Grimm's Fairy Tales - The Devil's Three Goldilocks
(Why the devil is said to be 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 turned into a fire dragon and his kind grandmother, so here is
Two fairy tales combined!)
Once upon a time, there was a poor man who gave birth to only one son. When his son was born, a lucky star was shining in the sky. Everyone who saw him said that his son had good luck and would marry the king's daughter when he was fourteen years old. It happened that this son was born.
The king of the kingdom paid a private visit incognito shortly after the child was born. When he passed by this village, he asked if there were any news topics here. One person said: "Yes, a child was just born here, and people said it was a very lucky one."
He also said that when he was fourteen years old, he was destined to marry the king's daughter." The king was very unhappy after hearing this, so he went to the child's parents and asked them if they would sell their son to him.
They said firmly: "No!" But the stranger made various requests and offered a large sum of money. Since they were so poor that they almost had no bread to eat, they finally agreed. They thought that since the child
He is a lucky child, he will come back safely.
The king took the child in his arms, put him in a box, and took him away on horseback. When he came to a deep stream, he threw the box into the water and said to himself
: "This little gentleman will never be my daughter's husband." However, the gods blessed the child, and the box did not sink into the water, but floated on the water, and not a drop of water leaked into the box.
Finally, the box floated two miles away from the king and stopped on the dam of a mill. Soon, the owner of the mill saw the box, so he took a long pole and fished the box to the shore.
He found that the box was very heavy and thought there would be gold inside. When he opened the box, he found a beautiful little boy inside. The child smiled happily at him, as if he was seeing a relative. Because he and his wife happened to be
They had no children, so they were very happy and proudly said: "This is what God gave us." They fed the child very carefully and trained him patiently.
The child grew up slowly and became really cute.
Thirteen years passed in the blink of an eye. Once, the king came to the mill by chance. When he saw this cute child, he asked the miller if this boy was their son. The miller replied: "No, I am his son."
When I was a baby, I found it in a box floating on the barrage." When the king heard this, he quickly asked: "How long?" The miller replied: "About thirteen years." The king immediately understood this.
The young man was the child he put in the box and threw into the river. Recalling the previous rumors, he was unwilling to give in and came up with an idea. He said: "What a lovely young man he is. Can he help me?"
Shall I send a letter to the queen? If she pleases, I will give him two gold ingots as payment for his hard work." The miller replied, "I am at your Majesty's command."
The king wrote a letter to the queen, saying: "As soon as this messenger arrives, he will be killed and buried immediately. Everything must be done before I return."
The young man set out with the letter, but he lost his way on the road and ran into a large forest at night. He had to fumble in the darkness to find a way out. Through the dark night, he saw lights shaking not far away.
By the light of the fire, he came to a small cottage. There was an old woman in the house. When the old woman saw him, she was very frightened and said, "Why are you here? Where are you going?" "I want to see the queen and give it to her."
"I want to deliver a letter, but I'm lost. I really want to stay here for the night and have a rest." "You are so unlucky that you ran into this robber den. If the gang of robbers come back and see you here, they will kill you."
." He replied: "I'm too tired, no matter what, I can't walk anymore, let's rest first." After that, he put the letter on the table, lay down on a bench, and fell asleep.
.
When the robbers came back and saw him, they asked the old woman who this strange young man was. She replied: "He is a messenger to the queen. He got lost on the way and got here." The robbers picked up the letter and opened it to read it.
, it was written that the Queen should kill the messenger. Whether out of sympathy for the boy or because he wanted to go against the King, the robber leader tore up the letter and wrote another letter, in which he asked the Queen to kill the boy after the boy arrived.
Let him marry the princess immediately. They did not disturb him until he got up the next morning, and then the old woman showed him the correct way to the palace.
The boy arrived at the palace and handed the letter to the queen. The queen read the letter and immediately made as thorough preparations for the wedding as possible. Seeing that the boy was so handsome, the princess was very willing to marry him as his wife. After a while, the king returned to the palace.
.When he saw that the prophecy came true, this lucky child not only did not die in his conspiracy, but also got married to his daughter. He wanted to know how things could have changed like this. The order he issued was not at all
That's it! The queen said: "My dear, your letter is here, take a look at it yourself!" The king read the letter and knew that the letter had been exchanged, so he asked the son-in-law what he wanted him to deliver.
What did Xin do? He replied: "I didn't do anything. Someone must have tampered with Xin when I was sleeping at night." After hearing this, the king became furious and shouted: "Anyone who wants to marry
My daughter's people must go to hell and get me the three golden hairs from the devil's head. Only in this way will I agree to him being my son-in-law." The young man said: "I will definitely do it soon.
"So he bid farewell to his wife and embarked on the road of adventure.
When he passed the first city, the city guards stopped him and asked him what he did. He replied: "I can do anything!" They said: "If that is the case, you are the person we are looking for. Please.
Tell us, in our city, why did a fountain in the market dry up and no more water came 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, and the guards there also asked him what his skills were and what he knew. He replied: "I can do anything!" They said
He said: "Then please do something for us. Tell us why the tree that used to bear golden apples for us now has no leaves." He said: "I am very willing to serve you. When I
I’ll know when I get back.”
Finally, he came to a large lake that he had to cross. After the young man found a ferry, the ferryman soon began to ask him what he did and what he knew. He said, "I know everything!"
The boatman said: "Then, please tell me why I am always ferrying on this water and can never get away from doing other jobs. If you can tell me, I will thank you very much." The young man said: "Of course.
I'll tell you how when I return."
After crossing the lake, he came to Hell. Hell looked eerie and terrifying, but the Devil was not at home at the moment, and his grandmother was sitting in an easy chair. After seeing him, she asked: "What are you looking for?"
"He replied: "The three golden hairs on the devil's head." Then he told her what happened to him. "You really dare to take risks!" She sympathized with and admired the young man very much, and decided to help him.
, and said: "I will do my best to help you." After that, he turned the young man into an ant and asked 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 does the tree with golden apples now have no leaves? What is the reason why the boatman keeps ferrying there?" After hearing this, the old lady said: "Then
It is indeed three puzzling questions, but when I pull out the devil's golden hair, you lie down quietly and don't move. Be sure to pay attention to what the devil says."
Soon after dark, the devil came home. As soon as he came in, he started sniffing the air with his nose and shouted: "Something is wrong here, I smell the smell of human flesh." After rummaging around, he found nothing.
As he stood there, the old woman scolded him and said, "I just tidied it up, why did you make the house in a mess again?" After this period of tossing, he was tired, so he rested his head on his grandma's lap, and soon fell asleep.
Soon he started snoring. At this time, the old lady grabbed a golden hair on his head and pulled it out. The devil screamed "Ouch!" and jumped up, "What are you doing?" She replied: "I did it.
A nightmare. In desperation, I grabbed your hair. I dreamed that a fountain in a city market dried up and no water came out. I don’t know why?” The devil said: “Hey! What if they
You know, they will definitely cheer. In fact, it is just a toad squatting under a stone in the fountain. As long as the toad is killed, the spring water will flow out again."
After saying this, he fell asleep again. The old lady took the opportunity to pull out another hair of his. After he woke up, he shouted angrily: "What on earth are you going to do?" She said: "Don't be angry, I just dreamed about it when I was sleeping.
In a large kingdom, there is a beautiful tree. This tree used to bear golden apples, but now there are no leaves on the tree. What is the reason?" The devil said: "Hey! If only they knew
This secret must have made them happy. At the root of the tree, there was a mouse that was constantly gnawing at the roots. They had to kill it before the tree could bear golden apples again. If they didn't,
That tree will die soon. Now let me sleep peacefully. If you wake me up again, you will regret it."
Then he fell asleep again, and when she heard him snoring, the old woman pulled out the third golden hair again. The devil jumped up and screamed that he was about to have an attack, but she calmed him down and said: "
I had another strange dream. I dreamed that a boatman seemed destined to ferry people back and forth on a lake and could never get away. Is there some magic that trapped him?" After hearing this, the Demon King said:
"What a fool! If he puts the pole into the hands of another ferryman, won't he get away? Then the ferryman will take his place on the ferry? Let me sleep well.
Don't disturb me."
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 strands and told him to remember the answers to the three questions. After sincerely thanking the young man, he walked
On the journey home.
Soon, he returned to the ferry. The boatman saw him coming back and asked him for the answer to his question. The young man said: "You ferry me over first, and I will tell you how to escape." When the boat reached the other side,
He told the boatman that as long as he put his pole into the hands of other passengers, he could go and stay as he pleased. Then, when he arrived at the city where the golden apple tree was, he told them: "As long as
Kill the rat that gnawed at the roots, and you will reap golden apples again." They gave him many treasures as gifts. Finally, he returned to the city where the fountains had dried up, and the guards asked him to give them answers.
He told them that they must kill the toad under the stone so that the water would flow out. They were grateful to him and gave him two donkeys laden with gold.
Finally, the lucky man returned home, and his wife was very happy when she saw him and heard that he had done everything well. The young man gave the three golden hairs to the king, and the king could no longer object to him and himself.
His daughter was getting married. When he saw all the gold and silver treasures, he said excitedly: "My dear son-in-law, where did you find this gold?" The young man said: "By a lake, there are many there.
A lot of gold and silver treasures." The king quickly asked: "Please tell me, can I go there to get some?" The young man replied: "As much as you want. You will see a boatman on that lake and ask him to get it.
If you drive across the lake, you will see that there is as much gold as sand on the shore."
The greedy king set off in a hurry. When he came to the lake, he called the boatman and said he wanted to cross the lake. The boatman asked him to get in the boat. As soon as he got on the boat, the boatman immediately docked the boat.
into his hands, and jumped ashore, leaving the old king to ferry him there. This was retribution for his sins.
If someone asks: "Is that king still ferrying there?" You might say: "Yes! Because no one will take the pole from his hand and cause trouble for himself."