The Princess and the Raven

535 words
Written for the contest: "Invalid Item" 

There once was a princess who had hair as red as fire. She was a kind and generous soul, liked by everyone. The children of the kingdom loved her hair and made her crowns of flowers to wear in it. The parents of the children also loved her hair, and gave her crowns of silver and gold to wear in it.

Whenever the princess walked in the village of the kingdom she was overwhelmed by the amounts of people and the gifts they gave. One morning the princess awoke wanting to walk alone, not surrounded by admirers and gifts, so she walked in the forest instead of the village.

In the forest lived a white bird called a raven. The raven was a vain bird and wanted to be as beautiful as all of the other birds instead of just plain white.

When the raven saw the princess in the forest she was envious of her red hair and decided to take it for her own.

“You there”, the raven shouted to the princess. “You are trespassing in my forest. What do you say for yourself?”

The princess curtsied to the white bird.

“I am sorry Ms. Raven,” the princess said. “I did not mean to intrude. I was only taking a walk.”

“Well you are walking on my land,” the raven said. “So you must pay me a toll.”

“But I have no coins,” said the princess.

“No coins? Well then you shall have to give me your red hair.”

“I cannot give you my hair, Ms. Raven,” the princess said. “It is attached to my head.”

“If you will not give me your hair, then I will take it myself,” the raven said, and prepared to swoop down on the princess.

“Wait,” the princess said. “Why do you want my red hair?”

“Because I am so very white and plain and I want to have colors like all of the other birds.”

“Is that all?” the princess asked. “I can tell you how to get color.”

“How?”

“See the sun? See how brilliant it is? If you fly up into the sun, then you will have color.

“Really?”

“I promise. If I am lying I will cut off my hair and give it to you.”

The raven knew the princess was kind and generous. If she made a promise she kept it, so the raven did as she said.

The sun was indeed very brilliant, but it was also very hot. When the raven got too close to the sun her feathers caught fire and she fell back to the ground where the princess threw water on her to put the fire out.

The raven was very angry.

“Look at me,” the raven said. “You told me the sun would make me red like your hair, but it made me black like dirt. Now my feathers are ruined. You must cut off your hair and give it to me.”

“I did not lie to you Ms. Raven,” the princess said. “I only told you the sun would give you color, and black is a color. I owe you nothing.”

So the princess kept her red hair, and the raven is still black today.