童話故事:美麗的仙鶴(2/4)

But he was utterly unready for the face of a beautiful girl. In fact, she was so lovely that he was quite startled. He was simply amazed that anyone could be so gorgeous, let alone standing at his door. He let the girl in, and she slept on his bed, while he lay by the ashes of the fire. After she had stayed with him for three days and three nights, he finally found the words to ask her to marry him, though he never expected her to accept. The girl replied that she had come to his door hoping that he would ask that very question, and she gladly accepted. The farmer thought to himself, "Until just recently, I was lonely, poor and wretched. Now I am still poor, but chance or some god has brought me happiness." But nobody can live on love alone. The winter was long and hard, the couple ran out of rice to take the edge of their hunger. The farmer said: "What are we to do? I have no food, no money, and nothing we can sell." He himself was on the brink of tears, and he expected that his wife would either grow angry with him for failing to provide for them both, or to break down in sobs. This, he thought, was the end of their happiness.