Once Upon a Time (No. 5)
I was the youngest daughter of three. My sisters were terribly vain and whenever our father would go to the Fair, they would ask for material things. My mother left the family while I was at a young age, but she left behind a satin purse where her name, Rose, was embroidered. I did not want a purse; I had no use for one after living at home with my father and two sisters all my life. I asked for a red rose.
My sisters spent their days conceiving of all the rich and wonderful men they could marry with the new dresses they were about to get when Father returned home. Such daydreaming was not above me, but I knew better. It was going to be arranged and no matter how much I disliked my future husband, there was nothing to deny it. None of the villager’s sons were very nice or handsome and I must admit, you had to settle for one of those traits or the other, never both.
Father came home and forgot the red rose. My sisters were ecstatic and reveled in the fact that I had no gift. The next time my sisters asked for jewelry and I, a red rose. Again, my father forgot. By this time I was tired of getting harassed and did not care for the rose except that it was the only gift that I would actually cherish. Though it wasn’t as useful as a dress or slippers, I wanted to distance myself from my sisters and did not care about appearing beautiful. Sure, I wasn’t the prettiest of my sisters. I was not slender or graceful and my structure was thick, my hair was thin and my face was covered in blemishes. I would lie threefold if I said I didn’t care, but I didn’t see anything to do about it.
The third time Father set out, he came back with a red rose. However, he also said that having this rose trapped me into marriage with a stranger, whose father he bought it from. Quite a price to pay for something I was not so keen on having in the first place! I wish my father had recognized that I was not upset that he came home empty handed, but he aimed to please all of his daughters, and I was no exception. So I put the rose on my windowsill and waited for the approaching gentleman.
Little did I know he would come in the form of a falcon and this unusual falcon would transform into a man that I did not feel I could possibly deserve. And how silly that it turned out he felt the same way. Not to bore you with details, but after talking first and finding out that he was a prince, he left as a falcon the next morning and myself, in much better spirits.
The next night, he came again and all because I had the red rose in my window. It was only the next morning that I realized my sisters were jealous and wanting to catch me in the wrong, stayed at my door eavesdropping. This brought more ridicule behind Father’s back, which ended in me going to my bedroom early and going to sleep just as fast. The middle daughter, Chriselda, snuck into my room and, leaving the flower, set a trap for this unusual guest of mine. I found out much later that he got caught and wounded in the trap and after becoming disheartened, left for his kingdom miles away. The commotion woke me up, but I was too tired to discover what it was before he was long gone.
As soon as I did, however, I wasted no time in trying to find him. I don’t feel like recounting the entire tale with all the details, but I managed to reach a kingdom where he was being held prisoner by a witch who wished to marry him. Her weakness was unusual and expensive trinkets, so I managed to give them to her in order to be by his side. She kept him under a spell at this time, but never the less, I was determined to get him away from her. Perhaps I was starting to love him, which after only two nights with me, was quite a feat. I did not get caught in appearances so easily and was proud to consider myself a very clever and self-supporting person.
On the last night before the wedding day, I found a red rose on the windowsill. I figured that was how she managed to get him to her castle and he must have figured that I hadn’t lost heart after all, but discovered only too late that it was the wrong window. But I wasn’t sure how he could mistake a castle for a cottage, so I picked up the flower and flung it as hard as I could out the window. I’m not sure why, but he woke up just then and after seeing me and sharing a bit of what had happened (he was drawn by the rose but only because he had no choice in the matter) we escaped the castle. It was quite easy for me to pretend I was the castle falconer because none of the guards knew that there was one, let alone what he or she looked like.
We ended up parting ways a little ways on my journey and I went the long way back to my village. I told you before, I wasn’t one to be married off just because I saved the prince’s life and had actually talked to him thrice. I still used the rose to call him, yes, but those were only on occasion when I wanted to talk to someone. My sisters were not satisfactory friends and I didn’t have anyone else. That night that he admitted that he was completely lost in love with me and I was torturing him with being indecisive, I gave in and got married. I thought that if he could tell me that, honestly, and have trouble saying it, he probably had my best interests in mind.
My sisters were less than ecstatic, but they dealt with it fine. They both married handsome men of the village who were moderately rich. I never followed up on them because I didn’t know how I would react if I found out they were abused or put in jail for heavy spending or whatever misfortune that was sure to befall them. However hard to get I was and however much I disliked my sisters for ridiculing me, I don’t want to see them hurt.
I’m living happily as Queen Victoria Stone in the castle of Summerfalls and am enjoying a long co-reign with my husband. It’s been quite a distance for a woodcutter’s daughter, but I can’t forget where I come from. And the red rose is still in my windowsill with no sign of ever wilting.
(Here is the fairy tale this account is based off of.)
