Ginseng little men. Red witch

    History first. red witch

A long time ago, or maybe just recently, last week or last month, there was a kind queen in the world.
The city where the queen lived was large and beautiful. The queen had everything, palaces and temples, jewelry and delicious food, only the poor woman did not have one thing - children!
The king loved his queen very much, but he did not have time to grieve with her. The city was surrounded by warlike tribes, and the king had to fight all the time. The king went to war and came back again. The city where the king and queen lived had a mysterious name - Yongmingchen.
Years passed. The king is getting older. Sadness settled in the royal palace. The queen knew that the king really needed an heir, but she could not do anything. One morning, at breakfast, the king announced to the queen that he had issued a decree. After reading the decree, the queen began to cry. The decree said that the king wanted to bring a second queen to the palace and marry her. In Yongmingchen, it was allowed to have not one, but many wives. Soon, all the inhabitants of the city learned that the king decided to find himself another queen. The news of this reached even neighboring tribes. The tribal people who surrounded Yongmingchen from several sides rejoiced. Everyone wanted a girl from the tribe to become the second queen. The tribal people called Yongmingchen the City of Eternal Light. It was a beautiful city, spread over hills and valleys, standing by the very blue of the sea. Dawn came early to the city and sunset came late. There were a lot of fish in the sea, in the taiga that surrounded the city, there were a lot of animals, cones and berries. Winters were short and warm, while summers were cool and long.

The choice of the second queen was scheduled for the ninth day of the ninth month. That is, in nine months and one more day. The king again went to war, and the queen was left to cry in her beautiful palace. And then one day, that is, almost at the moment when the gates of the city slammed shut behind the king, the queen's beloved servant brought the news.
A witch has come to town. The next morning, the queen put on a cloak with a deep hood and went to the sorceress. The sorceress settled in an old monastery, on a high hill, from which the whole city was visible. It was a nunnery. When the queen arrived at the monastery, she was met by two nuns and taken to an old pavilion where a sorceress was sitting. The witch also wore a cloak with a hood. The queen took off her hood and thought the witch would do the same. However, the sorceress sat and was silent. The entire cloak of the witch was in the mirrors. The mirrors were sewn so tightly that with every movement of the woman the cloak rang and sparkled.
Soon the witch spoke. The queen told the woman about her trouble. The witch promised to help. She gave the unfortunate woman four ginseng seeds and four bottles of water. The sorceress did not say anything about the seed, but let slip about the water. According to the sorceress, the water was collected from various sources in the four states that surround Yongmingchen.
The sorceress ordered to plant a seed, take care of it and wait for little people to grow from the seed.
The queen soon left. The sorceress ordered the queen to plant the seeds on the hill from which the monastery was clearly visible. The queen summoned an astrologer and he helped her choose a place to plant the seeds. It was the highest hill in the city. Anyone who climbed to the very top of the hill could see not only the whole city, but also everything that surrounded it. The queen had small feet. The smallest in the city of Yongmingchen.
The legs ached constantly, because they were tightly bandaged. Long ago, when the Queen was only a little girl and only five years old, an old bandager came and tied her legs tight. When the king saw the smallest feet in Yongmingchen City, he fell in love with the queen and married her. As the queen grew older, it became more and more difficult to walk, and therefore, in the city of Yongmingchen, she moved only in a palanquin carried by servants. But on the hill, which was the highest in the city, the queen had to climb herself, without any servants. No one, except for the maid and the astrologer, knew where the queen had gone.
The queen walked for many hours. She went out before dark - early, early in the morning, and reached the top of the hill only at dusk. As the sorceress had advised, the queen found a place where direct sunlight did not reach the ground. In this place, even in the sunniest weather, it was gloomy and cool.
The queen planted the seeds at the distance that the witch told her about and sprinkled the seeds with bottled water. Having buried the seeds, she watered the ground a few more times, and went back, making marks on the trees and bushes. These marks were called: hao-shu-hua. According to these marks, the queen was supposed to return in a month.I am here. After she returned to the palace, none of the courtiers saw the queen again. It was announced to the whole court that the queen was expecting a child.
A month later, the queen again climbed the hill. So that no one saw that the queen alone, unaccompanied, left the palace, it took a long time to choose the time. A secret underground passage was even dug, with the help of which the woman left the palace chambers. The slaves, who dug the course day and night, were then sold to another state. So, the queen again climbed the hill. She watered the place where the seeds were buried and hurried back. The witch said that the seeds she gave the queen had to lie in the ground for at least nine years before they bear fruit, but since the water that the witch gave the queen was magical, the flowers should have appeared in three months. And so it happened.
When the queen climbed the hill for the third time, she saw small greenish-white flowers in the place where she had planted the seeds. On that day, the queen watered the flowers not only with bottled water, but also with her own tears. Another three months passed, and then the day came when the queen saw the fruits. In three months, the flowers flew around, and in their place now flaunted the fruits - bone bright red balls, visible among the green grass from afar. The balls burned so brightly that the queen was frightened: no one would notice what she had been growing for so long and with such love. When the woman climbed the hill for the seventh time, there were no more fruits. The queen became anxious, but she believed the sorceress and did not worry. She went downstairs, went through the underground passage to the palace, entered her chambers and thought. She dreaded the moment when the king would return home. However, according to the astrologer, the war was to end only by the date when the plan of the queen and the sorceress was fulfilled.
For the ninth time, the queen climbed the hill. This time, the path was given to her with ease. She almost took off down the familiar path. The whole journey took no more than two or three hours. The queen has changed. She became younger, became slim and beautiful. She became almost the same as the king saw when he decided to marry her. The queen had a secret pocket in her sleeve, she took out a special spatula from there. With this spatula it was necessary to carefully dig out the plants. Today, however, the queen hastened in vain. The sacrament of digging could only be performed in the evening, at sunset.
When the huge disk of the sun began to set right into the sea, the woman took out a spatula. The queen's palms were swollen and bleeding. All day she stripped the bark from the cedars and made cedar boxes. The boxes were covered with moss, which the queen also dug up herself. Finally everything was ready.
The queen packed what had grown in nine months into boxes and set off on her way back. In each box lay a root that looked like a little man. The next day, it was announced to the whole court that the queen had sent for the midwife. The midwife was supposed to help the birth of the royal child. Soon a whole train of palanquins arrived. The midwife was delivered with honors. It was the sorceress from the monastery.
By order of the sorceress, not all of the water from four bottles was poured out. Entering the queen's room, the sorceress bowed and held out her hand. The queen put the bottle into the hands of the midwife. The last drops of water splashed at the bottom of the bottle. The sorceress went to the room where the mysterious ginseng fruits lay in boxes. She said magic words, poured magic water on the first root, and a boy was born.
He was given the name Ginseng. Three girls followed him into the light of day. I won't name the boy. It must be kept secret until adulthood.
As the astrologer had predicted, the king returned the next day. The gates were wide open for a long time, because the carts entered the city loaded with booty. The king has returned with a victory. A surprise and a rejuvenated queen awaited in the king's palace.
Do you want to know what is the name of Yongmingchen city now? This city bears the proud name of Vladivostok. The people who live in it own the east.
http://proza.ru/2016/09/08/558