Chapter 82 81. The Milking Queen

Once upon a time there was a king and a queen, and they had no children.An old woman came to tell their fortune. "You have a choice," she said, "if you want a boy, he will leave the house and never come back; if you want a girl, she can live with you until she is eighteen, if you take good care of her." The king and queen decided to have girls.Sure enough, the daughter was born soon.The king ordered people to build a luxurious underground palace, where the little girl grew up and was educated, knowing nothing about the things on the ground. When she was eighteen, she begged the governess to open the door for her and let her out.The priestess finally agreed.The girl went out into the garden.There is sunshine here that she has never seen before, and she is fascinated by the big blue sky and colorful flowers.At this time, a bird with a pair of huge wings flew down from the sky, grabbed her with its claws, and flew away.

The big bird flew and flew, and finally flew over a farmhouse and dropped her on the roof.Two farmers, father and son, were working in the fields when they saw something gleaming on the roof of their house.When they climbed up the ladder, they saw a girl with a crown on her head, and the jewels in the crown shone brightly, lighting up all around.The farmer had five daughters who all milked the cows; he kept the girls to live with his daughters.Every month they sell a crown jewel to subsidize the family. When all the jewels were sold out, the girl said: "Mother (now she calls the farmer's wife Mother), I want to support myself, you go to the queen of this country and ask her to do some embroidery, let me do it. "

The farmer's wife went, but the queen said to her, "Your daughters are all milkmen, how can you expect them to embroider?" She gave the farmer's wife a small piece of coarse cloth contemptuously.The girl began to embroider, and she embroidered very beautifully.When the farmer's wife showed the embroidered cloth to the queen, the queen was so surprised that she gave the farmer's wife two gold coins, and at the same time gave her a cloth cover for the girl to continue embroidering.After a few days, the peasant woman showed the beautifully embroidered cloth to the queen. The queen gave her three gold coins this time, and also gave him an old skirt for the girl to embroider.When the peasant woman brought it back to her, the skirt was almost a beautiful dancing skirt.

"Where did your daughter learn this trade?" asked the Queen. "From the nun..." "Possibly, but it doesn't look like a peasant girl made these. Well, I'll have her cut my son's full wedding dress." The king's son, learning that the milkmaid was embroidering his gowns, wanted to see her, so he found her, while she was at work.The prince is a naughty young man who upsets the girl.One day, he suddenly grabbed her and kissed her.The milkmaid drove the punch into his chest, and it hit him straight in the heart, and killed him. The girl was brought before a court of judges made up of the king's four daughters.The eldest daughter advocated that she should be sentenced to death, the second daughter suggested that she should be sentenced to life imprisonment, and the third daughter should be sentenced to 20 years in prison. Liguan for eight years, in order for the girl to see the dead body often, so that she can reflect on herself.The suggestion of the fourth daughter was adopted.So the girl was sentenced to be locked up in the tower. When she passed by the fourth daughter, the king's daughter whispered to her: "Don't be afraid, I will help you."

In fact, the fourth daughter selected exquisite food from the palace kitchen every day for the prisoners in the tower to eat. The girl was kept in the tower for three years.At this time, she saw the bird with huge wings that had grabbed her appeared in the sky.It stopped on the tower, built a nest, laid eggs in it, and ten more young birds hatched. "Bird, bird," said the girl every day, "take me away from here, just like you took me from home before." The palace of the king's three eldest daughters is near the tower.One day, they heard the girl's words and reported the matter to the king. "Go and drive that bird away from the tower!" ordered the king.The guards overturned the nest with spears, and ten young birds fell from the tower to the ground and died.

At night, the girl saw the big bird holding a bunch of special grass and flying down beside the bodies of the little birds. It brushed the grass on the little birds, and the little birds came back to life. "Bird, bird," said the girl, "give me some of this magic grass." The big bird flew away, and came back with a bunch of grass in its claws.The girl caught the grass and ran to brush the prince's body with it, and gradually he came to life.I can't say who was happier, they hugged each other, kissed, and had a good time. They revealed the secret to no one but the king's youngest daughter.The youngest daughter was overjoyed at this miracle.She brought them good food every day, and brought him a guitar as requested by her brother.

Now, the two lovers are locked up in the tower and pass the time singing and playing the guitar.The king's three oldest daughters heard guitars and singing in their nearby palace and wanted to go and see what was going on.But when they came in, the prince lay back in the coffin again, and the girl pretended not to know anything.The three sisters went back sadly; at night, they heard the sound of zither and singing from the tower. They died in the presence of the king, and the king ordered the prisoners to be transferred to another place for detention.When the guards came to take her away, they saw her coming out arm in arm with the prince.The prince is not only alive, but also healthy.

The king's family was stunned with astonishment when they saw the prisoner approaching from the window. "Father, mother, sisters," said the prince, "I present to you my bride." The little girl clapped her hands with joy. But the three sisters, resentful at the thought of a milkmaid being their sister-in-law, tried every means to ridicule and humiliate her. "Before we get married," said the bride, "I'm going home to visit my parents. Tell me what presents do you want?" The eldest daughter said: "Oh, a bottle of milk is ready!" The second child said, "Ugh, I want a piece of fresh cheese!"

The third child said, "Ah, bring me a basket of garlic!" The milkmaid went away, but she did not go back to the farmer's house, but directly to her real father, the king who had locked her in the underground palace.A week later she returned to the groom's house in a beautiful carriage drawn by several white horses. "What? A milkman in a carriage?" said her three sisters-in-law in surprise as they watched her carriage approach. The milkman alighted from the carriage with a present: she passed the milk to the sister-in-law, which was in a silver vase and wrapped in a cloth of gold.She handed the cheese to the second aunt, and the silver cheese was packed in a golden basket.She handed the garlic to the third aunt again, the garlic cloves of jewels, and the leaves of emeralds.

"I have always been so kind to you, but you haven't given me any presents?" asked the youngest sister. The milkman opened the door of the carriage, and out came a handsome young man. "This is my brother, who was born after I left the palace. He will be your bridegroom." (Livorno)