Read Recreationally

The Princess and Her Rose

-Inspired by The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde-

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In a far-reaching clearing in the forest, there proudly stood a grey, tall castle. Inside the castle lived the most beautiful princess in all of the land. She had eyes as blue as the ocean, and golden hair, almost as golden as the crown on top of it. Every night, when she knew that the King had fallen asleep, she would perch just below her windowsill, and sing softly to herself. The only witness to her angelic melody were the four, stone walls of her bedroom. There were no birds to listen to her, for the King had ordered that every tree surrounding the castle was to be cut down immediately.

"A tree in the middle of a forrest! How utterly ridiculous!" The King often said.

One night, as was usual, the King had drifted off to sleep. This left the Princess alone in the castle, free to sing to her hearts content. Only on this night, she had left the window slightly ajar, allowing the pleasant breeze to blow across her bedroom. She sat underneath the opened window and sung softly to herself. When she peered out of her window, she noticed something rare. A red rose had mysteriously sprouted from the ground.

The Princess stopped singing and looked at the rose. She could see that it was very beautiful, and she seldom saw flowers growing around the castle at all.

If I pick the rose, I could keep it forever she thought to herself as she rushed outside, carefully trying not to alert anyone else in the kingdom. She sat beside the rose and marvelled at its beauty. She was certain that it had only just grown, because it was unlikely that she would pay no heed to such a wonderful vision. As she reached for the stem of the rose to pull it from the ground, she heard a voice.

"Please stop," The voice told her. The princess looked around, but she was completely alone. She looked back at the rose. A rose cannot speak she thought to herself. It would have nothing articulate to say.

"Please don't take me out of the ground. I live to hear you singing," The rose sobbed, hoping that she would finally hear its voice. The Princess, completely astonished by the little rose, stopped immediately. "I seem to have grown from the earth when I heard what I thought was the voice of an angel. I understand now that it was you all along," The little rose explained, to which the Princess just smiled.

"If I sing to you once more, will you grow even taller?" The Princess wondered aloud.

The rose did not answer, for it did not know, and wanted more than sunlight and water to hear the Princess's voice again. She sung to the ground the little rose was planted in, and, to the Princess's amazement, the rose's stem extended from the ground beneath it. The princess could hardly believe the sight that was before her.

The Princess, completely mesmerised and delighted by the little rose, stayed by its side the entire night, singing to it until she finally drifted into a deep sleep. When she woke up, the little rose was no longer little at all, but almost as tall as the Princess herself. The Princess gasped. "You have grown to be so tall and beautiful," She gushed. The rose's petals, already a deep, scarlet red, darkened even more at the Princess's words. It was apparent to the rose that the Princess was far more beautiful than a mere plant.

"I have often wondered what princesses dreamed about," The rose thought aloud. The Princess giggled.

"I had the most magnificent dream about falling asleep on the grass beneath the loveliest rose I have ever seen," The Princess explained.

"How do you know it was a dream?" The rose asked her.

"Because I have only ever seen one rose in all my life," The Princess simply responded. Now that she had met a rose for herself, all she found herself dreaming about was meeting more roses.