two of them went through the garden, gave the two gentlemen a feather, and explained to them about the snake.Later, the spring water gushed out gold and silver. To the boatman, "This is the feather you want!" "Thank you. What did the goblin say about me?" "I can't tell you now, I'll tell you after crossing the river." As soon as he got off the boat, he told the boatman what to do. When he came to the inn, the guard shouted: "Shopkeeper, I brought you back my daughter and feathers!" The shopkeeper wanted to marry his daughter to a guard right away.The guard said: "I'll come back after I give this feather to the king and ask his permission." The guard brought the feather to the king, who was cured and rewarded him with a sum of money.The guard said: "Your Majesty, please allow me to go to my wedding." After the king learned about the situation, he rewarded him with a sum of money and let him go.After arriving at the inn, they prepared to hold a wedding.At this time, the demon had discovered that his wife had escaped, so he ran out immediately to catch her and eat them both.Come to the river and jump into the boat.The boatman said, "Pay the ferry fee." The demon paid the money, but he didn't expect that the boatman already knew the secret, so he didn't pay attention.When they got to the opposite bank, the boatman jumped onto the bank first, and the monster never left the boat again. (Garfagnana Estanza area)