The Princess and the Pearl
What could be more valuable than Beauty, Intelligence and Wealth? An Original Fairy Story
Dear Readers,
The following is an original fairy story from my recently released fairy stories book called “Songs from the Golden Bird”. If you’d like to purchase a copy of the book, the link is here.
The Princess and the Pearl
An Original Fairy Story by Megha Lillywhite
Once upon a time there was a King and Queen who desperately wanted a baby. One day, the King, unable to see his wife sad for another day, decided to take her to the dark forest, the dominion of the Fairy Queen. They would ask the Fairy Queen to grant their wish.
The fairies watched the King and Queen with great suspicion. Fairies are capable of seeing the hearts of human beings. They can see if someone glows with a pure heart, or if it is corrupted with avarice or pride.
The forest normally causes human beings to become lost and walk around in circles forever. However, the fairies could see that the human Queen had a pure heart, and so brought the couple to meet their Fairy Queen. The King believed the fairies had granted them special passage because he was the King and a very important person.
The Fairy Queen sat on her fairy throne with all her nymphs and fairy subjects floating or seated around her.
“Hello King Aureus, Queen Selene” she said in an ethereal voice.
“Dear Fairy Queen, my wife desperately wants a baby, won’t you grant her wish?” said the King.
The Fairy Queen had already known what the King would ask. She gestured to a fairy attendant dressed in clothes made of light and silk to bring a beautiful bejewelled box.
“Feed your wife tea from this flower, which grows only where fairies have stepped, and blooms only on the full moon”
The Queen took the bejewelled box from the attendant who offered it to her. She held up the midnight blue flower that had, at the centre of it, a perfect, milk coloured pearl.
The Fairy Queen continued, “When the baby is born, she can wear this pearl. It is a gift from me to the new Princess. So long as she wears the pearl, she will grow more intelligent year after year, she will be beautiful beyond compare and her everywhere she steps, gold coins will drop from her feet.”
The King’s eyes widened as he imagined how rich his daughter was going to make him.
“But so long as she wears it, her heart will be numbed from her,” warned the Fairy Queen.
One year later, when the baby girl was born in the palace, they named her Cordelia. The King had the pearl set into a beautiful golden necklace for his new daughter. When he was putting the necklace on the Princess, the Queen protested.
“I do not want our daughter’s heart to be numbed” she said.
“My dear, if she wears this, our daughter will be the most beautiful, intelligent and wealthy girl to ever live! It is impolite to refuse a gift from the Fairy Queen”
The Queen obeyed the King, and let her daughter wear the necklace.