Chapter 161 188. Love the King of Vanity

Once upon a time there was a king who thought he was very beautiful.He has a mirror, and he often says to the mirror: "My mirror, please tell me if there is anyone more beautiful than me in the world." At first, his wife didn't care, but later, she couldn't stand her husband's vanity anymore.Once, when she heard those words again, she said to her husband: "Your Majesty, please listen to me, there may be someone in this world who is more beautiful than you." The king jumped up in anger and shouted, "I will give you three days to tell who is more beautiful than me, or I will cut off your head."

The queen regretted those words at once, but the matter was irreparable, and she felt the executioner's ax round her neck.She was so sad that she hid in her bedroom and cried for two days.On the third day, she opened the window, wanting to enjoy the last sunshine in her life.In the street stood an old woman, as if waiting for a queen. "Your Highness, give me a little charity!" "Please leave me alone, good old woman," said the Queen, "I have troubled me enough." The old woman lowered her voice and said, "I know everything about you. I can help you."

The queen looked at her and said, "Come up." The old woman entered the palace, and the queen asked her, "What do you know?" "I know everything you said to the king." "Is there anything you can do to save me?" "Of course there is." "Please tell me quickly. I will give you whatever reward you want." "I don't want anything. Please listen to me. At noon, you go to eat with the king and ask him for a favor. He will ask: 'A favor of life?' You say: 'No.' He Say: 'Then, this favor is yours.' You say: 'The son of the Emperor of France is more beautiful than you, and he wears seven veils.'”

The queen did exactly as the old woman wished, and her conversation with the king was exactly as the old woman expected. The king listened intently, and said to his wife: "If the son of the French emperor is really more beautiful than me, you can do whatever you want with me." Three days later the king, with some retinue, set out for France, where he met the Emperor of France, and begged to see his son. "My son is sleeping," said the French emperor in a low voice, "but it doesn't matter, please come with me." He took the king into his son's room and lifted the first veil.They saw a white light shoot in.He lifted the second veil, and the light shone brighter.When the third and fourth floors were uncovered, the light became stronger and stronger, filling the entire room.The last layers were peeled off layer by layer, and the radiance of the prince's beauty grew stronger and stronger, until finally, the prince appeared on the throne with a scepter in his hand and a sword at his waist; the prince was so handsome that the king fell down on the ground.People immediately brought vinegar and perfume for him to smell, and the queen asked someone to carry him to her bedroom to rest.The king came to himself, and did not regain his spirits until three days later.

The prince said to his father, "Dad, I want to talk to that king before he goes away." The king was brought in.This time, he was well prepared and did not faint.They talked.Speaking to a certain extent, the prince asked: "Would you like to see me in your palace?" "That's all I want!" replied the king. "If you wish to see me again," said the Prince, "take these three golden balls and place them in a golden basin containing pure milk. Then I will appear to you as you see me now. before." The king went home and said to his wife, "I have returned. Now do with me as you please."

"God bless you!" said the wife. The king told his wife the whole story, and showed her the three golden balls.But because the disillusionment brought him a great sense of loss, and the prince's handsome appearance left an indelible impression on him, he finally couldn't stand the torture, and died a few days later. When the queen had buried the king, she called her most trustworthy maid, and said to her, "Bring me some pure milk, and I will do the rest myself." She poured the milk into a golden basin, and threw it into the From the three golden balls, a sword immediately appeared, followed by a scepter, and finally the prince himself appeared.They talked.After the conversation, the prince jumped back into the milk and disappeared.

The next day, the queen asked the maid to bring more fresh milk, and saw the prince again.In this way, repeated for many days.At last the maid got bored and said to herself, "There must be some sorcery in this, or some conspiracy." So when the queen called her for the milk the next day, she deliberately broke a crystal cup, crushed it into fine pieces in a mortar, and poured these into the milk.When the queen put the three golden balls into the golden basin, the scepter appeared, but with blood on it.The prince had to walk between the fragments when he came out of the milk, and the fragments cut his skin so that he was bleeding all over. "Ah," he said, "you betrayed me!"

"No!" replied the queen, "it's not my fault, forgive me." But the prince returned to the golden basin and disappeared. In the French palace, people found that the prince was covered with bruises, and the imperial doctor could not cure him.The emperor issued a proclamation: Whoever the doctor can get any reward he wants as long as he can cure his son's wounds.At this time, the whole city was dressed in mourning, and the bells continued to ring. After the queen saw that the prince was injured, she always felt very guilty.She disguised herself as a shepherd and set off for France.It was getting dark when she went into a forest on the first night.She crouched under a big tree and said her prayers.Nearby was a circular clearing, where in the middle of the night the devils of hell met and took turns reporting their mischief to the devil seated in the center.At last it was the turn of the Lame Devil to speak.

"How are you, lame?" they asked him. "You always mess things up." "No, gentlemen, after all these years I have done a great thing!" He told the story of the king, queen, and prince, and what he had done with the maid. "The prince can only live for three days now, and then we can bring him here." The Demon King asked: "But there is one thing: Is there no way to heal the prince's injury?" "Certainly," replied the Lame Devil, "but I cannot tell." "Can you tell us about it?" "What if someone eavesdrops?"

"Nonsense, you idiot! Who do you think will be eavesdropping here at this time and not be scared to death?" "Well, I say. Need to get two bags of glass grass from the monastery woods, crush it in a mortar, strain the concoction, put it in a glass, and smear him from head to toe, He will be healed." When the queen heard this, she hurried to find the monastery before daybreak.She walked and walked, and finally came to the monastery.But the monk would not open the door for her, and wanted to drive her away. "Don't drive me away, I'm a baptized Christian."

So the priest opened the door for her.She said she wanted two packs of glass grass, so the monks picked two packs for her.The next day, she came to the city where the prince was, where all the streets were covered with black veils.The queen appeared before the guards dressed as a shepherd, but they would not let her into the palace.Until the emperor came out and asked her what she wanted to do. "Your Majesty, please send all the doctors away, the prince will recover tomorrow." At this time the emperor had no way out, but agreed to her request, leaving her alone with her son, and ordered all the servants to obey her orders.She called for a mortar, crushed the herbs, and poured the juice into a glass.She applied the medicine to the prince's wounds, and the wounds healed one by one. She asked the emperor to come and let him have a look at her son: the prince had recovered and was even more handsome than before.The emperor wanted to give her some treasures as a reward, but she didn't want anything, she just wanted to leave. "Please accept this ring as a souvenir." The prince said, and gave the ring to her. The queen hurried home without stopping.As soon as I got home, I got some pure milk myself instead of letting the maid do it.She poured the milk into a golden basin and put three golden balls in it.The prince appeared, but he waved his scepter at her. "No, I have not betrayed you!" cried the Queen, falling on her knees before him. "On the contrary, I saved you, and you gave me this ring." The prince was skeptical, so the queen told him the whole story.The two fell in love deeply, and later married with the consent of the French emperor.The maid was executed. their lives are happy, We worry about our livelihood. (Acireale region)