The Swine Princess
Transformation
I stand up. What did the faerie turn me into? A mouse? I recoil in horror at the thought. The trees seem so much bigger... And what did she mean by swine princess? Pigs were swine, and... Did she mayhap turn me into a pig?
I try to take a step, but scream as I see my foot, transformed into a yellow webbed monstrosity. And scream again as I realize that my scream is a loud honk!
I run in confusion, not knowing where I am going. Thinking maybe I can run away from myself. I tear through trees and feel myself being scratched by bushes. But my wild run is stopped by the sight of a large lake, reflecting the sun's beams from above.
I approach the lake gingerly. I hate the water, but... I must see what the faerie has turned me into!
I take a deep breath and stared down at the shallow part of the lake. The sight of my reflection made me honk! again.
A duck! I had been turned into a duck! A duck, like the ones I have eaten with the royal court! How undignified for a princess like me!
. I want to cry, but ducks can't cry. But as I catch sight of my long neck in the water, the pure white of my plumage, I see that I am no duck.
A swan, then. I spread my wings and, in spite of myself, I marvel at their beauty, and the power it would enable me, the power to fly.
The water is tugging at me, attracting me magnetically. It must be the swan's body wanting to wade in the water. No! I do not want to.--
The swan plunges into the water. I feel the water closing around me... I am drowning!
But... I am not. Slowly, miraculously, the water buoys me up, and I am swimming.
Oh, the joy of it! I float, I swim, I glide upon the water! Yet I do not feel weighed down by the water that I had hated so much as a human.
So I spent a sevenday in this fashion, entranced by my drifting motion upon the water, eating the different kinds of food, just savoring the water on my body, cooling my feathers... And I see that being a swan is not so bad after all.
One day I flew, flapping my wings. Who could have known there was better life out here than in the palace?
.
.
.
The eighth day of my transformation finds me drifting on the lake. The sparkling blue of the water is transformed into red and orange. Is it sunset already? I glance around, and sure enough, I see the setting sun. 'Tis beautiful! Night falls. I suddenly feel the swan brain retreating from my own. I feel queer, just like when the faerie was changing me into a swan. Is she changing me back? I think excitedly. Sure enough, I feel the primary feathers on my wings lengthen, changing into fingers. I laughed, and a human laugh--my human laugh!-- rang out over the clear lake. I felt myself rising, growing tall, as my spindly swan legs thicken and lengthen into my own legs.
As I feel the water folding all around me, I remember I am not a swan at all, but a human princess who does not know how to swim,. As luck would have it, I am in the deep part of the lake, in the middle, to be exact.
If the swan was buoyed up to the surface by its feathers, I, the human, have no powers to keep me afloat. I'm sinking!
I flail wildly in the water. So this is how it ends, I think. The faerie's intention was to kill me!
I close my eyes. I'm quickly losing air...
And suddenly the faerie is standing in front of me. She smiles, and holds her hand out. I feel no anger towards her, now. She drifts me over to the shore. We stand there, and I am uncomfortably aware of my wetness, for I have never minded being wet when I was a swan.
“Would you like to stay as a swan?” the faerie asks.
I stop wringing my hair out for a moment.
“Y-Yes.” I had come to love my life as a swan. And we probably had been spoiled rulers. “But... who will rule the kingdom now?”
“Do not worry about that. A worthy person has been elected by the people.”
“My parents?”
“Safe, and learning like you are. You will soon be reunited.”
I gaze at her through my wet locks, impatiently flipping the heavy nuisances away. “Please change me back now.”
“As you wish.”
And I am in the water again. The faerie looks at me. “'Till we meet again, my swan princess. You are not a swine princess anymore.”
I smile inwardly and head for deeper waters.
Life is good.
I try to take a step, but scream as I see my foot, transformed into a yellow webbed monstrosity. And scream again as I realize that my scream is a loud honk!
I run in confusion, not knowing where I am going. Thinking maybe I can run away from myself. I tear through trees and feel myself being scratched by bushes. But my wild run is stopped by the sight of a large lake, reflecting the sun's beams from above.
I approach the lake gingerly. I hate the water, but... I must see what the faerie has turned me into!
I take a deep breath and stared down at the shallow part of the lake. The sight of my reflection made me honk! again.
A duck! I had been turned into a duck! A duck, like the ones I have eaten with the royal court! How undignified for a princess like me!
. I want to cry, but ducks can't cry. But as I catch sight of my long neck in the water, the pure white of my plumage, I see that I am no duck.
A swan, then. I spread my wings and, in spite of myself, I marvel at their beauty, and the power it would enable me, the power to fly.
The water is tugging at me, attracting me magnetically. It must be the swan's body wanting to wade in the water. No! I do not want to.--
The swan plunges into the water. I feel the water closing around me... I am drowning!
But... I am not. Slowly, miraculously, the water buoys me up, and I am swimming.
Oh, the joy of it! I float, I swim, I glide upon the water! Yet I do not feel weighed down by the water that I had hated so much as a human.
So I spent a sevenday in this fashion, entranced by my drifting motion upon the water, eating the different kinds of food, just savoring the water on my body, cooling my feathers... And I see that being a swan is not so bad after all.
One day I flew, flapping my wings. Who could have known there was better life out here than in the palace?
.
.
.
The eighth day of my transformation finds me drifting on the lake. The sparkling blue of the water is transformed into red and orange. Is it sunset already? I glance around, and sure enough, I see the setting sun. 'Tis beautiful! Night falls. I suddenly feel the swan brain retreating from my own. I feel queer, just like when the faerie was changing me into a swan. Is she changing me back? I think excitedly. Sure enough, I feel the primary feathers on my wings lengthen, changing into fingers. I laughed, and a human laugh--my human laugh!-- rang out over the clear lake. I felt myself rising, growing tall, as my spindly swan legs thicken and lengthen into my own legs.
As I feel the water folding all around me, I remember I am not a swan at all, but a human princess who does not know how to swim,. As luck would have it, I am in the deep part of the lake, in the middle, to be exact.
If the swan was buoyed up to the surface by its feathers, I, the human, have no powers to keep me afloat. I'm sinking!
I flail wildly in the water. So this is how it ends, I think. The faerie's intention was to kill me!
I close my eyes. I'm quickly losing air...
And suddenly the faerie is standing in front of me. She smiles, and holds her hand out. I feel no anger towards her, now. She drifts me over to the shore. We stand there, and I am uncomfortably aware of my wetness, for I have never minded being wet when I was a swan.
“Would you like to stay as a swan?” the faerie asks.
I stop wringing my hair out for a moment.
“Y-Yes.” I had come to love my life as a swan. And we probably had been spoiled rulers. “But... who will rule the kingdom now?”
“Do not worry about that. A worthy person has been elected by the people.”
“My parents?”
“Safe, and learning like you are. You will soon be reunited.”
I gaze at her through my wet locks, impatiently flipping the heavy nuisances away. “Please change me back now.”
“As you wish.”
And I am in the water again. The faerie looks at me. “'Till we meet again, my swan princess. You are not a swine princess anymore.”
I smile inwardly and head for deeper waters.
Life is good.
♠ ♠ ♠
Comments, please?