A Fairy Tale-Part 4

Now all the world was sunny to the princess, for she was in love with her knight, and he with her.  In her mind, all was well for she had found her one and only at last, and never would they be parted again.  All that remained to do was to be married and live happily ever after.  Or so she thought.  But a cloud was moving that would soon block her sun and potentially mar her happily ever after.

One night as the princess was talking with her lover, she noticed that he appeared particularly distant, almost cold, to her.  Inquiring whether all was well with him, the only answer she received was a sigh.  At last her knight spoke.  He told her that all though he loved her very dearly, he was as good as engaged to a maiden in his hometown, and that he still loved her too.  For so many years he had believed that his heart lay with this maiden, and now, his whole world was being rocked.  He still desired to remain with his lady, but at the same time, he could not bear to leave his princess.

The princess listened to the knight's words with an ever-sinking hear.  She tried to tell herself that it was truly she whom the knight loved, but deep down inside, a voice whispered "You knew this was too good to be true.  You knew you weren't really going to get a happily ever after, after all."  Between the knight's sad countenance and the nay-saying voice within, the princess began to despair.  Tears welled up in her big brown eyes and she turned away from the window with a sigh of regret.  Vainly did the knight implore her not to weep.  Vainly did she attempt to be strong and not show how much she was suffering.  But the tears continued to roll down her cheeks, tears of sorrow for losing the one she loved, tears of regret for giving her heart away to him, tears of anger at the knight for loving her and yet leaving her, as each of the other men had done.  

The knight, after attempting to soothe the princess with no success, began talking, almost to himself and not to her.  He reminded her of times they had shared together as friends, and how they would always have those memories.  When there was still no response from the broken-hearted princess, he sighed.  "Farewell, princess.  Remember, that I will always love you."

Without another word, the knight climbed on his horse and rode away, back to his hometown and his ladylove, while the princess sobbed her heart out under the moonlit sky.

To Be Continued...

A Fairy Tale-Part 3

For many months, the princess had attempted to keep silent about her true feelings for the knight.  But one night, she decided.  She simply could not keep silent for one night longer.  This particular night, her knight seemed particularly silent.  Several times the princess ventured a topic of conversation, only to be met with brief one word answers or silence born of deep thought.  Sighing, the princess despaired of ever working up the courage to speak of her deep love for this knight who had captured her heart.  She turned away from the window, when a voice stopped her.  

"Princess," her knight halted her.  "Please, if you will, I must share something with you."  Turning back, the princess stopped and stood with an air of expectancy.  

"Princess," the knight began slowly, choosing each word carefully.  "For some time now I have been struggling against these feelings.  But it will not do, I can no longer keep silent.  Your beauty, your wit, your charm and grace, all these have captured my heart.  Now I know that you must hate me for speaking to you like this.  Me, a humble knight, daring to fall in love with the princess of the kingdom and future heir to the throne.  But...I must speak out.  I must be allowed to tell you how deeply and desperately I Love You."  

With tears shining in her eyes, the princess gazed down upon her knight, for he was her knight in truth now.  "As it is the time for confessions, sir, I have one of my own to make.  For some weeks now, I have felt myself falling ever deeper in love with you.  I truly did attempt to stop it, for I knew of your maiden back home, and never dared to think that you could love me too, but tonight I knew I could not keep silent one moment longer.  You have made me so happy, and I Love You."  

Their emotions overflowing too great for words, the princess and her knight did the only thing they could.  Running swiftly down the winding tower stairs, the princess flew into the arms of her one and only.  As they stood together in the moonlight, they could think and speak of nothing but their newfound love, murmuring words of affection to one another.  When they finally bid one another goodnight, the princess happily climbed her tower steps, certain that she could need nothing more to be truly happy.  But in the back of her mind, a nagging thought persisted...how long would this dream come true last?

To be continued...

A Fairy Tale-Part 2

Some months had passed since the princess first met her second knight.  With every conversation, every argument, every challenging debate, they grew closer and closer together.  As they daily conversed, the princess and the knight discovered the many things they had in common...both liking the same music, reading the same books, thinking about the same ideas.  Slowly the princess began to open up more and more of her heart to this wonderfully charming knight who had captured her fancy and given her more than almost any other friend ever had.  When the days were long and her maids were snippy and her work of being a princess grew intolerably dull, she could run to him for comfort or entertainment.  When she wanted to debate a new idea, she could always find a willing partner in her knight.  When her heart was heavy with sorrow over her lack of a prince, she could come to him and he would comfort her and encourage her with affectionate words and assurances of her true worth.  Though the knight often talked of a fair maiden back in his home town, the princess never felt pushed aside or unwanted in his presence.  To her, they were the closest of friends, and nothing more.  Or at least that was what she told herself every time she gazed into his dazzling chocolate eyes or heard his thrilling laugh.  Every time he told her how beautiful she was, or how much God had blessed her with talent and wisdom, she reminded herself that theirs was merely the deepest and truest of friendships.  

  But one day, all that changed.  One night as the princess and the knight were discussing, the princess heard a voice calling to her from outside her window.  To her dismay, it was the voice of a neighboring nobleman who was seeking for her hand in marriage.  Though the nobleman was eligable and kind, she viewed him merely as a friend and had no further interest in him.  Panicked, the princess looked desperately around for a means of escape, but it was too late.  The nobleman had already seen her at her window.  

As the nobleman came riding up to the fair princess's window, he was surprised to find another knight already beneath her window, serenading her with a lovesong.  The princess gazed down adoringly at the knight, the love for him evident in her eyes.  When the song was done, the knight turned around and rather nonchalantly informed him that he was too late.  The princess had already given her heart away to him.  Reluctantly, with many a backward glance, the nobleman rode away.  As soon as he was out of earshot, the princess and the knight burst out laughing, sure that their playacting had rescued the princess once again from an unwanted suitor.  

Though few men now sought the princesses's hand, tired of the constant rejection, the princess and the knight still kept up the act of being in love.  But as they continued to pretend that they were deeply in love, it gradually ceased to be a game for the princess.  Try as she would, her heart kept slipping further and further out of her grasp and into the hands of her knight.  Yes, she had now come to regard him truly as her own.  But did he love her?  Afraid of another rejection, the princess kept her true feelings for her knight hidden.  But soon the day would come when she could no longer keep silent.  

To be continued...

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...