Whimsical Thoughts to the Tune of a Sweeter Song

Fairy Tale: Part Four

This left only the third prince. So filled with passion to find sleep for his beloved was he that he nearly mounted his horse backwards.

Finding the infamous hilltop with only a little trouble (even princes must ask for directions sometimes), he scanned the grass for a likely place to lie down. While his head was turned in one direction, his sharp ears caught the sound of fairy wings beating in the other direction. Without missing a heartbeat, he reached up and trapped the fairy tenderly in his hand. (Tenderness is very appreciated and appropriate. Hurting a fairy would be quite unacceptable.)

The fairy opened his tiny mouth to offer the wish, but the prince rushed forward hurriedly. “Sleep for the princess. I need sleep for my beloved!”

The gleam in the fairy’s eye was visible from yards away. “So little?” He began. “What about…”

The prince cut him off with a wave of his other hand. “No, no, no. Nothing will do except for sleep for my love.”

The fairy sent a vision of unmeasured treasure to linger in front of the prince’s eyes, but he never even noticed it, so eager and desperate he was for the princess’s rest. The fairy shrugged his tiny shoulders and looked at the prince. He has rather an uncomfortable gaze, thought the fairy. “Here is what you must do. You must go to the princess and tell her how much you love her. Only if your love is of the highest and holiest kind will the princess…”

The prince had already gone. Forgetting completely about his horse, he raced back down the hill and into the princess’s garden. He came to a sudden stop when he saw the princess. She looked as though she were barely alive. Overcome with sorrow and anguish for her suffering, he rushed to her side. She was barely a shadow of her former self. Forgetting everything the fairy had said, he clasped her to himself and looked at her with his heart nearly breaking. “Oh that I could take your place, love, to take your suffering upon myself,” he cried fervently, “I love you more than life itself. If only I could do something for you, even giving up my own life.” The princess looked up at him, her dark eyes strangely soft in spite of her weariness and trial. There was no need to even look to his heart, for at that moment, a tear slipped down the prince’s face and fell like a crystal drop onto the princess’s eyelashes. It caught there and then dissolved into wisps of sleep. The prince felt relaxation fall onto the princess like a soft blanket. Her eyes closed, and a smile of peace formed on her lips. The princess was asleep! The prince held her closer, his eyes never leaving her face.

Hours passed, then an entire day, then another. Still the prince refused to leave his charge, or even look up from watching her face. By the third day, a small crowd of fairies had gathered around them. A small fairy, barely able to fly, fluttered up to them and patted the prince’s face. A small cloud of golden and rose mist enveloped the prince and his beloved. Nothing could disturb them now.

At the seventh day, the princess’s eyelids fluttered open, and she looked into the eyes of the man who loved her more than he cared even for himself. “I must give you something,” she whispered. “I give you my heart. You have already proven yourself worthy to take care of it.”

At this point, we are not exactly sure what happened. The misty cloud obscured too much. But it is worth mentioning that a kissing fairy suddenly arrived in great haste on an emerald zephyr, only to peek into the rose cloud and leave again in a great huff. It is to be assumed that the prince and princess had managed quite well without her.

As for living happily ever after, the answer to that lies in the eyes of every maiden who has given her heart to a worthy prince.

posted by whimsicalfaery @ 2:38 PM