Chapter 79 78. Golden Ball

Once upon a time, a king had three daughters.The eldest daughter fell in love with the baker who made bread for the palace, and the baker fell in love with her.But how to propose to her?The baker went to the king's secretary and told him about himself. "Aren't you mad?" said the secretary to him. "A baker in love with the king's daughter? It will be woe to you if the king finds out!" "That's why I've come to you," said the baker. "You can tell the king something, at least it will help you mentally." "Unfortunate for both of us!" The secretary put his hands in his hair. "I never dreamed of such a thing! The king will be very angry, and I will be implicated."

But the baker was a stubborn young man, and every day he begged the secretary to speak to the king.Until the secretary finally didn't want to be entangled by him anymore, and said to him: "Okay, I will go and talk to His Majesty about this matter, but you have to pay attention, there will be trouble." Taking advantage of the king's good mood one day, the secretary said to him: "Your Majesty, if you allow me, I want to tell you one thing, but first you must promise not to be angry with me." "Speak," said the king, and the secretary repeated what the baker had said.

The king turned pale with anger: "What! You are so brave! Guards! Arrest him!" The poor secretary was about to be sent to prison, and the king thought that he had just promised not to be angry with him, so, He ordered the three daughters to be locked up and given them only bread and water. The three daughters were kept in captivity for six months; then the king, thinking they should be given a change of air, sent them into a sealed coach, and drove them along a high road with his servants.When walking halfway, there was a sudden thick fog, and a magician appeared in the thick fog. He opened the car door and took the three girls away.

When the fog cleared, the servants found the carriage empty.They yelled and yelled and searched and searched, but to no avail.They had no choice but to return to the palace empty-handed.The king had no choice but to issue a notice: whoever finds the three daughters, he can marry one of them. The baker had by then been expelled from the palace, and was traveling the world with his two companions.One night they found a lighted house in the forest.They went and knocked at the door, which opened of its own accord, and they went in and up the stairs without seeing anyone.But there was a table in the room on which supper for three was already prepared.The three of them sat down to eat, and then they found three more bedrooms, each with a ready bed, and they went to bed.

The next morning, they found three shotguns next to their bed.In the kitchen there is still something to eat, but it is still raw.So they decided to go hunting together and stay at home to cook alone.The baker and a man went hunting.The man who remained was preparing to light the fire, and while he was adding coal, a golden ball popped out of the fireplace, and hopped about his feet.No matter how he dodged, the golden ball was always spinning around his ankle bone. He tried to kick it away, but the golden ball jumped away and returned to his feet.He kicked again, and the golden ball bounced back between his feet.The more he kicks, the harder it is to avoid the ball.At last he gave another kick, and the golden ball split open in the middle, and out of it sprang a little hunchback, brandishing a big club.The hunchback began to swing the stick.He is very small, and he can only hold a big stick up to the height of a person's knee, but he hits very fiercely.The poor man was knocked down and unable to get up, his legs were swollen from the beating.Then, the hunchback slipped back into the golden ball, and the golden ball closed itself, jumped back to the fireplace, and disappeared.

The man was beaten half to death. He crawled back to his room with his hands and fell on the bed. The cooking had long been forgotten.He was very sad and thought: I have been beaten, and my two friends should also be beaten.When the other two came back, they found that the meal was not ready, and he was lying on the bed. They asked him why, and he said, "It's nothing. The bad coal smoke in this place gives me a headache." The next morning the beaten man was much better, and went hunting with the baker.The other stayed to cook, and as he went to light the fire, he knocked golden balls out of the fireplace.He also wanted to kick the ball away, but he couldn't dodge it. In the end, the hunchback jumped out and beat him hard. He was also beaten half to death, lying on the bed and unable to get up.

"I also have a headache from the coal smoke," said the man lying on the bed when the two friends came back and saw that nothing was ready. The baker said, "My God! I'll try it tomorrow too!" "Oh, sure, you'll feel it too," said the two who had been beaten. The next day the baker stayed at home.The golden ball rolled around his feet again as he went to light the fire.Whether he is forward or backward, the ball is always at his feet.He stood on the chair and the ball jumped on the chair.He stood on the table and the ball bounced on the table.He put the chair on the table, and then stood on the chair again, letting the ball bounce freely under it, but he plucked the feathers steadily there.

After a while, the ball got tired of bouncing and opened it by itself, and the villain came out from inside. "Young man," he said, "I like you. Both of your friends kicked me, so I beat them with a stick; you didn't kick me, so I will help you." "Very well," said the baker, "then you cook for me, you have wasted so much of my time, go and fetch me some wood, and you hold it up while I chop it." The little man bent down to hold a piece of wood, and the baker raised his axe, but instead of hitting the wood, his ax struck hard at the little man's neck, and chopped off his head.Then he took the little man's body and threw it into the well.

The two friends came back, and the baker said, "Oh, you two poor fellows, the coals don't smoke at all, and you've suffered from the beatings you've had!" "What? Didn't you take a beating?" "Not only did I escape the beating, but I chopped off the hunchback's head and threw his body into the well." "Nonsense, who would believe you!" "If you don't believe me, then I'll go down the well and bring up his body to show you." Two friends tied a rope around his waist, and lowered him into the well.When he was halfway down, he saw a great lighted window, and looking through the glass, the three daughters of the King were shut up in a room, and they were doing their needlework.One can imagine how happy the two lovers were when they met again!But the king's daughter said to him, "Run away! The magician is coming back. Come and save us tonight, after he falls asleep."

The baker was very happy, and went down to the bottom of the well, and found the body of the little hunchback, and brought it up to show his two friends. That night, he took a machete and asked his friends to lower him into the well to free the king's daughters.He went through the great window, where the magician was sleeping on the sofa, and the King's three daughters were fanning him.If they stopped fanning the magician would wake up.The baker said, "Let us try to slap him with the cutlass." The magician woke up, but he was dead, and the knife was cut on his neck, and his head rolled down the well.

The king's three daughters opened the drawers of the cupboard, and saw that they were full of rubies, sapphires, and diamonds. The baker put all these treasures in a basket, and tied it to a rope, so that his two friends could pull it up.Then the girls were pulled up one by one. "Here, take this nut," said the first girl, as he tied the string to her body. "Here, take this almond," said the second girl to him. The third girl, his lover, stayed behind the last in order to give him a beautiful kiss, and she gave him a hazelnut. Now it was the baker's turn, but he had distrusted his two friends since they would not tell the truth about the hunchback, so he tied the magician's headless body to a rope.He watched the body hang up, and then suddenly the body and the whole rope fell to the bottom of the well, because the two friends let go, and they wanted to take back the King's daughters, saying they had saved them themselves. When the girls saw that they were no longer pulling the baker up, they quarreled with them: "What? He saved us, and you want to throw him down?" "Shut up all of you, little doves!" said the two villains. "You ought to know what to do for your own good. Now come back to the palace with us, and be honest, and we will do what we say." The king thought that they had saved his daughter, embraced them, and treated them warmly.Even though the king didn't like the two men very much, he promised them each to marry one of his daughters.The girls found various reasons to postpone the wedding, and waited day after day for the return of the poor baker. The baker was left at the bottom of the well, and he remembered three gifts from the king's daughter.He cracked open the walnut and found a magnificent and radiant prince's clothes.He opened the almonds again, and out came a six-horse carriage.At last he cracked open the hazelnut, and out came a regiment of soldiers. So he put on the prince's clothes, sat in a six-horse chariot, and led the soldiers, and ran from underground to above ground until he reached the king's city. Hearing that a prominent personage was coming, the king sent an envoy to ask, "Are you here for war or peace?" "Peace to those who love me, and war to those who betray me," said the baker. "It's him, it's him, he's our savior!" cried the king's three daughters.They had already climbed to the top of the tower and looked down with binoculars. "It's him, he's my bridegroom!" shouted the eldest daughter. "What does this villain in disguise want to do?" said the two friends, and armed themselves for battle. The regiment opened fire, and the two traitors were knocked to the ground, dead. The king greeted the newcomer as a victor and his daughter's savior. "I am your dismissed baker, Your Majesty!" said the young man. The king was stunned for a moment, and then he abdicated.The baker ruled the country happily with his bride. (pizza)