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The Iceprincess
Long, long ago, Father frost was King of Summer. Fertile fields stretched from horizon to horizon, and many cows and sheep grazed the lands. The green woods were full of wildlife. People who lived in Summer always had enough to eat. They were content when they slept away in their peaceful dreams. But then, they dreamed of better times, of softer beds, of more sheep, more lands, and the power over the lands beyond the horizons. But these people were no geniuses, and they did not know how to make their dreams come true. Buy Father Frost also dreamed those dreams, and he heard about the dreams of his people. He too wanted more than Summer could give. One day, a beautiful lady came to Summer, and she whispered in Father Frost ear how he could improve his lands, strengthen his powers. Summer, she said, needed a strong queen, and she asked Father Frost to marry her. She told him, she could give him whatever he wanted, and all he had to return was something no money could buy. He did not have to return it until the richness of his lands had come over him. He thought about it, and something that could not be bought with money, had to be literary priceless, like a corn of wheat or a drop of rain. He did not bother to think about it, as he thought of the wealth that the future held for him. He married the lady and he got richer every day. The treasures grew out of his castle, and the harvest was better than ever before. Sheep had many young, and they ate well of it. Branches of trees, full of fruit bent towards the earth, ready to pick. Father Frost saw this, and thought he was happy, and his people thought the same. One day, the Queen of Summer gave her husband a daughter. This daughter grew up with the wealth and health of Summer and lived an uncomplicated life. Her father adored her and gave her many presents, he gave her everything she had ever dreamed of. This way, the princess became a gorgeous young woman. The day came, that the Queen of Summer wanted her reward. She wanted what no money could buy. She descended the stairs of her high tower and walked to Father Frost. “Sire,” she said. “Sire, the time has come to give me what is mine.” The King said: “Ask whatever you like, it will be yours. My wealth has no limit, my silver will buy you Lukarna, my gold will buy you Fon, ask whatever you like.” “Sire,” the queen said, slyness in her eyes. “”Give me your daughter. I will take her to my palaces, where she can work, and can earn me the wealth my people have send to you. You will never see her again, because your debts are too big to earn back before you die.” A sly smile surrounded her lips. The King realised he had got his wealth and satisfied his longing for more, but he did not count on the things that made him happy, the things no money could buy. Like his daughter. He sank on his knees, and asked the Queen to have mercy. He promised her knights to work for her, servants and horses, he promised her his silver and gold, as long as she would not take away the princess. But the queen ignored him. “I need your daughter, your wealth made my people poor. You daughter will work one hundred years in the silvermines, and two hundred years in the goldmines and one thousand years she will have to dig in the mines for precious stones, hidden in the deepest of my mountain mines. She will have to work until the debts to my people are paid. She will have to work until her hands are blackened and her eyes blinded. Father Frost was furious. And he cursed the queen: “If my daughter is not allowed to see the sun anymore, so will you and your people be cursed. You will never see the sun again. Eternal Winter will fall over your fields, and harvests will be frozen. Your seeds will grow again when my daughter is freed. Try to eat your golden treasures, drink your silver, and dress in gemstones. You will see the sun at midday never again!” The Queen left the King, and went into the chambers of the princess. She called her albs, who took the princess, pulled her hair, pulled her out of the castle to beyond the horizons, where the mountains were full of wealth, but the field were already covered in a veil of snow. The princess was locked into a high tower. From there, she could see the endless white of the land. Snow and ice melted with the sky, white as they all were. No one could see where land ended, where mountains began. The entrances of the mines where covered with snow. The people hated the princes. The curse of her father had caused hunger and pain. And the sad princess sat in her room and cried. “How will I ever get out of here?” she mourned. “I am not able to paid the debts my father has made, have I got to stay forever in this lonely room? What will the people of these lands do, when they have nothing left to eat? Will they rip me, slaughter me, cook me, bake me, eat me to satisfy their stomachs? Is there no one who is able to save me?” A small bird sat on the windowsill. It had heard the mourning of the princess. “Princess,” it sang, “I shall help you. I will fly to Summer for help, there must be someone who can save you. I will go now, and I shall return soon enough.” And the bird flew away, over the icelands, over the snowfields, along icicle forests and icy rivers. The little bird flew for days across the realms of the evil queen, a very vast realm, and the bird was afraid never to escape the realm, and never to get to Summer. Finally, it rested in a tree. It thought about his promise to the princess. For days now, it had flown the realms, but it had not seen anyone who could help the princess. It was tired now, and wanted to go to sleep. But as it covered its beak with a wing, the tree moved. “What are you doing on my antlers?” the deer asked. It got up. “I am tired,” the bird sang. “But I have to go to summer. My promise to the Iceprincess is too important to rest.” “All right”, the deer said. “I shall bring you to summer. Hold on tight, here we go.” And it set of. “Is it a long way to Summer?” the bird sang. “No,” said the deer, “It is just beyond the shade of winter, there, where Fon never stops shining. It will be over the horizon, far away, but we will get there.” The deer ran through the shade of winter, to the place where the snow was thinner, and the country of Melt was reached. Not long afterwards, the deer arrived in the land of Summer, with the bird still on its antlers. Summer was in mourning. The wealth was not enough to comfort them after the princess had left the country. And the deer ran through all the villages that were hidden in sadness. Finally, the deer and the bird found a brave knight. They took him to the tower of the iceprincess. When they arrived, the princess looked out of her window, and saw the knight. “Dear knight, please save me, save me from the queen that took me from the lands of Summer!” She cried icicles, icicles that grew longer and longer, until she was able to climb down her own tears, and fell into the arms of the knight. “Thank you for saving me,” she told the knight. But as she spoke, the guards came to her, and challenged the knight to fight them. There was fight, a rough fight, against one brave knight and two albs that had guarded the tower. The deer helped the knight, so did the bird, and so the princess was freed from her tower. But then, as they made their way out of the frozen lands, they met the queen. “What are you doing with the princess?” she asked the knight. “Why did you kill my guards? Why have you freed the princess?” The knight, brave as he was, did not even blink his eyes. “I came to save the princess. I will take her from this hideous place, and marry her. We will be happy together, and have many children. Yes, I will give up my free life as a knight for her.” The queen went mad. “What do you give me in return?” she asked. “Her father gave her to me to pay for his debts.” The knight smiled. “I have got a thousand jewels to buy the princess, your majesty. A thousand jewels, all yours. But be cursed, when these jewels will ever leave your realm.” At that instant, jewels came from the sky. Hundreds, thousands of small shiny stones fell on the frozen fields. The queen gazed at it. She picked them up, and gathered them, she swam in them, there where jewels everywhere and she nearly drowned in them. She forgot about the princess, and ordered to take the jewels to her treasure chambers. The knight and the princess escaped, and rode on the deer to the realms of Father Frost. They married, and lived happily ever after. Years later, the queen went after the princess, eager to get the woman back, and she took a chest of jewels with her. But as soon as she crossed the border of her realm, the jewels melted like hail in spring. This way, the queen and her wealth were bound to stay in the realms of Winter. Father Frost came with her, for he saw what he had done wrong. He wanted to pay for his wealth. The knight became the new King of Summer. And so it stayed, and now there are places in Daleth where the summer will never be. Each year, you will see the birds flying to summer, to send messages from Father Frost to his daughter, to tell the people in Summer about the hardship in the realms of Winter. And to tell that greed can only develop in cold hearts. Related topics: |