A carpenter and a blacksmith argued. The carpenter said: "I am good at my craft." The blacksmith said: "My craft is strong." Whose craftsmanship is better? After half a day's argument, there was no result. The two men talked and said, "Let us go to the king and ask him to judge us."
They went to the king, who said, "What are you doing here?"
The carpenter said:
"I am a carpenter, and I make things more skillfully than all the carpenters in the world, but he says I am not as good as he is at making iron."
The blacksmith said:
"I have made things that any man who sees them praises, and he insists that I am not as good as he is."
The two men pleaded:
"Please, Your Majesty, judge us, who is better than whom."
The king was also in a difficult position: "How can I judge? I didn't see what you guys did. I'll give you ten days to make one and bring it here."
The two men went back to do their work, and after ten days they came back to the king, and the blacksmith brought a big iron fish.
The king asked, "What is the use of this?"
The blacksmith said, "I have an iron fish that can carry 100,000 pockets of grain across the sea."
The king was secretly amused, thinking: "This guy must fail, so heavy iron into the water will have to sink, how can swim up!" Called for people to bring 100,000 pockets of grain in the iron fish. Then commanded, "Try it!"
The iron fish down to the water, said also strange, it floats flexible, but also fast, so that people look and surprised, and happy, the king couldn't stop praising the blacksmith, said: "give you an official to do it." And he called him to be the chief of the street.
The carpenter carried a wooden horse, and the king looked at it, and said with a displeased face, "Isn't this a child's plaything, and how can this be compared with the iron fish?"
The carpenter said: "This is better than the iron fish, there are twenty-six screws on it, you twist the first screw, the wooden horse will be able to fly, and then twist a screw, it will be able to speed up, twisted to twenty-six screws will be faster than any bird, you can ride on it to travel around the world."
While they were talking, the king's little prince was following them, and as soon as he heard that the wooden horse could fly, his curiosity was aroused, and he thought: How good it would be to fly to the sky and see how good it would be! So he asked the king to let him ride on the wooden horse and try it out.
The king said, "How can this be? Do you know that it can really fly, and what if it flies up into the sky and falls down?"
The carpenter said, "Never mind, it will never fall down."
The little prince pestered the king, asking for more and more, and usually he was the most favored, no matter what he asked for, the king didn't refuse.
This time, he was so pestered that the king said, "Only ride on it and try it out, only fly slowly, and only twist the first screw
."
The little prince agreed and mounted the wooden horse. He twisted the first screw and really flew. The little prince looked down, mountains, rivers, trees, cities, people, everything was below him, farther and farther away, he was very happy, then one after another screws one after another, the wooden horse flew faster and faster, a moment of people can not be seen, the trees can not be seen, the city can not be seen, flying far away.
Flying, hungry, down to see another city. The little prince twisted one by one towards the screws, the wooden horse slowed down, gradually landed down, ate a meal and lived in the store.
This is how interesting ah! A moment's work to a new city, they have never seen the city.
The next day, the little prince walked out into the streets and wandered around, turning a few blocks to a square where he saw a lot of people looking up into the sky. He thought probably there was something new in the sky. He crowded in and tilted his head too, but there was nothing, so he asked the person next to him, "What are you looking at?"
The man looked at him carefully and said, "Our king has a princess, the world can not find such a beauty, the king loves her so much that no one is allowed to look at her, living in the palace is still not assured, so he built a house in the sky for her, so that the princess lives alone on it. The king went to see her every day when he was done with his business, and now he has been there for half a day, and will probably be back soon. You see if it isn't everyone here waiting for him."
The little prince was surprised to hear this, so he asked, "How is it that the sky can still build houses?"
The man said, "God built it for him, and the king alone can go up there."
The little prince secretly remembered his words, and at night, mounted his wooden horse and flew up into the sky, and looked, and it was really good, such a big house. He flew all the way to the door, got off his wooden horse, and walked in. When the princess saw him, she thought at first that he was her father, but when she saw that he was not, she thought that he must be the god of heaven, for a man could not come in any case. So she rose in a hurry to greet him.
The young prince saw that the princess was as beautiful as a fairy, and fell in love with her at first sight. He thought to himself, "How wonderful it would be for me to have such a wife!
The princess saw that the young prince was young and handsome, and her heart was moved, and she complained that her father had locked her up in such a place where she could not see anyone, and how she needed to be caressed by someone. The two of them came together and embraced, and became husband and wife.
The next day, the little prince rode back to the store on his wooden horse.
That day the king came to the heavenly official. He made a rule that every day when he went up there, he had to weigh the princess, because he knew that the weight of a woman's body would increase when she was close to a man. This day a weighing, increased by two pounds, staring at two eyes, angry Hu had straightened up.
Everyone wondered why the king came back so soon today. When his ministers saw that the king did not look well, they went to inquire, and the king told them the situation and said, "Who else can go up but I? Think ye of a way to bring this man to me."
The courtiers said, "We have four Hercules men in our kingdom, and the king has sent them up to stand by the four-sided wall, so that as soon as he comes they can catch him."
The king thought this was a good idea, and in the evening, personally sent these four Hercules up and appointed places for them to watch. When everything was set up, the king went back.
Who knew that Hercules are good sleepers, and fell asleep while standing, the little prince went again, and did not come down until morning. The king went, and when he weighed it he gained two more pounds, and was so angry that he could not speak.
Then the whole city knew about the princess and talked about it everywhere. The king was so ashamed that he called one of his ministers to the palace to think of an idea.
The courtier said, "Paint the princess's bed and chairs, and tomorrow see who in the whole city has paint on their bodies, and this will find out who did the evil deed." The king listened to him, and painted the princess's bed, her chairs, and all her utensils.
At night the little lord went away again. When he came back, he saw that his clothes were covered with lacquer, so he took them off and threw them away. Originally, the eyes of his clothes were encrusted with jewels, and for the sake of love, he had no heartache.
But there was a poor old man in the city who could not sleep that night and got up at dawn to walk around, and he was walking on the road when suddenly something fell from the sky, and he picked it up, and it turned out to be a very valuable garment. He thought to himself that I have served Allah all my life and this must be a reward from Him, so he took it back.
When morning came, the king secretly sent someone to check it out. The old man was gleefully wearing the clothes that Allah had rewarded him with, and this caused great trouble and he was caught.
The king asked him, "How is it that the clothes have been painted?"
The old man said:
"I picked up the garment on the road, and it was like this when I picked it up."
The king did not believe him, and sent him to prison to be tortured, and confusedly convicted him, and tied him to Xingchang to be hanged.
In this city this is not a small thing, everyone thought, in the end to the sky to flirt with the princess is what kind of person ah, but when people see is about to be tortured is such an old man, no one believe. People are talking again, there must be injustice here.
The words spread to the ears of the little prince, his heart is very intolerant, with his wooden horse rushed to the execution ground, saw the old man's neck has been set on the rope, then quickly cried out: "You do not hang him, he is not guilty, to the Palace of Heaven is me. The one who was with the princess was also me, and the clothes stained with lacquer were also mine; if you want to hang him, hang me, and release him quickly."
When the king saw from afar that the executioner had ceased to move, he sent for him, and the executioner said, "A young man has come to surrender himself; which of the two is to be hanged?"
The king said, "Hang this one who has confessed himself."
The executioner unhooked the old man, who escaped death and returned home. The executioner came to tie up the young prince, who mounted the wooden horse, and with a twist of the screw, flew away, and the executioner pounced. The king was so angry that he fainted when he saw so many of his men and horses were inferior to a little child.
The little prince came to the celestial official and the princess and said: "The love between the two of us is getting deeper and deeper, it is impossible to separate us, the matter has been known by your father, he must not allow me to be here, there is only one way out now: you come with me a piece of my father, and he will surely like you."
The princess said, "Anyway, I have followed you, and wherever you go, I go also."
The two hurried out of the Heavenly Palace and mounted the wooden horse.
After flying for a long time, suddenly the princess let out an ouch and said, "When I was a child, my mother gave me two jewels to give to my in-laws when I got married, and I forgot to bring them with me, so how can this work?"
The little prince said, "It's far away, forget it."
The princess said, "How can I do that? It's my first time to meet my in-laws, and I didn't even bring a gift, so what a joke!"
The little prince could not help but obey her, twisted the screws, and the wooden horse landed down, and the little prince said, "I'll wait for you here, you get on the wooden horse and go quickly, get the jewels and come back." So saying, the princess mounted the wooden horse and flew away.
The king saw the little prince flew away, so angry that he fainted, was woken up by the ministers, first of all, they are worried about their own daughter, rushed to the Palace of Heaven, a look at the princess really fled, is at a loss, suddenly saw the princess on a wooden horse flew, then stealth in the back of the bed, and so on the princess came to the house, a hand to catch her, brought her back to the Palace of the King, shut in an empty house. Now the wooden horse also fell into the king's hands, but the king did not know how to use it, so he threw it in another empty house.
The king was now saddened by his daughter's marriage, for after such a dishonorable event, who would want her among the princes and nobles near him? The king wanted to marry her far away, so he wrote a letter and sent it to a king who was far away, saying: "My daughter has reached the age of marriage, and I am willing to marry my daughter to your son, and then we will become relatives by marriage. And our two countries will be reconciled forever; let your prince come and meet my daughter."
Not to say how the king managed to manipulate his daughter, but the young prince waited alone for his love, and after waiting a long time and not seeing her return, he looked around, and here was an endless desert, with towering sandhills everywhere. When the wind blew, the sand rolled around, and the sun blossomed, and there wasn't even a blade of grass. The little prince waited and hungry and uncovered, want to find a little water to drink, stood up and looked around, but did not even find a little star of water. He thought to himself, "Climb up the mountain, stand high, maybe you can see something.
The sand was sinking in step by step, and it was hard to climb. He struggled to climb to the top of the mountain, raised his head before he had to look, the bottom of the sand like spring ice melted, a hard to slip down. Slipped down the sandy hill, until the feet, but saw a lush orchard, planted with a variety of fruit trees, this time just when the fruit is ripe, red and green hanging all over the tree, calling people look very greedy. He then ran in, first picked a few peaches, eat the smooth flow of water, sweet and fragrant, eat and eat the stomach full up. He leaned against the tree and fell asleep.
When he woke up, he touched his hand and grew a beard all over his face. He couldn't figure out what this was about, and it turns out it wasn't. However, thinking about the stomach and hungry, he suspected that maybe these peaches have a problem, do not dare to eat it, find a pear tree, climbed down the path branch, picked a few pears, thin skin and flesh, large, the more you eat the more you love to eat, and has been to fill the stomach, and fell asleep.
This time to wake up, the sky has been dark, Zhong a lazy waist, head touched on the tree, feel the head heavy, with a hand, the original head out of the two thick and big horns. Mouth full of snow-white beard, more than a foot long. The little prince thought, this is like what appearance ah, besides, if the princess came back, will not recognize me, and will not love me again, how can we do ah? The more he thought about it, the more sad he was, the more he cried and wept, and when he was tired of crying, he fell asleep.
He dreamed that an old man stood in front of him, stroked his head and said, "Why are you so sad, my son?" The young prince told him what had happened to him.
The old man said, "Never mind, go and gather some dried peaches and pears that have fallen under the trees and eat them, and your beard and horns will fall off. My son, you mustn't stay here, go quickly, this is the place where the devils stay. Now they are sleeping, and if they wake up, they will eat you up." When the little prince heard of this, he was so astonished that he woke up from his dream and rubbed his eyes, except that the moon was hanging in the sky, the cool wind was blowing, and the desert didn't feel hot anymore. Hurriedly according to the dream of the old man said, picked up a handful of dried peaches, a handful of dried pears, chewing, eat a touch, really beard and horns are gone. The heart of the calculation for a while, then folded some willow woven a basket, picked up half a basket of peach days and pear dry, and picked half a basket of fresh peaches and fresh pears, panicked out of the orchard.
He wanted to go home, but he didn't know in which direction. What the heck, he just wandered. Everywhere is deserted Gobi, hungry to eat dried peaches and pears thousand, tired of lying on the ground to sleep, sleep wake up and then go. So walked for seven days and seven nights, not to mention people, not even a bird. Finally came to a big road, this is a sigh of relief, sitting on the side of the road to rest down.
Not long ago, there was a donkey driver on the road, and the little prince inquired about it and realized that he could go back to his own home in the east, but to get to the princess's country, he had to go west. The little prince thought to himself, "What's the point of going home alone when you've lost the princess and the wooden horse? Then he followed the road to the west, and as he was walking, he suddenly came from behind a large group of people, all of whom were wearing armor, and their horses were saddled, and they were shouting and shouting in a very powerful way.
Amidst the group, a sedan with glass windows on all sides, embedded with gold patterns, four steeds draped in brocade. The young prince dashed to the side of the road to watch.
When the car came to a sudden stop, a man walked by and asked the young prince, "What do you sell?"
The little prince said, "I sell nothing."
The man pointed to his basket and said, "Aren't these peaches and pears for you? Our prince has been traveling all day and is sitting in his car thirsty and hungry, so do us a favor and sell us some fruit."
The little prince said, "I don't want to sell this fruit, this is my food on the road, don't you see that there is not even a blade of grass on the road, sell it to you and where can I find it?"
The prince in the car yelled, urging to buy it quickly, and sent someone to bring an ingot of Yuanbao, saying, "No matter how much it costs, buy it and talk about it."
The little prince then asked; "Where are you going?"
The man said:
"Our prince is going to marry the princess of this town in front of us." Said he, pointing with his hand to the west.
The little prince was secretly taken aback in his heart, but he still made a calm face, and when he asked carefully, he was indeed marrying his sweetheart, so he took the yuan treasure, and picked two especially red peaches, and two especially large pears from the basket.
The prince in the car looked very happy, two mouths swallowed to go, the people and horses continue to move forward. Sedan shaking, the car in the prince dozed off. Woke up, surprised, could not stop shouting, accompanied by the courtiers gathered over to ask. The prince disappeared, sitting in the car is full of white beard, two horns on the head of the monster, all panicked, men and horses stopped on the road, waiting for the fruit seller.
A little while later, the little prince arrived, the courtiers stopped him and asked: "What fruit are you selling to our prince?"
The little prince was late: "The fruit of the tree."
The courtier said:
"You see why our prince ate your fruit and grew a beard on his face and horns on his head."
The little prince looked at his strange appearance, and was secretly happy, and said unhurriedly, "You see I eat this all day long, how come it didn't grow ah?" The courtier was speechless.
The little prince pretended to think, thought for half a day, as if suddenly realized, said: "Is it that your prince fell asleep after eating the fruit?"
The courtier nodded and said, "Yes!"
The little prince said: "I can't blame you, you are from far away, you don't know the rules of this place, you can't sleep even after eating anything, once you sleep, you are sure to grow a beard and horns."
The ministers looked at each other, thinking that this is only to blame for his own good food and sleep, what can be done?
All of them said, "How can the prince marry the princess when he is like this?" Some of them said, "Don't go there before it's too late, and if you do, you'll have to ask them to drive you back." But the prince refused to go back, I heard that the princess is particularly beautiful, how can easily give up. In the end, one of the king's closest ministers came up with an idea and said, "Find a beautiful young man to pretend to be a prince, and go to trick the princess into going back to her hands, and then after returning to the country, she will not be able to do anything about it." Everyone praised this good idea, so they looked around for a beautiful young man, compared to which no one could compare to this fruit seller, so they went to discuss with him the most.
The young prince said with a wiggle of his tongue, "Do your own business, but I have mine."
The courtier said again and again kind words and promised five dollars.
The little prince said, "Five won't do."
The courtier said, "Then I'll give you seven."
The courtier told him to sit upright in the chariot, and told the prince with the long special horns to ride on another horse, with his face covered and a cloth wrapped around his head, and instructed him, when he came into the city, to hide himself quietly in a house, and not to let anyone see him. When the arrangements were made, the men and horses went on their way.
When he came to the capital, the king welcomed him out of the city, and was very happy to see his son-in-law so young and handsome, and the many gifts he brought. So he hurriedly made preparations and held a wedding banquet that night. The old men drank outside, and the young men played with the prince and princess inside.
The king's plan was to make sure that the people who came to meet him had no time to spare, so that they would have no way of knowing about his scandal.
When the wedding took place, the princess was always crying, covering her veil, not lifting her head, and refusing to look at the bridegroom, because she had another person in her heart, and he was the only one she truly loved. After the wedding was accomplished, the king, uneasy, sent a close old woman to see how the prince really felt about the princess.
The young prince sat beside the princess and took advantage of the moment when the bystanders were not paying attention to quietly tell the princess that it was he who had come back. The princess heard lifted the veil to look at, ah, this is not a dream, in the end, what is the father's idea, and again to pick him up. The little prince was afraid that the princess publicized, and playfully told her his own experience, told her to pretend not to know. Now the princess wiped away her tears and laughed, and danced with the little prince more than once. As they danced, they discussed the idea of escape. The little prince told her that after the wedding, she would have to follow, and at that time told her to ask her father for the wooden horse, and not to leave until she gave it to him, and not to be afraid of the king no matter how he threatened you.
The old woman sent by the king went back to the king and said, "The young couple's relationship can be very good, and the two of them are always dancing and singing together at night." The king was overjoyed.
The next day many distinguished guests stood at the entrance to the palace, waiting to see the princess off. The prince's men and horses were ready, but in the palace, the princess held the king's legs and demanded that he give her the wooden horse and refused to leave without it. The king was so angry that he called the executioner to scare her, but the princess was not afraid at all and said, "Kill me if you don't give me the wooden horse". The king was so angry that he could do nothing. The guests of honor waited anxiously at the door, and the kings of foreign countries, all went into the palace to ask why she did not go yet. The king said, "This worthless thing, still playing childish tantrums here, she has a wooden horse must be taken away." The foreign king laughed and said, "It's a child's thing, let the child take it." The king could not say anything more, only to take out the wooden horse, gave her, a large group of people in front and back to go.
The king sent a lot of people to send relatives, these people are also always staring at the two of them, and refused to leave for a moment, which made the two of them want to escape also can not escape, go for many days, see is almost there, the two of them are very anxious.
Finally, the little prince came up with an idea, told the princess, wait until the king's palace door, we must ask them to send out seven plates of gold yuan, and then the gold yuan to spread the ground, told everyone to pick up, not so will not get off. The princess remembered his words, when the time to do so. The results of the gold yuan scattered all over the ground, all the people are like a swarm to grab the gold yuan, this time the little prince early to the wooden horse ready, pulling the princess to ride on, twisting the screws, and flew into the air in the twinkling of an eye. Safe and sound all the way, flew to their own capital city landing down.
The king lost his son and missed him day and night, and thought it was all the carpenter's fault, so he had to put him to death, and called for him to be nailed to the bridge for three days and three nights. The young prince returned, and seeing the king said. "Father, the carpenter has helped me a great deal by making this fine horse; if it had not been for him, how could I not have traveled around the countries, nor married the princess, nor come back to meet you again. Father, you should reward this carpenter very well." The king was very ashamed at hearing this, and was obliged to tell the truth to the little prince, and hastening to call to the bridge to see that the carpenter was still alive, he relieved him and brought him back to the palace, where the little prince took care of him himself, and nursed his wounds back to health, and gave him a great deal of money, so that he might devote himself to the study of the craft of the white has. The prince and the princess re-conducted the wedding zha, inherited the throne.