A TALE ABOUT A MODERN PRINCESS AND KEEPING IMMORTAL (part Lll)

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

A TALE ABOUT A MODERN PRINCESS AND KEEPING IMMORTAL (part lll)

- Are you Kashchei the Immortal? The princess asked with a tremor in her voice.

- Are you scared? - Kashchei asked, winking.

“Not that it’s scary, but very unexpectedly I ran away from the gnomes,” the girl carefully selected her words. After all, it turns out that Kashchei himself saved her! But whether this is salvation was still unknown.

- Who were you looking for? - asked the immortal peasant, - a prince on a white horse? Why am I not a prince for you? There is a horse, it is true - a black one, there is wealth. Knightly armor wanted? They are lying in the attic. After all, I, too, once was the one they dream about … -Kashchei thought about it. - And now I can't even die humanly. Well, it was some kind of m ** ak invented so that death was outside the object!.. In some duck, in an egg, at the end of a needle … Life without death is completely different. Sometimes it makes no sense at all … But on the other hand, I am getting married for the hundredth time.

The old prince found at least something that brings different colors to his long and meaningless life. And he cheered up a little.

- Who are you marrying, this time? The princess asked eagerly. The philosophy of life from Kashchei somehow did not interest her.

- And even on you …

- You see me for the first time ?! - the princess could not believe her ears.

- So you turned everything inside out in the twenty-first century. People with closed eyes get married and get married!.. And they consider it a dignity. Ignorance can be disguised as you want. But I, for example, allow myself to be ignorant. And I'm not ashamed of it. I have married many times. I'm tired of everything … I wanted to shoot myself, but the bullets bounced off me. I decided to drown myself in the river - I pop up like sh ** but. And the sea generally spits me out like a drooling camel. - Kashchei was depressed again.

- And here you are - fresh! She wandered over to us herself. So she met her fate! - Kashchei-prince continued to broadcast more optimistically. - Wash, dress up and be a beauty.

The princess's thoughts were confused. She was in such a cycle of events for the first time and did not know what to expect in a day or even an hour …

- This is life - "here and now"! - Kashchei said loudly. - No matter how paradoxical it may sound. Didn't expect to meet me? But I'm your savior! Better one husband than seven dwarfs. Or did you have other ideas?

- I dreamed of a young guy, not about an old man three hundred years old. If you were young … - the girl said slyly.

- Okay, she talked! - Kashchei scratched his bald head with his polished and well-groomed nail. - Let's look for youth! If death is outside of my existence, then there is also youth somewhere … Come on, slow down the wagon, - Kashchei said to the driver.

You know who was driving the car? Cat! A huge gray cat. The princess opened her mouth in surprise. Until now, she had not looked at the driver.

The cat turned its head and slowed down. - What do you want, buddy? - he asked.

- You need to find out how I can rejuvenate? Where is my youth hiding from me? I give you one day and one night to search!

The cat imposingly opened the car door and walked out on its hind legs. But very quickly he jumped up and ran off somewhere with an arrow.

- How can we go without a driver? - asked the girl.

- So this is a Porsche! For that kind of money, a car without a driver should drive!.. - Kashchei pondered. Such a thought had never occurred to him before. “This is what it means to acquire a new meaning in a boring, monotonous, well-fed and immortal life,” he thought.

- Come on, touch, - he turned as if to nowhere. The car growled and took off.

- Let's go to my first wife. I need advice.

- Is she still alive? The princess asked.

- More than alive! - answered the three-hundred-year-old Kashchei, winking at the princess.

- And who is she?

- Now you will find out! Take your time, everything has its time!

A self-propelled Porsche car drove up to an old hut at the edge of the forest. From there came out, already familiar to the princess, an old woman who is also called Baba Yaga.

- You again? She asked the princess.

- I have deja vu! Our first meeting began with these words of yours, - the princess said, not without surprise.

- All dirty, in some rags? You are clever on the move! Where did you find her? - asked Baba Yaga Kashcheya.

- I picked it up on the road!

- Was she lying there?

- Yes, it was lying! - answered the elderly groom.

- Lived! Nowadays those who think themselves beautiful and clever are picked up on the road? !! - the old woman shared her thoughts and was perplexed.

- Why are you sticking to me? Kashchei how many years have we not seen each other? I suppose you missed? And you go and wash yourself. And then you can't see your famous eyebrows. I managed to miss them …

- I have a case for you! Can you invite me to the hut? - asked Kashchei.

- I have no treats today. And I didn’t expect any guests,”said the wise woman as she cut it off.

- Let's ask your stove how to return my youth, - the old prince did not calm down.

- Why ask that? I already know. You must finally die! Then you need to bury you in the ground. And in this place the apple tree will grow and give the first fruits. This girl will eat the apple and give birth to you again,”Baba Yaga said in a balanced tone.

- Is there no simpler option? - Kashchei did not calm down.

- Your cat went up the tree to look for another option. He is a meditator after all. Perhaps he will find … Go! I do not know how fate brought you together, but you are worth each other. You, Kashchei, are looking forever on your head and you always find! And you, girl, you yourself don't know what you are looking for, but you lose by leaps and bounds …

- What do I have to lose? The princess asked.

- Look for the answers to your questions yourself. Grown up already, by years … I devoted enough time to you when we first met. Practically conducted a session of psychotherapy! But I see that it’s no use.

The old woman took a deep breath and disappeared into thin air, leaving behind a pleasant French perfume.

“She loves to intrigue,” Kashchei said to his fiancee. - Let's go to my castle. The morning is wiser than the evening.

The tired girl did not argue and agreed with him. - Where can I go from here? She thought. - And how to get out of this fairy tale?

They drove up to a huge gray castle with three towers. Bridges were built between the towers. And around the castle there were huge walls.

- Is it a Chinese wall? The princess asked.

- Almost, - answered Kashchei.

- Who are you hiding from here? Although … Many people build such fences in our country now. Everyone is hiding from something. Not the fact that they understand from what … - the princess thought.

- Your room will be on the third floor. Everything you need is there. Rest. Tomorrow will be a difficult day …

- What a thoughtful, - thought the princess, going up the stairs. - Well this is necessary! To be the bride of Kashchei the Immortal! But, apparently, princes are different. I feel that adventures are still waiting for me …

The girl went up to the third floor into a huge room, which was lit by many candles. “Romantic,” she said aloud. But her mood was not very romantic. I also remembered the words of Baba Yaga about the spell when they first met. - Is it really a curse to become the wife of Kashchei ?! I am such a beauty and he! - from such thoughts and from fatigue, she just fell on the bed and fell asleep …

The cat showed up for dinner the next day. By this time, the princess had put herself in order, had breakfast in a large drawing-room, where five servants served her. Kashchei was not there … She went out into the courtyard of the castle to meet the cat.

- Kitty, give me the opportunity to escape from here. I want to go home! - begged the princess. - I changed my mind to get married. It's too early for me …

- I can't let you go. You are the bride of my neighbor in the castle, that is, Kashchei. Do not be afraid, you will quickly get tired of him. He himself will kick you out soon.

The princess was not at all happy with such a prospect. And her hope for the cat's help faded.

“He will soon be young and you can love him,” the cat tried to calm her down. - Together we will find rejuvenating apples, he will eat three things and will be young and blooming.

- And if I eat? The princess asked.

“You’ll become a baby,” the cat answered half-jokingly, half-seriously. - And maybe you will climb into your mother's womb …

The girl thought that it would be better to return to childhood than to become the wife of Kashchei. But how to get rejuvenating apples for yourself?..

Soon the three-hundred-year-old prince appeared. He arrived at the castle as if out of the ground. - Maybe he lives underground? - the princess thought.

- Here I am! He exclaimed. -

- Didn't they wait ?!

- I got the information! - the cat immediately got down to business. - We must immediately look for something that will rejuvenate you! - he said in a satisfied tone of an earner of unique information.

- The apple tree is by the stream. And a stream near the forest.

- Go in search, immediately! - Kashchei ordered the cat.

- Can I look for those apples with the cat? The princess asked. - I probably know where this brook is.

Kashchei pondered. And then he said: - Okay, go together. Find apples and back!

The princess and the cat set off in search of the magic apple tree on the wheels of a self-propelled Porsche.

“It's strange somehow,” the princess said to the cat as soon as they drove out of the castle. - Does he know how to trust? It seemed to me that only negative qualities are present in the negative character …

- You see! The cat exclaimed happily. - You will still fall in love with him …

- It is unlikely, - the girl interrupted the cat's speech. - Listen, I really know where this stream is. I drank water from it. And I, somewhere out there, lost my crown and met the foreign prince.

- Well, if you know, then show the car the way, and I will rest a little.

And then the princess came up with a wonderful idea … Rarely such thoughts visited her head.

“Come on, car, let's go to the stream,” she said in a low voice. And the Porsche headed down the forest roads.

Suddenly the car stopped, as it was impossible to go further, even by bicycle. The princess thought that somewhere here she had lost her crown, making her way between the bushes. She decided not to wake the cat.

The girl peered for a long time, at the ground poorly lit by the sun, as if covered with a blanket of leaves. But the crown was nowhere to be found.

She went to a previously familiar clearing, where a handsome prince appeared to her. - I'll find an apple tree and come back here. What if the prince also loves this place in the forest?.. - said the princess aloud.

It didn’t take long to search for a trickle. She decided to drink some water. Leaning over, the girl saw two apple trees in the reflection. But, looking around, to her surprise, there was no other vegetation near the stream except grass and flowers.

- How can I find an apple tree? She thought. Leaning over the stream again, she stretched out her hand to the apple tree, the fruits of which gleamed with gold. Stretching her hand out of the water, she found a small gilded apple in it.

- Wonders! - said the princess enthusiastically. She bent down again and held out her hand to the reflection of another apple tree. A red apple appeared in my hand.

- I wonder which one of you is rejuvenating? The girl said aloud. And I decided to just bite off a small piece at the beginning of the gilded apple.

- Don't eat it! - someone shouted to her.

Our heroine looked back. A stranger stood behind her. But her voice and crown were familiar to the princess. There was a cat next to her …

(to be continued).