I have grown up simply enraptured by Disney fairytales… I can’t name many girls and boys who would say that they didn’t.
As I grew older, my love of fairy tales did not diminish and so here I am, an (almost) 22 year old young women acting as a Princess for a children’s Birthday Party Company here in Vancouver!
Because of my love for magic and imagination – I decided to write my story about how evil came into the world with a fairy tale feel to it.
By doing this, the reactions of my friends and family stemmed from “wow, that is a really sad ending! the poor seventh princess” to “I loved how the King reacted, demonstrating mercy instead of anger” to “that wasn’t the fairytale I was expecting”!
These comments demonstrated to me how the stories we tell – be it fantasy, thriller, horror, suspense, romantic, comedic, fairy tale etc. – are all a ‘stock’ way of communication, and yet they are so malleable to the speaker/authors requirements. This malleability means that there is great responsibility – similar to “with great power comes great responsibility” (Voltaire or Uncle Ben or Winston Churchill… whoever tickles your fancy), so it is also with the words we say. Even if our intentions are good – such as with the seventh princess – the words that we say always have either positive or negative consequences.
I hope that you enjoy my fairytale and a not so happy ending…
I have a great story to tell you.
It’s not too long, so don’t think it’s going to be one of those stories I usually tell that goes on and on until there is some useless conclusion. No, this story tells you something important. So listen, listen closely.
Once upon a time….
When you could look at the sky at night time and see millions of stars.
And when the wind rustled through the trees, you could hear their voices talking.
And when the water rumbled over rocks, you could feel the ground quiver.
When things mattered, when people, trees, plants, animals, the ocean.. when it all mattered.
During this time, there was a beautiful kingdom. In this kingdom there were seven princesses. Six of these princesses were all good in their own way, but there was one princess who could never get it right.
One day as the King looked out on the world he ruled, he saw how his people lacked presence. They all existed, and everything was right, but there was something better to be had. And so he declared that there would be a ball and that during this ball each of his daughters would be required to speak a gift and its’ story into the world.
As the news of this spread throughout the Kingdom, men, women and children prepared for this big night.
And the night finally came.
The Grand Hall was full of people, food, drink, flowers, candles, music and fellowship. It was the greatest of parties the kingdom had ever seen.
But too soon it was time for the Princesses to speak each of their gifts into the world.
The first stepped forward
My gift is the gift of love -may stories forever be told of hearts permanently intertwined by this powerful emotion.
The second stepped forward
My gift is the gift of peace – may stories of harmony between people, animals, and earth always be written into the history books.
The third stepped forward
My gift is the gift of joy – may stories of deep seeded contentment with life be told from the hearts of all.
The fourth stepped forward
My gift is the gift of courage – may stories of men and women remaining pure of heart in all of life’s journeys always be shared.
The fifth stepped forward
My gift is the gift of song – may the world be full of stories of sound that are nurturing to the soul.
The sixth stepped forward
My gift is the gift of plenty – may the earth be abundant and so thick of food that we feast for days, and great stories of ancient times be shared.
And then the seventh princess stepped forward.
My sisters gifts are all good, I do not know how to add to them other then to give the gift of knowledge. May man only know each one of these things by knowing what the opposite of it is. And so may stories of hatred, war, sadness, cowardice, silence and scarcity be weaved throughout history.
The Kingdom turned quiet at the princess’ proclamation.
“Take it back!” a voice cried, and in turn a chorus of voices erupted all yelling the same thing.
“Silence” said the King, “this is a tragic day for mankind indeed.” He walked towards his seventh daughter with tears in his eyes. He went to hold her in his arms but his daughter fell to her knees.
“My King” she cried, “please, let me take the gift back. I meant for it to be a good thing… but I see now the evil I have created.”
“Oh my child” the King said with a sad voice, “you cannot take your gift back. Your story has been spoken and now it is done.”
“For once a story is told, it cannot be called back” (King 123).
– The End –
Works Cited:
King, Thomas. The Truth about Stories: A Native Narrative. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota, 2005. Print.
Hi Susie,
Your story was awesome. I liked it especially for the way in which you presented stories as good and bad gifts. This makes me ask myself whether all stories are gifts in their own way? And I really think the answer is yes. While I understand that a story cannot be taken back once it is said, I think that all stories have something to give whether they are positive or negative. Like the seventh princess who gave the opposite gifts of her previous six sisters, I think that this would serve as a good thing. I say this because without suffering, pain or evil we would not be able to fathom the greatness of the good and contentment in our lives. In other words, if we were always experiencing good things, we would never be able to appreciate the goodness of our lives if we never had to experience the bad. Similarly, if someone says, “I hate you” in the midst of a fight, these are words you might ask that person to take back, because they have hurt you. But in the long run, these words are going to make you stronger and appreciate the contentment of having a good relationship with that person. Furthermore, I am glad that words cannot be taken back. If they could be taken back, life would be boring! What do you think? Thanks again for your story!
Jessica P
Hey Jessica,
I agree with the concept that we cannot know good without knowing evil and that is why I chose to write my story like that! I’m glad that you also agree :)! i also think that experiencing bad things teaches us more about goodness – and those are such important lessons for everyone to learn!
I think that being unable to take back ones words is a very important concept to live by. Saying “i hate you” in a fight is incredibly detrimental – and I know that you’re just using it as an example – but I don’t believe that we should ever, under any circumstances, tell someone that we love that we “hate” them because they will always remember that those words left your lips.. and we wouldn’t want that!!! I do understand what you are saying in general though – and agree that the fact that we cannot take our words back makes them oh so much more important!
Thanks for the feed back Jessica!
Susie 🙂
Hi Susie,
Thanks for such an interesting story. I would definitely have to agree with Jessica that without “hatred, war, sadness, cowardice, silence and scarcity” we wouldn’t understand or appreciate the wonderful pleasures the other princesses spoke of…”Love, Peace, Joy, Courage, Song and Plenty. I hope that with the gift of knowledge they would all learn from these evil stories and help build a world that effectively manages all of aspects of life – good and bad. I once worked for a youth at risk organization called FocusBC. The founder (Bob Kissner) there asked a round table if we thought anger was a negative thing. The immediate response from the majority of us was yes. Bob countered with “why can’t it be a tool for something good?”. His approach was to change the conventional response to emotions like anger and find away of making it something positive more productive. This was important for the particular kids he had at his school as many had a violent past and demonstrated violent behaviour. The point I took from this conversation is that there are opportunities for change even in the darkest of places. We just have to change our beliefs at times to see them. This organization has a strong philosophy that positive language can make profound changes on peoples lives. Perhaps, this world with its existence of evil can find a new way of responding to these “terrible” events/emotions and extract something beneficial from them! Just a thought!
Thanks again for a fun read.
Regards,
Stuart
Hey Stuart
Thank you for your feedback! I think that to know what is good, we do need to know ‘evil’ in order to honestly and unselfishly appreciate the blessings in our lives! I think that positive language is a great way to impact people … “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”… if we all acted a bit more like that, and treated humans as HUMANS and not as hindrances, annoyances, punching bags etc the world may slowly become a happier place!
Susie
Hey Susie,
Great story! Like the others have said before me, I really like how you added the positive side to telling these stories. The seventh daughter almost seemed to grasp an understanding of the world beyond what the rest of the kingdom was able to fathom. Was there any special meaning behind the seven sisters, other than seven being a typically magical number in fairy tales? I also liked the way you separated each line. It built the anticipation and made each sentence powerful on its own. The start of your story almost seemed to resemble a poem. Was this intentional? Fantastic story. 🙂
Charlotte
Hey Charlotte 🙂
As a Christian, 7 in the bible is a significant number – it is in the creation story, the biblical doctrine of the 7 deadly sins, Joseph had 7 brothers, 7 spirits of God in Isaiah etc. – so, needless to say, I have always grown up with things in sevens! (Additionally, 7 is my favourite number and I had a great year in soccer when 7 was on my jersey :P)
I love telling/writing stories… but the beginning of the poem wasn’t necessarily intentional – it just seemed to make sense to introduce my tale by explaining the world. I felt that the line separations made it feel softer and more complete – i like the feeling of completeness 🙂
Thanks for your positive feedback and I am happy you enjoyed the read!
Susie
Hi Susie, yes, quite a powerful little story; and heat commentary, thank you 😉