The Shoeless Princess

The Shoeless Princess

Once upon a time in a town very far away, a princess was destined to be born.  Her parents had been waiting a very long time for her and asked far and wide for beautiful gifts to be given upon the glorious day of her birth.

When the day finally arrived, all were very excited.  The queen was housed in a very special chamber filled with sweet smelling flowers and the enchanting sounds of exquisite birds brought in from all over the beaded forest and beyond.

The king was also excited.  It was all he could do to keep himself busy while waiting for the princess to be born.  He had suspended all royal business as he could not focus on anything else.  The castle was abuzz with excitement as people scurried to and fro with expectant anticipation.  It seemed to go on all day long with spontaneous bursts of laughter and song.  All of a sudden it seemed the sun went away and everything went eerily silent.  All the birds stopped singing and the air became thick with the taste that something had gone wrong.  As people stood still and waited for the news, the queen cried out in anguish. The king dropped the crystal rattle he’d been holding and rushed to her side.  Everyone held their breaths in fear as the guards threw open the heavy doors to the queen's chambers and all the birds shrieked their escape.

There in the dark, surrounded only by candles and a crackling fireplace, stood a crib and in it lay the royal child.  Everyone stood away, apart from her by at least three paces.  None reached forth to calm the softly crying child and the child could only comfort herself.  Even the queen, who sat upright in bed, could only look about with fear and concern with her outstretched arms.  No one had given her the precious child to hold.  The queen knew not which way to look and her face expressed alarm.  As the king approached, she reached out to warn him, but he rushed past her to see what all the clatter was about.  The king stood for a second, then reached down without fear or trepidation and pulled the wailing princess close to his chest, soothed away her tears,  and gently swathed her in her pink royal blanket.  He could only look upon her with awe and wonder.  He was instantly enamored and stood proudly smiling as any father would.

The king then placed his now sleeping daughter back in her crib.  He turned and faced his subjects and with his booming voice hushed with emotion, set them running in all different directions.  He ordered his wife comforted and when this was done, lovingly brought the princess to her side himself.  The queen who had originally been concerned now reached forth to hold her sleeping daughter.  As she was finally placed in her arms, the queen immediately unwound her blanket and set about inspecting her from head to toe.  When she finally reached her feet, she let out a gentle sigh which was quickly followed by a giggle, and then a full-throated guffaw.  She was soon joined by the king, and later by everyone else in attendance.  The subjects let out a huge sigh of relief, then set about to spread the good news of the royal birth.

Over the next few days the king and queen set about opening the thousands of presents sent for the new princess.  They sighed as they examined the beautiful gowns she would wear and the hundreds of shoes she would likely never wear.  As the princess grew, she eventually wore all of her beautiful gowns, but she never wore shoes; none of them would do.  When they tried to put them on, she would immediately remove them and go sprinting about the castle with multiple attendants in tow.  It was a useless endeavor, she was much too fast and none could catch her, and the king and queen didn’t appear to try.  As it was, the princess went to all formal events shoeless, occasionally with stockings, and rarely willingly.

When it came time for the princess to be formally presented, she suddenly took on an air quite unlike herself.  She became quiet, rarely appeared outside her room, and seemed to fight every suggestion for the formal affair.  When presented with her golden gowns, she looked interestedly at them, and then she said none would do.  And the multiple shoes got a simple sigh and a cry and were gently ignored.

This went on for a number of weeks until the queen approached and asked all to leave her and the princess alone.  The princess looked so sad and forlorn and it broke her mother’s heart.  “Dear child, what could be the matter?  How has your mother failed you?” 

The princess cried and cried.  “I know you and Papa love me and have never thought to tell me how ugly I was, but I know no one will come to my debut, except to stare and laugh at my…my feet.” 

“Oh my,” said the queen.  “I have failed you.”  With this, she reached down, pulled up her gown and began to take off her shoes.  The princess sat in wild-eyed wonder.  She realized she had never seen her mother’s feet or ever dared to try.  She stared and stared as the shoes were undone and the stockings removed.  The queen’s feet looked just like hers; the same shape; and endless beauty which seemed to go on forever.  The princess was amazed.

“I thought I was the only one,” she said.  “I thought I was alone.”

“You’re never alone,” the king said as he entered.  He was barefoot also.  She could see he had enormous feet also.  “No one bothers to look at the feet of the king,”  he said.

The princess was told that she was unique, but not simply due to the size of her feet.  She was simply the only person she could be, as was everyone else.  Her parents thought she knew was loved, but now they realized everyone might need to be reminded now and again, and maybe now was time to retell the story.

With a sigh, the queen began to tell the story of her youth. 

The Queen was also the only child of her parents and it had been a long and tortuous route to her birth.  When she was born, as had been the tradition of royalty, her parents were expected to have her hobbled before her first birthday.  The Queen Mother simply could not do it.  She looked upon her own misshapen, painful feet, and she just couldn’t do it to her own daughter.  The Queen Mother and the king decided to spread a rumor that she had been kidnapped, while in reality, they had her whisked away to the forest where she was to be raised by friendly souls who would return her at the age of eight years; long past the years where her feet would be forced to remain the size of a baby and constrain her into a life of carriage; a life that bound her to her people, her castle, and her throne. 

The kingdom was lead to believe she would never return and mourned their loss.  She was lead to believe she was a peasant and only later was she told the truth. 

In the years that quickly passed, the Queen Mother surprisingly died one night in her sleep and yet, it was still much too early for the princess to return, even to mourn the loss of her mother. 

Her father, the King seemed forever saddened and was under intense pressure to remarry and produce an heir to the throne; an heir he knew was not needed.  Eventually in his weakened state, he remarried, but he was never in the company of the new queen.  They were only seen together at formal affairs.  Even so, the new queen immediately began to show as if with child.  Some thought she was a witch.  None liked her.  She was an evil queen and she soon learned of the missing princess that all wished would return; the true heir to the throne.  In her evilness, she suspected the princess was alive. 

As the King grew prematurely frail and ill, he sent his most trusted guards to return the princess to his side so she might take her place on the throne; even as a child. He prayed she would be strong enough.  He could not bequeath the evil queen his kingdom, even for a short time. 

His trusted men immediately dispatched for the forest to summon the princess.  Little did they know, there was an assassin amongst them?  He had been planted there by the evil queen.  He lurked amongst the guards as if one of them and smiled and laughed as they did; all content about their duty.  As the princess emerged and was placed within her royal coach, the assassin made ready to ride within.  None challenged him as they set about their return to the castle. 

The royal procession was still deep within the darkened forest when he made his move.  Poor fool!  The princess was well-prepared to defend herself and immediately kicked him with her too-large feet.  He was caught completely unaware and had all the breath knocked out of him.  The princess then leapt upon his chest and cut his throat with the small blade she always kept about her person.  He, for all his arrogance, had forgotten she had been raised amongst the strongest of the strong forest dwellers.  She had been trained to protect her royal person as only she could.  The only evidence of his dastardly attempt was a single bloody tear upon her royal dress. 

The young princess thought to herself, if she’d been hobbled, she would now be lying dead with her beautiful small feet.  When she returned to the castle and sat upon the bed of her ailing father, she told him what had happened.  She even told him the thoughts she had immediately upon the death of the assassin.  He listened intently to his brave, and now wise, child.

When the evil queen made her unannounced entrance, she thought she would be coming to pretend comfort for the king, but instead was stunned by the appearance of the princess.  The princess stood proudly before her in her royal gown with the single bloody tear, her eyes clear and her eye brows unfurrowed.  Her feet were bare with no hint of shoes and her face shone brightly with no hint of shame.  The evil queen was devastated and could not hide her tears, not only because the princess was alive, but her brother was now dead.  In her treachery, even her unborn no longer moved.
 
The evil queen ran from the room and was soon in labor delivering her stillborn child.  Soon after, she withered and died.  And with her death, the king miraculously became well and thrived.  It was as though a poison had been released from his system.

With the return of the princess, the king bravely banned foot-binding and whenever it was found, the binding was released, the girls were freed, and their parents were thrown into the dungeon never to see the light of day unless they repented their ways.  But even a royal decree could do nothing to free the minds of some and they were forever bound to their old ways of thinking.

As they all sat and finished their crying, a thought came to the princess.  “Are their others with feet like mine?” 

The king and queen looked at one another, “Of course, there are.  Why would you think you’re the only one?”

“Up until this moment, I didn’t even know about the two of you,” the princess cried.  They all laughed.

“Perhaps, we can fix this.  You just pick out your gown and prepare for your ball.  We have some work to do.”

The princess giggled as her parents left.  They hadn’t even put their shoes back on.

The next day, announcements went out that the princess’s debut ball would be shoeless.  It was a small step, but all hoped it was to be a new day.

And so it was...

The End.