Chapter 134 133. The Three Princesses Marrying the First Passerby

Once upon a time, a king had four children: three daughters and a son.Of course, the son will inherit the throne in the future.Before the king died, he called the prince to the hospital bed and said, "Son, I don't live long. I have something to tell you, and you must do it: When your three sisters reach the age of marriage, you let them stand on the balcony. , whoever first walks down the street below shall marry, whether he be an ignorant peasant, a skilled craftsman, or a noble gentleman." The eldest sister has reached the age of marriage, she went to the balcony and waited.A man with bare feet came over.

"Friend, wait a minute." "Your Majesty, what are your orders?" the man asked. "I have to open the pigsty and drive the pigs to the pasture, don't delay me." "Sit down. I have something to talk to you in private. I want to marry you." "Your Majesty, are you kidding me? I'm a poor swineherd!" "You have to marry my eldest sister, this is what my father ordered before he died." So the eldest princess married the swineherd and left the palace. Later, the age for the second princess to marry came.The King made her wait on the balcony, and called the first passerby into the palace.

"Your Majesty, I have already set up the nets for catching birds, and I am going to see if any birds have been caught in the nets. Don't delay my business! " "I can't miss your business! Come in and stay for a while, I have something to tell you." The king said that he would marry his second sister to him. "Your Majesty, how can this be done?" said the man, "I am a poor birder, how can I marry a rich man?" "It was my father's will," answered the young king.In this way, the second princess married the bird catcher and went away with him.

When the third princess was waiting on the balcony, the first person to pass by was a gravedigger.Although the younger brother was very sad (because he liked the younger sister the most and didn't want her to marry a gravedigger), he still reluctantly married the third sister to him.Both husband and wife left the palace. The three older sisters were all married and gone away, and the young king stayed alone in the palace, thinking: I will try to do what my sister did, and who will I marry by chance? He also went out on the balcony and waited.An old washerwoman hurried past Cai. "Hey, auntie, wait a minute..."

"What do you want?" "Come in and sit down for a while, I have something to tell you. It's urgent!" "What's the hurry? I'm in a hurry to wash clothes by the river." "Will you come in? I order you to come in!" "Come on, what's the fun with me, old woman?" she said, looking straight into the King's eyes. Suddenly, the king felt that his legs were weak and he couldn't stand firmly, so he leaned against the railing of the balcony.At first he thought it was because he missed his three married sisters; in fact, it was the name of the beautiful girl Florita that made him lose his soul."I must leave the palace," thought he, "and travel the world, and I will not rest till I find lovely Floreta."

He walked, walked, walked half the world, but no one knew where lovely Floreta was.He is running around and has been traveling for three years.One day, when he came to a field, he met a group of pigs, and another group, and another group; surrounded by them, he walked on, and soon came to a magnificent palace.He knocked on the door and called, "Hello! Is anyone in there? May I stay here for the night?" The palace door opened, and it was a lady who opened the door.As soon as she saw the king, she stretched out her arms and flung them around his neck. "Dear brother!" she cried happily.The king recognized that she was the elder sister who married the swineherd, and he shouted with joy, "Dear sister!"

At this time, his eldest brother-in-law, that is, the swineherd, came out.He was dressed exactly like a rich gentleman.The brother-in-law and sister showed the king their magnificent palace, and introduced that the homes of his other two sisters were as rich as theirs. "I am looking for fair Florita," the king told his sister and brother-in-law. "We don't know anything about her," said the elder sister. "Go to your second and third sisters. Maybe they can help you." "Take these three bristles with you," said my brother-in-law, who was once a swineherd. "If you encounter any danger, just throw one on the ground, and you will be out of danger."

The king continued on his way.He walked, walked, and found himself in a forest.Here, there are birds on every branch.They flew from one tree to another; in the sky, thousands of birds spread their wings and covered the sky; all kinds of birds sang together in a deafening chorus.In the depths of the woods, stands the palace of the second sister. It seems that the life of the second sister is more luxurious than that of the eldest sister.The second brother-in-law was originally a poor bird catcher, but now he is a wealthy gentleman.They also didn't know about Florita's situation, so they told the king to find his third sister.However, before parting, the second brother-in-law gave the king three bird feathers, telling him that in case of any danger, he only needed to throw one feather on the ground, and everything would be fine.

The king was on his way.He walked, walked, came to a place, and saw graves on both sides of the road.The farther one goes, the more graves there are, and finally the surrounding fields are full of graves. There are too many tombs to count.The king came to the palace of his favorite third sister, and his brother-in-law, who had been a gravedigger, gave him a dead bone and told him that if he was in danger, just throw this bone on the ground and he would be saved from danger. .The third sister told her brother that she knew the city in which beautiful Floreta lived, and that there was an old lady in the city who would tell him how to find Floreta.My sister helped the old lady, so the old lady must be willing to help.

When the young king came to the city where Florita lived, he knew that she was the daughter of a king.The old lady's house was just opposite the palace, and she welcomed her benefactor's brother with gratitude.From the window of the old lady's house the young King could see fair Floreta; and at dawn she looked out of the window, with a veiled face as lovely as a flower.The King looked so fascinated at the beautiful Floretta that he would have fallen from the window had the old lady not held him back. "Your Majesty, don't propose to her," the old lady warned the young king. "The king of this country is very cruel. Whoever proposes to his daughter forces her to do things that are impossible; if it can't be done, I'm going to lose my head."

But the young king was not afraid, and went to meet the king and proposed to his daughter.The king had him locked up in a very large fruit storehouse, full of baskets and baskets of apples and pears.The king told him that unless he ate all the fruits in one day, his head would be cut off.The young man remembered that his eldest brother-in-law, who had been a swineherd, gave him three bristles, and threw them on the ground.In the blink of an eye, there was a sound of pigs screaming in the warehouse. Groups of pigs swarmed into the warehouse from all directions, whimpering and grunting, and all the fruit baskets were turned upside down, and the apples and pears were crushed. After eating everything, there was not even a single nucleus left. "Well done," said the king, "you will wed my daughter. But there is a second test. To-day is the first night you will live with the princess, and you must sing to her sleep, Let the most beautiful bird in the world sing the sweetest song ever heard. If you don't, you're going to lose your head tomorrow." In the evening, the groom remembered that his second brother-in-law, who had been a bird catcher, gave him three feathers, so he took them out and threw them on the ground.In an instant, thousands of birds spread their wings and flew in the sky, covering the sky and the sun.The colorful birds sat on the trees, on the towers, and on the roofs, and sang; and the princess heard the twitter, and fell asleep with a smile on her lips. "Indeed," said the father-in-law, "you have my daughter. But, since you are a husband and wife, you must have a child who will call you Papa and Mama tomorrow morning, or I will have your head chopped off. I can't spare her." "There's still plenty of time between now and tomorrow morning," answered the bridegroom.He left the King to stay with fair Florita. The next morning, he remembered a dead bone given to him by his third brother-in-law who had been a gravedigger, so he took it out and threw it on the ground.Hey, Bones immediately turned into a beautiful little boy, holding a golden apple in his hand, and kept calling mom and dad. The father-in-law came into the house, and the boy came up to him, and insisted on putting the golden apple in his hand on the king's crown.The king kissed the child, blessed the newlyweds, then took off his own crown and placed it on the head of his son-in-law.Now the young man became the king of two countries. They gave a celebratory feast, and their guests included three sisters and three brothers-in-law: the swineherd, the fowler, and the gravedigger. (Basilicata region)