Crystal Castle by Maria Ponomarova

Once upon a time, in a distant kingdom on high green hills,

a tragedy happened: Princess The Pure, who had been protected by her parents all her life, was captured by an evil witch and imprisoned in a crystal castle. Mourning spread throughout the kingdom, not a single soul could go out to work and serve the good of the kingdom, everyone suffered - from the woodcutter and the hunter to the seamstress and the shepherd. Thus, devastation began in the kingdom. Unable to bear it, the king ordered to find the two strongest and bravest knights and bring them to his palace. The knights Anthony the Bright-Eyed and Arthur the Dark-Haired came to him. The king promised 10,000 gold coins to the one who would find the princess the fastest. Arthur the Dark-Haired was known for his exploits and killing of exotic magical creatures, he approached his tasks with a thick-skinned attitude and was used to apply brute force and taking whatever he wanted. Anthony the Bright-Eyed was known for his prudence and gentle nature, he resolved all conflicts peacefully with the least amount of bloodshed. Antony had a little secret: he had been in love with Princess The Pure since childhood, they had studied with the same teachers and shared a love of reading and nature. From the moment the knight's parents forced him to practice his swordsmanship and riding day and night, they stopped seeing each other. Despite this, love remained deep in the knight's heart, so he never forgot about the princess and could not help but take part in her rescue. Anthony the Bright-Eyed suggested that Arthur The Dark-Haired go through this dangerous duty together to save each other and split the money in the end. Arthur did not agree to this and started the journey on his own.

Arthur rode through the dark forests night and day, cutting through walls of branches and bushes with his sword. He reached the nearest village to ask where he should go next. In this settlement lived some gnomes-miners, so Arthur decided to ask them:

"Gnomes, gnomes, lords of the mines, can you show me the way that will lead me to the witch's crystal castle?"

"Brave knight, we will show you the way, but you have to help us get the lapis lazuli ore!" - answered the dwarves, who value hard work above all else.

"Dwarfs, I have no time to work with you, I will find the way myself," said Arthur the Dark-Haired and rode on.

As Arthur was travelling along, he saw a rock with giant snakes crawling out of it, but the snakes were not simple, they could read the thoughts.

"Where are you going, knight? What is your true goal? Answer honestly, if you lie, you won't get out of here alive!" - asked the reptiles and surrounded the knight

"I'm going to rescue my beloved princess, with whom I plan to spend the rest of my life together," Arthur the Dark-Haired answered

The snakes sensed that he had left something out and attacked the traveller. This was not a problem for Arthur, who had learned from countless bloody campaigns, he cut the reptiles alive and cleared the way for himself.

So Arthur continued on, not sleeping or eating for countless hours. He was so hungry that he felt almost dizzy, so he decides to stop at the nearest settlement. Arthur walked into the first house of ordinary farmers he saw and asked:

"Good people, could you give me at least one slice of bread?"

"Welcome! Yes, of course, come in," the farmer leads the knight to the table and says: "Here is the food, but please wait for me, don't eat it, I have to milk the cow, when I finish, then we will share a meal with you!"

Arthur listened to the farmer, but as soon as he left the house, he attacked the food, eating everything on his path. Without waiting for the farmer, he ran out of the house in shame and rides his horse away.

Finally, he saw a huge glass palace with the kidnapped princess sitting in it. He climbed the stairs, passed through the huge throne room, which was hung with glass candelabra sparkling with purple light. As soon as Arthur Dark-Haired had found the princess's room, he heard a noise: the glass walls and ceilings began to move. A minute later, the knight found himself imprisoned in a glass cage, unable to move.

Meanwhile, Antony the Bright-Eyed has just arrived at the gnomes' settlement of miners.

"Gnomes, gnomes, lords of the mines, can you show me the way that will lead me to the witch's crystal castle ?" - asked Antony.

"Brave knight, we will show you the way, but you have to help us get the lapis lazuli ore!" the dwarves answered

Antony agreed, and for the next 5 nights and 5 days he worked in the earth's bowels in the company of the dwarves. It was exhausting, but during this time he became such good friends with the gnomes that they told him about all the secret passages that would help him shorten his journey to the crystal castle.

The next day he set off and within a few hours found himself near the giant snakes.

"Where are you going, knight? What is your real goal? Answer honestly, if you lie, you won't get out of here alive!" - asked the reptiles and surrounded the knight

"I am going to rescue my beloved princess, with whom I plan to spend the rest of my life together. Also, to be honest, 10,000 gold coins will not be superfluous, because life now is more difficult than ever," replied Antony.

The reptiles listened to him and realised that the knight was not lying and let him go, wishing him success in finding the princess.

After travelling for several days, he came across the farmer's hut that Arthur had visited before. As soon as he reached it, the farmer and his wife came out and said:

"Greetings, Antony, the most prudent of knights! Your fame has reached us, so it is an honour to receive you here in our humble hut."

"Thank you, good people, but unfortunately I don't have time to stay with you, my princess is waiting for me, I must rescue her." - Antony said.

"We understand, but take a piece of bread from us, which will save you in difficult situations."

Antony thanked them and continued his way.

After 10 hours, he finally arrived at the crystal castle. As soon as he climbed the stairs and entered the throne room, his beloved Princess The Pure ran to him and hugged him. As he hugged her, he saw the witch approaching them and drew his sword.

"Stop!", said the princess, "This is no witch, but my fairy godmother, who saved me from Arthur the Dark-Haired. As far as you know, I am 20 years old, which means that my father and mother must have already started looking for a candidate for my marriage, and I knew that I was going to be married off to a man whom I would not love. The fairy godmother came up with the idea of taking me to this place, knowing that you, the person I have loved since I was a teenager, would definitely take me and pass all the tests we had prepared. Arthur is fine, he took the wrong path and ended up in a trap palace that will serve as his prison for all the murders he has committed.

Antony the Dark-haired and Princess Clean lived together happily, respecting and understanding each other.

The End.