Story Saturday: The Princess and the Poet

"The Princess and the Poet"

Once upon a time, there was a quiet princess named Mary. It wasn't that Mary was shy. She actually had a lot to say, but she was cursed by a fairy as a baby to only be able to speak if the words rhyme. It was common in her kingdom for fairies to curse princesses in order to guarantee they would one day marry. The king and queen thought this was the most innocuous of the options the fairy provided for their daughter to find love, so they agreed to it. While Mary was a prolific writer, she was awful at poetry. She soon became known as the silent princess.

One day, Princess Mary went to the market to purchase a new quill. This was something she did often. She went through many quills trying to make rhymes that didn't work and crossing them out, smearing ink everywhere and breaking the sharp tip of the quill. The shopkeeper, who knew her well, had a rare gift for her during this visit.

"It was the strangest thing," he said. "I was gathering supplies to sell at my shop when I heard a voice coming from one of the boxes. Yet, when I opened it, there was nothing inside but some new quills. Still, the voice wouldn't stop tormenting me with incessant rhyming. That was when I realized one of the quills was talking! Said he was a poet, he did. Since everyone in the kingdom knows about your condition as the Silent Princess, I thought maybe a talking quill would be just what you needed, so I saved it for you, your highness."

With that, the merchant presented Mary with a grand feathered quill with bristles of violet and crimson. At the bottom of the quill was a small notch that seemed to form a mouth. The bristles vibrated as though there was a strong breeze, but Mary felt no breeze.

"What good fortune has befallen me

For such a lovely princess I do see," said the quill.

Princess Mary clapped her hands in delight. Not only could the quill talk, but it also rhymed! This was exactly what she needed. She paid the shopkeeper well and took the quill home with her, eager to learn how to rhyme better.

When Mary returned to the castle, she gave the quill a spot of honor on her writing desk and curtsied to it.

"Pleased to  meet you as well

I think we'll get along just swell," responded the quill.

Mary tried to respond, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't come up with a rhyme. In frustration, she sat at her desk and began writing.

My name is Mary, and I wish to know ask say

What fate has befallen you...

Mary was about to give up her attempt at a rhyme when the quill leaped out of her hand and finished her rhyme for her.

on this fine day.

Mary nodded in excitement and repeated the words out loud.

"My name is Mary, and I wish to say what fate has befallen you on this fine day!"

"So you do speak!" exclaimed the quill. "Such a lovely voice too. To answer your question, I am a poet who offended a witch with my incessant rhymes. Now I must be a quill until the end of times."

That's awful! wrote Mary. I wish I could help. But I'm also cursed I also have a curse...

The quill finished her sentence yet again.

...on myself.

Mary repeated the words out loud.

"So, you can only talk in rhyme, eh?" asked the quill. "That's not so bad. I'll teach you how, so don't be sad."

Over the next few weeks, Mary's reputation as the Silent Princess had all but vanished as she practiced rhyming with her new friend day in and day out. Her parents were shocked by how good she had become at poetry almost overnight, but when they asked her what the secret was, she would only respond with silence. While the poet taught her to rhyme, she got to know him better. She learned that he came from an impoverished household and dreamed of becoming a great bard, but those dreams were destroyed the day the witch cursed him. He had been heartbroken ever since. She grew to care deeply for the poet. On her eighteenth birthday, she recited a rhyme to him that she had been working on a secret.

"Today I will dance in a gown of blue

With princes from far and wide

But the only one I want is you

Forever by my side."

With that, there was a flash of light, and the quill turned into a handsome bard, who bowed graciously to the princess.

"Did I break your curse?" she asked. Her hands flew to her mouth. For the first time in her life, she realized that she had uttered a sentence without rhyming.

"It looks like my curse is not the only one that has been broken tonight," said the poet.

The princess got her wish of dancing at her birthday ball with her beloved poet. Now that he was restored to his original form, he was able to finally live out his dreams as the royal bard and the princess's true love. His broken heart was mended.