Page 89 of The Tsarina's Favorite
If I still had a proper mouth and not the damned beak, I might have accepted.A warm drink sounded delightful.To partake, I envisioned having to go over to the samovar, turn the spigot, and let the tea pour directly into my mouth like a savage.My pride, reduced to ashes at this point, still would not grant me such abandon.
“Why don’t you tell me a story?”Alaina asked as she returned with her teacup and resumed her seat.“I tire of my own voice.”
“Because all my stories end unhappily.”
“Do you only know Allemandian tales then?Those are all dreadfully depressing.”
“Many Ilyichian tales are also dark.”
“Surely, you can think of one that isn’t.”
“In a certain tsardom, in a certain country,” I said, “there was a princess who befriended a strange creature.And they remained friends all their days.The end.”
“While I like that one very much,” Alaina grinned, “that was too brief.What about folktales and such?Fairy tales?”
“They’re called wonder tales here.”I considered for a moment.“There’s the scarlet flower, where a merchant with three daughters asks them each what they want before he sets out on a voyage.The older two ask for splendid things.The youngest asks for the most beautiful scarlet flower in the world.”
“There is a Jeanvian story that is similar.”She said something in Jeanvian, presumably the title of the story, that I could only half translate.“Except the merchant in that one loses everything.Continue.”
“Although the merchant sees many beautiful scarlet flowers on his journey, none is the most beautiful.On his return trip, he is set upon by bandits and finds shelter in a magnificent palace where he is restored to health.And there, in the courtyard, is the most beautiful scarlet flower in the world, so he takes it.”
“Does a terrible creature appear and demand that one of the daughters come to live with him?”
“I see you know this story already.What need have you of me to tell it?”
“Don’t be like that.I’ll try not to interrupt.”
“Try,” I warned her.“And so the youngest daughter goes to the palace where she is treated like a princess and given every comfort and luxury she could imagine.”I paused because this seemed like a moment when Alaina would interject.“Any commentary?”
“No.”Then she asked, “What does she think of the creature in this tale?”
“He hides so that he cannot frighten her.If she knew what he was, she would not want him.And yet, despite his precautions, he is revealed to her eventually.She finds him horrific and returns home.”
“Is that all?”
“No.I’m just giving you ample opportunity to contribute so that you are not speaking over me before I go on.”
“How considerate.Do continue.”
“At home, she is surrounded by people who treat her poorly and who wish to hurt the creature that has been looking after her.She returns to him, and when she agrees to marry him, he transforms into a prince.All very routine and maudlin.”
“The Kind and Fair are in the Jeanvian one, but it ends the same.”
“There’s another called Finist the Falcon that starts similarly, where instead of a scarlet flower, the youngest daughter asks for a feather from the famous bird prince, Finist.”
“I don’t know that one.”Alaina sipped her tea.“Tell me.”
“Her father finds it and gives it to her.But Finist, now that the girl has possession of his feather, can begin to visit her.He comes with the aid of a magic ring each night to woo her and share her bed.But her sisters get jealous and injure him on one of his visits.And then she leaves to find him and marries him to see him healed.”
“Is he a bird who bears the title of prince, or a shapeshifter, or a prince who has been transformed into a bird?”
Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned Finist the Falcon or any other tale of transformation.They suddenly all seemed a little too telling.Had others endured my fate for there to be stories about it?
“It all depends on the teller of the story,” I said.“They’re good for children, but princes are boring when you live at court.”
Indeed, good for children.At my age, I expected to be telling wonder tales to my own.Now, I would never have any.
“The stories are just downright cruel,” Alaina said.“If you’re a princess and told growing up that you’ll find love, especially when that’s the least likely scenario possible, it sets one up for a lifetime of disappointment.”
