The Wizard’s Fairy Tale

(Why the devil is Cadmus, who turned into a dragon in Greek mythology, is related to another fairy tale "The Devil and His Grandmother", in which there is a devil who turns into a dragon and his kind grandmother, so here Merge two fairy tales!)

Once upon a time, there was a poor man who had only one son. When the son was born, the auspicious stars in the sky shone brightly. Everyone who saw him said that his son had good luck and would marry the king's daughter at the age of fourteen. It just so happened that the king of this kingdom visited in secret shortly after the birth of the child. When he passed the village, he asked if there was any news topic here. Someone said: "Yes, a child was just born here. People say that this is a very lucky child. They also said that when he was fourteen years old, he was destined to marry the king's daughter." Not happy, he approached the child's parents and asked them if they would sell their son to him. They said firmly, "No!" But the stranger pleaded and offered a large sum of money. As they were so poor that they had hardly any bread to eat, they finally agreed. They thought that since the child was a lucky child, he would come back safely.

The king took the child in his arms, put him in a chest, and rode away on horseback. When he came to a deep brook, he threw the box into the current, and said to himself, "This little gentleman will never be my daughter's husband." However, the gods bless him This child, the box did not sink into the water, but floated on the surface of the water, and not a drop of water leaked into the box. At last the chest floated two miles from the king, and came to rest on the dam of a mill. Soon, the owner of the mill saw the box, took a long pole, and salvaged the box to the shore. He found the box was very heavy and thought there would be gold in it. When he opened it, he found a beautiful little boy inside. The child smiled happily at him, as if seeing a relative. Because he and his wife happened to have no children, they were very happy and proudly said: "This is what God sent us." They fed the child very carefully and raised him patiently.

The child grew up slowly and looked really cute.

Thirteen years passed in a blink of an eye. Once, the king came to the mill by chance. When he saw this lovely child, he asked the miller if this young man was their son. It was found in a box floating on the barrage." The king asked quickly, "How long has it been?" The miller replied, "About thirteen years." The king immediately understood that it was he who put the boy in the box. , the child who was thrown into the river again. Recalling the previous rumors, he was not reconciled, and came up with another idea. He said, "What a lovely boy he is, can you ask him to deliver a letter to the queen for me? If he is willing, I will give you two dollars." Gold ingots are his hard work." The miller replied, "I will follow your Majesty's instructions."

The king wrote a letter to the queen, which said: "The messenger will be killed and buried as soon as he arrives, and everything will be done before I return."

The young man set out with the letter, but he lost his way on the road and crashed into a big forest at night. He had to grope in the dark to find a way out. Through the night, he saw lights flickering not far away,

Following the light of the fire, he came to a small cottage. There was an old woman in the house, and when she saw him she was very frightened, and said, "Why have you come here? Where are you going?" "I am going to the queen, and to send her a letter, but I have lost my way, I would like to spend the night here and rest." "You are very unlucky to have stumbled into this robber's den, and if the robbers come back and see you here, they will kill you." He replied: "I am too tired Now, never mind, I can't walk anymore, let's rest first." After speaking, he put the letter on the table, lay down on a bench, and fell asleep by himself.

When the robbers came back and saw him, they asked the old woman who the strange boy was. She replied: "He is the one who delivered the letter to the queen. He got here when he got lost." The robbers picked up the letter, opened it, and found that it was written that the queen should kill the messenger. Not knowing whether it was out of sympathy for the boy, or because he wanted to fight against the king, the bandit leader tore up the letter and wrote another letter, in which he asked the queen to let the boy marry the princess as soon as he arrived. They did not disturb him until the next morning when he got up, and the old woman showed him the right way to the palace.

The boy arrived at the palace and handed the letter to the queen. The queen read the letter, and at once made all possible preparations for the wedding. Seeing the boy so handsome, the princess was very willing to marry him as his wife. After a while, the king returned to the palace. When he sees the prophecy come true and the lucky kid not only survives his scheming but also marries his daughter, he wonders how things could have turned out the way he has issued orders that are not at all yes! The queen said: "Here is your letter, my dear, and you can read it yourself." The king saw the letter and knew that the letter had been changed, so he asked the son-in-law what he did with the letter he asked him to deliver. whats the matter. He replied: "I did nothing, the letter must have been tampered with at night when I was sleeping." The king was furious when he heard this, and shouted: "Anyone who wants to marry my daughter must marry me." Go to hell and bring me the three golden hairs on the head of the devil. Only then will I agree to him as my son-in-law." The boy said, "I will do it soon." So he said goodbye to his wife, Embarked on the road of adventure.

When he passed the first city, the city guards stopped him and asked him what he did, and he replied, "I can do anything!" They said, "If that is the case, you are the one we are looking for. Please Tell us, in our city, why has a fountain in the market-place dried up and no more water comes out? If you find out why, we will give you two donkeys laden with gold." He said: "When I come back, I will know everything." Soon, he came to another city, where the guards also asked him what skills he had and what he knew. He answered, "I can do anything!" They said, "Then do one thing for us, and tell us why the tree which bore us golden apples in the past does not bear even a leaf." "I'm more than happy to be of service to you guys and I'll know when I get back," he said.

At last he came to a great lake which he had to cross. Soon after the young man found a ferryboat, the ferryman began to ask him what he did and what he knew. He said: "I know everything!" The boatman said: "Then, please teach me why I always ferry on this water, and I can't get rid of my body to do other things. If you can tell me, I will do my best." Thank you very much." The young man said, "I will tell you about the method when I return."

After crossing the lake, he came to hell. Hell looks grim and scary, but the Lord of the Rings is not at home right now, his grandma is sitting in an easy chair. Seeing him, she asked, "What are you looking for?" He replied, "Three golden hairs on the head of the devil." Then he told her what had happened to him. "You really dare to take risks!" She was very sympathetic and admired the young man, decided to help him, and said, "I will do my best to help you." After all, he turned the young man into a An ant was found and told him to hide in the folds of her coat. He said gratefully: "That's great, but I still want to know why the fountain in that city has dried up? Why doesn't the tree that bears golden apples even have leaves now? What makes the boatman keep ferrying there?" ?” The old woman said after hearing this: “Those are indeed three puzzling questions, but when I plucked the devil’s hair, you lay quietly and did not move. Be sure to pay attention to what the devil has to say.”

Soon after dark, the devil came home. As soon as he came in, he began to sniff the air with his nose, and shouted: "It's not right here, I smell human flesh." After looking around, he couldn't find anything, and the old woman scolded, "I just just Clean it up, why did you mess up the house again?" After a while of tossing, he was also tired, so he put his head on grandma's lap, fell asleep quickly, and soon snored. At this time, the old woman grabbed a golden hair on his head and pulled it out. "Ouch!" shouted the devil and jumped up, "what are you doing?" She replied, "I had a nightmare, and in desperation, I grabbed your hair. I dreamed that there was a market in a city." One of the fountains above has dried up, and there is no water coming out. I don't know why?" The devil said, "Hey! If they could know, they would cheer for joy. In fact, it was just a toad squatting under a stone in the fountain. , as long as you kill the toad, the spring water will flow out again."

After saying this, he fell asleep again. The old grandma took the opportunity to pull out another hair of his, and he woke up and shouted angrily: "What are you going to do?" She said: "Don't get angry, I just dreamed of a beautiful tree in a big kingdom , This tree used to bear golden apples, but now there is no leaf on the tree, what is the reason?" The devil said: "Hey! If they know this secret, they will be very happy. At the base of a tree, there was a rat that was gnawing at the root. They had to kill it before the tree could bear golden apples again. If they didn't, the tree would die soon. Now let Let me sleep peacefully, if you wake me up again, you will regret it."

Then he fell asleep again, and when he heard him snoring, the old woman pulled out the third golden hair again. The Demon King jumped up and screamed that he was about to explode, but she calmed him down and said: "I had another strange dream. I dreamed that a boatman seemed to be destined to ferry people to and fro on a lake all the time. Is it because he can’t get away, is there some magical power that traps him?” After hearing this, the demon king said: “What a stupid thing! If he puts the boat pole into the hand of another ferryman, wouldn’t he get away? ? Then the ferryman will take his place to take the ferry? Let me sleep well and don’t disturb me anymore.”

The next morning, the devil got up and went out. After the old woman turned the ant back into a young man, she gave him three golden hairs and told him to remember the answers to the three questions. After the young man expressed his sincere thanks, he embarked on the journey home.

Soon, he returned to the ferry. Seeing him coming back, the boatman asked him for the answer to the question he had promised himself. The young man said, "Get me across first, and then I will tell you how to get out." Put the pole of the boat into the hands of other ferrymen, and he can get away and stay as he pleases. Then he came to the city where the golden apple tree was, and he told them, "Just kill the mouse that gnawed at the root, and you will have golden apples again." They gave many treasures as gifts. gave him. Finally, when he returned to the city where the fountain had dried up, the guards begged him to give them an answer, and he told them that the toad under the stone must be killed before the water would come out. They were very grateful to him and gave him two donkeys laden with gold.

At last the lucky man came home, and his wife was very happy to see him and hear that he had done everything well. The young man gave the king three golden hairs, and the king could no longer object to his marriage to his daughter. When he saw all the gold and silver treasures, he said excitedly: "My dear son-in-law, where did you find all this gold?" The young man said, "By a lake, there are many gold and silver treasures there." "The king asked quickly, "Please tell me, can I go there and get some too?" The young man replied, "As much as you want. You will see a boatman on that lake, let him take you across the lake." , and you'll see as much gold as sand on the shore."

The greedy king set off hastily. When he came to the lake, he called the boatman and said he wanted to go across the lake, and the boatman asked him to come in a boat. As soon as he was in the boat, the boatman thrust the pole into his hand, and jumped ashore and went away, leaving the old King there to ferry. This is the retribution for his sin.

If someone asked, "Is that king still ferrying there now?" you might say, "Yes! For no one will take the pole from him and trouble himself."