For my Celtic friend who likes fairy tales.
Once upon a time there was a valiant knight who, for reasons I cannot tell you now (it would be a very long story) found himself in the obligation to get married to the most horrible old
woman you can imagine.
She was not only ugly and very old, she was particularly bad smelling and disgusting and she had such a stinking breath that flies fell down dead only approaching her toothless mouth.
Our knight had given his word and a knight, mostly once upon a time, always kept his promised, so he married her and the whole wedding party was a real agony for him.
His bride spent most of time belching and scratching her bottom, she emanated a sickening stink and she spat
food all around.
But the knight was also a noble gentleman and he made a titanic effort to behave with her gently and to control his horror. He knew that unfortunately the worst had still to come, because after the banquet there would have been the first night of marriage.
When the time came and all the guests had left, very happy to be free from the horrible vision of that female monster, the knight, trying to put together all his bravery, which had made of him the hero of so many fights against dragons and other scaring mythical creatures, started walking to the wedding bedroom with the same enthusiasm of a convict walking to the scaffold.
It’s impossible to describe his astonishment, when, after pushing the door, he found, at the place of the disgusting harpy, an incredibly beautiful young lady who smiled at him and run to hug him saying: “ Oh, here you are my adored husband!”.
He was totally confused and for the first time in his life he didn’t know what to do, but the charming young lady reassured him. “I’m your wife and I love you dearly for the respect and patience you have showed during the ceremony of our wedding. You must know that what you see now is my real appearance, but I’m under a terrible spell. Since you have been kind to me, now you can choose. I can be the way you see me now during the day, but in this case I’ll be the horrible witch once again every night, in our bedroom, or I can have my ugly and disgusting appearance all the day long, but then to be myself, the way you see me now, when we are alone in our bedroom. You have the choice. But you must take your decision now”.
The knight felt quite puzzled, he started thinking… He knew he had to take the best decision, because he would not have had a second chance to change it.
He thought what his best friend would have done at his place. He was another knight, very smart and proud, a valiant man who liked showing off, being envied and admired. At his place, he would have surely chosen to have a splendid young wife, devoted and loving, to show to everybody and to have his prestige even increased by her
unique and pure beauty and he would have accepted the horrible witch in the secret of their bedroom, far from all scornful looks.
Then our knight thought what his young and romantic groom would have done instead. He was a young man, full
of sentimental energy and passionate for love. He would have surely chosen to have his young and wonderful wife only for him, at night, while he would not have cared for others’ sarcastic mockeries, seeing his ugly wife during the day.
For him his love would have been a private and possessive choice, he would have wanted the beauty only for himself.
Our knight hesitated, he tried to see what the right thing to do was and suddenly he realized that in all cases his choice would have been an act of selfishness.
So he took his wife’s hand and told her:
“I cannot choose for you, my dear wife. The choice is yours. Choose what is more suitable for you and what can make you less unhappy. I’ll agree with your choice in all cases, because it’s your life and you come first.”
The splendid young lady suddenly smiled and her smile was so intense that all the room was invaded by a silver light, like in a magic full moon night.
“Oh my generous and noble, husband, your broke the spell and you set me free! Leaving the decision to me was the only way to defeat the evil. The force of respect for others made the miracle. I will remain like I am night and day “.
I will not tell you in detail what happened between then that night, but you can guess it.
And they all lived happily ever after
woman you can imagine.
She was not only ugly and very old, she was particularly bad smelling and disgusting and she had such a stinking breath that flies fell down dead only approaching her toothless mouth.
Our knight had given his word and a knight, mostly once upon a time, always kept his promised, so he married her and the whole wedding party was a real agony for him.
His bride spent most of time belching and scratching her bottom, she emanated a sickening stink and she spat
food all around.
But the knight was also a noble gentleman and he made a titanic effort to behave with her gently and to control his horror. He knew that unfortunately the worst had still to come, because after the banquet there would have been the first night of marriage.
When the time came and all the guests had left, very happy to be free from the horrible vision of that female monster, the knight, trying to put together all his bravery, which had made of him the hero of so many fights against dragons and other scaring mythical creatures, started walking to the wedding bedroom with the same enthusiasm of a convict walking to the scaffold.
It’s impossible to describe his astonishment, when, after pushing the door, he found, at the place of the disgusting harpy, an incredibly beautiful young lady who smiled at him and run to hug him saying: “ Oh, here you are my adored husband!”.
He was totally confused and for the first time in his life he didn’t know what to do, but the charming young lady reassured him. “I’m your wife and I love you dearly for the respect and patience you have showed during the ceremony of our wedding. You must know that what you see now is my real appearance, but I’m under a terrible spell. Since you have been kind to me, now you can choose. I can be the way you see me now during the day, but in this case I’ll be the horrible witch once again every night, in our bedroom, or I can have my ugly and disgusting appearance all the day long, but then to be myself, the way you see me now, when we are alone in our bedroom. You have the choice. But you must take your decision now”.
The knight felt quite puzzled, he started thinking… He knew he had to take the best decision, because he would not have had a second chance to change it.
He thought what his best friend would have done at his place. He was another knight, very smart and proud, a valiant man who liked showing off, being envied and admired. At his place, he would have surely chosen to have a splendid young wife, devoted and loving, to show to everybody and to have his prestige even increased by her
unique and pure beauty and he would have accepted the horrible witch in the secret of their bedroom, far from all scornful looks.
Then our knight thought what his young and romantic groom would have done instead. He was a young man, full
of sentimental energy and passionate for love. He would have surely chosen to have his young and wonderful wife only for him, at night, while he would not have cared for others’ sarcastic mockeries, seeing his ugly wife during the day.
For him his love would have been a private and possessive choice, he would have wanted the beauty only for himself.
Our knight hesitated, he tried to see what the right thing to do was and suddenly he realized that in all cases his choice would have been an act of selfishness.
So he took his wife’s hand and told her:
“I cannot choose for you, my dear wife. The choice is yours. Choose what is more suitable for you and what can make you less unhappy. I’ll agree with your choice in all cases, because it’s your life and you come first.”
The splendid young lady suddenly smiled and her smile was so intense that all the room was invaded by a silver light, like in a magic full moon night.
“Oh my generous and noble, husband, your broke the spell and you set me free! Leaving the decision to me was the only way to defeat the evil. The force of respect for others made the miracle. I will remain like I am night and day “.
I will not tell you in detail what happened between then that night, but you can guess it.
And they all lived happily ever after
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