The Princess and the Kitchen Boy

Hey. As all of you may or may not know I have been trying to get through reading the Grimm Fairytales. I find the works very interesting. The stories are very repetitive and because of this I wonder if they were originally told verbally. Anyway..Here is my shot at trying to write in the style of the fairytales.

There once was a princess in a kingdom. Since the king was getting older and the princess was his only child, he decided it was time for her to marry so she should become queen. The princess, never questioning her father’s wishes, started accepting visits from suitors. She did not accept any gifts given to her by any suitors and rejected all of them. The king grew very frustrated with this and said “why my dear do reject them all? All of them seem like fine young men to me”. The princess simply said that she desired no physical possession any suitor could bestow her but may marry any man who could give her the ability to glow in darkness of night. The king, knowing much about the kingdom and beyond its borders from his travels in war, was reminded they there are crystals on an island in the west which glow during night time. He said to the princess that he will make the suitors go to the island in an attempt to retrieve the crystals so they could be ground into a potion which would make the princess glow. The princess thought this a wonderful idea and soon came a suitor in pursuit of her hand. The king came to the suitor and told him that he needed to journey to the island in the west to get the crystals. The suitor therefore headed out on his journey. When he got to the edge of the water, he saw there was a stone bridge which crossed to the island. Just as he was about to step onto the bridge a crow flew down and warned “Do not cross this bridge or you will die but that bridge over there made of rope and wood will give you a safe way across. Looks may be deceiving”. The suitor simply replied “I trust my eyes and they tell me this one is stronger and I do not trust a crow like you” and started crossing the stone bridge. Suddenly the stone crumbled beneath him and he fell to his death. The stone returned to its original position as if nothing happened at all. The king and princess waited for the first suitor to return but soon another suitor decided to try his luck. The suitor set out to the island and when it came to the stone bridge, the crow again swooped down and warned him “Do not cross this bridge or you will die but that bridge over there made of rope and wood will give you a safe way across. Looks may be deceiving”. The suitor took heed of this warning and crossed the other bridge quite quickly and got to the island safely. He then called out to the crow “Thank you my friend. I always listen to others. They know more than I”. The suitor then went wandering about the island and soon found crystals growing on the rocks but it was daylight and he could not tell whether they were the ones which glowed in the dark. Then a bear wandered over and said to him “I see you need to determine whether those crystals glow or not. Come into my cave and you will have all the darkness you need”. The bear was drooling quite profusely and licking its lips and it looked at the young suitor. The suitor did not pick up on this and went into the bears cave. The bear quickly devoured the suitor. Again, the king and princess waited for the suitor to return when an unlikely suitor came to try his luck. It was the kitchen boy who worked in the palace. He was not considered very handsome but had a good judge of character and an honest heart. The kitchen boy went out on the quest and when he came to the stone bridge, the crow again swooped down and warned him “Do not cross this bridge or you will die but that bridge over there made of rope and wood will give you a safe way across. Looks may be deceiving”. The kitchen boy said in return “I see you are an honest type of fellow. I will cross the other bridge” and so he did. The kitchen boy then wandered the island and found the crystals growing out of rocks but it was daylight and he could not tell whether they were the ones which glowed. The bear wandered over and said to him “I see you need to determine whether those crystals glow or not. Come into my cave and you will have all the darkness you need”. The bear was drooling quite profusely and licking its lips and it looked at the young suitor. But the kitchen boy saw how the bear was acting and said to him “I can see you are trying to trick me into going into your cave. I will instead close my hands together and make darkness of my own so I can tell whether these crystals glow”. The kitchen boy then folded his hands and saw that the crystal in them did indeed glow. The bear felt quite embarrassed his plan was foiled and went back to his cave. The kitchen boy returned to the king and princess with the crystals. It was quickly ground and made into a potion and the princess drank it. That night the princess found she glowed as bright as the moon and her heart filled with happiness and love for the kitchen boy. The kitchen boy became king and her queen and they lived happily until the end of their days.