I wrote this several years ago. Not my best work but I have a sentimental fondness for it.
Once upon a time there was a princess.
This princess was a girl of virtue, kindness and great beauty. She was also, as is often the case of such princesses, placed in a situation of great trial. She had spent her whole life locked high in a tower made of the most impenetrable stone. This tower had no stairs or doors, the princess had no means of escape, all she had was an open window out of which she viewed the world.
Now that is not to say that the princess did not have a great many things. For she had been placed in the tower by a powerful wizard who magically supplied the girl with anything a young woman could desire. She had velvet bed sheets; fine silk gowns, fashionably boned corsets and elegant jewelry. But despite all this grandeur the princess was unhappy. She was always alone save for the occasional company of the old wizard, who she despised.
All day long she would stare out her open window in expectation. Why in expectation you ask? Well, is not it obvious?
The girl knew the stories; she knew in her heart that because she was fair, good and lovely (not to mention of royal birth) she was meant to be rescued. Surely any day now a charming prince or knight in shinning armor would save her. That was the way of things.
So the princess sat and waited. She did things to occupy herself of course. Spinning and singing, embroidery and piano playing, all suitable and necessary skills for a young maiden to learn.
Yet she remained unrescued. Day after long day passed. The princess was growing tired.
The wizard laughed at her melancholy.
“You silly girl!” he cried in spiteful glee.
“How foolish of you to ever dare hope for rescue! Don’t you know how strong my enchantments are, how solid my walls?”
Now he smirked and whispered in the poor girl’s ear.
“No one will ever set you free.”
Alone again that night the girl lost herself in despair. Tears streaming from her eyes she ransacked her pretty bed and tore her fine dress in her agony as she threw herself down.
“Oh is there truly no hope of escape! Am I doomed to be trapped in this lonely life forever?”
She sobbed and raged until she was entirely spent and huddled on the floor in exhaustion. Looking up from the floor the princess gazed out the open window. The sky was just beginning to grow pink and gold with the coming day. The girl saw the first bird of morning fly past the window.
“If only I could fly away,” she sighed.
“Grow wings like an angel or faerie and simply take to the sky.”
It was then that a realization struck the princess. The wizard had left her one means of escape from her prison. The open window.
The princess crept from the floor to the window and looked down over the ledge. She was a very far way up indeed.
“Yes, this is my answer at long last… and to think it was right here before me the whole time.”
The girl steadied herself, took a deep breath, and climbed up on the window ledge. Standing from this view made he distance between herself and the ground seem even more immense.
Closing her eyes the princess told herself,
“This is my escape, any way it ends. Either I grow wings and fly away or I escape this life. I am free in any end.”
The princess opened her eyes towards the raising sun, smiled to herself, and leapt.
This princess was a girl of virtue, kindness and great beauty. She was also, as is often the case of such princesses, placed in a situation of great trial. She had spent her whole life locked high in a tower made of the most impenetrable stone. This tower had no stairs or doors, the princess had no means of escape, all she had was an open window out of which she viewed the world.
Now that is not to say that the princess did not have a great many things. For she had been placed in the tower by a powerful wizard who magically supplied the girl with anything a young woman could desire. She had velvet bed sheets; fine silk gowns, fashionably boned corsets and elegant jewelry. But despite all this grandeur the princess was unhappy. She was always alone save for the occasional company of the old wizard, who she despised.
All day long she would stare out her open window in expectation. Why in expectation you ask? Well, is not it obvious?
The girl knew the stories; she knew in her heart that because she was fair, good and lovely (not to mention of royal birth) she was meant to be rescued. Surely any day now a charming prince or knight in shinning armor would save her. That was the way of things.
So the princess sat and waited. She did things to occupy herself of course. Spinning and singing, embroidery and piano playing, all suitable and necessary skills for a young maiden to learn.
Yet she remained unrescued. Day after long day passed. The princess was growing tired.
The wizard laughed at her melancholy.
“You silly girl!” he cried in spiteful glee.
“How foolish of you to ever dare hope for rescue! Don’t you know how strong my enchantments are, how solid my walls?”
Now he smirked and whispered in the poor girl’s ear.
“No one will ever set you free.”
Alone again that night the girl lost herself in despair. Tears streaming from her eyes she ransacked her pretty bed and tore her fine dress in her agony as she threw herself down.
“Oh is there truly no hope of escape! Am I doomed to be trapped in this lonely life forever?”
She sobbed and raged until she was entirely spent and huddled on the floor in exhaustion. Looking up from the floor the princess gazed out the open window. The sky was just beginning to grow pink and gold with the coming day. The girl saw the first bird of morning fly past the window.
“If only I could fly away,” she sighed.
“Grow wings like an angel or faerie and simply take to the sky.”
It was then that a realization struck the princess. The wizard had left her one means of escape from her prison. The open window.
The princess crept from the floor to the window and looked down over the ledge. She was a very far way up indeed.
“Yes, this is my answer at long last… and to think it was right here before me the whole time.”
The girl steadied herself, took a deep breath, and climbed up on the window ledge. Standing from this view made he distance between herself and the ground seem even more immense.
Closing her eyes the princess told herself,
“This is my escape, any way it ends. Either I grow wings and fly away or I escape this life. I am free in any end.”
The princess opened her eyes towards the raising sun, smiled to herself, and leapt.
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