Love and Happiness

Love and Happiness

Tiara

Picture by Unknown

Source: Flickr

 

There once lived a king and a beautiful queen in England. The couple was very much in love. The people adored their love for one another, and admired their work. From feeding the underprivileged to welcoming in new residents, the kind and queen were always the kindest, most generous couple.

The king and queen struggled having kids. It was important for the king to have a son in order to rule the country in the future, but there was no son or daughter. On a bright sunny day in the home of the couple, the king was watering his plants in his lavish garden filled with the most beautiful flowers, and every possible vegetable you could think of. As the king was thinking of what to order for breakfast this fine morning, his wife came rushing to him saying he was going to have a child! He dropped his coffee and picked her up in joy. They danced the day away. He treated her to a lavish dinner in their palace. She could have not been happier. They slept in peace knowing they were finally going to have a child.

As the wife was giving birth, she passed away, and the baby girl survived. Her little angel had bright blue eyes, and golden hair. They named her Elizabeth. She asked her husband to remarry because their daughter would need a mother to raise her.

The king remarried a beautiful brunette with the most perfect smile - a little too perfect. Her name was Lilly. They soon had two kids—a boy and a girl. The new mom treated Elizabeth, the stepdaughter, terribly. She made her clean the whole house by herself as her stepbrother and stepsister watched her clean from morning to night. Her father was the busiest man in England, so he never noticed how mistreated Elizabeth was. Elizabeth was told to not have any friends or leave the house. As she was cleaning Lilly's room, she found a note from her mother placed in her closet.

The note said, “Dear Elizabeth, I hope you are all grown by now. I hope you are happy, and living like the princess you are. My one wish as I looked into your eyes was for you to have an adventure, fall in love, and do all things that make you happy.”

As Elizabeth continued to reread her note, she decided she was going to escape the miserable life her stepmother put her in. One bright an early morning, she escaped and left with three things—her mother’s note, a flower from the garden, and water. She wrote a note to her father, and left it in his garden under a rock. The note read, "Dear Father, I will return one day very soon, but right now I have to leave and find my happiness. I hope you stay well. I will dearly miss you, but we shall meet again. Your dearest, Elizabeth."

As she continued to travel, she ran out of water, and stopped at a nice coffee shop. Her worn out clothes, pulled back hair, and torn boots embarrassed her. She walked up to a man grinding coffee beans for some water. The young man handed her water in a mug from the coffee shop, and looked at her in awe. He introduced himself as Jonathen. It was love at first sight for Jonathen. Elizabeth was too shy and oblivious to notice he was looking at how beautiful she was, and quickly said thank you and left.

Jonathen ran after her, and asked her where she was from, and he soon realized she was a princess after she mentioned her father and Lilly. He took her to his house immediately. He gave his spare clothes to her, and asked her what else she needed, and she asked for nothing. However, she too soon became fond of Jonathen, and told him everything. He listened in awe about her mother's passing, Lilly, and Elizabeth's childhood. She stayed at his house for weeks. They cooked, cleaned, danced, and gardened together. They traveled the world together. They soon fell in love. Jonathen decided he was going to propose to Elizabeth. He gathered all the money he earned from the coffee shop, and went on a journey to find his perfect ring for the love of his life, Elizabeth.

He came across one particular little shop in an isolated town. He went inside and browsed the rings made from various stones when his eyes landed on a bright red ruby surrounded by bright diamonds. The gentleman selling Jonathen the ring made the ring seem like the most wonderful ring of them all. The shop owner's name was Peter. Peter told Jonathen people all over the world come searching for this ring, but I wanted to save it for the right couple. Ha asked Jonathen more about Elizabeth.

"Why, this is the one for your dearest Elizabeth," Peter said.

Jonathen was finally convinced this was the one. Little did he know, this was a magical ring that would grant any wish the couple that sealed their love for another with the ring. As Jonathen left the shop, Peter looked at his car driving away, and said "God bless you and my niece."

Elizabeth was awe struck by the ring. She said yes to Jonathen. She said, "I wish for nothing more than to live happily ever after with you." The ring sparkled as her wish was granted. Jonathen and Elizabeth traveled the world together, served others, and spent everyday as their last day. 

Her mother’s one desire came true, and Elizabeth lived a happy life with the love of her life. 

Bibliography:  Stith Thompson's Tales of the North American Indians: The True Bride 

Author's Note: 

The original story comes from the Nlakapamuk people. They live in the state of Washington.

This story was based on a story about a stepmom treating her stepdaughter badly by making her pick berries that are impossible to find in the cold. She comes across family as she is looking for berries, and they give her the power of spitting out gold. The family were her brothers. She comes back to her stepmom and has the ability to do this, and the stepmom asks her to go back and find berries. She then returns to the same place, but this time her power is gone, and she is no longer able to change her old, worn out clothes into nice clothing, and spit out gold. The brother in my story is Elizabeth's uncle that sells Jonathen the ring without him knowing that he is Elizabeth's uncle. I put a twist on this story by making it a love story with somewhat of the same concept—a stepmom mistreating her stepdaughter. I used love as the symbol of happiness in my own story, and the wedding ring being the magic instead of my main character spitting out gold. I hope you all enjoy reading my twist on this fairy-tale like story as much as I liked writing it for you. Love is a power in itself, and that is what I am portraying in this story with my main character not really knowing what love and happiness are until she meets the love of her life - Jonathen. Hope you all enjoy!