The Legend of the Imprisoned Princess

"Luckily, he didn't notice that this old woman with a pierced chest is still alive!"

Grandma Rosa turned to her side, and a Scarecrow fell out of her Witch's robe.

The Scarecrow's chest was pierced, as if a miniature sword had once penetrated it.

"Fortunately, I had a substitute to bear most of the damage for me, preventing the injury from being fatal."

Grandma Rosa struggled to prop herself up on the ground with her elbows, trying to get up, but failed unexpectedly.

"Cough, cough."

The old woman coughed up a large amount of blood.

The old woman tried again and again to prop herself up, or concentrated on summoning wild wolves to drag her away, or summoning ravens to bring healing herbs.

But all attempts failed due to her poor physical condition.

Dusk fell, and the moon and stars rose.

Under the moonlight, Grandma Rosa, lying in the middle of the road, shivered in the desolate cold wind.

With each gust of biting evening wind, the old woman trembled a few times.

"I clearly survived, am I going to freeze to death here?"

Thinking of such an ironic ending, Grandma Rosa suddenly felt a little sad.

"I should have called the Violet Fairy or Rhine too. I really shouldn't have come out alone..."

"Wait, Rhine, that's right!"

Suddenly, a glimmer of hope rekindled in Grandma Rosa's cloudy eyes.

The old woman turned her head, looked at the bright moon in the sky, opened her lips, and recited the names circulating in countless legends:

"Sage from beyond the world, Prophet who knows the future, Wizard of Miracles and Wishes..."

Before long.

Rhine, a young man in a pure white classical Magician's outfit, and a spirited girl with golden hair, rapidly appeared.

"Grandma Rosa!"

Aurora, seeing Grandma Rosa seriously injured, hurried over and said, "Teacher, please quickly heal Grandma Rosa!"

"Damn it, who hurt Grandma like this!"

Rhine also quickly cast a Healing Art, covering Grandma Rosa with pure white light.

After regaining some strength, Grandma Rosa briefly recounted her encounter.

"That was truly a rude, barbaric, and greedy soldier! No, he doesn't deserve to be a soldier, he's just a complete robber!" Aurora said angrily.

In her clear eyes, a faint trace of anger ignited:

"It's a pity I don't know where that soldier went. If I meet him, I will definitely avenge Grandma Rosa myself."

After "killing" the old Witch, the soldier took all the money and The Tinderbox and walked into the city.

This city was the King's capital, solemn and beautiful.

The soldier checked into a luxurious hotel, booked the most comfortable room, ordered his favorite food, took off his old, ridiculed leather boots, and bought new boots and new clothes.

The soldier who had been wearing rags no longer existed, only a brand-new gentleman!

People in the hotel often gathered in the bar on the first floor to discuss the big and small things in the city, some of which were true and some were rumors, many of which were related to the King or the royal family.

Today, the topic of everyone's chat was the King's daughter, the Princess of the Rose Kingdom.

"It is said that she is a particularly beautiful woman who has been given many wonderful Blessings by the Witches!" someone in the bar said. "Have you heard of the legend about the Princess!"

"It is said that our Rose Kingdom's Princess is a little beauty who has gathered all the wonderful Blessings!"

So the topic was brought up. The guests in the hotel, one after another, told the legends they had heard about this beautiful Princess.

The soldier was very interested in this topic, put down his ale, and pricked up his ears to listen.

Legend has it that 10 years ago, when the Princess was born, not only foreign guests arrived, but all the Witches and Magicians in the kingdom came to offer their Blessings to the newborn Princess.

The first Blessing endowed the Princess with unparalleled beauty, capable of captivating cities and countries, and the second Blessing gave the Princess a heavenly voice that could enthrall anyone.

As for the other Blessings, no one knew.

Some said the Princess was granted exquisite dancing skills.

Others said the Princess was gifted with the kindest, gentlest, and most golden heart.

In any case, everyone knew that the Princess must have gathered all the wonderful qualities of the human world.

"Where can one see the Princess?" the soldier's curiosity was piqued, and he asked the chatting crowd.

He knew that with his past status, he was certainly not worthy of approaching the Princess.

But now he was no longer a soldier, but a noble and wealthy gentleman!

"Heavens? You actually want to see the Princess? What are you talking about?" The bartender looked surprised.

Had this gentleman never learned about the kingdom's Princess? Everyone in the upper echelons of society should know! A series of hisses rang out.

"No one can see the Princess!" Everyone in the tavern said in unison.

"The Princess lives in the deepest part of the palace, in a copper-cast palace, and only the King and Queen can enter that secret place."

"I also heard that many foreign princes learned that the Rose Kingdom has a Princess who has gathered all the wonderful qualities in the world, but is imprisoned in the depths of the palace. So, those princes sneaked into the palace in the dead of night, just wanting to catch a glimpse of the legendary Princess's beauty!"

"Unfortunately, all the princes who came to venture failed!"

"No one can see the Princess, not a single person!"

The more the soldier listened, the more confused and curious he became: "Why does the King lock the Princess in the depths of the palace?"

"I don't know, it's said to avoid some terrible prophecy."

"One popular saying is that on the day the Princess was born, a Witch prophesied that the Princess would die a sudden and tragic death when she grew up, so the King wants to protect her."

"No, no, no, in the version I heard, the prophecy is this: the Princess will marry an ordinary person without noble blood. This is unacceptable to the King."

"Who did you hear that from? How is it different from what I know?"

Everyone answered one after another.

"Heh, a Princess with unparalleled beauty and all the wonderful qualities of the world is actually locked in the depths of the palace. It's such a waste. I really want to see her!" the soldier thought.

The soldier was now living a very happy life.

Now that he had money, he indulged in food and drink, and made many cronies. These friends all praised him as a generous person. The soldier liked to hear such compliments, and he enjoyed the feeling of being respected and admired. Anyone who praised him could get a small bag of gold coins as a reward.

But living the life of a wealthy man did not satisfy the soldier. After staying in the hotel for less than a week, the soldier got bored and felt that he should find something fresh and exciting to change this dull life.

This night, it was particularly dark.

The soldier took out The Tinderbox—the very one the Witch had directed him to obtain under the tree hollow—and struck it on the flint, wanting to light a candle to illuminate and make a fire.

Bang! Between the sparks, the door opened automatically.

A copper-colored dog with eyes as big as teacups appeared out of thin air in front of him.

It was the dog he had seen inside the tree!

The soldier was dumbfounded. He wasn't wearing the Witch's blue apron now! "No, don't, don't eat me!"

Unexpectedly, the dog lowered its head and said respectfully, "My master, what are your instructions?"

The soldier was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly understood something.

"Get me some money!"

The soldier said with a try-it-out mentality.

With a "swoosh," the dog disappeared.

After a while, with another "swoosh," the dog returned to his front, with a large bag of money in its mouth.

"Too magical!"

After several tests, the soldier understood that this was a magical Tinderbox that could summon the three large dogs from the tree hollow to serve him.

Rubbing it once, twice, or three times would summon three different dogs respectively. The dogs all obeyed the orders of their master, the Tinderbox's owner.

"God bless me. I'm not an ordinary person anymore. I have a magical Tinderbox and three magical dogs loyal to me," the soldier couldn't help but feel elated.

At this moment, in the dead of night, the soldier once again had the idea of seeing the Princess.

"Others can't see the beautiful Princess, but why can't I?"

Note: In the story of The Tinderbox, the description of the dogs' sizes is very strange.

The smallest dog's eyes were the size of teacups, the medium-sized dog's eyes were the size of water wheels, and the largest dog's eyes were comparable to the Round Tower of Copenhagen—the latter's size would be considered enormous even on the set of an Ultraman film.

However, in the actual story, the dogs' size doesn't feel that large, more like the size of ordinary beasts such as Lions or elephants.

For example, the soldier could move the dogs onto an apron.

Furthermore, if the dogs were truly giant monsters from an Ultraman set, summoning such large creatures in the city would have led to their discovery long before the soldier kidnapped the Princess.

This text assumes that "eyes the size of the Round Tower" is an exaggerated description, and the largest dog is about the size of a house. Of course, for the ancient army, this was still a terrifying behemoth.