The Tale of the Twin Princesses

Once upon a time there was a king and queen who lived together for many years and desperately wanted children, but never had them.

　　Later, the king led his troops to fight, and during this period, the queen gave birth to twins, two little princesses.

　　But the first little princess was born, with a sheep-like upper body and a human-like lower body, and was born speaking. Another little princess was very beautiful. The little princess who was born first called herself little Rudy.

　　When the king returned to the palace after the war, little Rudy ran forward to say hello to him, and introduced herself that she was the eldest princess, named little Rudy, and she had a very beautiful sister, and she begged the king to be like love in the cradle. Love her like a beautiful sister who can't speak yet.

　　The king agreed to little Rudy's request and stroked her furry head lightly.

　　One day, the weather was exceptionally sunny, and the maid who was taking care of the two little princesses swept open the window and put the little princess on the windowsill to bask in the sun. Suddenly a whirlwind suddenly rose and swept across the castle. The whirlwind took away the beautiful little princess' head and replaced it with a dog's head. [① According to folklore, in a whirlwind, a witch went from place to place without being seen.]

　　Due to excessive grief, both the king and queen later died, because they could never forget their misfortune.

　　At this time, little Rudy said to his sister, "Come with me, let's go to the lake and take a boat to another country!"

　　One beautiful summer night, they crept to their boat on the shore and rowed to another kingdom far, far away. They rowed the boat to a cave on the shore, where the boat was docked.

　　Then little Rudy said, "Little sister, sit still in the boat, I'll go to the palace and ask if we can stay in this country. I'll definitely get you something to eat. But don't let anyone see it, do you hear me?"

　　Little Rudy came to the palace. She met the king and asked the king to allow her to stay. The king agreed to her request. At night she could sleep on a pillow on the floor of the king and queen's house. But every day she came to the shore with food and clothes to her sister.

　　She did this every day for a year, and in the blink of an eye came the following spring. On the Thursday night before Easter, she tossed and turned, unable to sleep, and kept running around the house.

　　"What are you running for?"

　　Said the queen. "If you run around again, you won't be allowed to stay here."

　　She quickly climbed onto the pillow and lay down, motionless and very quiet.

　　She lay there with her eyes open, and after a while she saw the queen get up quietly, so as not to disturb the king. She had a box under her arm. Then she took animal oil from another box and applied it to the fire fork, and opened the smoke hole in the ceiling. Finally, she sat on the fire fork and said, "Go up, don't come down!"

　　She went out through the smoke hole.

　　Little Rudy also ran over to get a personal fork, smeared animal oil on the fork like a queen, and finally sat on the human fork and said, "Go up, don't come down!"

　　She also went out through the ceiling, following closely behind the queen.

　　In the sky they marched with a group of old witches. Then they went into all the bell towers, scraped off the bronze from the church bells and painted the horses. At last they came to a high mountain with a red house on it.

　　There they dismounted and hung the horse on the wall. Little Rudy stopped not far from them to observe them.

　　In the red house there was a table full of delicacies, where the witches ate and drank.

　　After finishing eating, clearing the table, the queen put the box in the center of the table and opened the lid. Inside the box was a small head, which little Rudy recognized at once, because it was her sister's head, which she had taken from their windowsill. Later the witches all danced around the table.

　　After the jump, they came out of the house, took the horses off the wall, sat on their horses and said, "Go down, don't come up!"

　　They left there, and little Rudy immediately chased after them, and the queen went down through the smoke hole. Little Rudy did as the queen did. The queen lay quietly beside the king again, and little Rudy climbed gently to her pillow in the corner.

　　One day, when little Rudy was in the house by herself, she took her sister's head out of the box and ran to the shore with it immediately. She knocked off her sister's dog head and put her sister's beautiful head back, and little Rudy went back with the dog head and put it in the box.

　　"You must be careful not to let anyone find you!"

　　She said to her sister. After speaking, she immediately ran back to the palace.

　　On the Thursday night before Easter the following year, little Rudy lay there to see if the queen was still traveling like the last time. Towards midnight the queen got up, got everything ready as she had done last year, and went out through the smoke hole.

　　Little Rudy then got up and did as the queen did, following the queen through the smoke hole, and when he got to the high mountain, little Rudy stopped not far from the queen to watch the old witches dance in the red house. After they ate and drank, the queen took out the box and put it on the table. But she opened the lid and saw that it was the dog's head and not the beautiful little girl's.

　　The witches were furious, and they immediately grabbed the queen, took out her heart, and filled her heart with straw. Then they sent it back as they did last time, with little Rudy closely behind.

　　From this day on, little Rudy often talked to himself, but deliberately let the king hear: "The queen's heart is straw."

　　The king didn't know what little Rudy meant, and one day the king asked her whose heart was straw.

　　"The queen's heart is straw," Little Rudy replied, turned and ran.

　　The king grabbed the queen and touched her heart, and found that her heart was really straw.

　　"Why is your heart different from other people's?" the king asked.

　　The queen was forced to tell what had happened. The king was so angry that he asked if little Rudy had followed.

　　Little Rudy told him how she stalked the queen and the witches on the Thursday night before Easter. Also said that it was her sister's head that the queen took away with a whirlwind. As long as she had that head in her box, the witches cheered her. But when she took out a dog's head, they took out her heart; because her chest was empty and she couldn't walk, they put a heart in her out of grass.

　　After listening to Little Rudy's story, the king was furious. He asked a fire to be prepared in the middle of the square and burned the queen to death in front of everyone.

　　Afterwards, little Rudy brought his sister to the palace. The king saw that she was like a flower and jade, and he liked her very much and wanted to marry her immediately.

　　Little Rudy said: She wants to marry the king's brother at the same time, otherwise the king cannot marry her sister. In order to get her sister, the king agreed to her request. They were married at the same time.

　　The king's younger brother was very reluctant to marry little Rudy, but he could not go against the king's will. He and little Rudy were married on the same day the king married the beautiful little princess.

　　On the wedding day, the king and the beautiful princess first held a wedding ceremony. Then the king's younger brother stood with little Rudy.

　　But when the priest prayed for them, all the hair on her face fell off, and she was completely changed. Every time the priest read a sentence, the ugliness decreased by a point, and the beauty gradually increased. After the ceremony, she turned out to be as beautiful as the gods, and her sister was far from being able to compare with her.

　　At first the king regretted not making little Rudy queen. But he was also very satisfied with the queen he got, and they all lived happily and happily. The queen is also kind-hearted and has an extraordinary appearance.