Chapter 103 102. The proud king

Once upon a time there was a merchant who had a daughter.Every night he took his daughter to the party.One evening the girl was at a party and saw a great man pull a snuffbox from his pocket and take tobacco from it.On the lid there is an alley, which is a portrait of the son of the king of Persia.The prince's face was covered with seven veils.The girl then fell in love with him. When she got home, she said to her father: "Father, I fell in love with the son of the King of Persia. Go propose marriage to him and bring my portrait with you." The son of the King of Persia was famous for two things: he was extremely beautiful, and because of his excess of beauty he could not be seen by anyone, and he even covered his face with seven veils, lest anyone should see him, And always shut himself up in the room with the throne, seeing no one but his mother.

Hearing what his daughter said, the merchant replied, "Daughter, you'd better forget about this prince of Persia." However, the merchant's daughter has since become obsessed, thinking of nothing but this.She began to circle around her father, begging him until the merchant couldn't bear to see his daughter in such pain, and decided to go to the Persian prince with seven veils on his face and tell him his daughter's love for him. The queen received the merchant, and she took the portrait of the girl to show to her son in the other room. "Son, do you want to see this picture?"

"Tell him to throw it in the toilet." The queen went back and told the merchant, and the poor father begged her, "But my poor daughter is struggling with tears." "Son," said the Queen again to the proud King, "he says his daughter is crying!" "Then give her these seven handkerchiefs." "My daughter is killing herself!" said the poor father, when the queen brought him seven handkerchiefs. "He said she was committing suicide," the queen told the proud king. "Then give her this knife and let her commit suicide."

With these cruel answers, the old man went back to his daughter.The daughter was silent for a while, and then said: "At this time, one must be strong. Give me a horse and money, and let me go." "Are you crazy?" "Crazy or not, I'm going out into the world." She's gone out into the world.In the evening, she came to a field.The girl saw a light. It was a small house where a woman lived and was watching over her dying son.The girl said: "Go and rest, I will watch over your son." Watching and watching, the lights went out, and the surroundings were pitch black.She groped in the dark for a match, but couldn't find it. "I'll have to try around the neighborhood to see if anyone can light the light for me." She ran out the door, looked around, and saw a light down there.The girl came forward, and there was an old woman adding firewood to the frying pan.

"Grandma, can you light my lamp?" "If you help me," replied the old woman. "help you with what?" "Help me cast a spell on a young man, the son of the farmer who lives over there," she pointed to the house where the dying boy lived. "The young man will die as soon as the oil burns out." "I'll help you," said the girl, "I'll add firewood, and see if the oil is boiling." The old lady leaned over to see if the oil was boiling, and the girl grabbed her legs and threw the old woman headfirst into the oil until she felt stiff.Then she lit the lamp, put out the fire, and ran back into the house.There the young man recovered from his illness and had risen from his bed.The poor hut was filled with laughter. "I want to marry you!" said the young man. "No, let me go," she replied, and the next day, she continued to travel with her gift.

She came to a village and worked for a couple's family.The poor husband has not been able to get up for many years.He had an unknown disease, and all the medical saints couldn't figure it out.The girl worked there and began to doubt the wife.She began to notice her, and one night the girl hid behind a curtain to see what she was doing at night.The wife came, woke the husband, gave him a sleeping pill, and as soon as he fell asleep, the wife opened a jewelry box and said, "Come, dear daughters, it's time." A mass of adders crawled out of the jewelry box, and they jumped on the sleeping man and began to suck his blood.When the vipers were full, the wife tore them off, took out a small pot hidden behind a painting, and let the vipers spit out all the blood they had sucked. She painted the blood on her hair, and then put the snakes Put it back, and then say:

"On the water, on the wind, Lead me to the walnuts of Benevento. " Then it disappeared. What about girls?She also anoints her hair with the blood from the cauldron and repeats the woman's words.Suddenly, she came to a barrel full of witches, they were dancing, divination and magic.At dawn, the girl was going home before the mistress arrived, so she thought: to find the opposite spell.Then try to say: "Under the water, under the wind, Keep me away from the walnuts in Benevento. " So, she went back into the house all at once.When the hostess returned, she was resting as if nothing had happened.

However, the next morning the girl said to the man, "Pretend to drink the glass your wife gave you tonight, but don't swallow a drop." The hostess did so and stayed awake.When she was about to put the adder on him, he jumped up and killed her.Before the woman died, her husband was healed. "How can I thank you?" He said to the girl, "Don't go, I want to keep you and me forever." But she doesn't want to.She took the money given by the master and started on the road again. She walked and walked, came to another town, and checked into an inn.The owner has a young son who has been lying in bed for a long time, neither eating nor drinking, and sleeping day and night.The girl said, "Let me treat him."

At night, she began to guard the young man.The clock struck ten, and nothing happened; the clock struck eleven, and nothing happened.When the clock struck twelve, there was a bang, two holes were broken in the ceiling, and two bundles fell from above, one white and one black.They fell to the ground, and the white bundle turned into a beautiful woman, and the black bundle turned into a maid, carrying a tray of dinner.The woman slapped the sleeping young man to wake him; then, having prepared the table for him, they began to eat their supper together as if nothing had happened.When the rooster crowed, the beautiful woman slapped the boy again, and he immediately fell asleep again.The two women curled up, and finally turned into two bundles, one black and one white, and flew out from the hole in the ceiling.

During the day, the girl said to the patient's parents: "If you want to cure this poor child, listen to me carefully. You must do five things: first, kill all the cocks in the town; and tie all the bells; the third, prepare a piece of cloth embroidered with stars, and put it over the windows; the fourth, light a bonfire under the window; the fifth, let a mason stand on the roof , ready to mend the two holes above." On the second night, the two burden women went down to the room and began to have supper with the young man.From time to time they looked out of the window to see if it was daylight, but it was always full of stars.Wait, wait, it's still dark outside.There was no rooster crowing, much less the sound of a bell; two bundle women went to the window to see why the night never ended.They stretched out their hands and found that it was not the sky outside, but a drape.The cloth suddenly fell, revealing the sun that had risen to the mid-heaven.So they anxiously turned into burdens again and jumped up towards the ceiling.But at this time, the mason has already repaired the tiles, beams and cement layer.They found their way back blocked.The two rushed to the window again, but saw a bonfire outside.In any case, they had no choice but to jump on the fire, where they were charred and fled.But in their haste they forgot to slap the young man as usual: and so the young man remained awake and free from the magic.

His parents ran up to hug him, ecstatic. "That girl! I want to marry that girl!" These were the first words he uttered.But she, alas, had other ideas in her head.She got another pile of presents from the shopkeeper and hit the road again. The girl met an old woman, "Where are you going?" She replied, "Go to the proud king." "Listen," said the old woman, "I know you have your own sorrows, and here is this little stick that gives you orders. Ask it for what you want, and it will give you. You know, proud The king lives in this town." Then the old woman disappeared, and the merchant's daughter came across to the palace where the proud king lived, and struck the ground with her baton, saying, "I command! I command that a A palace as high as that of the proud King, with seven windows like his, which were to be connected at one end with those of the King, and at the other end away from them. Immediately another palace appeared opposite the king's palace, exactly as she had ordered it to be.In the morning, after the proud king got up, he saw a beautiful palace that he had never seen before.He went to the window and found a very beautiful girl standing in front of the window farthest from him on the opposite side. In order to see her clearly, the proud king took off the first layer of veil, and then he immediately told the servants Said: "Take the most beautiful pair of bracelets in the jewelry and give it to the girl opposite, and propose to her in my name." The servants carried the bracelets on velvet cushions and went on their missions.But as soon as the girl saw them, she said, "Take this pair of bracelets and hang them on the door below, where two knockers are missing." Then she drove them away. The next day, the girl came to the second window, and the proud king raised the second veil and stood in front of his second window.Next, he sent a servant to deliver a necklace of diamonds. "This necklace," said she, "is to be used as a leash for the dog, which is on a rope now." On the third day, the girl came to the third window, and the proud king had lifted the third veil and appeared in front of the third window. He ordered the servant to send a pair of pearl earrings. "These earrings," said the girl, "make a dog bell." On the fourth day, at the fourth window, she answered the servants to take the precious embroidered shawl given her as a doormat; on the fifth day, the king had lifted the fifth veil, and Send a servant to deliver the engagement ring, with a diamond the size of a walnut set in it.The girl told them to show it to the janitor's children. On the sixth day they brought her the queen's crown. "Take it as a stand for a pan," she said. But in the mean time they all came to the seventh window, face to face, and the proud king had lifted his last veil, and the merchant's daughter loved him so much that she said, "Well, I promise to marry you." .” so that with bread and bread crumbs ate a maggot-ridden hen, Long live the bride! (Rome area)