Chapter 140 139. Sleeping Beauty and Her Children

Once upon a time there was a king and queen who had no children; for this the whole royal family mourned as if they were dead.The Queen prayed day and night, but she didn't know which Holy Spirit to pray to, because they all ignored her prayers.Then one day, she prayed like this: "Holy Virgin Mary, bless me to have a daughter. Even if she lives to be fifteen years old, her fingers are pricked by a spindle and she dies, it is better than having no children!" Oh, this time the prayers were answered! The Queen became pregnant, and gave birth to a very beautiful daughter.The king and queen christened the child with great pomp, naming her "Anthem."The king and queen were blessed by the Holy Spirit and they felt they were the happiest people in the world.

Children grow up very fast, and the longer they grow, the more beautiful and cute they are.When the daughter was nearly fifteen years old, the queen recalled what she had said in her prayers, and was troubled, so she told the king about it, and the king was also full of sorrow.He immediately issued an order: all the hammers in the country must be taken out and destroyed; whoever is found hiding the spindle and does not hand it over will be killed; those who live by weaving can come to the king, and the king will help them.After this decree was issued, the King was not at ease; and as a safeguard, he locked his daughter in her chamber, and forbade her to see any one.

Anthem was bored alone in the room, so he stuck his head out of the window and looked around.Across the street lived an old woman.We all know that some elderly people just live in their own circle and don't care about the outside world.This old woman also She kept a spindle and a roll of cotton, and whenever she was happy, she took them out and spun thread secretly for a while. The old woman was sitting at the window, basking in the sun and spinning, which attracted the attention of the king's daughter.Psalm had never seen people spin yarn, or move their hands in such a strange way, and she was very curious, so she yelled, "Old woman, hello, old woman! What are you doing there?"

"I'm spinning this little roll of cotton, don't you tell anyone!" "Can I try spinning it?" "Of course, my dear. When you spin, don't let anyone see you!" "Okay, old woman. I'll hang a little basket down into the street, and you put those things in the basket, and there's a gift from me in the basket that you put down." The princess put a bag of money in a basket and hung it down to the old woman, and hung up the spindle and cotton.She was very happy and tried to spin it.She spun the first thread, and then the second, but when she was spinning the third, the spindle slipped suddenly, and the point of the hammer hit her thumb, and the girl fell to the ground, dead. .

The king knocked on his daughter's door, but there was no answer.He pushed and pushed the door, and the door was bolted inside (the girl bolted the door like this because she was afraid that someone would come in and find her spinning).Then he broke in, and found his daughter lying dead on the ground, with a spindle beside her. The grief of the king and queen is indescribable.Poor child, she lay there, as pretty as ever, and looked only asleep; her face didn't cool; she just didn't breathe, her heart didn't beat, as if she'd been charmed As if calmed down. The poor parents stood beside her for weeks, hoping that she would come back to life.

They did not believe their daughter was dead and therefore refused to bury her.They had a castle on top of a hill; the castle had no door, but a window high above the ground.They put their daughter in a big bed in the castle, and covered the top with a canopy embroidered with gold thread, and put seven skirts on her, with silver bells tied on the skirts.The King and Queen, having kissed their daughter's face as bright as a rose, left the castle, and had the improvised door barred. One day, much later, another king (who was very young, his father left orphans and widows dead.) came to hunt in this region, and happened to come to the castle.He was very puzzled: "What kind of building is this? A castle has no door but only one window. What kind of building is this?" Several of his hounds walked around the castle, barking all the time. .The young man was very curious and wanted to know what was inside.But how could he get in? The next day he brought a rope ladder, hung it over the window, and climbed slowly up into the castle.

The king found a girl lying among flowers, with a face as bright and beautiful as a rose, and he was so happy that he almost fainted.The king calmed down a bit, sat on the bed to rest, reached out and touched her forehead, and found it was still warm.It seemed that she was not dead yet! He couldn't bear to leave the girl, so he stayed there all the time, staring at her, hoping that she would wake up, but she didn't wake up until night.The next day, and the third day, he went to the castle.At this time, he was even more reluctant to leave her, not even for an hour.He kissed the girl again and again, always feeling that he couldn't kiss her enough.In short, in a word, he was infatuated with this girl.His mother couldn't figure out what his son was possessed by and why he kept leaving the house.

So strong was the young king's love that the sleeping girl bore twins, a son and a daughter, such beautiful children as ever were seen.After the two children were born, the hunger was unbearable, but the mother lay there like a dead person. Who would nurse them? They cried and cried, but the mother could not hear their cries.The two babies opened their mouths, shook their heads, and sucked whatever they came across.That's it, man The child's mouth just touched his mother's hand and began to suck her thumb.He sucked, sucked, until he got the spindle-wood splinter out of his mother's fingernail, and the sleeping girl woke up.

"Oh, my God, I slept soundly!" said the girl, rubbing her eyes. "But... where am I? In a castle? Who are these two babies?" The more she looked, the more confused she became.Then the young King climbed up from the window, as usual, and jumped into the room. "Who are you? What do you want?" asked the girl. "Ah, you're alive! Honey, talk to me!" At first, they were both taken aback.After a while, the two started talking, and when they learned that they were both from the Wang family, they were very happy, so they embraced like husband and wife.They named the boys the Sun and the girls the Moon.

The young king was going back to his palace, promised to buy her a lot of gifts, organize the wedding, and then come back to pick up the bride.But this girl was born with a hard life and was a loser.As soon as the king came back to the palace he fell ill, and was so ill that he lost his senses, and neither ate nor drank, but murmured, "Oh, sun, moon, and hymn, I wish you would come and live in my house." When the king's mother heard these words, she suspected that her son was possessed, so she sent people to search carefully in the woods where he went every day.The Queen Mother heard: In an isolated castle lived a young woman of unknown origin, her son fell madly in love with her; the woman also gave birth to two children.The Queen Mother was a vicious woman, and she gnashed her teeth in anger, and at once sent two soldiers to the castle, saying that the King was sick and wanted to see the sun, and ordered the woman to deliver the boy.Although Anthem was unwilling to hand over the sun, she had no choice but to give in, crying and handing over the child to the two soldiers.

When the two soldiers returned to the gate of the palace, the Queen Mother was waiting for them on the steps.She handed the child to the cook and said: 'You roast this child and send it to the king. " However, the chef is a kind-hearted person, Diao; he had the heart to kill the baby.He gave the child to his wife to hide and raise, and then roasted a lamb and served it to the sick king.The king saw the food, but it was the same as before—sighing and saying: "Oh, sun, moon and hymn, I hope you will come to my house and live soon." The queen mother handed the roasted meat to her son and said, "Eat, son, you are eating your own!" At this the young king looked up at his mother, not understanding what she meant by this vague statement. The next morning, the cruel Queen Mother sent the two soldiers to bring the girl back.This time, it was the kind cook who saved the girl and gave it to his wife to raise him, and killed a lamb to replace her.The king's mother said to her son, "Eat, you are eating your own!" The king asked softly what the mother meant by this, but she did not answer. On the third day, the two soldiers went to bring the young woman again by order of the Queen Mother.The poor girl, terrified out of her wits, followed the two soldiers, and walked behind the two soldiers, in seven skirts with silver bells tinkling about them. The queen mother, who was waiting on the steps of the royal palace, when she saw the young woman approaching, stretched out her arms and slapped her across the face."Why did you hit me?" asked the poor girl. "Why? You ugly witch, you put a spell on my son, and now he I'm about to die! Do you understand what will happen to you?" The queen mother said, pointing to a large pot filled with boiling pitch. At this time, in the king's room, a band was playing, which his mother had arranged, and she said that the doctors had an idea to make the music cheer up the sick.Therefore, the king stayed in his room and could not hear the outside sound. The poor girl was terrified when she saw the cauldron which was prepared for her, and knew that she was going to die.The queen mother ordered: "Take off your skirt, and then I will throw you into the asphalt pot!" Trembling all over, the young girl obeyed.She took off the first dress, and the silver bell jingled.The king instinctively heard the sound of the silver bell, and suddenly felt that the sound was very familiar, so he opened his eyes.But at this time the drummer beat the big drum, and the king thought that he had heard it wrong just now. When the girl took off the second skirt, the sound of the silver bell became louder.The king looked up, and he was almost sure it was the silver bell on the chant's skirt, but then the cymbals began to beat again, and he could hear nothing.Then he imagined that he could still hear the silver bell, but louder and more clearly, so he continued to listen carefully.The girl took off her skirts one by one, and each time she took off one skirt, the silver bell rang louder, and finally, the sound of the silver bell resounded throughout the palace. "Psalm!" cried the King, in spite of his weakness, as he staggered from the bed.He went down the steps and saw that his beloved was about to be thrown into the pot of pitch. "Stop!" he yelled.He drew his sword, stabbed the Queen Mother, and shouted: "Confess your sins!" When he heard that his two children were roasted and eaten, he hurried to the kitchen to kill the cook.But as soon as he got there, he was told that his two children were safe and sound.The young king was so excited that he laughed and danced like crazy. At this time, the vicious queen mother had been thrown into the asphalt pot, which she deserved.The cook got a generous gift.From then on, the king lived happily with the hymn, the sun and the moon.Long or short, my story has been told, and now I want to hear it from you. (Calabria region)