Swamp Prince. Scary short story

There was one boy. His mother died, and his father was at work all days, so there was no one to look after the boy.

The boy studied poorly and often skipped school. Instead, he walked the streets and looked for things to steal. If he stole food, he ate it, and if he stole any things, he broke them and threw them away.

When other children were coming from school, the boy caught those who were younger, scared them and teased them.

The boy was nothing but trouble, but if anyone complained to his father, then the father could only beat the boy, which made the boy become even angrier.

One day, when the boy was walking down the street, he saw a strange woman - wrapped in rags, with wet unbrushed hair, with long knotty arms that looked like tree branches, and colorless fish eyes.

"You look like a kikimora!" the boy shouted to her from afar.

The woman stopped and looked at the boy carefully.

"The kikimors are different," she answered, "and I am a swamp woman..."

"But for me, you can't tell the difference," the boy said and laughed.

The swamp woman continued to watch the boy.

"You're exactly what I need," she finally said.

The boy moved away just in case.

"I did not do anything."

"You will make a good swamp prince," the swamp woman continued.

"No way!" the boy objected, "I have nothing to do in your swamp".

"And what will you do here?" asked the swamp woman, "steal and tease others all your life? Nobody needs you here. And with us you will be a prince," she finished meaningfully.

"In the swamp?" the boy asked suspiciously, "prince of whom? Frogs?"

"You will be the swamp prince," repeated the swamp woman, "the prince of all drowned women".

"Well, no," the boy shook his head, "I don’t want to go to the swamp..."

"Do you know how many treasures are at the bottom of the swamp?" the swamp woman suddenly said, "in our swamp in the old days, great warriors, rich merchants, princes and even kings drowned. And all their wealth still lies at the bottom. They can be yours."

"Treasures?" the boy didn't believe it, "but you're not lying?"

The swamp woman shrugged.

"Go and see for yourself."

"All right," said the boy, "lead me to the swamp, but if there are no treasures there..."

Hovewer, the swamp woman did not listen, but grabbed the boy, put him on her back and rushed back to where she came from.

The boy wanted to scream, but the swamp woman did nothing harm to him. On the contrary, it was a lot of fun to ride it - the swamp woman turned out to be strong and could run very fast.

But when the boy saw the swamp, he doubted again - it was wet, marshy and gloomy.

However, the swamp woman did not allow him to look at the surroundings for long,; she immediately dived into a deep pool with the boy on her back.

It was dark and cold at the bottom. The light barely reached the bottom, but even these crumbs were absorbed by long black algae, similar to the hair of a fairy-tale giant or snakes curled into a ball.

The boy felt scared, but he was even more scared when, behind the settled turbidity, he saw a dead man lying at the bottom.

It was an ancient warrior king - armor covered his body, in his powerful hands he clutched a large sword, and on his head was a golden crown.

The boy reached out his hand to the crown, but saw that another dead man lay further away - in rich clothes embroidered with gold threads and pearls. On his fingers were rings with huge precious stones, and at his feet, curled up, lay two young girls, also richly dressed.

"Who are they?" asked the boy.

"This one," the swamp woman pointed at the warrior king, "wanted to become invincible. And that rich man dreamed of immortality. And he even brought his daughters with him so that they could share eternity with him..."

"Did they all drown?" asked the boy.

"No," said the swamp woman, "these are our kings".

The boy moved on, looking at the dead people lying there. There were different people here - old and young, dressed in gold and in rags, people with white, yellow and black skin, women and men, beautiful and ugly.

There were many of them, and all were dead. But when the boy tried to take a golden scepter decorated with beryls and rubies from one dead man, the dead man’s hand tightened in a death grip.

And then lay a dead boy, almost the same age, only in ancient clothes. And next to him lay a girl.

"And who is this?" asked the boy.

"This is the swamp prince and his princess," said the swamp woman.

"Who am I then?" asked the boy.

"Swamp prince," said the swamp woman, "you will lie here, next to them, and the swamp women will cry over your death".

"But I didn't die!" the boy shouted.

"The living come and look for something from us," answered the swamp woman, "but the only thing we can give them is death."

Then other swamp women appeared, they grabbed the boy, closed his eyes, nose and ears and laid him at the bottom, in the soft cold mud.

The boy tried to move, but could not, because the dead people cannot do this.

However, he was not completely dead. Something alive remained in him - he felt how the water washed his body, how other dead were lying somewhere nearby, how the swamp women were circling in the dark water and crying over the dead.

"Their tears taste like sea water," the swamp prince managed to think, and this thought became his eternity.

Illustration: Frost7q

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