The lonely princess

Once upon a time, in a kingdom near the sea, there was a royal family. They lived in a big old castle on a high rock next to the water. The king and queen only had one child, a young girl, named Muriel. Everybody near and far admired her for her astonishing beauty. Kings from all the neighboring kingdoms sent their young sons over to the seaside castle to ask her father for her hand in marriage. But he turned them all down, he didn’t think any of them were qualified for his only child. At first Muriel did not care about it. She was young, without a care in the world and she lived a happy life. But eventually, when she grew more into a woman, she started noticing the handsome princes that would occasionally stand out of the usual boring and ugly contenders. She told her father she would like to talk to them herself, and maybe even decide for herself whether she liked a young prince or not. Her father was overprotective of his daughter, so he got scared by her demands, because he felt that she was growing up and would become an independent woman sooner rather than later. So he decided to keep his daughter hidden from the world, and the world hidden from her, until he thought they were ready for each other.

So he ordered his people to build her a chamber in the rocks towards the ocean. His finest craftsmen carved out a spacious room below the castle square, with some big windows overlooking the ocean. It took a lot of effort and time, but finally the room was ready. A beautiful, large room, with a king (or in this case princess) sized bed, the finest carpets on the floor all the things a woman would need in her chambers. Even Muriel liked it, except for one thing: the door. The door itself wasn’t the problem, it was the problem the door faced to her. It limited her free moving space. At the outside of the door was a constant two man guard. She could only get out with the king’s permission or at his request. Essentially she was being captured in her own castle by her own parents. And that made her very sad. Because her room was close enough to the square so she could hear all the people going about their business: working, talking, laughing, crying, everything people together do. But she could never be part of it. Well, only if her father brought her up now and again to show her to a hopeful prince. Unfortunately, at those times it wasn’t real life she’d get a taste of, it was all a big show. And in the end, the ‘star’ of the show went backstage again, and the spectator, the naïve young prince, left unsatisfied and with empty hands. That’s the theatre of life for you…

Most of the times Muriel filled her days with drawing pictures. She drew her imagination, which often featured a handsome white prince on a beautiful horse, coming to her rescue, sweeping her of her feet and taking her away to his far away and mysterious land. While drawing, she often stared out of the window. Her idea of ‘outside’ soon became limited to the blue vastness of the endless waters. Once every couple of weeks in the distance a ship sailed by. She always hoped the ship would turn towards the shore and on the bow would be her prince. But alas, the ships all sailed on and were consumed by the sides of her window and disappeared into a monotonous past. The weeks passed. The weeks turned into months. And then the months started to pass. The months gave their rhythm to the years, which in turn started passing. Muriel grew older, but every day, month and year more beautiful. She was out in public less and less, but every time she was, it turned into a great gathering. Because the rumors of her incomparable beauty spread through the lands faster than the wind. And she was more beautiful every time a new young prince showed up in hope, but she was also paler every time, for being captured in her room all the time. As always, the princes would leave the castle disappointed for secretly thinking they could be the one, but on the other hand also in awe of the great beauty of princess Muriel.

Somewhere along all those pointless visits, Muriel lost hope to be rescued from her sad existence. So when one day a ship emerged on one side of the borders of her ‘outside’, she didn’t really pay attention to it. It would just reverse its appearance as soon as it reached the other side of the window, and then be gone forever. But after a while the ship was still there. She looked again. The ship was still there, and if her eyes did not mistake her, it was actually a bit bigger then before. Her eyes did not mistake her, the ship was coming straight at her, in the dead center of the window. So often had she dreamed this to happen, that now she couldn’t believe it. She rubbed her eyes, blinked heavily a few times, and then looked again. Still disbelief. A pinch in her arm, pain, looking again. Finally she believed it. An actual real world ship was coming to the shores of the kingdom! She took her chair and placed it in front of the window. She sat down, with her elbows on the window sill, her head in her hands. She stared and waited. Waited for the ship to come closer. If it weren’t for the wind rocking the ship side to side, someone looking at the scene from a distance would almost think he was looking at a portrait, so still Muriel sat. Muriel didn’t move, because she was totally focused on the approaching vessel. All the dreams of days, months, years past were currently combined in the beautiful sad face of the lonely princess. Her passionate belief that her dream prince was on the ship and was on his way to rescue her bordered on knowing it was true.

It turned dark outside. The ship was still too far away to reach land in time, so it would cast out its anchors on sea, and dock in the harbor the next morning. That night the young princess slept a restless sleep, filled with dreams and hopes. When the first rays of sun illuminated her pale face, she awoke. Immediately she looked out the window, to see if it wasn’t all just another dream. The ship was still there. She could see sailors busy making the ship ready for the last short part of its voyage. Muriel got dressed, and put on her most beautiful outfit, decorated her hair and wore some fine jewels. The ship arrived, and was fastened to the shore. A messenger disembarked and rushed to the castle. He was admitted before the king, and not after long guards came down to Muriels room to get her. The prince of a far away country wanted to meet the legendary pale princess and ask for her hand in marriage. In the distance the skies rumbled, a thunderstorm was on its way. Clouds gathered over the kingdom and rain seemed inevitable. Muriel followed the guards, as she had done countless times before. But this time was different. This time hope filled her heart, and made her bounce over the stairs as if she were weightless. To her the dark clouds were just a silver lining to the sun in her mind, the approaching thunder would just set her heart on fire. The prince had proposed to meet on the field by the harbor, so she joined the parade down to the docks, led by her father and mother.

Upon arrival, the prince emerged from the tent his party had set up to shelter him from the expected rain. With a friendly but firm voice the prince spoke: “Thank you my good king and queen, for the honor of welcoming me to your wonderful country yourself. I feel humble in your presence, and I will not disgrace your hospitality.” As he spoke, his eyes wandered through the parade, stopped and fixed when they found princess Muriel. He stuttered a bit as he presented his gifts to the royal couple, so quickly and with a small blush on his cheeks he averted his eyes from her and focused on his duties again. But that single moment, those few seconds of eye contact, had sparked a fire inside of the owners of those four eyes, a fire bigger than the one coming in the form of the enormous thunder. In the distance the rumble predicted not much good. “Please accept these humble gifts as a token of my appreciation.” He waved to his servants, who came forward with an array of gifts, big and small. They all looked very exotic – the gifts and the servants. With a courteous nod the king accepted the gifts, and they exchanged hands from servant to servant. “On behalf of my wife and all my people I welcome you to my home, and I hope your stay will be fitting for such an honorable man such as you.” The pleasantries continued, a ritual all of them must have performed countless times, and in the meantime the princes eyes wandered off again. They met Muriels eyes, and were instantly locked. What a spark, what a feeling! The prince had never felt so alive! And he was sure the princess felt the same.

What a spark, what a feeling! The princess had never felt so alive! And she was sure the prince felt the same. She thought to herself: “This is the love of my life, this is the one I’ve been waiting for, this is the one who has kept my hope alive.” Even though she didn’t know him, she knew in her heart that it was good. She hoped the obligated conversation would be over sooner rather than later, and that her dream prince would come to the really important part: her. Apparently the prince had the same thoughts, because he seemed to loose his patience, because when he saw the chance, he asked straight away: “Dear king and queen, I have traveled many weeks over the ocean, to come and see the subject of this legendary tale myself, the tale of the beautiful princess waiting for the one that is right, and growing more beautiful every day. And now I have seen her in reality, and the story tellers have been too modest. She is even more beautiful than any man can describe! Forgive me my rudeness, but this is something I have to do.” In saying this, he passed the couple and elegantly but firmly walked up to Muriel. He sat down on his knee, and looked Muriel decidedly in her eyes. “Princess Muriel, creature so divinely beautiful, will you do me the honor of making me the happiest man in the world, of standing by my side forever to rule my… our kingdom justly and wise, and will you be the one to give me a big and loving family. Sweet princess Muriel, will you be my wife?” Muriel looked past the prince to her parents. The dark clouds of the coming thunderstorm caused them to show as sinister silhouettes, but she could still see their faces clearly. From their eyes a tear rolled down over their faces, and they both nodded. Muriel looked at her prince, and after a second that seemed to last a lifetime, she exclaimed “Yes! I will be your wife, I want to be happy with you forever!” Not a fraction of a second after she had agreed to marry him, thunder broke loose with a mighty rumble, as if the world agreed to this historic union. The thunder was followed by a bolt of lightning that illuminated the entire kingdom in a fierce but extremely magnificent display of power. The timing couldn’t have been better.

So Muriel, the princess of many stories that everyone told about her had finally started her own story. Later that same day they sailed out, the prince and princess on the stern of the ship. They looked very happy together, holding hands and smiling the biggest smile. They were waved off by everyone that was in or around the castle that day. They headed for the open sea. Towards the adventures and stories of the unknown. Over the stormy waves they yelled “Farewell everybody, we will go where no one has ever gone, we will let the wind take us where it wants, but always together! And we will be happy!” They may have said some more, but the distance and the storm stole their words from the sky. Just before the ship crossed the horizon a last, a very bright bolt of lightning lit up the sky one more time, to send the happy couple of on their amazing journey through life.