• The Bird Princess

    Once upon a time, when magic still existed, a boy and a girl met near the Forbidden Forest everyday. Their parents were rulers of two different kingdoms and hated each other, so the prince and the princess had to meet in secret. After a few years, the kings found out about their secret meetings and split them up forever. The two children loved each other and said their goodbyes but before the prince left, he promised he would return one day to claim his bride.
    Ten years later, the princess sat by a well, daydreaming of her old friend while playing with her little cat. The princess was as beautiful as the night, with hair as black as ebony and a face as pale as the moon and eyes that twinkled like stars.
    Suddenly, a hunchbacked old hag that was ugly as sin came upon the maiden and the maiden greeted her as politely as can be, “Good morning, my dear hag. Isn’t it a lovely day?”
    The old hag sneered, “Easy for you to say, toots.”
    “What do you mean?” the maiden asked.
    “You go around showing all your beauty. Of course you’re happy. In fact, if you’re going to be as beautiful as a night with a full moon, then you should only show your beauty at the full moon.”
    At that moment, the princess realized that she was talking to a witch, and not just any old witch, but a jealous one.
    The witch then pulled out a golden stick and tapped the princess’ shoulder. The princess turned into a bird. The witch made a rope out of weeds and tied it around the bird’s neck. Then she brought it before the king and proclaimed, “Look what I’ve done to your daughter. I’ll do more if you don’t fulfill my request. I want the Forbidden Forest!”
    “My dear witch, I shall give you the forest, but you must turn my daughter back.”
    “No! She needs someone to break the curse for her. I can’t break it. I only know how to curse.”
    Suddenly the king’s face went red with anger, “Tell me witch, then how on earth am I supposed to help my pure and innocent daughter?”
    “Why should I care? Now are you going to give me the forest, or am I going to have to curse you too?”
    The king sighed and let her have her way. He had the guards build a giant cage made of gold bars and glass for his beloved daughter. From then on, the king sat by her cage everyday and talked to her, even though she couldn’t understand. He had his astronomers tell him when the next full moon was and patiently waited for the time when she would return to human form.
    A year later, the witch came back in disguise as a guard and released the Bird Princess from her cage. When the king found out, he had the night guard who was supposed to take care of the princess decapitated.
    Then he made a proclamation saying, “who ever can free my beloved daughter from the witch’s curse can have any wish that he desires.”
    The maiden’s beloved prince had heard of her curse and decided to help without a second thought, knowing that it was his chance to get his bride. On the way to the King’s castle to get permission to go into the Forbidden Forest, the prince came upon an old beggar.
    “Please give me a bite to eat,” said the old beggar.
    The prince gave him a loaf of bread and the beggar thanked him, then asked, “Where is it you are trying to go?”
    The prince answered, “I am going to the Forbidden Forest to free the princess from her curse.”
    “I have a special flower that will break any curse for you. I will give it to you to thank you for this loaf of bread.” The prince accepted the gift and thanked him and went off.
    Then the prince came upon an old shepherd. The shepherd said, “Hello, my good sir. Where is it that you wish to go?”
    The prince explained the situation with the princess. Then the shepherd said, “If you help me sheer my sheep, I will give you an invisible cloak so nobody can see you when you are in the Forbidden Forest.” The prince accepted his offer and helped him with his sheering.
    He continued walking and saw a man selling silver arrows and the prince said, “When I come back from saving the princess, I will mention you in my story if you give me a silver arrow.”
    The seller, thirsting for fame, said, “Take three arrows and tell everyone about me!”
    The prince finally made it to the King’s castle. He walked through long halls of marble and color and came upon a pair of great golden doors. As he entered, he could smell perfume and flowers.
    “Who is it that approaches me at such a dreadful time?” asked the King.
    “It is I, a huntsman from a far-off kingdom. You wouldn’t know me,” the prince answered.
    “What is it you want?”
    The prince was glad the King didn’t recognize him, “I have come to free the princess.”
    “And how on earth can a mere huntsman do that?”
    “By wisdom.”
    “You do know what the risk is of entering the forest, don’t you?” asked the King.
    “Yes, but I am willing to risk it,” the prince replied.
    The King gave permission and sent him to the Forbidden Forest, guided by guards. As the prince entered the forest, he saw a white fawn and was astonished by its beauty. But the prince did not know he was the only one who could see it. As he followed the fawn around, not realizing he was getting lost, his eyes grew heavy. Soon he was on the forest floor, falling asleep.
    He woke the next morning, aching all over his body. He was surprised to find himself in a muddy cottage and heard a sneer behind him. As he looked around, he saw an ugly toad-looking face.
    “You’re one of those ignorant men trying to release the princess, aren’t you? No one can defeat me, so no one can break the curse. It’s useless if you don’t know how. Only the princess knows that, and she can’t even speak, unless it’s a full moon, which doesn’t come all the time, as you may know. Or maybe you don’t, since you are just an ignorant young man.”
    The prince was surprised by the witch’s presence and was quick to try to think of a way out. “My dear witch, what is it you eat? I do say I hear that witches don’t eat human food.”
    “Fool! You are an ignorant! Witches eat red meat!”
    “Is that all?”
    “Of course! And I do say that you look mighty delicious!”
    “But my dear witch, I am white meat. I don’t have much flavor. You’d have to add plenty of salt to spice me up,” The prince knew that witches can’t eat salt. Salt to witches is like salt to snails.
    “I have to use you somehow. It would be a waste just to throw you out,” the witch replied.
    “My dear witch, I wish to learn more about you. Please make me your servant. Your wisdom is appealing.”
    The witch was flattered by the once-in-a-lifetime compliment and accepted his offer, “Young lad, I need some more firewood. Would you be a dear and fetch some?”
    The prince took her hand and kissed it. “Anything for you,” he said with glamour.
    The witch blushed before she went on with her work. The prince took his time fetching the firewood, thinking the whole time of how he could find his princess. Later that day, as he entered the house of filth, he smelled a horrible scent of rotten food.
    He then asked the witch, “My dear witch, what is that delightful smell?” He coughed to cover his disgust.
    “Why young lad, haven’t you ever heard of year-old troll stew?”
    “Why no,” the prince said, “but I’m sorry to say I cannot try your delicious stew. While I was in the forest I found some berries and I feasted on them.”
    “I’m sorry to hear that,” she said. When she said “sorry,” the prince knew he had gained her trust.
    “My dear witch, I know a place to get delicious red meat, but I need some sleeping potion to catch them because they are too fast. Do you know how to make it or do you have any?”
    The witch pulled a teardrop-shaped bottle out of the cupboard and said, “One drop will immediately put anyone to sleep until the moon sets.”
    “To thank you, I have some wine to share. Would you like some?” the prince offered, knowing witches are obsessed with wine.
    “Why sure!” the witch said, trying to sound delightful.
    The prince poured into two cups the wine and added a drop of the potion into the witch’s cup, then handed it to her. As soon as her lips touched the cup, she fell to the ground, sound asleep. The prince put on his invisible cape, got his flower and arrow, and left the hut.
    As he walked through the forest, he saw a beautiful bird glowing in the afternoon sunlight, and decided to follow it. The bird came upon a silver lake that looked like a looking glass. As the bird touched the ground, the moon began to come up, and the bird slowly took the form of a beautiful maiden. The prince immediately knew who it was: his beloved princess.
    The invisible prince went before the princess, calling out to her, “My dear princess, I am here to free you.”
    The princess answered, “Who is it that is in my midst? I see no one, yet I hear a voice, so familiar, like a dream.”
    The prince threw off his cape and showed himself. The princess, shocked by seeing not only a human, but her beloved, long-lost friend, threw her arms around him and they started to dance in the moonlight.
    “My dear prince, how is it you got here without being seen by the wicked witch?”
    “By pure wisdom and by my will to get you. And I guess the invisible cape helped, just a little bit.”
    The prince handed the princess the flower and her clothes turned into a pure white dress and a veil appeared on her head and the flower turned into a bouquet.
    “My dear prince, you have broken the curse! No more shall I be a dove in the air. No more shall I not understand the words of my dear people.”
    As the sun began to come out and shine on the morning mist, a rustling was heard in the bushes. The two got a bad feeling in their guts that something was in their midst.
    Suddenly, the witch appeared out of nowhere and shouted, at the top of her lungs, “You savage dog! You used me! And you’ve taken my bird.”
    “My dear witch, you may not have heard, but I claimed her as my bride before you claimed her as your bird.”
    Then the witch growled, loud enough to wake the dead, and transformed into a dragon, “I will not let you live to see the next sunrise, for you have tricked me.”
    “What I have done is not as bad as what you have done to many men and to my dear beloved princess.”
    The dragon blew out fire and moved closer to her opponent.
    The princess spoke, “Oh dear, only if we had something made of silver to throw into the witch’s heart,” she said, knowing that silver is a witch’s weakness.
    The prince then remembered the silvers arrows he had received and got his bow and aimed for the dragon, but she ducked. The arrow flew high in the sky and landed in the faraway mountains. He pulled out the second arrow and was about to shoot, but the dragon kicked him with its tail and he smashed against a tree. The dragon held him to the tree with her claw. The arrow broke in two.
    “You have only one arrow left. You should just give up. You will never be able to shoot that one arrow at me.”
    The princess pulled a knife out of her dress, ran to the prince’s side, and stabbed the dragon’s claw. The dragon screamed in pain, giving the prince the chance to grab his last arrow and shoot the dragon right in the heart.
    As the witch melted, the forest started blooming with flowers, and many men, women, and children came out of the forest looking dizzy and tired. One man stepped forward and asked, “Who is it that freed us from the evil witch’s curse?”
    The beloved princess came forth and answered, “It is my beloved prince who freed us all and killed the dragon, who was actually the witch.”
    The man shouted at the top of his lungs, “Three cheers for the prince!” They partied all day and all night.
    The following morning, the prince and the princess traveled to the castle. They came before the king, and the prince announced that the princess had been rescued.
    The king rejoiced by embracing his daughter and kissing the huntsman on each cheek, then asked, “Now what is the wish that you desire?”
    The prince answered, “We should first have a big feast before I announce my wish.”
    “Very well,” the king replied.
    At the dinner, the princess came down the marble staircase dressed in a lovely gown as gorgeous as the moonlight. The prince came down dressed in red and gold that sparkled. All the guests looked at them in astonishment of their beauty. The table they stood by was filled with luxurious, mouth-watering food and sweet wine. By the flick of his fingers, the king gave the sign to get seated. The room got silent so the king could make the toast.
    “My dear people, it is my privilege to announce the hero of tomorrow, whose name is unknown, the huntsman of a faraway kingdom, and the one who saved my princess… give it up for him!”
    Everyone cheered as the prince stood up, “My dear people, I have a story to tell you. There were once two lovely children who loved each other very much, but their parents did not like each other, so they had them split up. One day when the girl was in trouble. The lad saved her. The rest is unknown. But let me ask you, should the father of the maiden accept the lad?”
    The room was filled with whispering and chatter, while everyone was thinking of the answer. Then the king stood up and said, “I do say, I think the young lad should be accepted by the father.”
    The prince replied, “Now I know that my wish will be granted. I am the prince who you once separated from my beloved princess, and I wish for her hand in marriage.”
    The king, shocked by the news, sat down and breathed heavily, and then said, “My wish for my daughter to be free was greater than my hatred for your father. Alas, you shall have my daughter’s hand in marriage and you shall have your father’s kingdom join my kingdom. Please accept my apologies for our past life together.”
    The men and women at the table cheered and the prince and princess joined hands while the king gave them his blessing.
    At the next full moon, as the clock struck midnight, the people from both kingdoms joined together in a cathedral where the prince and princess said their vows and were married.
    But this is not the end, only the beginning of their adventures together, yet to come.

    Fin!