Once upon a time, in a far away
land, a princess lived with her father in a beautiful white castle, overlooking
a deep forest. Her father, the king, loved her very much and would lavish her
with gifts and love, but she longed for a prince to come. He reassured her
often that a prince would one day come for her that he had picked out, and to
wait patiently. She sat at his feet and would listen to the loving words he
bestowed upon her.
Then a man came to the castle in
a dark cloak. He came to the princess and told her that her father was lying to
her, and the man would hide in the shadows when others came around. He would
point out the things that people did around her to tell her that she had no
one. He would make her feel worthless, and only more words from her father
would help her get away from the evil things the man would tell her.
She held her hands out to every
young prince that came to her castle. Sometimes the men would take them, and
spin her around, but they would leave quickly, leaving her falling in the dust,
hitting the wall, and sliding to the floor. Then the man in the dark cloak
would swoop down upon her, telling her that it happened because of her and that
it was her fault – because she wasn’t beautiful and she didn’t deserve a
prince.
The princess ran to her father
crying, telling him of the man in the dark cloak. He reassured her, “Yes,
child. I know he’s out there, but you can’t believe his words; He’s a liar and
a theif.”
“What does he steal?” The girl
asked.
“He steals innocence. He steals
purity. He steals youth.”
The girl feared the man in the
dark cloak, and would yell for her father when he came near her.
More princes came to the castle,
but her father promised her that if she were patient, the one that would hold
her and not let her go would come, and that for now she should stay with him.
But one day as she was walking
the castle alone, wishing that the prince that her father meant for her to be
with would come, a boy stepped onto her path.
He took her by her hands, and
twirled her around, holding her close, and brushing the hair from her face. She
stared into his eyes and thought, “This must be the prince that my father meant
for me,” They danced often, his leading sometimes painful and strange, but she
believed that the boy meant only to help her learn how to dance with him better.
The day came when the boy told
her that he would only go down to the creek in the forest just outside the
castle, but he didn’t return for many days. He sent her messages telling her of
his care for her and how he intended on coming back to her.
Three months later, she stood on
the edge of the wall, looking down at the forest – when he emerged from the
foliage. Another princess sat on his horse. He looked up at her and raised his
bow, loosing it, and the arrow flew into her heart. She fell from the wall, and
laid gasping for air.
This time, the man in the black
cloak came to her and simply stood over her. He didn’t even need to speak his
words of poison, for she knew what it was he meant. It was her fault, because
she wasn’t beautiful enough, or important enough. It was because of her blind
love and the way she opened her heart so willingly. She laid there, gazing into
the man’s soul-less eyes, absolutely positive that she meant nothing to anyone
at all, not even her father whom she loved so dearly.
She ran away from the castle
with the man in the dark cloak, seeking her worth – but only finding death and
emptiness at every turn. Every place she went with the man contained further
darkness and pain, and she received more wounds and scars, becoming more and
more battered and torn.
As she saw that the liar and
theif had taken just the things that her father had warned, she tried to run
from him, but he grabbed the back of her dress and pulled her back, asking
where she would run to. The once-princess gazed into the man’s eyes and said,
“Back to my father,”
“Why would your dear father take
you back? He would never forgive you for the pain you’ve put him through.” The
man breathed in her face.
The girl pushed the man away,
and ran as fast as she could back through the forest to the white castle, but
as it rose into view, she shrank back – fearing her father’s wrath. She decided
to sit on the edge of the forest, and see if she could see him, but the
servants of her father saw her sitting there. They called to her father,
saying, “Your daughter wants to come home, but she is afraid of coming in the
gate!” The king quickly stood from his table and ran to the wall, staring out
at his torn and ashamed daughter.
The princess stood up, ready to
run back into the forest, but she saw the loving tears on her father’s cheeks.
Her father ran to her and held her tightly, carrying her back to the castle,
telling her lovingly that he missed her and would take care of her always. Her
apologies were listened to and he brushed back her hair, and held her face,
telling her that she shouldn’t have run away and that he had been waiting for
her to simply call on him and he would have run to her just as he did by the
forest.
Her tears fell down her face
into the beautiful robe he wore as he held her, telling her that she didn’t
have to be afraid. For a long time, he cradled her in his arms. He would wash
her wounds every day, reducing the scars and erasing the pain, and telling her
that the prince was on his way, and that he would be here and take care of her
just as he was now, holding her and caring for her always. He smiled down at
his daughter, as she kept her eyes peeled for the prince that would come.
The
girl had expected trumpets and a resounding yell from the outer court when the
prince came, but instead, he simply walked in the front door of the castle and
saw her sitting in her father’s arms. He came up to her father and held his
hand out, “May I please have this dance?”
The
girl looked up into her father’s face, and he smiled and nodded to her. The
princess took the prince’s hands and she looked into his eyes, fearful of
letting him dance with her. She feared that he would wince at seeing her scars
when her sleeves came up. She feared that he would let her go in the middle of
it. She feared letting him into her heart.
The
prince’s gaze was tender, though. It wasn’t hungry like so many faces she’d
seen, it wasn’t taking advantage of her. He gazed into her eyes as if looking
for her pain, looking for where he could place a bandage to make her feel
better. His grip was strong on her hands and he walked with strength, placing
his feet where he intended, and leading her.
Both
of them would look back at the father who would nod and smile at them,
sometimes pointing where the next step should be in their dance, and their
laughter filled the halls. The prince swung her about, holding tightly, and he
placed her back down, letting her catch her breath. Soon, the dance was over,
and he bowed to her, kissing her hand, and telling her that he would return
soon, and they would dance again.
She sat back at her father’s
feet and asked if he was the one that he had been telling her to wait for. The
old king simply smiled down at her, brushing her hair aside. “Spend time with
me, my daughter. And when he returns, your dance will be even sweeter.”
While sometimes the girl thought
back on the old arrow wound she received on the outer wall of the castle, she
knew that this prince loved her, and that her father had been the one to
arrange the dance. She knew the arrow wouldn’t fly.
And so she waited patiently in
the presence of her father.
