I have heard this tale so often with minor variations. A take on this oft repeated theme:
Once upon a time, there lived beautiful princess Aesthesia in a dazzling crystal castle on top of a shimmering crystal mountain.
Don’t ask me how or why she reached there!!!
All the brave princes from all over the universe could admire her beauty from far but no one could reach her. They tried climbing the smooth crystal mountain but slid to the ground. Some tried to smash the crystal but the jagged edges hurt, so they retired wounded.
Then came prince Marsiano. ”You silly princess, why don’t you simply slide down the mountain instead?” he said.
“At last a wise prince!” thought Aesthesia “why had I not thought of this before!”
Even I wonder!!!
So Aesthesia slid down the smooth crystal mountain.
When she saw Marsiano, all green and spiky and ugly, she retreated.
“Oh this will never do! You may be the wisest of all but my mother will faint when she looks at you!!” said beautiful Aesthesia.
“And my sisters and mother will die of envy when they see how beautiful you are!” said green spiky Marsiano.
So they moved away and started on their own separate ways.
Suddenly they turned around and said “Oh, but why should we worry about others? This is about our happiness!”
So they walked together into the rising meteor shower, ‘happily ever after’.
But by all accounts there seems to be no ‘happily ever after’.
Most probably the mothers, daughters, fathers, brothers, all the people around behaved as expected and social, economic, psychological pressures tried to ensure that there was no ‘happily ever after’.
However I have come accross some people who live ‘happily ever after’. These people have great strength of character, deep abiding affection, trust and respect for each other.
