Yianna Yiannacou
© 2011 Yianna Yiannacou. All Rights Reserved
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Drowning
Once upon a time, in a faraway land, lived the most beautiful princess that had graced the green earth. She was a young maiden, but age meant nothing when you had true beauty like hers. To her loyal followers, the princess was marvellously charming and none other could compare. Her skin was fare and the colour of the freshest cream. The colour of her hair was caramel brown with a shine that would send you covering your eyes if you looked at it in the wrong angle under the sun. Her blue eyes had been compared to the sky on a clear summer day, with a twinkle of the brightest star in the sky.
She had just passed her eighteenth birthday. Her mother and father were searching mercifully for a man whom she would be able to call her husband and prince.
There was one problem; the princess thought she did not deserve any of the men that came to see her. She feared that their good looks would overpower her mere moderate features. She did not see herself as beautiful in any way. When she looked at herself in the mirror, she did not see what her followers saw. She always thought to herself that they would say these nice things, only to please her. They would say anything to make their one and only princess smile. She thought them all to be liars, for how can they complement her on what the mirror reflected back to her as plain, and mediocre?
After a day filled with meeting good-looking suitors, the princess miserably ran behind her castle to her magical pond. Her pond always showed her reflection in a slimming mirror. All the mirrors in her house showed her how she really looked like. She saw herself as an overweight princess. She could never stop herself from eating. Her parents tried hiding the dessert from her, but she always managed to find it, or if not, she would sneak it in herself. She had a weak spot for sweets and it had made her look the way she was.
The first time she went to a ball, her Mother had a custom gown made months in advance just for her daughter. The fabric and design of the dress could not be matched by anyone, rich or poor, in the kingdom. The day before the ball, she tried on her dress only to realize that it was one size too small. After the second time of resizing her gowns, she knew that no man would want to marry her. They will only marry her for her title which would make them a prince and one day a king. After acquiring the title in society and status, they would most likely just forget about the princess.
She looked into her pond. Fish splashed and rippled her image. It made her smile to see the distorted reflection she had from the little waves the fish made in the water. The pond showed her lies when she did not want to see the truth.
She made a wish to the pond in that moment. She wished that the pond would make her slimmer, more beautiful. She wished that a man would come and see her new beautiful form and fall in love with her instantly. She knew the way she looked now, no man would fall in love with her instantly like she has heard about. Love at first sight, she thought.
Just as she finished making her wish, she got up to walk away but tripped. She fell backwards, right into the pond and sunk straight to the bottom. She watched as the trees above the water became distant and further away from her view. She finally hit bottom and realized she was sitting on a rock that was shaped like a chair. She sat down and seaweed came and attached itself to her wrists and ankles to keep her submerged and bound to the chair.
She held her breath, but she knew she could not hold it forever; she would eventually have to let go and breathe. The pain in her chest was unbearable and she let go. She inhaled deeply as water filled her lungs. Confused, she breathed back out and then back in. She could breathe under water! How this was possible, was a mystery to her. She guessed anything could happen with a little bit of magic.
After a few minutes, a sea creature slowly approached her. It was a weird little thing, she thought. The creature was about the same size as her hand. It wasn’t big. It looked like a glowing, green seahorse. Its body was that of a seahorse, but it had a torso, arms and head of a human. It also had wings. The princess wondered why on Earth a creature under water would need wings, but she did not question it.
“Who are you and what am I doing at the bottom of this pond?” the princess asked. Her words underwater did not sound right, but there was nothing she could do about it. This would just not do. Her dress was soaked and she had no idea how she would ever explain this to her mother who would surely explode after taking just one look at her in her state.
“Oh, fair princess, why would you do this to yourself? Are you not content with the wonderful life that is ready for you at your fingertips? Why change something that is so powerful in you? To have love and beauty is something most people would kill to have, yet you give it away like it is not yours to own. You are very noble, but you just don’t see it.”
“I want to look different. I do not want to look like this anymore. No one loves me for my ugly looks. They only liked the fact that I was wealthy and a princess. They all lied and told me I was beautiful.” It hurt the princess to say the words out loud.
“They did not lie. If you changed what you looked like, they would only care for your looks and not what truly matters on the inside. You are who you feel like you are. You could be a poor beggar with no looks, yet your soul would be pure. True men fall in love with what they feel rather than what they see.” The seahorse swam in circles around the princess’s head as it spoke.
The princess sat there and took in what the seahorse had said. She wasn’t too sure whether or not she should believe him. He seemed to tell the truth. His voice and words had a certain resonance and truth to them, but she did not want to admit it. She would sit there all day and night instead of admitting she was wrong.
The princess then stared at the sky above her through this clear water. She could still make things out when the water was calm. She noticed a man looking into her pond. She recognized him as one of the men that visited to see if she wanted to be wed. She called out his name and stared directly into his eyes. She could see him staring at her. A few moments later he looked away and left.
“How come he did not see me?” the princess asked the seahorse whom never left her side. He would swim around her, a few paces away, but never quite leaving her side.
“The man who will see you will be the true man for you. Only then will you be free. A man who sees with his heart rather than his eyes will be the one to save you.”
The princesses’ shoulders slumped, “And how long will this take? How will he know I'm here? Or to look in the pond?”
“Don’t know. It could be forever.” The creature shrugged and then transformed from a seahorse to a crab. He crawled in the sand around the princesses’ feet.
The princes then started to cry. She couldn’t tell if she was crying since her face was wet already. She figured it was pointless and no one would be able to hear her sobs to help her.
As she sat there, with her wrists bound to the chair, unable to move, her tears kept flowing. Minutes, hours passed, yet she could not tell for sure how long she had been down there - for time seemed to stop or stand still underwater, at least for her.
Many men passed and she recognized all of them. There were a few random ones that she had never seen before but it didn’t bother her. None of them saw her. None of them would ever be able to see her.
A young man approached the pond one day. The princess
stared at him, just like the many other men that were there before him. All the men looked deep into her eyes, but none recognized the fact she was down there, for they did not really see her - they were merely looking with their eyes, not with their hearts. People were looking for her - she could tell - yet they didn’t know exactly where to look. She must have been down there for at least two to three days.
This one didn’t look away like the other men did. Before he had the chance to look away, the princess decided to turn her head, fearing rejection one more time.
A sound startled her as the water around her seat began to move. She looked back up and saw the determined face of the man who was staring into the water. His eyes were open as he swam to save her. He could see her! His blue eyes matched the water. She stared at him, his every movements, hoping he was coming to her and that this wasn’t just a trick played by her eyes. She waited until she felt his hands on her body. The warmth of his hands brought life back into her. He pulled her as the seaweed at her wrists and ankles loosened and were removed all together. They both swam to the surface. The princess took one last look down to the seahorse. He was smiling at her and nodding its head at the same time.
As he pulled her up towards the surface of the pond she felt relieved that she'd been rescued, yet still unhappy. They reached the surface and he gently pulled her out. The princess and this man lay on the grass, coughing up water.
“What on Earth were you doing at the bottom of the lake?”
“I was looking at my reflection in the water...I didn’t like what I saw, and I fell in by accident,” was all the princess could say.
“Well princess, it is your lucky day, for I have just saved your precious life.” Looking at her face, he could tell she did not look happy. “But you do not seem content with this. Should I have left you in the water?” He pushed his wet hair back which stuck to his forehead.
The princess could not look at this man. She thought he was beautiful. He was one of the men who came to her house previously to see if he was a suitable match for her. She rejected him because she knew her looks could not compare. Even after what she had been through, her feelings still felt the same.
“I am truly grateful, I promise. It is just that… I fear you will now leave me here after seeing what I look like.” The princess played with her soaked dress, wondering if it was ruined.
“Did you hit your head while you were down there?” He reached over and cupped her chin. He wanted to get a good look at the princess. He stared at her until she blushed. “You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”
The princess smiled as she felt he was telling the truth. The little creature from the water was now balanced on a branch behind the man's head. He was no longer a seahorse, nor crab. It looked like a little fairy now with wings that helped it float effortlessly in the air. It stared at her, smiling. The princess stared back at it. The man turned around to see what she was looking at, but the creature was gone.
“I just didn’t think you would see me, that is all.”
“Of course I saw you. There is no way I could pass someone with a beauty like yours and not notice. You do know that sometimes there is more beauty in the world and people do not even take a second glance to look deeper. There are many things we do not notice until we fully open our eyes and appreciate not what’s on the outside, but on the inside as well. True beauty lies within.”
And just like that, after those true words were spoken, the princess was convinced. She fell into the water for a purpose. Her purpose was to be sought out by this outstanding young gentleman. She knew that he was the one who would truly make her feel beautiful, just by being himself.
The creature – fairy, it liked to be called – moved on to someone else he could help. Many people don’t realize the truth until their eyes are opened. Sometimes, someone else has to give them a little push to help them see. That was what the fairy was for. He flew off into the horizon, satisfied with the princess and her new love, on to find another lost soul in need of guidance.