By Amanda Pizzolatto (alias Aurora Mandeville)

Word Count: 652

Rating: G (suitable for all audiences)

Summary: An original fairy tale in the mold of Andersen and Le Prince de Beaumont.

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, lived a sickly king and his three children. Sensing that his days were coming to an end, he called for a meeting with his only son, intending that he should inherit the throne when he came of age. The grand vizier was to rule in his stead until that day, but the grand vizier plotted to make sure that day never came. Being a warlock in secret, he conjured up a potion that would do the trick; all he needed was to get the prince to swallow it.

His opportunity came in the guise of a pomegranate that he got to prepare for the prince’s sixteenth birthday dinner. Before he seeded the pomegranate, he sprinkled the potion all over it and let it sink into the juices. The prince ate six seeds before the spell did its work, but to the grand vizier’s chagrin, he only fell into a deep slumber. The grand vizier found that the pomegranate was from church grounds and had thus rendered his spell weak, but no one suspected him of poisoning the pomegranate. Seeing as how the prince did not respond to anyone’s attempt to wake him, he was carried to a room in a tower, until the day he would wake.

Not long afterwards came a report that the youngest child of a neighboring king was on her way to meet the prince and, as hoped by their fathers, marry the prince and keep the alliance between the two countries. But on the way, her companion, a servant girl, stole her belongings in the night, and rode on without her. Upon waking up to the dire circumstances, the princess had no choice but to continue on by herself, dressed as the servant girl. She came upon a convent at the end of the day and begged for food; the nuns were more than willing to help the poor thing out. However, she quickly found out that the servant girl had passed through to the castle, posing as her, and she had no way to prove she was the real princess. The nuns believed her and were kind enough to let her stay in the convent with them, and she worked in their garden, primarily tending to their pomegranate tree.

One day, while she wracked her brain for some way to prove that she was the princess, the prince’s younger sister approached the convent’s chaplain for permission for a pomegranate to be taken to her brother. The priest happily agreed, on the condition that the real princess be the one to take it to him. The prince’s sister agreed to the condition, and the princess found herself on her way to the castle with a pomegranate. She was sent up to the north tower with the pomegranate seeds, and it was there that she first saw the prince. Struck by his dark curls and pale skin, she bent over and kissed him. His brown eyes fluttered open and rested upon the golden-haired princess. As he was somewhat weak from lack of food, the princess tended to his every need until he was strong enough to leave the tower. By that time, they had fallen in love, and the princess revealed her true identity.

When the prince’s birthday rolled around, a grand feast was being held, though with a bit more sobriety than usual, as they thought the real prince to still be asleep. But much to their amazement and joy, both the real prince and the real princess walked into the party, and all was soon revealed, including the wicked plots of the grand vizier and the servant girl. When the prince came of age and was crowned king, the princess was crowned as his queen, and the two lived in peace and prosperity, ruling the country with wisdom and mercy.