Once upon a time, in a kingdom that may or may not be too far away, there lived five girls. Four of the girls were princesses, sisters even, and the other girl was a simple peasant girl. She had lived in the castle for as long as she could remember, the rest of the world abandoning her.
The five girls were the best of friends, and they did almost everything together, from eating, to sleeping, to even drinking the ale together when the five came of age. The princesses accepted the peasant girl as their own, even though the peasant girl spoke, thought, and moved slower than everyone at times. In her infancy, she was thought to be what was called a changeling child: the fairies traded a human infant for one of their own, and as a result, the fairy infant acted dreadfully, having crying and screaming fits for seemingly no reason, humming the songs of the fairies, and of course, the slowness. As the girl aged, she grew out of most of these traits, though the slowness remained, and she came off to everyone as still slightly odd. Nonetheless, she had a unique gift of making people laugh, and everyone accepted her. Or so she thought.
One night, there was the most grand ball being held in one of the nearby palaces. One with beautiful dresses and beautiful people, lively music, and of course, ale, which flowed like a river through the event. The four princesses attended, leaving the peasant girl behind. They had a wonderful time, and returned late into the night, quite drunken. When the peasant girl found out that they had gone without her, she was furious.
"Why didn't you invite me?!" She berated them, tears blinding her. "I would have had a grand time as well! Did you think I was not good enough to attend? That my slowness would have impeded everyone from having fun?"
The princesses hummed and hawed on an answer for their friend, and she did not get a straight answer on why she wasn't invited. The peasant girl knew the answer, though. They didn't believe she was truly one of them. Not enough to remember to invite her, or even think of doing so.
On Sunday morning, the peasant girl went to church, where the king was, and she told him of what his daughters had done. "How awful of them to forget me like that! After all we have done together!" She lamented to the king.
To her surprise, the king simply laughed. "My dear child, do you know the true reason why I took you in? Why my girls enjoy your presence?"
"I do not."
"It is because you're our jester. Your purpose here is to make us laugh, a purpose you fulfill so well. A purpose you're fulfilling now. After all, it took you this long to figure out you're different from us, and I was the one who had to tell you that you're the jester! How foolish can one be? It's hilarious!" The king laughed.
Predictably, the girl wasn't happy. "I am NOT your jester, and I refuse to be any longer! Why must you mock me so? Are my feelings not valid simply because you see me as your jester?" The king just laughed louder, and the girl stormed out of the church in angry tears.
She never returned to the palace. Instead, she ventured into the woods surrounding the kingdom, where she found a crumbling, abandoned, stone castle, along with a dragon. The dragon, sensing the girl's utter anguish and that she was an outcast, allowed the girl to stay, letting her build a new home there. The fury and humiliation burning within the peasant girl awakened her long-dormant fairy blood, and magic powers manifested, powers the dragon guided the girl on how to use. She may have been slow at everything else, but when it came to magic, she was the quickest in the realm. The girl swore to become the evil queen she and the princesses were warned about in bedtime stories, and to return to the kingdom as soon as she was powerful enough to let them know she was no longer something to be laughed at. The dragon supported this, having grown tired of the kingdom's constant attempts to kill it.
That day came where the girl rode the dragon into the kingdom, wearing a dress and cloak woven out of pure darkness. She landed in the town square and declared, "I am the evil queen the fables warned you about! I am no longer your jester, and I am no longer something to be laughed at! You will respect me, and if not, I will wipe this sorry excuse of a kingdom off the map!"
Quite a crowd had gathered, including the king and princesses. As soon as they heard what the girl had said, they all started laughing. The townspeople followed suit, and soon, the entire kingdom was laughing at this so-called evil queen. "Oh, jester! You're too funny!"
After all, the outcasts of the world will never be worthy of respect. They will always be something to laugh at and ridicule. Their emotions will never be taken seriously.
No matter what the girl did, she would always be the jester.
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I originally wrote this for my university's literary magazine, but they rejected it, so I figured Wattpad might appreciate it more. Hope you enjoyed!
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The Jester
Short Story"Once upon a time, in a kingdom that may or may not be too far away, there lived five girls. Four of the girls were princesses, sisters even, and the other girl was a simple peasant girl. She had lived in the castle for as long as she could remember...
