Lilac Fairy Book

Chapter 38

Once upon a time, on a beautiful island in the South China Sea, the days were almost as long and as hot as the nights, and clusters of gorgeous orchids tied the trees together.There lived a family on the island with seven sisters.Both of the parents of the seven sisters died, and they have no brothers, so the eldest sister is in charge of the house, and the younger sisters obey her.One younger sister is responsible for cleaning the house, another sister is responsible for fetching spring water in the forest, the third sister is responsible for cooking, and the youngest sister is the hardest, responsible for chopping firewood and keeping the fire in the house alive.The work was hot and tiring, and when she had added wood and piled enough firewood in a corner to last the next day, she often fell under a tree and fell asleep.

One morning, as she staggered with her firewood on her back, she suddenly remembered how cool and tempting the water in the small river outside her house looked, so she decided not to take a nap like she usually did, but to go down to the river to take a bath.She hastily piled the firewood beside the stove, threw a few sticks of firewood into the hearth, and then ran to the river and jumped into it.How pleasant it is to dive and float in the dark forest!There are so many trees here that there is almost no sunlight.After a while, she began to look around, and her eyes fell on a small fish.The little fish is like a rainbow, the colors are so dazzling when swimming.

"I want to keep it for play." The girl thought to herself.When the little fish swam past her, she reached out and grabbed it.Then she walked along a grassy path to a cave. There was a pond in front of the cave, and a stream of water flowed over the rocks and poured into the pond.She put the little fish, Dejulong, into the pond, promised him that he would be back soon, brought him lunch, and turned away.

When she got home, lunch had already been cooked, and the elder sister had already served the six younger sisters with rice in wooden bowls.The little sister didn't finish her meal, and while others were not paying attention, she sneaked back to the spring in the forest where the little fish was swimming.

"Look! I haven't forgotten you," she said.She threw the rice into the water one by one, and the little fish devoured the rice, because it had never eaten such a delicious thing.

"That's all for today's meal," she finally said, "I will come back tomorrow." After saying goodbye, she returned along the road.

The girl didn't tell her sisters about Xiaoyu, but she saved half of the rice for it every day, and gently hummed a song she made up for it.Sometimes she was hungry, but no one knew it, but when she saw the greedy fish, she didn't care.The fish grew fat and big, but the girl became thin and weak, and was finally noticed by her sisters.

So they talked it over and stared at her to see what she was doing.A sister followed her to the spring where De Julong lived, and saw her feeding the saved breakfast to the fish.She hurried home and told the other sisters what she had seen, and said that she could catch a lovely fat fish.So the older sister went to catch the fish and cooked it for supper, and the younger sister went into the forest without knowing anything about it.

The next morning, she came to the cave as usual, humming a song, but she didn't see De Julong.She sang it two or three times, and knelt by the spring, and looked into the dark water, but the shade prevented her from seeing the bottom.

"De Julong won't die, or the body will float to the surface." She said to herself, stood up and walked home, suddenly felt a strange feeling, very tired.

"What's wrong with me?" she thought.She struggled to get home and collapsed in a corner.She slept for many days in a row, and no one could wake her up.

Finally, one morning, a rooster woke her up by crowing loudly.The rooster continued to crow, and she seemed to understand what the rooster was saying, to understand that the rooster was telling her that De Julong was dead, killed and eaten by her sisters, and the fish bones were buried under the ashes in the kitchen.She quietly got up, picked up the big stone under the ashes, and quietly crawled out with the fish bone. She came to the cave by the spring, dug a hole in the cave, and buried the fish bone.When she was digging the hole with a stick, she sang a song, hoping that the fish bones would grow into a towering tree—a tree that would reach into the sky, and the leaves would cross the sea and fall on another island, where they would be picked up. The king there picked it up.

Since there was no need to save food for De Julong, the girl quickly gained weight again and was able to work as before, so the sisters ignored her.They never thought that when she went to the forest to collect firewood, she always went to look at the tree that grew taller and more beautiful.People have never seen such a tree: iron trunk, silk leaf, golden flower, diamond fruit.One evening, before the girl knew it, a gentle wind blew a leaf across the sea and down to the feet of one of the king's servants.

"What a strange leaf! I have never seen one. I must show the king," said he.When the king saw the leaf, he declared that he would have no more peace until he found the tree on which it grew, even if doing so required traveling the surrounding islands for the rest of his life.Fortunately he found it from the nearest island, and in the forest he suddenly found the iron trunk, covered with dazzling leaves, all like the one he held in his hand.

"What kind of tree is this? How did it grow here?" he asked the attendant beside him.None of the attendants could answer. Just as they were about to leave the forest, a little boy passed by.The king stopped the boy and asked if anyone lived nearby so that he could ask.

"Seven girls live in the cottage over there," answered the boy, pointing with his hand in the direction of the setting sun.

"Go and call them, I will wait here," said the king.The boy ran away and told the Seven Sisters that he had been sent for them by a warchief with strings of jewels around his neck.

The six older sisters were happy and excited, and immediately left with the boy, but the younger sister was busy with work, and she didn't care about strangers, so she stayed at home and finished what she was doing.The king welcomed the girls warmly, and asked them all kinds of questions about this wonderful tree, but they had never known such a tree, so they could not answer anything. "If we who live near the forest don't know, then nobody knows," added the elder sister, indignant that the King should only ask about the tree.

"The boy said you have seven sisters, but here are only six," said the king.

"Oh, the youngest is still at home. She is always half asleep, and has no use for anything but chopping wood." They said in unison.

"Perhaps. She may be dreaming," replied the king. "Anyway, I would like to ask her." He motioned to one of the attendants, who followed the boy's path to the cottage.

The squire returned quickly, and the girl followed him.As soon as she came to the tree, the tree bowed to her, and she reached out and plucked some leaves and flowers, and gave them to the King.

"A girl who can perform such miracles is fit to be the wife of the greatest chief," he said.So he married the girl, took her back to his home on the other side of the sea, and lived happily ever after.

(End of this chapter)