The Riddle

By: Heraclio SanjurWhat inspired me to do this story:

I took my inspiration to write this book from a story that my father told me when I was younger, and I wanted to change it a bit and add mystery to the story that my father related me, it's a pleasure to write this book to inspire the younger audience into more complicated lectures, and way more intriguing stories that may get you interested in the story that I'm about to tell. Also my imagination and a lot of movies helped a lot with this writing.

Vocabulary:1. to decipher 11.accumulated2.to abandon 12.corpse3.bandits 13.coal4.it sentences 14.to marry5.soultion 15.city6.poison 16.faithful7.treasures 17.hostelry8.direction 18.fearsome9.innkepper 19.travelers10.to proclaim 20.succumbedOnce there was a king's son to whom entered desires to see the world, and he departed without more company than a faithful servant.

He arrived at one day at an extensive forest and at nightfall, not finding shelter, he did not know where to spend the night. Then he saw a girl that was heading for a small house and when he approached, he realized that she was young and beautiful. He spoke to her and he said:- My good girl, would you not welcome us for a night in the small house, me and my servant?The girl answered with sad voice: - For good rank she would do it; But I do not advise you to. Better that you look for another accommodation. - Why? - the prince asked .The girl answered, sighing - My stepmother has evil tricks and hates strangers.Well the prince realized that this was the house of a witch; But as it was not possible to continue walking in the closed night, and on the other hand he was not fearful, he entered . The old woman that was seated in an armchair next to the fire, looked at the travelers with her evil looking eyes:- Good night! - she said with nasal voice, that wanted to be kind. Sit down to rest.

And she blew the coals, in which she was cooking something in a pot.The daughter forewarned the two men that they should not eat or drink anything, because the old woman was making evil brews. They slept peacefully until dawn, and when they got ready to continue on their way, the prince was already mounted on his horse, and the old woman said :- Wait a moment, that you will drink a farewell drink.While she entered to look for the drink, the prince went away as quickly as possible, and when the witch returned and came out with the drink, she only found the servant that had passed the time fixing a chair.

- Take this to your master! - she told him.But in the same breath she broke the vessel and the poison sprinkled the horse; So virulent it was, that the animal collapsed dead, like a casualty of a bolt of lightning. The servant started to run to give an account to his master of what happened; But not wanting to lose the chair, he went back to look for it. When arriving next to the horse's cadaver, he found that a crow was devouring it.

-Who knows if I will hunt something better today? , the servant said to himself; So he killed the crow and put it into his leather bag.During the whole day they were wandering in the forest, without finding the exit. At nightfall they came upon an inn and they entered in. The servant gave the innkeeper the crow, to the end that he stew it for dinner. But it turned out that he had ended up in a den of thieves, and already evening, twelve bandits showed up that conceived the purpose to murder and to rob the strangers. However, before putting it into practice they sat at the table, along with the innkeeper and the witch, and they ate a soup made with the crow's meat. But hardly they had taken a couple of spoonfuls, they all fell dead, because the crow was contaminated with the horse's poison .Not one remained in the house except the innkeeper's daughter, she was a good girl, completely innocent of the crimes of those men.After wandering aimlessly for a long time, they arrived at a city where lived a proud princess, daughter of the king, that had proclaimed her decision to marry the man that was able to present a riddle that she did not know how to decipher, with the condition that, if she guessed it, the suitor would be decapitated. She had three days to solve it; But she was so intelligent, that she always had solved it before that term. There were already nine suitors that had perished of that mode, when the prince arrived and, dazzled by her beauty, he wanted to bring his life into play. The maiden was introduced and he presented his enigma to her:

He told her - What is one thing that did not kill anyone and, however, killed twelve -? In vain the princess gave a thousand turns in her head, but she did not happen to solve the riddle. She consulted her book of enigmas, but she did not find anything; She had finished her resources. No knowing already what to do, she sent her maiden to get in on the quiet to the prince's bedroom and put herself on the lurk, thinking that he would speak at such time in dreams and he would reveal the answer of the enigma. But the servant, that was very smart, got into bed in his mister's place, and when the maiden approached, snatching her in the mantle and wrapped her up at one stroke, threw her out of the room. The second night, the princess sent off her maid to see if she had better luck. But the servant removed also her mantle and threw her out.

The prince believed then that the third night would be safe, and he lay down in the bed. But the princess herself was the one that went, wrapped in a gray color cape, and sat at his side. When she believed that he slept and he dreamt, she began to be speak to him in a quiet voice, with the hope that he would respond in dreams, like many do. But he was awake and heard everything perfectly.She asked: - one killed no one, what is this? He responded: - a crow that ate of a poisoned horse and died in turn.She continued asking:- And he killed, however, twelve, what is this?- They are twelve bandits, that they ate the crow and they died poisoned.Now knowing what she wanted, the princess tried to slip away, but the prince held her by the cape, and she had to cease trying. In the morning, the daughter of the king announced that he had deciphered the enigma and, having authority to come to the twelve judges, gave the solution in front of them. But the youth requested to be listened to and said :

- During the night the princess slid to my bed and asked me the questions; Without this, she never would have guessed right .The judges said :- Give us a proof.Then the servant entered with the three mantles, and when judges saw the gray that the princess was accustomed to taking, they ruled the following sentence:- That this mantle that is embroidered in gold and silver; This will be the one of your wedding.

The End.