She was beautiful and possessed the combined power of two star systems. Whenever she flew, her wings left a glittering rainbow trail behind her. But her extraordinary abilities made her proud, wild, and reckless. She wreaked havoc every day in both the fairyland and heaven, disturbing and angering the Heavenly Emperor.
To punish and tame her, the Heavenly Emperor stripped the gifted fairy of her magic and banished her to Earth. She was ordered to live as a mortal and perform one hundred good deeds to atone for her sins before she could return to the fairyland.
Before she descended to Earth, the Goddess Kab Yeeb gave her a small pouch containing magical dust. The dust could help her complete one of her good deeds, but Goddess Kab Yeeb warned her not to use it hastily. She must wait until the right moment came.
The days turned into weeks, the weeks into months, and the months into years. Living as a mortal, the fairy discovered that completing one hundred good deeds was far more difficult than she had imagined. Many times she was tempted to use the magic in the pouch, but whenever she remembered Goddess Kab Yeeb's warning, she forced herself to continue using only her mortal abilities.
After twenty years on Earth, she had nearly completed her hundred good deeds. More importantly, the hardships she had endured had gradually transformed her. The once reckless and arrogant fairy had become wiser, humbler, and more compassionate.
One day, while searching for food to fill her empty stomach, the fairy was verbally abused, kicked, and severely injured. No one stopped to help her. Only a kind-hearted orphan girl took pity on her.
After the fairy recovered, the orphan girl gathered what little food she had and shared it with her. The girl's generosity touched the fairy deeply. For the first time, she truly understood the value of friendship, kindness, and selflessness.
The fairy promised the girl that she would repay her kindness when the opportunity arose.
Soon afterward, the fairy discovered that the orphan girl lived with a cruel stepmother and stepsister who repeatedly abused and mistreated her. Remembering her promise, the fairy realized that helping the girl would become her ninety-ninth good deed.
She finally decided that the time had come to use the magical dust.
Taking the pouch from her clothing, she sprinkled some of the magic dust over herself and transformed into a beautiful white parrot. She flew to the orphan girl's home and soon became her faithful companion.
The stepmother and stepsister grew curious and jealous of the affection the orphan girl showed toward the mysterious white parrot. Determined to take away the girl's only source of happiness, the cruel stepmother forced her own daughter to disguise herself as the orphan girl and lure the parrot into a trap.
The plan succeeded. The white parrot was supposedly killed, and the stepmother and stepsister believed they had finally rid the orphan girl of her beloved companion.
But the fairy had not truly died.
Using her remaining magic, she returned in spirit form to comfort the orphan girl. She then used her magic to dress the girl in the finest and most beautiful gown and gave her the softest, loveliest pair of golden slippers.
She told the orphan girl to attend the king's feast at the palace, where the prince was expected to choose a bride. If the prince chose her, the orphan girl would escape her miserable life and become a princess.
The fairy believed this would be the perfect way to repay the girl's kindness.
That evening, after helping the orphan girl prepare for the feast, the fairy walked away feeling pleased with her plan. She believed that she had arranged everything perfectly and had finally found a way to repay the orphan girl's generosity.
But before the night was over, the fairy encountered two young men lying wounded by the roadside. Their clothes were torn, and they had been badly injured by bandits.
Without hesitation, she carried them to safety and cared for them until they regained consciousness.
When the younger and more handsome of the two opened his eyes, he was immediately captivated by the woman who had saved his life. He soon revealed that he was a prince and that the other wounded man was his personal bodyguard.
The prince thanked her sincerely for saving them both.
At that moment, the fairy realized that she had completed her one-hundredth good deed.
Instantly, the magic binding her to Earth was broken. She transformed back into her true form—a beautiful enchantress whose wings shimmered with a sparkling rainbow trail.
The prince stared at her in astonishment. He realized that the woman who had saved his life was not an ordinary mortal, but the legendary fairy he had once seen as a child.
The sight of her awakened a long-forgotten memory.
Years earlier, during a deer-hunting trip with his father, the young prince had witnessed a fairy being chased and attacked by a flock of vultures. She had desperately fluttered into a thorn bush to escape them and had nearly lost her life.
The young prince had intervened and driven the vultures away, saving her life.
Now, standing before him again, was that same fairy.
The prince confessed that he had never forgotten the mysterious creature he had saved as a child. And now that he had found her again, he believed he had fallen in love with her.
He vowed to love her for all eternity.
But his confession forced the fairy to look beyond her own heart and examine the constellations.
Then she realized something terrible.
Their meeting was not supposed to happen.
She was destined to return to the fairyland and eventually rule as its queen. She was not meant to marry anyone. Worse, the prince standing before her was fated to marry the orphan girl—the very girl whom the fairy had helped at the palace feast.
Everything had gone wrong.
The fairy could not accept the prince's love. Though her heart ached for him, she knew that their love violated the destiny written in the heavens.
To prevent the prince from following her, she disappeared into thin air, hoping that she would never see him again.
When the prince finally returned to the palace, he learned that his cousin had acted in his place at the feast and had found the lost golden slipper.
The king, unaware of what had truly happened, ordered the prince to use the slipper to find the beautiful maiden who had appeared at the feast the night before.
The prince's heart sank. He did not want to marry a stranger. His heart belonged to the fairy.
Desperate to delay the wedding and hoping to find the fairy again, he issued a proclamation allowing every eligible maiden in the kingdom to try on the lost golden slipper.
But his search was unsuccessful.
The guards eventually found the beautiful maiden from the feast—the orphan girl—but the prince found no trace of the fairy he loved.
Years passed.
The fairy eventually returned to the fairyland and became its queen. Under her rule, the fairyland reached the height of prosperity and harmony.
For many years, she managed to bury the memory of the prince deep within her heart.
Then, one day, while resting upon a vine high in a great tree where fireflies flickered among the leaves, she noticed two butterflies flying together in perfect harmony.
The sight suddenly reminded her of the prince.
Her heart began to ache.
For many moons afterward, his image lingered in her mind. No matter how hard she tried to forget him, her heart continued to race whenever she thought of him.
At last, the yearning in both their hearts brought them together again beneath a tamarind tree.
The fairy learned that the prince had refused to marry the orphan girl. Instead, he had allowed her to marry the man of her choice—his own cousin.
But the prince himself had never loved anyone else.
All those years, he had waited and prayed for another chance to see the fairy.
Moved by the sincerity of his love, the fairy finally considered abandoning everything and eloping with him.
But suddenly, lightning flashed across the sky and thunder roared violently.
The prince grasped her hands firmly.
"Do not be afraid," he told her.
Feeling the warmth and security of his hands, the fairy's heart raced. For the first time, she decided to risk everything for love.
But before the two lovers could escape, heavenly guards descended from the sky and tore them apart.
The fairy queen was accused of violating the laws of heaven and the fairyland. As punishment, she was condemned to five hundred years in the Dark Hole of Heaven.
The prince could do nothing but watch helplessly as the woman he loved was taken away.
Left alone on Earth, he cried countless rivers of tears until, at last, his heart could bear no more sorrow.
He died of a broken heart.
During her five hundred years of imprisonment, the fairy queen prayed to the forces of heaven and Earth.
She asked that when her punishment ended, she might become a tamarind tree so that, even if she could never be with the prince again, she could at least remain on Earth and see him.
Her wish was granted.
For another five hundred years, she existed as a tamarind tree, changing with the seasons while patiently waiting for the prince to be reborn.
She secretly prayed that their love would finally overcome the destiny that had kept them apart.
Then, one stormy afternoon, a young and handsome scholar came running toward the tamarind tree to escape the heavy rain.
The moment she saw him, the tamarind tree recognized him.
He was the reincarnation of the prince.
For five hundred years, the tree had never produced a single flower.
But that day, after the rain finally stopped, tiny buds suddenly appeared along her branches.
One by one, they opened into beautiful white flowers.
The scholar looked up in wonder at the enchanting sight. He reached out and plucked one of the flowers, bringing it to his nose to breathe in its strong, refreshing fragrance.
The tamarind tree's heart filled with joy.
After five hundred years of waiting, he was finally standing beneath her branches again.
But before he could linger, a young woman suddenly appeared and called out to him.
The scholar turned toward her.
"Where have you been all this time?" she asked. "I was worried about you."
The scholar smiled.
"The rain was too heavy for me to return," he replied. "But now that the rain has stopped, let us go home. We need to prepare for the wedding."
The young woman smiled and nodded.
Together, they began walking away.
The tamarind tree watched helplessly.
Then a sudden gust of wind swept through her branches. Hundreds of white petals fluttered through the air like butterflies before falling at the scholar's feet.
The scholar stopped.
For a moment, he heard a faint voice carried by the wind.
"Friend, don't walk away. If you leave me here without a thought, it is not flower petals that are falling—it is my withered heart."
The scholar looked back at the tree, unsettled by the strange feeling that had suddenly overcome him.
But he shook his head, dismissed the feeling, and continued walking with the young woman.
The tamarind tree's heart broke.
She had waited for five hundred years. She had endured another five hundred years as a tree. She had prayed, hoped, and sacrificed everything for the man she loved.
Yet he was walking away with another woman.
When the tamarind flowers eventually produced fruit, the fruit tasted bitter and sour.
The tree understood then that perhaps she truly could not change destiny.
"Despite all my persistence and prayers, perhaps I really cannot change what has been written," she thought sadly. "If this is the will of the universe, then I am willing to return to the fairyland and never descend to Earth again."
That night, as moonlight glittered like diamonds upon the tamarind tree, her leaves began to wither.
Slowly, her branches dried and died.
At last, the entire tree disappeared.
Only a single tamarind fruit remained.
The fruit rose gently into the sky and transformed into a twinkling plumeria.
From within the flower emerged the fairy queen.
She looked down upon Earth one final time.
Then, carried by the soft breeze, she vanished into the heavens.
At the very moment she disappeared, the scholar came running back to the place where the tamarind tree had once stood.
But the tree was gone.
All that remained was a single beautiful white flower lying on the ground.
He picked it up and held it tightly in his hand.
Suddenly, the truth came back to him.
"You misunderstood," he said regretfully.
"She was my sister. I was only accompanying her home because she was going away to be married."
He looked toward the empty sky, his voice trembling with sorrow.
"No matter how many lifetimes pass, I have never given up on us. So why did you give up on me?"
His tears fell upon the flower.
"How many more bitter lives must I endure without you by my side? How many more lifetimes must we live apart before we can finally be together?"
But the fairy queen could no longer hear him.
She was already gone.
Many lonely centuries passed, filled with the sorrow of lovers who had lost one another and souls who continued searching for the people they were destined to find.
Then, one day, a colorful and stout mandarin duck chose a plain female duck as his mate—not because of her beauty, but because of her kindness and generosity.
On their wedding day, the two ducks looked at one another with peaceful, contented smiles, as though they had finally reunited after many lifetimes of suffering.
They said to each other:
"People say that it takes a hundred lifetimes of merit to meet the person we are destined to love, and ten more lifetimes to be married. So let us love, respect, and cherish one another dearly. We will raise our children well, and we will continue to love and care for one another even when silver covers our hair. Then, no matter how many lifetimes we must endure, we can say that all our perseverance was worth it—for we were given the chance to live, to love, and to find each other on Earth once more."
This story is dedicated to all couples who argue, fight, or sometimes feel that they have grown tired of one another.
You may never know how much you have endured together in previous lifetimes to have found one another in this lifetime. To meet, marry, and love the person who is meant to share your journey is a blessing worth cherishing.
So cherish one another. Learn to forgive, to understand, and to share in each other’s sadness and happiness. Through life’s joys and hardships, may you continue to support and complete one another, so that one day, when you look back on all that you have endured together, you can say that it was all worth it.
And even if you do not believe in reincarnation, remember that you have only one life to live. So live it wisely. Love deeply, forgive generously, and treasure the people who walk beside you—especially those you love most.
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