The Weightless Princess
Long ago, there lived a king and queen who longed deeply for a child. After many years, they were blessed with the most beautiful princess ever seen.
The entire kingdom rejoiced, and the king himself sent invitations to all important people: family friends, priests, and sorcerers, for the child's naming ceremony.
But the king forgot one name — that of a witch, the most powerful of all, the most malevolent. When the witch heard about the celebration, she decided to go to the ceremony anyway.
The king wasn't at all surprised to see her, because he had no idea he had forgotten to send her an invitation.
— Welcome! Please, bless my daughter! — I'll certainly give her something, Your Highness! Where's the little angel? — Her mother will bring her soon.
Although it was clear the king hadn't meant to offend her but had simply forgotten, the witch grew even angrier and swore revenge. When the naming ceremony began and the perfumed water to be sprinkled on the princess was brought, the witch secretly poured a powder into it.
After being sprinkled, the baby lost her weight. She ceased to be affected by gravity. The nurse holding her suddenly felt the princess was no longer in her arms, as she had become weightless.
— What's this? What happened?
Frightened, the nurse dropped the princess, but she didn't fall. She remained suspended in the air.
— My daughter! What happened? — This means the princess has been enchanted.
They retrieved the girl, but although weightlessness might seem exaggerated, it created many problems for the princess and her parents. One day, when the princess was lying on the bed, the queen opened the window without thinking and left.
A gust of wind entered the room and carried the poor princess out through the window, as if she were a feather or a speck of dust. The nurse came into the room and saw the princess was gone.
— Where is the child? Surely the queen took her! — Where is the princess, nurse? I want to see my beautiful daughter. — Forgive me, Your Highness, but I thought the princess was with you. — What nonsense is this? But where is she?
The whole palace was searched. The gardener was gathering leaves in the garden when he heard laughter from under a pile of leaves.
— What's that? Good heavens, it's the princess! — Where is my daughter? — Your Highness, the gardener found her under a pile of leaves.
From that day on, the king and queen were so frightened that the princess was kept under watch every moment of the day. When she slept, the covers were tightly tucked around the bed so she could barely move. When she was awake, she was always in someone's arms.
Once, the king tried to toss her in the air and play with her as strong fathers do, but the princess didn't land and had to be brought down from the ceiling with a ladder. When the princess grew up, she could barely walk, because the moment her foot touched the ground, no matter how small the force, she would bounce into the air.
So she had to be practically carried while walking and had a retinue of twenty servants holding her by long ribbons that came out of her dress so she wouldn't fly away. Because she had no weight, her heart couldn't be heavy either, so she could never be sad.
Therefore, when she wasn't talking, she only knew how to laugh. When we cannot be sad, we cannot understand the sadness of others. And when we cannot understand the sadness of others, we cannot be gentle and cannot learn what love means.
So the princess was always rude and mean.
— Child, we worry about you. — You're so funny when you say that! — My dear, you don't care about us. You don't love us even a little. — What do you mean care and love? I'm fine flying around here! You're so amusing when you make that angry face. Now if you'll excuse me, I want to leave.
But the princess was actually sad, although her weightlessness didn't allow her to realize it. She hated always being served.
— Can't you leave me alone? — We're sorry, Your Highness, but we have clear instructions from the king to keep an eye on you, so the wind doesn't carry you away. — Please! I feel like an animal on a leash. Let me go! — We're very, very sorry, Your Highness, but the king and queen worry that you'll be carried by the wind and hurt.
The princess felt like a prisoner. She longed to be left alone. In only one place did she feel alive and free. The palace was built beside a large lake. The princess swam in it every day. Only here was there no risk of the wind carrying her away or of her stepping too hard and taking flight.
While in the lake water, she could be left alone in peace. So the princess thought she could be free in the lake. She could swim there day and night.
The Search for a Cure
Meanwhile, the king and queen consulted every healer, doctor, metaphysician, and sorcerer in the kingdom. But none could offer a solution for their poor daughter. Until one day, the scholars Hum, Drum, and Copycat came to the king.
— Your Highness, we may have a solution for the princess's weightlessness! — Tell me quickly! — As you know, water seems to cure the princess of her weightlessness, at least temporarily. That is, while she's in the water. — We know that. And? — If the water surrounding the princess's body can heal her and gladden her heart temporarily, then the water flowing from her heart could heal her permanently. — But I don't understand. — Your Majesty, we must make the princess cry. That, you should know, might cure her.
Thus the king sent word throughout the kingdom that whoever could make the princess cry would be rewarded. Many tried, but none could make the princess shed even a single tear.
— How funny!
Everyone was beginning to lose hope that the princess would get better. It happened that one day, a prince was passing through the forests around the kingdom. He had heard about the enchanted princess but had no desire to meet her.
So when night fell, instead of seeking shelter at the palace as a guest, he found a cave in the forest and decided to spend the night there. When he went into the forest to gather dry wood for a fire, he saw someone floating in the lake and thought the person was drowning. So he threw himself into the water to save her.
Of course, that person was the princess, and the moment he lifted her and felt she was weightless, he realized she was the enchanted princess he hadn't wanted to meet. But now it was too late, for from the moment he had seen her, he had already fallen in love.
— How dare you take me out of the lake? — I thought you were drowning. — How foolish! Take me back now! — You are the princess unaffected by gravity. Have you ever fallen? — I can't fall. I can only be carried by the wind and fly. — Then how about trying to fall with me?
Saying this, the prince threw himself into the water with the princess in his arms, and that was the most thrilling experience the princess had ever had.
— How was it? — It was the greatest thing I've ever done!
Thus the prince and princess began meeting at the lake every evening to swim together. The princess could not love, but the prince loved her so much that he lived to hear her laugh and to see her swimming happily beside him. He could have lived like that for the rest of his life, but destiny had other plans.
The witch found out about the princess's passion for the lake, so she cast a spell that made it dry up. Slowly, the lake began to die and with it the princess.
— What will become of our daughter? — It seems the princess's life is tied to the lake's. If we don't save the lake, we can't save her either.
One day, when the lake had almost completely dried up except for a few small puddles, two young men found a golden plaque under a stone that read:
— If the lake must live for the sake of the people, it must be allowed to take a man's life. But that man must offer his life of his own free will. He must stand on the dry bottom of the lake until the water rises above his head.
When the king heard, he sent word to every corner of the kingdom. But no one wanted to offer their life for the lake. When the prince somehow heard of the king's plea while in the forest, he headed immediately to the palace.
— Your Highness, I offer my life to the lake. But on one condition. — What might that be? — I want the princess to be present and keep me alive until the water rises above my head. I want her to watch me and feed me biscuits so I don't starve while the water level rises. That's all I want. — The condition shall be met. Perhaps, when she sees her beloved lake filling again, my daughter will recover.
The Sacrifice and the Healing
Thus the prince sat on the bottom of the lake. The princess was brought in a boat. When she saw the prince, she did not thank him, for she had neither love nor kindness in her soul. As the prince sat, the water level began to rise slowly.
Soon the water reached his knees, and when the boat rocked a little, the princess was thrilled.
— My boat is floating! The water level is rising! My lake isn't drying up! We can swim here again! Prince, let's swim together again like before! — I want nothing more than to swim with you again, but I can't, for I must die so the lake may live, so you may live.
For the first time in her life, something happened in the princess's heart. She didn't want the prince to die. Watching the water level rise slowly — first to the prince's waist, then to his chest, then to his chin, and then to his nose, making him gasp — the princess couldn't bear it anymore.
She threw herself into the water and pulled him out by force. When she brought him to shore, the prince was no longer breathing. The princess panicked and began to cry. She cried harder than anyone had ever cried before. Doctors came and began tending to the prince, and the princess asked for him to be taken to her room.
The princess, feeling unwell herself, was taken to the palace. That night was a long and dreadful one for the royal house. The next morning, the princess woke up. The prince still wasn't moving. She saw him and began to cry again.
— Oh, brave prince, wake up! Please, wake up! Don't die, please!
Hearing this, the prince opened his eyes and smiled. Overjoyed, the princess got out of bed, pressed her foot hard on the ground, expecting to jump for joy. Instead, the princess fell.
— Ouch! — Princess, you didn't fly! You fell! — Yes, I noticed. — You're affected by gravity again!
The world rejoiced at the palace as never before. The lake was full to the brim. The prince was alive, and the princess was affected by gravity once more. But she had to learn to walk.
The prince and princess were in love. They married, swam, walked, and ruled the kingdom together, living happily ever after.
The moral of the story is that love and compassion can heal even the deepest wounds and bring balance to our lives.
