Chapter 115 114. A woman with a hunchback, crooked neck, and lameness

A king is walking.He looked at the people around him, at the houses around him, at the swallows flying in the sky, and felt satisfied with everything.At this time, a short old woman walked forward with her head down.She is a well-bred old man, but she has a little limp, a little hunchback, and a crooked neck.The King looked at her for a while, and said, "A stooped, crooked, lame woman! Ha, ha, ha!" and he laughed in her face. The old woman is a fairy.She looked into the King's eyes and said, "Laugh, laugh enough! Let's see who will laugh tomorrow!" The king laughed again when he heard this: "Ha, ha, ha!"

The king had three daughters, all of whom were beautiful.The next day he asked his three daughters to go for a walk with him.When the eldest daughter came, the king saw that she had become a hunchback, and asked in surprise, "Hunchback? How did you grow that thing on your body?" The daughter explained: "Well, the maid made my bed very badly, and I slept like a hunchback last night." The king paced up and down the room.He felt flustered. He sent someone to call his second daughter, but she had a crooked neck."Why do you come here with your neck on one side?" asked the king.

The second daughter replied: "It happened like this: When the maid combed my hair, she pulled out a hair... and I became a crooked neck." The king saw his little daughter limping into the house. "Look at this girl, why are you lame?" The little girl replied, "When I went into the garden, the maid picked a jasmine flower and threw it to me. It fell on my foot, and I became lame." The king shouted angrily, "Who is that maid? Call her to me!" The guard went to fetch the maid, but she would not come; she said she was afraid to see people, because she was a stooped, crooked, and lame woman.The guards dragged her before the king.When the king saw it, he recognized her at once, for she was the old woman he had seen the day before! He shouted, "Pour tar on her and burn her to death!"

At this time, the old woman's body shrank smaller and smaller, and finally, her head shrank like a nail with a point.There was a small hole in the wall, and she slipped into it, and was gone in an instant, leaving only her stoop, crooked neck, and limp. (Abruzzi region)