Pioneering

Chapter 4 The Tinder Box

Bestal County in the early winter is quite cold. The finances of the County of Jerez in recent years are very average, and the muddy dirt road has obviously not been maintained for a long time. As one of the main roads in Ante City, after the snowy night just passed It is also less crowded.

On the road, a capable soldier was walking with a large burden on his back and a saber on his waist.He had just finished the war, and now he was rushing home.

The soldier carrying the big pack didn't blush or pant, showing good physical fitness. The uniformly spaced footprints on the snow proved that he was an excellent soldier.

On the way, he met an old woman.

This old woman has a dark aura, her thin body is bent under the black robe, the pointed hood on her head covers half of her old face, and her long hooked nose makes people worry that she might poke something. , with an out-of-date blue plaid apron around his chest.

A very classic image of a witch in the propaganda of the Sea God Church!

The old witch stopped the soldier and said hoarsely: "Hello, soldier. Your knife is really good, and your backpack is really big. You can tell that you are a great soldier!"

The so-called reaching out and not hitting smiling people, the old witch's praise can be said to have scratched the soldier's itch.

He couldn't help raising his head and chest, loosened his grip on the saber, and said proudly: "Of course, I am a veteran who has participated in several wars, and I almost earned myself a title, just a little bit."

The old witch Jie Jie laughed strangely: "Awesome! Awesome! A soldier as powerful as you deserves a better future! So I am willing to give you a lot of money. Now you can have as much money as you want!"

"How could such a good thing happen?" The soldier chuckled disdainfully. He didn't believe in such a good thing, and said casually, "But I still want to thank you, old witch."

"Of course you need to do me a small favor first, and then you can reap a lot of wealth." There seemed to be an unusual temptation in the old witch's hoarse voice.

"Huh?" The soldier's hand holding the saber couldn't help but tightened again.

"Do you see that big tree?" said the witch, pointing to a tree beside them. "It is a hollow tree. When you climb to the top of it, you will see a hole.

Hidden in the cave is a treasure that is enough to buy the entire Principality of Yige!
You can go through the hole and get under the tree. I will tie a rope around your waist so that when you call me, I can pull you up. "

Under the lure of money, the soldier still raised his feet and got close to the tree trunk. He quickly climbed up the tree and looked into the tree hole. Under the sunlight, he could even see the ants at the bottom of the tree hole moving things.

Before the soldiers could angrily denounce the old witch, the old witch said first:
"Of course you can't see anything if you look at it this way, this treasure has been sealed!
Only by opening the seal can you see its true face, and you can go in and get the treasure.

If there is no seal, can it be your turn to get the treasure? "

"You'd better not lie to me! Otherwise, be careful and I will make you look good!" The soldier turned over and slid down the tree, patted the saber on his waist, stared at the old witch fiercely, and threatened.

The old hag smiled disdainfully: "I never lie to anyone."

"Okay, let's take what you say is true. Tell me, how can I help you break the seal?" the soldier asked.

The old witch smiled strangely: "It only needs a simple little ceremony."

"Ritual?" The soldier frowned.

Thanks to the Sea God Church's publicity in the Principality of Yige over the years, the reputation of the wizard profession is not particularly good.

Especially in the church propaganda stories, the images of witches and witches are even more notorious, which makes him quite afraid.

The soldier hesitated for a moment, but finally the greed in his heart overcame his reason, and he said in a deep voice, "You'd better not play tricks, my steel knife is not a vegetarian!"

"Of course not!" The old witch laughed strangely, and said meaningfully: "I never lie to anyone."

"What's the use of this so-called ceremony? Do I need to pay anything?" the soldiers asked repeatedly.

The only rationality left under the temptation of money told him that if the old witch wanted something like his hair and blood, then he had better turn around and leave.

A gleam flashed in the old witch's muddy eyes, and she patiently answered the soldiers' questions one by one:

"Of course this ceremony is to allow you to pass the seal of the treasure, and at the same time prevent you from being attacked by some things in the treasure!
As for what to pay?
Hey, you have nothing to give, if you have to say something to give, then give your courage to fight on the battlefield to explore this treasure! "

"Something? You'd better make it clear. Although I don't know what you want to do, you can't achieve your goal even if I die, right?" The soldier's face became a little ugly.

"Jie Jie Jie Jie... If there are no protective measures in a treasure, would you believe such a thing? How can there be things in the world that have only benefits but no risks?" The old witch asked back.

"As long as you do what I say, I guarantee you will come home safe and sound with a large fortune."

The soldier thought to himself, there shouldn't be such a good thing in the sky, thinking that he had worked so long for the nobles for the poor military salary.

If you can make a lot of money by taking a risk, then the deal is worth it.

But he still said firmly: "How do I know what kind of harmful things you witches have in your minds!"

"At least I keep my word!" The old witch looked at the soldier seriously and said, "If you don't want to get rich, then you can leave now!"

The fact that the soldier didn't turn around just now shows his greed for wealth. How could he leave?
So he just touched his nose, smiled, and stopped talking.

Seeing that he stopped talking, the old witch took off her dirty and smelly blue plaid apron, and took out some messy things from nowhere, including dried lizards, frogs, snakes, scorpions, and the internal organs of some unknown animals, and A wooden staff carved with a ferocious dog.

The old witch carefully took blood from frogs and snakes, drew an inverted hexagram on the ground, then mixed frog tongue, snake gall, scorpion tail and dried lizard powder in a glass vial with green liquid, picked up a A long quill pen, dipped in a strange green potion, draws strange runes in the inverted hexagram.

As the old witch finished writing the last word, the pattern on the ground flickered green for a moment.

The old witch put a purple crystal clear stone in the center of the inverted hexagram. The old witch pointed to the center of the inverted hexagram, and then said to the soldiers: "You stand there!"

"You'd better not play tricks!" The soldier threatened the old witch, and then obediently followed what the old witch said, and walked to the center of the magic circle.

As soon as the soldiers stood up, the old witch raised her dog's head wand and started muttering spells.

The soldier turned his ear to hear clearly what the old witch was talking about, but the old witch kept chanting rhythmic spells in rhythmic rhythm as if singing an opera, and the more the soldier listened, the more trance-like his expression became.

An invisible wave centered on the old witch's wooden staff and spread out. After the last syllable was finished, a dark green light flashed across the soldier.

"Okay, you can go to get the money now," the witch said wearily as she took off her apron, "I will enter the treasury from the tree hole later, there is a bright corridor, through the corridor you will see three doors, The keys are in the lock."

The soldier came back to his senses and looked into the tree hole again. The shallow tree hole just now had turned into a bottomless tunnel, and a faint light seeped through the tree, which was seen by the soldier and the old witch.

The old witch took out a black flax rope out of nowhere, and continued to speak slowly:
"When you open the first door, you'll see a big chest with a dog sitting on it, with eyes as big as bowls. But leave it alone!

I'll give you my blue gingham apron, and you spread it out on the ground, and then quickly pick up the dog and put it on my apron.Then you can open the chest, and it's full of copper coins, and you can take as many copper coins as you want.

If you want silver coins, open the second door.There also sat a dog with eyes as big as wheels.You put it on my apron and you can take the silver coins out.

If you want gold, open the third door.The dog sitting on the cash box has eyes as big as an Estonian 'round tower' though! But you have no fear, just put it on my apron and it won't hurt you.Take as many gold coins as you want. "

"That sounds very good," said the soldier, stroking his beard. "Then how should we divide the bill, old witch? I think I deserve seventy percent of the treasure!"

"No," said the old witch, "I don't want a single copper. I want you to get me the old tinder box from the third room. It's my ancestor's relic, and I'll be content with that tinder box." Mile."

"Okay! Please tie the rope around my waist." The soldier said impatiently.

"Very well," said the old witch, languidly, as she tied the twine around the soldier's waist, "take my blue plaid apron."

The soldier took the apron, quickly climbed up the tree, and quickly slipped down the hole.

Not far away, Zhong Ming, who had just finished disposing of the corpses of the two stupid thieves, watched the familiar scene with a strange expression. Clear the content of the conversation between the two parties.

Isn't this the plot of "The Tinder Box"? Could it be that this is still a fairy tale world?
If you still don't understand the next thing, then Zhong Ming's childhood can be regarded as feeding huskies.

Zhong Ming thought of the magic of the three giant dogs in "The Tinder Box" and the innumerable gold, silver and copper coins in the three treasure houses. I declared that the treacherous soldiers died in a righteous way, and the treasure of the Tinder Box was destined for me.

When I was a child, I heard this story and sighed the magic of the tinder box. When I grew up, I felt that this soldier was a villain!Scum!
The old witch did what she said, and gave him wealth when she said to give him wealth, and the fairy tale did not show that the old witch backed her promise or wanted to harm him.

But the soldier, in order to know the secret of the tinder box, would not hesitate to behead the old witch.

Later, for the so-called "admiration", he used a tinder box to summon a big dog to kidnap the princess. It is not difficult to imagine what happened after the princess was kidnapped, right?

In the end, the matter of robbing the princess was revealed, and the soldier summoned a big dog to kill the king and queen, and became the king himself.

The ending is that the soldier lived "happily" with the princess. I am afraid it is the happiness of the soldier alone?Faced with such an enemy who ruined her reputation, killed her parents, and took away her country, can the princess really live "happily" with him?
In this fairy tale, the soldier is also written as a kind person, saying that after he got rich, he gave a lot of money to the poor, saying that he has already realized how terrible it is to not have a copper coin!

Don't tell me at all, how did he get the money!Got it by treacherously beheading an old hag who offered him wealth!Don't say anything at all, what is he doing to rob the princess!Not to mention at all, what kind of behavior is it for him to marry the princess after killing the king and queen!
The double standards in the West started from fairy tales...

(End of this chapter)