Fifteen years later a very strange news reached the queen.
The son of the wicked king wanted to marry a girl who maintained turkeys.
The son was sure that the girl would say yes and he had even had wedding
dresses made and had arranged the festivities. However, the girl finally
refused to marry the son of the wicked king.
The queen was curious as to why a poor little turkey-maiden did
not want to be a queen.
The queen told the fairy about this.
The fairy decided to investigate. She changed herself into a little mouse
and went to the poultry yard of the turkey-maiden.
The turkey-maiden was dressed in a coarse dress and she was sitting
on a stone and there were many robes made of gold and silver and
some diamonds and pearls at her feet and the turkey-maiden
looked miserable.
The ugly looking dwarf son of the wicked king was there. “If you
do not marry me, I will kill you.”
The turkey-maiden looked proud and shook her head. “You are as
ugly as your wicked father. I want nothing more than to be left
in peace with my turkeys. Please leave me alone.”
The son of the wicked king fumed, fretted and finally left the place.
After that the good fairy changed herself to look like an old woman.
“You have some fine turkey birds here.”
The girl turned to the old woman. “I want to be with my birds. But those
people want me to marry the prince. They just do not leave me alone.”
The old woman shook her head. “You do not know the weight or the
price of a crown. That is why you have refused it.”
The girl sighed. “I know well all about the crown though I do not know
who my father or mother is and neither do I have a single friend.”
Adapted from the Fairy Tales written by Countess d’Aulnoy
No comments:
Post a Comment