A Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, there lived a fair princess.  Now this princess, like many other princesses, daily dreamed of a prince who would come to rescue her from her dull and dreary existance in the ivory tower.  Though she diligently went about her duties, outwardly appearing to be as cheerful and warm as the sunshine, inside, her heart was heavy.  Why did her prince not come?  Why was she not chosen, as all the other fair maidens were, to be some handsome prince or chivalrous knight's one and only?  And so as time went on, and her companions began to pair off with the young men of the kingdom, the princess grew more and more discontent with her lot, bemoaning her loneliness and wishing even more for a prince.

But one day, as the princess sat high above the world in her ivory tower, playing a song on her instrument, her one consolation, she heard a music not her own.  A faint echo, far off, of the song she had been playing, wafted up to her window on the breeze.  Eagerly she jumped up and ran to her window.  Far far beneath her stood a handsome young man, strumming his guitar and singing a variation on the song she had just been playing.  Instantly the princess was lost in his deep blue eyes, and she decided right then and there that he must be her one and only.  

Every night he would come and stand underneath her window and serenade her with that same song.  And then, they would talk for hours on end.  At first, it was about music, the songs that they played together.  But as the weeks and months passed by, they grew to be closer and closer friends, and all the while the princess was falling deeper in love, or so she thought.

After some months, the princess was required to make a lengthy trip to a neighboring country.  She and the knight parted with promises to correspond frequently.  But as days turned into weeks without a word from the knight, the princess began to wonder.  "Did he really love me, or did I merely imagine it?  What is real in this relationship, and what have I created to suit my pleasure?  What did I do to cause him to withdraw like this?"  Plagued with doubts, the princess returned home with a heavy heart.   Alas, more trouble with her knight awaited her.  For some days, he did not come to serenade her under her window, and when he did, it was not the same.  He talked a little, but seemed very forced.  A few weeks went by, with him appearing only sporadically.  After some weeks, the princess finally was able to admit to herself..."He never loved me." 

As any good heart-broken princess might, she cried herself to sleep for a week and poured out her broken heart in anguished rhyme.  But all was not lost for the lovelorn maiden, for another knight had entered her life around the time the first one left.  This time, there were no sweet songs sung at midnight, no dreams woven around the noble knight.  This knight was of a different sort, more bold and daring, less tenderly romantic.  He and the princess began their friendship with many battles of words, where the princess came off the field the victor more often than not.  But as they continued to converse, their relationship grew and deepened from one of mere sparring to deep and lasting friendship.  

Often the princess feared that she was falling in love with her knight, that she would give her heart away once again, only to be crushed like the first time.  And so she bided her time, waiting, watching, to see how he felt, what he thought, before committing herself.  Their relationship was a curious one, a tenacious friendship mixed with elements of love, but yet not inloveness.  They could share anything and everything with each other, never fearing what the other might think.  And so the princess sat in her ivory tower...waiting?  Perhaps.  But her story is not over yet...