Story Walker (行走在故事里的小男孩）

秋石

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Chapter Seven
　　　“It’s so exciting!” Said the little boy, clapping his palms when they were back, but then the happiness on his face faded.
　　　“Oh. How I wish I could stay there forever and ever. Fairy sister, why do we come back? We can live there. It’s a wonderland. It’s just the land I want to go.” He looked quite disappointed, but the princess just smiled.
　　　“Well. You can stay there of course if you want to. But I can’t stay there. That’s not my world. I want to go back.”
　　　“No.” the little boy shouted.
　　　“Why?” the princess looked a little astonished. She should be, cause the way the little boy said that was really astonishing, as if he never wanted the princess to leave him.
　　　“I just don’t want you to leave me. I’m afraid you have to leave me one day.” He started to cry. The princess took him into her arms.
　　　“Have you forgotten what I have told you? I said you could go with me if I went back. Have you forgotten?” she said.
　　　“No, I haven’t. But I’m still afraid you will leave me!” the little boy said, eyes full of tears. The princess knelt down to face the little boy.
　　　“I like you! You are my dear little brother now. I promise, you’ll go with me, to my world, to my wonderful world. Don’t be afraid. Trust your fairy sister. Come on, give me a smile! Smile, yea, that’s a good boy.” The little boy at last smiled and he felt a little ashamed that he cried before the princess. But the princess was so kind. She just comforted him.
　　　“It’s late now. When do you usually go to bed? Wait a minute. I almost forgot something! Don’t you have a daddy? When will he come back?” the princess said, having noticed the picture of the whole family.
　　　“I don’t know. He always comes back when I’m already in bed. Sometimes, he just doesn’t come back at all.” Said the little boy, a little unhappy.
　　　“Where does he spend his nights them?”
　　　“I don’t know. He never tells me. Sister, can we go to another story?” asked the little boy, smiles on face.
　　　“No. It’s too late. I feel a little tired now. Go to bed, I have something else to do.” Said the princess.
　　　“I want to stay here with you.” but the little boy said.
　　　“Ok, if you really want. I’ll repair the telephone and wake up your mother.” Said the princess, smiling at the little boy, who went into his own room. He lay on his bed, but failed to fall asleep. How could he fall asleep after so many things have happened? But he dare not get up and go out. He was afraid her mother would see him. About ten minutes later, he heard steps and then his door was opened, came in the mother. He was a little shocked, closing his eyes, pretending to be sleeping. But to his surprise, he felt his mother bending over him and kissed him on the forehead.
　　　“Good night, my dear. I love you.” and he heard his mother said that. It’s really hard for him to believe that, but he dare not open his eyes. Then he heard steps again, to the sitting room and until then did he open his eyes, only to find the princess standing by his bed.
　　　“Fairy sister. Is that you who kissed me?” he asked but then he denied. 　　　　The steps were still there in the sitting room.
　　　“No. It’s not me, but your mother. Do you like it?” the princess said but the little boy shook his head.
　　　“It can’t be true. She never does that.” He said, doubting.
　　　“Well, things change. I have changed her. I promise you, from now on, she is going to be a good mother! Oh, it’s really late now. Time to sleep. My dear little prince, you should also fall asleep now.”
　　　“Fairy sister, where will you sleep?” the little boy asked, staring at her, looking shy.
　　　“Don’t worry. I’ll not share your bed. I’ll go to a story and sleep there. I’ll come back tomorrow.” Said the princess.
　　　“No.” but the boy said.
　　　“Why?”
　　　“I’m afraid you’ll never come back again. There are witches in stories. If they find you, they will not let you come back. Can you just stay here? You can share my bed?”
　　　“Don’t worry. I’ll come back tomorrow. Ok. Good night.” The princess was ready to go, but the little boy held her hand.
　　　“No. I’ll go with you. I’ll sleep there.” He said, tears were coming out again. The princess sighed.
　　　“Well. Ok. If you really want to go, I’ll go with you. But if your mother doesn’t find you tomorrow when she comes to wake you up, don’t blame me.”
　　　“I’ll not. We’ll come back before she comes to wake me up.”
　　　“Ok. Then find a story.”
　　　The little boy then turned on the table lamp and then listened, as if he was afraid his mother would hear anything, but there were no noises outside. So he opened the book, however, it’s not easy for him to find a story without a witch in, and all of a sudden, he got a good idea.
　　　“I have a good idea.” He said, picked his pen.
　　　“What’s your idea?” asked the princess.
　　　“I’ll write a story myself and then we’ll go to my story.” He said but the princess said nothing, but smiled, so the little boy started to write.
　　　“Once upon a time, there was a beautiful kingdom. There were no witches. People there were happy. They were kind to each other. The king was kind too. He had a beautiful palace and in the palace, there were a lot of beds. They were comfortable and beautiful. But most of all, the king had a garden, and there was a cottage for the gardener, but the gardener’s wife was going to give birth to a baby, so he went home and nobody was in the cottage.
He stopped and turned his head up.
　　　“Can we go now?” he asked, eagerly.
　　　“Ok.” Said the princess. The little boy then held out his hand and caught the princess’s, as if he was afraid the princess would change her mind. But the princess didn’t change her mind. She just held the boy’s hand tight and then they went into the boy’s unfinished story. Well, when they arrived at the cottage, it was during the daytime and the garden was so beautiful that the boy didn’t want to sleep at all.
　　　“Well, we have to go back.” The princess looked around and said.
　　　“Why? It’s nice here.” The little boy got worried.
　　　“It’s daytime. Can you fall asleep in the daytime? Besides, you don’t want to sleep at all, and it’s easy to be found.” Said the princess and caught the little boy’s hand. Just several seconds later, they were back in the little boy’s room. But the little boy seemed unhappy.

秋石

　　　“Well. I don’t mean we are not going back. Just change your story a little and then we’ll go back.”
　　　“How to change?” asked the little boy, became happy again.
　　　“Well. Just write it like this. It was a beautiful night.” The boy then picked his pen and added: like this: on one beautiful night, a beautiful princess came with a little boy.
　　　“Can we go now?” He put down his pen and asked.
　　　“I guess so.” The princess then held his hand, which was already out and went into the story, but to their surprise, when they got there, a beautiful girl and a little boy were already there.
　　　“Who are you?” seeing them, the little boy asked. But that girl and that boy just looked at them.
　　　“Who are you?” they then asked.
　　　“I’m afraid they are the beautiful girl and the little boy in your story.” Said the princess. The little boy nodded.
　　　“I’m the princess here and this is my little brother, the prince.” The girl said.
　　　“You are a princess too? And you are a prince?” the little boy became so happy to meet them.
　　　“Yes. We are playing in our room, but all of a sudden, we found we were in the garden.” Said the little prince. The little boy smiled, knowing why.
　　　“Well, weird things happen.” So he said.
　　　“But who are you?” Why you are here? I have never seen you before.” The princess asked.
　　　“Oh. We just want to spend a night here.” The princess at last opened her mouth. “I think we have to go back again.” She then bent over and whispered to the little boy, but the little boy just said No.
　　　“No.” he said, “I like them. They are princess and prince. I want to make friends with them.” He then turned up.
　　　“Do you want to be my friends?” he asked.
　　　“Ok. But my father doesn’t want others to live in the palace.” Said the princess.
　　　“Why?” the little boy asked, worried.
　　　“He doesn’t want any other people to come into his kingdom. He is afraid they will ruin the happiness of his people. And he doesn’t want anyone else to come into the kingdom. He is afraid other people will make us feel uncomfortable. So we just stay in the palace. We always want to know what it looks outside. But we never know. Where are you from? Can you tell me the world outside?” the princess said.
　　　“Yes, sure.” I’m from another world.” His fairy sister frowned.
　　　“Oh. I’m a little tired now.” She said, “Don’t you think it’s a good idea to sleep now?” But the little boy disagreed. He was too excited to fall asleep, actually, he thought he would never want to be asleep again.
　　　“Why should I fall asleep when I’m talking with a princess and a prince?” he thought. Actually he had no time to think like that. He was too excited to think anything else. I just thought he would think like that.
　　　“Ok. My dear little prince.” Said his fairy sister, “I’m afraid their father will find them not in their room and we will be in trouble.” Her words reminded all of them.
　　　“Yes. I think we must go back now, or the servants will find we are not sleeping in the room.” Said the little prince.
　　　“Oh. Are you leaving” but the little boy asked immediately.
　　　“Yes. It’s nice meeting you, but we have to go back. Will you come tomorrow?”
　　　“Sure, sure.” Said the little boy.
　　　“Then, see you tomorrow.” Said the princess and turned back with the little prince. And soon they got out of sight.
　　　“Oh. I should have asked them to stay a little longer.” He murmured.
　　　“I’m afraid you are never going to catch some sleep.” The princess said beside him and the little boy just felt tired, as if he hadn’t got any sleep for three days, and when he opened his eyes again, he found he was already in his bed, and it’s already the next day. It’s the princess who fell him asleep and took him back to his own room. He looked around, only failing to find the princess. Everything was as usual. He rolled his eyes, started to doubt whether it was only a dream or not.
　　　“Fairy sister? Fairy sister?” he then called, but got no reply and he heard steps and then the door was opened. It’s his mother who came in. He couldn’t help having a shake.
　　　“My dear. You woke up yourself.” The mother said and kissed him on the forehead.
　　　“Dress yourself now. Breakfast will be ready soon.” The mother kissed him on the forehead again and then went out.
　　　“Fairy sister, fairy sister?” once the mother was out, he called again. He was sure he was not in a dream. His mother had really been changed! But he got no reply.
　　　“Sister, sister. Where are you? Please! Where are you?” he called and called, but nobody replied. Tears came out!
　　　“Fengri. Have you dressed yourself? Breakfast is ready. Hurry. Don’t run late.” The mother said in the sitting room. He had to dress himself and wiped the tears away but he found the fairy-tale book was gone. It was no longer on his desk. He got worried.
　　　“Fengri. Are you dressed yet?” Seeing he didn’t go out, the mother came in and asked. He had to go to the sitting room. He dare not ask his mother about the book anyway.
Breakfast was ready.
　　　“Ok. Go to the bathroom first.” Said the mother. He went into the bathroom, but he couldn’t help weeping.
　　　“She must be gone. I must have disappointed her. She must have gone back.” He said to himself when he was brushing his teeth. It took him really a long time to brush his teeth, and his mother called in the sitting room again.
　　　“Somebody is running late.” Said the mother. He had to wash his face quickly and then went out. He didn’t have a good appetite. He wanted to ask his mother whether she had seen the princess or not, but in his eyes, the mother was still as before, though she was smiling the whole morning.
　　　“Ok. It’s time to go to school.” Said the mother, and gave him the schoolbag, but he just stood there. He couldn’t go to school without the book.
　　　“Dear. It’s really late now.” urged the mother.
　　　“Mom. Have you seen my book?” he at last asked.
　　　“Which one?” asked the mother.
　　　“The one on the desk.” He replied.
　　　“I don’t know. I didn’t see any books on the desk.” The mother asked and the little boy then opened his bag, only to find the book was already in.
　　　“Which book? Is it in your bag?” the mother asked.
　　　“Yes. It is. I have to go now.” the boy turned to go, but the mother caught him on the shoulder

秋石

　　　“Wait.” She said, which worried the little boy, “Kiss mom goodbye.” But the mother just said. The little boy then turned back, relieved, but he just stood there, watching his mother’s face. He had never kissed his mother on the face before and he felt a little embarrassed.
　　　“Well. Kiss mom goodbye.” The mother said, so the little boy had to give her a kiss and then turned back quickly.
　　　“Watch out on the street.” When he got out of the door, the mother said loud behind him, but he just ran away.
　　　“Is she really my mother” walking on the street, the boy asked, but he then started to miss the princess again. He took out the fairy-tale book and opened it.
　　　“Oh, fairy sister. Where are you please? Please come out. I promise I’ll follow your word. I’ll do anything you ask me to do.” He said to the book, but the princess just didn’t show up! The little boy’s tears came out again and soon he started to cry alone!
　　　“Sister, please, Sister.” He called and called but nobody replied and at the gate of the school, he met that girl who lent him the book and she still seemed quite unhappy, but when she found the book in his hand, she was astonished. She had never expected he would be holding the book.
　　　“My book!” she almost cried, eyes shining.
　　　“Your mother gave it to you? Why are you crying? Did she beat you?” the girl then started to use her imagination. She imagined that the boy was kneeling on the ground, while his mother was beating him with a stick, however, the boy still asked her mother to give him the book and then the boy fainted away and the mother finally gave him the book.
　　　“I’m so sorry.” She said.
　　　“Can I keep the book for one more day?” but the boy just asked, which was out of the girl’s expectation again.
　　　“Why?” she asked. And the boy hesitated.
　　　“Tell her or not?” he asked himself and then he at last decided to share his secret with her, for she also liked stories as he did.
　　　“Can you keep a secret?” after thinking for a while, he asked.
　　　“A secret? What secret?” asked the girl.
　　　“Can you promise? If you don’t tell anyone else, I’ll tell you.” said the boy. His words stirred the girls curiosity.
　　　“I promise.” So she said. The boy then told her the whole story and the girl listened, with her eyes wide open but when he finished it, she just shook her head.
　　　“No. It can’t be true.” She said.
　　　“Yes. It’s true. I want to keep the book for one more day. She must be in the book now.” he said, worried. But the little girl still shook her head.
　　　“No. I’ll not give it to you again. You’ll read in class and the teacher will find it again, and then he’ll take it away. I don’t want that to happen again.” With these words, the girl turned to rush to the gate of the school and just at that moment, the bell rang. The little boy had to rush too, but before he went into the classroom, the bell stopped and when he showed up at the door, the teacher was already in and he seemed quite raged.
　　　“Keep still.” Shouted the teacher! The little boy dare not move at all. He even dare not turn up.
　　　“I have to tell you. This boy is a thief.” Said the teacher and all the little boys and girls turned to look at each other. They didn’t know what the teacher meant, but they were sure the boy couldn’t be a thief. He was honest and quiet and he always obeyed whatever the teacher said. They looked at the teacher, waiting for him to finish his words.
　　　“Yesterday, I took his book away. I put it in my office, but it’s gone. He must have stolen into my office and took it away.” Said the teacher and he walked to the little boy, gazing at him.
　　　“I know it’s not in your bag. You’d better give it back to me, or I’ll report you to the headmaster.” Said he, but the little boy’s eyes were just full of tears. He knew it’s the princess who had taken the book away from him, but now the princess was gone, and how could he explain it to them?
　　　“What a teacher!” but all of a sudden, a girl’s voice attracted his attention and the teacher turned back, only to find a beautiful girl standing in the classroom, beside the little girl, who was shocked there. He was shocked too. Nobody knew how she got in. She just showed up from nowhere.
“Don’t shout at him. It’s me who took the book away, not him. He is a good boy. The book is here.” Said the princess, holding the book, “but I’m not going to give it to you, cause it’s not yours. It’s hers. Come here.” She turned to the little boy and said, but the little boy just looked at his teacher, as if he was waiting for his permission.
　　　“Why are you so afraid of him? Come here!” said the princess again, and the little boy at last moved his steps, but the teacher suddenly held his shoulder.
　　　“Who is she? Where is she from?” the teacher shouted, and he shouted in such a loud voice that the little boy was shaking.
　　　“You are the worst teacher I have ever seen.” Said the princess and took out her magic stick at last and pointed to the teacher, who loosed his hand and knelt down, crawling on the ground, barking like a dog. At first, everyone just watched him with their eyes wide open, but then they all started to laugh. Well, not everybody liked the teacher.

秋石

to continue

徐摩志

怎么还没上传新的？

秋石

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Chapter eight
　　　 The princess finally pointed her magic stick to the teacher again, and he became quiet at last.
　　　“Well. I’m afraid you have to learn how to be a good teacher first,” Said the princess, “First ask your students whether they like you or not. If your own students don’t like you, how can you be a good teacher? Ok, I’ll ask them for you.” the princess then turned to the whole class, and the little boys and girls were all watching her.
　　　“My dears, do you like him?” she then asked, “Don’t be afraid. I have my magic stick. Just tell him the truth, or he’ll never change. Do you like him or not? If you do, nod your head, and if you don’t, just shake your head.”
　　　All the students looked at the teacher, and at last, some of them shook their heads and then almost all of them shook their heads.
　　　“I’m so sorry for you. Nobody likes you at all.” The princess then turned to the teacher and said and the teacher really looked sad. He thought at least one tenth of his students would nod their heads, but to his disappointment, only two students didn’t shake their head. He was hurt deeply.
　　　“As a princess, I’d like to give you some good suggestions. If you want to be a good teacher, make your students like you, and if they like you, they’ll follow you and they’ll not be afraid of you and they’ll ask you questions. You’ll be happy and they’ll be happy too. Ok. I do hope you’ll change, and if you won’t change, then I’ll turn you to a dog.” The princess waved her magic stick and said.
　　　“Ok. Begin your class now. I’ll sit here and listen to you. I do hope you’ll be a good teacher.” The princess then sat with the little boy and the teacher began his class. He was a little unhappy and the little boys and girls looked at him worriedly, hoping he would change his way of teaching. The teacher had a glance of the whole class and at last, he had a smile on his face. It’s a good sign.
　　　The teacher really changed a lot. At least, he didn’t look as serious as before, and he sometimes smiled. At first, nobody laughed, but then happy laughter was heard.
　　　During the interval between the classes, the pupils circled the princess and asked her about her world. The princess told them many stories and when they heard that Fengri was going to her world, they all shouted they wanted to go with her too.
　　　“Well. I do want you all to go to my world, but you can’t stay there all your life. I promise I’ll take you there, but you all will come back. Ok?” the princess said, and the little boys and girls cheered.
　　　“When can we go?” they asked eagerly.
　　　“I have no idea now, but it won’t take too long. My mother will come to find me sooner or later. Everybody. Would you like to go to Fengri’s birthday party?” the princess asked, and everybody cheered again.
　　　“Yes, yes.” they shouted and Fengri looked a little embarrassed. His parents didn’t invite his classmates to his birthday and he had to study on that day, so to him, birthday didn’t mean much. He had almost forgotten his birthday. He counted and remembered that his birthday was only three days later. Thinking he would have a birthday with the princess, he smiled broadly.
　　　How wonderful it was!

小香

very imagintive

秋石

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Chapter nine
　　　Once upon a time, there was a princess. She lived high up under the battlements of her castle. She had a hall with twelve windows facing north, south, east and west; and when she came up here and looked round, she could see more clearly than other people and still better through the second and still more sharply through the third and so on increasingly until through the twelfth window she could see everything above the ground and below ground and nothing could be hidden from her. But because she was proud and would not submit to anyone and wanted to be the sole mistress, she had it proclaimed that she would marry no man unless he could hide from her in such a way that it was impossible for her to find him. But if anyone were to try this and she were to discover him, his head would be cut off and put up on a stake. The castle was already surrounded by ninety-seven stakes with dead men’s heads on them, and for a long time no one made the attempt. The princess was pleased and thought: Now I’ll live freely for the rest of my life. Then three brothers presented themselves to her and thought that they wished to try their luck. The eldest brother thought he would be safe if he crawled into a lime-pit, but she saw him through the very first window and had him pulled out and beheaded. The second stowed himself away in the castle cellar, and him too she saw from the first window, and that was the end of him: his head was put on the ninety-ninth stake. Then the youngest son came before her and begged her to let him have a day to think about the matter, and also to be so gracious as to give him two chances if she discovered him: if he failed on the third try, he said, then he would care no longer for his life. And because he was so handsome and begged her so earnestly, she said: “Yes, I will grant you this favor; but you won’t succeed.”
Next day he racked his brains for a long time to think of a way of hiding himself, but all in vain. Then he took his gun and went out hunting. He saw a raven and took aim at it; but just as he was going to press the trigger the raven called out: “Don’t shoot, I’ll reward you for my life!” He lowered his gun, walked on and came to a lake, where he caught sight of a big fish which had just swum up from the bottom to the surface of the water. As he pointed his gun at it the fish dive down, walked on and met a fox that was limping. He fired a shot and missed it, and then the fox called out: “Don’t do that; come here instead and pull this thorn out of my paw.” This indeed he did, but then he was just about to kill the fox and skin it when it said: “Let me be, I’ll reward you for my life!” the young man let it run away, and then as it was evening he went back home.
　
　　　On the following day he was due to go into hiding, but ponder as he might he couldn’t think of a suitable place. He went to the raven in the forest and said to it: “I spread your life, so now tell me a place to hide where the princess won’t see me.”  The raven put its head down and thought for a long time, and finally it croaked: “I have it!” it fetched an egg out of its nest, broke it in two and put the young man inside, then closed up the egg again and sat on it. When the princess looked out of her first window she couldn’t see where he was, and she couldn’t spot him through the following windows either; she began to get anxious, but she saw him through the eleventh window. She had the raven shot and the egg brought to her and cracked open, and the young man had to come out. She said to him: You’ve had your first chance; if you can’t do better than that, it’ll be the end of you.”
Next day, he went to the lake, called the fish and said to it: “I spared your life, so now tell me where I can hide so that the princess won’t see me.”  The fish thought about it, and finally exclaimed: “ I have it! I’ll put you inside my belly.” It swallowed him and swam down to the bottom of the lake. The princess looked through her windows, and when she couldn’t see even through the eleventh she was greatly alarmed, but finally she discovered him through the twelfth. She had the fish caught and killed, and there was the young man. You can well imagine how he felt. She said: “You have had you second chance, but I think your head will be on the hundredth stake.”

秋石

　　　On the last day he walked across the fields with a heavy heart and met the fox. “You know how to find all sorts of hide-holes.” He said to it. I spared your life, so now advise me where I am to hide so that the princess won’t find me.” It’s a difficult task,” answered the fox, looking very serious. Finally it exclaimed: “I have it!” it took the young man to a spring, plunged in and came out of the water in the form of a pedlar and went into the town and put the nice little animal on show. A lot of people crowed round to look at it, and finally the princess came too. She liked the sea-rabbit so much that she bought it and gave the pedlar a lot of money for it. Before he handed it to her he said to it: “When the princess goes to the window, creep quickly under her pigtail.” She went to the windows in turn from the first to the eleventh and couldn’t see him. When she couldn’t see him through the twelfth window either, she was scared and furious and banged it shut so hard that the glass in all the windows shivered into a thousand pieces and the whole castle shook.
She turned away and felt the sea-rabbit under her pigtail, and seized it and hurled it to the ground exclaiming: “Get away, get out of my sight!” it ran to the pedlar and they both hurried to the spring, where they plunged in and got back their proper shapes. The young man thanked the fox and said: “The raven and the fish are dunderheads compared to you; you know all the tricks, I must say!”
　　　The young man went straight to the castle. The princess was already waiting for him and resigned herself to her fate. The wedding was celebrated and now he was king and master of the whole kingdom. He never told her where he had hidden the third time or who had helped him; and so she believed that he had done everything by his own skill, and held him in respect, for she thought to herself: He’s a match for me after all!
　　　 “That’s the story I went in last night,” The princess closed the book and said, “I didn’t want the young man to die, so I helped him. That’s why I came out so late in the morning.”
　　　“Sister. I thought you wouldn’t appear again, but you are here now.” the little boy smiled and said. He considered him to be the happiest boy in the world.
　　　“I’m the happiest child in the world.” He said and the princess smiled but the smile didn’t last long, instead she became a little sad.
　　　“What’s wrong, sister?” the little boy asked.
　　　“Nothing. I, I just miss that man.” She said.
　　　“Who?” the little boy didn’t know who she meant.
　　　“The man in the story?”
　　　“Yes. But he is married to that princess now and he even didn’t know who I was. He didn’t even see me last night.”
　　　“Why? You helped him and he didn’t see you?”
　　　“I changed myself to a fox and helped him. He didn’t know the fox was me.” Said the princess and the boy at last knew the cause. He also felt a little unhappy when he found the princess was sad. He knew he must help the princess.
　　　“Brother. How do you like the princess?” after a while, the princess asked.
　　　“I don’t like her at all.” The boy said without thinking.
　　　“Why?” asked the princess.
　　　“She is not kind-hearted at all. I don’t like her. That man shouldn’t have 　married her. He won’t be happy. Sister. We must help him.” said the little boy.
　　　“That’s what I’m worrying about. That princess was black-hearted. She killed so many young men. I don’t like her either. I’m afraid he will be in danger. She might kill him if she isn’t pleased. But how can we help him?” the princess asked.
　　　“Sister. It’s quite easy. We will go back to the story again and let he fall in love with you.” said the little boy.
　　　“Well. It’s not a good idea. I’m afraid the princess will kill me if he tells her he wants to marry me.”
　　　“Sister. We will go back to the beginning of the story and we can make the young man fall in love with you. I’m sure he will love you. You are the most beautiful princess in the world and you are so kind-hearted. If he meets you, he won’t marry that princess. He will marry you.” the little boy became excited even just to think about that. The princess smiled too. She really had fallen in love with that young man.
　　　“Sister. Don’t hesitate. Lets go.” The boy shouted happily and the princess at last nodded.
　　　They went into the story and they came to that young man’s house.
　　　“Does he live here?” asked the little boy.
　　　“Yes.” replied the princess, with her voice shaking. She couldn’t control her emotion. She was too excited to see that man again.
　　　“Shall we go in?” the little boy asked.
　　　“No. They are talking about something. Stand here and listen.” Said the princess lowly and then put their ears on the door and listened carefully.
　　　 “The princess has killed ninety-seven men. How brutal she is. The king doesn’t do anything to stop her. How ruthless he is.” It’s a man’s voice.
　　　“Brother, we must stop her. We won’t let that happen again.” It’s another man’s voice.
　　　“But how?” the third one’s. The little boy was so happy to hear three voices that he clapped. The three men stopped talking and came and opened the door. To their surprise, they saw a beautiful young girl and a l little boy standing at the door. They looked at them in surprise, thinking who they were and what they were doing there.
　　　“Excuse us. We came from town. We are thirsty now. Can we come in and have a cup of water?” said the little boy and the princess was standing there, cheeks red. The youngest brother was also looking at her. He had never seen such a beautiful girl before. The little boy looked at the youngest brother and smiled. He knew he was right. The young man would fall in love with her when he saw her.
　　　“Come in!” the eldest brother said, and they all came in. The youngest brother went to get two cups of water and gave it to them.
　　　“Thank you.” the little boy had the water and gave the cup back to the eldest brother so in this way, the princess could give her cup to the youngest brother.
　　　“Sister. It’s too hot outside now. I don’t want to walk any longer today. Can we take a rest here?” said the little boy. The princess didn’t say anything. She was still looking at that young man.

秋石

　　　“How handsome he is.” She thought.
　　　“Sister.” So the little boy called again.
　　　“Oh. It’s not very early now. It’s not quite safe for you to walk in mountains. You can spend the night here and I’ll accompany you tomorrow.” The youngest brother said at once. He wanted them to stay.
　　　“Thank you very much. We are on the way to go to my uncle’s home. It’s still very far from here. Sister. We’ll spend the night here. I don’t want to go through the mountains in the night.” Said the little boy and the princess turned to the young man who nodded so the princess smiled and nodded.
　　　“Thank you.” she said, cheeks red.
　　　“Take your seat.” Said the youngest brother. They both sat down.
　　　“Why do you two walk alone? It’s not safe. You may get robbed!” the second eldest brother said.
　　　“That’s because,” the little boy replied before the princess could say anything, “we walk alone, that’s because,” he started to cry, “my only brother has died.”
　　　“What?” they were all shocked to hear that, including the princess.
　　　“We are so sorry to hear that. How did he die?” asked the three brothers.
　　　“He wanted to marry the princess, but he was discovered by her and she, she beheaded him.” said the little boy and cried loudly as if everything were true.
　　　“We must stop her.” Shouted the youngest brother, hitting the table hard.
　　　“I’ll go. I’ll stop her.” He continued.
　　　“But how? How can you stop her?” asked the second eldest brother.
　　　“I’ll think up a good way so she won’t find me. And then she will get married to me so nobody will go to let her discover him again. Only in this way will she stop killing.” Said the youngest brother. The princess became worried to hear that and he at last knew the young man didn’t want to marry the princess. He wanted to marry her only because he wanted to save others life. She loved him even more.
　　　“But brother, you don’t love her. You even hate her. How can you marry 　somebody if you hate her?” the second eldest brother said.
　　　“Anyway, we have to try. We must stop her. Aftare, Afature, you can’t go. I’m the eldest brother. I’ll go. If I failed, Aftare, you follow me, but if you failed too, Afature, don’t follow us. You’ll be the only son of our family. We can’t all die.” The eldest brother said and the little boy started to cry. He was moved and the princess’s eyes were filled with tears too.
　　　“Why?” the three brothers asked surprisingly.
　　　“I’m moved.,” Said the little boy, “Let us help you. We must stop the princess.”
　　　“Thank you, but how can you help us?” they asked.
　　　“I can.” the princess suddenly said, and they all turned to her. The princess thought for a while and then continued, “I had a dream last night. In my dream, an old man told me to find a family with three brothers. He said they could stop the princess killing more people.” The three brothers looked at her as if they didn’t believe what she said.
　　　“Please trust me. I can help you.” guaranteed the princess.
　　　“Yes. Please trust my sister. She really can help you. But he can’t go.” Said the little boy, pointing to the youngest brother.
　　　“Why?” asked the two elder brothers.
　　　“Because my sister likes him. If the princess fails to discover him, then she will marry him. I don’t want the princess to marry him. I want my sister to marry him.” he said and both the princess and that young man felt embarrassed but meanwhile quite happy. They had a glance to each other and smiled.

秋石

　　　“In this case, what shall we do?” asked the two elder brothers, having kept what the little boy’s words in mind. It’s easy for them to find that their young brother liked that girl. They also liked that girl but since she liked their young brother, they will help them get married.
　　　“He has to go.” But the princess said.
　　　“Why? Don’t you like him?” asked the two elder brothers and the little boy.
　　　“I like him, I do.” The princess said at once, “But he has to go. He is the most handsome of you. The old man told me only the most handsome one can succeed., so you two can’t go or you’ll be discovered. Once you are discovered, you’ll be beheaded. Afature. I love you, please promise me you won’t marry that princess when you succeed.” The youngest brother sat beside the princess when he heard that and held her hand.
　　　“I promise you. I’ll only marry you.” he said and the princess nodded and smiled and then she told them what to do.
　　　“You go to the princess and asked her to give you three chances, which she will, and then I’ll tell you what to do. Don’t worry, you’ll succeeded.”
They then talked for a while and then the two brothers asked the youngest brother to go out with the girl and have a walk outside, which they did.
　　　“Such a beautiful girl. Afature is so lucky and the girl loves him so much. They are really a good match.” Exclaimed the two brothers and then the eldest brother said:
　　　“We should prepare for dinner now. I’m sure the girl is hungry now and you must be hungry too.” He turned to the little boy and said. Though he had had his dinner, he wanted to eat something again to celebrate what he had done, so he nodded.
　　　“Aftatere, why not go out and go hunting? We don’t have anything to host them! She is our going-to-be sister-in-law. As her brother-in-law, we should prepare something nice.” They then said goodbye to the little boy and went out and the little boy came out. He saw the princess was walking with that handsome young man at leisure.
　　　“How happy they are. I’m really in a fairy-tale.” He thought and then he came back into the house and waited for the two brothers to come back. He waited for a long time and then he fell asleep and he didn’t know how long he had been in sleep when he was woken up by the princess, and when he opened his eyes, it was already in the evening.
　　　“Little brother, where are they?” asked the princess.
　　　“Who?” asked the little boy.
　　　“The two brothers.” Replied the princess and until then did he remember the two brothers.
　　　“They went out to go hunting.” So he said.
　　　“When did they go?”
　　　“Just when you went out.” He said and the princess and that young man became worried when they heard that.
　　　“They must have gone to the palace. We must go to stop them, or they will die.” Said the princess in a hurry, and the little boy finally understood they didn’t go out for hunting but went to the palace.
　　　“They didn’t want me to marry the princess, that’s why they went there.” Said the young man.
　　　“We must stop them.” Said the princess again.
　　　“Yes, we must, but how? They have gone away for a long time!” asked the young man.
　　　“I have a way. My love, please trust me. I love you. I’m from another world. I have magic power. That’s why I know everything. I didn’t want to cheat you. I do love you! Can you forgive me?” the princess said, looking worried, and the young man held her hand.
　　　“I love you too. I love you no matter where you are from.” He said.
　　　“Thank you.” she held him and said and then held his hand with her left hand and held the little boy’s with her right and set off to the palace.
When they got there, the two brothers were already facing the princess.
　　　“Stop.” Shouted the young man.
　　　“Who are you?” the princess asked when she saw him. (The princess and the boy had hidden themselves.”
　　　“I’m their youngest brother. I’ll try.” He said.
　　　“Aftature. You can’t. You love that girl and she loves you. If you fail, you’ll die, if you win, you’ll marry her. You can’t marry that girl in either way.” Said the eldest brother.
　　　“No, brothers. I can’t watch you die. I can do anything for you.” he said, and the two brothers still wanted to stop him but the princess got bored.
　　　“Since you want to die for them, I’ll give you a chance.” She said.
　　　“No. I want three chances.” He said.
　　　“Three? How dare you. Each one has only one chance, how can I give you three? Give me a reason!” said the princess.
　　　“Because we are three people.” The eldest brother cut in.
　　　“That’s funny.” The princess laughed and said.
　　　“Listen. We are three, but only one will try, so the one who tries has got three chances and if he fails for the whole three times, you will kill all of us, but if you fail to find him, all of us will be spared.” Said the eldest brother. He thought in this way, they would succeed. The princess looked at them and then she said.
　　　“Ok. That’s fresh. I’ll give you three chances, but he will try.” She pointed to the youngest brother.

秋石

　　　“I’ll try.” Both the elder brother said.
　　　“I’ll try, that’s what you said.” However, the youngest brother said, “but I have a condition.”
　　　“That’s fresh too. What is it?”
　　　“I will not marry you if you fail to find me but you’ll stop the game and never have any man beheaded.”
　　　“Ok. That’s a deal. I don’t want to get married anyway.”
　　　“Princess, I trust you, but we should have it written down.” said the youngest brother and the princess agreed. They had a committee. The princess would stop killing any man if she failed to find Afature and Afature didn’t have to marry her if he wasn’t discovered.
　　　The game began the next day afternoon, because the princess always stayed in bed the whole morning. They then spent the night in the palace, waiting for next day’s game.
　　　“Sister, I don’t want to go back.” Said the little boy when he was taken to a room.
　　　“You have to go back. The teacher will find you are absent.” Said the princess.
　　　“But I don’t like the classes, besides, Afature will find I’m absent if I go back.”
　　　“He has a lot of work to do tomorrow. He won’t notice your absence. Don’t worry, he’ll be all right.”
　　　“I don’t want to go back.” Shouted the little boy.
　　　“Your mother will be worried if she fails to find you tomorrow morning. Come on. I’ll send you back.” Said the princess and the little boy still wanted to say No, while he fell asleep without knowing it and when he opened his eyes again, it was already in the morning.