Ginseng little men. Slave of the evil sorcerer

HISTORY SIXTH (AND LAST). THE MYSTERY OF THE STUPID COUNTER. WHITE BOY
A week has passed since the holiday. The king ordered that after three days the children should return to their palaces. Now the children will gather together in the Queen's palace only a year later, when they are six years old. It's time for the farewell ceremony. The children said goodbye to those who came to celebrate their birthdays with King Yongmingchen's heirs. Every day one of the guests left. The Japanese prince was the first to go back.
Princess Plum accidentally fell into the ground. She wanted to understand where she was, but underground it was very dark. The princess was walking in the dark and came across a strange stone. Feeling the stone, the princess came to the conclusion that it resembled the head of a bird. After getting out of the dungeon, Princess Plum returned to the palace of the queen's mother and immediately rushed to her brother's room. The sisters were busy that day and they were not in the queen's palace. The prince was surprised to see his sister like this. Plum was smeared with earth, her dress was torn. The prince asked his sister to calm down and only after that allowed her to speak. Princess Plum could not wash her hands for a long time. By the time the princess calmed down, the sisters returned to the palace.
Before the princess had time to tell her sisters what had happened to her, Princess Peony's bird flew into the room. She held a piece of cloth in her beak. Peony listened to what her favorite bird was telling her. The bird found this piece of cloth far from the city. Princess Peony immediately recognized this fabric. It was a piece of cloth from which the prince's old jacket had been made. Princess Peony chose this jacket herself among her brother's old clothes. When a white slave ran away from the city, Princess Peony, along with her brother and sisters, helped the unfortunate boy. And now the bird has brought a piece of cloth. The prince asked the sisters to calm down and let him think. He said that the bird should be sent again to the place where she found the cloth. Princess Plum wanted to go after the bird, but at that time the nanny of Princess Plum appeared and said that the queen mother was waiting for the princess along with her sisters. The prince was left alone in the room. He was very afraid for the boy whom he and his sisters sent away from the city. Something must have gone wrong, and the boy must be in danger. The prince asked the little tiger cub, with whom he was always in mental contact, to climb over the fence that surrounded the royal menagerie and try to find traces of the little white-skinned boy. The tiger cub responded and promised the prince to do his best.
Time passed, the princesses did not return, there was no news from the tiger cub either. And then everything happened at the same time. The tutor of the prince came and ordered the boy to change his clothes and explained that the prince was required by the king. As soon as the prince went to change clothes, there was a knock on the room - it was the sisters who had returned. Immediately the prince heard the tiger calling him. The tiger found the boy. The boy was so exhausted that he was not even afraid of the tiger, but only covered himself with a torn sleeve.
The prince and princesses wanted to see the white-skinned boy as soon as possible. However, as luck would have it, mother queen and father king wished to see their children to talk about past holidays. Only in the evening the children were able to get together and think about what they would do next. Before night fell, the children had to make a decision. As soon as it gets dark, the children will not have the opportunity to get out of the gates of the palace. Princess Plum offered to hide the boy in the place where she accidentally fell in the morning.
The prince disagreed. He believed that underground could be even more dangerous than in the forest. Princess Peach offered to hide the boy again in the palace of the mother of the queens. The prince agreed. He was surprised and could not understand how it happened that the white boy still came back here. The children went to where the tiger was waiting for them. Boy V was so weak that he could not walk on his own. Princess Plum put the boy in front of her on a horse and galloped forward. Having secretly made their way to the palace, the children hid in a room where they were sure that no one would find them. The boy said that nomads had invaded the small Chinese town where the manager Li had taken him. The boy suspected that a terrible sorcerer had sent the nomads to the town. Nomads were looking for small children, especially boys, ruined houses, took children from their parents. The white boy miraculously managed to escape. All that the boy managed to take with him was a green jade button, which Princess Peony gave him.
The boy did not remember the road that leads to the city of Yongmingchen, but the boy had a gift, birds and animals helped him and showed him the way. The nomads left him no choice. They followed him, as if someone was telling them where the white slave was. The strength of the white boy was running out, but he still reached Yongmingchen. He believed that his friends would find him. And so it happened. The children gathered in a secret room, the steps of which led to an underground passage. The children could not hide the boy in the queen's palace for a long time. Two days laterthe five weeks that the king had fixed for birthday celebrations were coming to an end. Soon the children were to return to their palaces. There was nowhere to hide in the queen's palace, and the evil sorcerer would easily find the boy here.
The prince hid the boy in his room. The king's heir hardly slept at night. Prince Ginseng tried to find a way out of this situation, but not a single clever thought came to his mind. On the contrary, some stupid counting rhymes kept coming to mind. The prince was very upset, he thought that he would easily find a way out of a confusing situation, but nothing worked. In the morning, Princess Plum invited the children to go to the place where she fell through the day before.
The prince hid the white boy in a secret room, and the children went to the place that Princess Plum had spoken of. The children took torches with them, Princess Plum said that it was very dark in the place where she had fallen. Lighting their way with torches, the children slowly walked along the strange corridor. Finally, they reached the place that Princess Plum had spoken of. The stone that Princess Plum discovered did indeed resemble a bird's head. Looking around the stone, the children went on. However, a wall soon blocked their path.
The children returned home confused. They did not understand what the strange move meant, they did not understand who gave the stone the shape of a bird's head. It was evident that a long time ago, someone did a good job on the stone. The corridor was well packed. It was evident that once upon a time steps even led to the stone with the head of a bird. While the children were in the palace of the queen, the boy, the sorcerer's apprentice, was not in danger. But the children's servants had already begun packing so that the children could return to their palaces.
Princess Peony suggested that the boy dress as a servant and come with the prince to the palace. However, she immediately realized that nothing would come of it. The servants knew each other by sight, and the appearance of a new servant, and even with a white face, would immediately become known to the evil sorcerer. In the evening they gathered again in the secret room.
The prince should have come later. He asked the king's permission to use a book from the library. The royal library was huge. The prince himself did not even know what he was looking for. It seemed to him that in one of the scrolls he came across a description of a stone with a bird's head. He vaguely remembered an old scroll that belonged to the Jurchen king, which was supposed to contain a clue. Thoughts about this scroll were spinning in his head, but the boy could not figure out what exactly to look for in this document.
Finally the scroll was found. It was an old scroll. It was brought from a place called the Black Dragon. The scroll told about the secret city of Zhen. Mentioned in the scroll and about the stone. The story ended with a stupid rhyme-rhyme about five moles.
COUNTER.
“The first mole was fearless, in the course, the torn one hit. The second mole, understood the birds, then got into the old passage. The healer was the third mole, he also hit that turn. The fourth mole was smart, he liked to solve everything. The fifth and last mole opened everything in reverse.
When the princesses were very young, my mother taught them this rhyme. The rhyme was taken from a scroll that the prince had now found in the library. The prince also knew this rhyme, it was taught to tell the prince by the father of the king. The parents of the prince and princesses believed that the rhyme was the key to the chess problem. The prince thought so too.
The scroll was a manual for learning chess problems. The king came from the family of Prince Da Zuorong. The scroll was his legacy. The grandparents of the four ginsengs, the parents of the king, once forced the heir to memorize a rhyme. The king's parents were afraid that the scroll would be lost and therefore forced the young, then king, to memorize the rhyme and bequeathed that the king always remember the rhyme and pass it on to his children. The rhyme rhyme should not have been lost in time.
It seemed strange to the prince that the events that happened to Princess Plum were repeated in a stupid counting rhyme. Indeed, the fearless princess entered the underground passage. The other three children followed her. The prince noticed only one discrepancy, there were five moles in the counting rhyme, and only four royal children who descended into the underground passage. The prince reread what was considered a chess problem and realized that before him was the solution to some ancient mystery. Some kind of testament.
Looking at the white boy, the prince suddenly realized that the unfortunate sorcerer's apprentice was that very fifth mole. Soon, the four ginsengs and the white boy were standing near the place where Princess Plum had fallen through. The children carefully descended into the failure, and went along the earthen corridor. When they reached the stone, they were surprised to see that the corridor of the underground passage suddenly became longer. The wall that blocked the passage disappeared somewhere.
The dungeon corridor led them to a huge hall. The hall ended with red doors. When the children opened the doors, they saw that there was a small underground lake behind the door. There was a stone near the lake, a warning was written on the stone. The alphabet in which the words were writtenwa, was familiar to the prince. He read the warning without difficulty.
The warning read: “Only the one who is destined to ford the lake will cross!” The children consulted, but decided that they were not in danger, and boldly moved forward. They didn't go long. The lake quickly ended, and the children went to another red door. The doors didn't open.
Princess Plum noticed that another door was carved at the base of the door. The door was small. Here her children opened without difficulty. And they got in without difficulty. Behind the door was a staircase. The stairs led down. When the children came down, they saw that there was an underground city below. The city was surrounded by a fence of jade boards. The ruby ;;gates were open. Above the gate hung a plaque on a gold chain. The inscription on the tablet read: "Traveler, you are at the gates of the city of Zhen."
As soon as the gates were opened, the shutters moved over the children's heads, and the evening light illuminated the streets of the city.
The heirs of the king were accustomed to luxury, but what they saw in this city amazed even them. The city was wonderful. The houses were made of precious stones. In front of each house there was a gazebo, a lake, bridges. The city was buried in trees. True, now there were no leaves on the trees.
The houses were of an unusual shape. They looked like huge triangles. Instead of doors, the houses had curtains made of gold beads. Each house was special. The houses were not the same. A place of honor in every house was occupied by a jade table with a huge book. The alphabet in the book was the same as in the scroll with the chess problem. The children chose their homes. Rather, the houses chose their owners. As soon as one of the children entered the courtyard in front of the house, the lake began to fill with water. Fountains of water began to spurt from the ground. Butramousse trees began to grow from the moistened earth. Each of the children tried to read a book they found in their home. However, the books were opened only to Princess Peony and the sorcerer boy. Prince, Princess Plum and Princess Peach were unable to open their books. It was already very late, time flew by imperceptibly, and the prince reminded them that they would soon be searched for.
When the children returned, Peony saw that there was a mirror near one of the houses. The white boy and Princess Peony simultaneously extended their hands towards the mirror. The boy picked up and handed the mirror to Princess Peony. Ginseng and the sisters approached and also began to examine the find. However, the torches suddenly began to go out. The children were afraid that they would have to return in complete darkness and hurried to the exit. When everyone gathered in the palace of the Queen Mother, Princess Plum suggested that they look at the mirror again.
Ten hands closed on the rim of the mirror, and when the surface of the mirror suddenly became transparent, it became clear that this was not just a mirror - it was a calendar mirror. The mirror suddenly lit up. The children peered intently into its depths. The mirror began to show the future. The future of the person who first took the mirror. The white boy looked into the mirror, and tears streamed down his cheeks. Behind him, Princess Peony burst into tears. Soon all the sisters were crying.
Only Prince Ginseng remained calm. He was the future king, and it was not proper for him to cry. Now the children knew how to save the white boy. In the morning, Princess Plum went through the underground passage to her palace. She made it on time. The princess from the Russian country was ready to leave. Princess Plum asked for a delay of one hour.
The princess was surprised, but agreed. Princess Plum invited the princess to show her horse. The princess realized that the conversation about the horse was for a reason and nodded hastily. The horse was waiting for the owner and her guest. Prince Ginseng and the two princesses stood at the stable door in advance. The conversation that was to take place was not for prying ears. The white boy was hiding in an empty stall. Finally, everyone got together. The horse fulfilled the desire of the mistress. She spoke about the request of the royal heirs. Soon the princess agreed. The hour flew by quickly. And two hours later the carriage with the Russian princess passed the gates of the city of Yongmingchen.
In the carriage, along with the princess, sat a new servant. This boy's skin color was the same as that of the princess, but he did not understand a single word of Russian speech. Now the white slave was among his own, but it would be a long time before the boy felt that the Russian country was his home for life. The carriage was moving further and further away. The white boy took with him the mirror given to him by the royal children and the jade button of the princess. Princess Peony wept in her palace. The white slave took away not only the mirror, he also took with him the love of Princess Peony.
 

Wait, don't close the book, I forgot to tell you the last secret. This secret concerns the name of the prince. Now that you have become friends with the prince and the princesses, I can reveal to you the official name of the prince. As you know at home, the prince's name was Ginseng. Now it's time to tell you the name that was called by his guests who came to the city of Yongmingchen. This name was called the prince at receptions and public holidays. The prince's name was Haishen.
 

Yongmingchen city had another name, it was called Haishengher. The name of Prince Haisheng warned that in the future this city would belong to him and be named after him.
http://proza.ru/2016/09/08/558