A fairytale: Part II

...Continued (read Part I here)

The prince and princess rode on, finally safe from the threat of capture by the water king.  After they traveled a small distance, they spotted a beautiful town at the end of the road.  The prince, who was quite homesick, very much desired to visit, but the princess was apprehensive.  She implored him not to venture there, stating that her heart forbade misfortune in that place.  The prince assured her he only wanted to stay for a short while, and then they would promptly resume their journey.

"It's easy enough to visit there, but will it be so easy to return?" the princess wondered aloud. "Very well... if you absolutely desire it, then go.  I will wait for you here in the form of a white stone.  But beware, my beloved - the king, queen, and their daughter the princess will come out to greet you... with them shall be a beautiful little boy.  Don't kiss him, for if you do, you will forget me at once and will never see me again.  I shall perish in despair.  I will wait for you here for three days, and if you don't return in that time... I will die."

The prince kissed her reassuringly and rode into the town.  One day passed, a second passed, and the third also passed... the prince did not come back. The poor princess!  The king, queen, and their daughter the princess of the village had come out to meet him just as the water princess predicted, and with them walked a little boy, a curly-headed chatterbox with eyes as bright as stars. The child rushed straight into the prince's arms - the prince was so captivated by the beauty of the lad that he forgot everything his beloved had warned him of, and he kissed the child affectionately. In that moment his memory was darkened, and he utterly forgot the love of his life, the one who had saved him from ultimate demise - the poor water princess.

There she laid as a white stone by the wayside in the woods.  When the third day passed and the prince did not return, she transformed herself into a cornflower, and sprouted among the rye by the roadside.

"Here I shall stay; maybe some passerby will pull me up or trample me into the ground," said the heartbroken girl, and tears like dew drops glittered on the azure petals. Just then, an old man came along the road and noticed the lonely cornflower.  He was captivated by its beauty, so he extracted it carefully from the ground and carried it home.  He set it in a flower pot, watered it, and began to nurture it attentively.  Then strange things began to happen in the elderly gentleman's house... he would awaken in the morning and find that everything in the house was clean and already set in order; nowhere did he find so much as a speck of dust remaining.  When he would leave, later returning home for lunch at noon, the food was prepared and the table set; all he had to do was sit down and eat, and the bounty was plenty. The old man wondered how this was happening, who was behind it all.  He was just a simple villager that lived on his own, with no family to look after him.  Terror soon began to take possession of him, and he decided to seek answers from an old witch in the village who was wise in the ways of magic.

"Do this," the witch advised him.  "Arise before the first morning dawn, before the cock crows to announce daylight, and notice diligently what begins to stir first in the house.  That which does stir, cover with this napkin; what will happen further, you will see."
 
That night, the old man didn't sleep a wink.  As soon as the first gleam of light appeared and things began to be visible in the house, he saw how the cornflower suddenly moved in the flower pot - sprang out even, and began to move about the room!  Simultaneously, everything began to put itself in its place - the dust began to sweep itself clean away, and the fire kindled itself in the stove. The old man bounded out of his bed and placed the cloth over the flower as it endeavored to escape.  And lo! the flower became a beautiful damsel -- the water king's youngest daughter.

"What have you done?" cried the princess. "Why have you brought life back again to me? My betrothed, my prince, has forgotten me, and therefore, life has become distasteful to me."

The old man realized that the young prince who had recently arrived in town was the love of which she spoke.  He sympathetically bore her the bad news.  "Your betrothed is going to be married today; the wedding feast is ready, and the guests are beginning to assemble."
 
The princess wept, but soon dried her tears, and ventured into the town dressed like a village girl. She approached the palace and snuck into the royal kitchen, where there was great noise and bustle. She found the head chef, and with humble and attractive grace said in a sweet voice, "Dear sir, please do me one favor; allow me to make a wedding cake for the prince."  Occupied with work, the first impulse of the chef was to send the girl away... but when he looked at her, the words died on his lips, his heart softened, and he answered kindly, "My beauty of beauties!  Do what you will; I will present your cake to the prince myself."

The giant wedding cake was carried out on a silver platter and placed before all the invited guests sitting at the royal table.  The head chef presented to the prince a silver knife with which to cut it.  However, scarce had the prince made a mark in the side of the cake when a pair of pigeons burst forth from it - a gray tom and a white hen.  The tom walked along the table, and the hen pigeon walked after him, cooing:

Stay, stay, my pigeonet, oh stay!
Don't from thy true love flee away;
My faithless lover I pursue,
Unexpected Prince like unto,

The Water Princess did he betray.

Within seconds of hearing this cooing of the pigeon, the prince regained his lost recollection, bounded from the table to the door and frantically tore it open.  Behind it the water princess was waiting for him; she took him by the hand, and together they ran out of the palace toward a bridled horse.  The prince and water princess climbed onto the horse's back and galloped down the road without stopping until at last they reached the kingdom of the prince's father. The king and queen received them with joy and merriment, and didn't wait long before preparing a magnificent wedding for the young couple... and they lived happily ever after.



*Sources 
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/sfs/sfs25.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Kojata

*Note: Some excerpts are copied directly from the sources cited above.  I re-worded and paraphrased the text to suit the oral version of this story conveyed to me by my grandmother as I remember it.

A fairytale: Part I

This is a folktale from the old country,  a bedtime story my grandmother used to tell me when I was a little girl.  My memory of the entire story is foggy, although I do remember specific bits and pieces of it - because of that, I was able to Google folktales from Harper's country, and was overjoyed to find a version very similar to the one my grandmother told me, allowing me to fill in the blanks.  Using a few different resources, I recreated the story my grandmother used to entertain me with, and I'm more than happy now that I'll be able to pass this down to both of my daughters as well.  I thought I would share it with my readers too.   Enjoy!

Once upon a time, there was a king and a queen who had no children. One day, the king decided to embark on a hunting trip throughout all the far reaches of his vast kingdom.  The queen did not wish for the king to leave, but he reassured her that he would return in several months time.  He mounted his horse and set off into the forest.

For nine months he traveled long distances, exploring wild parts of the countryside he had never ventured to before.  One evening at sunset, after traveling a long distance and being quite thirsty, he found a spring with a silver cup floating in it. Trying to grab the cup was not successful; it always evaded his hands.  Parched and weary, he gave up on trying to catch the cup and dropped to his knees to drink directly from the cool, sparkling pool of water.  His long beard dipped beneath the surface and was fully submerged.  When he was finished, he tried to sit up, but something had caught his beard and would not let go.  He pulled and pulled, but whatever it was would not release it's grasp.  Finally, the king cried out, "Please, please, let go of my beard!"  Suddenly, something became visible through the ripples.  It was another king under the water, which gripped the first king's beard firmly by his hands.  The second king stared at him, and after a moment he began to speak, "You drank from my personal spring.  I will not free you until you promise to give me something."

The first king, who was quite frightened, urgently begged, "Yes!  Yes, I will give you anything you ask!  Just please let go!"

The water king chuckled and said, "I want you to give me the most precious thing in your palace, which was not there when you left."

The king, who was in a lot of pain, did not hesitate to agree.  The water king immediately let go of his beard, and sank beneath the waters until he could no longer be seen.  The frightened king jumped to his feet, and immediately set off for home.

Upon his return to the palace, he learned that his wife had bore a son.  As the queen placed the infant into his father's arms, the king felt love like he'd never felt before fiercely course throughout his body, and he began to weep uncontrollably as he clutched the baby to his breast.  This was what he had unknowingly promised to the king in the water.  He decided that he would forget all about the exchange in the forest, and he did not reveal the tale of his encounter to a soul.

The years passed quietly, and the unexpected prince grew into a young man.   Walking along the path through the woods one afternoon, an old man appeared to him out of nowhere.  The prince ordered the old man to make way so he could pass, but the old man only stared at him angrily.  The prince was rattled by the old man's fierce expression, and he began to feel uneasy.  Finally, the old man growled, "Give your father a message for me.  Tell him to make good on his promise."  Then he vanished.  The prince sprinted home and told his father what had happened.  The king's face dropped, and he sank into his chair.  The young prince was both alarmed and confused by his father's reaction, and he begged his father to explain what this meant.  The king sadly told him the truth about the promise he'd made many years ago.  The prince exclaimed that he must go then so his father could keep his honor, despite the protests from his royal parents.  The prince insisted, and his worried and heartbroken parents watched as their son set off on the path through the forest, wondering if they would ever see their boy again.

The prince traveled day and night, searching for the spring with the silver cup.   One warm night, he came to a pond where 12 swans were swimming under the silver moonlight.  He would have thought nothing of it, except he noticed 12 white gowns lying on the shore.  He snatched one of the dresses, then hid in the shrubs to watch and wait. After a short time, the birds came ashore and changed into maidens, all identical in appearance and beauty.  They slipped into their dresses, stamped their feet, and disappeared below the ground... all except one.  The swan paced about fretfully, until the prince stepped out from the brush holding the gown.  She spoke in the most melodious voice the prince had ever heard, begging him to return her gown to her.  "Oh please, sir, please give me back my clothes!"

"Why?" asked the prince.  "Who are you?"

"I am the youngest daughter of the king your father had promised you to.  If you give me back my gown, I will take you to him, and I promise I will help you."

The prince obliged her request, and gave her back her gown.  The swan transformed into a beautiful woman and slipped into her dress.  She took his hand, stamped her foot on the ground, and suddenly they both fell beneath the surface until they landed in the mysterious water king's underground palace.

The princess warned the prince that when he reached her father, he was to approach him on his knees, without any fear.  He obeyed her, although when her father spotted the prince coming toward him, he bellowed fearful yells. When he had nearly reached him, the king suddenly burst out laughing, and said it was well that he had not been frightened.  He then commanded the prince to build him a marble palace with the condition that it must be completed in one day... if the prince failed, he would die.

The prince was shown to his room, but he was filled with anxiety and fear and could not sleep.  The youngest daughter came to him as a bee, and she buzzed in his ear, "Why are you so restless, Prince?"

"Your father wants me to build him a marble palace in one day," the prince choked.  "How can I do that?  It's impossible!"

"Do not fear," the princess said. "I told you I will help you."

In the morning when the prince awoke, a glorious marble palace had been constructed.  The king was enraged that "the prince" had successfully completed the task he was given specifically to fail.  He told the prince the next day he would be given another task, which was to identify his youngest daughter apart from the rest of her identical sisters.  That night, the youngest daughter again flew into the prince's room as a bee, and whispered to him that she would be the one with the lady bug on her nose.  In the morning, a servant lead the prince to the king's throne, and before him stood the 12 daughters, all who looked exactly alike... except for the one at the end with a tiny ladybug on her nose.  The prince pointed her out, and the king released a huge yell and shook his fists.  He screamed at the prince, "Tomorrow you will make me a pair of boots, the finest boots ever been made for a king!  Do it, or die!"

Again, the prince returned to him room, worried and nervous.  How long will these tasks go on for?  That night, the youngest daughter came to his room again, and again asked why he was so troubled.  The prince lamented that he was no shoemaker, and that he might as well accept that his death was inevitable.  The horrified little bee princess exclaimed, "No, Prince, you shall not die!  We must escape together, or die together!  There's nothing else that can be done, so we shall flee."

She spat on the floor, and her saliva immediately froze.  She transformed into her lovely human form, then led the prince out of the room, locked the door and threw the key far away.  She took hold of his hands, stamped her foot, and they quickly ascended to the surface of the Earth, to the same place in which they had left it by the lake.  The prince called to his horse, swiftly mounted it pulling the princess up behind him, and they galloped off deep into the forest.

The water king sent his servants to fetch the prince when he did not arrive at the expected hour that morning.  The servants went to his room and found the door locked.  They knocked on it vigorously, and the spittle answered, "Anon!" in the prince's voice.  They carried this message back to the king, who was furious that the prince would dare to make him wait.  He stormed to the prince's room himself, and pounded on the door.  Again, the spittle called from the floor, "Anon!"  The king roared, and threw himself at the heavy wooden door with all his might, breaking it into splinters.  Once inside the room, he was bewildered as he realized it was empty.  Then he heard a deep, taunting laughter - the spittle on the floor was laughing at him!  The king flew into a rage and commanded his servants to find the prince and his daughter and bring them back at once, or face death themselves.  The terrified servants obeyed, and with their horses pursued the fleeing couple, quickly gaining on the prince and princess out of fear of losing their lives.

The prince heard their approaching horses far off in the distance, and he told the princess they were being followed.  The princess said, "Then we must hide, we have no time to spare."  She sprang from the horse and turned herself into a river, the prince into a bridge, the horse into a raven, and divided the forest path they fled on into three separate roads.  When the servants caught up to that area, the looked about confused... the tracks they had followed stopped abruptly at the bridge, and they didn't know which path to take.  Hesitantly, they turned about to go back to the water's king's palace.

"WHAT?"  boomed the water king upon hearing their news.  "You fools!  They were the bridge and the river!  How could you not see that?  Go back and retrieve them now, and don't return without them!"  The humiliated servants instantly recommenced the chase.

This time the princess heard the search party gaining on them, so she changed them and their horse into a dense, gloomy forest with many different roads.  When the servants approached, they saw an image of a horse with two riders speeding off on one of the paths, and they sped off right after them.  It seemed that they rode on for ages, when suddenly the image of the horse and it's riders vanished into thin air, leaving the servants to realize they were back in the same place where they first spotted the escapees.  They again turned around to bring news to the king, empty handed and afraid.

"My horse!  MY HORSE!  Get my horse ready, I'll find them myself!"  raged the king, and he flew off on his steed, into the night.

The princess sensed her father's presence gaining on them, and she said to the prince, "My father is chasing us now, but he can go no further than the first church, where his dominion ends.  Quickly, give me the golden cross around your neck."  The prince hastened to pull the chain over his head and placed the gleaming cross into the hands of the princess.  Swiftly, the princess tuned herself into a church, the prince into a priest, and the horse into a church bell, just in the nick of time as the water king arrived on the spot.

"Priest!  Have you seen some travelers come through this way on horseback?"  the king demanded.

"Yes," the prince disguised as a man of the cloth responded.  "Just moments ago the prince of the land came this way with the princess of the water.  They went into the church, performed their devotions, left a mass offering for your good health, and bade me to give you their regards should you ride through this way."

The king froze in his position, and slowly he liquified.  He splashed to the forest floor, and began to seep into the earth until the spot where he stood was dry.  He too returned to his palace empty handed, and the prince and princess journeyed on.

To be continued...

Giveaway winners announced!

Thank you so very much to everyone who donated, advocated, shared, prayed and cared. A big, huge thank you especially to my wonderful friend Susan  for orchestrating this fundraiser with another extraordinary lady, my friend Jennifer. It's because of those two very special women that there'll be no delay in bringing Harper home!

Please click here to find out who won!

What announcement number are we on? I've lost track!

We're submitted!!!!  

It won't be long now at all.  At ALL. 

I'm pinching myself to make sure this is real.  I can't believe how far we've come.  Honestly, I didn't think we'd make it this far at all after losing Owen.  When Harper showed up, everything clicked into place. 

I had a parent/teacher meeting with A.'s teacher yesterday.  We talked about the adoption and she said, "It's like it was meant to be!"  Yes, Miss B., it so is. :-)

So that's the latest and greatest with us.  Isn't it cool?!?  :-D

Final reminder:  Tomorrow is the LAST day to enter the Great Big Giveaway for New Life!    We still need a little more for airline tickets, since airfares are climbing at a ridiculous rates.  So if you want to be entered last minute, check out the rules HERE and enter today!  42 prizes to be had and you get to save an orphans life with a tax deductible donation... it's definitely a great way to end the week. :-)   Also, don't forget the Jenks family is also a part of the giveaway too, so if you donate to their FSP you will also be entered into the giveaway.  Remember, sharing the link to the Giveaway rules on facebook, Twitter, or whatever social networking site is an entry too!

Well... that didn't last long!

After some thinking, and some sound advice, I decided to make our blog public again!  I can't guarantee this will be permanent... it's a test phase, really.  I really don't like my blog being private, but this part of the process is pretty nerve wracking.
 
We're still waiting on word about our dossier submission.  There's a question about some paperwork that's come up on which we're waiting for an answer... prayers would be appreciated for that to work out in our favor.  Any paperwork delays now would probably cause me to officially go bananas.  I really can't stand the thought of one missing document holding up this child having a home and medical care in the U.S.  Let's pray that doesn't happen!

This is the last week for the Great Big Giveaway for New Life.  Since we're so close to being fully funded, the Jenks family has been added in.  They're bringing home two babies with Down Syndrome and are leaving in two weeks.  Our family could definitely use more funds since we just discovered that the cost of airfare has leaped significantly already, but the Jenks are also $6300 short from being fully funded.  If you choose to enter the giveaway this late in the game, then please consider making a donation to our family or the Jenks' (or both)!  Please share and pray as well.

The Carrington necklace Fundraiser is still in effect until June 16th.  80% of all the sales of this necklace will be donated to Harper's ransom!  Father's Day is coming up - why not treat yourself to a necklace in honor of Dad and help save a little girl's life at the same time? I'm sure you'd make him proud.

I know, hard to refuse, right??? :-D

Blog will be going private soon...

With a heavy heart and much regret, I have to make our blog private for a while.  I'd like to give everyone an opportunity to leave a comment with their e-mail address on this post so I can add those who would still like to  follow along.  I will not publish the comments with your e-mails, I will just add you in as an approved reader.  I really HATE having to do this, especially with such short notice, but unfortunately it's for security purposes.  So I'll be shutting down, just for a little while, starting sometime tomorrow night.

Thank you to those that have donated in the past few days (and everyone that's contributed altogether)!

I'll go public again eventually, but for now we gotta lay low.  Thank you for your understanding and continued support!

New Fundraiser for Harper starts tomorrow!

 UPDATE:  Please don't forget that the Great Big Giveaway is still running until May 25th too!  Check out this post on the Ironic Catholic for the list of prizes and how to enter!


Hi, everyone!   We've been on Cloud 9 for days.  Tomorrow will make a week that our dossier has been in country.  Maybe it'll be another week before we're submitted? 

As always, I have to graciously thank the donors who've contributed to our adoption fund for Harper in the past couple of days too... thank you, profusely, for helping us bring this darling girl home!

So here's the latest: we still have more funds to raise... not a lot, but enough to cover our estimate of adoption costs - we're SO close to that!  The estimate I originally came up with was somewhere in the middle between the high and low costs associated with adopting from Harper's country.  I originally calculated this last fall, when airfares were way down.  They're starting to rise, because for one, summer is coming, and also there's a variety of events that will be hosted in Europe this summer... the Olympics hosted in London definitely will have an impact on airfares, even though that's not where we're headed.

So, starting tomorrow and running through June 16th, 80% of all Carrington necklace sales by Joybelle Jewelry will benefit our adoption fund for Harper!  These are handmade adoption advocacy necklaces.  Please be aware that because they're handmade, shipping may take up to 2 -3 weeks.  Please visit Joybelle's Etsy shop here and buy a necklace for Harper's new life!

Pray * Advocate * Adopt