It’s Feb. 26th, meaning…

To celebrate, I’d like a share a fairytale with you. I call it “The Three Princesses.” As an original fairytale, it isn’t based on any classic tales, but I’ve included some fairytale themes and used a more formal voice to give it that “classic” feel.

Once upon a time, in a kingdom far away, there reigned a king and queen, blessed with three daughters born together. To honor their birth, the king and queen decreed a grand festival, inviting subjects from every corner of their realm.
Among the merrymakers was a witch, a nomad of sorts, who had traveled far and wide. She had recently passed through a downtrodden realm with a slothful and ruthless king, and the witch worried about the future attitude of these princesses.
To safeguard the virtue of the kingdom and to test the princesses, the witch cast a spell of forgetfulness over the festival and stole away the three infants. She delivered them to a humble farmstead, where a childless couple nurtured them as their own, but instead of living in a palace, the three princesses lived in a cottage. Instead of dining on exotic spices, they dined on food they harvested. Instead of wearing fine silk gowns, they wore homemade cotton and wool clothes.

Years passed, and the three princesses grew into little women named Adallinda, Minna, and Kreimhild. One fateful day, the witch returned and revealed their true lineage. Adallinda and Minna believed the witch's words, but Kreimhild did not. The witch granted them three weeks to prepare for their return to the palace, whereupon she would remove the enchantment of forgetfulness.
As the days passed, the princesses went about their chores as usual. Adallinda toiled in the fields, Minna tended to the animals, and Kreimhild idled in the shade. Resentful of her sister's respite, Minna joined Kreimhild in the shade until Adallinda found them.
"Sisters," Adallinda said, "this is not becoming of a princess, and we are princesses."
Kreimhild argued, "If we are princesses, then why should we labor?"
"It is our actions, not our status, that will define us," Adallinda explained. She urged her sisters to finish their chores. Minna came, but Kreimhild did not.

The next week, Kreimhild sought solace at the local tavern where she drank herself silly and laughed at crude jokes. Minna passed by while on errands and was drawn in by the allure of merriment. A little time later, Adallinda came by, seeking her sisters. Finding them in the tavern, Adallinda bid them to return home with her.
"This is not becoming of a princess," she said. Minna followed her home, but Kreimhild did not.

One week later, the three sisters attended an evening dance with drums, flutes, and viols. While many of the community laughed, danced, and feasted, Kreimhild sat aloof from the crowds, scorning the musicians, deriding the simple gowns of the farmgirls, and mocking the clumsiness of some dancers. Afraid of becoming a target of her sister's insults, Minna joined Kreimhild's ridicule.
While dancing among the people, Adallinda overheard her sisters. She excused herself from the party and reprimanded her sisters for their rudeness.
"This is not becoming of a princess," she said, then she encouraged them to join the folk with joy and delightful humor. Minna joined her, but Kreimhild did not.

At long last, the witch lifted the spell of forgetfulness, and the kingdom remembered their three princesses. Adallinda, Minna, and Kreimhild returned to the palace to claim their rightful inheritances. Upon seeing Adallinda and her sincerity, the king and queen welcomed her by placing a crown on her head and ring on her finger as the future queen. Upon seeing Minna and her humility, the king and queen welcomed her as an administrator in the palace. Upon seeing Kreimhild and her arrogance, however, the king and queen cast her out, banishing her to forever wander the realms far from her lost birthright.
The end.

I hope you enjoyed this little fairytale. Feel free to comment below on your thoughts.

Check out my Dreaming Princesses series for my fairytale retelling novels!
If you want more fantastic fairytale retellings (entertaining for adults yet appropriate for middle-readers), I highly recommend Jim Doran’s Kingdom series. Here’s my review!

Behind the Scenes

If you’re someone who enjoys learning about the context and meaning behind stories, I have a little to add about the fairytale that I shared above.

My friend, Jim Doran, reminded me of Tell A Fairytale Day in early February (I’ve now officially added it to my calendar, so I won’t forget next year). Despite my many projects and a business trip this month, I immediately decided to participate in the holiday.

One resource suggested multiple ways to celebrate the holiday, including:

telling a fairytale to someone (obviously)dressing as a fairytale characterhosting a fairytale-themed partyreading a fairytale book (classic or retelling)watching a fairytale moviewriting a fairytale

Of course, as a writer, I wanted to write a fairytale to share.

I considered writing a short story that included my Dreaming Princesses but had no inspiration until I woke up with this story in mind on Feb. 6th. It began with the idea of a princess proving (or disproving) her worth as she went to claim her birthright. Since fairytales like to use repetition and a standard of 3, I included 3 princesses and 3 trials.

The idea was primarily stemmed from my Latter-day Saint Christian beliefs. If this offends you, you may enjoy the fairytale in your own way as a simple tale with a moral to treat yourself and others with respect.

Otherwise, I believe we should treat others as the princesses and princes that we all are.

PS. I discovered the princesses’ names as suggestions from Old Germanic names listed on BehindTheName.com, but I like Adallinda and Minna enough that I might use them again somewhere.

PPS. To emphasize the “classic” and formal tone, I did run the fully-written story through ChatGPT for vocabulary and syntax suggestions. I can assure you, however, that I definitely did NOT copy-paste, because the AI removed all repetition and dialogue while also completely ruining the moral of the tale.