Dedicated to my first readers- R,R, and E (you know who you all are). Also dedicated to my ever-loving and supporting family. Enjoy!
Once upon a time, in a not-so-far-away place, a young Maiden lived on a farm. The woman’s hair was as black as night and her smile was as warm as the sun.
The Maiden had been living on the farm for many years. She owned cows, pigs, chickens, bees, and many more animals. People from far and wide traveled to buy the maiden’t animals, because her animals were the happiest and the healthiest.
One day, an evil Wizard who had been banished from the kingdom saw the beautiful girl. The Wizard thought, “I want to marry her. Then only I will see how pretty she is and no one else can have her!”
Later, on her way home from market, the fair woman saw the wicked Wizard.
“Come, Maiden, and marry me,” The Wizard cackled.
But the Maiden knew the Wizard was a bad man and said, “No, I will never marry you!” And she ran for help.
The Wizard was furious, so her cast a spell on her to make her ugly: “By bats’ wings and grapes outdated, make that girl a sight to be hated.”
Instantly, the once-pretty woman became stooped and ugly. The girl cried and wandered on the road. She knew no one would buy animals from a horrible-looking person! The girl put on a cloak to cover her face.
As she walked sadly on the path, she heard a rumbling noise. It was the Prince’s carriage! The woman hurried to get out of the way, but the horse nearly hit her, and so it ran into a ditch, causing some boxes to fall out of the carriage.
The Maiden hurried to the horse. “It is okay. There now, I am sorry I frightened you,” She spoke calmly to the horse, and she led it out of the ditch.
The Prince was watching the girl and was admiring how calm she was. He watched the girl start to pick up the boxes. The Prince jumped to help her.
The girl stopped and stared at him. “Oh, your highness,” the young girl curtsied. “I am so sorry.”
“It is alright,” The Prince responded. “It was an accident.”
They both put up the boxes together. When the Prince bent down for the last box, the girl accidentally did too. The two bumped heads and the girl’s hood fell off, revealing the Maiden’s hideous face.
“Oh no!” The Maiden hurriedly put her cloak back on. He will hate me now, she thought. But the Prince smiled at her.
“It is OK,” He replied. “Would you like me to take you back to your house?”
“If you would like to,” she replied, and told him where she lived.
“Isn’t that the farm where the beautiful Maiden lives?” The Prince asked.
“I am she!” The poor Maiden wept. “A selfish wizard made me ugly because I would not marry him!”
“That is awful!” The Prince exclaimed. “I will find him and make him turn you back!”
The Prince had his driver take the girl to her house. “Do not worry,” the Prince said as she got out of the carriage. “I will get him to make you pretty again!”
The Prince went to his father, the King, and explained what he was going to do for the Maiden.
“But why son?” The King asked.
“Because she is kind, generous to the poor, and helpful to all!” The Prince explained, then added, “And I love her.”
The King smiled, “Then of course you may go.”
The Prince hugged his father, mounted a speckled horse, and took off in search of the villainous wizard.
Meanwhile the Wizard was watching the Prince through a murky pond full of sharks. “Mwahahaha!” The Wizard yelled, scaring his pet crown into falling into the shark pond. “I will never let the Prince find me!”
And so the wizard sent a raven to watch the Prince in the woods. The wizard began to make a potion to make the Prince’s legs fall off!
“Rawk, rawk!”
The Prince looked up at a black raven that was sitting on a branch. “Ah ha! The raven can lead me to the Wizard!” The Prince thought. He quickly urged his horse towards the crow, but then a moose stepped in the Prince’s path!
The raven flew away shrieking with fright. This scared the moose too, so he ran away.
“Phew. I thought the moose would eat me!” The Prince whispered to his horse. The horse galloped towards the raven, who was cawing as it flew.
Soon the woods got dark, but the Prince could still see the raven. Finally, the Prince came to an oasis in the middle of the forest. There was a dark cave nearby. The Prince got off his high horse and wandered into the cave.
“Horrible bird!” The Wizard shrieked. The Prince paused, but the Wizard was yelling at the raven who led the Prince there. The Wizard saw the Prince. “Ah ha! Now I will punish you for trying to help the Maiden!”
But as the Wizard reached for a potion, he slipped and fell, and hurt his ankle very badly! The Prince drew his sword. “Come with me and make the Maiden pretty again!” The Prince shouted.
The wizard knew he lost the fight, so he said, “Fine.”
The Prince and the Wizard rode the Prince’s speckled horse back to the Maiden’s house. The girl came out of her house.
“You got the Wizard!” She cried.
The Wizard hot off the horse and pointed his finger at the ugly Maiden. “Frog’s toes and grapes outdated, remove the girl’s parts so hated.” Instantly, the Maiden could walk upright, her warts disappeared, and her teeth became straight again! The Maiden smiled at the Prince.
“Thank you,” She curtsied. “Oh no! The Wizard left a mole on my cheek!”
“The Wizard said to remove the ‘parts so hated.’ Did you hate your mole?” The Prince asked.
“Actually, I liked it.” The Maiden said.
The Prince smiled back at the Maiden. “I think that explains it. Anyway, I still think you are beautiful,” he said. “And I fell in love with you as soon as you helped me with the boxes.”
“Well, it is how we act that matters,” The beautiful-even-with-a-mole girl grinned. “Wait- did you say you love me? Because-well, I love you too.”
“Yes, I did say that,” The Prince got on one knee. “Oh beautiful, kind Maiden, will you marry me?” He asked.
“Yes, I will marry you!” was the girl’s answer. Suddenly, the Prince’s horse grew wings! The horse was actually a pegasus in disguise!
“What just happened?” she asked.
“We have a flying horse to ride home on! That is what just happened. My father said that I would get a special horse when I get married. I think I was just given the special horse he spoke of!” The Prince said happily.
They mounted the flying horse, flew to the castle, married, and lived happily ever after. The Maiden still took care of her happy animals. In fact, they moved in to the castle garden! And so many of the ladies in the castle like the Maiden’s mole that it became the fashion to wear a mole on your cheek.
The End!
If you or a child wants to illustrate certain scenes, please feel free to contact me to let me know. I will coordinate with you to send me a copy of the picture and the scene it is illustrating 🙂 I hope you liked this story and will share it with your children or other youngsters. 🙂
Diary of a Nerdy Bookworm 