Triumph of Superstition
The King and Queen had married quite young, but despite this, middle age had come without any produced heirs, and in a time when the King should have raised two sons by his age. The kingdom held its breath at what looked to be the end of the royal line, and an unfortunate end since the distant cousin that would inherit the throne was beloved by none. In one final act of desperation, the Queen called for the wisest and eldest of the wives from the thirteen provinces. Their advice proved successful, and in nine months time the Queen bore not only an heir for the King, but a female child for herself as well, as golden and rosy as her brother was dark.
To thank the old wives for their advice, as well as to celebrate the birth of the twin royals, the King and Queen threw a marvelous banquet, after which the old wives each offered one last word of encouragement. The King and Queen were told their son would be clever and strong, not to let a cat near the children or it might suck their breath away, and many other bits of advice the old wives were notorious for. The King and Queen held everything said against their anxious hearts. Then the last of the old wives spoke, warning that their daughter, the delicate little infant flower nestled down beside her brother in the purple folds of velvet, would be lost to them.
The Queen was understandably so upset by this warning when the old wives had not yet been wrong on anything that the King announced, for fear of his wife’s health, “Then she shall be tucked away from the world, so as to never be stolen from us!”
And so it was that the young prince and princess were separated so closely after birth, the princess locked into a room of the castle in order to protect her from the world, and only the King, the Queen, and a trusted maid allowed entrance. Here the princess grew from a delicate infant to a beautiful young woman while her brother, whose accomplishments she was frequently told of, was free to run and play out of doors, was tutored by the best in the kingdom, was granted all the land as his playroom.
At the old wives’ advice that a child needed sunlight and fresh air to grow, the princess’s room contained one large window at which she spent the majority of her imprisonment, gazing out at the gardens and town below. Why she wasn’t allowed to leave was never explained but simply accepted, and though the hours felt longer the older she grew, still she never complained. Rather, she contented herself to her hobbies, chief among which was listening to the gossip of the youths that frequented the gardens below her window. Among the youths, one handsome young man in particular caught the princess’s eye, and though he took no notice of her, she always listened intently to whatever he had to say, his youthful ideas and opinions stirring her heart to a restless passion. The more she listened, the less content she was to remain locked up, and the more resentful she grew of her parents for keeping her there.
One day when her mother the Queen came for her daily visit, the princess asked, “Mother, why am I not allowed to go out into the world?”
“Why, child, for your own safety, of course!”
“But will I have to stay in here for my whole life? Why does my brother run free?”
“Of course you will stay here, child. The world is a dangerous place for one so delicate as you. Your brother will be king and you will be safe for always.”
The princess mused this over for some time and found that despite her mother’s warning, she felt no fear towards the outside world, only a deep, unquenchable longing. That evening, the handsome youth and his friends were again below her window, and as she listened to their naughty mischief, the princess knew she could remain locked up no longer, no matter the wishes of her parents.
Leaning far out her window, she called down to them, “Excuse me, sirs and ladies, might you help me?”
The handsome youth, who was really none other than the princess’s own brother, called up to her, “Help you with what, fair lady?”
“Why to escape, of course. You see, I’ve been locked up in this room my whole life– a hundred years it seems!”
The prince, who was always up for a game of mischief, knew exactly who the princess was. Ready to do anything to stir up his parents, he happily called back, “Of course we shall help you! But it will have to be in the dead of night. Lay in wait and we’ll return long after sundown to help you escape.”
The princess, excited at the prospect of discovering what exactly was so dangerous in the outside world, was more than happy to duck back inside her room and wait. The remaining hours of daylight were the longest of her life, but finally the sun had set, her parents bid her goodnight, and the princess waited at the window for her rescuers.
At long last, she heard the whispered, “Princess? Are you there?”
“I’m here.”
“All right. Jump out the window and I’ll catch you. We’ll ride off, together.”
“Will you catch me? Do you promise?”
“Of course I’ll catch you! Jump!”
So the princess jumped. Unfortunately, the prince in his youthful foolishness had thought it would be a funny joke to let the princess fall into the bushes. What he hadn’t counted on was the bushes’ weakness, and the princess fell through to the ground, her neck breaking instantly. When the prince and his friends saw what they had done, they ran off in fright, fleeing the kingdom less the King and Queen discover their involvement. And so the cousin became king after all, and was one of the worst rulers the land ever saw.
****************************************************
Just found! I wrote this as an assignment for my fiction class in the fall of 2006 where we had to write fairy tales following the fairy tale style.