Lilac Fairy Book

Chapter 43 Marry Alvin (1)
Once upon a time there was a King and Queen who had a little boy named Kervi.Soon after the child was born, the queen, who was the boy's mother, fell ill and could not nurse him herself, so she entrusted him to be raised by an acquaintance in the mountains, that he might weather the storms, learn to endure the severe cold and heat, and grow him up. Be tall and strong.Kelvi had a very happy time with the nanny, and often ran races and climbed hills with his friends.When snow covers the ground in winter, sometimes a man with a harp will pass by and ask him to enter the house to avoid the snow. In return, he will sing a few passages, telling anecdotes that happened in the past.

However, changes have already taken place in the court of Kelvey's father.Not long after the queen sent the child away, her condition worsened.Finally, seeing that he was dying, he called his husband to him and said, "I can't get up anymore, and you will marry again soon. In order that she won't make you forget your son, I want you to wait until you see me Get a wife after a heather with two flowers grows on the grave." He agreed.Then, she asked him to take care of his grave and not let other things grow on it.The king also granted her request.Soon she died.Every morning the king sent a man to look at the queen's tomb, and nothing else should grow on it.He watched it like this for seven years, but after seven years, he forgot about it.

One day, when the king was out hunting, he rode by the place where the queen was buried, and saw a heather with two flowers growing on the grave.

"The time has come for me to marry again," he said.He searched for a long time, and finally found a wife, but he didn't tell her about his son. In fact, he didn't remember that he had a son anymore.It was not until later, when the wife went to visit an old lady, that she heard about it.The new queen was very happy and sent someone to bring the child back.The child lived in his father's court.Time passed day by day, until one day, the queen told the child that a priest had prophesied that he would win Ispedaden?Penkel's daughter Alvin was his wife.

Kelvy felt both proud and happy.I must be an adult by now, he thought, or I wouldn't be talking to me about getting a wife.All day long, he was thinking about his fiancée, and what his unseen fiancée would look like.

"What's bothering you, son?" asked the father, seeing that Kelvey had forgotten to do what he was told to do.

Kelvey blushed and replied: "The stepmother said Ispededen? Penkel's daughter Alvin will be my wife."

"That's easy," replied the father. "King Arthur is your cousin. Go to him and have your hair cut, and ask him to help you."

So the young man held two steel-tipped silver guns, ivory bugles on his shoulders, and a golden sword on his waist. He rode on a four-year-old gray zebra with a gold-chain bridle and a gold-covered saddle, and rode on the road.In front of the horse were two white-breasted hounds with ruby ​​collars, dashing from side to side like petrels, galloping beside him.The turf raised by the horse's four hooves was like four swallows flying up and down above his head.He wore a purple shawl, and in each corner of the shawl was a golden apple, each golden apple was worth a hundred cows.Seeing that the gate of Arthur's palace was in sight, the horse's footsteps became lighter, and even the blades of grass were not trampled down by the horse's hooves.

"Is anyone there?" cried Kelvy, looking around for someone to open the door for him.

"Yes, every year on the first day of January I open the door for Arthur," a man came out and answered, "other days someone else opens the door. Among the gatekeepers, there is a man named Pong Pingyang. Walk upside down so as not to tire your feet."

"Okay, I said, open the door."

"No, no, no one but the prince and the peddler. There's dog food and hay for the horses elsewhere, and you yourself have slices of charcuterie sprinkled with pepper, and in the drawing-room There will be rum."

"I don't care for those things," replied Kelvy, "and if you don't open the door I'll give you three yells that can be heard from Cornwall to the North and then to Ireland."

"No matter how loud you are," said the concierge Gruber, "you can't go in until I report to Arthur first."

Grovede walked into the hall.Arthur said to him, "Is there something wrong at the door?"

The concierge replied: "I have traveled all over this island, and I have traveled far across the oceans. I have seen countless dignitaries, but I have never seen such a noble person as the one at the gate."

"If you came in, run back," replied Arthur, "and it is not right to leave such a man out in the wind and rain, when all the people come to pay homage to him and entertain him." So Grove De opened the door, and Kervi walked in on his horse.

"Greetings to you, ruler of this land," he cried, "greetings to all who are present."

"Greetings to you, too," replied Arthur. "Sit down between my two knights. During my visit at the palace you will be sung by a troubadour, and enjoy all that a prince should be."

"I have not come to eat or drink," answered Kelvy, "but to ask for your favor. If you grant my request, I will repay you and praise your kindness everywhere. If you do not, I will Tell your impertinence everywhere, and I will tell it wherever your name is known."

"You shall have your wish," replied Arthur, "besides my ship and cloak, sword and spear, shield and dagger, and my wife Gwennaville, so long as the wind is dry and the rain is wet, The sun is still turning, the sea is still circling the land, the land is still endless, and you can do whatever you want.”

"I wish you would give me a haircut," said Kelvy.

Arthur replied, "I promise you."

Immediately he sent for a golden comb and scissors with silver rings, and he began to cut the hair of his guest Kelvy.

"Tell me who you are," he said. "I have a crush on you. I always thought we were of the same blood."

"My name is Kelvi, son of Kaired," answered the boy.

"You're really my cousin, then," replied Arthur, "and you can get whatever help you want."

"I beg you to help me win Ispededon? Orwen, daughter of Pencor, my request may be granted through your warriors. Thor can stand on one foot all day; If Sol stood on the highest mountain in the world, he could level it with a blow of a bird's wing; although Cruise was buried in the ground, he could still hear the sound of ants leaving their nest fifty miles away. Because of these people, and Kay and Badwell and all your mighty warriors, I beg you to do this for me."

"Oh, Kelvy," said Arthur, "I've never heard of the woman you speak of, nor of her family, but if you'll give me some time, I'll send people went to find her."

"Of course I would, just from tonight until the end of the year," Kelvi replied.However, at the end of the year, all the envoys sent returned empty-handed, and Kelvi became angry and spoke foul words to Arthur.

Finally it was Kay who answered him (the bravest and fastest runner among the warriors, who could stay up nine nights without sleep and nine days underwater): That's what Arthur said. Come with us, and we won't break up until you win that woman, or until you admit there's no such woman in the world."

So Arthur summoned six of his best warriors, and told them to go with Kelvey.Among the five, there was Kay's comrade-in-arms and brother, the one-armed Bradwell, who was the fastest runner in Britain after Arthur; Familiar; there is Greer, who can speak all kinds of languages; there is Gua Chumei, the son of Geya, who is a person who will never give up until he reaches his goal.Finally, there's Maynwood, who can cast a spell on people so that others can't see them, but they can see others.

So, the seven of them set off on the road together, and finally came to a vast plain.There is a beautiful castle on the plain.Although the castle seemed close at hand, they didn't really approach it until the evening of the third day.There was a flock of sheep scattered in front of the castle, so many that it seemed that there was no end to see.A shepherd stands on a mound tending to his flock, with a dog as big as a nine-year-old horse by his side.

"Whose castle is this, Shepherd?" asked the warriors.

"You are fools," answered the Shepherd, "for the whole world knows that this is the castle of Ispaideden Penkel."

"Then who are you?"

"My name is Kasternin, and I'm the brother of Espededden, and he treats me badly. Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

"We have come from King Arthur in search of the daughter of Ispaidedon."

The shepherd heard this, and shouted: "Ah, you people, I warn you to go back before it is too late. People have come to look for them before, but no one can escape. Tell me about the experience of finding someone." Let someone else hear it." He was getting up to leave them when Kelvi handed him a gold ring.He wanted to put the ring on his finger, but it was too small, so he put it in a glove and went home to give it to his wife.

"Where did you get the ring?" she asked, "such good fortune will not come to you."

"You will meet the man who gave this ring here tonight," replied the shepherd, "his name is Kelvey, son of Kyred, and cousin of King Arthur. He has come to see Owen When the shepherd's wife heard this, she realized that Kelvi was her nephew, and she wanted to see him very much.Thinking of seeing him, she was both happy and sad at the same time, worried that something might happen to him.

Soon, they heard footsteps approaching.Kay and his companions went into the house to eat and drink.When they had finished eating, the hostess opened a box, and a young man with blond curly hair came out of it.

"It's pathetic for him to be hidden like this," Greer said. "I know he's done no evil."

"All 23 of my sons were killed by Espaideden, and there is not much hope of saving this one," she replied.

Feeling sad in his heart, Kai replied: "Let him come with me and be my company. Unless I am killed, no one can kill him."

The old woman agreed.

"What are you doing here?" asked the old woman.

"We've come to find a girl named Alvin for this lad," Kay replied. "Has she been here? Have you seen her?"

"Every Saturday she washes her hair and puts all her rings in her shampoo basin and never sends for them."

"Ask her, will she come?" Kai asked thoughtfully.

"She will come, but I won't invite her unless you promise not to hurt her."

"We promise not to hurt her," they said.

So the girl came in.

She wore a gown of fiery red silk, and around her neck a glittering red gold collar set with emeralds and rubies, her hair was yellower than gorse, her skin whiter than the waves, and her hands were more beautiful than five-leaved anemones. .Where she stepped, four white clover stalks would grow, so people called her Alwin.

She went into the room and sat down on the bench beside Kelvi.Kelvy said to her: "Ah, girl, I loved you the first time I heard your name—will you come with me from this wicked place?"

"I can't do that," she replied. "I promised my father that I would never leave here behind his back, because he will only live until I am engaged. I will give you one piece of advice, the only piece of advice, and that is Go and ask my father for marriage, and whatever he asks of you, you must say yes to him, and then you will have me. If you refuse any of his demands, you will not have me, and if you can escape alive , that is simply luck.”

"I agree to everything you say," he replied.

So she went back to the castle, and Arthur's knights followed her into the hall.

"Greetings to you, Ispediden Pencor," they said, "we have come to court you for Kervi, son of Kerid, for your daughter Alvin."

"Come here tomorrow, and I'll answer you again." Ispedaden?Penkel replied.Just when everyone got up and was about to leave the hall, he grabbed one of the three poison darts placed beside him and threw it at them.Bradwell saw it clearly, reached out to catch the dart, and then threw it back.The dart pierced Ispediden's knee.

"What a gentle son-in-law!" he cried, rolling on the ground in pain. "Your rudeness will keep me out of my way for the rest of my life. Damn it."

That night the warriors spent the night at the house of the shepherd Kasternin.When they came to the castle the next day, they entered the hall and said, "Ispededen Penkel, give us your daughter, and keep her dowry, or we will kill you."

"All four of her great-grandfathers and four great-grandmothers are still alive," Ispedaiden?Penkel replied, "I'll have to consult with them."

(End of this chapter)