Chapter 19 19.roman puppets

During this period, Anthony left the eyes of the earth for many years because of his life. When the Roman puppets came to London to perform, Anthony went to see them, as did everyone else.On the first day of the show, he sat in the front row of the main hall early and waited for the opening.He didn't know his neighbor or anyone at the theatre.Yes, he sat alone in a strange world. The curtain opened, and a delicate and graceful puppet appeared on the stage, wearing a pair of white silk shorts.He is very small, like a child, but he is not a child.He made everyone around Anthony grow bigger again, just as he felt everyone around him grow bigger when he was a child.But perhaps his mind shrunk again to fit the full comprehension of the little character, as a chestnut fits perfectly in its shell.That way, the little chestnut won't roll around in a shell that's too big.No, he didn't get smaller, the world just got bigger, ridiculously big.He and the little character are normal size, which is the size of reality.The little character poses and makes all kinds of gestures, like a little page in a cute storybook coming to real life.

He spoke.He opened the cover of a book that had been forgotten long, long ago.One by one, other characters from those cheerful stories came to the real life, Anshoney's eyes: a clown chasing a butterfly, his assistant fell off a seesaw and walked on his head; Balancing on a ball; a dark actor performing a rope dance, which was almost like a rope party... All this has probably been in a book on his shelf before, although perhaps he That book was never opened.Then all these little circus characters walk by, and the fairy tale begins.At dawn, on an enchanted pond, the birds were singing and the frogs were hopping and croaking, when a herald blew a golden trumpet, and the fairies rose one by one from the water.A royal nurse rocked a cradle, and the courtiers bowed to the beautiful baby in the cradle, and the king and queen stood by so merry and proud, and the fairies came up to bless them, but the green witch brought a curse .That storybook is now alive.

Eighteen years have passed.The witch was spinning in her garret.The princess walked in. That's a blonde princess!Is there really such a lovely princess?Anthony's heart skipped a beat. Only then did he know.He knows his size again.He knew he was too big.What should he do?This is simply intolerable. He went to the puppet show every night, sitting in his old seat, just like waiting for the princess in a fairy tale book to appear, waiting for her real little figure to appear before his eyes.He sat there alone, too big for a strange world.He looked up, but no one looked but her.He watched her every movement, her youth, her innocence, her liveliness, her intoxication with spinning, even her accidents, her pains, her fainting in the deep seat A gesture of love and compassion.All of these fascinated him.He saw her lying quietly on the royal couch, the spiders weaving their webs around the couch, but her beauty was still undiminished, still shining there.

One hundred years passed, and a kiss woke her up.Whose kiss was that?God, he knew he was too big. Night after night he went to see his princess, watching her move just as far away as the footlights.Soon he noticed that the little princess began to keep turning her head in his direction, and she jumped briskly out of the set, her eyes searching for him.She fainted in agony, and it was him that the faint voice called to her; and when she awoke, she awoke for him.Her hands were on her heart, her limbs were trembling, who was all this for?It was all for him. Is she just a marionette?Then he is just a puppet!But my God, there is still a big tragedy here.What could they do, Anthony and his little princess?Night after night, their eyes beseeched each other.His eyes blurred one night and he saw tears in her eyes.

He could delay no longer.He knew that she and all those little people were under the spell of a magician, a wizard who had created them, a warlock who had brought them to life with a gesture.He knew very well from a young age that their world was a real world.Then he must re-enter this world, and that is the only thing he has to do.His mind and his heart fit the size of the world, only his body got in the way. He went to the wizard's house and rang his doorbell.He was taken into the wizard's study, where the old wizard sat among a great pile of wood, flax, paints, powders, rags, and gold and silver thread.

"What is your business?" asked the wizard. "I like princesses," said Anthony. "So what?" said the wizard. "Accept me!" Anthony pleaded. "Let me be that prince!" "I don't need another prince," said the wizard, "and I can think of another clown as an assistant." "I'll be your buffoon," said Anthony. "I can dance and wrestle and make people laugh; but to-night I must be a prince. That's the only thing I ask for myself." "Very well then!" said the wizard. He took Anthony and cast a spell on him.The world just got bigger.The tables and chairs surpassed him like trees, jumping straight up, straight up, and the ceiling almost reached the sky. The wizard grew taller and taller, just like his own father, as tall as usual. He was playing on the floor, as tall as his father was standing there.

The wizard put a red coat on Anthony and took him to the theater.He sat there waiting for the moment when he was called to play.He heard music and laughter in the distance, but could see nothing.It was not until late at night that he entered the enchanted forest where the princess was waiting for a kiss from him. All danger disappeared in front of him, the tangled woods receded, he entered a castle, he patted the sleeping kitchen helpers, he found the cobweb-strewn meeting hall.He fought those spiders and killed them.The spider webs fell one after another, and the princess sleeping on the couch appeared in front of him.With trembling limbs, he ran over and bent over her...

Oh!She is someone else. He was in so much pain that he backed away again and again, how could he even want to kiss him!He looked up, and the wizard sat there turning a blind eye, and there was no smile on his face.His dark eyes seemed to say: "I promised nothing." "But why is that, why did you change her in such a random way?" Anthony yelled loudly in his mind.He looked hopelessly over the footlights at the unreal world beyond.He was in his front row seat and saw her looking at him in despair too, she was as lovely as ever, blond, but as old as he had been sitting alone the night before in a strange world...

The theater was filled with the rustling of clothes and the applause of the audience.That's how the first night went. Anthony, like everyone else, went home to bed.