Re-Write for Grimm's Fairy Tales

The Three Snake-Leaves – The Consequence for Pursuing True Love

“All men are the same,” The Princess complained.
“First, they tell you how much they love you, but when you died, they will just move on and marry another woman.”

The Princess is now fifteen, she is exceptionally beautiful, and she is also in the perfect marrying age. But getting her married has always been a real headache for both the King and the Queen. Because the strange Princess will only get married under one condition, that is if she died before her future husband, then the husband must be buried alive along with her.

“My husband must be buried alive along with me when I die.”
This has become the pet phrase for the Princess.

“Isn't this how love supposes to be? Otherwise, what other ways can you express true love? The only way to know for sure if the man I married to loves me, is at that very moment when I died. And if he loves me too, then he should die next to with me, right?” the willful Princess said.

“This is nonsense! No men will ever dare to marry you under such bizarre condition!” the angry King said. “No matter how brave all men are, if they know about this, you will surly scares them away!”

In fact, the King was right, many Prince from nearby neighbor kingdoms has sent their envoys to propose marriage to the Princess, but after they find out about her bizarre vow for getting married, all decided to abolish the marriage plan. The King and the Queen starts to feel really worried about their daughter's future after seeing many envoys being frightened away. But somehow the Princess doesn't care at all.

“Only one small vow and they all refused to accept? How can I trust myself as well as my life to someone who doesn't take me and my love seriously?” the Princess said.

“If your daughter continues to act like this, she will soon become an old virgin!” the worrying Queen said to the King.

“Dear daughter, Are you aware what you're asking for? It's impossible to get you married under such horrible condition!” the King said to the Princess.

“No Father, even if you're ordering me, I will not get married if that man wouldn't accept this condition.” said the Princess.

Years has passed, the Princess is about to exceed her marrying age. Even though she is still extremely beautiful, but under such terrifying condition, no one dares to propose marriage to the Princess. The King and the Queen both begins to fear that no one will ever want to marry their daughter. However the Princess seems to be not bothered by this at all. In fact, she doesn’t want to get married at all.

The Princess has seen many examples of bad and failed marriages. Thus she has completely lost interest in marriage. For instance, her mother, the Queen, has complained numerous times about how she should've married to a bigger, richer kingdom, instead of the present one. Every time the Queen was invited to a neighboring kingdom's party, she has to wear the same jewelries as well as the same dresses over and over again, which it's terribly embarrass to her. She's also full of grumbles about how the King was so gentle and sweet when they first married, but after a while the King started to have affaires with several female servants in the palace. On the other hand, the King is obviously not too satisfied about his own marriage as well. He frequently whining about how beautiful and gorgeous she looked when she was young, but not long after they get married, the Queen begins to gain a lot of weights. In addition, she started to act in bad manner, such as interrupt while the King is having important conversations with his palace guards, and she yawns in front of servants. What's more, this kingdom used to be colonized by nearby kingdoms too. During the colonization period, it's almost like a custom for men to cheat on their wives or other women. The Princess has also been taught not to trust men and love easily since she was a child. She often hears the servant's complaints secretly about how their father abandoned them and ran off with other woman since they were young.

The Princess is sick and tired hearing all these complaints from her parents and the servants since she was a child, thus she have no desire to get married at all. Sadly, the King and the Queen has never recognized that they are actually one of the main reasons that caused their daughter's lost of interest in marriage.

(The only way to prevent marriage is to make up a vow that is so horrific so no one dares to make and accept.) the Princess thought to herself.

However, the Princess's happy days are numbered, because the man who is willing to accept this horrifying vow has finally shows up...

The daredevil who proposed marriage to the unruly Princess is actually one of the guards in the palace. He is young and strong, skillful in combat, also successfully defended the palace from intruders several times. The King was actually quite keen to make this young good-looking palace guard to become his son-in-law. But does he really know what sort of situation he's putting himself in?

“Do you know what kinds of vow you need to make before you marry her?” the King asked the young palace guard.

“Yes, I must be buried alive along with her if I outlive her. But my love for the Princess is deep, I shall never let her go alone by herself, I will journey everywhere along with her.” the young palace guard replied.

What a relief for the King! He's been worrying about his daughter's marriage for years. But when the King informs the news to the Princess, she laughed.

“Father, do you really believed what that man said to you?” said the Princess with a poker face.

“Don't worry; I will make sure he keeps his promise to you.” the King said.

But the Princess still seems reluctant to accept.

“Dear daughter, the prime happiness of a woman is to be able to get married. This young man has made a promise that not even your father would make.” the Queen said to her daughter.

“You should be grateful! There will never be anyone else like this young man who is willing to accept and make such promise!” said the King.

The Princess begins to find it curious about this strange unknown wooer. How can any man so foolish enough to accept and make this vow? She begins gather information about this young palace guard by hiding behind window curtains when her father is consulting business with him.

(Hmmm...He is indeed quite good-looking) the Princess thought to herself. (He looks muscular as well; perhaps he does a lot of exercise? But does he have the brain too?)

The two finally met after a few days, the Princess has prepared and asked many difficult questions to the young palace guard. Unlike other ordinary girls, the Princess's biggest hobby is to study and read books, therefore she is intelligent. But the young guard has answered all her questions skillfully and correctly along with his own opinions regarding to the questions.

(He is rather knowledgeable too, a well-educated man indeed, and has answered all my questions just the way I wanted to hear.) the Princess thought.

Next, the Princess wants to test how skillful this soon-to-be her husband's sex skills. It is not unusual to have sex before marriage during the medieval period in Europe. In fact, many people, typically women, would prefer to have sex with their fiancé before marriage to ensure that their body is not flawed in any way. But since the Princess is a member of a noble family, it would be inappropriate for her to ask and do such by herself. Instead, she requested a female servant to do this task for her.

“But, Your Highness, that would be rather embarrassing for me!” the female servant said.

“Please, you really need to do this for me! This is my marriage and could affect my entire life if you don't accept my demand!” the Princess said.

The Princess eventually convinced female servant.

Next morning, the Princess was waiting anxiously but also excited outside their bedroom. After a short while, the female servant came out and starts to report everything to the Princess.

“So how was it, how was it?” the Princess nervously asked.

“Oh, Your Highness, it was marvelous!” the happy female servant said, “He is one rather remarkable man! Oh, I will be especially envy you if you marry to him.”

“Wait, let us go to somewhere more private so you can explain to me in detail.” said the Princess, then she asked the female servant to join her in her room.

“It was like a dream!” said the female servant; it appears that she is still enjoying the thrills and the pleasures from last night. “I knew it from the moment when we entered the room together, that he is truly different from all other men. He uses his strong but gentle arms carry me to the bed, then he slowly but also softly begins to undress me on the bed.”

“It sounds like a sex scene from romantic novels.” said the Princess.

“Indeed, Your Highness, it was a dream come true for any woman” said the female servant, “Not only he has a perfect body, but he is especially skillful in kissing too. And after we finished, he gently wiped my body with a silk towel, gave me another kiss, then we begin to...”

“Okay that is enough!” the virgin Princess said, as she felt rather embarrass, trying to cover her red face with her hands. “So after all, He is wonderful right? No any flaws with his body too?”

“He is not just wonderful, he is perfect, Your Highness.” said the female servant.

After hearing all the information from the female servant, the Princess was convinced and decided to accept the young palace guard's marriage proposal. The King and the Queen both can finally relax now. However, on the day of the wedding ceremony, just before the young palace guard and the Princess exchange rings, he also asked if the Princess can make the very same vow to him. Now, it's the Princess turn to freak out, since she wasn't expecting anything like this from him, she has no choice but to accept and make the same vow too.

(I will worry about it when that day comes.) the Princess thought, and trying to comfort herself.

The marriage carried out successfully, praised and celebrated. The young palace guard is now officially the Prince of the kingdom, and the couple has lived together for some years in great happiness and contentment. The young Prince is always caring and loving. In contrast, the Princess remains much of the same, stubborn and unruly, but the Prince is rather mature in terms of thinking, as he always forgives and tolerates her fiery temper. But the happiness didn't last for too long, as the Princess was soon diagnosed with terrible illness. All the renowned doctors from everywhere can do very little to cure her. While the Princess is lying on her dying bed and realizing her days for living are numbered, she called her husband.

“Darling, do you still remember the promise you made?” the terribly-illed Princess asked.

“Of course, how could I ever let you go alone by yourself?” the Prince replied.

“Really? You really will come with me?” the Princess continues asked, “If you break the promise, I will never forgive you even if I turned ghost!” the Princess warned the Prince.

But the Prince is actually beginning to fear for his fate once the Princess died, by thinking that he will be locked inside a cold tomb with the Princess and waiting to die. There will be no escape for him, since the King has ordered to seal the tomb once they're inside, a watchman will be placed outside to tomb to prevent the Prince from escaping.

(Why do I have to die for this woman? I do love her! But I'm still so young, and still have a bright future waiting for me!) the Prince thought, (I've did nothing wrong! I've always did my best try to make my wife happy, and tolerate her, why is this happening to me? I still have so many things I wanted to fulfill!)

“NO!! NO!! LET ME GO!! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!” the Prince screamed and cried out.

Despite the screaming and resisting, the Prince was tied up and dragged into the tomb by the guards after the funeral was ended. However, everyone was not surprised to see the Prince act such way, this is basic human survival instinct.

“Accept your fate!” the guards said, and then firmly shut and locked the door of the tomb.

The Prince is now in the state of despair inside the tomb, realizing there is no way to escape, he looked around and sees a table stood in front of the coffin, with four candles, four loaves of bread, and four bottles of wine on it. He is fully aware that once these foods are consumed, he will starve to death. Therefore he limits himself to take only one small bite of the bread and one sip of the wine per day to make the food last longer. After a few nights, the dying Prince sees a snake crawl out from the crack of the ceiling and towards the coffin. He fears that the snake will try to munch the corpse, he stands up and draws out his dagger, and shout out: “As long as I live you shall not touch her.” He then slashes the snake twice, turning the snake into three pieces.

After a short while, another snake crawled out, but disappeared and returned with three green leaves in its mouth after seeing the other snake lying dead in three pieces. Then it took the three separate portions of the snake, placed them together and laid a leaf on each wound, and the wounds magically joined together once more, the dead snake raise itself up, then took off with its companion.

The Prince was stunned at what he saw, then it suddenly came to him that if these three leaves could restore the dead snake, they could do the same to human too. He picks up the leaves then places two of the leaves on each of the Princess's eye, and place the third one on her body. In a few seconds he sees the blood began to circulate in the veins and blushed softly in the pale face and lips of his dead wife. She opened her closed eyes, and yelled faintly, "Where am I?"

The Prince told her about the snakes and the three-leaves, fed her with the remaining wine and bread. Once the Princess is strong enough to raise herself and walk, she and her husband approaches the door then begins to knock the shout loudly, the watchman outside the tomb heard them and immediately report to the King about this. The King came and was astonished but happy to find them both alive and well. Just before the Prince leaves the tomb, he carefully picks up the three-leaves and asked a servant to take great care of these leaves.

“Safeguard these carefully for me, I may need to use them again one day.” the Prince said to the servant.

For the next week, the whole kingdom was celebrating. The King and the Queen both couldn't be happier to see their beloved daughter came back alive from the dead. On the other hand, the Princess doesn't seem to share the same joy as her parent, after she finds out about her husband's cowardly act on her funeral.

(After all, he's just like all the other men.) the Princess thought, and felt betrayed. (I cannot believe I've decided to spend the rest of my life with a gutless worm like him!)

Since that day, the Princess never looks and treats at the Prince the same way as before. The Prince understands how her wife felt towards him, but he is not entitled to say anything because of what he did on the day of her funeral.

(All human feels fear! I am no exception!) the Prince thought to himself, (Anyone would do the same as me if they're faced in similar situation!) the Prince comfort himself.

The reborn Princess is now full of hopes, and everything seems new to her again, except her marriage and her husband. She knew that once she's dead, her husband will just move on and marry another woman. The Princess begins to lives in a life of dissolute. Every week she would bring a different man into the palace and have sex with them, as way to protest her anger towards her husband. The Prince is surly rather irritated, but there is not much he can do or say since he still felt guilty about what he did to his wife. After a while, the Prince no longer cares about what his wife does, sometimes when he sees his wife with another man in the bed room, he doesn't feel angry or jealous, in fact, he begins to feel sorry and pity for her.

“Will you die for me?” the Princess will ask every time before she has sex with the man. “I want you to fight for me, gamble with your own life, until you die.”

The Princess thought up a new way to entertain herself, which is to pit two men inside her secret arena and see them fights to the death, and the winner will win the rights to have sex with the Princess. Only at those moments, seeing men fights and kills each other, the Princess feels a sense of liberation. However, her husband is disgusted by this, seeing his wife enjoying watching man dies, he can't help but fear.

(Is this the woman I once loved?) the Prince questioned himself, (Right now, my wife is nothing but a monster, a monster starving for love.)

The Prince understands that those men killing each other in his wife's secret arena is actually bleeding and fighting for him. Because of his moment of gutless and weakness, these men now have to pay the ultimate price to entertain his wife! His sense of guilt deepens every time he sees another man dies. The Prince also senses that his wife will ultimately ask one of her inamoratos to assassinate him.

“Kill my husband for me and I will make you the next Prince.” The Princess finally said to one of her inamoratos. “You will gain all the power and wealth you ever desire!”

The man was shocked, but he was ultimately convinced to assassinate the Prince for the Princess.

“But, how do I do that?” the man asked.

“You will hide under his bed until he sleeps, then slit his throat with this dagger.” said the Princess as she hands over a dagger to the man.

That night, the Prince walks back to him room, ready for bed time, then the man suddenly pounces towards him with a dagger from under the bed, but the former palace guard Prince quickly draws out his own dagger and killed the man by plunging the dagger into his heart.

“It was me who organized the murder, I have ordered him to come and kill you.”

While the Prince was staring at the dead body, he hears a voice coming from behind. As the Princess reveals herself from behind the curtain.

“I know.” the Prince said.

“You know?” the Princess asked. “But you seem awfully calm! You're not mad at me?”

“In fact, it is I who should ask for forgiveness,” the Prince said, “It was me who made you become who you are today. I've never realized that you have hated me this much, that you wanted to murder me, but I am grateful!”

The Princess couldn't believe hearing such confession from her own husband, as the Prince approaches her and hugged her.

“I should have died alongside with you at when I had the chance.” said the Prince.

“Oh, it's all too late for that!” the Princess cried out, and begins to wail.

“Let’s start all over again,” the Prince said. “this time, I will not let you go alone, I will stay and accompany you forever!”

“Oh... I'm so happy to hear that! Let us die once more!” said the Princess.

The Prince took out a small bottle of poison wine from his drawer that he prepared for such day. This is an extremely effective poison that can cause instant death with just one sip from it. Before they journey on, the couple took a long but comfortable bath with each other.

“Now I finally know that your love for me is true.” the Princess said, with great happiness on her face. “I've done so many terrible things to you, even trying to murder you, but you still forgive me and love me, I am so grateful!”

“I should have done this when you have died. Because of my weakness, I've made you suffer.” said the Prince

The Prince and the Princess lay on the bed naked, exchange kisses, made love, and then firmly hugging each other, enjoying their final night together.

“Tomorrow, we will go to a place where no one will ever bother us again, where we will be together for eternity.” said the Prince.

“I love you!” said the Princess, and kissed the Prince.

They looked at each other, raise their glass of wine, and simultaneously empty the glass of wine together. Lastly, they lie down on each other's arm, and enter their eternal sleeps together.