A fairy tale about the bluebird

The Jade Bird is from The Green Fairy Tale. Author: [English] Edited by andrew lang

Once upon a time, there was a very rich king. After his wife died, he felt very sad. For a whole week, he shut himself in a small room and bumped his head against the wall; He was desperate. People are afraid of his suicide, so they put a thick cushion between the wall and the tapestry. All the ministers went to try to comfort him. Some of them told some serious things, others told some happy jokes, but none of them left any impression on him. He didn't even listen to what they said. Finally, a woman wearing a black veil came. She went to the king and cried, which surprised him very much. She said that the purpose of her coming is different from others. She came not to ease the pain of the king, but to increase his pain, because he lost a good wife, and it is only natural to be sad. She lost her best husband herself. As long as she has eyes, she will cry for him. Then she wailed doubly; The king also learned from her appearance and burst into tears. He received this woman more cordially than anyone else. He told her about the noble character of his dead wife, and she also boasted about her dead husband.

Seeing that the topic was almost finished, the cunning widow lifted her veil slightly. The sad king looked at her and saw that her big blue eyes kept turning under her long eyelashes, giving off an attractive charm. The king turned grief into joy and looked at her excitedly. Gradually, he stopped talking about his wife, and then he stopped talking about it at all. The widow said that she would cry for her husband forever, and the king in turn advised her not to be too sad. Finally, the king married the widow, and her clothes changed from black to green and rose. Everyone was amazed at this.

The king's ex-wife only gave birth to a daughter named Florina. She looks watery and beautiful, just like a flower. She was only fifteen when the king got married for the second time. The new queen also has a daughter who was brought up by her godmother, Fairy Susiao. She is neither beautiful nor graceful. Her name is Lessing, and her face has many red spots like trout. Her black hair is thick and messy, like felt, and no one wants to touch it. But the queen loves her like crazy, and she can't live without her lovely Fresin. Because Florina was much more beautiful than her, the queen tried to speak ill of Florina in front of the king, and not a day passed without playing tricks on her. But Princess Florina is docile and clever, and she can get rid of anything unpleasant.

One day, the king said that both Florina and Freising were old enough to get married, and if a prince came to the palace, he would marry one of them. The queen said, "In my opinion, my daughter should be considered first, because she is older and much cuter in Buvelot." The king didn't like quarreling, so he said that everything would be done according to her wishes.

Not long after, people heard that King Libvette was coming to visit. The king is ready to greet his guests with the most solemn etiquette. When the queen heard the news, she invited the best tailor to make clothes for Lessing. She also bribed Florina's maid to take away all her clothes and jewelry on the day when King Libvette came. When she wanted to dress up, she couldn't even find a belt. King Libvette came, and Florina was so ashamed that she had to sit in a corner of the hall and hide. The queen greeted King Libvette with great ceremony and introduced her daughter to him. Although Freising is covered with gold and silver, she looks even uglier than usual. King Libvette didn't even look at her, because he had heard of the beautiful Florina and asked if there was another princess. "Yes," said Lessing, pointing to Florina. "She's hiding there and has no manners at all." Florina blushed with shame and became more beautiful, and she almost looked at King Libvette. He quickly stood up, bowed deeply and said, "Miss, your incomparable beauty needs no decoration." "Sir," said Florina, "to be honest, I seldom wear such dirty clothes at ordinary times, and I don't want you to see me." "Well," said the queen angrily, "Sir, Florina is arrogant enough. You don't have to flatter her anymore!"

King Libvette soon found out why the queen said such things. But he didn't want to control his feelings. He publicly expressed his affection for Florina and talked with her for three hours. The queen was very desperate and Freising was very sad. They ran to the king and made a complaint, forcing him to lock Florina in a tower during King Libvette's visit. Sure enough, when Florina returned to the bedroom, four masked men grabbed her and sent her to the tower. King Libvette didn't know what happened to Florina, and he was eagerly waiting to meet her again. He asked everyone about the princess, but all of them told him according to the queen's orders that the princess was an eccentric and moody woman, and she often visited nuedai's own girlfriend and servant. She is dirtier than anyone else and a miser. She would rather dress like a shepherdess than buy new clothes. King Libvette could not restrain his anger at these words. "No," he thought, "that's impossible! How can a beautiful woman have such a dirty soul? God will never arrange this. I admit that when I met her, her clothes were not very clean, but judging from her shy face, she was not happy to do so. " At this time, Florina was lying on the floor of the dungeon in the terrible tower. She said to herself, "If they had sent me here before I met this lovely king, I might not be so sad now. Missing him can only increase my pain. "

In order to win over King Libvette, the Queen gave him many expensive gifts and even awarded him a Knight of Love. However, King Libvette repeatedly inquired about Florina's whereabouts. At last, he learned that her father wouldn't allow her to leave her house during his visit. He agreed with a maid-in-waiting that he would visit Florina that evening. But the maid-in-waiting who broke her word couldn't wait to tell the queen everything. So the queen came up with a switch plan, and let Lessing sit in front of her bedroom window and wait instead of Florina. The night was so dark that King Libvette could not see through the trap set by the queen. He approached the window with great joy and told Fresin all the words he wanted to prove to Florina how much he loved her. Freising took the opportunity to tell him that she is the most unfortunate person in the world, because she has a vicious stepmother, and her suffering will never end until she gets married. King Libvette told her that if she was willing to be his wife, he would feel extremely happy and he would give her half of his heart and crown. Later, he took off his ring and put it on Freising, and told her that it was a pledge of his eternal loyalty. As long as she decided on a time to leave, they could leave here quietly. In fact, the date of leaving has been decided, and on that day, Libvette will use his flying frog-drawn carriage to pick up the princess. This car is a gift from a magician friend. The night was dark, and Lessing slipped out of the back door quietly. Liebwait, who was waiting outside, held her in her arms and vowed to be faithful to her forever.

according to the princess's wish, they first came to the Susiao fairy. While waiting in the lobby of the glass palace, Liebwait suddenly found Lessing talking to the fairy through the transparent wall. "Why!" He said, "I was cheated? Did the devil bring this enemy who disturbed my peace here? " His mind is full of thoughts, recalling the things that led him to despair. However, more terrible things are yet to come. Lessing and Fairy Susiao walked into the hall. Susiao said to him, "King Libvette, this is Princess Lessing. You have made a promise to her. She is my goddaughter, and I hope you will marry her at once. " -"me?" He cried, "Tell me to marry this little monster? I promised her nothing! But if she ... "—"Enough! " The fairy interrupted him, "Don't be so presumptuous, you should respect me!" " Lessing showed him the ring; He found himself cheated and wanted to escape. However, the fairy cast a spell and nailed him to the ground like a nail. No matter how the fairy threatened and lured, no matter how Lessing cried and cursed, everything was of no help. Finally, the fairy lost patience and ordered him to make a choice: either marry Racine or be enchanted for seven years. Libvette chose the latter without hesitation. So he was turned into a bluebird by the fairy and flew away from the window.

Lessing is back with her mother. They went to Florina, lied that Lessing had married King Libvette, and showed her the ring. Florina believed it and fainted with grief. When she woke up, she felt that all hopes of marrying Libvette were dashed, and she cried sadly all night. At the same time, King Libvette, or rather, the bluebird kept flying around the palace. He believed that his dear princess must be locked up somewhere in the palace, so he flew as close as possible to every window and peeped in. But he was afraid that Freising would find and recognize him and stop him from doing what he wanted to do. "This concerns my life," he said to himself. "If these two bad women know where I am, they will take revenge." For this reason, he had to fly out of the palace during the day and come to sing at night. There is a tall cypress tree outside the window of the room where Florina is locked up. The bluebird lives in this tree. Hardly had he fallen into the tree when he heard someone sigh, "How long will my pain last?" She said, "isn't death coming to save me?" Alas, vicious queen, how have I sinned against you? Do you want to imprison me like this? Isn't it enough for your despicable daughter to be happy with King Libvette and let me be a witness to their happiness? " Qing Wu listened to these words, and the more he listened, the more he felt that the speaker looked like Florina. He said to her, "Dear Florina! Why did you end your life so quickly? Your pain can be relieved! " -"what? Who is telling me such comforting words? " -"An unfortunate king," replied the Jade Bird. "He only loves you, and he loves nobody but you." After saying this, he flew to Florina's windowsill. At first, Florina was afraid of this clever and strange bird that could only talk like a human. "May I see you again? Can I enjoy this supreme happiness? " -"Are you right, lovely bird?" The princess said, stroking him gently with her hand. "You just said my name!" The king replied. "what! Is this bird in my hand King Libvette? " Said the princess. So she heard the whole truth from the king. Florina was so happy when she listened to the person she loved, that she forgot all the troubles of being confined. She comforted him kindly. She said that she would do more for him. At dawn, most people in the office have got up, and the princess and the jade bird are still talking together. Finally, they agreed to meet like this every night in the future, and then they parted reluctantly.

in this way, two years have passed. Every night, the bluebird appeared on the windowsill of Florina's cell and brought her precious gifts with her mouth. During this period, the hateful queen made a futile effort to marry her daughter. She sent envoys to all the kings whose names she knew, but they were all rejected. "If it is Princess Florina, you will be warmly received." People said to these envoys. Hearing these words, the Queen and Freising were angry with Huveleau Lena, and they decided to go to the tower to interrogate her. It was already midnight that day, and Florrie dressed herself up and stood at the window by misappropriating the gift from Qingwu. Her room and bed are covered with flowers. The queen put her ear to the door to eavesdrop; She believes that she heard the duet:

Now my fate is not good,

I often suffer;

you have given me great comfort by my side.

Although there are tears in our eyes,

Our hearts are connected.

a sigh ended the sad song. "Oh, Racine, we've been cheated!" Cried the queen, quickly opening the door and rushing into the room. Two women pounced on Florina like shrews. They argued endlessly about the source of those decorations and flowers. The queen accused Florina of colluding with the enemy and plotting treason. Later, she sent a maid to Florina's side to watch her every move. The whole day passed and the maid didn't find anything suspicious. At night, she felt bored and fell asleep early. Florina opened the window and called her bluebird. But the maid heard the noise. She listened secretly, then slowly opened her eyes and searched in the dark. Then she found the most beautiful bird in the world. He was talking to the princess, who touched him with her hand and kissed him. Finally, the maid finally explained a few words of their conversation, but she was very surprised, because Jade Bird talked like a lover. The next morning, the maid came to the queen and reported everything she saw and heard. The queen immediately sent someone to find her cronies and discuss countermeasures with them. Later, they finally realized that the bluebird was King Libvette. "What a shame, my Lessing!" Cried the queen, "this shameless princess!" Oh! I must avenge myself and let people talk about it for a long time! " She told the maid to go back to the tower and ordered her to pretend that she slept more than usual and not to show any flaws. So the maid lay down early and began to snore hard; The poor princess didn't know that she was pretending to sleep, so she opened the small window and called her bird.

but she cried all night, and the bird didn't come. It turned out that the hateful queen had many knives and daggers tied to the cypress branches, and the bluebird was cut when it fell to the tree. He endured great pain and finally fled back to the tree hole where he rested during the day; He left a long trail of blood behind him. He is convinced that Florina betrayed him. The poor thought overwhelmed him and he decided to die. But his friend, the magician, found that the flying frog came back with an empty car and didn't see the king, so he ran all over the world and looked for him eight times in a row. Finally, he finally found him in that tree hole. The magician found some weeds and said a few spells, which completely healed the king's wound and made him look as if he had never been hurt.

While two bad women are triumphantly celebrating their victory, Florina is afraid and suffering for her birds. Soon, the situation changed completely. The old king died unfortunately, and the queen soon seized the sovereignty. However, the people couldn't stand her rule and drove her off the stage. The elders took Florina out of the tower and crowned her.

At the same time, the magician went to visit the Susiao fairy and interceded for the Jade Bird in front of her. The fairy promised to remove the magic, but on one condition, that is, the king should marry Freising. Jade bird is still resenting Florina, just as he used to love.