A Tale of Eternal Love
A very very long time ago, in a land far far away, at the time when magicians ruled the land, there were two kingdoms. They were neighboring kingdoms, separated by an enchanted forest. One kingdom, the Kingdom of the Light was located on the west side of the enchanted forest. The other kingdom, Kingdom of Darkness, was on the east side of the forest. The Kingdom of Light was ruled by King Love. And the Kingdom of Darkness was ruled by The Evil One.
Both kings had magical powers. King Love was much stronger than The Evil One. His magic was the power of love and we know that love is the strongest power in the world. It can even melt the hearts of stone. The Evil One’s magic was the power of hatred. This power was not as strong as love, but The Evil One was strong enough to be called King Love’s adversary.
Light and darkness, love and hate cannot exist together. And so the kingdoms were at war with each other.
The Kingdom of Light was beautiful and full of life. And King Love was very good, just, kind and loving. His people loved him and were completely devoted to him. And life in the kingdom was very happy and blissful, all the people loved each other and were nice to each other. The sun was shining all the time. But it wasn’t hot there, but just warm and refreshing. Picture the most perfect day you have ever felt, and it was like this all year long.
The Kingdom of Darkness, on the other hand, was a very dark place. A cold place. Some called it: a valley of the shadow of death. There was lots of rain and fog and cold gushing winds. There were four seasons. During summer it was very hot and sweaty. During winter it was very cold and uncomfortable. So the people always waited for the spring and fall seasons to get some rest from the extreme weather of the other two seasons. The land was like a wilderness, with some desert places and some rocky places. The Evil One was an evil king. He mistreated his subjects and held them in bondage.
The Evil One blinded the minds of his subjects with his magical powers and they didn’t even know there was any other life besides the one they knew in the kingdom. They didn’t even know that there was another kingdom somewhere out there. They never entered the enchanted forest because the Evil One used his powers to make them afraid of it. The Evil One told them that the enchanted forest was a place of death. And whoever entered it, would cease to exist.
The Evil One worked his people very hard and they were always tired and cranky. And if this was not enough, he also spread his propaganda about the survival of the fittest reward program. Whoever was the toughest, the meanest, would be richly rewarded by certain things and will be able to experience happiness and pleasure. So people, tired of all their work, wanted some pleasure and happiness. So they tried to live according to that program to gain some measure of happiness. But the rewards were fake. The Evil One used his magical powers to make people believe that they were happy when they reached certain places in the rewards program and were accordingly rewarded.
But his powers sometimes didn’t completely work on a few of the people. And those few people felt the emptiness of the rewards. But they thought that this must be because they have not reached the top yet. So they tried even harder.
But let’s get back to the Kingdom of Light. King Love had a son. The Prince was gorgeous as gorgeous could be. And although all the people in the kingdom were beautiful, He was just Perfect Beauty and in his character. He was not only the most handsome person you ever saw, but he was also so kind and so full of love, and so charming and enchanting and witty and brave and yet so gentle and humble – all at the same time - that he could melt any girl’s heart in a second. So it was every single girl’s dream and fantasy to be married to the King’s son.
Now, people born in the Kingdom of Light were all beautiful and loving. But once in a while, maybe like once in a 1000 years, there is one that is born absolutely perfect. (Well, like King’s son.) But this time, by some unknown miracle, at about the same time there was born a girl, who was like King’s son. She was also perfect. She was perfectly and amazingly beautiful. She had the most perfect and pure heart. And she had the perfect love living in her heart. She was enchanting and witty. She was kind and also humble. Well, of course, King Love has heard of her beauty and perfection and He thought that she would make a good queen and a wife for his son. He was watching over her life to make sure she was well taken care of. And one day, when she grew up and became a young girl of about 18 years, the King arranged for her and his son to accidentally meet. He didn’t want to force the match on them. He wanted them to fall in love. So that’s why he arranged this “accidental” meeting in an enchanted forest.
Perfect Beauty, for that was her name, was happily and blissfully walking in an enchanted forest, smelling flowers and talking to the animals there. Then she started to sing. And that was the most amazing voice one has ever heard. And the Prince heard the voice. And immediately, his heart drew him towards the voice, like a powerful magnet. And when he walked up closer, he saw the vision of loveliness standing before him. The moment he saw her, she stole his heart. The minute she glanced at him, he fell deeply and completely and madly and eternally in love with her. And when she saw him, his perfect, most handsome ever, deeply loving gaze on her, she also fell deeply in love with him. She gave her heart completely to Him at that moment. At that moment, he became a part of her heart, her very life, without which she couldn’t imagine her life. They have become one in heart at that moment. They have been united by a bond of perfect love that was unbreakable and eternal. They have become half of the other and without one another they would always feel incomplete.
Of course, they set a date for wedding at that time. King Love was very happy that they fell in love.
All the girls in the kingdom were sad about their loss when they heard the news, but King Love’s magical power of love made them forget their sadness. And everybody agreed, there was no more perfect match for the Prince then Perfect Beauty. There was only one difference between him and her – He had the magical power of love, just like his father, King Love. And Perfect Beauty did not have any powers.
One time, I don’t know exactly how, but it so happened that Perfect Beauty has wondered into an enchanted forest. And normally, enchanted forest would not let anybody go through and cross to the other side. King Love built the enchanted forest to protect his subjects from the Kingdom of Darkness. The enchanted forest was full of love and no being of darkness could ever enter it. Actually, according to the rules of those times, there was an agreement between Kings: if one of the subjects of the Kingdom of Light crossed over to the other side and stepped onto the land of the Kingdom of Darkness, he would have become a subject of The Evil One.
But the enchanted forest had no power over the perfect one. So she wandered around, blissfully unaware of the coming danger. She was singing and happily thinking of her coming wedding. She closed her eyes and didn’t notice when her feet stepped out of the forest and touched the land of the Kingdom of Darkness.
The minute her feet touched the land of The Evil One, something very tragical has happened. Her perfection was gone and she lost her beauty. And because of the magic of the Evil One that covered the land, her mind became blinded and she forgot the Kingdom of Light. She became one of the subjects of the Evil One. And she thought that this life in the Kingdom of Darkness was all there was. Her heart turned to stone, but not the entire heart. There was a little soft spot left. Just a tiny little spot, but it was there. And because of this little soft spot in her heart, she kept longing for something that she didn’t have. One would call that “hope”. She seemed to have some sort of a hope for something better. She didn’t know what it was, but it kept her from becoming totally hardened just as the rest of the people of the Kingdom of Darkness. Hope kept a tiny tiny flame of love burning in her heart. It was very very tiny though.
One of the animals of the forest has informed the King of what happened. Imagine the Prince when he heard the news. His heart was completely broken and full of great pain. He felt so completely lost without Perfect Beauty, in such utter despair. After days of hopelessness and pain, his thoughts have finally started to work again and he reasoned that there must be something he can do to rescue her. Anything. Anything at all. He went to his father, King Love for advise. His father’s face was grave and deeply troubled.
“My beloved son”, he said, “I hesitate to tell you of this solution, for I love you so much and I don’t want to lose you too. But I see your pain and my love for you is greater than my desire to keep you by my side. And I am willing to give you up to grant you your desire. There is something you could do. But it will cost you greatly. It will cost you your very life and it will bring you a very great deal of pain for a very long time. You will have to go into the Kingdom of Darkness and not use any of your magic powers to help yourself and give yourself into the hands of The Evil One to be killed. He doesn’t know it, but by this act, you will buy the freedom for your bride. But that is not all. The Evil One has the power over your bride now. He will be keeping her mind blinded and she won’t recognize you. So even though you will do all this to rescue her, she might not even respond to you. But the power of your love for her will help and she might remember you at some point. She also won’t look pretty anymore. She is not perfect anymore. But, my son, at the cost of your life, you CAN make her pretty and perfect again. Her heart has turned to stone. But with your love you CAN melt it, overtime. And there is one more thing, my son. The Evil One will realize that you want her and he will try to destroy her. So you will have to be there for her every second, protecting her and guiding her and helping her UNTIL the time of penance comes to an end and she will truly be free and you will be able to marry her.
My son, she forgot all about her life here. And she cannot marry you unless she remembers all the rules of our land. You will have to teach her. You will have to show her how to be loving and humble again. She might misunderstand your motives. She might be upset with you. She might be hurt, thinking that you are hurting her instead of helping her. She will cry, my son, and it will bring a great deal of pain to you to see her like this. She will suffer at the hands of the evil one, for she has to go through purification process, and that will bring you pain too. And you will have to watch it all and not be able to stop it, but only to give her comfort and love in between her trials. Do you understand my son, what a difficult task is ahead of you? Are you ready my son?”
“Yes Father”, said the Prince. “I am ready. Because I simply cannot live without her. My life is empty and meaningless. I do not want to live like this. I need her. And I will get her at any cost.”
“My son, there is one encouragement I want to give you. Remember, the power of love is stronger, and you WILL have her. Take courage my son and look towards the happy day. And here is a magic mirror for you. Whenever you look into it, you will see me and I will see you and we will be able to talk. (The people without love in their hearts won’t be able to use it.) So, whenever you are down, come to me and I will comfort you and strengthen you and I will love you through it all. And, my son, I am so very proud of you. My heart is heavy and in pain to have to let you go. But I am so very proud of you. You will be rewarded by your bride’s love in the end. Love will overcome.”
And so the Prince has started his journey. He went to the edge of the echanted forest and and looked at the land of Darkness spreading before him. It was dark and gloomy. He shivered from the cold. Everything looked so desolate, so hopeless. The Prince felt the fear come over him. Then he remembered his father’s parting words: “Remember my son, you can always talk to me through the magic mirror. And I live in your heart because we are connected by a bond of love. Be of good courage my son, I am so proud of you.” Then he thought of his beloved Perfect Beauty and his heart found courage. He stepped out of the magic forest and started walking. (Oh, by the way, He did not become like people of the land because he had the magic powers of love, which Perfect Beauty did not have. But King Love made it with his magic so that the Prince LOOKED like the people of that land, so that he wouldn’t stand out.)
He walked many hours before he finally reached the outskirts of the city. It was close to midnight by the time he reached it. So the streets looked empty and he decided to find a corner somewhere and lie down for the night. He was awakened by loud voices coming from just a few feet from where he was resting. There were two people arguing over something. He stood up and came up to them. He wanted to ask them about some place he could get some work and some food. But the angry people told him to not bother them and solve his own problems. Then he started walking again and came by a well. He wanted to get some water, but there was no bucket. So he sat and waited, hoping that somebody would come by with a bucket. Sure enough, there came a woman. He asked her to give him a drink, but she refused. He then offered to get the water for her in exchange for the drink and she agreed. He decided to test his luck and ask her for a job. As luck would have it, this woman did need somebody to help her with her huge garden. They agreed on the wages and the Prince followed the woman to the place where he would live.
She lived on the outskirts of the city. They came to a small shabby house with worn out paint. The door squeaked and almost fell, barely hanging on its hedges. There were two rooms in the house. One was the woman’s. And the other one was to be his. There was a wooden bench, long enough to be a bed and a smaller bench which served as a table. The woman said that her son used to live there but he got married and went off to live somewhere else just recently. And she had a hard time keeping the garden. She sold the vegetables for money and that’s how she lived. So the Prince settled in this place, and was grateful that he had such a stroke of luck and found himself a job so fast. The woman fed him. Not because she was kind, but because she figured that she was lucky to have a hired hand who agreed to such small wages. And she thought to herself that she better keep him happy or else he might leave her.
The days of the week in this land did not have names, only numbers. Tomorrow was the 7th day. And even in this gloomy land, people had a choice to rest on the 7th day. Not because there was kindness in The Evil One’s heart, but because he understood that they were only human and couldn’t not survive without the rest. So the woman told the Prince that he can do what he wants on the 7th day. He chose to help her. He found some leftover paint in the shack and painted the little house and fixed the door. That made the woman happy. Well, as happy as she could get, being tired and cranky as all the people were in that land.
And so went the days: the Prince worked hard in the garden and the woman treated him very well, for fear that he would leave her if he doesn’t like something. Each time on the 7th day, the Prince went into the city and observed the people. He tried to teach the people to be nice to each other. But he got beaten up one time for interfering. One time he saw a young girl, a cripple, being mistreated by her mother. His heart was aching for the little girl. But there was nothing he could do.
So the Prince kept walking on the streets of the city in hopes to find Perfect Beauty. It was the closest city to the enchanted forest, so he figured she would be here somewhere. As he was searching for her, he didn’t really know how he would recognize her. But he believed in the power of love and he believed that his heart would tell him who she is once he saw her. While waiting and searching, he kept helping some people here and there. They considered themselves lucky. They didn’t know about being thankful for being helped. He also has helped the people with various tasks when he saw that somebody needed some help. He thought that maybe by his example, he could teach them something. But the dark powers of hatred magic kept people in bondage and wouldn’t let them understand what the Prince was trying to accomplish. The Prince was often very tired because the work was hard and the people unfriendly. He felt so alone. And so at night, he would walk out into the garden, look in his magical mirror and speak with his father. And then he felt better.
The Prince has been getting some wages from the lady he was helping. It was not much, but he saved it all and didn’t spend any of it on himself. He thought that some day when he finds Perfect Beauty she might need help. And so little by little he collected a good some of money. A few years have passed.
One day, when he was walking the streets as usual, he saw a young woman being dragged by some rough looking people. They had looked angry. At once, his heart skipped a beat and he felt very drawn to this young woman. Immediately he realized that he has found her. He ran up to those guys and asked them what she has done. They said she owed them money and they were going to sell her into slavery. The prince at once has offered to pay the money for her. Fortunately, he had just enough saved up. So they let the young woman go. The prince has asked her name. She said it was Hope. (She did not remember her original name.) She seemed surprised at his help and there was hope in her eyes. Before that, she looked so dejected and so utterly hopeless. The prince asked her if she knew who he was and she said no.
The prince then offered to walk her to her house, but she didn’t trust him, so she refused. She thought he had some wrong motive. Because in that land, people never did anything nice without expecting something in return.
So the prince had to follow her in order to find out where she lived. And of course, he had to do it so that she wouldn’t see it, otherwise she might get scared off. He found out where she lived and saw that her place wasn’t any better than the place he has stayed at. And then he went to his own place for the night.
The Prince had become very good at gardening. His father gave him a magical gift: whatever work you find there, you will get really good at it. So the Prince was a valued gardener. So he decided to ask for work somewhere around Perfect Beauty’s house (that way he could watch over her). And because luck was on his side, the house right next door to hers did need somebody. They examined the Prince’s working skills and were very happy to have him. The Prince did not leave the elderly lady with whom he used to live without help either. While walking the streets, he has found somebody who needed work and seemed like a more decent one of the bunch. So he coordinated for that person and the lady to meet and they agreed to help each other out.
Meanwhile, in his new place, the Prince did not have to work as many hours, so he had much more free time on his hands. He kept looking over the Perfect Beauty’s house and kept watching over her. He found out that she worked in the garden with the elderly lady that she lived with. And that Perfect Beauty went to the market to sell the vegetables their raised. (The Prince followed her without letting her see him). Then he just stayed a distance away, trying to make sure that nobody bothered her. But one day one rough looking guy wanted to just take something from her by force. (They did have rules against such things, but people don’t always obey the rules.) So the Prince has walked over to where Perfect Beauty was and pretended to be her husband. And said to her: wife, is this man bothering you? She just blinked, surprised. But the rough looking guy got scared off as soon as he heard that. The Prince looked pretty strong, as somebody you don’t really want to contend with. Then the Prince told Perfect Beauty: “it’s a good thing I happened to be near by, are you ok?” She just nodded, not knowing what to expect. The Prince was aching inside. He so much wanted to comfort her and to tell her that he will always protect her. But he couldn’t. That would just scare her off. So he had to be satisfied with just being there for her. So he just went away, saying only: “well, ok, I’ll see you around”.
Another time, as she was getting ready to go home from the market, her vegetables spilled over. He came up to help her. She was surprised again. She was a little bit scared too. She did not know what his intentions were and why he kept showing up. She thought that maybe he wants her for himself. She wasn’t the worst looking of the bunch after all. But there was nothing really that she could do to protect herself. So she just accepted his help and didn’t know what would come of it.
Now, the prince kept helping other people whenever he saw the opportunity. And two of those times, Perfect Beauty happened to see it. She was surprised, again. Because there was this little soft spot in her heart, she was able to recognize that there was something different about him. Something that made her feel good somehow. She didn’t understand her feelings, but she liked what she felt.
One day, as luck would have it, the Prince’s employers wanted him to start selling their vegetables too. Fortunately, the vegetables were quite different from Perfect Beauty’s. So he would not be a competition against her. So the next day, as soon as she started walking, he caught up with her and said that he will be selling his stuff too and whether it’s ok if they walk together. She agreed. Again, she felt some kind of a good feeling inside. It think it was the feeling of security, of being protected, but she didn’t know it.
The Prince and Perfect Beauty started talking on their walks together. And the Prince got to know her much better. There was a kindness about her, which came from that soft spot in her heart. It was deep inside and needed to be brought out. When Perfect Beauty saw the Prince being kind to others and to her over and over, she started to feel something good inside. One time, Prince confided in her that he goes out on the 7th day and helps people. And he offered for her to go with him. Perfect Beauty agreed. She didn’t know why exactly, but there was hope for something stirring in her. She felt something good inside. And so they went. She observed him. She observed the people. And she was learning. One day she even started to help too. It was not easy. People were unfriendly. But somehow, she felt it was necessary regardless.
One day, the Prince got sick and did not show up for their walk to the market. She felt so bad inside. She felt abandoned. She did not know why he didn’t show up. But she felt like she lost something extremely valuable to her. She was surprised at her feelings. After three days, he got better and he met her again and told her that he really likes their walks and if he ever does not show up, it’s because it was impossible for him. He really wanted to tell her how much he loved her and that he couldn’t live without her and that seeing her was a bright spot in his day. But he couldn’t. She wouldn’t understand. She didn’t know that love is, nor would she trust it. So he had to be satisfied with telling her as little as possible. Perfect Beauty was starting to develop feelings for him, although she didn’t understand them. Her tiny tiny flame of love was becoming a little bigger as time went on. She was feeling good feelings when the Prince was near and bad feelings when he was not. She realized that he has become such a part of her that she needed him now. Overtime, she fell in love. And once the Prince had noticed her feelings, he gently explained to her that it was the feeling of love. He also dared to say that it was the same thing that he felt towards her too. It made her really good inside to have him say that. The Prince then started to explain to her the things about kindness, compassion and other things of the land of the Light. Her mind was gaining more and more understanding even inspite of the hatred magic covering it like cobwebs. But the power of love was stronger and was breaking through in her heart. The flame of love was now burning like a little flame, warming her heart and his heart.
But the destined day was of course still coming. The day that would bring them both so much pain.
It was a very small city where the Prince lived. And the news did not spread that much because people didn’t recognize kindness for what it was. They thought it was a matter of luck. But still, over the years, the news did reach the Evil One that there was this strange man who brings everybody luck whenever he is near. And of course the Evil One knew of the Kingdom of Light and knew about this “luck” for what it was. And of course he knew that only the perfect one from that kingdom could live on his land and still do kindness. So he figured it must be the King’s son himself. And he designed to kill him. He also sent his spies to find out the reason why the King’s son was in his land. Once he found out that he had a girl, he decided to kill the girl as well. Just out of spite.
Now, the Prince knew that day would come. So he told Perfect Beauty that such a day might come. And of course, such days were so common in that land, days of sorrow and of bad things and of death, that Perfect Beauty understood that very well. She couldn’t bare to think of this day coming, but in her mind she knew it might. So, the Prince has asked her to swear to him by the love that she had for him, that as soon as that day comes, she will hide herself. He convinced her just to take his word for it, and that it would bring him great joy knowing that she would do like he asked. And then he swore to her that if ever they get separated, he will do everything in his power to find her again. And after she fell in love with him, the Prince told her about the kingdom of Light, and his father King Love, and the magic mirror and the secret place where he keeps it. He told her to use the mirror to inform King Love if he was ever killed. He also told her to listen to everything King Love tells her and to follow his instructions closely and he will keep her safe.
And so that time came. The Evil One has sent his soldiers and they came and got the Prince and dragged him out on the street and killed him. Many people were standing and watching. The bad ones were happy because he often prevented their bad deeds. The good ones were sad because their “luck” was gone now.
Fortunately for Perfect Beauty, she was not at home at the time. As soon as she came near and heard all the commotion, her heart sank, for she knew that the evil day has come. She ran away before anybody could notice her, and went to the secret place and grabbed the magic mirror and ran into her hiding place (which the Prince and her have built together for such a time as this (since Prince knew it was coming and she just did what he told her.) Once in that hiding place, she looked at her mirror, while thinking of the Prince and of his fate. Turns out the magic mirror shows the place you think of at the time. So she saw the Prince, laying dead on the street. It was a sight that broke her heart. She wept for hours. Her heart was all wrapped up in the present situation that she forgot for the moment that she needs to talk to the Prince’s father. After crying, she felt exhausted into a troubled sleep. Once she woke up, she felt this great ache in her heart and great despair settling over her. But she did finally remember that she needs to tell the Prince’s father. So she thought of him, imagining him, and looked in the mirror. As soon as King Love saw her face, he knew what happened. So King Love told her to be of good cheer and that He will bring the Prince back to life again with his love magic. And King Love gave her directions to another place, where she would be safe and where she would meet the resurrected Prince. Perfect Beauty didn’t know how that was possible and it was hard to believe. But she followed his directions out of her love and promise to the Prince.
Just like King Love said, the Prince himself met her there. It was hard to describe the joy that flooded her, and the flame of love started to burn even higher in her heart. After a very joyful reunion, the Prince has told her about the past (about how they both lived in the land of Light and how they fell in love and how they were going to get married). And how it all changed once she stepped out of the Magical Forest. And how they can get engaged all over again and will marry at the appointed day. And how she will become perfect and beautiful again. And he also told her that because he had been killed by The Evil One, he has bought the freedom for all the people of the Kingdom of Darkness. Freedom from being in bondage and under the spell of The Evil One. And King Love appointed him to rule over the land of darkness and make it into a new kingdom, a kingdom of light. And how she will be his queen, ruling by his side. But that it will all come true at the appointed time. But for now, she must be brave and strong and believe.
For now, The Kingdom of Darkness is still under the power of The Evil One. And The Evil One will still have the power over her and over all his subjects.
The Prince also told her that he must now use his powers to become invisible to the kingdom of Darkness (and to her) but that He will always be somewhere near her and watch over her and protect her. And whenever she is in trouble, she just needs to call his name. And if she needs anything, she should just ask. And if she ever wants some comfort or wants to talk to him, she can use the magic mirror and she will see him. He also told her that he really really loves her and that he will cherish each moment they get to talk through the magic mirror. But he warned her that now that The Evil One has realized that he did not overcome and I am not really dead, he will be really really mad at you. And he will always be searching for you, trying to destroy you. So you must listen carefully to all my instructions and my guidance, and I will help you escape him. Anytime you need to go anywhere, ask me and I will show you the way. And the last thing that you need to know is this: I will have to teach you the ways of the Kingdom of Light. And it will be hard for you to learn at times. Becoming as one of the children of darkness cannot easily be washed away. You’ll have to be transformed back. It will be painful. But it’s all under my control. I only have your best in mind. I only care about you. But you will have to suffer here sometimes. It’s necessary. So just trust me. Trust in my love for you. Although The Evil One will try to mislead you about my intentions, you have to remember that I love you more than life, and I couldn’t do anything to you that wasn’t absolutely necessary.
Perfect Beauty became really sad. She was losing him again. Although this time she knew she could still keep talking to him, she just didn’t know how she would ever survive all this time until the appointed wedding time. But there was no other way. She must. So the love that she had for him gave her courage and she decided to persevere.
And so started her journey of transformation. Her name in this land was Hope. But only very few people knew that. And while on the run, she did not reveal her name to others. So nobody really knew who Hope was. Overtime, The Evil One tried every trick in the book to separate Perfect Beauty from the Prince in her heart. He didn’t know where she was, but he gave a proclamation, that if one who is named Hope hears this proclamation, she should come to him and he will make her the richest woman in the world. She knew not to trust him. She knew that he only wanted to kill her. And besides that, she also knew that he didn’t have real riches to offer anyways. It was all an illusion. But the most important thing was that to turn to him would mean to turn her back on her Prince, to switch allegiance. And she could never do that. No matter what riches were to be offered to her (even if they were real). So this trick completely did not work on her. He then tried another trick: he proclaimed that he held some children hostage and that if she turned herself in, he would let them go. Otherwise, he would kill them. She didn’t think she had a choice. She had compassion. So she turned herself in.
The Evil One had ordered his men to treat her roughly and to beat her, so that he could teach her whom she needs to fear. The Evil One was hoping that she will succumb to his leadership, that way he could feel a sense of satisfaction before he was going to kill her. But she didn’t. Then they put her in jail at the end of the day and she called to her Prince. (The Prince used his magical powers to make the mirror invisible. And she only had to focus on it, then it became visible and then she could use it to talk to him.) So she told him what happened. The Prince used his powers to heal her bruises. He told her how much he loved her and that she should hang in there and be brave a little more. This gave her comfort and reminded her of the joy ahead. He also told her to make sure and ask him next time before she does anything or goes anywhere. For this journey is full of tricks and she must learn to rely on Him in order to successfully avoid the traps set for her. Then the Prince opened the gates and led her out of jail and showed her the next good hiding place. The Prince also gave her some food that would last a while. And he told her to stay there until he gives her instructions to move on.
So she stayed there for a while. At times she was helping the people around her so much, that she was too exhuasted to talk to the Prince. And day after day of going on like that, she realized that she was losing her strength and her courage and was becoming burned out. When she did get to talk to her Prince, she felt so happy. She also realized that talking to him made her stronger and gave her energy and she felt like she could endure another day. So she decided to make it a habit to always talk to him, every day, no matter how busy she was. In this world of hopelessness and darkness, she had a light, a hope, a joyful moment. And she cherished that, and considered herself so lucky. That out of this whole land, she was the one so blessed by the love of her Prince.
Perfect Beauty, following the example of her Prince, has been doing kind deeds everywhere she went. Because of Prince’s death, the magic of The Evil One has become a little weaker everywhere. He had to keep twice as hard to keep it going the same way. But he didn’t always have enough strenght to do that. So sometimes, the power of kindness got through to some people. After all, they were not all the same. Some were better than others. Some started to see something good in kindness. Those people have felt something good inside. And they wanted that. And Perfect Beauty was teaching them that these good feelings come through doing kindness. And that there is hope. There could be something better for them. And kindness started to spread, little by little, bit by bit.
One time The Evil One got all this power strength directed on Perfect Beauty. He used up a whole bunch of it just on her. It required a lot of it because he was trying to focus on her while not really knowing where she was. But he was getting desperate, acting illogically because of his spite. So he was able to blind her mind for a while. And she forgot all about her magic mirror and her Prince. She started to pursue the riches that The Evil One was promising to the people. She forgot about the Kingdom of Light. The Prince missed her terribly. He waited for their talks all they long, all the while aching inside, wanting to hold her and love her. But now, he didn’t even have that. He just kept watching her being all too busy and working in vain to gain the promised riches. But while the power of the Evil One was directed on her, the world was becoming a better place, little by little, bit by bit. And it spread to the place where Perfect Beauty stayed at. And the people around her started to be nice to her. And since her heart was still soft, having been melted by love, the kindness broke through the stupor of her blinded mind and touched her. And she realized what she was doing and she remembered everything. And the minute she realized it, she ran to her private place so that she could talk to her Prince. She realized how he must have missed her and she cried. She asked for forgiveness for neglecting him and their love. And he said that all is forgotten and that he desperately loves her and can’t wait until they will be together. She was comforted and happy once again.
Perfect Beauty has come to rely on Prince a lot. She trusted that he would take care of everything. But while her life seemed pretty good, she forgot about the transformation process. She forgot that at some point the Prince will have to let her go through some things in order for her to learn and to be transformed. So one time, when she came home, she saw that somebody has stolen eveything, everything she had. She felt betrayed. She felt that the Prince didn’t do a good job at protecting her this time. So she cried and hurt. And the Prince knew this moment was coming. So he cried and hurt too. Because he couldn’t bear to see her hurt. But he knew it was the cost that he had to pay. So he endured with her. He so longed to just comfort her and to hug her and to kiss her tears away. But he was helpless. He could only give her comfort when she comes to him and talks to him. But otherwise, all He could do is just stand there and watch her and cry with her. Perfect Beauty cried a lot and then she fell into an exhausted sleep. And the Prince used his magic powers to appear to her in a dream and remind her of everything: of his love for her, of the transformation process, of how he would never let anything happen to her unless it had to be done. Perfect Beauty woke up happy. She remembered everything. She remembered the love, and it gave her courage. She talked to Prince and asked for forgiveness again, for doubting his love. She asked him what she should do now. He told her it was the time to leave this place. The Evil One was getting too close. He told her: pack all your things, oh, that’s right, you don’t have any…. See it’s now easier for you to go, you don’t have to decide what to take with you and what to leave…You can travel light, just as it should be…” She understood the wisdom of his words. She did realize that she had been weighed down with things too much by now. She forgot that she is a woman on the run and that she has to travel light…
The journey among people was a little easier now. There were a lot more friendly and nice people out there. But, wisely, she did not trust people. You never know when a very nice person could turn on you and betray you for riches, or because of force. So she had to go through some tests in the course of transformation. She was getting much better at remembering the Prince’s love for her and not getting mad at him for “letting her down” as it seemed during the first moment. She was getting more and more like the people of the Kingdom of Light. The Prince’s work was paying off. She was starting to understand the principles of the Kingdom of Light. How important it was to forgive and to overcome evil with good, and how that defeated the hatred magic of The Evil One. How important it was to make sure you don’t waste your energy on working for riches in this dark world, for it’s all an illusion. And that there was a better way of life, if only everybody would try it. How nice it would be living in a world where there was love, peace, kindness. And that selfishness made the power of hatred stronger and that the only way to make it weaker would be to become self less. Then the powers of hatred wouldn’t affect you. She was learning all that, going through her transformation process, and she was becoming more beautiful by the day. She was becoming who she used to be at her birth. The flame of love was growing bigger and bigger in her heart. The Prince was anticipating that day when it would become a perfect flame of love like it used to be. And on that day, he and her will join together in a bond of perfect love and will live together forever. And He knew that day would soon come and was so excited. Soon, and very soon, all the trials and troubles and pain would be over. Soon he will be reunited. And soon he will become the King of this world of darkness and bring light to it. And all those people whom he observed in such hardships and for whom his heart had so much compassion, will be happy and have a good life. And soon he would have the girl of his dreams rule with him and be his confidant and his closest friend forever.
And each time they talked, he reminded her of it. And her heart filled with joy each time she thought of it and gave her more and more courage to stand up for the light, and to spread as much of it as possible in this dark and cold world that she lived in, and in which she was shining like a bright little light.