literature

The Blue Rose

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The Blue Rose

by Jiat Seng (JC) Teoh

            There was once a magnificent garden in a kingdom. The spectacular garden would marvel passersby with its vivid red and bursting fragrance of roses, and should you pay enough attention, within the garden, was a single blue rose that has the sweetest scent and the prettiest petals in the entire garden. No one knew who the owner of the garden was. And if they did, they would never believe it! For you see, a black crow owned this garden and tended to it every day. However, unlike the garden, the crow did not receive praise of its hard works but was rather teased for its ugliness wherever it was seen. Oh how the children called the crow horrid names, how the human adults shunned the crow, and how the other birds and beasts mocked the crow for its lack of beauty, but the crow did not mind at all. For the crow had thought that as long as there were someone who had enjoyed its garden that it has cared for so dearly, it would have warmed and filled its heart with comfort and joy.

            Now it so happens that the beautiful princess of the kingdom will come of age in three days, and hoping to please her daughter and celebrate the momentous day, the king ordered that every magnificent creatures and nobles who reside in the kingdom shall present a gift for the princess. “My daughter shall pick the best gift out of all the presents, and the winner shall receive the greatest favour my daughter could bestow upon that man,” the king declared. And so, messengers were sent across the realm to announce his Highness’ decree and invite all the nobles and fantastic beings in the kingdom. Lords, dukes, barons, good faeries, nymphs, peacocks, and many other wondrous creatures that you can imagine were invited to the palace to celebrate the princess’ birthday.

    Now it was common knowledge that the princess loved all that is blue in the kingdom. So you can quite be sure that anyone who have heard and received the invitation started to talk amongst themselves of the lovely gifts they would be giving! The nobles boasted about their gifts of blue silks, blue scarves and blue dresses to one another. The good faeries shared magical recipes with one another, so they may give the princess the gift of blue sight, such that she shall see the world only in her favourite colour. The nymphs busied themselves collecting jewels and crystals from the sea that were blue, and the beautiful birds like the peacocks flocked together to contribute their feathers to make a blue cloak. Most of all, the entire kingdom wondered about the favour that the princess would bestow.

    Alas, the messenger arrived at the crow’s marvellous garden. Mistaking that the garden was owned by a noble (for it was a very beautiful garden), the messenger left a letter, containing the invitation. The crow hid itself until the messenger left, so the messenger would not leave the garden, feeling disgusted at its ugliness, before it picked up and read the letter. Upon reading the invitation, excitement filled the crow and as fast as it did, so did anxiousness overwhelmed its enthusiasm. “I am sure that the princess would at least like the blue rose from my garden. Though it may not be as grand as the gifts from the other guests, at least it is beautiful in appearance and aromatic! But alas, I am an ugly, black crow. Oh, how I hope this rose would be enough to soothe the princess from the sight of my hideous appearance!” thought the crow to himself.

    A day passed and the crow could thought of no solution to rid itself of its ugliness. Another day passed, and the crow grew even more worried as it feared that its presence would surely embarrass the princess greatly. And so, the crow flew out of its garden and seek the council of the good faeries, for they were kind enough not to spurn the crow for its appearance. The good faeries immediately came up with a solution to ease the crow’s worries. “Oh dear crow, we do not have the magic to change what one is born as. But, we shall sprinkle you with our faerie dusts till you turn blue all over. Even if you are ugly, at least you would be in the princess’s favourite colour! And that should make you pretty enough to not be a sore in the eyes,” the good faeries said. The crow agreed to the good faeries’ wisdoms and they danced around the crow, sprinkling it with faerie dusts until the crow was blue from head to talon.

    Third day came, and the palace became quite a spectacular sight. Music filled every halls in the palace, foods were constantly coming out of the kitchen into the dining hall, where a great many guests were enjoying themselves. Every guests were indulging themselves with pleasures by dancing and eating except the crow, who had hid himself on the ceiling, while carrying the blue rose. The crow felt that its hideousness would have ruined the mood of the festivities, and so, it decided to hide away until it was time to present its gift. Then, the princess appeared out of her chamber in a most magnificent blue gown and addresses the crowd. The time has come to present all the guests’ gifts! One by one, the guests presented their gifts, and each guests would boast and praise their own presents and claimed to be the best, for each guest wanted to win the princess’ favour. When the last guest had presented his gift, only did the crow showed itself with its blue rose. The crow presented the blue rose to the princess as humble as it could, hoping that the princess would like the rose at least.

    The guests initially gasped at the sight of the crow and in a few moments, they were divided into two crowds, in which half of them laughed at the silly, blue appearance of the crow and half of them angrily booed the crow as they took offense to the crow’s blue appearance as a mockery of the princess’ favourite colour. Oh how the crow became ashamed of itself. Oh how it covered itself with its wings in despair and embarrassment. Oh how it wished that it would have died right where it stood for it feared it must have surely shamed the princess in front of every guests with its ugliness. “Oh, what a daring, unsightly fool I was to have the nerves to come to the palace!” thought the crow to itself as all the guests jeered and laughed at him. But just as the crow was about to quickly take flight and leave the palace, the princess motioned the guests to be silent. She announced that she had chosen the best gift, and that the crow shall be brought to her chamber with her alone.

    The crow was sat onto her bed as the princess held the blue rose tenderly, admiring the rose’s beauty and scent. The crow covered itself in shame of its inferior complex to the princess, and said,” Oh princess! Why have you chosen me of all the other guests who were much more pleasant-looking than me? I am not worthy for you to grace me with your presence, and I fear that your lovely eyes would be harmed by my disgusting appearance!”

    The princess smiled and said, “Oh dear crow. I love all manners of blue things, but it does not mean I hate things that are not blue. Your gift is the gift of humility, a gift from your heart. Unlike all the other guests, you have been most sincere with your actions, and that is the rarest and most beautiful of all the gifts, just like how a blue rose is a most rare object in nature. Your humility and thoughtfulness of others have touched my heart. Now lower your wings so that I may gaze upon your face and present you with a kiss as my gift.”

    And so, the crow lowered his wings, and the princess leaned in and gave the crow a kiss by its beak. The faerie dusts on the crow glowed brightly, and the crow transformed into a handsome prince. Its feathers became his hair and they were as black as ebony. The dusts gathered and gave him blue eyes and its colour were as deep as the sea. The goodness from its heart gave him skin as bright as the sun. The princess had seen the crow’s virtues through its unattractiveness and the crow had become as beautiful a man as good as its heart had always been. And to this day, they remain married and lived happily ever after.

 

The End.

Since a week has passed when my assignment was due, I decided to share a fairy tale I wrote here.  I have taken an interest in creative writing recently, and any comments or reviews are well appreciated.
I kindly ask for common decency that you do not plagiarize. I take plagiarism very seriously. That being said, adaptations are most welcomed, and I would love to read them if any are attempted. (which is why I'm putting this under share-alike under the creative commons license) For the terms of the agreement, click on the link
creativecommons.org/licenses/b…
And no, you may not adapt the work and proceed to sell said adapted work without consent.

Best, 
ZhangJC/JCTeoh/Keith
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