Once Upon A Time

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Once upon a time, there lived a handsome young prince. His mother wished for him to get married.

There were three young ladies that were out to pique his fancy. The first went by the name of Calista.

She was the most beautiful and most sought-after lady in town, and not a single other could rival the lustre of her emerald eyes and her fall of golden hair.

The second was named Zeki. She was plain, but had a wit as quick as a fox, and a fox's cunning to match.

The third and final girl was named Jaidee, and she was of the sweetest disposition of anyone. Her heart was so pure that, despite that she displayed no outward, showy kind of beauty, a simple hello from her would warm even the loneliest soul.

The prince decided at first that he should meet each lady individually in order to fairly decide which would be best suited to the role of his loving wife.

The first girl he had arranged to meet was Jaidee. She enchanted him from the moment their eyes met, and they spent a wonderful day in the sunshine.

At the end of the day, he asked her for a kiss, and she responded with a light, loving peck. He dreamed that night of Jaidee with a smile on his face, and knew that she was to be the one he married.

The next day, he met Zeki. To his shock, Zeki, too, succeeded in charming him: perhaps even more so than Jaidee had. She laughed and surprised him with her sharp turns of phrase and jokes. She offered him a red rose, and they sat on hill and watched the sun go down.

At the end of the day, he asked for a kiss, and she responded with such feverish passion that he was left stunned. He turned and tossed that night, and knew that Zeki was the one he would marry.

However, he decided to honour the arrangement he had made with Calista, and met her at a ball. Calista looked nothing short of radiant as she looked up at him through her lusciously long eyelashes, and it wasn't long before the prince was bewitched.

But the prince was disappointed. Calista had danced with every man in the room that night excepting him before the clock had even struck eleven.

Just before the final dance of the night, the prince grabbed hold of Calista's shoulder and said, "Please, will you dance with me?"

Calista consented, and as they danced, the prince was thrown into ecstasy, overwhelmed by Calista's beauty.They barely exchanged a word.

As it turned twelve am, the prince asked for a kiss.

Calista, with a toss of her soft locks, refused.

The prince left the ball, deeply frustrated.

He spent the night staring at the stars, and he knew that he would never, ever, ever, marry Calista. Not in a millenium.

So the next morning he traded his gold for the most expensive, dazzling diamond ring he could possibly find. He walked along the path and decided that he would proceed to Zeki's home accordingly.

But on the way there, something most peculiar ailed the prince.

He realised with a jolt that with every step, he was remembering less and less of Zeki. He could not remember her face, which he had previously considered so full of character and vivacity. He could not remember the colour of her eyes, though he had stared into them for hours at he time. He could not remember a word of their conversation. At the time, he had thought it fast-paced, full of poetic quips, but he was becoming less and less sure.

He retraced his footsteps, deciding that perhaps Zeki was not the one for him. He made his way to Jaidee's house. Jaidee, he knew, had been the loveliest, kindest girl he had ever met. But as he tried to recall their day together, he again found the details slipping from his grasp. He could not remember what she had said that was so kind. He could not remember her smile, the dimples in her cheeks or the sweet, delicate way she kissed.

He stopped in the middle of the road, and thought for a minute, before he realised that the only young lady whose visit he could fully remember was Calista's.

She had been beautiful, he knew that. She had danced with him and pressed up close to him, and somehow he remembered that she had been full of charisma and wild conversation, with the ability to draw any man's attention, though she was by no means coquettish; she had had golden hair, of that he was certain---he could remember its seductive scent---her eyes were jewel-like and her complexion was so soft and white that it ached to be touched---

He arrived at her home, and resolutely knocked on the door.

She answered smilelessly, arching an eyebrow.

The prince knelt on one knee, proffered the diamond ring, and asked for her hand in marriage.

She then slammed the door in his face.

The prince left, disconcerted, and filled with an irrational longing and misery. Thoughts of Zeki and Jaidee were utterly eradicated from his mind, as his only designs now were on Calista's heart.

Each day, he would return to Calista's home with another gift. On the first day, he arrived with a loveheart shaped from solid gold.

She frigidly refused him once more.

The next day, he arrived with a white mare.

Again, he was rejected.

Eventually, he turned up at her house, and said in desperation, "What can I do to make you love me?"

She considered for a moment, and then said, "Who's to say I don't?"

"You won't marry me!" he cried.

"Yes," she said, "I will."

She gave him a short, teasing kiss and the prince was overwhelmed with joy at the prospect of living happily ever after.

Not that the prospect was ever fulfilled, and as Zeki remained alone with the days growing longer, she often wondered about whatever became of that prince she once kissed under the purple sky.

And Jaidee wondered about the prince that she had spent a hot, sunshine day with as she cleaned after the husband she had become no more than a slave to.

And twilight fell more swiftly on their trivial, feminine lives than on any others, as the beautiful Calista danced and giggled and won everything they had always dreamed of.

The End