Cinderella and Alangazar - страница 2

Alangazar thought about it… and joined the army. His strength, endurance, and thunderous laughter – which frightened enemies before the battle even began – came in very handy.

Every week, Cinderella personally visited the barracks: she checked if everything was in order, listened to complaints and praise, and sometimes just dropped by the dining hall to have lunch with the soldiers.

Alangazar especially liked signing up for personal audiences.

– Your Highness, – he boomed, scratching his head, – my bed broke again. It gave out when I turned onto my other side. Sorry, that’s the fourth one this month…

Cinderella smiled:

– Well, a giant is no small matter. I’ll order them to make you a bed out of oak and dragon bones. Maybe that will hold.

– Thank you, Your Highness! – Alangazar said joyfully, bowing so low that all the windows rattled.

Sometimes Alangazar brought Cinderella letters from his wife, covered in enormous hearts and messages like:

"Thank you, dear Cinderella, for taking care of my hubby!"

Cinderella valued soldiers like him. And even though the giant needed special shoes (made from two canvas tents), double rations, and forty-liter pots of soup – she never spared kingdom funds or kind words for him.

Beside Alangazar, there were many other unusual comrades-in-arms:

– Melody, the Drummer Fairy, who only spoke in drum rhythms.

– Sergeant Cat the Werebeast, who turned into a tiger on full moons and swept the courtyard with his tail.

– Pixel the Balletmaster Dwarf, who taught the troops to march gracefully.

Every day in this battalion was like a new chapter of a fairytale. And Cinderella, though now a high official, never forgot what it meant to be kind and humble.

Alangazar once said:

– When I was small, my grandfather – the Great Gazar – was dying. He was as tall as a mountain and lived near human villages. On the day he died, he walked to the market square. People froze: he wasn’t lying down or resting – he was dying on his feet. Swaying like an old oak in the wind…

He was so huge, wherever he fell, he could cause disaster. If he fell toward the village – the market would be crushed. Toward the river – it could flood the land.

But the hardest thing was this: my grandfather always did the opposite. If told "stop," he’d go. If people shouted "left!" – he’d turn right. That was his way – stubborn, but fair.