Chapter 62 61. Sleeping Queen

Once upon a time in Spain, there lived a just and benevolent king named Massimiliano.He had three sons: Guglielmo, Giovanni and Andreno.Andreno was the youngest son and the favorite of his father.The king fell ill and became blind.All the doctors in the country were called to see the king, but none of them could see well.One of the oldest doctors said: "Ordinary medical skills may not be able to cure your disease, you should ask a fortune teller to have a look!" So all the fortune tellers were summoned to the palace from all directions, and they Everyone rummaged through their books, but no one could tell why.Among these people was a wizard whom no one knew.When the others had expressed their views, the wizard stepped forward and said: "King Massimiliano, I know, and I know what is wrong with you. Only the well water in the city of the Sleeping Queen can heal you." illness.” After speaking, he disappeared among the surprised crowd, and no one knew his whereabouts since then.

The king wanted to know who this man was, but no one had seen him.A fortune teller said that he seemed to be a wizard who came here from Armenia by magic.The king asked, "Then, is the city of the Sleeping Queen in that far away place?" An old court official replied, "No one will know where she is until we find her. If I were young, I will definitely look for it right away." The eldest son Guglielmo stepped forward and said: "If anyone needs to go on a long journey, then it should be me. Of the three sons, I am of course the first to think about my father's health."

"Dear child," Guogong said, "I bless you. Go and get some money, take your horse and everything you need and go! I'll be here waiting for your triumphant return in three months' time." Guglielmo boarded the ship at the port of the kingdom, raised the sails, and sailed towards Buda Island. After staying there for three hours, he set off for Armenia.On the island of Buda, Giangliermo stepped off the boat, wanting to see the scenery on the island.As he was strolling, he met a beautiful and elegant lady.In this way, three hours passed unknowingly during his chat with the lady.When the appointed time came, the ship hoisted its sails and left the island of Buda, leaving Guglielmo behind.At first, Guglielmo felt very remorseful, but it didn't take long for the company of the lady to make him forget his father's illness and his mission.

After three months the king did not see his son, and he thought him dead.In this way, the sorrow of losing his son was added to his original pain of blindness.In order to comfort him, the second son Giovanni proposed to find his brother and the well.Although the king was afraid of a repeat of the tragedy, he agreed to him. Soon after the ship set off, Giovanni saw the island of Buda from a distance.This time the boat stayed on the shore for half a day.Giovanni disembarked from the boat to visit the island, and he entered garden after garden filled with erotic, cypress, and laurel trees, and there were ponds, large and small, in which fish of every color played in the clear waters.Then, he walked into a village full of streets and alleys, and came to a square.The square is surrounded by various monuments and buildings, and there is a marble pool. In the middle of the square is a majestic palace.The pillars of the palace were gilded and silvered, and the walls were all crystal, which reflected the dazzling brilliance in the sun. Through the crystal walls, Giovanni saw his brother walking there.

"Guglielmo!" he yelled, "you are here! Why don't you go home? We thought you were dead!" and the two embraced. Guglielmo told him how he came to the island, how he was seduced by the beautiful lady and never left the island.Finally he said: "This lady is named Lucistella, and she is the master of this island. She has a very beautiful sister named Isabella, if you like, she is yours!" In this way, after twelve hours, the sailors left Buda without seeing Giovanni.Giovanni, like his brother, after a moment of guilt, forgets his father and the magic water and becomes a new guest at the Crystal Palace.

Three months passed, and King Massimiliano fell into extreme pain when he saw that his second son had not returned, and the whole court was shrouded in an atmosphere of sorrow.At this time, Andreno volunteered to stand up and vowed to his father to find the well of the two brothers and the sleeping queen. "Even you will leave me?" said the king. "I am so old and feeble and blind, how can I not have a son by my side?" The son hoped to return safely with the god level, and finally the king finally agreed. The ship dropped anchor off the shore of Buda Island and will stay here for two days. "You can disembark," the captain said to Andreno, "but you must come back on time, otherwise you will be left on the island without knowing whereabouts like the other two young people a few months ago." Andreno Knowing that the captain was talking about his two brothers, they must be on this island.So he started looking for them on the island, and found them in the Crystal Palace.The three brothers hugged each other, and the two elder brothers told Andreno the reasons why they stayed on the island: "I tell you, we are living in paradise now!" said the eldest brother, "Each of us has a beautiful My wife is the master of this island, and Giovanni's wife is her sister. If you are willing to stay, I think they should have a cousin."

But Andreno said: "I can see that you have lost your mind, because you have forgotten your duty to your father! I am going to find the magic water of the Sleeping Queen, and neither wealth, pleasure nor beauty Change my resolve!" After hearing these words, the two brothers fell into silence, and turned away very angrily.Andreno immediately returned to the boat and hoisted the sails.Following the sea breeze, the boat quickly came to Armenia. As soon as he arrived in Armenia, Andreno began to ask everyone where the city of the Sleeping Queen was.But no one seems to have heard of this place.After weeks of fruitless inquiries, a man told him that on the top of the mountain lived a hermit old man. "He's an old man as old as the world, and his name is Farfanello. If he doesn't know where this city is, then no one will."

Andreno climbed up the mountain, found the old man with a long beard in a thatched hut, and told him his purpose. "Well, young man!" said Farfanello, "yes, I have heard of this place, but it is very far away. First you have to cross an ocean, which will take at least a month, And it will be a dangerous voyage. Even if you make it there safely, greater danger awaits you on the island of the Sleeping Queen. Because of this, people have given it a sad-sounding Name: 'Crying Island'." Andreno, who finally got the exact news, boarded the ship and left the port of Brindis with a heart full of joy.Navigation at sea is full of dangers.There are so many huge white bears swimming in the sea that even the huge fishing boats will be capsized by them.But Andreno, who is an excellent hunter, was not afraid at all. He drove the boat, shuttled among the sharp claws of these white bears, and finally arrived at the Weeping Island.The pier of the island seemed to have been abandoned for a long time, and the surroundings were silent.When Andreno got ashore, he saw a sentry with a spear standing there motionless. He stepped forward to ask him the way, but the sentry was like a statue and said nothing.He asked the porters on the pier to carry the luggage, but they didn't move. Some porters were carrying heavy boxes on their backs, with one leg stretched forward.Walking into the city, on one side of the road, a shoemaker is pulling a thread; on the other side of the road, a coffee shop clerk is holding a jug to pour coffee for a woman, and everyone is still.On the road, under the windows, or in the shops, there were people everywhere, but they were still as if made of wax, in some very strange poses.Even horses, dogs, and cats stand still.In this silence, Andreno came to a majestic palace, where there were many statues and steles commemorating the former kings of the island.On the front of the palace is a heavily carved relief with a line of radiant gold letters: To the Queen of Wise Men, who rules over the Isle of Ballymus.

"Where is this queen?" said Andreino to himself, "is she probably what people call the Sleeping Queen?" Dusty halls, each entrance guarded by enchanted warriors, and in the largest hall, a marble platform.Under a canopy is the king's throne, engraved with the king's emblem and inlaid with various precious stones.From a great golden pot stretched a vine, so luxuriant that it covered the king's throne and canopy with its branches, and was hung with clusters of ripe grapes, from other pots and Through the window near the garden, various fruit trees grew luxuriantly, occupying the whole hall.Because of the long walk, Andreno felt a little hungry, so he picked an apple from the tree and ate it. As soon as he took the first bite, his vision became more and more blurred, and then he lost his vision. Nothing can be seen. "My God!" he shouted, "I've become blind! What should I do in this strange place where everyone is like a statue?" He groped, hoping to find the way when he came, and suddenly, He stepped on the ground and fell into the water all at once.He paddled vigorously into the water, surfaced, and found himself seeing light as soon as he came out of the water.It turned out that he fell into a deep well, from which he could see the sky outside. "Yes!" Andreno thought to himself, "This is the well that the wizard said. As long as I can get out of here, I can bring this water back to cure my father." He saw a rope coming from the well. The mouth of the well hangs down and climbs up along the rope.

It was already dark, and Andreno wanted to find a bed to sleep for the night. In a bedroom near the main hall of the palace, he saw a big bed, on which lay a beautiful girl like an angel.The girl closed her eyes tightly, her expression was serene, one could tell at a glance that she had been enchanted in her sleep.After thinking for a while, Andreno took off his clothes and lay down next to the girl, spending a very sweet night with her like this, but the girl didn't seem to be aware of his existence at all.The next morning, he jumped out of bed and left a note on the bedside table, which read: "Andreno, son of Massimiliano, King of Spain, had a good night in this bed. Christ March 21st, 203rd year of the A.D." Then he took a bottle of well water that could restore sight, and an apple that could blind people, and set off for the return voyage.

The boat stopped again as it passed the island of Buda, and Andreno went to visit his brother.He told them about his strange experience on the Weeping Island, the wonderful night he had spent with the beautiful girl, and he showed them the apple that can make people blind, and the bottle of well water that can make people see again.The two brothers became jealous, and they agreed on a plot to frame him.They stole Andreno's bottle of water and replaced it with another, also filled with clean water, and announced that they would take their wives home with him to meet their father. They are in Spain.Knowing that all three sons had returned safely, the king was overjoyed beyond description. After hugging the three sons excitedly, the king asked, "Which of you is the luckiest one?" Guglielmo and Giovanni kept silent. Without saying a word, Andreno replied: "Dear father, I dare say that I am the luckiest, because I found the two missing brothers and brought them home. I arrived in the city of the Sleeping Queen, well I have brought back the water that can restore your eyesight. Besides, I have another magical thing, and I will show you its magic power in a moment." He took out the apple and gave it to his mother to eat.The queen took a bite of the apple, and immediately felt the darkness before her eyes, and cried out in surprise. "Don't be afraid, mother," Andreno said, taking out the bottle, "just use a little of the water in this bottle. I will not only restore your sight, but also my father, who has been blind for a long time." But the water was from the bottle that had been replaced by his brothers, so it did not restore the King and Queen's eyesight.The queen was crying, the king was furious, and Andreno was at a loss.At this time, the two older brothers stepped forward and said, "It's all because we didn't find the well for the Sleeping Queen's well. It's here." They wet the eyes of the two old men with the stolen water, making them They see again. A quarrel ensued: Andreno shouted that the two brothers were thieves and liars.The older brothers contemptuously called him a liar.The king became more and more confused, and at last he believed the words of Guglielmo, Giovanni and their wives.Say to Andreino: "Shut up! Shameless bastard! Not only do you not want to cure me, you want to blind your mother too! Soldier, take this ungrateful man to the woods and kill him! I want Bring me back his heart, or I'll take your heads!" Soldiers dragged out Andreno, who was crying out desperately, and took him to a bush outside the city.Andreno told them about his experiences and convinced them to believe him.In order not to stain their hands with the blood of innocents, the soldiers let Andreno swear that he would never return to the country.What they brought back to the king was the heart of a freshly slaughtered pig bought from a farmer. On the Isle of Crying, nine months passed in a flash, and the sleeping girl gave birth to a beautiful boy.The moment the boy fell to the ground, she woke up.As soon as the queen woke up, the spell cast by the fairy Morgana out of jealousy disappeared.Then all the citizens woke up, and the city came back to life.Those soldiers who had been standing guard sat down to rest, and the resting soldiers stood guard instead.The clerk at the coffee shop continued to pour the coffee, and the porter on the pier shifted the load to the other shoulder because the old one was too tired. The Queen rubbed her eyes and said to herself: "Who has the courage to come here, spend the night in this room, and free me and my subjects from the magic?" A maid handed her the note left on the bedside table. After reading the note, she realized that the man was Andreno, the son of King Massimiliano, so she immediately wrote to the king. She wrote a letter asking him to send Andreno immediately, otherwise, she would start a war against him. When the king received the letter, he immediately called for Guglielmo and Giovanni, had them read the letter, and asked what they thought.Neither of them knew how to answer.Finally Guglielmo said: "This is really a puzzling thing. It seems that someone needs to go to the queen to clarify the matter. I will go there myself." Guglielmo's voyage was very smooth, because the magic of the fairy Morgana was no longer there, and the white bears were gone.After meeting the Queen, Guglielmo declared himself Prince Andreno. The suspicious queen began to test his authenticity: "When did you first come here? What was the city like then? Where was I? What did you do in the palace? What did you do this time?" What changes have you discovered since then?” and so on.Guglielmo's thoughts became confused, he stuttered and confused when speaking.The queen was soon convinced he was lying.So they asked someone to arrest him, cut off his head, and hung his head on a big nail in the city gate, beside which he wrote: "The fate of liars". The Sleeping Queen wrote a second letter to King Massimiliano, saying that if Andreno was not sent, her army was ready for war, and that she would burn his kingdom to the ground and put All his family and people were killed.The country already regretted that someone had killed Andreno, and said to Giovanni with great regret: "What should we do now? How can we explain to her that Andreno is no longer alive? Why didn't Guglielmo come back?" ?” And Giovanni proposed that he should go to the Sleeping Queen.He came to the island, but when he saw Guglielmo's head hanging on the city gate, he fled back like a gust of wind without asking any questions. "Father!" he said to Guogong. "This is the end of us! Guglielmo is dead! His head was hanging on the gate, and if I had gone in, there would be a second head on another panel of the gate. " The king put his head in his hands, and said in pain: "Guglielmo is dead, and so is he! Oh, surely Andreno is innocent, and all this is my fault! But you, Giovanni, At least you should tell me the truth and expose this hoax to me before I die!" "It's all our ladies' fault," said Giovanni, "we never went to the Sleeping Queen, we just changed the water bottle that Andreno brought back." The king was crying and pulling his hair while scolding his son.He called the soldiers and asked them to take him to the place where Andreino was buried.The soldiers were very panicked.Seeing this scene, the king felt hopeful again: "Tell me the truth quickly. No matter what you have done, I guarantee in the name of the country that I will forgive you." Then the soldiers trembled and told how they had not carried out the sentence according to the king's will.To their surprise, the ecstatic king hugged and kissed them like crazy.Soon, notices were posted on every corner of the street, announcing that whoever could find Andreno, the king would grant him a lifetime of glory and wealth. Andreno returned, to the delight of his old father and the whole court.They set off at once to the Isle of Weeping, where they were received with great ceremony. "Andreno, you have freed me and my subjects," said the queen, "and you shall be my husband and king here forever!" Songs filled the island for many months afterward. And joy, from then on, people called this island Happy Island. (Montale Pistoia area)