Once upon a time….

 

There lived a beautiful princess whose lush brown hair, dazzling blue eyes, and unparalleled radiant smile and compassionate heart stunned all the aristocrats of the land. Everyone, including the dukes, the barons, counts and earls, kings and princes of all the kingdoms wanted nothing more than to marry her, for as the common folk would say, “She was more beautiful than Snow White”. Time and time again, aristocrats from all seven kingdoms came to express their love of the princess, but she would always politely decline, stating she was far too young and wished to stay a maiden.

 

But the truth of the matter was quite different. It was not that the beautiful princess was too young, she had already turned sixteen, but the reality was that the princess was already committed in an affair, however, an affair between her and a peasant boy - an affair deemed illegal in the all the seven kingdoms. The beautiful princess could only marry an aristocratic noblemen, but the princess only loved the peasant boy, who, despite his social status, possessed the purest heart in all the entire kingdom. Thus, this affair the princess kept secret, and noone, not even her father, knew.

 

But on the peak of a hill in the valleys, an envious witch began taking notice of the beautiful princess. The envious witch never experienced love before, for her ugly looks and jealous nature scared everyone away. And, as envious as the witch was, not being able to experience love herself, she hated anyone else that could. When the envious witch heard of the beautiful princess, and of how all the aristocrats of the land wanted to marry her, the envious witch was furious with jealousy. The witch thought to herself, if I can’t experience love, nor will you, and with that, the witch witch confronted her magical cauldron.

 

“Oh magic cauldron on the ground, tell me how I may ruin the beautiful princess so that she may never find love,” the envious witch demanded.

 

“To ruin the love of the princess you speak of, you know of a secret she now holds. The beautiful princess, though loved by many, herself loves only one, the peasant boy. You must separate their love, and only that way will the beautiful princess never find love,” the cauldron responded.

 

And with that, the envious witch went down the hill to find the beautiful princes and to end her love. Only six days later, the envious witch came across the princess in a flowery meadow all alone. She floated to the princess, and said in her wicked voice:

 

“Hey child, I hear you the most beautiful princess in all the lands, but yet you love a peasant boy? You know that is banned…”

 

“How did you know that?” the princess demanded in surprise.

 

“I know everything, my child. There’s nothing you can hide from me. I even know where he lives. Now, listen up, my dear, if you do not do as I say, I will murder him.” The witch threatened.

 

“No, you cannot murder him, I love him. But what is it that you want me to do?” the princess asked in terror.

 

“You must hold a contest for the princes of all seven kingdoms, and marry yourself to one of them. You must separate yourself from the peasant boy in cold heart, and never speak to him again, else I will cast a spell on him so that his innards explode and he chopped to bits and pieces.” The witch reprimanded.

 

“But why must you make me do that? I don't even know you?”

 

“Because if I can’t have love, no one can! Now do it or you will mourn over the grave of the peasant boy’s grave.”

 

With that the beautiful princess was left no choice. She loved the peasant boy far too much to let the witch murder him. The princess reluctantly agreed. The next day, she sent her messenger to the peasant boy, denouncing their love and that she never loved the peasant boy, and would soon marry someone more worthy. The princess then announced to all seven kingdoms that she would hold a contest to determine who would be her prince.

 

Meanwhile, the princess felt terrible. She knew the only person she would ever love and who truly loved on for who she is, not just her looks, was the peasant boy, who gleamed of the purest of hearts in the entire kingdom. But after a while, despite what the princess had thought, the peasant boy never responded. Perhaps, she thought to herself, the peasant boy does not love me like I thought.

 

When the day of the tournament came, a total of 101 princes came, all of whom anxious to make the beautiful princess their bride. With reluctance and sadness in her eyes, she addressed the princes:

 

“Good day princes of the seven kingdom, I am the beautiful princess, and I am honored today to have you here. The contest which we all await, will be comprised of three trials to determine which one of you are worthy of being my prince.”

 

Then, from behind the princess came the witch, only she was disguised as a fairy godmother. She then waved her wand, created a tiny build with 101 columns and walls, shrank the princes into the size of an ant and magically placed them in individual columns. She then turned to the princess and smirked, “The first trial is greed”. The princess then watched helplessly as she watched the tiny men make their way down the column slowly. Again, the witch waved her wand, and this time, her magic created a massive pile of gold in front of each prince. Perhaps more gold than had the entire kingdom itself. In front of each prince was a sign which read,

 

Yield princes of the seven kingdoms,

Let not your senses of greed be numbed,

Take this gold and end your journey here,

And as for the princess do not care,

For if you would so plainly see,

This gold is more important to thee.

 

The princes were all awed, but their next decisions were much different. More than half of the princes were so amazed by the gold that they took the offer, and now only 51 remained unfazed and continued down the columns. The beautiful princess was stunned, for she did not know how greedy men were. The envious witch then waved her wand again and all the princes who took the gold and poured in their eyes and ears molton silver as an enchanted knife chopped off each of their fingers and toes and split open their stomachs, as they were fed to the wild dogs, all the while being kept alive by the witch’s magic. The beautiful princess gasped at her cruelty but dared not speak against it.

 

The envious witch then turned to the princess and uttered, “Now we test their lust”. The witch then waved her wand and created in front of each prince a dozen beautiful young girls wearing tempting clothes all calling for the attention of the prince. A sign once again appeared in front of each prince, this time reading:

 

Yield princes of the seven kingdoms,

Let not your senses of lust be numbed,

Take these girls and end your journey here,

And as for the princess do not care,

For if you would so plainly see,

These women are more pleasurable to thee.

 

Again, more than half the princes took the offer, and began sexualizing with the teenage girls and the remaining 22 princes continued on their way ignoring the girls. The beautiful princess was shocked, for she did not know how lustful men could be. The witch then waved her wand at all the men who accepted the offer and spawned a spear for each one of them which then magically pierced through their throat and out their other end as they were hanged over a bonfire and roasted like a pig monkeys began tearing off pieces of their body to eat all while the witch’s magic kept them alive. Once again, the princess was disgusted of the witch’s cruelty, but dared not speak a word.

 

The envious witch then turned to the princess and said, “Now we test their courage”. The witch then waved her wand and appeared a five thousand snakes all moving towards the princes. A sign then appeared in front of each prince reading:

 

Yield princes of the seven kingdoms,

Let not your senses of fear be numbed,

Evade these snakes and end your journey here,

And as for the princess do not care,

For if you would so plainly see,

These snakes are dangerous to thee.

 

Again, more than half of the princes cowarded and ran the other way, with the remaining 6 charging at the snakes only to find that these snakes were but illusions. The beautiful princess was shocked of the cowardice of the men who fled. The witch then banished the cowards into a the burning layers of Hell itself as Hades devoured the souls of each prince one by one, but the princes were unable to die for they were already dead. The beautiful princess became fearful of the envious witch's cruelty but did not dare speak a word. The witch then waved her wand again and brought the 6 remaining princes back to their human size.

 

“Oh envious witch, there are 6 remaining princes, how may I know who to pick?” the princess questioned.

 

“I know, this is how….” the witch murmured as reveal her true form and screamed in laughter, “by testing their love straight on!”

 

The princes were all shocked, and once again the witch spoke, “If you princes do not give up for this princess, then I will torture you day and night and you will live  wretched lives.”

 

As the witch expected, five of the princes wailed and ran off to protect their lives, but to her surprise, one prince remained. The witch was stunned, but believed the prince was only putting up an act.

 

“Hahahahaha, if you, my dear prince truly loves this beautiful princess, then I will destroy her and you yourself will never find love”.

 

But despite the threat, the prince did not budge.

 

The princess, though impressed, told the prince, “I am sorry, but I do not love you. My heart belongs to the Peasant boy, please, let me die, and you may live to find a better lady”.

 

The prince smiled, and peeled off his fake mustache to reveal he was in fact the peasant boy. He replied, “It’s me, beautiful princess. I am here to save you. True love does not come from marriage or being in a relationship; it comes from the will to sacrifice anything for you, including my life,” the prince spoke before turning to the witch and saying, “Oh envious witch, take my life today and spare my love”.

 

The envious witch, believing the prince was surely putting up an act, waved her wand and cast a death spell at the peasant boy prince, but his pure heart deflected the spell at the witch and the witch melted to a puddle of green blood.

 

The kingdoms, having heard of this story, then changed the law which prohibited love between nobility and the peasantry, and the beautiful princess and peasant boy married and lived happily ever after.

 

The end.