A Suitor for the Princess - Chapter 1

 

E-book's cover designed by Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan with the help of Canva. 

Thanks to www.canva.com.

        Martha was ecstatic.  The perfect story had just dawned on her.  She just wanted to put pen to paper and finish writing it, all in one go!  She looked around the cozy living-room of her three-room cottage, then contentedly at the pink roses blooming in profusion outside her window, jostling with each other to climb the red-tiled roof with a pretty chimney.  The sky outside was beginning to change color from a pristine sky-blue to a mellow orange; the precursor to sunset.

        Yes, she lived a lonely, idyllic life in this English country-side cottage, yet was never really lonely.  She was always conjuring up fantastic characters and stories with that unending fertile imagination of hers.  She had foregone marriage and its innate compulsions of domestic chores and child rearing, etc. for the absolute pleasure of an unhindered, carefree, no-nonsense lifestyle.  At 45, she was none the worse for it.

        In fact, with her smooth creamy complexion tinged with pink on her cheeks, pretty pink lips, clear blue eyes, dark brown hair (inherited from her Irish mother) and slightly plump figure, always clad in elegant yet casual summery dresses, she could almost pass off for a twenty-year old collegian!

        Her stories fetched her enough for her simple and non-fussy lifestyle.  It was always eggs, toast, croissants and coffee for breakfast, a huge sandwich stuffed with meat/chicken/salads for lunch and a dinner of a single dish made of her favorite fish-salmon followed by salads and dessert; if she was in a generous mood!

        For her evening tea, she’d invariably have home-made cakes, biscuits, nuts and a huge pot of tea.  She liked her orderly lifestyle that included compulsory morning and evening walks into the woods, piano-practice at 11.00 a.m., for two hours and of course, her writing; her bread, butter and jam, nay her life itself.  As she had sacrificed most of life’s so-called pleasures for her vocation, it could safely be said that she could die, if not allowed to write, some day!

        But she decided that evening that she’d skip her favorite, leisurely evening walk, breathing in the salubrious country air, for the even more infinite pleasure of writing.  She wanted to hasten with the endeavor, lest the story skip her mind.  In fact, it was just clamoring to be written.  It had struck her so suddenly, that she had been caught unawares.

        Usually, she mulled over her plots, characters and situations, continuously, brewing them for days on end, like a deliciously, simmering stew; so that when the story finally took shape on her spotless pages, it was just divine!  No wonder, the editor of the local magazine was saved the trouble of laborious editing!  He printed the story in Toto and paid her generously for her flawless piece of writing.  He’d often joke and raise an imaginary toast to her unique writing prowess, saying, with a twinkle in his grey eyes, “To the most fertile brain in the world, well at least this county!  Let’s hope that it’s never jaded and at a loss for words!”, while handing over the remuneration cheque to her.

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        And so she began writing……..

        In a far-away land, in a remote kingdom named Regina, there was a palace and a shrine.  The King and the Queen had a lovely charming daughter Sara, who, needless to say, was the apple of their eyes.  As she grew from a bonny infant into a lustrous beauty, they decided that they’d marry her off only to a very worthy young man. 

          For days, the King and his Minister struggled to define what worthy would mean really!  The usual pre-requisites of name, fame, wealth and chivalry were discussed and discarded.  These were too run-of-the-mill.  That young man had to have some unusual attribute.  Then they zeroed in on one such unusual attribute—patience. 

        The wizened old men had seen lots of kingdoms being destroyed due to a singular lack of this important attribute.  Hence they wanted to ensure that their kingdom would never suffer from the ignominy of such a downfall.  You see, the King, having no son of his own, had decided that only the man who’d marry his precious daughter and make her his bride, would rule over his kingdom.  Small it was, but it was as precious as a gem to him.

        The King and his Minister plotted their plan of action.  They’d call all the eligible bachelors from far and near to undertake a rigorous test.  Only that person who passed that test in patience with flying colors would marry that beautiful Princess Sara.  She, of the rosy complexion, blue eyes, blonde hair falling right down to her knees, hour-glass figure, sweet voice and tinkling laughter; was impatient to meet that patient man.

        Petulantly, she asked her father one night, “With due respect to you ‘Me Dad’, what if we never find such a person?  Will I die a virgin?”

        Fondly, he looked at his bold and sweet darling and said calmly “We will Sara, we will!  Trust me!  There’s always some bride-groom made by the Lord in Heaven, for every bride.  You just need to have patience.”

        Soon royal invites were sent to all the eligible princes of various kingdoms and road-side announcements were made from street-squares to let all the eligible and willing bachelors to stake their claim to the Princess’ hand in marriage.  The stipulated condition was also prominently announced.  “Only he, who passes a test designed by the King, will be the lucky bride-groom.”

        All the eligible princes and bachelors spent lots of time, money and energy on learning and mastering all the marital arts, learning from all the books of knowledge and worldly wisdom and counting their precious baubles.  They wanted to be prepared on all counts.  Horse-riding, sword fencing, armed and unarmed combat/duels, archery, shooting and other endurance tests such as racing and mountaineering; were also the pursuits that were high on those eligible bachelors’ ‘to do’ lists.  None had the remotest idea of the ordeal that had been deliberately and painstakingly planned for them.

To be continued... 

The copyright of this novel is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.