Chapter 105 104. Lice skin

Once upon a time there was a king.One day, he was walking slowly and found a louse on his body.He thought that the king's lice should be very noble.So, instead of crushing it to death, he respected it, brought it back to the palace, and made it fatter and fatter.The louse was as fat as a cat, lying on a chair all day long.After a while the louse grew fat like a pig, and they had to put it on an armchair.After a while, it was as fat as a cow, and people had to put it in the cowshed.But it is still getting fat, and there is no room for it in the cowshed.In this way, the king ordered someone to kill it, and after it was killed, its skin was peeled off, and the skin was nailed to the gate of the palace.Then, the king issued a proclamation that whoever could guess what kind of animal skin it was, should marry his daughter to him; but if he guessed wrong, he would be sentenced to death.

As soon as the announcement came out, a long dragon appeared at the gate of the palace.People came to guess the skin, but they all lost their lives.Executioners kill day and night.The king's daughter, behind her father's back, already had a lover, but she didn't know the answer, and was anxious in her heart. Finally, she learned from several servants who knew the details that the skin was the skin of lice.In the evening, when her lover came to her window as usual, she said softly, "Come to my father tomorrow and tell him it's a louse skin." He didn't hear clearly: "What? Knee skin?"

"No, it's lice skin!" The king's daughter raised her voice a little. "Fennel skin?" "Lice! It's lice skin!"[1] she cried. "Ah, I see! I'll see you tomorrow." With that, he left. But a hunchbacked shoemaker, who was setting up a stall just under the princess's window, overheard their conversation. "Now let's see," he said to himself, "who will marry you: me or the boy." He did what he said, and without taking off his apron, he ran through the crowd to the King. "Your Majesty Shengming, I am very honored to guess what kind of skin this is."

"You must not guess lightly," said the king, "because many people have died for it." "See if I die too," said the hunchback.The king sent for the skin.The hunchback looked at it carefully, sniffed it again, pretended to be thinking hard, and said: "Your Majesty Shengming, I am honored to tell you that for a person who knows the leather of livestock well, this leather is nothing at all. Nothing: lice." The king looked at the hunchback in astonishment, wondering why he was so clever; but the king's words were the king's words, and he said nothing, and called his daughter, and at once declared the hunchback her lawful husband.The poor girl, who thought she would marry the person she liked the next day, fell into endless despair.

The little hunchback became king, and she became queen.But living with such a husband, she was so sad that she wanted to die.There was an old maid by her side who did everything to make the queen smile.One morning, the maid said to the Queen: "Your Majesty, I saw three humped comedians walking around the city. They danced, played, sang, and made people laugh. You want to invite them into the palace and give you a show." Are you happy?" "What, are you mad?" said the Queen, "and if the hunchbacked King comes back and sees them here, he will think I sent them to laugh at him!"

"Don't worry," said the maid to her, "in case the Humpbacked King catches up, we'll keep them in the trunk." In this way, three hunchbacked singers came to the palace, and they performed many funny shows, which made the princess lean forward and backward.At the most exciting time of the show, the doorbell rang loudly: it was the hunchbacked king who had returned. The maid grabbed the three hunchbacks by the neck, stuffed them into a large cupboard, and locked the kitchen door behind them. "Well, come, come!" She went to open the gate for the king.They had dinner together and went for a walk afterward.

The next day was the day when the king received his ministers: no one thought of the three hunchbacks.On the third day, the queen asked her maid, "What about the three little hunchbacks? What happened to them?" The maid patted her forehead with her hand and said, "Ah! Your Majesty! Nobody thinks of them! They're still in that big cupboard!" They hurriedly opened the cupboard, and what did they find?From hunger and suffocation, the three hunchbacks all pouted and died stiffly. "What now?" asked the Queen in shock. "Don't be afraid, I will take care of everything," the maid said, grabbing a hunchback and stuffing him into a pocket.She called a porter. "Listen, this pocket contains a thief. I slapped him to death when he stole the treasure from the palace." She unbuttoned the pocket and showed him the hunchback. "Now you carry him out, don't let anyone see him, and throw him into the river. I won't treat you badly when you come back."

The porter picked up the bag and walked to the river.But at this moment, the shrewd maid stuffed the second hunchback into another pocket, and leaned it against the door.The porter came back to ask for a reward, but the maid said to him, "The hunchback is still here, how can you ask for a reward?" "What trick is that?" said the porter. "I just threw him in the river." The maid said, "It means you didn't throw it away, otherwise he wouldn't be here." The porter shook his head resignedly, muttered, put his bag on his shoulder, and walked towards the river.When he returned to the palace again, he found another bag with a hunchback in it. The maid said to him furiously: "I really don't understand, don't you know how to throw him into the river? Didn't you see that he came back again?" Is it?"

"This time I'm going to tie a big rock on him!" "Tie two pieces! You have to be careful, if you let the bag come back this time, I won't worry about not giving you money, and I will beat you with a stick." The porter took up the bag again and went to the river, tied two boulders, and threw the third hunchback into the river.Seeing that he did not come up again, he turned and walked towards the palace. The hunchbacked king stepped out just as the porter was going up the steps.When the porter saw him, he thought to himself: Damn it, the hunchback has escaped again, this time the old hag will definitely beat me up! He was so angry that he wanted to cry, so he grabbed the hunchback by the neck and yelled Said: "Damn hunchback, isn't it enough for me to throw you into the river three times? I tied a stone to you, and you floated up and escaped; tied two stones to you, and you also escaped! Your life It’s really big! This time I have to make you comfortable and comfortable!” After that, he grabbed his neck until he stuck out his tongue as long as a palm.Then he dragged him by the neck, went straight to the river, tied his feet with four big stones and threw them into the river.

When the queen learned that her husband had suffered the same fate as the three hunchbacks, she rewarded the porter with many things: gold coins, precious stones, ham, cheese, and wine.There is no need to think about the next thing: she married the person she loved at the beginning, and from that day on, they started a relaxed and happy life. The leaves are wide, the roads are narrow, Tell your stories, mine are done. (Rome area) -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ [1] Lice, fennel, and knee have similar pronunciations.