The Fairy Queen

 

Once upon a time, Altair and Vega merged at the Milky Way and flared up into a dazzling and twinkling plumeria.  When the petals of the flower opened up, an enchanted fairy emerged.  She was beautiful and possessed the combined power of two star systems.  When she flew, her wings left a glittering rainbow trail behind.  However, her great ability made the fairy cocky, wild, and reckless.  She wreaked havoc everyday in both the fairyland and heaven, disturbing and angering the heavenly emperor.  To punish and tame her, the heavenly emperor took the gifted fairy’s magic away and banished her to Earth.  Her task was to live like a mortal and perform one hundred good deeds in order to redeem her sins and return to the fairyland.  Before she descended to Earth, the Goddess Kab Yeeb gave the fairy a pouch—containing magic dusts to help her complete one of her deeds.  But she was advised to not be haste and wait for the right condition to use the magic.

The days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years on Earth and the fairy found it difficult to complete so many good deeds without using magic.  She was tempted many times to use magic, but recalling the wisdom of Goddess Kab Yeeb, she forced herself to trudge forward with only her mortal abilities.  So after twenty years on Earth, the fairy was finally nearing the end of finishing all her good deeds.  Most importantly, the hardships she confronted and endured have gradually changed her into a wiser immortal.

One day while trying to find food to fill her stomach, the fairy was verbally abused, kicked, and suffered severe injuries.  No one wanted to help her except a kind-hearted, poor orphan girl.  When the fairy recovered, the poor orphan girl scrambled for what little food she had and shared it with the fairy.  The orphan girl’s generosity enlightened the fairy about the worth of friendship and magnanimity.  She promised the orphan girl that she would return her the favor when needed.

After encountering the orphan girl, the fairy discovered that the orphan girl lived with an evil stepmother and stepsister who time after time verbally and physically abused the poor girl.  To fulfill her promise to the orphan girl and her ninety-ninth good deed, the fairy decided that it was time for her to use the magic inside the pouch.  She pulled the pouch out and sprinkled some magic dusts onto herself.  She transformed into a white parrot and flew to the orphan girl.  Her befriending of the orphan girl drew curiosity and jealousy from the stepmother and stepsister.  To rid the orphan girl of everything good including her bird friend, the cruel stepmother forced her daughter to pretend to be the orphan girl to catch the white parrot.  After she was supposedly killed and eaten by the orphan girl’s stepmother and stepsister, the fairy feigned as the white parrot’s spirit and returned to help the orphan girl.  She used magic to cloth the orphan girl in the finest and most beautiful dress, and gave her the softest and loveliest pair of golden slippers to wear to attend a feast in the palace so that the prince will choose the orphan girl as his bride.  Once she married the prince, she would live a better life and the fairy would repay her debt.   

That evening after helping the orphan girl, the fairy walked away feeling pleased at her perfect plan.  She had staged everything including her acted death and the king’s feast so as to afford the orphan girl the chance to become a princess. 

Not long into the night, the fairy stumbled upon two young men whose clothes were torn and they were seriously wounded from being attacked by bandits.  Without hesitating, she hastily helped the unconscious young men and they soon regained strength under her care.  When the younger and handsomer fellow opened his eyes, he fell in love at first sight with his savior.  He revealed that he was a prince and thanked her for saving him and his personal bodyguard’s life. 

The prince’s grateful words allowed the fairy to complete her one-hundredth good deed and she immediately transformed back into her original form—a beautiful enchantress.  The prince was astounded to discover that his savior was a fairy, and not just any fairy but the one whose wings left a sparkling rainbow trail behind. 

Her appearance evoked a memory of him as a child during a deer hunting trip with his father.  While the king hunted, the prince witnessed the fairy being chased and ambushed by vultures.  She fluttered into a thorn bush to hide and almost lost her life if not for the little prince’s benevolence and interference.

The prince decided to profess his love for the fairy and vowed to love her for all eternities.  His confession forced the fairy to reexamine the constellations and she realized that there was, at the moment, a flaw in her plan.  She should not be loved by anyone because she was destined to rule as a single queen over the land of the fairies, and he—the prince standing in front of her, was supposed to be at the palace waiting for the orphan girl since he was fated to marry her.  The fairy shook her head incredulously and could not accept the prince’s love.  Everything had gone wrong.  To atone for this mistake, the fairy faded into thin air and hoped to never meet the prince again. 

When the prince returned to the palace, he learned that his cousin acted in his stead and found the lost golden slipper.  But despite not being there, the king wanted the prince to use the slipper to find the beautiful maiden who appeared the night before.  The prince’s heart grieved at the thought of having to marry a stranger.  To delay wedding the orphan girl and to buy time to search for the fairy whom the prince was unwilling to accept her refusal, he ordered a proclamation to allow every eligible maiden in the kingdom to try on the lost slipper found on the feast night.  But his efforts were in vain.  The guards found the beautiful maiden but the prince found no trace of the fairy.

Many years went by and the fairy became queen, bringing the pinnacle of prosperity and harmony to the fairyland.  She had forgotten about her one mistake on Earth.  But one day while resting on a vine high up on a corpulent tree where fireflies flickered and huddled by, she saw a pair of butterflies flapped in synchrony and it made her suddenly thought of the prince again.  She felt her heart troubled and beating fast.  For many moons thereafter, his image lingered in her mind and she could not prevent her heart from thumping a thousand miles every time she fancied about him.  Finally one day, his and her yearning hearts brought them to a surprising meeting under a tamarind tree.

She learned that he refused to marry the orphan girl, and instead, allowed her to marry the man of her choice—his cousin.  But in all these years, he never thought about anyone else other than her so he waited patiently, praying to meet her once more.  She was moved by his sincere heart and thought of abandoning everything to elope with him, but lighting suddenly stroke and thunder roared violently through the sky. 

He grabbed her hands firmly and told her not to be fearful.  Feeling the warmth and security of his hands, her heart raced like never before and she decided to gamble with the chance.  But before they could run away, the heavenly guards appeared and pulled the two lovers apart.  The fairy queen was told that she had just violated the heaven and fairy rules so she would be punished in the dark hole of heaven for five hundred years. 

Witnessing his love being chained to heaven, the prince was left helpless and alone on Earth.  He cried many rivers of tears and finally died of a broken-heart. 

In her five hundred years of imprisonment, the fairy queen prayed to the forces of heaven and earth to allow her to become a tamarind tree upon her release so that even if she could not be together with him, it would be enough for her to just see him.  Her wish was granted and for the next five hundred years, she changed with the seasons waiting for him and secretly praying for their true love.

One heavy thunderstorm afternoon, a young and handsome scholar scampered toward the tamarind tree to seek shelter from the rain.  Recognizing that the scholar was the reincarnated prince, the tamarind tree finally smiled.  She had never flower in five hundred years, but on that day after the rain abated, tiny buds appeared on her branches and they bloomed into beautiful white flowers. 

The scholar smiled upon the enchanting sight and plucked a flower off the tree to breath in its strong and refreshing scent.  But before he had a chance to remember her, a young lady suddenly appeared and called to the scholar.  Smiling, the scholar threw the tamarind flower to the ground, stepped on it, and ran toward the young lady. 

“Where have you been all this time?” she asked.  “I was worried about you.”

He grabbed her hands and answered, “It was raining too hard for me to return.  But now that the rain has gone away, let us go home.  We need to go prepare for the wedding.”

The young lady smiled and nodded.  The two then walked away. 

But at that moment, the wind suddenly blew harshly and flower petals fluttered like butterflies from the tamarind tree.  They twirled with the wind and landed on the scholar’s feet.

“Friend, don’t walk away.  If you leave me here without regard, it is not flower petals that fall but my withered heart,” the scholar heard the tree whispered in an echo.  But, the scholar shook his head off the eerie feeling and left gaily with the young lady. 

The tamarind tree was so heart-broken for being betrayed that when her flowers fruited, they tasted bitter and sour.  “Despite my persistence and prayers, perhaps I really cannot change destiny,” she thought solemnly.  “If that is the will of the universe then I am willing to return to the fairyland and never descend to earth again.”

That night when the moonbeams glittered like diamonds onto the tamarind tree, her leaves and branches slowly withered away and then, died.  Only a single fruit floated to the sky where it turned into a twinkling plumeria from which the fairy queen emerged.  She took one last glance at Earth and vanished with the soft breezes.

At the second that she disappeared, the scholar dashed to the spot where the tamarind tree had stood.  He was disappointed to not find her anymore as his hand gripped tightly onto a beautiful white tamarind flower.  “You misunderstood,” he said regretfully.  “She was my sister and I was sending her off to marriage.  No matter how many lifetimes, I haven’t given up on us so why have you?  How many more bitter lives will I have to endure without you by my side to complete me?”

But she could no longer hear him and did not hear him.

Many lonely centuries filled with heart-broken lovers miserably passed by and a colorful and stout mandarin duck decided to choose for a mate, a plain female duck for her kindness and generosity.  The mandarin duck couple smiled contently at one another on their blissful wedding day like they have finally reunited after many lifetimes of sufferings. 

They said to each other.  “People say it takes a hundred lifetimes’ merit to meet and ten more times to get married so let us love, respect, and cherish each other dearly.  We’ll raise our children well and will still love and care for one another even when there are silver in our hairs so that we may say it was worth all our perseverance in order to live and love on Earth once…”

This story is dedicated to all couples who argue, fight, or say that they are tired of each other.  You may not know how much suffering you both have been through in previous past lives in order to chance upon each other in this lifetime.  It is bliss to be able to meet, marry, and love each other so cherish the chance well, learn to forgive and share in each other’s sadness and happiness so that you may complete one another and someday say it was all worth it.  And even if you do not believe in reincarnation, well, you have only one shot at life so still live wisely and treasure everything, including your loved ones well.