Chapter 145 161. Rosemary

Once upon a time there was a king and a queen who had no children.As the queen walked through the flower-bed, she saw a rosemary bush and young rosemary clustered around it.She said, "Look, this rosemary has so many children, and I, as queen, have no children." Soon after, the queen became a mother herself.But instead of a child she gave birth to a rosemary.She planted the flower in a beautiful pot and watered it with milk. A nephew came to visit them, he was the king of Spain.He said, "My dear aunt, what is this plant?" The aunt answered him, "Dear nephew, this is my daughter, and I water her with milk four times a day."

The nephew liked the flower so much that he wanted to steal it.He picked up the pots and flowers, took them to his boat, bought a female goat, and fed it.During the voyage, he milked the goats to water the rosemary four times a day.Upon returning to his city, he planted the flower in his garden. The young Spanish king was so fascinated by playing the flute that every day he walked around the garden, dancing while playing it.As it blew, a beautiful girl with long hair appeared from among the rosemary branches, and she danced beside him. "Where are you from?" he asked. "From rosemary," she replied.

When the dance was over, she went back among the flowers and was never seen again.From this day on, the king always finished his state affairs in a hurry, and then came to the garden with his flute.He played the flute, and beautiful girls would emerge from the branches, and they would dance and talk hand in hand. At this moment, foreign countries declared war on the king, and he must go to fight.He said to the girl, "My rosemary, don't come out of your bushes until I come back. When I come back, I will play the flute three times, and you will come out again." He called the gardener again and said to him, "This rosemary will be watered with milk four times a day; if it withers when you come back, your head will be cut off." Then he set off.

You must know that the king had three sisters, who were very curious, and they were always wondering what the brother was doing so long in the garden with his flute.As soon as the brother had gone off to fight, they rummaged in his room and found the flute.The three of them took it and went into the garden.The oldest one tried it and blew once, the second took the flute from her, blew it and blew it, and the youngest one blew it too.Rosemary heard the flute three times and thought the king was coming, so she came out of the flowers.The three sisters said, "Ah! Now we understand why the brother always refuses to come back from the garden." They were full of hostility towards the girl, and they grabbed her and beat her hard.The unfortunate girl was beaten half to death, and disappeared among the flowers.

When the gardener came, he found that the flower was almost withered, and the branches and leaves were yellow and withered. "Oh, poor me! What shall I do when the king comes back?" He ran home and said to his wife, "Good-bye, I must run away, remember to pour the rosemary with milk." Then he ran away. The gardener walked and walked in the country.When night came, he came to a wood.Fearing the ferocious beast, he climbed up the tree.In the middle of the night, a male dragon and a female dragon dated under a tree.Crouching in the canopy, he felt their breath and shivered.

"Any news?" the female dragon asked the male dragon. "What do you want to happen?" "You won't tell me something new?" "Well, the king's rosemary has withered." "How is this going?" "This is because now the king is out at war, and his sisters started playing on the flute, and out of the flower came a charming girl, and the three sisters beat her half to death. The flower withered from then on." "Is there no way to save her?" "There is a way..." "why did not you tell me?" "Oh, that can't be said, these trees also have eyes and ears."

"Say it, who in the woods will hear?" "Then I'll tell you a secret: I need to take the blood from my throat and the fat from the nape of your neck, burn them to ashes in a pot, and use it to smear rosemary all over you. This flower will dry up completely, but the girl will be revived and come out of the flower in good health." The gardener listened to this passage with trepidation.As soon as the male and female dragons fell asleep and snored, he broke off a gnarled branch, jumped down from the tree, and with two strokes sent them off to another world.Then he took out the blood from the male dragon's throat and the fat from the back of the female dragon's neck, and ran back home.He woke his wife and said to her, "Come on, burn this thing." He spread the ashes on the rosemary.The girl walked out of the flower, and the flower withered immediately.The gardener picked up the girl, took her back to his home, laid her on the bed, and fed her hot soup.

When the king came back from the war, the first thing he did was to go to the garden with his flute.He blew three times, and three more times, and even wanted to whistle.No one agreed to him. He approached the rosemary and found that it was withered and there was no leaf on it. The king rushed to the gardener's house like a wild beast. "Today you will be beheaded, you idiot!" "Your Majesty, be quiet, come into the room for a while, and I will show you something nice." "What a good thing? You will be beheaded!" "Just come in and do whatever you want."

The King went into the house and found Miss Rosemary lying on the bed and recovering.The girl looked up, and with tears in her eyes said to the king, "Your sisters beat me, but the poor gardener saved my life." The king found Rosemary girl back, and he was full of joy, and at the same time, his heart was full of hatred for the sisters and gratitude for the gardener.As soon as the girl recovered, he wanted to marry her.He wrote to his uncle who was the king, telling him that the rosemary he had stolen turned into a beautiful girl, and he hoped that the king and queen would come to the wedding.The king and queen were very disappointed because there was no news of rosemary for a long time. When the messenger brought them this letter, they knew that this rosemary was indeed their beautiful daughter, and they were ecstatic.They hit the road immediately. "F! f!" When they approached the shore, the salute was fired, and Miss Rosemary had been there to meet her parents for a long time.The girl was married to the King of Spain, and the table was long enough to accommodate all the Spaniards.

(Palermo area)