Week 13 Story: The 3 Princesses

There was once a kingdom in a fairytale land with a kind king who cared for all he reigned over. He was happy with his wife who bore him a daughter, whom he adored.

One day the queen got very sick, and the king told her that, "if she died, I would never be happy again."

The queen replied, "you must remarry and have a motherly wife to replace me and take care of our daughter."

The queen passed away that night, and no one in the castle had ever seen the king so upset. He broke every dish, glass, and mirror in the castle. He was so upset that his love died, but even more upset that her dying wish was to marry another woman. The next few days he met a few women to be his next wife.

While the king did not want to remarry, he decided to marry the first woman he met because he knew he would not love any of them.

The king and his new wife had one daughter, whom the king never loved and rarely even spoke to. Over the years the king became more upset, drinking more and more every night. He became abusive and repeatedly hit his new wife and her daughter.

While the king hated his second daughter, the first daughter loved her very dearly. The played together every day and became the best of friends. The second daughter thought to herself, "I can live anywhere as long as I have my big sister."

But one night the new wife had enough, and said to her daughter, "my love, you must leave this place and your abusive father to live in the forest, he will only continue to hurt you and I can no longer bear it. You can return once he dies."

The second daughter was upset, but knew her mother was right. That night she prepared all the things she needed and went to her sister to say goodbye.

With tears streaming from her face, she said to her sister, "I love you so much sister, but I must leave out of fear of our father. I will always miss you and love you."

The older sister replied, "you will not go alone, I will accompany you that way we can both be happy in the forest."

So the two sisters set off to the forest and slept under a tree. In the morning, the younger sister went to the pond to get a drink of water. She did not know that a water sprite controlled the pond, and if she wanted to drink she would have to answer the sprite's question.

Just before she put her hands to the water, the sprite popped up and screamed, "STOP! You must answer this question if you want a drink of water."

She was confused, but prepared herself to answer the sprite's question.

"What makes someone a good person?" asked the sprite.

"Someone who is always kind to others," answered the second princess.

"NO!" screamed the sprite, then the sprite pulled the second princess into the water.

The older sister realized her younger sister was gone for so long, and left to check on her at the pond. She saw her sisters footsteps at the edge of the pond, but noticed she never left. The sister screamed, "Where is my sister!"

Then the sprite appeared and replied "She could not answer my question, so she is at the bottom of the pond. If you want her back, you must answer my question."

The sprite asked, "What makes a good person?"

The princess sat and thought a while, then replied, "You cannot classify a good person, a person is a person and they choose to do good or bad."

The water sprite was surprised and said, "You are correct, no one has answered my question like that. I will return your sister and this pond will be a sanctuary for you both."

The water sprite brought the younger sister back from the bottom of the pond, and the sisters embraced with happiness and a feeling of safety. The sisters lived by the pond until the king died. Once they heard the king had died, they returned to the castle.

The younger sister felt so much guilt and said to her older sister, "I am so sorry you missed your father's last days, I feel so much guilt and my heart breaks for you."

The older sister replied, "Do not let yourself feel that pain, I loved my father very much but I no longer recognized him after my mother died. I will cherish our good memories, and be thankful I got to see him during his good times."

The two sisters lived in the kingdom and ruled it together for the rest of their happy lives.

Water Sprite

Author's Note: I based my story off one by Ellen C. Babbitt called "The Princes and the Water Sprite." In Ellen's version, there were three princes who left the castle out of fear their mother would hurt the older sons so that the youngest could be king. While they were in the forest, the water sprite asked them a question they had to correctly answer in order to use the water. When the first two brothers answered incorrectly, they were taken to the sprite's cave. The third brother answered the question correctly and was given his two other brothers. When the king died, they returned to the castle and the eldest brother become king.

I had a few differences in my story like I had two sisters instead of three brothers. I added some things to the story like the first wife of the king dying and the new wife and daughter. I also changed the question asked. In the original story,  the question was "What makes a good fairy?" The king in the original story was not abusive, which is another difference in my version. I also had the water sprite drag the second sister to the bottom of the pond instead of to his cave (which happened in the original story).