The Two Princes – Part One

A ring may well be forced upon a finger, and vows spoken under duress but a heart cannot be made to love by force or any other means and so, though Princess Iness married Prince Happ to please her parents, the King and Queen of Merrilly, she could not bring herself to be joyful and her wedding veil was so dampened by tears that, after the marriage ceremony was completed, she had to hang it up to dry.

“Oh Iness”, said her mother, “Do not weep, for time is the true matchmaker and, in time I know that you and he shall grow to love each other”.

“Oh Iness”, said her father, “One day you shall be a queen and all your children Princes and Princesses, is that not a wonderful thing?”.

“Oh Iness”, said her younger Sister, “The Prince is so handsome that, if I could, I would switch places with you and marry him myself”.

“Oh Iness”, said her husband, Prince Happ, “I would do anything to make you happy, just tell me what you want and you shall have it”.

But no amount of words, how ever well meant, could console Princess Iness and, all through
her wedding night, and for many days afterwards; the newlywed grieved more bitterly than any widow.

However, on the ninth night of their marriage while Prince Happ lay awake watching his sleeping wife as he often did, admiring her immense beauty and praying to all the angels for her love, he suddenly saw his wife’s constant frown curl upwards into a bright, broad u-shaped smile.

“What can she be dreaming of that fills her with so much joyfulness?”, he wondered, “Whatever
it is perhaps it is something that I can give to her that would make her love me”.

But when he asked Iness what she had been dreaming of she refused to tell him, infact she got angry and refused to speak to him for the rest of the day.

A whole day without the beautiful voice of his wife and only the flashing anger in her eyes for company made the prince so unhappy that he could not listen to his court advisors or think about the many weighty matters of state but only sit with his crowned head in his hands and sigh and then, again, the next night, while his beloved wife slept he saw that same broad smile return to her face.

“That beautiful head of hers is like an unassailable fortress, I must know what it is that makes her smile so brightly but how can I know if she won’t let it out through her lips?”, he whispered to himself.