The Princess and the Christmas Tree
The Princess and the Christmas Tree
H. Jason Schulz
Published: 2010
Tag(s): Princess Prince fairy "fairy tale" kingdom Christmas holiday "Christmas tree" love "short story" forest "good ending" "christmas story"
The Princess and the Christmas tree
By H. Jason Schulz
Copyright © 2010 H. Jason Schulz
Feedbooks Edition
Once upon a time there lived a beautiful young princess whose home happened to be in a castle, in the middle of a quaint village at the very center of an enchanted forest. What made this forest enchanted was that it was inhabited by forest fairies that lived among the trees. The children of the village would often sneak away and try to catch one of these fairies. For, as legend has it, if a person were to catch one of these fairies, the fairy would have to grant them one wish. But it was very difficult to catch a fairy. As you know, fairies can fly, and they also have a keen sense of hearing so it is almost impossible to sneak up on them from behind.
One day this princess happened to be riding through the enchanted forest. She often rode her horse for hours through the beautiful trees. Today she happened to cross paths with a handsome young prince who was trying to make his way home after fighting the wars in the north.
“Hello fair princess!” The prince said.
“Good day.” The princess returned his greeting.
“I am lost in this beautiful forest and I need assistance to return to my own kingdom. Can you help me?” The prince asked.
“I can show you to my palace, and from there you can get the directions that you need.” The princess replied.
So the princess and the prince slowly made their way to the princess’s castle. Along the way the prince fell madly in love with the fair princess for she was very beautiful and more importantly, had a delightful personality. They arrived at the princess’s palace and the prince was welcomed by the king who gave him a map and an escort of soldiers to assist him in returning to his own kingdom. Reluctantly the prince returned to his own kingdom.
A few weeks passed and the prince could not get the delightful princess out of his thoughts. Before long the prince had returned to the palace of the princess. Week after week he visited and at length he won the love of the beautiful princess and also the consent of her father the king to marry her.
One day while the young couple were strolling through the garden the princess asked the prince. “Why do you love me?”
The prince wanted to say that he felt complete when he was near her and that their long talks brought him a sense of contentment that he had never known. But he was not very good with words and only managed to say, “You are beautiful.”
This troubled the princess. She knew that beauty was fleeting and as she had fallen in love with the prince, she wondered if he would still love her when her beauty faded. One winter day she took a walk in the enchanted forest to think this matter over. As she walked through the freshly fallen snow she happened upon a forest fairy that was drinking from a clear stream of water. Now the princess had such dainty feet that even a forest fairy couldn't hear her creep up behind him. Quickly the princess snatched up the fairy that in turn, promptly let out a cry of surprise and struggled to get free.
“Don't worry.” The princess said. “I won't harm you. I just have a question.”
The fairy was charmed by the princess's beauty and stopped wriggling. “What is it?” The fairy asked.
“Can you really grant a wish?” The princess asked.
“Some wishes yes, I surely can.” The fairy said.
About this time the prince happened to be passing through the forest on his way to visit the princess. He heard her talking to some one and started in the direction of her voice. As he approached the place where the princess had captured the fairy, the fairy saw the prince but the princess did not as her back was to him. The prince put his finger to his smiling mouth as a signal for the fairy not to reveal his presence. He hoped to surprise his beloved fiancé. The fairy winked as a sign that he would be silent and returned his attention to the beautiful princess.
The princess continued her question. “I wonder if you can make me stay as beautiful as I am today for the rest of my life?”
When the prince heard this he was troubled and his smile disappeared. He did not want her to stay the same. He wanted her to grow old with him. What kind of life would it be if he was to grow old and she was to stay young? The prince leaped forward to protest, but it was too late.
“Granted!” The fairy said.
Suddenly the princess was transformed into a small fir tree and the fairy stood on an upper branch looking very pleased. You see, to a forest fairy a fir tree is very beautiful and it never loses its green color like other trees – it’s beautiful until it dies.
“What did you do that for!” Shouted the prince.
The prince’s anger so frightened the fairy that it quickly flew away amid yells from the prince for it to return.
What is to be done? The Prince thought.
He went to the princess's palace and explained the matter to the king who was very sad and explained to the prince that the only way to reverse the wish was to catch the same fairy who granted it. This sent the prince into despair because as you know, fairies are very hard to catch, not to mention the very same fairy as had granted the wish. Never the less the prince persisted in trying to capture the fairy. Day after day he hunted through the enchanted forest for the fairy but with no results.
A year had past and the prince should have been married to the beautiful princess. As he pondered what to do, he came upon an idea. He decided that on the anniversary of the day that the princess was transformed into a fir tree by the fairy, he would bring all of the jewels that he had planned to give to the princess on their wedding day and he would hang them on the tree that was his beloved princess. The prince did just that and at the top of the tree he placed a golden crown.
Year after year the prince returned to decorate the tree that was once his precious princess. He would hunt the fairies throughout the year and at years end he would adorn his princess with all of her jewelry.
One year as the prince was placing the crown of gold on the top of the tree he heard a voice.
“What are you doing?” A voice said. The prince turned to see who it was. He was surprised to see that it was the same little fairy that had transformed his beloved princess into a tree. The fairy was sitting on a tree limb and looking at the prince with curiosity.
Immediately the prince formulated a plan to return his princess to her former self. The prince spoke in an even tone and said, “I'm making the princess beautiful.” Then he turned back to his princess and continued to hang jewels on her branches.
“No you’re not.” The fairy replied. “She was far more beautiful before you put all those rocks onto her.” The fairy pointed at the jewels on the branches.
“Maybe in the eyes of a forest fairy, but I’ll bet that if you asked the princess, she would agree with me that these jewels enhance beauty.” The prince said as he straightened the crown.
“How am I to ask her? She is a fir tree.” Said the fairy. “She asked to be beautiful until she died and now she is. I granted her wish!” The fairy said, puffing out his chest and looking pleased.
“I'm sorry to disagree with you, but you didn't grant her wish, you granted your own wish.” The prince replied over his shoulder.
“No! You are wrong!” The fairy insisted. You see, it is a great insult to a fairy to be accused of granting ones own wish. He was getting very angry at the prince for suggesting such a thing. “I did what she asked!” The fairy insisted.
 
; “I’m sorry that you are getting upset. But you did not give her what she wanted.” The prince insisted.
“I did!” The fairy was on his feet now.
“No. You didn’t.” The prince replied in and even milder tone.
“I did! I did! I did!” The fairy had clenched his fists and was hopping up and down on the tree limb.
The prince looked thoughtful for a moment then said, “Why don't you change her back and ask her your self? Unless you are not able…”
“Of course I’m able!” The fairy shouted. Suddenly the princess was changed back to her beautiful self complete with golden crown on top of her head. She ran to the prince and hugged him.
“Uh-um!” The fairy blurted from the tree limb.
The princess turned to the fairy who was tapping his foot impatiently on a limb. “Did I or did I not grant the wish that you wanted?” The fairy asked.
“No.” The princess said apologetically. “It was not what I had wanted.”
“What?” The fairy said in disbelief. “I…I… ” He stammered. “That’s your opinion!” He finally blurted out and then flew away in a huff.
The princess then looked at her prince. “I thought you might not love me when I grew old.” She explained.
“I love more than your beauty.” The prince said as he tried to explain.
“I know that now.” The princess replied.
Come. Let’s go home.” The prince said, and he took his princess back to her palace amid a flurry of cheers from the people of her kingdom and the tears of happiness from the princess’s parents.
That spring the handsome prince married the beautiful princess and every winter the prince would decorate a fir tree with ornaments, one for each of his most cherished blessings.
Some say this was the first Christmas tree.
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H. Jason Schulz, The Princess and the Christmas Tree
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