Fairy Bride

Sham S. Misri

Once there was a king. He had three sons. When he grew old he did not know to whom to give his kingdom. The king thought that, his sons would fight among themselves after his death.  He called his wise men to find out what could be done. The wise men told the king that he should make a trial of his sons in shooting of bow and an arrow. The one who would throw an arrow farthest would be made the prince of the kingdom. First of all the eldest tried and shot an arrow. It went a little away and struck a bird and killed him. Then the middle one tried and shot the arrow. It went some yards away and killed his own man there. Last came the turn of the youngest son. He shot so far that his arrow was lost. He went out to find where the arrow had fallen. It took him some time to find out where the arrow was. Finally he found the arrow had stuck a door frame. He went near the house and found that house had glass windows all around it. He entered the house and found himself in the home of the Queen of Fairies. The Queen of fairies asked him to marry her. The youngest prince married her there and then. After a while he wanted to return home with his bride.

While he was returning home, an old witch who lived in the park incited the prince to ask the fairy bride to fetch him a handkerchief which would cover the whole park. The fairy bride did it. She was then asked to bring her brother, which she did. When the fairy bride’s brother entered the king’s palace, he terrified the king. The fairy bride’s brother even threatened the king. 'What did you call me for?' The king was too frightened to answer. The fairy's brother killed the king and the old witch. After this he vanished. The prince and the fairy queen then lived at the castle.